Mundane Tasks: Answering Email & Wrapping Presents

I spent many hours of my evening attempting to get my inbox down to a manageable size (under ten). I failed but there is still tomorrow. When Google searching "answering email," the following image pops up (which is appropriate in a bizarre way):



Image via.

I certainly fail at this in the 32 Most Important Email Etiquette Tips:

#6. Answer swiftly.

Ideally it would have been nice to finish wrapping presents instead. Photographs by Sarah Hobbs always are appropriate in times like this.


Sarah Hobbs, Untitled (Overcompensation), 2006

Two

Tereza Vlckova, Two, 2007-2008


Simen Johan, Untitled #163 from the series Until the Kingdom Comes, 2011


William Wegman, Lynn's Marks Mapped on Terry, 1970


Neal Slavin, International Twins Association, Muncie, Indiana 1976


Aaron Ruell, Untitled, 2004-2006


Aaron Ruell, Untitled, 2004-2006


Maia Flore, Maia Och Fiore


Vibeke Tandberg, Living Together, 1996


John Gossage, From The Fort of Maghera


Debra Broz, Twin Kittens, 2010


Cornelia Hediger


Jillian Ludwig, Love Whoopsies, 2009


Google Searching Diane Arbus's "Identical Twins"

Google's New Image Search

I thought I would try Google's new image search with the 5-tier cake image from Lake Superior. Thankfully it didn't find any other sources (wait... not even my website?) but I have to wonder at how it generates the "visually similar" photographs - particularly the seagull. Similarities in color = yes. Content = no. Guess I am just another landscape photographer.

Best Google Search Landing on this Website in Months

"Painting Schizophrenic Art Cat"

They were probably looking for Louis Wain who, according to Wikipedia: "was an English artist best known for his drawings, which consistently featured anthropomorphised large-eyed cats and kittens. In his later years he suffered from schizophrenia, which, according to some psychologists, can be seen in his works."

I will have over a thousand cats by the end of this trip to Oregon. Accumulating in mass here in the NW.

Two Lists Featuring Google Searches

Matt Belanger's Google Search for 2005

The first is from one of my favorite sources.

"Things I Have Needed to Google While Writing Poems to Turn In to My MFA Workshop"
Daniela Olszewska

"Train cases, blue lung, marines uniform underwear, correct pronunciation of caesura, suicide tree house cult, koi ponds, psikhushkas, doll with a head at both ends, how to defer student loan, yogurt mountain birthday club, Gwendolyn Brooks, can a penis literally break in half(?), circumstances under which you can sue your landlord, glove sizes, coach of Alabama football after Paul Bear Bryant, synchronized PMS, Mike the Headless Chicken—Colorado, queer heterosexualitied [sic], Polish vodka delivery to Tuscaloosa, how to build a sundial, [ex's name], types of beads that can go on a cardigan, rhyming dictionary, cloning elephants, elephants contagious disease, make up artist in movie Casino, diagram of steamboat, ingredients in egg cream, summer creative writing teaching jobs, dream interpretation: teeth falling out, Edward Gorey's coyote fur coat, Simpsons monorail song, [different ex's name], [name of press publishing the different ex's first full-length collection of poems], [name of woman mentioned in different ex's writer's bio], clonazepam, did umbrella stands exist in flapper era(?), ace of base all that she wants lyrics, cockroach poison safe for cats, Anne Sexton naked, Anne Sexton swimsuit, pink cowboy boots, varicose veins, best font for cover letters."

The second is a growing collection residing as a Sticky note on my desktop:
Words People Have Googled to Find My Website:

"Headclamps for photographic portraits"
"Jacinda Astoria"
"clamp ear self facial torture"
"hair over face"
"comic books shredded destroyed burned"
"Fear of Schizophrenia photography"
"inkjet insulator aggregation"
"smoked incessantly"
"ball made from foil from cigarette packs"
"jacinda naked"
"russell from device"
"Jacinda Arizona"
"Jacinda Mask"
"Wunderkammerkasten"
"artist statement about in her self portrait drawings"
"photography series griefing object"
"wrapping things in foil schizophrenia"
"jacinda let go"
"How to photograph muddy footprints from a crime scene"

To My Great Astonishment

When google searching images for the last post ("Ed Ruscha Nine Swimming Pools"), a few dozen images also appeared on the same page. Oh my... I don't know what to think of this.



Half of the blog, "In Search of the Center" has infiltrated Ed Ruscha on Google. Yikes.