Charlie Blog

NICEWERKS.COM

2008-03-27T23:47:00.002-04:00

if you've stumbled upon this antique of a blog via google or some ancient hieroglyphic map, you should know I don't live here anymore.

I am, however, finally (and after a long, unexplained abscence) "up and runnin" over at my new digs:

http://www.nicewerks.com

it's a portfolio / reel site I set up, and yep - - there's a blog.

GOODBYE, BLOGGER

2007-08-08T21:24:00.000-04:00

I know I hardly ever post anything here anymore, but that's just because i'm in an ebb as opposed to a flow (it's more like a wane than a wax.)

don't worry, though. I shall return in force. maybe even seven-fold.

but here's the NEWS.
it won't be HERE.

I'm working on building my very own website for a few various purposes (demo-reel, etc) - and although I've been catching some shit from the peanut gallery about not having anything "click-worthy" up yet, I really am in the process of puting it together.

today i migrated this blog over to it's new digs, and i must say i can see why people like wordpress better than blogger. it's just nicer in a lot of ways. (i have categories now, for example... and things are searchable, and it's just better.)

ANYFNWAY,
for bookmarking purposes::: the new location for the blog is:

http://www.nicewerks.com/blog

right now, the front page of nicewerks.com is just a "coming soon" page. eventually, it will be replaced with something a little more option-y and choice-y. the sketchbook thing will probably come back, too.

but this is all i'm doing today. Now i'm going to go eat some dinner.
and maybe get a little crunk.

BELIEVE IT!

Time to get some new reading material

2007-06-12T18:11:00.000-04:00

Apparently, McSweeney's distributor filed for bankruptcy a while back, and now they're feeling the crunch. Everything about this company is worth supporting -- from their faith in their writers and artists, to the writing workshops they do for those city-kids, to all the other great here-and-there things (Believer, Wolphin, McSweeneys.net). Everything they do is wonderful. It'd be real sad shame if they had to stop because of financial burdens.

Here's what they posted today that clued me in:

As you may know, it's been tough going for many independent publishers, McSweeney's included, since our distributor filed for bankruptcy last December 29. We lost about $130,000—actual earnings that were simply erased. Due to the intricacies of the settlement, the real hurt didn't hit right away, but it's hitting now. Like most small publishers, our business is basically a break-even proposition in the best of times, so there's really no way to absorb a loss that big.

We are committed to getting through and past this difficult time, and we're hoping you, the readers, who have from the start made McSweeney's possible, will help us.

This is not a huge company, and it probably is a textbook case in which every little bit helps. So check out their store and buy some stuff. Oh! and EVERYTHING is on sale - some stuff at steep discounts. (English as She is Spoke for $4.50?!)

They're auctioning off rare and cool inventory things, too, like books with little doodles in them by the authors, and the like -- Obviously, a lot of that is expensive, but the regular stuff isn't.

I picked up the Collins Library Bundle and What is the What (which I'd been meaning to get for a while now anyway) for not much more than it would've cost to buy only What is the What at Barnes and Noble, and this way I know I'm supporting a fine cause.

This is the kind of company that truly deserves success. Isn't it our responsibility to help them get there? They have a lot of cool stuff up for grabs, for cheap -- so It's a pretty win-win situation, if you ask me. And in case you don't know how to read, they even have some cool t-shirts. So no excuses. go forth! Save McSweeney's!

The Most Dangerous Catch

2007-06-06T17:07:00.000-04:00

I've been getting a kick out of Michael Scherer's coverage on Salon.com of the GOP debates - he does a run-down of the important bits "so you don't have to watch yourself." I have been watching them though, and he does a pretty good job of summarizing the main points while throwing in some pretty funny observations and the odd jab at Wolf Blitzer:

22 minutes. The microphones are squelching. Rigid Blitzer says, "If you are hearing some sounds out there, it's lightning." Lightning, of course, doesn't make sounds. Thunder makes sound. But lightning can cause electronics to belch noise. Blitzer, who appears to be built partly from electronics, is an authority.
...

67 minutes. Blitzer announces a break so chairs can be set up onstage. CNN cuts to Anderson Cooper and Larry King. Blah, blah. The Discovery Channel is showing a rerun of "Deadliest Catch." It's a good one. "Busted buoys, broken pots, and a blown engine have put the Northwestern more than a week behind schedule," reads the teaser.

Here's the link to article about last night's debate, and here's the one on the second debate; (I don't think he wrote one for the first, and I'm pretty sure this "format" is reserved for Republican debates only.)

Time is going by really, really, really, really slow

2007-05-25T13:30:00.000-04:00

I didn't make this, i just think it's funny

2007-05-22T16:41:00.000-04:00

Won't You Have Some Catnip Tea?

2007-02-23T23:27:00.000-05:00

Of course, we've all seen those tracts (and fake million dollar bills) that the more hardcore evangelicals like to hand out or leave in conspicuous places for sinners to find, right? (here's a pretty wonderful example; with plenty of apocalyptic/paranoid/luddite messages to go around. They've got something tailored for everybody, from your favorite potential bird flu victim to those poor Harry Potter fans, and just a dash of almost inexplicable content too: see the list on the left sidebar (trolls? dwarves!?))

Anyway, the point: I followed a link to a website for The Aquarian Tabernacle Church - a pagan organization- and found something pretty awesome. These pagans have made some tracts of their own, and they're just too good not to pass along. They do a nice job of putting the topic of proselytizing in a different perspective, which has merit as a polictical message, and it's a nice bonus that they're pretty funny. Check em out: the "anti-tracts."

I do realize that this is now the second time I've blogged about Pagans putting the Fundies/Evangelicals in their place; I guess I have a soft-spot for 'em. But some of you must be wondering if I'm thinking of becoming a WARLOCK!! (or maybe you're asking yourself if I already am one...!)

Well, I'm sorry to say, I'm not. But I must also admit that while browsing this website beyond the tracts pages, I found lots of interesting and informative reading and, generally speaking, these paigs (as I'm going to henceforth call them) do bring up some good points, and usually make them in a fairly rational way. Of course, they're a little crazy their own selves, but if you can get past the fact that many pagans seem to be named after fragraces in an air-freshener line co-designed by Edgar Allen Poe and J.R.R. Tolkien (i.e. Raven Wood; Iron Oak; etc), at least enough to take them semi-seriously, the articles about Samhain, Yule, Wiccan/Pagan Origins, and a letter to the Pope are pretty fascinating.

fffffffffffffffffffshit.... oh my god...

2007-01-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

this is simultaneously really funny and kinda sad:

ok... ready? hang on. ok. ready? ok.

2007-01-13T16:28:00.000-05:00

I found this really awesome website the other day called Long Awkward Pose. It's run by Katie Dippold, who is a comedy writer for MadTV and an improv performer for UCB Theatre; she also plays "Byte" in Gemberling, which is how I stumbled on her in the first place. Evidently, she's a genius.

Long Awkward Pose has a pretty straightforward and brilliant premise. From the site:

It's simple, really. People look foolish when posing for a picture. So tell your loved ones you would like to take their photo... then secretly videotape them the whole time.

That's it in a nutshell. It's a bunch of videos of people who think they're posing for a picture. It's hilarious. She posts a lot of videos of her coworkers at MadTV and her family members, but she also takes submissions. So far I've submitted five videos. I don't know if she'll put 'em up, but I'll link mine below so y'all can see. It's a really fun joke to pull on your friends, so I imagine I'll be doing more soon, and I'll post them here... at least until I run out of unsuspecting friends.

For now, check out the website, and here's what I got so far:

Zach in my living room
while watching Legend of the Hidden Temple:

Sean and Brandy at 97 Estoria:

Ian and Niki at 97 Estoria:

Christa in my kitchen:

Paul and Sheena in my living room:

Viva La Sketchbook

2007-01-07T20:25:00.000-05:00

For those of y'all who have been reading it, my old-sketchbook-pages-blog is up and running again. I hadn't updated since before Christmas 'cause I was out of town a lot, and since I've been back in Atlanta, I hadn't gotten around to scanning Sketchbook #4. But I finished that today, and I'm going back to daily updates.

For anyone who hasn't heard or checked it out yet, I'm posting a page a day from my old sketchbooks. I've been doing this for a while, and as of today, I'm starting #4, which begins in January 1998 (my senior year in high school) and wraps up sometime in the summer after graduation.

At first, I debated whether this is too narcissistic of a project, but I decided that it's ok because:

a) i like the idea of archiving my old work online, regardless of anyone else's interest.
b) however, some of my friends probably would want to see these drawings, especially if they are the subjects and/or have fond memories associated with them.
c) i would be interested in this type of project if someone else was doing it.

so there you have it.

The book I'm starting to post now is a pretty good one. (finally.) A lot of the early stuff leading up to this has been kinda crappy, but by my senior year, my style was developing, I had decided to go to art school, and I was drawing a lot. So there are some good pages to come.

In other words, if you haven't been looking at my sketchbook blog, this is a good time to get onboard. If you feel like checking it out, here's the link:

CHARLIE BOOK

If you're so inclined, bookmark it; I'll be updating daily. And if you're really SOOO inclined, I'd love any feedback or commentary.

AHHHH!!

2007-01-04T15:09:00.001-05:00

this is horrifying and awesome!

Buncha Parties, Buncha Pictures

2007-01-03T00:16:00.000-05:00

I just finished scanning a whole lotta polaroids from the three parties I attended in the last week or so; thought you'd like to see.

XMAS NIGHT at Will Anders' in Fairhope (10 photos)

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NEW YEAR'S EVE'S EVE at Jonathan Smith's in Fairhope (39 photos)

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NEW YEAR'S EVE at my place in ATL (75 photos)

Studio Apartments

2006-12-10T22:09:00.000-05:00

In 2002 at SCAD I made a short documentary as a final project for my advanced editing class. It's called "Studio Apartments," and it follows three musicians as they explore writing and recording music at home. The three musicians were, of course, friends and roommates of mine, but regardless of that bias, I still think it's a pretty decent video piece, and the music is good.

Almost all of my friends in Savannah were artists and/or musicians, and we were all playing around with writing and recording music with a different approach. At the same time, we were constantly bouncing our ideas off of each other. So when I decided to make a documentary, it was a logical step to focus on friends of mine who were also friends amongst themselves. The piece consists of separate interviews and recording footage, so you don't necessarily know that they know one another, but it's evident in other ways.

One reason that this is still interesting to me in the first place is that it's an early look at where these guys were coming from. They've all gone on to do some really great stuff, and are actively continuing to do really great stuff, so it's interesting to see what they were like when they were just starting to figure out what direction they would go in.

Everyone influenced everyone, and there was (and still is) a lot of overlap; during the production of this documentary, Paul Duncan was beginning to record his first album, To an Ambient Hollywood. He lived two doors down from me and Mickey Ladd, so we (and Joe) were all in on early critiques. After graduation, Paul and I were roommates in Atlanta, where he finished the first album and started work on his second. Home-Tapes, an indie label started by two other friends of ours, debuted with that record, and has gone on to become a really awesome, highly respected, successful endeavor; this year they had a showcase stage at the CMJ fest.

Meanwhile, Joe Stickney had moved to Brooklyn and was playing with several bands. My documentary focuses on his electronic music, but Joe is also THE bad-ass drummer. Joe currently plays with Bear in Heaven and just finished a tour with Rhys Chatham as the drummer for Rhys Chatham's Essentialist. After Atlanta, Paul joined Joe in New York, so nowadays Joe also drums in Paul's live band and contributed a lot to his second and third albums.

Since then, Mickey Ladd has kept it pretty low-key on the music tip, but he's still writing and recording little eagles of songs. He sends me mp3s from time to time, and it's really just a matter of time before his stuff will be in your ear, too.

Anyway, for those of you that already know these guys, personally or not, I thought you might get a kick out of seeing what they were doing a few years ago. I emailed Paul a clip and he said it was embarassing, but I beg to differ. Sure, they weren't as far along or musically developed as they are now, but this is historical stuff. I'm preserving it for posterity. Hopefully Paul won't mind too much.

If you've never heard of these folks before, check 'em out. Go to Home-Tapes and buy Paul's stuff. It is VERY GOOD. While you're there, buy some other stuff. Everything Home-Tapes has put out so far has been incredible. They have finely-tuned tastes.

Go to Paul's, Bear in Heaven's and Rhys Chatham's Essentialists myspace pages. Have a listen. I don't know if the latter dudes have anything for sale yet, but keep checking.

Mickey,(1, 2), doesn't have any records out yet, either, but I'll let you know as soon as he does.

so without further whatever, here's the documentary, (in 3 parts thanks to You Tube's file size limit.) Hope you enjoy; let me know what you think.

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one

two

three

Backpack Shenanigans

2006-12-07T16:42:00.000-05:00

This is a pretty funny example of the hypocrisy of the religious right - and also the influence they have on less-informed people who are totally oblivious to the fact that they are being manipulated into being hypocrites.

Evidently, the hilariouisly named Liberty Counsel, (a religious-right legal group (scary) affiliated with Jerry Falwell), sued Albemarie County in Virginia for discrimination for not letting some students at Hollymead Elementary School distribute flyers inviting everyone to Vacation Bible School. The lawsuit, believe it or not, actually persuaded the school to change its policy, and the kids were allowed to send the flyers home in every student's backpack. Alright! Great!

But, wouldn't you know it, those pesky Pagans wouldn't leave well-enough alone. A Charlottesville Unitarian-Universalist Church sent its own flyer home with the students:

“Have you ever wondered what ‘Holidays’ refers to?” reads the flier. “Everyone knows about Christmas – but what else are people celebrating in December? Why do we celebrate the way we do?”

The flier invites people to “an educational program for children of all ages (and their adults), where we’ll explore the traditions of December and their origins, followed by a Pagan ritual to celebrate Yule.”

It concludes, “Come for one or both parts and bring your curiosity.”

Pretty awesome. Now, of course, a bunch of parents, Christian bloggers, and religious leaders are all pissed off because another group is trying to exercise the "freedom" that they only really want for themselves. I especially appreciated this quote, from a Christian blogger/parent who noticed a disclaimer on the Pagan flyer:

“They [the school officials] aren’t endorsing or sponsoring this? Then it shouldn’t have been included in the Friday folders. The Friday folders have never been used for any thing other than school work and school board and/or County sanctioned/sponsored programs.”

She then fumed that a “pagan ritual” is “an educational experience my children don’t need.”

Here's the article.

Take it to the Limit

2006-12-01T03:21:00.000-05:00

Christmas Components

2006-11-29T14:26:00.000-05:00

"A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together." -- Garrison Keillor

"If they could, secularists would cancel Christmas as a holiday. That's how much they fear the exposition of the philosophy of Jesus." -- Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly and Garrison Keillor certainly and obviously hail from opposite sides of the tracks - but believe it or not, they actually share a tiny little piece of common ground. Sort of. Garrison, of course, is the voice of reason and wisdom to Bill's raving lunatic, but apparently they both want to keep Christmas in the world.

There are differences to their approaches, not surprisingly. Bill's solution to end the "War on Christmas" would be to force all non-christians to willingly defer rule to christianity and christian symbolism in public, without any "equal time" for other faiths, essentially because "we were here first," and any entity proposing a compromise that might omit the word Christ must be economically boycotted. O'Reilly sees any adaptation motivated by a sense of political correctness as a religious persecution against Christians, and the fundies love him for it.

So what about those of us libs who also happen to really like Christmas? This is where Garrison Keillor chimes in today on Salon:

"Whether or not you believe that the Creator of the Universe came to earth in the body of a child, the day itself is an enormous gift.

There are people who feel "excluded" by Christian symbolism and are offended by the manger and the angels and the Child, but there have always been humorless, legalistic people. Complaint is an American art form, and in our time it has been raised to an operatic level. To which one can only say: Get a life. When you go to France, you don't expect a stack of buckwheat pancakes for breakfast or Le Monde to print box scores. You're in France. Now you're in America. It's a Christian culture. Work with it."

His argument, (also against the over-compensation of the p.c.-minded), is more about recognizing the fact that the religious component of Christmas is actually a pretty small fragment of the already long-since secularized "Christmas season". He says there's plenty of room for non-christians to enjoy Christmas, and that the trappings of the season, with all the food, nostalgia, and carols do not require an adherence to any particular faith to be enjoyed.

Basically, his much more rational point of view is that, in our current society, it's true that Christianity was here first. Pretty early on, however, the Christmas holiday extravaganza got firmly established in the secular world and was commercialized in a million films, songs, and store promotions. There's all this great food, pretty lights, and kids love Santa Claus. It's a very American, capitalistic, and in the past 100 years, a hugely secular thing. I think what he's saying here is that if you're not Christian, or even if you're not religious at all, you can still eat the cookies and watch the rudolph special, and even still feel some goodwill towards men or something.

None of us, Garrison included, would ever want to live in the near-theocratic society that Bill-O's followers dream of. I don't think Garrison is suggesting that Christianity get any special treatment at Christmastime, or that any other religious holiday should be silenced, just that the reality is, there's a whole Christmas culture that a lot of people feel sentimental about and are really fond of, and he doesn't want it to disappear into a politically homogenized fog.

Politics aside, the majority of Garrison's piece is really about elucidating what's beautiful and wonderful about Christmas in the first place; why it's something that so many people care about at all. I particularly love how he first observes the season through the eyes of a little girl and then later, as an adult full of the pain of life - and the moment during Silent Night on Christmas Eve when all your Christmases meld into one.

If nothing else, at least we know Garrison Keillor can beat Bill O'Reilly at poetics.

///

Another Christmas-related item: The Sufjan Stevens: Songs for Christmas box set is out now. Last year, I blogged about three of these five E.P.s, as they weren't available to buy, but you could find them online. (Now the links go to this page.) I listened to them a lot and they're really great. I guess the story is that he does a Christmas E.P. with his friends every year as a tradition. I think the ones that were online were the first three years, 'cause the way Pitchfork writes about the more recent ones sounds like something I haven't heard yet. I would ask for this set for Christmas, but that doesn't really make sense... I want to be listening to this in the car on the way home, you know? Guess it's going on my grocery list.

///

Finally, while doing all this Christmas themed googling today, I came across this:

Not very secular, especially for characters that most people consider pretty secular, but I bet Garrison Keillor still likes it. And that Vince Guaraldi music is really something. Might be going on my grocery list also.

Demon-Republicans

2006-11-05T21:59:00.000-05:00

"I'm just not sure it's in our best interests to have a government led by demons!"

I'm a Real Person

2006-10-12T20:01:00.000-04:00

Some of you may remember my fortune cookie resume - well, I sent it to Boing-Boing a while back, and Xeni emailed me to say it seemed "kind of cool." ...which would have been enough to make me happy, but today, she included it in her Omakase links, complete with a "thanks to... Charlie B... etc" (at the bottom.)

I got on BB, thus breaking my long-standing record of never getting anything submitted posted. This pleases me! Here's the link.

It Stretches Your Body

2006-10-05T20:22:00.000-04:00

Another website of found letters - this one is pretty good - there aren't very many, and the layout sucks, but the actual letters are good finds. They seem extra weird to me. Especially the ones in the "Hollywood" category - I'm actually not exactly sure what the Hollywood connection is, actually, but they're definitely interesting. (see below for an example)

Dick Fucking Cheney

2006-10-03T16:24:00.000-04:00

This is beautiful -

(audio and mouths are from Scarface, case you wondered. and here's who made it. (and a QT link for better quality))

FINALLY

2006-09-30T18:56:00.000-04:00

"Most fresh spinach in the United States is "as safe as it was" before a nationwide E. coli outbreak, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said, revising a two-week-old consumer warning."

P.S. Page Me Later

2006-09-26T21:18:00.000-04:00

I found Found Magazine's website. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. I wish I still had the amazing note that was left on my car by some Savannah vandals after they wrecked the deer skull I had attached to my bumper. It was hilarious. I can't remember what it said exactly, but I loved it and I saved it, but it's vanished by now into the ether. Maybe it'll turn up again one day and I'll send it in to Found Mag. Here's what they're all about:

We collect found stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, doodles- anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life. Anything goes.

We certainly didn't invent the idea of found stuff being cool. Every time we visit our friends in other towns, someone's always got some kind of unbelievable discovered note or photo on their fridge. We decided to make a bunch of projects so that everyone can check out all the strange, hilarious and heartbreaking things people have picked up and passed our way.

You should read the rest of the about page... the note that started it all is pretty great... and then check out some of the finds, complete with brief explanations of the context in which they were discovered.

This is my favorite one for today:

Ralph's Note
FOUND by Jennifer in New York, New York
I had been playing my music (which can get pretty odd at times) one night in my apartment. The next day, I woke up to a lot of sounds outside my door. I opened my door to see paramedics taking away my neighbor. He had died, apparently during the night.

By the way, we lucky Atlantans can pick up the yearly paper version of the magazine at Criminal Records... Just so you know. I'm gonna be looking for it.

God, i love this stuff.

A Chaos of Conscious Forces

2006-09-25T22:24:00.000-04:00

Listen: I've been accumulating a pretty nice collection of bookmarks to various photo and imagery archives around the internets for a while now, with the intention of sharing. There is so much visual treasure just waiting to be looked at, from Soviet-era maps of the U.K. to photos developed from film found in cameras at antique stores and flea markets to hundreds of scans of old illustrations from the turn of the century.

[I have to disclaim that I've been turned on to a large majority of these collections via Boing Boing, (though I've found some on my own,) so if you're a regular BB reader, I ask you to forgive a little repetition. But I think some of y'all might not have seen this stuff, and I want you to.]

So I'm gonna start posting some of these archives regularly.

To start: a really nicely designed site about found photos from Buenos Aires.

And this:

'A city is, properly speaking, more poetic even than a countryside, for while Nature is a chaos of unconscious forces, a city is a chaos of conscious ones. The crest of the flower or the pattern of the lichen may or may not be significant symbols. But there is no stone in the street and no brick in the wall that is not actually a deliberate symbol -a message from some man, as much as if it were a telegram or a post-card. The narrowest street possesses, in every crook and twist of its intention, the soul of the man who built it.’

Well put, G.K. Chesterson.

By the way, I like the layout of this website. The photos are neatly separated into categories, and you get the thumbnails and the actual photo you're looking at in the same screen. Everything here is pretty good, but the "pieces" section is especially worth seeing.

Joe's a Real Person Now

2006-09-21T01:34:00.000-04:00

Our dear friend and comrade Joe Stickney has his name in print on a real life mostly respectable website - Pitchfork - for being a (rather integral) part of the Table of the Elements festival that took place at Eyedrum a couple weeks ago.

I wish I could've gone for the whole festival; it sounded, and apparently was, incredible. But it was expensive and I'm not a rich man. I did make it to the second to last night, and caught Tony Conrad's awesome violin intonation deal as well as Rhys Chatham's Essentialist (for which Joe was the "drummist") (or is it "drum-a-teer" ? who can say.) I also listened to a little bit of Leif Inge's 24 hr version of Beethoven's Ninth. But I couldn't stay for the whole thing.

Overall, it was a pretty impressive night of avant garde music, and everyone seemed to be really digging it. Also, somewhat coincidentally, there was a miniature reunion of a bunch of us former Savannah residents who all happened to be in town. It was real cool to hang with those dudes again for the first time in about 4 years.

Anyway, the point of all this is that Pitchfork did a nice "live review" piece on the festival, and Joe gets mentioned very favorably. In fact, the point at which his name comes up seems to be the moment when the reviewer noticed that everyone in the room was high on the awesomeness of everything, and Joe is given credit for bringing a new vital flavor to the pantry. So, way to go, Joe.

update 9.24.06:

Joe and the Rhys Chatham's Essentialist gang just got written up in Pitchfork AGAIN - twice in the same week. The new one is about the Wire Fest in Chicago on 9.20, which was the last stop on their tour, this time performing with the likes of Jandek and John McEntire.

The Pitchfork peeps really like Joe - here's the best quote:

Chatham addressed his young players with the intensive stare of a conductor, keeping time with strums on his own guitar rather than a baton. And his drummer (pitcured above) positively killed

What I want to know, is if Joe's been killing people in Chicago, shouldn't someone stop him? I mean, yeah, he's a great drummer. We all know that. But murder? Come on, Joe, you're not above the law.

Check out Joe sweatin' like a Viking on Pitchfork:

I am a Dog

2006-09-19T20:31:00.000-04:00

"He perked right up when we started calling him Charlie *B*. We chose the name Charlie because he just looked like one of those characters in the painting "Dogs Playing Poker". He just reminded us of a poker visor wearin', stogey hangin from his mouth kind of dog."

Drunken Drawings

2006-09-17T17:26:00.000-04:00

I found this website while browsing Jeremiah's Painting-a-Day blog (previous post) a while back... this hasn't been updated in months, so I guess it was a short-lived project, but there was some dang great drunk drawing happening here. I forgot how much I enjoy inebriated collaborative art making... I might need to give it a shot again sometime soon. anyone up for it?

neat

2006-09-16T00:43:00.000-04:00

This guy puts the rest of us lazy, procrastinating artists to shame.

A painting (just about) every day, and most of them are really good. And a lot of them are inspired by old Nintendo games and the internet. Lately, he's been doing YouTube portraits. There's even video of him painting. It's good. Look. You now have no choice but to click on the excitebike man.

Check Out My New Resume

2006-09-14T00:38:00.000-04:00

Reverse Graffiti

2006-09-13T17:08:00.000-04:00

Space Invaders are People!

2006-07-20T02:06:00.000-04:00

Saw this linked on Boing-Boing - awesome.

Here's the project's page.

Will Hamburger

2006-07-14T22:03:00.000-04:00

I was browsing the latest cool-person haircut-club music news on Pitchfork, and came across this amazing commercial for BPB's new joint - had to make sure you all see it. Two of my favorite Drag City slickers, powers combined. The last line is esp. Hamburgery... crack'd me up and down.

Neil Hamburger was in Atlanta a few nights ago, but I missed it. Dang. Geuss I should pay more attention. (speaking of Drag City-ers tho, I did catch Six Organs of Admittance at the EARL the other night and it was f'n badd to the awe to the some.)

Jackpot-aroid

2006-07-14T19:26:00.000-04:00

Major score in the Polaroid department - my awesome boss on We Are Marshall remembered that I'm a Polaroid-head and just gave me an entire case of film that was left over in hair/makeup/wardrobe land!

We're talking 30 double packs of instant gratification.

that's 600 pictures just waiting to be called from the ether into existence. So get ready, folks. I'm gonna be wantin' to take yer picture...

Mountain Menagerie: Bound, Shimmy, Slither

2006-07-14T14:53:00.000-04:00

For the Fourth of July weekend, a bunch of us drove up to Schmike's parent's lakehouse in the mountains. On the way up, we saw a deer bounding across the road and then into a meadow! It was one of those rare moments when, instead of catching a fleeting glimpse of a wild animal, we actually got to watch it for a little while. I mean, it was still pretty fleeting, but it was at least 15 or 20 seconds. It was pretty.

Then, about five minutes later, as we were making our way up the mountain, a driver coming hte opposite direction waved at us to stop. He said, "If y'all want to see something reallly cool, stop at the top of this hill and look to your right - there's a baby black bear climbing a tree right there! But be careful, 'cause you know where there's a baby..." and we said, in unison, "There's a Mama!"

Sure enough, as we crested the rise, we saw it, right at eye-level. While we were checking it out though, a car full of Uncle-Sam-hat-wearing 4th of July-ers was trying to get by us, and the road was so narrow that we had to just keep on trucking. So in the span of five minutes in the wild country we had seen a deer and a bear. Naturally, my camera was in my bag in the trunk at the time.

Once we arrived at the lakehouse, there was much drinking and eating and singing songs and dancing dances and swimming and eating and shooting off of fireworks. I did take a few pictures of these things.

Then on the way back, we saw a snake in the road. (camera was in the trunk.)

Billy Collins is a Moth on a Bell

2006-06-11T02:05:00.000-04:00

When the crew is shooting nights, I'm the skeleton who holds it down in the production office while everyone else is either on set or at home in bed. So a while back, we were at the end of a week of night shoots, I think it was a Friday night, and I was at the end of my day, which was really the beginning of Saturday morning. I tell you this to set the scene: I was driving home listening to the radio, which I very rarely do at 6 am on a Saturday, and I heard a show on Album 88 that I didn't know existed. (it's not on their current schedule, so maybe it doesn't.) It was a poetry show, and when I called in to ask who we were listening to, I was told that it was the first show they had ever done, and they were glad someone was out there to hear it. I hope it wasn't the last one, 'cause it was really good, and it introduced me to a poet whom I'd never heard of, and who I'd like you to meet.

Dude's name is Billy Collins, and he was the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003. In 2004, he was named the Poet Laureate of New York State, and he jokes about being the Poet Laureate of his zip code next. This guy is really something. I don't say this about everyone, but homeboy's a lyricist. He reminds me of a combination of Hemingway, Tom Robbins, and Shel Silverstein, in the sense that his poems are pretty declarative and straightforward, even though they often deal with some pretty cosmic concepts, but it's all tempered with a dry, playful wit, and somehow retains a sense of wonder and optimism. Those are my impressions, at least, based on what little I heard and subsequently read. I'm defintely not gonna claim to be an expert on the guy's work, but I'm looking into reading the rest of it.

I did find one website that has a lot of his stuff online, but it's really poorly designed and has ugly pop-ups, so check it at your own risk. A much nicer place to start would be here, where you can actually listen to Billy reading his work. I'm pretty sure this CD is what they were playing on the radio the other night. I would suggest listening to everything they have, but I especially liked "Japan," "Marginalia," and "Nostalgia."

You know, poetry has a bad rep, mainly because there are a lot of bad poets out there, and a lot of them love to read their stuff out loud. I know I've often said, and have oftened been agreed with, that I really like poetry, but hate poetry readings and dislike poets in general. But once in a while, I'll come across some really good stuff, and I have to admit that it's pretty enjoyable to hear it read by the poet.

Of course, I'm sure a huge reason why this stuff doesn't bother me is that Collins obviously doesn't take himself too seriously. He gets heavy sometimes, but then he'll catch you off-guard with something really funny... or, better yet, occasionally he'll pull off the extremely difficult maneuver of making you think he's being light and jokey for the whole thing until you get to the last line or stanza and he just knocks you out with something really startlingly profound. That's a move that is in danger of seeming pretentious, and is usually unsuccessful when attempted by the less skilled, but Billy makes it seem like the natural progression of his thoughts rather than some clever trick, and it works.

McDonald's Ripped Me Off and Gave Me a Stomach-Ache

2006-06-06T22:08:00.000-04:00

Has anyone seen this new(ish) McDonald's commercial that uses stop-motion animation with live actors? It starts out with a guy asleep in bed, who slides out from under the covers, onto his floor, and down the hallway, all while retaining his sleeping position. He continues out of his apartment, along a sidewalk, and into a McDonald's, all the while "sliding" along the ground, asleep. When he exits the restaurant, he has his coffee now, and he's awake and upright. It's a really cool commercial, well-executed and shot, and it's interesting the way it combines live action with animation. (I tried to find it online, but I couldn't. this looks cool, tho) Hopefully, some of you have seen it.

The funny thing is: I thought of that idea first. Ok, I know I can't say with certainty that no one ever came up with that before, because I'm sure someone has, and maybe someone even did it before me, (not that I know of, though.) The fact is, I shot a short film in 2002 while I lived in Savannah that is basically the same exact concept without the McDonald's or the coffee. Mine is more of a visual art piece that I put to music, but it totally involves a sleeping person sliding around her apartment without waking up, utilizing stop-motion animation. I seriously doubt a former classmate saw my film and then sold-out to McDonald's, but it is really funny (but not haha funny) that someone out there had the same exact idea. It also kinda sucks that my concept doesn't seem so original anymore. I wanted to put it in the local Underground Film Fest this year, since I know some of the organizers, but now I'm having second thoughts because it looks like I ripped off a McDonald's commercial. Fooey.

so... here's my movie:

If anyone can find McD's (much newer) version of my movie, send me the link and I'll put it here.

By the way, I am truly sorry and I humbly repent that this blog has kinda "gone fishin'" lately, but as y'all probably know, I've been working long, weird hours on We Are Marshall. I have, however, been loyally updating the Sketchbook blog every day, (even though no one seems to be paying any attention... ) (but that's ok, 'cause it hasn't gotten good yet.) (but come on, folks, you should still check it out once in a while if you're bored.)

I have also, just so you know, been collecting things to blog here. I have a bunch of stuff. I'm just saving it up for when I have time to put it on the table. proverbially, that is. no tables online. unless you're talking about html tables. but I wasn't talking about that kind of shit, and i hope you weren't either.

Ok, So I Haven't Submitted a Primary Photo, But...

2006-05-08T01:51:00.000-04:00

somebody just got listed on I to tha M to tha D to tha f'n B dot com, y'all

Steven Colbert Wins the Day

2006-04-30T23:02:00.000-04:00

Colbert was somehow granted an opportunity to speak (for about 20 minutes!) at the White House Press Corps Dinner... and absolutely rocked the mic. The President was not only in attendance, but was seated about 10 feet away from him, and Colbert didn't back down. The man's got balls of steel, y'all. Practically everything he said was simultaneously brutal and hilarious. The audience was seriously nervous - but still laughing. It was awesome. I followed a link Boing-Boing to watch the entire video... you've got to see it.

And hey, if it gets you in the mood for this sort of thing, why not rewatch Jon Stewart's inspired appearance on Crossfire?

big ol' people

2006-04-28T03:33:00.000-04:00

I came across an interesting link the other day on fark; it's a gallery (in russian haha) for this artist, Ron Mueck. He sculpts hyper-realistic people.. which we've all seen before - usually, hyper realism is cool for about five minutes in a gimmicky sort of way, but once the awe over sheer technical skill wears off, this sort of art often loses it's appeal to me. I would lump this stuff in with photorealism in painting; if it's so perfect, exact, and dehumanized that it looks just like the original photo, then it might as well be a photo and there's not much point in making a painting or a sculpture. This guy, however, is making me think twice.

Not only are his subjects really interesting characters to begin with, as opposed to a lot of the bland, 'everyday people' hyperreal sculpture I've seen out there, but he flips the script on you with the scale issue. Some of these people are freaking giants, and some of them are downright gnomey. And when you toss in the mad science this guy has with the realism factor, it's disconcerting to say the least. I really like this stuff - I bet it's amazing in person. Here are a few links: the russian gallery, wikipedia, flickr

Yeah, but what about the OTHER guy I look like...

2006-04-27T00:10:00.000-04:00

Everyone knows and everyone tells me that I look like "the guy from Iron & Wine," but lately I've been getting a new one. The other day, one of my film industry colleagues mentioned that I bear a bit of a resemblance to the dude in the new Fiona Apple video. I hadn't seen it, sorry... so she showed me on teh internets (it's really awesome, by the way, you should totally watch it) and it turns out that the guy is my newest doppleganger, Zach Galifianakis.

This actually isn't the first time I've been compared and/or contrasted to the Z-man. I've heard it a few times. I know it could be the beard. In fact, it probably is the beard, mainly. But let's also consider the razor-sharp wit. That's probably not a coincidence.

I must say, now that I think about it, that I'm proud to be included in the Sam Beam/Zach Galifianakis Beard-Mystery Club. Mr. & Wine is setting a fine example for all of us aspiring folksters looking to quietly rock the socks off some junebugs, and Z-Gal is a bad-ass in his own right - for one thing, he fuckin hangs out with Sarah Silverman, Fiona Apple, and Carrot Top. So yeah, cool. The captions in his "photos" section of his website are pretty funny, too.

Oh, lest I forget - also in the club: Doug Martsch. He has the same model beard as Holden and me. We told him once, after his solo set at the 40 Watt and he was like, "Dudes, it's like lookin' in a fuckin' mirror." Nice guy. I'm thinking about making a "Beard Mystery Club" T-shirt with that quote. It could be our motto.

The B could also be for Book

2006-04-23T19:34:00.000-04:00

Newsflash! I'm starting a new project. As many of you know, I have this thing for documentation/archiving/preservation/capturing-of-fleeting-moments. Evidence for this impulse of mine can be seen in my flickr sets of my entire polaroid collection*, my paintings, my post-it note drawings*, my aesthetic-phonetic project*, and maybe eventually my collection of ticket stubs for practically every movie I've seen in the past 10 years. I know, that's a little weird. But I like to collect things, and I especially like to archive and organize and document and preserve for posterity. I think it might be great one day to be able to show my kids what I was into and doing and creating from a young age onward... and in the meantime, my family and friends, too. My thinking is that if I continue to preserve these things, hopefully I can create a sort of seamless continuum that can connect my young self to my slightly older self, to my early adult self, to my middle aged self, to my retiree self, to my rickety old man self, and explain how each of those selves transitioned from one to the next. It's interesting to me, at least, as a kind of ongoing, neverending experiment.

So along those lines, when I was sixteen, I started keeping a "serious" sketchbook. I had sketchbooks before this, but they were mostly drawings of spaceships, airplanes, racecars, and teenage mutant ninja turtles. But when I started getting interested in creating real art for the first time, I was advised by my art teachers to buy a hard-bound blank-page sketchbook, and draw in it frequently, and keep it to look at later. So I did this... and I've been doing it ever since.

I really jumped on the sketchbook train. I loved the concept of it. I brought it with me everywhere. I drew in it at summer camp, at the beach, at school during PE, at home on the trampoline in the backyard, in planes, and at work. Early on, I made it clear to my friends (also burgeoning artists) that they were not only welcome, but encouraged to draw or write anything they felt like any time they wanted to in my sketchbooks. Sometimes I had more than one book going, but usually, the drawings and the books were completed chronologically, and I saved them all.

So in effect, these books became a pretty vivid document of my life from age 16 til now. I can look at certain pages and recall where I was and what was happening in detail - like the completely abstract elaborate scribbling in book 2 or 3 that I did at like 4 am when I was drunk at a fishing camp with my Baton Rouge friends waiting for a honey-soaked cigarette to come out of the oven (an experiment which failed dramatically). Or the drawing of the inside of the staff cottage at Camp Beckwith that I made during a particularly mellow rest-time after lunch with my swim shorts still wet from sailing - I remember the air conditioner was on too high and it was chilly. I know that this is pretty personal stuff that the average viewer wouldn't have any way of picking up on. But with my commentary, there's a pretty rich history of me and my friends in these books. And of course, there are other pages that certain people in the world would probably have a certain connection to and might like to see. Naturally, a lot of the drawings are bad, or meaningless, or uninteresting. But there are a few good ones, and a few that can be accompanied by good stories, and a few that are just funny.

So here's the project: I, Charlie B. Spaht, full of pretty good intentions, an ambition seasoned with a little bit of hubris, and a curiosity to see what'll happen if I do it, propose to create a new "blog" in which I will post scans of every page of my "serious" sketchbooks, in the order that they were created, starting with book #1 (which begins in December '96,) without skipping pages no matter how embarassing, one page per day, with commentary when relevant, until I reach the present day, at which point I guess I'll keep going, but maybe not once a day. In addition, at the point of completion for each book, I'll create a flickr set for easier reference (and organization).

I think this should be an interesting experiment. It should satisfy my need to collect and document my work, possibly explain a few things about what makes me tick, and at the least, provide a momentary diversion every day or so for a few of you.

So, if you're so inclined, check it, don't wreck it; and feel free to bookmark it:

CHARLIE BOOK

p.s. this blog isn't going away - I'll still be posting non-sketchbook-related items here. just sayin. don't forget about 'dre.

UPDATE: 6/28/06
SKETCHBOOK #1 on Flickr

UPDATE: 10/05/06
SKETCHBOOK #2 on Flickr

Speaking of Post-Its

2006-04-16T17:21:00.000-04:00

I just scanned a new batch of extra-fine post-it note artwork. I do these mostly at work, where post-it pads abound. I am actually pretty busy most of the day answering phones, copying and collating scripts, and restocking the refrigerator, but I inevitably find five minutes here and there for me to help a little drawing out into the world. I started putting these up on my wall next to where I sit to "personalize my space" but then I took 'em down to scan, so now my area's boring again. anyway, check it don't wreck it ~~~~

Good Friday was Wonderful

2006-04-16T16:22:00.000-04:00

Ian, Bill, Puma and I hosted a cookout in honor of the arrival of springtime this past friday, and The Wonderful decided to seize the opportunity to put on our first-ever show. We figured it would be a low key thing, with just our friends, so we wouldn't be too nervous.

While Ian manned the grill, we set up our gear in the backyard on that weird concrete thing that might have been a chimney foundation or a firepit at one time. We borrowed Puma's friend Mark's PA speakers, set up some good ol' tiki torches, and strategically placed a milk-crate of noisemakers on a blanket in front of the "stage" to allow for audience participation. Once everything was in place, we attempted a semi-successful sound check, then got busy on some beer and burgers.

Soon, magic-hour (eight o'clock,) was upon us, and we started our set. It went surprisingly well, especially considering the fact that Zach didn't have a monitor and later said that he couldn't really hear anything we were doing. Evidently, though, no one really noticed. Or at least they were polite and said they didn't. Either way, we had a good time playing, and I don't think we effed up very much or very often, and afterwards a few people told me that they liked it, so overall, I'm gonna go ahead and call it a win.

After we played, Puma and Jin got up and did a few impromptu numbers, and they sounded great. I had just been wishing (while playing) that I could be in the audience to see and hear what it was like, and then sure enough I got my chance. While they were doing their thing, I have to say that I was really enjoying the moment - still a little dusky but getting dark, a cold beer in hand, friends around, and spring/summer just beginning.

That is to say, it was nice. Thanks to all y'all who made it out, and for those who didn't, we'll hopefully be scheduling more shows soon. I know we already have one possibly in the works - a house show on saturday the 29th - that we'll hopefully confirm or deny shortly.

the collector's item of the night - a genuine setlist, on a post-it, from The Wonderful's first live performance ever.

extra special bonus - a genuine grocery list I had in my pocket which i must admit, had me a little worried for a second when we were about to start playing.

Here are a few photos from the evening.

update 4/19: the show on the 29th will not be happening - but we're putting other things in motion. things like magic spells.

Leprechauns and M&Ms

2006-04-15T22:33:00.000-04:00

Christa sent me these video links. i sure liked them. you sure will too.

My dad didn't mention anything about it, but apparently, there was a leprechaun sighting in Mobile, Alabama around St. Patrick's Day. It sounds crazy, but I don't know, man, these people really believe it. You should see the conviction in their eyes when they tell you "to me it looked like a leprechaun to me." and the amateur sketch is so lifelike... you just can't make this stuff up. shit, it even got on the news, so you know it's not fantasy... it gotta be for real. Here's the news clip: leprechaun in the hood.

and here's a remix video. frankly, I don't see the humor in making light of these people's traumatic encounter with a supernatural creature, but I guess some folks just don't have any consideration for other people's feelings. gosh.

Speaking of hilarious comedy at other people's expense: here is a hidden camera video showing what happens when a tourette's syndrome patient wakes up to discover a life-size M&M manequin standing next to his bed. Supposedly it was an "experiment" set up by his "psychiatrist." "crazy."

thanks, christa.

update: so right after I posted, I noticed the logo for "www.tourettesguy.com" in that last video. I checked it out, and there are a whole bunch more clips of the dude cussing and saying really strange things... but my impression now is that I think it might be fake. It's hard to say for sure, but it seems a little too funny to not be staged. However, the operative word there is funny. I can confirm that the other videos I looked at on the site are indeed pretty great. if he's an actor, he's got a good thing going. if it's the real deal, well... it just got weirder. but either way, we can enjoy it, so whatev.

another update: haha i didn't realize that christa had already posted all this stuff on her blog a couple of days ago. whoops. sorry to anyone who looks at both of our pages. but it is kind of awesome that we both independantly captured the same frame of the video with that beautiful drawing.

This Happens to Me All The Time

2006-03-18T12:54:00.000-05:00

clik

High Quality, Unadulterated, Columbian Stardust

2006-03-17T22:11:00.000-05:00

and 6 more

Happy F'n Pi Day

2006-03-14T22:23:00.000-05:00

y'all gonna love this (witcha spkrs on)

Really Awesome Robot Videos

2006-03-11T20:59:00.000-05:00

Boing Boing linked to this video of a robotic "pack-mule" designed by Boston Dynamics. It's really amazing, and kinda funny, especially when the scientist dude kicks it and it stumbles sideways and regains it's balance. I explored the other robots on their site, and they're all pretty great.

I love how robot designers are taking cues from animals and insects in their designs, and it's really nice to see the things actually work. I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg of what we'll see in our lives, and I like the fact that these utilitarian, functional, and totally practical robots happen to be such funny and fun-to-watch creatures. It's officially the future, and the robots are kinda adorable.

The Videos:
RHex - weird thing that can walk on anything
BigDog - pack-mule quadruped
LittleDog - small quadruped for locomotion research
RiSE - a tree and wall climber

Apache! Ah Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!

2006-03-07T21:17:00.000-05:00

Brave warriors, riders of the plains -
Apache 'pache boy! Apache 'pache boy!
Their land, strong earth -
They must be free -
Apache 'pache boy! Apache 'pache boy!
to live their own lives, free.
Free.
Apache!

- turn on yr spkrs -

Point Schmoint

2006-03-06T21:00:00.000-05:00

I don't know why I had never heard The Point!(w.) by Harry Nilsson until a few days ago when Paul Clifton loaned it to me as possible material for The Wonderful to cover, but please allow me to officially go on record that I find it to be delightful. All I really knew of Nilsson until recently was "Everybody's Talkin'" from the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack. I used to have it on vinyl and it's a good song. But The Point! is something completely different and unexpected.

Apparently, the original incarnation was an animated made for tv thing, which I'd love to see, (even tho the cover art looks baaad) but I didn't know about the film at first, and the record stands on its own. It's basically a concept album in the form of a children's story. Nilsson narrates the story over background music, which, on every other track turns into a song.

The story is a (very) thinly veiled allegory about non-conformism featuring a kid named Oblio who is the only round-headed person in a land in which everyone is pointy-headed. Oblio's mom knits him a pointy hat so he'll fit in, but it doesn't work and he gets banished to the Pointless Forest, where he encounters a Pterodactyl, among other weirdos. (Nilsson pronounces it terro-dac-TILE(!) He then wanders back to the town he was banished from, where they let him back in and everyone's points melt off.

The whole story is ridiculous and it's pretty obvious that it was conceived on an acid trip, (Nilsson says this: "I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to it.") In spite of all that, though, it's got that real 70's children's programming feel to it: drug-inspired, sort of socially educational, slightly subversive, wholesome and totally sincere.

It's so representative of the stuff I used to listen to on the old fisher price record player when I was a little kid that it brought back a lot of those memories even though I had never heard this particular story/album. I remember loving those kind of records; stories mixed with music that you could fall asleep to and have really nice dreams.

and the songs are really good.

Well, I'm Back.

2006-03-05T15:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I haven't updated this thing in almost two months. Why? Well, the main thing is that I'm no longer unemployed and bored. Also, I entered a hot-air balloon race around the world, crashed in the Himalayas, got in a fight with a Yeti, was kidnapped by opium smugglers and had to stowaway on a potato barge to escape. But the main thing is my new job, I guess.

Anyway, I want to try to get back on this train somewhat more regularly, 'cause I keep finding stuff I want to show and thinking of things I want to tell. First off: this is some great video to get the ball rolling anew. have at it.

Pink Laser Beams

2006-01-10T17:36:00.000-05:00

I was awake at dawn this morning, (believe it or not), and happened to snap these photos from my backyard.

It's always nice when a natural process like a sunrise converges with an artificial (perhaps sinister?) technology like airplane trails and you end up with something this unexpectedly beautiful.

Found Photos

2006-01-09T23:33:00.000-05:00

This website is amazing. It's like when you find a scrapbook in an antiques store and there are still pictures in it, except the photos are nowadays, and there's like 30 scrapbooks. Sound like a fantasy? Well, maybe, but it's for real. Seriously, folks, here's the story:

"The Found Photos started last year while searching for mp3's using a filesharing program. I was searching through someones shared file list and saw a folder named 'pictures'. I downloaded the folder and found 20 or so digital camera pictures of this persons life taking pictures of himself, his friends etc. It made me wonder what else was out there, and after searching for more photos I found hundreds, thousands of them shared to everyone."

I guess you could argue that websites like flickr are basically the same thing, but the difference is that this guy has weeded through all the truly boring crap and posted the really interestingly boring crap. I love the internet for this kind of stuff. click.

Hopkin Green Frog

2006-01-09T23:07:00.000-05:00

this isn't new; you've probably seen it before. but it's great. it's a total rip on all yr base, (w) but i can't help it. it's crackin me up. click.

Progress on the Polaroid Front

2005-12-29T21:38:00.000-05:00

I've just scanned and uploaded the latest batch of Polaroids. There are 10 from Korrine's Christmas party and about 25 from Will's. I also reversed the order of the set, so now the oldest pictures are at the end and the fresh ones are at the top. Get 'em while they're hot.

Updated: New Year's Eve is on there too in a major way.

Imagine What Your Life Would Be Like Without Selachophobia and Fear of Sharks

2005-12-29T18:24:00.000-05:00

1: selachophobia: a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of sharks , despite the understanding by the phobic individual and reassurance by others that there is no danger. 2: selachophobia: a strong fear of, dislike of, or aversion to sharks.

But so long as the negative association is powerful enough, the unconscious mind thinks: "Ahh, this whole thing is very dangerous. How do I keep myself from getting in this kind of situation again? I know, I'll attach terrible feelings to sharks, that way I'll steer clear in future and so be safe." Just like that selachophobia is born. Attaching emotions to situations is one of the primary ways that humans learn. Sometimes we just get the wiring wrong.
The actual phobia manifests itself in different ways. Some sufferers experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli. Everyone has their own unique formula for when and how to feel bad.

Apparently, Selachophobia can be financially draining, as well:

For anyone earning a living, the financial toll of this phobia is incalculable. Living with fear means you can never concentrate fully and give your best. Lost opportunities. Poor performance or grades. Promotions that pass you by. selachophobia will likely cost you tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your lifetime, let alone the cost to your health and quality of life.

Luckily, help has arrived.

They've hexed me w/perplexed intensities

2005-12-29T18:12:00.000-05:00

Holden has found my bizzaro alter-ego on the internet: a female slam-poet who posts on ghettosoul.com as "Charlie B." She's spittin' some pretty mad science, and she strikes deep into the heart of the soul of the dream of the wish. Check out her pain when she tells you she loves you, but you don't believe her. Contemplate the age old question of whether or not Love is "Fantasy or For Real?" and then marvel at the reality of this ode to dick flickin'. Pretty hectic.

Aesthetic Phoneticism

2005-12-14T23:27:00.000-05:00

Here's an attempt at an explanation of Aesthetic Phoneticism, an art idea that I came up with all by myself:

The basic concept is to produce a picture accompanied by a series of words that, when taken as a whole, simply look and sound nice on a purely aesthetic level with no inherent meaning or symbolism. It's kind of a boiled down, superficial (shallow? visceral?) form of art. It can be done in any medium that conveys imagery with sound. (look, hear, eye, ear). So far, mine are mostly drawings on paper.

The compositions are not planned out ahead of time; they're in the same neighborhood as automatic drawing, but with a little more conscious control. Words are (supposed to be) chosen strictly for their phonetic relation to each other rather than for meaning. It's not exactly like dada poetry, in which sound is emphasized, because the words are not selected at random. I am (usually) trying to make combinations of sounds that are separated from their definitions, although since it's a form of free association, associations do appear, (and are permitted to hang around). I tend to use near rhymes more than actual rhymes, because I like the idea of subtle sound and syntax connections and evolutionary changes in the sequences.

There's a dualism to the process for me, in the sense that the rules and constraints that I set for myself force me to work within this framework of non-meaning, while it's pretty much impossible (at least for me) to really adhere to that construct. My mind is constantly trying to insert symbolism and meaning into the drawings and words. I like that conflict, though, and really, it's a major part of the appeal for me. So I end up at kind of a halfway point between sense and nonsense. or calculated randomness. Non-representational representation. or something. Anyway, I like it that way; I find it to be more interesting, funnier, and somewhat revelatory.

In the interest of full-disclosure, many of these drawings were created after drinking a lot of beer, and two of them are in japanese.

So here are 20 drawings from the aesthetic phonetic sketchbook.

Does Sufjan Ever Sleepjan?

2005-12-13T17:54:00.000-05:00

Sufjan Stevens is so prolific - he must do a song a day to be able to put out so much material. I wonder how many artists/musicians have said half-jokingly or even in all seriousness that they would like to do a Christmas album - while they're still relevant in the music world - and then never got around to it or chickened out or weren't allowed by their labels. Well, Sufjan not only got around to it, but he recorded 3 e.p.'s worth of the stuff. Holden emailed me a link to this dude's blog where you can download all of it. (I know this is possibly old news to a lot of people... I think a lot of this stuff was released a while back... It sounds more like Seven Swans than Illinois... But I just got on it, and I got excited.) I love Christmas music. Sufjan's great. It's a good match. Here's the tracklist, and you can click the titles to download the stuff.

Vol. I Hark! Songs for Christmas

01 Silent Night
02 O Come O Come Emmanuel
03 We're Goin' to the Country!
04 Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming
05 It's Christmas! Let's Be Glad
06 Holy, Holy, etc.
07 Amazing Grace

Vol. II Hark! Songs for Christmas

01 Angels We Have Heard On High
02 Put the Lights on the Tree
03 Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
04 I Saw Three Ships
05 Only at Christmas Time
06 Once in David's Royal City
07 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
08 What Child Is This Anyway?
09 Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

Vol. III Ding! Dong! Songs for Christmas

01 O Come, O Come Emmanual
02 Come On! Let's Boogie to the Elf Dance!
03 We Three Kings of Orient Are
04 O Holy Night
05 That Was the Worst Christmas Ever
06 All the King's Horns
07 Ding! Dong!
08 The Friendly Beasts

Every Po Ever Laroided (Thusfar)

2005-12-13T01:50:00.000-05:00

well y'all, I've finally finished the daunting and slightly illogical task of scanning my entire polaroid collection (to date - the hotel party is at the end of the set) and it's online for your viewing pleasure. I've been a polaroid fanatic for a while now, and my photos go back to about 1999 when I got my camera. of course, since the film is expensive, the subject matter/times depicted tends to progress in leaps. whenever I could afford to buy a pack of film, it would usually be shot up all at once, and then I wouldn't shoot anything else for a while. so I guess these 374 snapshots probably represent somewhere around 40 or 50 specific days or nights sliced out of the past 6 years. interesting. (to me, at least.) (and probably to some of you, too.) I'm gonna go ahead and say that I'm planning to keep the flickr photoset updated as I shoot more pictures. we'll see if that really happens. but I did score a bunch of free film from the Toby Keith movie, and my dad says he has some packs of film for me from the FBI storage closet. so i've got no excuse to not keep it up. if you see me taking pictures, remind me to keep the ball rollin with the scannin. then everyone can have 'em, and the world will rejoice and be as one.

haircut

2005-12-03T18:29:00.000-05:00

New Orleans Now

2005-12-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

Since I've been in Baton Rouge for over a week now, I figured it would be inexcusable for me to not visit New Orleans at least once. So the other day, I joined my cousin Lance, his wife Erin, and our Aunt Andree on a trip through the city. Lance is a firefighter, and was involved in the rescue efforts after the hurricane, so he was a perfect guide to show us around. He knew a lot about what happened where, and what has been and is being done to recover. We all took a lot of pictures, and I'll be updating my flickr page with theirs when I get them. So far, you can at least check out my photos.

One thing that struck me was the sensation that some areas were not as bad as I thought, even to the point of seeming completely normal, and then other areas were absolutely as bad as you can imagine. The change was often a matter of turning a corner or crossing a block. For example, the French Quarter, fortunately, is on pretty high ground, so those old, dilapidated restaurants, bars, and shops that have been built upon older buildings that were built upon even older buildings are all still standing and functional. The electricity there was restored pretty quickly, and there are street vendors, tourists, and jazz musicians on the corners. The only noticeable change in the Quarter is that it's less crowded and there were a lot of hurricane katrina t-shirts for sale.

The next thing you know, you're practically in a third world country. As soon as you get out of the Quarter, there's no electricity, so all the intersections have temporary stop signs set up. There are gigantic piles of trash and rubble lining the streets. Dishwashers, refrigerators, & washers and dryers are lined up, outside, broken. One fridge had a graffiti message spraypainted on the door: "Do Not Open!" There were literally hundreds of abandoned cars, suvs, and trucks. Doors and trunks were wide open and windows were broken. Most of them were covered with a grayish white film leftover from the floodwater.

As we drove through the neighborhoods, we kept noticing the brown stain on garages, trees, and sides of houses where the waterline had been. Lance was especially aware of the fact that we were driving in places that were underwater a month and a half ago; he had seen the same neighborhoods from 6 to 10 feet higher in his boat, and he said everything seemed different from the "normal" angle.

There are signs everywhere you look, many handmade, for practically any kind of service that people in this situation would need. One said: "Computer flooded? We can retrieve your files." Another was for restoration of damaged photographs. Lots were advertising "home-gutting" and "de-molding". It was surreal to know that this is basically the only economy in New Orleans right now.

With the exception of the Quarter, just about all the "standard" businesses are closed, but we did find some nice suprises. Lance and Erin's favorite hole-in-the-wall Italian joint was up and running, so we had a great lunch, and there were some entrepreneurial-minded folks who had bare bones tent shops: like the barber cutting hair in a closed Shell station parking lot. Those people are mainly catering to FEMA and Red Cross employees, though. Other than relief workers, there are not many people around; it really feels like a ghost town, especially in the neighborhoods, where block after block is basically uninhabitable.

Now that the water is gone, there's a sense that the urgency and the emergency is over. But it's painfully obvious when you walk or drive around that the job of making New Orleans liveable, much less a nice place to be, is going to take a long, long, long-ass time. here's the link to the flickr jive.

The Wonderful Family

2005-11-14T23:44:00.000-05:00

Rennie from The Handsome Family likes our songs. Neat.

Halloween Times

2005-11-02T22:51:00.000-05:00

When I told my dad I was Jesus for Halloween, he said, "Good thing it wasn't rainin'... what with lightning, and all." Here are some photos from two Halloween parties: Ria's from from a few weeks ago, and the one at my place last weekend. If any other photographers (Petter?) have pictures from these or other recent costume extravaganzas (Lollie's?) get 'em to me and I'll add to the set. shazam.

Updated: Just added a bunch more photos to the set, thanks to Ben.

This Big Dog'll Fight When You Rattle His Caaaage

2005-10-26T21:10:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, I've been working for the Angel From Montgomery film production as a driver for Toby Keith and his gang. The production was featured on the local news this afternoon, and since I usually don't have anything better to do, they asked me to go home and tape it. Then, on my own, I figured I'd digitize it and upload it since I love Google Video so much. It's really just so I can give my mom the link. She'll be impressed. Here it is.

So Doggone Electric

2005-10-26T17:39:00.000-04:00

A while back, Holden shot a bunch of short video clips of his old roommate's dogs in their backyard with his digital camera. I edited them to the song So Electric, from Boulevard's recent e.p. Vice & Daring. It's kind of funny, so I put it online here for y'all to check it.

The Clock of the Long Now

2005-10-23T22:05:00.000-04:00

This project is pretty awe-inspiring -- This guy, Danny Hillis, and his team have created a design (and two prototypes so far) for a "clock" that will run for 10,000 years. The final version will be over 60 feet tall and embedded 10,000 feet up the side of a mountain in Nevada. It will display the time in several different modes, including the positions of the planets in orbit around the sun. It's essentially a digital clock, but it works mechanically (using pins in or out) to represent ones and zeroes. It was named by none other than Brian Eno. This is one of the most impressive and well thought out ideas I've heard of in a really long time, and I like it. The concept of creating a monument on this scale (physically, symbollically, and temporally) is something I'd like to see more of. Let's build us some pyramids! Here are links: the Discover Article, the Project's website, and a page about the 1st prototype.

Good Times at the G.P.

2005-10-23T18:36:00.000-04:00

Recently had some good drinkin' fun at the Gravity Pub. Here's some flickr photos from Christa's camera.