Dave Pires

2008. What a year.

I slowly fell from the highest I have ever flown to the deepest I have ever been buried, and through it all this project has been here. As the New Year approaches, Swampsterbate dangles dangerously close to its first anniversary, and as a result I’m going to pile the pomp of the two occasions into one post.

I want to thank all of you for every single thought related to this project that you have passed back to me this year. It means the world and I hope that I have enriched your life as much as you have enriched mine. Stay open, stay creative, and always stay learning.

May the year 2009 run up in your school of thought and smack the principal.

Successful illusionists show people what they want to see. An audience expects to see magic, and that is what they get. The illusionist preys on the unconscious shortcuts your mind takes when interpreting the massive amount of information that is reality.

Reality will always be itself, but your interpreter of reality will always show you what you want to see. As a result I think that one of the greatest challenges we face in our day-to-day lives is seeing things for what they are, not what we want them to be.