Sometimes I stand in front of the store's windows and smoke my Parliament light to the filter. When it's cold out, I cough a lot. When I cough, I spit. I end up looking like the smoking, coughing, spitting, peeping through the window pervert guy that wants to steal your children. When the truth of the matter is that I'm just checking out your strollers. I'm planning on buying a stroller as a gift, and the people that do bring their children to this store seem to have some sense of style. Unless of course they start buying from the section I call "Gay Sweater Depository". Which is too politically incorrect for even my standards. Gays wouldn't be caught dead wearing one of those sweaters. I think they have a better fashion sense than straight people. Look at Project Runway! They ARE KILLING it! That's a good thing, the "killing it" part.
Anyway, for shirts, sweaters, and accessories that you want your friends to notice and ask "Nice. Where'd you get that?", Park Life is the place for you. It also might be the only place in San Francisco to find miniature Charles Eames chairs. If you want your child to be ergonomically comfortable and timelessly stylish, you'll want a set of these. Hopefully you haven't stuffed your kid's face so much that (s)he's too tubby to sit in one. Actually get them the Wii for Christmas. It'll force them to stand.
To understand culture, you must understand past cultures, and you must understand where your current culture is headed. As Antony Gormley put it :
" Art is the means by which we communicate what it feels like to be alive.. in the past that was mixed up with other illustrative duties but that was still its central function that has been liberated in the art called modern. Art is not necessarily good for you or about communicating 'good things'."
I also love how Sir Francis Bacon put it-- "All artists are vain, they long to be recognised and to leave something to posterity. They want to be loved, and at the same time they want to be free. But nobody is free."
Which is why people to continue to be artists. It's an outcry for freedom. Until everyone is free, art will continue to exist. And not in your lifetime or your posterity's lifetime will art stop. So, follow art. Watch what changes have occurred in the world by seeing the new styles, the incorporation of technique, sometimes the digression of old styles, the implementation of color schemes. Learn the lineage of the works and you'll see where we're headed. I took a Zoloft. Don't worry. I won't drink.
Usually when I go into the store, I make them change the music. Honestly, The Shins, Sia, The Smiths, Morrissey, Sun Kil Moon, and Snow Patrol make me want to buy a fixed track bike, find a girlfriend who shops at Green Apple with a bag that she bought from Green Apple with the Green Apple apple replacing the heart in I "heart" San Francisco, be intelligently conscious about the food and liquid that I take into my body, and read a book every three days by some hip author like Bukowski, Fante, Murakami, Kerouac, maybe even some David Sedaris. Doesn't sound too bad does it? Well I'm not having it.
Here's the play list for tonight:
Friedrich Chopin - Nocturne (In C minor)
Ludwig van Beethoven - 9th Symphony
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem: Lacrimosa
Antonio Vivaldi - Spring From Four Seasons
Johan Sebastian Bach - Suite No. 2
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Waltz of the Flowers
Richard Wagner - Flight of the Valkyrie
Franz Peter Schubert - Piano Sonata 18 in G Major - Andante
Always remember. This is not "like" Giant Robot. Giant Robot sells toys. Very expensive toys for children. I don't like toys. Or children. I do still need to get a stroller. Citikids is on the next block. read more