Happy Wifest?

Update! well, maybe not "update" but new post.

Sanderson, I can't seem to post comments on your blog... haven't been the last few posts. But of course I was right! now when do I get to see the piercing in real life? You should totally have a cookout! I think May 12th is good for me, how 'bout you? Can I plan a party at your house? in your backyard and all.

New diorama

I'm wanting to make a new diorama. Is anyone else interested in doing one? A mini dio party perhaps. Also I would be very interested to hear some suggestions of what YOU would like to see me do a diorama of.

weather report

it's snowing... in april.

Alanis' humps

If you didn't know it, I'm in love with Alanis Morissette... always have been. I find her music to be very smart and she seems to know how to live life. One thing I've always liked is that she freely admits her love for studid comedy... Anybody see her in Dogma?! Well, I think this video will show how funny (and clever) she is. Take that top 40 radio!

Jesus Sells

I'm watching a documentary on PBS about sister Aimee. She created one of the first ever mega-churches in L.A. in 1921 when she built the Angelus Temple that would hold 5,000 people, and broadcast her sermons on the radio. She was penticostal and got involved in politics, and founded the Church of the Four Square Gospel. Then she mysteriously dissapeared in 1926, lost at sea. It's debated if she staged her own dissapearence or was kidnapped, but she did return to L.A. after walking out of the desert of Mexico, and became the focus of a mediated trial.

all grown up

This is what I want to do when I grow up.

Chris Ware action

Now here we go!

I got the new Modest Mouse album with the last of my itunes gift card... If you liked Good News... then you'll like We Were Dead... The song Dashboard came on and I thought, this is so familiar, and then I remembered this Good stuff.
McMüller introduced me to the wonders of Bierkraft and treated me to a generous evening.
Lately I've been pondering what I want to do when I grow up... it's almost depressing.

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!

My hair is fixed! Thank you Rudy!

The first cut is the crappiest

I just got a really crap haircut. I've never really had one before so I guess it was time. I'm going to a new place tomorrow to get it fixed. When I was first dating thisisntjimmy, his friend, who I love to this day, gave him a literal bowl cut. It was heinous!! I was pissed at all invloved, but I got over it. Perhaps thisisntjimmy will be pissed at all involved or maybe he's not trite and small minded like his (ill coiffed) wife.

Finally

I'm on partial break this week so I'm enjoying myself! Now would be a great time to call me and get some good phone chats in.

down the drain

I washed my cell phone... I took it apart to dry it out, but that doesn't seem to be helping. Of course I don't have phone numbers written down anywhere and of course sprint doesn't use the card thingies that you can move from phone to phone. Send me an email with your contact info! I'm going to build a database in my computer's address book so the next phone I wash won't mean such a big problem.

thisisntwife

I'm blogging under the wife's account because i just updated her account to the new google user so that she will finally start blogging again.

also, the new teenage mutant ninja turtles movie looks bad... and why is it called TMNT? remember when new kids on the block tried to make a comeback and they called them NKOTB?

i'm blaaaahging

Our parked car was hit by a truck from one of the industrial joints on our block.

Honestly I'm sorta run down and in no mood for anything, but a good friend is in town and I've not seen her in a long time, so I'm excited to see her tomorrow.

From my office I just saw an aquaintance that also works here walking down the street... new haircut... sort of a mullet-mohawk thing going on.

I have a vague idea for an instalation... anybody wanna host it? I need a large fairly empty room....... oh and time to actually make it. anybody have time? I must, i'm blogging. crap... I just realized I owe a friend an email... Sorry Nat! I'll write it tomorrow... after I teach class, have lunch with another out-of-town friend, consult on an animation project, and clean the house for the first out-of-town friend that's staying the night. Oooohhh look at me, I'm so busy and cool.

OH, I threw some Smashing Pumpkins onto my ipod... sweeeeet.

I'm working on two huge projects at work... well... I'm avoiding two huge projects at work...

Culture Jamming

Read this article. http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Guide/A_Brief_History_of_Culture_Jamming
I think you'll enjoy it. I did.
Is there anything you would add to it?

related:
http://www.woostercollective.com/

sprawled out

Is it suburban scrawling or suburban sprawling? I read scrawling somewhere today but thought it was sprawling.

Will the wife ever blog again?

Will I decide on a research topic for my research class?

Do any of you have answers for these questions? Why is there a w in the word answer?

Brent Green

I've been trying to take the time to write this since Sunday night. Of course time is rare for me, but when I found a moment, I was too concerned that I wouldn't be able to write something honest and smart. Mr. McMüller introduced me to the world of Brent Green, and it could be the best thing he's done for me. Brent is a self-taught animator... outsider, DIY, independent, experimental... he's all those words people put emphasis on, and he deserves the recognition those words automatically grant. He's based in Pennsylvania, and my guess is that it's a part of the Appalachains. His animations (the newest being Paulina Hollers, his most talked about {online} being Hadacol Christmas, and my favorite being Carlin) have an organic feel because of the tools and mediums he works with. In Carlin, he appears to use life-sized figures for his stop-motion animation. The house of his childhood (I want to believe that it really is the home he grew up in) becomes a character, and he even seems to animate the light and shadows. Or maybe he just doesn't know how to light a scene. I have a soft spot for personal narrative films, and while perhaps the aunt he speaks of in Carlin didn't really exist, he talks with the passion and emotion as if he is recalling someone he really knew. He achieves the same feeling in Hadacol Christmas, which he made while reflecting on the death of his grandfather. It's been said by many people that his narration is similiar to a preacher, and I wouldn't be surprised if he based his excited monologues on the Southern Baptist preachers I grew up with. I was always afraid of the "suck-n-blow" preachers when I was young, but his speaking-without-breathing style brings so much to the films.
His solo show at the Bellwether gallary is gone, and there's nothing currently scheduled I can send you to. The only films I can find online are his older pieces that do not have the same energy and urgency of his newest work, though they are still worth taking a look at.

Months ago, after the wife and I left a Sufjan concert, I talked to her about how I wish I could make short films with that much emotion, but also something that had the staying power that music has. I can listen to a CD over and over and over. I want to know how to make something that people will want to watch on repeat the first week they own it. Something people throw on their iPod and watch often. I think Brent Green is headed in that direction.

http://nervousfilms.com/
http://www.bellwethergallery.com/artistsindex_01.cfm?fid=142
http://www.directorsnotes.com/2006/12/02/dn-ep-012-hadacol-christmas-brent-green/

Celebrate Good Times.... come on!

The Wife has a birthday today. woot woot

Also, in 3 days, the wife and man blog will celebrate a 1 year anniversary.

girls and guns

I had this weird dream where a little girl (in the dream she jumped between ages 3 and 8 and was sometimes related to me and not) killed 2 people by shooting them in the chest. I spent a long time deciding if I should turn her in or not (she did it completely on purpose) or take the blame myself. I thought I could rehabilitate her. I finally decided to tell her father and he turned her in to the police. It turned out to be for the best.

I rarely remember my dreams...

scar face

Sometimes when I get real upset or anxious or some other emotion, the scar between my eyes on my brow turns red and is very visible.
My dad had a scar in the same spot that did similar things.
Mine's from a bike wreck.
His earned him a Purple Heart.

'Attle do Donkey

Golden Globe and SAG Award winning, and Oscar Nominated, Eddie Murphy!!!

the criminal system

Mr. Lawyer Dude (see photo) finally emailed me back... he pseudo appologized. I wrote him back with critiques of the way his firm does business and suggestions to correct it. He wrote back and said "thank you".

If I ever do go to court, I want it to be like this, complete with a Steve Guttenberg cutout singing and Ally Sheedy receiving deserved respect.

My blogger name was never truer

A law firm in Nashville sued me on behalf of their client. After speaking to a lady from their office on the phone, she decided I wasn't the J----s -. C-----N they were looking for since I didn't buy a Chevy and then move to Texas without paying for it. The letter had been sent to my mom so I called the office without actually seeing the letter. I asked the lawyer office lady to fax it to me and she didn't understand why I would want to see it if it wasn't me. I continued to demand that she fax it to me. I was like "You're in an office right?" "well, ye-" "and there's a fax machine there right?" "yes but I-" "Then you can fax it to me." I gave her my fax number but she never faxed it. I called back the next day. She said her surpervisor told her not to fax it since it was a mistake. (my mom was able to have someone fax it to me though) I told her I wanted a letter stating that the law office had made a mistake and chose the wrong J----s -. C-----n out of the hundreds/thousands of us that exist. She couldn't understand why I would want a letter stating they made a mistake, and swore it wouldn't show up on my credit report. She also said that they noted on the file that the letter had been sent to the wrong person. I told her I needed a letter anyway stating the mistake had been made. "Well why would you need a letter if I'm telling you that we know it's not you?" "Ma'am, I just recieved a letter stating that I was being sued for $15,464.10. That's a lot of money right?" "Ye-" "Wouldn't you be upset to recieve a letter saying you were sued for that much money?" "Well, yes bu-" "Wouldn't you want a letter to prove that a mistake had been made?" "I just don't understand wh-" "Ma'am, all I'm asking for is a letter. That's not a lot." "Well, I'll talk to the lady in charge and see what I can do."

These are only snippets of the conversations in which I raised my voice and she said stupid things. I also emailed the lawyer that was on the letter and is a partner in the firm. I told him about the conversations with the lady and asked that I recieve a letter stating the mistake and that my mother recieve a letter of apology because of how upset she became when she thought I was being sued. I've not heard back from him. I'm tempted to call and speak with the lady again, but the wife told me to let her make the next phone call because she wouldn't yell at the woman. I'm not sure if that's true. It's funny because I used to be the kind of guy that wouldn't have raised my voice or have felt the need for this letter. I used to trust people and excuse mistakes, but this really pissed me off and I'm not ready to let it go. Not until I get my letter.

Somers Day Makes Me Feel Fine...

Highlights of the Suzanne Somers clip:

-At 23, 39 and 47seconds the other host, Colleen, emits an extremely high pitched squeal laugh
-At 31 seconds Suzanne hits the spoon in the coffee cup and recovers
-From 25-29 seconds Colleen bounces
-At 48 seconds Colleen chortles

edumucation

I'm very grateful for my scholarship and tuition assistance. This semester I have to pay $3 for school. Plus books and the such.
Just this morning I got my grade for my theory class... my teacher called me because I had emailed him saying I needed the grade for my employer. I got an A-... congratulate me. I was really nervous about that class. He liked my final paper, in which I said the Christian Right was killing christianity as a spirituality, and unless the Christian Left brought the focus back to the original intent of christianity, they'd finish it off.
I said that in 3200 words.
This semester I'm taking a research class and a digital design class (photoshop, illustrator and so on). Those are Wed. and Thurs. nights. Then I'm teaching a drawing class Saturdays 10am-1pm. The wife has a hectic schedule this semester too.

We can handle it.

And it actually snowed today! Hooray!

Hear All the Bombs Fade Away

I thought it was 'Here All the Bums Fade Away'... misunderstanding lyrics can be funny.

Happy New Year all.

I'm still waiting for one of my grades from last semester... the final paper was worth 80% of my grade, so I'm a bit nervous, and I have to get a least a B in the class to continue school.

Holiday Vacation was fun. We won $25 on scratchers with an initial investment of $5 that was gift money. It paid for dinner.
We went in the ocean and swam in the pools and lots of Floridian things. good times.

sleepy for meepy

I had Diet Coke too late tonight so I am still awaaaaaaaaaaaaake!

Home Sweet Home

Back from vacation, it's always good to be home. The pbf is setting up our new printer. Woot! The dog is in her super sheddy time of year so every day is blonde dog hair day!

I see the light

My final paper is almost done. It's due on Friday, and I feel confident I'll have it done by Wednesday. My last class is this evening... he owes us a makeup class so tonight is scheduled to be 4 hours (6pm-10pm). Soon, I'll be a free(er) man. We're flying out early Friday morning, so there's debate if we will do anything besides packing on Thursday night. I would like to run around the city on Thursday because I don't have to do anything. I'm thinking I want to go to the MOMA or the Whitney, and to see the tree and windows... stuff like that. Fight the tourists! I find an odd joy being in crowded tourist spots.

Now's the time to hangout with me! Well, I'm busy tonight and tomorrow night and probably packing wed. night, but if you want to run around touristy spots with me on Thursday, just say the word... this is a lame public invite to all. When we get back from Florida next Friday the 29th, I'll be free of work until the 2nd, and free of classes until late January, so it will be a great time to invite me over for dinner and games! (I do have some commisioned paintings to do sometime before classes get started back though.)

So Time announced their person of the year: "You". or Us or whatever. While I'm not sure why Time still holds any say in who the person of the year should be, I do believe they got it right. I'm very interested in seeing how user submitted media changes our cultures consumption. Due to the overwhelming amount of media to consume, will we be more careful in what we choose (ultimately requiring "hollywood" to create better work) or will we be lazier in our choices, consuming anything put in front of us. Viral videos are entertaining and viral for a reason, but even I've watched crappy angst ridden films created by highschoolers on youtube merely because they are there to be watched.

And that's my media rant for the day. I don't mean to sound like "I'm getting my masters and I want you to think that I'm smart," I just really find that intersting and think a lot of you do too.
Okay, spell check's not working, so getoverit.

***edit***
My boss says that it is very decadent for Time to choose "You" as the person of the year, which in his mind is choosing entertainment over politics. I believe "you" is inclusive, being open to entertainment, politics, and other realms.

parties parties everywhere

Tonight is the school-wide holiday party. I was going to skip it, but everybody I work with (via the phone) from other dept.'s kept asking if I would be there and my boss said it would be best if I were... looks bad if you skip. Free b-b-q and booze I guess... It's at Blue Smoke so that's cool.

Seems like every evening thing for work is on a Thurs. night.

I HAVE to start writing my 3500 word term paper tomorrow. it's 80% of my grade, barf.

I'm looking forward to my 1.5 weeks off from work! and my grad classes don't start back until the 3rd week of January, so that's good too. I've gotten a couple of commissions for paintings that I need to work on after christmas. (thanks for hanging my work in the coffee shop Heidi!)

Dreamgirls

Watch this.

Happy Christ

Christmas present shopping=1/2 soul oppression+1/2 joyful giving

Mac and caviar

Tonight I went to a reception at the NY Public Library and ate macaroni and cheese with caviar on top... then I read about the death of God in a postmodernity article on my way home. (at times I roll eyes at myself)

I'm doing too much I think... so do I quite my masters completely or do I just cut back to one class? I WILL get my MFA in the (near?) future.

I told my boss today that I dread coming to work. We discussed things to ease that.

To Make a Man

boop

Big bug

So the pbf and I have been watching the Macy's Parade. When the Big Bird balloon came by the feathers on his head seemed a bit limp and the pbf, in all honesty, said, "Oh no, Big Bird's losing air in his antennas." Yes folks, Big Bird's antennas.

Thanksgetting

Today I got a migraine. I get them occasionally. The highlight of the migraine was definitely barfing out of my nose. I had never done that before-wow it sucked! I'm pretty close to ship shape now. I just got a super high quality digital recorder for work and it's AMAZING! I expect sound samples from all of my faithful readers.

CAPS? REALLY JIMMY?

I KNOW THEY'RE ANNOYING, BUT MY FILM IS RENDERING AND IT'S DUE TOMORROW MORNING... (PUTTING ON CAPS LOCKS DOES THIS THING THAT ALLOWS IT TO RENDER QUICKER)

TODAY, THE TV SHOW 30 ROCK WAS FILMING ON THE BLOCK I WORK ON. (rendering complete... *bling*) I saw Tina Fey sitting in a restaurant eating with her co-star (the girl that plays Jenna). Tina was wearing a bad blond wig and a baseball cap. It was hilarious.
Time to go watch my film and make sure it's actually done this time.

Hugger mugger

I went to a dear friend's b-day party tonight with some more dear friends. The cap off to my glorious evening was being the sole witness to a violent mugging. Huzzah! I had to talk to lots of police and got to witness many police and ambulancy things first hand. I have to say that most of the experience was very different than on TV. I definitely was afraid that the ginormous and scary mugger would come after me, but he ran the other way. For that I am grateful. The police caught him minutes later. Congrats officers! My advice for wannabe star sole crime witnesses:

1) Back away from the situation to stay SAFE.
2) Simultaneous to backing away, try to get a good look at the face of the criminal because YOU may be called in to ID them.
3) When it's over stay around the scene of the crime and answer all of the questions the police may have.
4) Don't forget to tell them about a key piece of evidence until after they're gone (like I did, but they came back).

your space

so the wife has a psuedo myspace that i use sometimes to look up people. I was looking up old high school people and I found MY SISTER! and ANOTHER SISTER and MY MOTHER... wtf?

I also found this old girl from HS... she's married now and has three kids. Her myspace plays the mario song and "girls just want to have fun" as budweiser cans ran down the page.
Here are some excerpts, think of it as a cultural study:

Movies - Shag. Dirty Dancing. Crybaby. Grease
Television - American Idol. Rescue Me. Law &; Order SVU
Books - I hate reading unless it's the newspaper to hear gossip

Eye Color: BLUE
Hair Color: BLONDISH BROWN
Height: 5 FOOT
Right Handed or Left Handed: RIGHT
Your Heritage: WHITE
The Shoes You Wore Today: NIKES
Your Weakness: THE PHONE
Your Fears: BEIN ALONE
Your Perfect Pizza: PEPPERONI AND CHEESE
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST
Thoughts First Waking Up: OH GOD ITS MORNING ALREADY
Your Best Physical Feature: MY BUTT
Your Bedtime: WHENEVER
Your Most Missed Memory: MY PAPAW, HIGH SCHOOL
Pepsi or Coke: MT. DEW
MacDonalds or Burger King: MCDONALDS
Single or Group Dates: GROUP THEN SPLIT TO SINGLE
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: YUCK
Chocolate or Vanilla: CHOCOLATE
Cappuccino or Coffee: EITHER
Do you Smoke: FAITHFULLY
Do you Swear: MOST OF THE TIME
Do you Sing: YEP IM GONNA BE THE NEXT AMERICAN IDOL
Do you Shower Daily: YEP
Have you Been in Love: YEP
Do you want to go to College: BEEN THERE DONE THAT HATED IT
Do you want to get Married: ALREADY AM BUT NEVER AGAIN
Do you belive in yourself: YEA
Do you get Motion Sickness: NOPE
Are you a Health Freak: NOPE
Do you get along with your Parents: NOPE SHES A FRUIT LOOP
Do you like Thunderstorms: NO
Do you play an Instrument: HELL NO
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol: WHY HELL NO
In the past month have you been on Drugs: HELL NO NEVER
In the past month have you gone on a Date: NOPE
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:' NO
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos: NO
In the past month have you eaten Sushi: GROSS
In the past month have you been on Stage: NO
In the past month have you been Dumped: NO
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping: NO
In the past month have you Stolen Anything: NO
Ever been Drunk: HELL YEA PLENTY
Ever been called a Tease: YEP
Ever been Beaten up: YEP
Ever Shoplifted: NOPE
How do you want to Die: IN A CAR WRECK AND FAST
What do you want to be when you Grow Up: TOO LATE FOR THAT QUESTION
What country would you most like to Visit: SOME PLACE WITH SECLUDED BEACHES AND PALM TREES
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color: BLUE
Favourite Hair Color: DARK
Short or Long Hair: SHORT
Height: 5'--6'
Weight: NORMAL WITH MUSCLES
Best Clothing Style: TANK TOPS AND BLUE JEANS
Number of Drugs I have taken: NONE BUT I NEED VALUMES ONCE IN A WHILE
Number of CDs I own: TOO MANY TO COUNT I BORROWED AND NEVER RETURNED
Number of Piercings: 1 BELLY
Number of Tattoos: NOPE BUT I WANT A SHROOM ON MY PELVIC AREA THAT SAYS EAT ME!
Number of things in my Past I Regret: PLENTY! DATING THE IDIOTS I DID

I'm on fire.

Today I saw Sasha Radetsky, Sutton Foster and Steve Guttenberg! Yeah bitches, I'm amazing. I also finished a 3 day workshop with the former head of Voice for The Royal Shakespeare Company. We are going to do lunch in March. I'm jealous of myself. I just booked a coaching gig for a show that goes up in March. Also I might be working on a show that goes up in 3 weeks. Hopefully if I do end up working on it I will find out soon. Yeeps!

Spotting trotty

Today I walked behind Patti Lupone for a block. A quintessential NYC celebrity. She hollered for a taxi with her enormous voice-amazing.

Oppose something

During last night's theory class we discussed oppositional cultures such as mods, hippies, and punks. During their time, they were quite oppositional to mass-culture of the day, though now they have been controlled by mass culture and turned into fashion. There's a popular idea that there is no oppositional culture anymore, or that you have to look at things on a smaller scale to see oppositional cultures in play. Example: I no longer wear my lip ring because I like my teeth just the way they are. No one here cares if it's in or out, and the only reason I wore it in the first place was because I liked the way it looked. But anytime I'm in Tennessee I will wear the lip ring because I like the way it makes me opposing to some of my family. Kissing my grandmothers on the cheek with it is a hoot and hearing my cousin talk about how he'd like to beat up all the idiots with piercings is amusing. Body Modification as a culture is no longer oppositional in most of the world, but is in certain places.

The only culture that came up in class as an oppositional culture to the hegemony is The Politically Left-Leaning Christian. This group opposes the majority of Christians in the US and the majority of Liberals as well. I'd say the lefty christian is a vast thing ranging from the socially conscious believer to the tranny in her sunday best at her Gay Friendly church on Sunday morning. I think I want to study this "group" closer, as perhaps this is me... but do I really stand up and actively oppose things?

I voted today.
you should too

Sick and Pathetic

When one of us is sick, the other does a great job of taking care of them (ex. making soup, finding medicine, helping them rest, ect.), but when we're both sick, we just sit around the house eating junk food that doesn't help our bodies to heal.

On Sunday morning we walked the dog up to 4th ave. and watch the NYC marathon for a little while. We saw the leading pack and the group surrounding Armstrong and then all the average joes. Then we walked back home and saw the UPS marathon on the Gowanus Expressway. We started seeing lots of UPS trucks in a row driving along the expressway overpass that we can see from our stoop... I started counting after a few passed and counted a total of 73 brown delivery trucks... there must have been more. And no other traffic either. Perhaps they were shooting a commercial... perhaps they are moving headquarters... perhaps a millionaire bought lots and lots of toys for an orphanage and the trucks were on their way to deliver one of those "makes me wanna cry" moments in family movies.

No Shave Novembre

It begins. though, I'll probably end up trimming the goatee as the full beard grows in and shaving my neck... but still, full beard season is upon us.

I feel like I'm behind at work and school and home life too. This is the first 'semester' in a while that I've taken on so many responsibilities and at times I'm glad and at other times it feels like too much.

But I'm still available for bumper fixing and Haiku writing if anyone needs me.

Masculinity

The car is now fixed
Also my hands are dirty
and I feel manly

I was going to write a whole entry about masculinity but I decided instead to write a haiku about my evening that made me feel manly... is a haiku about masculinity ironic?

I was also going to write about how patient I was with my wife while lying under the car reattaching the bumper... years ago I would have been yelling within minutes, but I think I'm much calmer now.

Car alarmed

Having our car here has been really awesome. It's a perk, not a necessity, but it sure makes lots of things easy. Unfortunately our sweet little Honda Civic has also had its fair share of tragedy. In the slightly less than one year that we have had it here it has:

-gotten its front bumper slightly knocked off its seem
-gotten its front bumper scratched
-gotten its license plate stolen (we only have one so that was a pain)
-gotten its rear bumper scratched
and just THIS MORNING
-got its back bumper completely knocked off!

I'm especially annoyed because, of course, we weren't left a note or anything. Blarg!


***UPDATE***
The pbf fixed the bumper! Well, as fixed as it's gonna get. It took us an hour and a half and we had to go to Lowe's and we were laying under the car in the parking lot and the pbf got his new shoes greasy and his jacket and then we had White Castle and Brian had two margeritas!

Catch up!

BeBe's helping me to catch up on homework that I am behind on because of our vacation... I wouldn't trade the vacation in though.














Here's a sneak peek at the pictures from our trip though... when I have time I'll add more. Maybe I'll give flickr a try.

Lake Flacid... PLACID! I MEAN PLACID!

Friday morning we head to the Lake... don't come back til Monday evening. I'd type "gone fishin'" on the blog, but it's so cold there they've taken the boats off the lake and ice fishing hasn't started yet.

Early this week a friend that went vishing saturday night/sunday morning (36 hours) gave me a steak from his first ever sword fish and some tuna. It was tastey... made the wife eat some sword fish even though she's not a fish eater.

100th post for wife and man

I've been cranky as of late. To my wife, I'm sorry... (note the public apology is not the only one she will receive, but it gives me sex appeal, no?)

Having been in my job now for a year and a few months, I see that it is extremely cyclical, and the current cycle of producing next years registration catalog (scheduling faculty over a year in advance) is a stressful one. I make no apologies for blogging at work. My boss hinted that I should work from home today but if I did that I would have never left the bed today and that would be worse. Though, I suppose that's expected of people on a Friday the 13th. (my dad died on a friday the 13th... i'm just sayin'...)

Today is my favorite kind of weather... suns out and it's brisk and in the 50's.

Yesterday I was told that I look like Clint Howard... the other man standing there agreed completely... i don't see it.
Yesterday I had the music of The Delgados stuck in my head but I couldn't remember their band name for the life of me...

I'm going to go post some photoshop stuff on the media blog and then maybe call some faculty.

(blogger.com's spell check doesn't include blog or blogging... if I changed to their suggestions, I would be flogging on my bloc)

Stewing about my beef.

So, through this professional Voice & Speech group I belong to I have signed up to be mentored. I have been preliminarily paired up with two possible mentors! It would be very exciting on a personal and professional level to be in the classroom observing, making contacts, etc. Yesterday at 5:15 I had a first phone date scheduled with one of them. This particular woman is the head of the MFA Acting program at a prominent NY area College. We scheduled this last week, it's been on my calendar. Big Stuff.

Last night I made Beef Stew. I'm been cooking a lot since my teaching hours are great and the PBF is getting smart in Grad School. I follow the recipes and it takes me awhile but I'm learning and nothing has been a total disaster. Yet. I started my stew last night at 4 o'clock. Rinse. Peel. Chop. Cook. Drain. Add. Mix. Cook. Sit. I finished at 6:06. There I was checking my e-mail when my phone started to ring with an unknown NYC number. I asnwered and simultaneously realized I HAD MISSED MY PHONE DATE! Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! My mentor's smooth, voice greets me. I hooted and hollered about my Beef Stew. She now must think I'm crazy.

The worst first impression I have ever made.

soof-yawn

We went to the Sufjan Stevens show on Saturday night. It was really great. We're old fogies now so those shows in theaters where you sit are prefect for us.
His opener My Brightest Diamond was really good too.

I have to have a costume for Halloween time... In Sufjan glory, I'm considering dressing up as a State. What state would you like to see me be? I'm considering my birth state of Tennessee, but I'm open to suggestions... happy to try something different.

wife bags

McMüller wrote music for my video.

Groceries

Wanna go shopping with us? Of coure you do!

NOW WITH VIDEO!

warm tummy

I'm eating some kind of hot beef and vegetable and barley(?) soup. It's nice because I can feel the heat sliding down to my tummy.

Last night in class I was taking notes and the professor jumped topics so quickly I decided I needed to stop writing in print and start writing in cursive. I have no idea how long it's been since I've written in cursive but I couldn't do it! I mean, I tried and stuck with it, but it looks so bad and I spent too much time focusing on how to make letters than on the lecture. Naturally my cursive m's were cursive n's and my cursive r's were non-existent.

After class the wife and I had Thai with some old friends. They're both single and in their late 30's early 40's. They act like a married couple, but I could never actually see them being together.

Today is the wife's last day working at the zoo this year... yip yip!

Last night before class started I was talking to my table neighbors about the readings and discussing how we all google the stuff after we read it to find some clearer understanding. I told them that wikipedia had been quiet helpful and that from it I discovered that Heidegger (one of the authors) was a nazi... that helped explain some things... The two girls were like "you should bring that up tonight!" and then as our instructor was preparing the projector to show us a clip from Blade Runner he said "Does anyone know what Heidegger's political views were?" but I wasn't paying attention because I was excited to see a clip of Blade Runner (which I've never seen). The girls shouted in unison that I knew the answer but before I could figure out what they were talking about another guy shouts "He was a Nazi!" there went my chance of being the Apt Pupil (<--- oh man that's my best pun ever!!!)

Photos will come soon on my media blog, and perhaps the response paper that I wrote for my theory class... he graded on Pass/Fail but the P at the top of my paper looked more like a q and the "True, Nice" at the end looked more like a "See Me" (maybe I just was afraid of failing so I construed it to be bad... or maybe he forgot how to write in cursive too)

it's the most wonderful time of year

I did NOT want to leave the house this morning. I really just wanted to play hooky from work. I think part of that is because it really feels like fall. The temperature is supposed to stay in the 60s today which is perfect for opening the windows and bundling under some covers in the bed with hot coffee and a book. If I could have stayed home, I would have read all day. But I'm at work and that's fine because there's plenty to do. I'm sure that there will be more days like this in a few weeks that I can enjoy.

Every Christmas of my childhood my dad's dad would call my brother and I and read us "The Night Before Christmas." I rarely saw him. He left my grandmother when my dad was my age, and moved down to Georgia. He died when I was in high school. Cancer. My dad looks like him. I look like me dad. My dad left my mom when I was 13. Now he lives in Georgia. I wonder if he will call my kids every Christmas and read to them over the phone.

yellow teeth reward

I just finished a post on my media blog, so I'm rewarded with posting on wife et man.

Yesterday I was walking on 5th Ave. headed to see my academic advisor to get advice on academia. I was on the phone with the wife and I watch an elderly lady fall as she's crossing the street... her face smashed against the curb. I tell the wife "i gotta go", hang up, and am one of three people to help the lady stand. Of course her mouth and face are bleeding. The lady is in her late 60s, early 70s and I dont' think she's homeless, but she's rough around the edges (nasty fingernails, older very used clothes, ect.). She's having trouble talking, and I notice that she has nasty long yellow teeth. Then she reaches in her mouth and pulls out a couple. The Italian guy that has stopped has pulled out his cell phone and is asking "what is the number for 911" (seriously, I'm not making a bad joke). The lady dressed in scrubs (thank God there is a medical person here cause I HATE blood) is looking through her bag for tissues. The Italian guys puts his phone in my hand, "you talk. my english not so good." So I talk with 911 as he and the nurse lady help the lady apply pressure to her gaping holes. By this point, I notice a tooth had gone through her upper lip creating a large hole in her face where her old lady mustache is. I turn as not to vomit. As soon as 911 confirms an ambulance is on its way, I let the nurse know, hand the Italian man back his phone and let them know I am leaving. Again, I don't do trauma well.

But what I do do well is calling 911! I called my wife back to tell her what happened and she laughed and said she was glad I got in my annual 911 call. She jokes that I call 911 at least twice a year, more than anyone she knows. I promise, I don't call to chat. I see something (i.e. drunken idiots fighting in the street) and I call. By this point as soon as the operator answers, I know to imidiately tell them the borough I am in and the exact cross streets.

sleeping ain't easy

Last night I had my first Foundations of Media Theory class. The instructor ended up sitting right next to me... not a bad thing. He was nice and energetic and fun. Lots of reading each week with 4 750word papers will be due this semester and 1 3,200 word term paper. I came home excited about the work from my classes but fearful of the amounts. I think my social life (and blogging life outside of down time at work) will become non-existent.

I had left my phone on vibrate last night, so when my sister called at 1:30am, I had no idea. When another call from my oldest sister came at 3:30am the vibration of the phone on the dresser woke me up. I think I said something hateful to the wife about the phone, but this was just me talking through my sleep. She got up and grabbed the phone and we discovered it was my sister... she didn't leave a message and I couldn't get back through to her. There was a message from the 1:30am phone call, but it was blank. I called my middle sister at 3:40am even though I was afraid of waking her 2yr old. I figured it was important. Seems my mom had some kind of allergic reaction or something and went to the local hospital. Then they took her to a hospital in knoxville. I talked to my oldest sister this morning and she said mom was doing better but was staying for observation and might stay tonight. I'm sure I'll hear more later.

then I dreamed that one of my favorite bands, eisley, died in a car accident.

Then I got up, went to the gym, rode the train to work while reading for school, and now I'm here. Guess I should do some actual work now!

Go Bucks!

The wife is very dramatically watching the ohio state vs. texas game. She's cheering and making loud noises and screaming how she went to school with one of these guys.... This all after I said how much I hate watching sports on tv.

I had my first MA class today... foundations of media design. I have to keep a blog for the class. http://jimmysmediastudies.blogspot.com/
I went to art school... I'm very used to having to keep a sketchbook for a class, which was an option, but he'd prefer we keep a blog.
It's going to be a lot of work, and this is just one class... I have my other first class on Monday night... that will also be a lot of work too I'm sure. Anybody wanna take over my every other Tuesday night coffee shop gig?

Hoff

Watch this to the end. It's amazing.

Comment on your favorite part. Mine is when he's flying directly behind himself.

9-1-whaaaa?

Okay, seriously... I wish that the networks weren't planning on showing so many Sept. 11th shows. Or, just not airing them in NYC. Middle America and the south can 'enjoy' those programs if they want, but no thanks. I mean, I wouldn't want to watch a show about my father dying.

That's just my 2¢ but whatever. When the majority of NYC residents said they didn't want to go to war over the attacks on Sept. 11th, nobody really listened then either.

stepping off the box now.......

Foxy

I just watched the documentary "Outfoxed." It doesn't have the best production quality, but the information was really interesting, and scary.

Kiss kiss splash splash

I got a Sea Lion kiss today. It was from April.

baby shackles

Something about Justin Timberlake's new song SexyBack (http://myspace.com/justintimberlake) reminds me of McMüller's song that is with his video of serrating a peanut (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9057557839511555129&hl=en). Perhaps a lawsuit is in order.

3 Day Weekend!!! Followed by 4 10 hour work days and my first class on Saturday.

The weather has felt a bit like fall lately... I love fall. I love Winter. I love Spring. I kinda like Summer. I think I just enjoy season changes.

I'M bringing sexy back.

Pratt!

I was eating White Castle chicken rings on the hood of a U-Haul in Bed-Stuy last night across the street from Pratt around midnight. I watched some drug sells and a guy tried to sell us a TV. Crude jokes were made about how glass blowers make money and drunken bedwetters were made fun of. At one point I laughed soda into my sinuses and after yelling "there's coke in my nose!" I decided it wasn't the right neighborhood to keep repeating the phrase. I did give devil horns and yelled Pratt to some white freshmen leaving White Castle. I really don't know why I did that.

I registered for classes yesterday... Mondays 6pm-7:50pm and Saturdays 10-12:40.

Early to rise...

This morning was our campus wide staff meeting at the Kips Bay Lowes Cineplex... this is not as easy for me to reach as my office is... plus I usually come into work at 10:30, but I had to be there at 8:30ish... This meant getting out of bed at 6:30am. I didn't really sleep much last night... we're watching the McMüller's dog while they are off having fun. We can't sleep with two dogs in the bed, so Mo(sephine) sleeps in her crate... Mo's crate is a travel dog kennel made of nylon and mesh which she is able to move about the house in using it as if it were a giant hampster wheel. She started in the kitchen and we heard her walk it to directly in front of our door... it took her less than a minute to meneuver this and in doing so she blocked us into our bedroom. Then she whined alllllll night. She pooped for me outside at 6:35am though! Previously (blogged) she's pooped in the house.

I'm lost in a pile of work that must get done before classes start in about a week.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything above that line was written yesterday, but then the boss stepped into my office and I saved the draft real fast before I begain on the 1.5 hours of work that he gave me to do right as I was about to leave for home. I was going to leave at 5ish... I left at 6:30ish. The other day the boss gave me a backward compliment... something to the effect that Continuing Education Enrollement was up so much in the SUmmer that it put me on everybody's radar, and now Fall enrollment is already double what it was last year, and so I've set myself up... (he didn't say the following, but implied it) for failure.

Perhaps you've watched the red shoe Reel on my faux website? In it there is animation of a mother and daughter and the mother flies and turns into a stove... it was a project I did for a friend whose live action film needed animation for a dream sequence. It was actually really fun working with her as a director. I think the animation turned out beautifully... she had great ideas and even helped with making backgrounds and such... she storyboarded the whole scene... anyway, all that to say that I'm seeing her tonight when we go to have dinner with some friends... she's been in LA working for a (big name?) indie director who once worked as a stripper. I enjoy this ladies recent feature film, but I hear stories that she's quirky and hard to work for.
My friend's going to give me a copy of her film with my work in it and she's also going to give us our wedding video that she taped two years ago and has been editing since! hehehe Maybe one day we'll get our photos developed too.

I'm blogging to avoid work at this point.

Bu__Sh__:Redux

So I've recently finished teaching an intensive. It was wonderfully fun, and the students were great. I often get students who come from money or prestige or both. In one class I had a student who can be found in this picture. The only other hint I can give is that she is a direct descendant of our current Commander in Chief. In the same class I had the progeny of this woman. Good kids.

Note: Gracias Touchos, Mcmus y Himmy por helpo.

sooprgrll Friend Biography #3:Bettina

My first year and a half of college was spent at a private Catholic college in Pennsylvania. My first semester I had to take a writing seminar class. My teacher was a grad student named Bettina. She was plump and dowdy, with brown hair that was always going in gravity defying directions. Bettina and I hit it off. I payed attention in class and didn't talk too much. We used to get hot chocolate and sit in the cafeteria. She and her husband took me out for Chinese to celebrate me transferring to a different school. Bettina was a pop culture junkie, she was devastated when Gene Rayburn died. She was incapable of walking with an umbrella. Somehow it threw off her balance and she just couldn't walk. There were many times when we met and she was soaking wet. That was just how she rolled. She had really thick glasses with a maroon frame. They fit snugly over her perfecty button nose. She wore lots of broom skirts. I never saw her wear pants. I think the only reason I did well in her class was because we were friends.

I hope you are enjoying trivia under a cloudless sky Bettina.

itube

Well, I've done it. I'm online.
Someone made me a website, but part of me just hasn't cared enough about my work to put it out there... but today I found out that I could make a page easily with google (complete with generic layouts!). And then, using low quality youtube, I put my animations online too. Not sure how I feel about that yet... I never wanted them available online before, but now these films are old news, so why not? We'll see what happens. let me know what you think


http://jimmytheanimator.googlepages.com/

BeBe idiosyncrasies #2: Pees(ed) to Meet You

When we brought BeBe home for the first time, she promptly pooped in the living room and peed on a rug. She was told no, shown that she gets walked, and she was house broken for the next few months. Then, she suddenly decided to start peeing on our rugs everyday for 4 months or so... we began taking her out 3 times a day. She became house broken again and we were able to go back to walks in the morning and night. But now, she's developed an excitement pee. Occasionally when we come home from work, and almost always when we have a guest, she gets excited and urinates. Only little puddles, little trickles. Nothing major. The My Touchoses came over recently and BeBe was soooo excited she peed 3 times and puked once. They got to see her eat with her baby ball.

Spotting

Yesterday at work I spotted Rachael Ray and Didi Conn. Didi Conn's butt crack was showing. That was more of a spotting than I wanted.
I broiled chicken thanks to JB Fulmer and it was awesome!

Big Ad

Siggraph was fun... didn't explore Boston too much though... saw this and thought it was great http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2138178994239730121 It might have been better on the big screen than pixelated on the tiny screen.

I want a scanner... Preferably with an automated document feeder.

or a cintiq! http://wacom.com/lcdtablets/index.cfm

2 years

The Wife and I are lying in bed together... BeBe is between my legs licking her butt. My twin sister and her husband are in Times Square at the moment. In 1 hour and 5 minutes it will be our 2nd year wedding anniversary and in 14 hours I'm leaving town on a business trip and won't return until Thursday evening. Blah.

"what do you want to say?"
*kiss kiss kiss (on my shoulder)*

So much for joint posting.

Dark Side

Someone has taken the time to post 43minutes of the Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon playing with it... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4935715412555856092&hl=en
You have to admit that it's pretty fun. My mom and sisters and various friends watched Wizard of Oz with Dark Side of the Moon on occasions when I was a teen. It's good music and it does keep great time with the film.

I've got the Muppets playing...

Drawn.ca points us to a clever Clip Art video... http://oliverlaric.com/787cliparts.htm

My film She might be screened in August in L.A. and the same group may screen Jimmy's Nuts in the future. Also might be added to their DVD.

sooprgrll Friend Biography #2:Adam

I met Adam my freshman year of high school. I was new, he had been in that school system his whole life. I had the new girl funny thing down. He had the class clown thing down. We made fun of each other and got along heartily all 4 years. Adam did impressions, he was particularly adept at mimicking our history teacher who was deaf. It wasn't as mean as it sounds. He had a really warm smile and could put you at ease in no time. He was from the sticks so he did things like 4-H and I'm pretty sure at one point he drove a pick-up truck. We didn't keep in touch all that much after we graduated, ok, not really at all. But I thought fondly on him, something would make me think of him and I would smile and chuckle to myself. Adam was a good guy. A classic good guy. Not ridiculously so, just right. I got a call about 6 months ago from my best friend. I ignored the call. I listened to her message. Adam wrapped his car around a telephone pole and died on the scene. I went home and dug up my yearbooks. I found all of his pictures and cried. I'm still sad about it. I was one of the only kids from our small graduating class that didn't attend his funeral. I wrote a note on the online condolences, there is such a thing. On our online alumni directory his e-mail is still listed.

BeBe idiosyncrasies #1

When BeBe eats, she must have her yellow tennis ball with her (sometimes referred to as her baby). Unfortunately, due to the hilarity of our house, the kitchen floor is slanted, so when BeBe puts her ball on the ground next to her food dish, it rolls away. BeBe will put her baby ball down, watch it roll away as she takes quick bites of kibble, then run after it. She brings the ball back to her bowl and starts the cycle over. If she places the ball in the incorrect spot, it will roll under a shelf. She will then lay next to the shelf with ther legs and nose reaching as far under the shelf as she can get. If she can't reach the ball, she will begin whining... if we aren't in the room, she will begin barking. She cannot eat if the ball is out of her reach. She has had, on occasion, the genious to put the ball in the food bowl, but the drama is lost making this a technique she doesn't employ often.

(dedicated to the recently showered McMüllers who found this blog worthy)

I'm going on a post strike until The Wifest posts the next leg of her 'choose your own adventure' story.

On American Masters

Ertha Kitt (in her Ertha Kitty voice) - "... and I said to Jimmy, 'Jimmy, I don't like this car. This car is going to kill you." Speaking to her friend James Dean.

Other names used by friends of James Dean to refer to him in this PBS special... Jimmy James, Jiminey, Jim. These are also names used to address me at times. Don't call me Jim, that was my father... I don't care either way about Jiminey... I find Jimmy James amusing.

In Jimmy James' last movie, Giant, his cowboy character is playing with a rope while he talks to people. He nonchalantly puts a knot in the rope by flipping the end around, never actually using his hands on the knot.

Jimmy cherished The Little Prince the way many cherish the Bible. This documentary show chose to end Dean's story refering to this. They compare the ending of The Little Prince to the end of Jimmy's life. (l'll not give away the ending to Little Prince if you've not read it... you should read it.) But I'll say it was kind of a cheesy and odd way to end the show.

sooprgrll Friend Biography #1:Kat

i used to live in bed-stuy, brooklyn, in a three bedroom apartment with two of my college friends. one of them was kat. we had become fast friends over my last year of school. we would walk home from class and have dinner at this horrible dorm. she would have bowls and bowls of cereal. she was awesome. she worked at a sex shop for a while and i would ask her all about all the different dildos. i visited her while she was working and looked at the "edible underwear" which is really panty shaped fruit roll ups. she was very petite and pale, constantly changing her hair color, always wearing a black leather jacket. she was canadian so she articulated her consonants really well and would say canucky things like "pah-sta" and talk smack about the american healthcare system. kat was an actress, but one of the triple threat kind, sing like a doll, dance the dickens and act to boot, plus she was adorable (canadians!). she spent lots of time in her room listening to all sorts of punk music. our rent was split by the square foot of our rooms. hers was the lowest. i don't thing she ever really had a bed. more like mattresses stacked on the ground. she was the type of person that didn't really use hangars, instead she would pile things up. the few times i walked in her room i had to carefully navigate the patches of ground to step on lest i be swallowed alive by siouxsie sioux shirts. sitting on our other roommates' boy smelling futon we watched stargate, widescreen, on his 13 inch tv. we couldn't believe someone else liked that movie as much as the other one. kat and i aren't friends anymore, we had a stupid falling out over money. i hear occasional rumblings about her every so often.

wherever you are kat i wish much success and happiness in life.

and watching of stargate on a bigscreen tv.

double trouble

i was gonna blog about my double life but then i decided not too. instead i will tell of how i think the women's restroom at target is cleaned with hot pee. the women's restroom at target is cleansed with hot pee.

Motivation

I've decided to work on important changes in my life.

Also, though I'm not a fan of watching things in 3 inch that aren't meant to be seen that way, and though I wish you could scrub the videos, it's hard to really complain about this... the National Film Board of Canada (i'm so jealous of canadians for many reasons) has uploaded some of their most important works for all to see including films by Norman McLaren, Caroline Leaf, Paul Driessen, and many others... check it before you wreck it - http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/films/index.php

pipe dreams

Tonight, the "my touchoses" walked me home. Mr. Touchos let me smoke one of his pipes on the walk... It's been over two years since I'd smoked a pipe, so I didn't pack it tight enough and had problems keeping it lit (It probably looked like I was smoking a hash pipe because of how many time I had the lighter to my bowl) but damn if it wasn't good. Once I got home I went straight to my old pipe, admired it, and have been walking around with it in my mouth. I may need to go buy some tobaco.

I've also drug my banjo into the living room for the week and have been pretending to work through the lessons every night this week. Problem is I'm tone deaf, so who knows if the thing is even in tune.

things I have done because I can because the wife's away

1. Fell asleep with the TV on.

2. Ate peanut butter on white bread.

b-day ya'll

So I didn't stay nice... I called the person that pissed me off and left a 'not mean' but 'not nice' voice mail for her. That was thursday right before I left work at 9pm... I believe I still have a job.

My birthday is next Saturday! I (and my twin sister) were meant to be july 4th babies, but we decided to be 11 days late. I imagine that in present day labor would have been induced.

The wife goes away on a trip Monday and comes back on Friday. Then she works on Sunday, so perhaps there will not be any party on my birthday so she and I can have time together. But if you want to get me a gift might I recommend Sufjan Stevens' Avalanche or Flight, Vol. 3. (This is more of a hint to the wife for gifts than anyone else... but I think she's already gotten my gifts... but could be these are in the lot... and could be not... I'm sure I'll love whatever she gets me)

I just ordered pre-sale tickets to Sujan's show at NY Town Hall on Sept. 30th... Orchestra Row A! I'm excited.

This is me attempting to be nice when I want to hurt someone

It doesn't stop. There will always be people that choose to be bitchy with no good intent. Always there will be people that choose to feel they are superior though they needn't feel that way. It will always fill you with dread. The trick is moving beyond that. Knowing when care should be given to these people and knowing when not to fret. It's impossible to be an island, but trying to move on without these people is necessary, even if they do have seniority.

I hope you didn't miss the wife's explanation of the knife in the comments section in the previous post.

Ill diorama maker

The wife is sick (i'm ashamed that I gave her my illness), so I'm helping her post about the diorama she made. Here are pictures:


oh wait... that's my thinning hair... but she helped make that too...here's her diorama:












Something about this reminds me of the artwork from The Yellow Submarine (oh man, I think it's time to pull that out and watch it again... anybody wanna join me?!)
Our friends from out of town saw the diorama (and The Wifest's half complete diorama sitting in our house) and decided to go home and make their own. They declare dioramas to be the new knitting!

Now the artist will say a few words:

"personal nostalgia is very important to me. how can i enjoy positive aspects of my childhood? by dio-ing bitches!"

...well, that wasn't as much insight into her piece as I had hoped for, but you get the point.

Christopher Reeve: Man of Amazing Faces

We're watching the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. They're not aweful. They're fun enough. In Superman 3, Superman is exposed to something that's not quite kryptonite and it makes him go evil... blowing out the olympic torch and straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa! Christopher Reeve looks soooo different when he is evil... he doesn't look at all like himself, and it's amazing. I shan't say anymore as McMüller has done an amazing job for us already at Crude Futures, complete with animated gifs!

Man, it took me forever to figure out how to link that!

the red tent

last night we went to "broadway under the stars" with the mytouchos'. it was really fun, i got a few bug bites, saw a million people i knew, and had a generally excellent time. the finale included the patron saint of broadway, liza minelli, coming out and slurring...er...saying a few words. pbf said he knew it was her before she was introduced even though all he could see was someone in a red tent shirt. he says that under her shirt she wears a belt of flasks. he might be right.

in other spotting news i walked a block next to james rebhorn today.

foggy memories

I coughed myself out of be at 7:30 this morning.

I got a time machine and asked myself, "What's the stupidest thing I could do with this?... I know! Download and get hooked to Snood!"

My first drink of alcohol was at my Aunt and Uncles house. It was shortly after my dad died so I was either 15 or 16. My dad was a drinker and smoker when he was young... his last cigarette was on the night of his wedding and he stopped drinking when he had kids. When he and mom were dating, he got her drunk for the first time in her life, and when he took her home, he told her to go straight in and straight to her bedroom and not to talk to anyone. I grew up in a church that believed drinking was a sin. When I was young dad said that if I ever wanted to taste beer, to let him know because he'd rather I taste it at home than somewhere else... when I was in 5th grade I had a bad bike wreck and had to be driven to an emergency doctor's visit about an hour from home... dad and mom took me and they had to put some neon stuff that glowed under black light in my eyes to see if they were harmed. My parents thought it was really cool looking. On the late night drive home I reminded dad that when I was a teen he would buy me beer to taste and he denied he ever said it. So at my cousins house, when I was barely 16, I was with my sister that's 6? years older than me. One of our cousins, Julie, is her age, and the other, John, is probably 3 years older than me (i'm not good with ages). Also a lot of my sister's friends and cousin's friends were there... I'm not sure how I found myself in this situation, but you know I thought I was cool. We were playing poker, and John brought a case of beer home. His dad and mom got really mad at him (since he was under age and all) but then he gave them some beer and they got over it. Then he gave me a beer, and I looked at me sister and she gave me a look that was something like "whatever you wanna do". Beer was not for me. It's an acquired taste that took me years to acquire, but then John pulled the hard stuff out of the freezer. he poured me a shot of vodka and he kept refilling me and getting tickled at how much I was drinking. And the more I drank, the more poker games I won. I didn't think I was drunk and then they told me to walk to the couch, and I did and wobbled and giggled. I think we stayed up 'til sunrise that night. But I could be confusing that with one of the many similar nights that followed this.

I was in a summer program in high school where we would spend 6 weeks staying at a college and taking classes. One of the guy's dads helped him sneak vodka too us in lots of 20 ounce water bottles. When I went to college I decided not to drink until I was 21. On my 21st birthday, I was working as an RA for a highschool program, and had to stay in the dorm all night... I snuck myself in some zima and drank by myself with my girlfriend (now wife) in the room... that might be my lamest alcohol experience.

Come on over, we'll open up a bottle of wine, or break out some of our hard liquor that's rarely touched. I'm a rum guy, but we don't keep that stocked.

who me saw...mytouchos!

today i saw moby. i'm a crazy spotter folks!

over didit

I went to work today, then to the doctor, then back to work. I think I over did it. I'm back home now fighting with the dog over the couch. The doc gave me a perscription for some giant decongestant.
I woke up feeling a bit better, but I talked too much today and now my throat is back to being crap.

I like my doc. He always asks how works going and he always remembers that I work for a school. He lives in parkslope with his large family. There's a picture in his office of him with his 4 daughters and the girls have written in crayon all over the matte around the photo. It's cute. He's cute, he's a short, meek asain man.

I've been drinking a lot of tea. This morning I went to starbucks and ordered a calm tea and three of the workers were so shocked and then told me my iced venti americano was already made and I had to take it too... I gave it to my assistant. Right now I'm drinking throat coat tea with honey while I watch the world news.

Sotheby's will be auctioning off a bunch of Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers and such next week. His heirs have been trying to sell them for years, but no one (not even the government) would buy them because they wanted $15-$30million for them. The Government bought Nixon's watergate tapes for $18million.

Now the Simpsons is on... "Whoa coool... God is so in your face!"

I guess that's all. I promise once I'm unsick I will come up with some more witty blogs again.

larnx

Oh my gosh... I want to rip my throat out of my neck...

Doctor tomorrow.

In better news, X-Files just gets better and better with each season... I think Season 4 and what I have seen so far of Season 5 are outstanding.
Perhaps I'm becoming a dork.

Perhaps I'm blogging because I can't speak really.

i can't breath

I'm still sick and stayed home from work today... I spent the day on the couch, switching positions every few minutes so my congested nostril would clear, congesting the other nostril. The problem is that I was fighting with the dog over the couch... when I was ready to switch sides, she was just getting comfortable.


I watched some of the FIFA world cup yesterday... i'm not a sports person, but I think if I wanted to, I could enjoy watching futball regularly.

two thumbs down

I'm sick... throat's sore, coughing, headaches, all that fun stuff.

But it means I'm home watching Ebert and Roeper instead of going to church. A quick google search shows that Many people also hate Roeper and barely anyone loves the man. He's loud, obnoxious, and rude. He enjoys interupting Ebert (my main man) and looking down his nose at movies and people that like those movies.

I went to the MOMA with a bunch of college art students from out of town yesterday... they were all in awe which was fun to watch.

Who Nu

Today I saw Keanu Reeves at work, he is tall and definitely walks all ridiculous like in all of his films. But I'm not dissing because my friend Shauna that did video assist on Thumbsucker said he was really nice. Also ditzy. Shauna also got to know the incomparable Tilda Swinton on this same shoot. Shauna said that Tilda and I are very alike. I never really believed her, but I wanted to.

Crizazy

There is this crazy "church" based out of Kansas called Westboro Church, it's founder was this guy named Fred Phelps, his daughter now runs the church and her name is Shirley Phelps-Roper. She and her "congregation" like to do things such as picketing soldiers killed in Iraq's funerals. Nice and classy. Recently Shirley was on Fox News and the anchor Julie Banderas gives her a piece of her mind!!

Spotting

Today at the work I saw Marcia Gay Harden, or should I say she saw me. I was working so she looked at me and said thanks. Thanks Marcia Gay, thanks.

MoCCA

My old college roomie and his lovely lady are coming to visit this weekend. He does video game stuff and comics... she does gorgeous comics, illustrations, children's books, caricatures, and porn. We're going to MoCCA on Sunday, where I will be tempted to spend all my money on indie comics and prints. I will try to keep my wallet in my pocket.

Work has been extra stressful for the past two weeks. It continues to be so as I got a phone call from work on this saturday morning. I'm sure I've been a real pain to be around this week as I bring work stress home with me... and everywhere I go. I fear I've lost any passion I had regarding the job and I don't know how to get it back... and that effects all of me.

I'm stuck.

I saw a good film last night lent by the mcmullers... Sherman's March by Ross McElwee. It's a documentary of the personal narrative kind (my favorite).

I have this memory that randomly pops into my head sometimes... at the 2nd annual Tribeca Film Festival my thesis advisor was showing her film Set Set Spike and as a graduation gift she invited me to her screening and Q&A and to sort of shadow her as she did the filmmaker at a festival thing... free gifts and rubbing elbows and all. My advisor also gifted me with a VHS copy of Pigeon (and more) Within, a compilation of her films... I took the gift without telling her that I'd already bought the dvd months before (I later regifted the vhs)... I also never decided how I felt about her giving me her own work as a gift. BACK TO MY MEMORY... after the screening we were outside on the sidewalk talking to people... she was speaking to this balding middle aged man and I began a conversation with his daughter that appeared to be about my age. She was in college studying mathematics or something like that which was odd because her dad, mom, and siblings were all artists. Her dad had an experimental film in the festival that I've never seen, but she did such a great job describing it that I feel I have. Their family lived in the garden apt. of the building that JFK JR. lived in. When Jr. died, everyone swarmed the building, and from their apt., with the shades drawn on their windows, they could see all these legs of people surrounding the building. The father filmed these shadows of legs and that was the film in the festival. The daughter was goofy looking... she had short curly hair, big square glasses and large teeth and she was wearing a t-shirt and skirt and chucks... I remember flirting with her, even though I was dating the woman that is now my charming, lovely wife that will not kill me for noting this.

The car needs an oil change and the dog needs a checkup. I don't feel like doing any of this.

My lovely lady bumps

I have pretty sensitive skin. I have pretty severe allergies. These two things go together. Since I was little I have had something called Chronic Urticaria, this just means I get hives on my hands and feet, sometimes knees and elbows, during the summer, or when I go to warm climates. They are chronic because I will have them for weeks or months at a time. They do not itch, but they are pink bumps and they look gross and sometimes they make my fingers swell a bit. I'm pretty lucky because I rarely get them on my face, like some other people. I have what are called Cholinergic Urticaria, which means that I get my hives from my core body temperature being raised for long periods of time. This is a problem right now because I work an outdoor job and it's regularly in the 80's and 90's. Good times. The second week of marriage my skin became Dermagraphic. This literally means, "to write on the skin." This is a reaction defined by the raising of the skin whenever it got even slightly touched, I could actually write on my skin and with in seconds it would be raised and puffy. It was alarming but also awesome. The problem with my hives is that because they are a product of my body temperature, creams and other external products are useless. I take lots of prescription allergy meds and they sort of help, but only sort of.

Ring around the Posey

On Tuesday I spotted Parker Posey at work. She was with her little dog-as usual. I say as usual because it's the third time I've seen her. Soon I will post more about the ridiculousness of each sighting. I just finished talking to my mom and we were talking about folk artist Elijah Pierce, who I really like, and she was telling me about when she met him and saw him preach. Ok mom, you win.