it's a sailor's life for me

Apparently I have water on the brain. Or pirates. Or trash...

Two articles caught my eye today - both about living on the high seas: I Bought a Houseboat on ReadyMade.com - and Barging In to Venice on NYMag.com.



The first story is written by a guy who went ahead and bought a houseboat - which seems like a fine idea! - only to discover that the hull was made of trash...

My New York friends thought that running off with my girlfriend to live in a houseboat on the San Francisco Bay was a romantic fantasy come to life. But I knew the reality, and it was starting to smell.

And the other article is about how a group of NYC artists crashed the Venice Biennale - sailing in on boats made out of garbage straight from New York City...

This crew is Swoon’s big punk-rock family, and even though they’ll likely be broke after this project, they’ll take care of each other. “The culture of eating and building out of Dumpsters is not an endpoint, not what any of us wants to be doing,” Swoon says. “It’s about living off a bad culture that we wish didn’t exist and making the resources that contribute to that situation no longer available to you.” She curls a lock of hair around her finger. “You start to build something like these boats, and you can’t believe it yourself, but enthusiasm has a way of sparking other people,” she says. “What this project has shown me is that there is no place for pessimistic disbelief in the world; it’s just not useful. Once you’ve decided to be on the side of audacious wonder, beauty, and joy, you can’t go back.”

Interesting projects, both. Ahoy, mateys!