Sandbox Studios: 52@40: Week 10: Desert Island Disk

The Assignment
Put together a DID (desert island disk) list comprised of ten works from each of the following categories: 1) books (fiction or nonfiction) 2) music 3) art works. Those works that have provided you with the greatest pleasure and fulfillment over the years Ð works that continue to mean the most to you. It may be ten in any one of the above categories, or all three categories.

My Dessert Island Disk

Books

Number 1
Grapefruit; a book of instructions (read about on Amazon.com)
Yoko Ono, 1967

This book along with Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies served as some of the initial inspiration for this project.

Number 2
Snowcrash (read about on Amazon.com)
Neil Stephenson, 1993

This is one of the few pieces of science fiction that totally engulfed me while I was reading it and made me rethink the potential social impact of the technologies with which I work and play.

Music

Number 3
Decade
Neil Young, 1977 (visit the Reprise and Hyperrust sites)

My Mom always hated him and I have always loved him. The best thing is that I can't say why.

Number 4
Another Green World
Brian Eno, 1975 (visit the Eno World and Eno Web sites)

This was a difficult pick. I love both his vocal and instrumental/ambient material. AGW seemed to be a pleasant compromise.

Number 5
Erik Satie (1866-1925) Oeuvres pour piano
Jean-Joél Barbier, 1971

The captain of a boat on which I once crewed told me that Satie sounded like "a third grader practicing piano". Maybe that's why I've always loved him.

Art

Number 6
Portrait of Kris and Scott
Kristin Lenaburg, 1993
Silver Gelatin Print

Kristin has a way of working with people that gets them comfortable enough to be themselves in front of the camera. I really can "see" Kris in this picture and she sees me. What could be a better way of capturing our love.

Number 7
Self Portrait
Alice Wetterlund, 1999
Charcoal on Newsprint

Alice has been busy trying to capture herself in every media possible over the last five years. This is the closest she's come so far, although I'm sure she's working on something that gets even closer as you read this.

Number 8
Self Portrait (view a photo of the piece)
Roger Sayre, 1995
Color Polaroids, fishing line and light bulb

My brother never stops inspiring me with his new ways of redefining photography. This piece captures the range of his ideas and his visage.

Number 9
The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, West Branch, Iowa
Grant Wood, 1931
Oil on board

This painting reminds me of the feeling of summer growing up in Ohio. It's almost a cartoon and so were my favorite parts of childhood.

Number 10
KOYAANISQATSI (visit related website)
Godfrey Reggio, 1982
Film

For me this highly compressed view of America captures much of what I love and hate about the tiny, world we are rapidly changing. I rethink my path a little each time I watch it.