The Language of Somnambulism

Ancient Spells and Archaic Wisdom

2012-01-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

Actual conversation I overheard in a used bookstore today between two 14-15 year-old boys.

Boy #1: Thanks for taking me here, dude! I've never been in a bookstore. I like this place.
Boy #2: Ya, it's okay. They have that book here I told you about. The one with that late night TV guy on the cover.
Boy #1: Jay Leno?
Boy #2: No. That guy! (Pointing to a copy of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America) Look around. There's books about everything.
Boy #1: (Wide-eyed now and in complete wonder) You're right! Here's a book about Quinten Tarantino.
Boy #2: (Wanders over to the sports section) Here's some books about baseball.
Boy #1: Cool!
Boy #2: (Picks up a copy of The Baseball Gods: A Ball Player's Metaphysical Guide to Playing Better Baseball and tries reading the title aloud but stumbles over the word "metaphysical")
Boy #1: (Laughs)
Boy #2: Fuck this. Lets get out of here.
Boy #1: Why? I like this place.
Boy #2: I like reading on my computer. If I don't understand a word I can just click on it and look it up online.
Boy: #1: Ya, you're right. But this place is cool.

Both boys walk out of the bookstore and although I'm laughing to myself I'm also thinking, yep. Boy #2 has a point.

I'm also remembering the days when you had to pull out a heavy dictionary and wade through pages trying to find just one word. Some 30 years ago - at age 13 or 14 - I asked my mother for a dictionary for my birthday and she agreed. I was in awe of the enormous blue book that I was gifted and I can still feel the weight of it in my arms. I loved randomly flipping pages and discovering new words that I'd never heard of or seen before. It honestly seemed like a magic book to me full of ancient spells and archaic wisdom. And in many ways I suppose it was.

In retrospect I'm just really grateful that we actually had a dictionary in our house. I knew a lot of kids who didn't and I suspect that those two kids I overheard in the bookstore today don't have one in their home but at least they have a computer.

Bare Bricks and the Soft Sell

2011-07-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

Chinese glass

scalloped prisms

sound moves

across the hot pavement

heat waves

twist and turn

traffic noise

the river rises

bare bricks and the soft sell

of another summer

tensions rise and dissipate

the typography of children

burnt by the sun

huddled in my memory

appointments mask mistakes

in conversation

with a squeaky book

- K. Lindbergs ©2011

Flashes

2011-03-11T15:33:00.000-08:00

Flashes by Kimberly Lindbergs (Photo & Text © 2001)

Tokyo 2001: Green rice fields disappear under clouds of gray. The city washes over me like so many buckets of acid rain. Memories of my mother come back to me in flashes. Flash 9. Flash 28. Flash 33.

Tokyo 1976: Sanrio has just arrived on American shores. Every little grrl I know is falling in love with Hello Kitty. I am in Tokyo. First trip overseas. First romance with another country. I will soon catch the disease that will plague me my entire life. Painful wanderlust.

Tokyo 2001: Tears come. I blow my nose. Black snot stains the crumpled tissue in my hand. Hello Kitty silently stares at me through hundreds of shop windows. Blinding me with flashes. Flash 9. Flash 28. Flash 33.

Tokyo 1976: Mother yells, "The train is coming!" But I can't take my eyes off the magazine racks. Manga images pop off the pages of brightly colored comic books. Androgynous characters with huge eyes and small mouths beckon to me. I yell, "Please buy me a comic book!" Money exchanged. Her hand in mine. Comic book now held tightly under my arm. We rush to catch the next train.

Tokyo 2001: A train station deep in the bowels of Tokyo. Ticket misplaced. Incorrect change. People pushing. People shoving. Hurrying nowhere. The magazine racks overstuffed with bright volumes of manga seem to mock me now. I reach for my mother's hand but it isn't there. Only flashes. Flash 9. Flash 28. Flash 33.

Tokyo 1976: Mother whispers, "Quite!" But the walls of the temple hear everything. Prayers are exchanged. Secrets shared. The golden Buddha smiles at us and we smile back. Innocent travelers in a faraway land. Wandering.

Tokyo 2001: Nothing is the same. I look for temples lost among skyscrapers. The noise around me and inside me is deafening. I am here to pay my respects to ghosts but they hide from me in flashes.

For my mother ~ d.1996

J.D. Salinger 1919-2010

2010-01-28T12:52:00.000-08:00

Everyone should have a Salinger story. Mine takes place in 1999.

I was working at a popular bookshop in the Bay Area and Salinger's one time lady love Joyce Maynard was a regular customer. She was also a writer herself and she had recently decided to publish her controversial memoirs detailing her love affair with Salinger. She was planning on doing her first major book signing at the shop as well as take part in a lengthy Q & A session. A few days before the event was scheduled to take place J.D. Salinger called the bookshop and spoke to the owners. He said he wanted to appear with her and offer his own insights and opinions about what took place between himself and Maynard. Naturally they said yes. Quiet chaos erupted in the shop as plans for Salinger's unexpected visit were discussed in hushed tones and behind closed doors. Rumors circulated like small garden snakes trying to find shelter from an unexpected downpour. Things got complicated quickly. It seems Salinger didn't want the bookshop to advertise his visit. But the shop was losing business daily and they knew that Salinger’s appearance would generate huge crowds, much publicity and book sales. Security issues were considered. Passions flared in the back rooms of the shop as we debated Salinger's work and Maynard's confessions. And then suddenly it was over. Salinger had changed his mind. He would not be coming to Maynard's signing and he didn't want to take part in any joint discussion about their relationship.

“I don't even know what I was running for - I guess I just felt like it.”
~ J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Like a lot of people I first discovered Salinger in high school. I was just 15 at the time and stuck in some reform school because I liked to skip class, never did any homework, got into fights, did drugs and had an increasingly bad attitude. One day when I was sitting in the cafeteria all by myself I noticed a book that was left on another table. I casually picked it up and read the cover. The title caught my attention. I'd never heard of The Catcher in the Rye before or the author but for some reason I decided to stick the slim paperback into the pocket of my leather jacket. For the rest of the week I spent my lunch hour reading my pocketed copy of Catcher in the Rye. The book wove it's spell on me like it had on countless other young readers and I fell in love with it. I still own that battered and bruised paperback and I'm forever grateful to whoever decided to leave their neglected copy of Catcher n the Rye in the cafeteria.

R.I.P. J.D. Salinger

Recommended Link: Dead Caulfields

New Blog

2009-10-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

I recently created a new blog since I'm currently house hunting and obsessing over home related things I figured it would be wise to channel my energy into a new blog.

- Mid-Century Living

Cinebeats Update

2009-05-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

I've given my film blog Cinebeats a makeover. I still need to make some minor changes but the main work is done after weeks of work.

http://cinebeats.blogsome.com

Faux Criterion DVD Covers

2009-04-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Over at the theauteurs.com forums people are posting fake Criterion DVD covers they've created. I took a break from coding today and decided to create a few myself just for fun. These are all movies I'd like to see Criterion release. I couldn't decide which Black Lizard design I liked best so I just thought I'd share all of the ones I created:

Black Lizard (Kinji Fukasaku; 1968)

The Reflecting Skin (Philip Ridley; 1990)

Hausu (Nobuhiko Obayashi; 1977)

Earth Day: April 22

2009-04-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

T-Shirt Design: Corporate Greed is Toxic to the Enviornment

I created the design shown above for a t-shirt contest that asked for Earth Day inspired designs. I didn't win, but I had fun coming up with the design.

For more info about Earth Day (April 22) visit the Earth Day Network

J. G. Ballard 1930-2009

2009-04-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

I was deeply saddened by the news of J. G. Ballard's death. Ballard is one of my favorite writers and his experimental novel The Atrocity Exhibition had a profound impact on me when I first read it in the late '80s. It changed the way I viewed fiction and remains one of my favorite books. I'm also really fond of Empire of the Sun since it was the book that helped me discover Ballard and led me to read more of his fiction. A quick list of my favorite Ballard books:

The Atrocity Exhibition
Empire of the Sun
Running Wild
Crash
Concrete Island
High Rise
The Crystal World
Vermilion Sands

For more information about J. G. Ballard I recommend visiting the following sites:
- Ballardian
- RE/Search Publications

In the Footsteps of Marco Polo

2009-04-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

Watched a terrific PBS documentary called In the Footsteps of Marco Polo last night. Found it fascinating and inspiring.

I was also extremely envious of the two men who followed in Polo's footsteps because I've been dreaming about making a similar journey since I was a little girl. I read a children's book called The Adventures of Marco Polo when I was about 9 years old and became fascinated with the man and his travels. Since then I've read many more books about Marco Polo and his historic globe-spanning journey.

More information about the documentary can be found at the In the Footsteps of Marco Polo website. At the site you can watch the documentary online and learn more about the two men who took this remarkable journey some 700 years after Marco Polo's original trip.

Web & Blog Designs

2009-04-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

My Blogs & Websites
- The Language of Somnambulism
- Cinebeats
- Mid-Century Living
- Peppermint Kiss Kiss Blog
- Peppermint Kiss Kiss {under construction}

Blogs & Websites I've Designed For Others:
- Andis Lindbergs
- I'm in a Jess Franco State of Mind

Blogs & Websites I've worked on in association with others:
- Book Passage
- Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule

My Art and Design

2009-04-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

If you would like to see larger and more detailed versions of these images
please visit my Art & Design Gallery at Flickr.

My Photography

2009-03-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

If you would like to see larger and more detailed versions of these photographs
please visit my Photo Gallery at Flickr.