Darren Alff

Late yesterday afternoon I heard the mailman drop a big heavy package on my parent’s doorstep. I ran to the door to see what it was.

On the mat outside the front door was a large brown packege with an International Shipping sticker plastered onto its backside. I instantly knew who it was from – the family I stayed with in Germany last summer: The Rybickis!

Mr. and Mrs. Rybicki’s daughter, Natalie, was a foreign exchange student who came and stayed with my parents and sister in the summer of 2006. The year after that, I flew to Germany and stayed with the Rybicki family for approximately 1 month. Then, just two short months after returning back to the States, Natalie flew out to California for a second time and stayed with my parents yet again. I flew back to my parents’ as well and we all spent about a month or so showing Natalie around Southern California.

Last Christmas, as a way of saying thanks, The Rybickis sent my parents a gigantic package of German and Polish goodies. There was chocolate, fruit, wine, Christmas decorations and a whole host of other treats and surprises. But the package was absolutely huge… and I can’t imagine what they must have had to pay to get it shipped from Poland to the United States. (They typically mail packages from Poland because it is so much cheaper there).

Anyway, we got this new package yesterday and while it wasn’t quite as big as the package my parents got last Christmas, it was still incredibly heavy.

Inside the box were some clothes for my mom and sister, a bunch of German candies, and a scrapbook that Natalie made from her experiences both here in the United States and during my visit to Germany last summer.

The way Natalie made the scrapbook, it reminded me of a fairytale. It started with a “Once Upon A Time” and ended with a “Happy Ending.”

Somewhere in the middle, Natalie had a page where she listed all the things she likes. On this page were items like “Gold, money, festivals, Gucci, and $100,000 cars.” Then, on that very same page, she had written “My own gardener.”

I thought this was funny. My parents thought it was cute.

You see, here in California where my parents live, just about everyone has a gardener that comes once a week and cuts the grass, trims the bushes, and cares for the general landscaping of the house. But where Natalie is from in Germany, having your own gardener is far from the norm. She thought we were funny to have our own gardener… and now, months later, it seems as though she is dreaming of one day having a gardener of her own.

When Natalie was here visiting with my family, she shared with us some of her goals for the future. She wants to go to college, have a great (high paying) job, and possibly even live in the United States. And while her dreams of having a gardener are slightly humorous to this California native, I know that this is something my German friend is certainly capable of if she just puts her mind to it.

Thanks for the scrapbook Natalie! Keep up the good work… and say “hallo” to the rest of the family for me!

This morning I went out to breakfast with my dad. We started to talk about my plans for spending this coming winter in Europe and he wanted to know exactly where I was planning to go. But when I started naming places I planned to visit, he wasn’t exactly sure where all those places were.

I didn’t have a map of Europe on me, so I grabbed a piece of paper and quickly drew out a rough map of Europe from memory.

When it was over, I had the image that you see below. At first glance it looked like a really crappy drawing of Europe, but at second glance it looked like a man bending at the waist.

What do you see? A crappy map of Europe? A man bending at the knees? A man with a tail? Let me know!

For the past two days I’ve written about Miranda July and her film “Me And You And Everyone We Know” and her website at www.LearningToLoveYouMore.com.

Today I have just a short video for you to watch in which July discusses her involvement with a museum display of the work from the Learning To Love You More website.

Yesterday I posted about one of my favorite films of all time, “You And Me And Everyone We Know” and discussed in short the films creator - a woman by the name of Miranda July.

As mentioned previously, July is a multi-talented artist and one of her most public pieces of work is a website called Learning To Love You More (www.LearningToLoveYouMore.com)

It is difficult to describe exactly what the site is an how it works, so let me take the description straight from the source:

Learning to Love You More is both a web site and series of non-web presentations comprised of work made by the general public in response to assignments given by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. Yuri Ono designs and manages the web site.

Participants accept an assignment, complete it by following the simple but specific instructions, send in the required report (photograph, text, video, etc), and see their work posted on-line. Like a recipe, meditation practice, or familiar song, the prescriptive nature of these assignments is intended to guide people towards their own experience.

Since Learning To Love You More is also an ever-changing series of exhibitions, screenings and radio broadcasts presented all over the world, participant’s documentation is also their submission for possible inclusion in one of these presentations. Past presentations have taken place at venues that include The Whitney Museum in NYC, Rhodes College in Memphis, TN, Aurora Picture Show in Houston, TX, The Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, WA, the Wattis Institute in San Francisco CA, among others.
Since LTLYM inception in 2002 over 5000 people have participated in the project.

The best way to get a feel for the site is to visit it and search around. At first you may think it a little strange, but as you delve deeper into it’s content, you’ll begin to realize just how special this website truely is.

The website is so popular that July has taken it around the world, exhibiting the site and its many artifacts in museums of all shapes and sizes.

Just recently the best of the material from the website was comprised in a book with the same name - Learning To Love You More.

Check out the website and let me know what you think! 

www.LearningToLoveYouMore.com

About two years ago I walked into the local video rental store and picked up a film titled, “Me And You And Everyone We Know.” I had never heard of it and was unaware of any of the actors in the film, but I decided to check it out anyway.

That night, before I went to sleep, I popped in the DVD and began to watch.

Before I knew it, the film was over and I couldn’t believe what had just happened. This film, of which I knew nothing about, was one of the greatest films I had ever seen!

It was about 3 AM by the time I finished the movie and I wanted to find the nearest person and tell them all about this film, but everyone was asleep. That night as I lay in bed, all I could think about was the genius behind this film. And over the next coupe weeks I began to do some research on the writer, director, and main actor in the film – a woman by the name of Miranda July.

It is difficult to put Miranda in any sort of category because she does so many things. In short, she is an artist – and an exceptional one at that. She does everything from make films, perform, write, and more! She is incredibly multi-talented… and I like people who can do all sorts of different things.

I’ll discuss Miranda July in more detail in future posts, but for now, go out and get yourself a copy of “Me And You And Everyone We Know.” You’ll either be totally blown away or left wondering to yourself, “What the hell was Darren talking about?”

Either way, I can promise you this: You’ve never seen another film quite like it!

Check out the video below for one of the classic scenes from the film:

I came across the video while performing a random “Stumble.” Check it out! You won’t be disappointed.

While out hiking today at Park City Mountain Resort, I came across the terrain park graveyard - a place where dozens of ramps, jumps, and rails (normally used for skiiers and snowboarders during the winter) are stored during the summer months.

I’ve spent two winters skiing at Park City Mountain Resort, but today was the first time that I ever really noticed the incredible artwork that is displayed on these large moveable ramps.

Yesterday I watched a documentary titled, “My Kid Could Paint That” about a 4-year old girl named Marla Olmstead who creates incredible abstract paintings that have sold for as much as $25,000 (maybe more!?).

In the film, you see this very young girl become swept up in International art fame and then with one foul swoop, lose it all. After a 60 Minutes expose, the claim is made that Marla is not the sole creator of her work – but that her dad is either entirely creating or at least helping to complete Marla’s finished works. I don’t want to say what happens in the end, because I want you to go out and watch the film, but I found the whole thing to be terribly fascinating.

After finishing the movie, I thought I would pick up some paint myself and see if I could create a piece of work that was as impressive as Marla’s.

Here are two examples of Marla’s work:

And now here is the painting I made last night.

What do you think? Who is the better painter? Is there any difference between Marla Olmstead’s work and my own?

Personally, I think she’s got me beat! But what do you think?

If you’d like to watch “My Kid Could Paint That” right now, you can get a digital copy of the film by clicking here. Or get the DVD here.