a.j. bond: hirsute.

For a while I was obsessed with time theory and the idea that for every decision we make time splits and continues on two different lines. It’s very “Sliding Doors.” Today there was a Jeremy that caught the streetcar at 8:45am, and one that missed it and caught the next streetcar at 8:50 am. And who knows how that will change the course of my life? With every decision by every person in the world creating an alternate timeline, it would take about a second for an almost innumerable amount of timelines to be created. In some we’re famous. In some we’ve already died. In some we cure HIV. In some, HIV never even existed in the first place.

If you think about it for along enough, you border on insanity. Seriously. Stop thinking about it…

The idea of unweaving the temporal fabric and twisting it to our will is explored in A.J. Bond’s short film “Hirsute.” Bond takes the fascination I had with alternate universes one step further by looking at what would happen if, instead of splitting into diverging timelines, the current you and another you were somehow able to meet one day. Produced by The Siblings, the production company Bond shares with his co-producer and director of photography Amy Belling, “Hirsute” is dreamy yet contained, and completely unafraid to stare the future right in the face.

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826LA: the echo park time travel mart.

Sometimes I come across something that’s so nut-bustingly rad, so pure win, so totally fucking awesome that I’m not sure what to say. This is one of those times. Behold the glory that is the Echo Park Time Travel Mart.

826LA is a non-profit writing and tutoring centre whose mission is two-fold: inspire kids to explore creative writing and inspire teachers to make it happen. Part of a national network of chapters across the US, 826 was co-founded by Dave Eggers, author of the brilliant “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius“. Clearly, these guys and gals are thinking outside of the box. That’s why they created the Echo Part Time Travel Mart as the store front to their new free writing lab. Sometimes, a door and foyer just isn’t cool enough…

Having it’s grand opening to the public last week, the Mart is fully stocked with all your various time travel needs:

Yes, you read that right. Mammoth Chunks. A-may-zing. Besides the unbridled fun of it all, the amount of detail and total commitment to fully flesh out each product blows my mind. They’ve also got a series of wines whose names come from the political and social ideologies of the year they were vintaged. It’s a history major’s wet dream. The wines include Nihilism (bottled in 1901), Optimism (1967), Romanticism (1818), Reaganism (1983), Socialism (1866), and Antidisestablishmentarianism (1871).

The crown jewel in this masterpiece is the space-age Slushee machine, complete with time-travelling out of order sign:

Imagine being a young writer and walking through all that full-on creativity before you get down to writing? Talk about inspiration, this makes me want to move to LA just to volunteer. 826 is my new favourite thing. If you’re in the LA area, 826LA is looking for good folks to help out with its tutoring and workshop programs. Send an email to iwanttohelp(at)862la(dot)com.