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M: So how does this...
Q: And the idea was that there was some kind of bonus aspect to the time, "Well there's Monkey Ball."
M: And I haven't played this in a year.
Q: Well, I took it away.
[Monkey falls]
M: God damn it.
Q: But this is just that extra little push to get us in the same room to talk about stuff.
M: We did talk about work, just not officially.
Q: That was a great conversation, and very focused as opposed, I think, to this.
M: I think it's my fault.
Q: Well, I'm watching the monkey. My eyes haven't drifted from the screen the whole time we've been talking. But I think...well, I was going to make some big pronouncement about the seriousness of artwork but decided against it. (both laugh) But it was something along the lines of how much work goes into making something look easy or kind of off the cuff. That takes time and effort and writing and planning and research and all these things.
M: It's all obstacles. There's one goal, I think. (both laugh) And along the way there are bananas.
Q: And occasionally you get a banana and those bananas get you down the road.
M: Otherwise how are you going to get your calcium? Is it calcium or vitamin D that bananas are full of? Or both?
Q: I think both.
M: I think bananas good for...
Q: Potassium!
M: Potassium! But it's good for depression.
Q: Well as an artist, definitely eat your bananas.
M: So, what else.
Q: Yeah it's definitely more difficult with the Monkey Ball.
M: I think making art there is always the need for a good amount of distraction.
Q: I definitely agree.
M: I can't just sit there a do research.
Q: No, I have to break up my time.
M: Well, the thing with the research now on the Internet is there are an endless amount of links that take you far from what you were trying to accomplish. Besides the distraction there is a good amount of randomness to it too. Sometimes I'll just type in whatever I'm researching into Google image search and something funny will come up. I think that in a way that’s actually how I write, by association. Monkeying around. (laughs) I'm trying to use as many monkey analogies as I can.
Q: Yeah, that's certainly appropriate.
M: Now that I think about it, I don't think I would make any of the work I'm making right now without the Internet. There's so much to the availability of links and associations that computers make. Sure there's the library, but I don't know, it's different.