Friday, June 03, 2005

Art...things

There is a...thing...called Post Secret, where complete strangers send this guy anonymous postcards with secrets and/or confessions on them and this guy posts them at http://postsecret.blogspot.com/. Some of them are absolutely shattering, like the one that just says "Everyone who knew me before 9/11 thinks I'm dead." Some are funny, some are weird, but there just seem to me to be a preponderance of heartbreaking humanity.
I love things like this...weird artsy things that seem tailor made to be featured on "This American Life."

One of my favorite art...things...is the group Improv Everywhere who actually WERE interviewed by Ira Glass for NPR. Their latest "mission" was a rooftop U2 concert. Do yourself a favor and read how they pulled it off. And check out their other missions, too: http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=48

NPR is somehow involved with Story Corps, which started with a recording booth in Grand Central Station. Two people go in, and one asks the other to share a story with them. Check out the stories at http://storycorps.net/. You MUST listen to Michael Wolmetz and Debora Brakarz's story (they're way near the beginning, on like page 1). You will bawl your fucking eyes out, unless you're a total dick.

Lastly, let me mention Bill and Liz, the Talk to Me people. In various parts of New York City, I'd happen upon these two people who were always smiling, relentlessly Caucasian in an "Eddie Bauer Catalogue" sort of way, and surrounded by crowds of people, clamoring for their attention. They would sit on lawn chairs in the Times Square subway station or Bryant Park or wherever with a big sign that said "Talk to Me." And people did. While waiting to say hello to Bill and Liz in Times Square, I met someone who was a friend of a friend of mine from Minnesota. Meeting someone connected to you through friends in the middle of Times Square at midnight is enough to make you laugh and laugh from the sheer overwhealming coincidence of it all. Bill and Liz, the Talk to Me People: http://www.nyctalktome.com/
So go out and love the hell out of some great art...things...today.