Arts DEVO

Ooh, shiny! It’s not that there’s nothing to write about. (There are too many things to write about.) But, on occasion, when I stare at this computer screen, with nothing else but this column left on my week’s checklist, nothing happens. Well, something happens to my spine, as it hunches into what I call “The Armadillo.” … and cancer of the eyeballs might be happening too. But nothing you’d want to read happens—probably this paragraph included.

For today, all I can say is, I’m distracted by everything. Mostly, the mind-sucking Internet. As I follow the online tracks of details to add to the bits of info that I’m thinking of including in this column, every path links to diversions that link to still more …

From pitchfork.com—to M.I.A.—to her trippy 3-D press images—to artist Jaime Martinez and more trippy 3-D flash art (www.neetrecordings.com/jaime).

From “Earth day” search at csuchico.edu—to Campus Calendar—to Greendance Film Festival (Saturday, April 24, all day, Harlen Adams Theatre, free)—to my first exposure to H.G. Wells’ Things to Come, the 1936 film that tells a 100-year-story of war, plague and dystopia (and future skirt-capes for men): “A picture to fill hearts with wonder … souls with fear!”(Shows at 8 p.m.; second-to-last screening at Greendance.)

From 1078gallery.org—to the gallery’s Celebration of Chico Poets event (tonight, April 22, 7:30 p.m.) featuring 10 poets plus packets of 10 handset and letterpress-printed poemcards for sale—to the National Poetry Month site and this security message: “This web page at www.poets.org has been reported as an attack page and has been blocked …”

From Chico State’s Humanities Center’s guest speaker Rebecca Skloot’s talk about her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (tonight, April 22, 7:30 p.m., in Ayres Hall, room 120)—to Skloot’s site (rebeccaskloot.com) and the intro on Lacks: “Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first ‘immortal’ human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years.”—to Wikipedia—to a link to a Wired Magazine timeline of the research made possible by the HeLa cells, everything from the polio vaccine to cloning to advancement in HIV treatment.

From a Facebook link from Arts DEVO pal and CN&R Advertising Manager Alec Binyon—to a YouTube clip of Twilight 22’s seminal (and refreshingly hard-hitting) electro-boogie jam “Electric Kingdom”—to YouTube user BigLupeRakimDee2’s huge collection of the Latin Rascals’ insanely rad ’80s radio remixes (each set to a still-photo background of a different young Asian woman in a bikini for some reason)—to the TOTALLY FREAKIN’ AMAZING Groove Therapy podcast (http://groovetherapy.podbean.com) from Australia by some DJ named Frenzy, with days of archives to make life feel real good. (Anyone ready for a set that includes Grandmaster Flash, Prince’s “Kiss,” a Jimi Hendrix remix, Mantronix, DJ Phantom’s “B Boy Break Medley” and a Fugees vs. Mase remix? Why, yes! Please.)

From typing these words at my desk—to the sunbeam reflecting off the water stains on my office window—to the rain clouds parting above—to Chico outside as green as I’ve ever seen it—to …