I just lost a whole post about this David Carson clip. It was kind of personal and discussed how I ventured into design in order to write. I got distracted along the way because of designers like David Carson. And the writing went away for awhile. I can't recreate that post, so you get this one. I'm not going to apologize. I'm just going to be glad when I move to WordPress and I won't lose a post if I accidentally click "Back" when I'm in preview mode reviewing a post. I'm really pissed, and I'm trying to not let it get to me right now, especially since there was a lot of other work I need to finish up, and instead I wrote this posts , not this one, but the one that's now gone. And now we're all stuck with a lesser, and less personal post.

The shame of it all is that I remembered the title and that this post actually had a point to make.

What if fonts were people? I've never posed this question to myself or anyone else, but I'm sure glad the folks at College Humor did. And just like anybody else, they don't seem to agree on anything. And they have trouble agreeing to disagree. And then there's this font called Ransom.

Font Conference @ College Humor

Today I was pondering a lot of different business/work decisions/ideas through my head on the way to my father's house. And when I arrived there was a blue jay on a wall, with a cardinal about 6 feet away on the grill. The jay was foraging, the cardinal...kinda just hangin'. I was fortunate enough to have a camera with me, but just unfortunate enough to have the cardinal fly off before I could start snapping. Although when I switched the camera to movie mode, the cardinal reappeared for a cameo before darting off again, kind of like what Christopher Walken does in some films.

Not long after, a gaggle of finches (don't know what to call it, but it was quite shy of a flock) came storming by like some sort of multiplayer whilring dervish, you know like binary stars, except with more than two. Must have been a courtship ritual with the young bucks trying to impress a dame. (It's really odd calling a finch a young buck, is it as odd to read?)

They departed as quickly as they arrived kind of like a teenage driver at a tangential relative's family function. The blue jay was completely nonplussed. He kind of looked at 'em like they were a bunch of fools, and went about his business. And yeah, it could have been a she, but I don't know enough about blue jays, except that they supposedly can be pretty nasty, but I believe that's when they perceive danger to their young, and I thing most of us would act the same, pecking on skulls and gouging out eyeballs and that sort of thing.

Anyway I thought this strange coupling may have been a sign that I was on to something with what I was thinking when I arrived, although then again maybe it was just a "Thanks for throwing down some new grass seed at the cemetery today, Son." Or maybe it means I should go ahead to that bird preserve I was thinking about with my son this weekend. You know, once you start thinking too much you tend to ruin everything.

And the thinking never ends. The thing with the blue jays and the eyeballs a few lines back got me thinking about that "slicing up eyeballs" line in "Debaser" by The Pixies. So even though my much imagined mp3 blog, hasn't happened...yet. I'm gonna drop some Pixies on you for a limited time, and if Charles or Kim want me to take it down sooner, I invite them to let me know.

Pixies - Debaser

UPDATE: July, 24, 2008: I now know a little more about birds than I did 2 months ago. My so-called finches were actually sparrows, and apparently I don't have the movie file with the blue jay and the cardinal. Oh well.

STORMTROOPER: Your landspeeder exceeds official Pinewood Derby length by 3/16 of an inch.

OBI-WAN KENOBI: My landspeeder passes the pre-race inspection.

STORMTROOPER: Your landspeeder passes the pre-race inspection.

OBI-WAN KENOBI: I may proceed to the race area.

STORMTROOPER: You may proceed to the race area.

OBI-WAN KENOBI: Move along.

STORMTROOPER: Move along.



Obi-Wan's appearance at the Pinewood Derby occurs between the events of Episode III and Episode IV.



My son and I built this over the course of two and half days for his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. I'm forgetting my father-in-law. He helped, too. I should go back and insert him in the first sentence, but this time there's no looking back. I think it was the ancient jedi sage Han Dhenli that summed it up best, "Don't look back...You can never look back." Or maybe it was that guy from the Eagles.

Yes, my son built it, too. It was his idea to do a Star Wars vehicle, and this one seemed like it would be the easiest, given my limited handiwork. He helped with the design, filing, sanding, and painting. And the fruits of our labors earned us the "People's Choice" award, out of roughly 30 cars. This award is voted on by his Cub Scout peers, and he told me didn't even vote for his own car.



No other racer saw this rear view of the car during the course of the race. And it's no fault of their own since they left us in a dust storm much like those on Tatooine. So we're especially proud of that "People's Choice" award, and the ribbon that generously awarded us a tie for 3rd our of the 4 cars in the Tiger Cub division.

I found another Star Wars Pinewood Derby car on the Internets. Nice X-Wing, Marshall Family.

When I hand my children paints and paintbrushes, I love the things they create, and you might too.

Of course, my kids ain't no Picasso, or Linsky even. Or are they?

An OmniNerd post linked to this Daily Mail article, about a boy and his paintbrush, and his mother, who was the impetus driving her son's art career. She's done an impressive job, as he's already sold a painting and been asked to exhibit in a German gallery.

And he's only two.

Mom took the piss out of the UK art world, but as far as I'm concerned, why should it matter? Seriously. If you like it, buy it and frame it. I've hung up some of my children's work, some in frames, some on the refrigerator.

Next time, I might even pick up a canvas and select a palette that will match one of our rooms, so that the next time they ask to paint, we'll get a La Raia original. Can you imagine how much it would cost to convince an artist to operate under you direction? I know Linsky doesn't work that cheap.

I loved how the mom called her son "an art critic and and a familiar face at major exhibitions". She herself is a freelance art critic, and has bringing the lad along to galleries since he was three months old. If the kid offered an opinion at least once during those visits, then her statement is indisputable.

JCPenney 1977 catalog photos, and commentary.

Because the kids need cover art for iTunes, that's why.

Right now I'm partial to #98. Yep the thumbnail. Go figure.

The nice thing is you can add a different graphic for each track. Things won't get stale that way. It's late so I won't listen to the whole album right now. But, in case you don't already know, here's where you can get Radiohead - In Rainbows.

I do. Really, I do. Dig Dug also has a kill screen.

See previous post for all about that. Or actually just a little about that. Then you have to click the link. I am conveniently not placing these links in this post, as I 'd like you to scroll down a bit instead. I dig my scroll wheel, too. Don't you?

My real reason for this post was to link to the Dig Dug inspired artwork featured in the thumbnail by Luke Chueh. And if you pronounce his last name in the one variation that's going through my head he's got as many Star Wars references as my second son has in his name. (Not intentional. But my friends have pointed them out to me. And my older son finds it quite cool. And cool has not been replaced by jealous, so that's good.)

And I might as well post a link to more Luke Chueh. Apparently he paints stuff that isn't Dig Dug related as well. And this post ends now, because I was about to put in such a God-awful that I can't even repeat to myself in my head. But involved "balance", and I will describe it no further and leave things cryptic, so the question mark dangles above your head as you scratch it.

Your head, not the question mark. Let the question mark scratch itself, you never asked the damn thing to float there above your head.

I recognize the Andre the Giant sticker from Shepard Fairey, but I'm not sure about the Wide Awake Jake sticker. Looks kinda familiar, yet not sure if I can place it. Click the photo for larger version. Or click here even.

What to do in the New Year? How 'bout make good on old blog promises? No one's holding me to them, since no one is reading anyway. So I will hold myself accountable and assume full responsibility like the fine upstanding individual I am.

In a post dated Sept 2, 2006, I listed a few thoughts for blog postings that were floating around my brain. One of which involved Joe Franklin. I had just been in New York for an IRS seminar, and during a 3 hour lunch break, (yeah, 3 hours, so don't call them between 12 and 3 during tax season, I guess) I ventured over to the nearby Museum of Television & Radio. I headed to the library and requested a few videos to watch. The selection room is quite nice. The professional staff looked quite professional and after selecting I moved to the viewing area. the viewing area was a more dingier place, with different sitting areas with smaller screen than the selection computers and some headsets, so as not to disturb the neighbors.

My choices were a Picasso documentary that had originally aired in the late 60's or early 70's on either CBS or NBC, (this is a few months ago people, please.) and the Ramones appearance on the Joe Franklin Show. I found both interesting, but will admit that sitting in a small desk area not unlike my computer setup at home staring at a screen was not how I really intended to spend my bit of spare time in New York City, when I was convinced that I could find the Ramones bit on YouTube (guess what? I can't. Can you? I can't. Can you? I can't.) I was more than a bit antsy, but both pieces of archival footage were interesting.

The Picasso documentary actually featured Pablo creating in real time in both paint and sculpture. I can't imagine a major television network ever doing something like this again. Art only seems to have a home these days on public television. And that is not a dis to public television, it's just unfortunate, because not everybody ventures to that realm of the remote.

The Joe Franklin clip is quite humorous, although Franklin was not familiar with the Ramones' body of work (or the pronunciation, must be seen, actually heard, for any effect, I refuse to phonetically try to recreate, I have faith that the Tubemasters of the Internets will find this footage, and we'll all share someday). But Joey and Marky, the two Ramones in attendance, were familiar with Joe Franklin's Memory Lane (the Joe Franklin link is above, one's enough).

Making good on old promises. I am so proactive in 2007, I even baked cookies already this year.

Fart rhymes with art, too. And that title is so corny that it has a similar aroma. This was meant to be a somewhat cultured post that has quickly degraded into the toilet.

I worked with my son on doing some drawing today. A lot of times we focus on letters, phonics, and a little math. But drawing is just as important, and it's been around longer than the rest as a form of communication. I probably would not talk about such personal things, but when I found a child's interpretation of Starry Night, I knew I was going to post. And that leads to the here and now.

2007 is the year the boys go to the museum, at least the older one.

The fairer side of Sudden Ensemble makes with the pretty pictures. (Sorry, wg.) Stolen Time features illustrations done on someone else's dime...when that someone is paying you for something else. We can't get the time back that we've worked for someone else, so sometimes we might as well make it our own. I may have even done such a thing at thisblogismyblog. You never can tell. Doreen Kirchner has illustrated, among other things, The Adventure of Royal Trux comic book.

Visit Galeri Baberton. Don't trip over the drunks. And, yes that's what they are. Use "View Image" on your browser and you'll see. The snoring is making me yearn for bed, and question why I'm not there already.

Note to dk: I like the monkey. My niece is in Guatemala and has witnessed spider monkeys in their natural habitat. As far as I know, none have given her a flower yet.

The Noyse Magazine has recently featured an interview/q&a with my former and probably future co-conspirator Peter Moraites. What do you do with 67,000+ (and counting) views on YouTube? I don't know either. Maybe Pete does.

Renetto knew what to do with it. Kind of.

And since I'm not going to type another post this evening. I Am Sorry Rat Trap. But I'm not actually sorry about anything, and that's the point. Thanks for being here.

YouTube needs Trackback.

Kittens and baby monkeys are friends.

Amazing photograph. Thanks to Hemmy.net for finding this for me. Hemmy found it at CityRag. So, I'd like to thank them even more.

But most of all, great job by *kazzie* for capturing and sharing this moment. Apparently she hung around watching them for over an hour. She's posted a lot of non-monkey/kitten cuddlefest photos as well.

I don't much care for bills. I care even less for paying them. i'm kind of paying them now, but not really. i've been looking at the katamari home page and david choe's web site.

Choe's site has a photo collage (it's in that pop-up window which is also the "news" link) which if you scroll down goes into detail about his hobby of setting up the perfect photos in GTA: San Andreas (this link is not to photos by David Choe, obviously). And since this site (thisblogismyblog, my parentheses are getting more annoying than ever, just pray that I don't scan through this one more time) hasn't commented on the Grand Theft franchise for awhile, why not mention it here. The GTA gamers will get some perspective outside of cheat codes and rumours.

I'm a big fan of Choe's art, I've picked up Bruised Fruit and Cursiv. But I'll admit it's been awhile since I flipped through. He pops up here and there in Giant Robot.

And while I'm on the subject of West Coast folks, I'll mention Pete(r) Moraites. And then I'll mention to him this posting. But by then he'd probably have read it. Or maybe not. Anyway...Pete is avisualmucialtitleanimatronillustrvidedirectninja guy. He's mad talented, and he's got something called focus working in his favor in the last few years. Like how Cyclops from the X-Men needs those goggles or fucking lasers just destroy all. I think he's got those goggles implanted in his brain or something.

Yeah...umm...well he's got a DVD release party happening which includes his video and music work (solo and as part of the duo, Salvador Dalek) It's this Saturday May 20th, beginning at 7PM at the Ocean Front Gallery, 801 Ocean Front Walk, Venice Beach, CA 90291. Full details here.

I figured I'd mention Pete's work or web site at some point or another. But not really when I was paying my bills thinking I was going to segway into more of a personal post, and then detouring via David Choe in Pete's direction. But posts have a way of writing themselves.

Oh yeah the Peter Moraites DVD is entitled Spelling Test. I hadn't mentioned that, and it will probably be better for everyone's Googling purposes now that I've told you. And he blogs here.