Wishlist #2

It's that time of year... My birthday/Christmas fast approach, and I'm going to be a beacon of unabashed "ooh, look, shiny, pretty, expensive, please please please" just this last time.

Remember when I wanted the expensive Electroharmonix Loop Station? Well, I still do, BUT! at half the price and still super raw comes the Line6 DL4.

Less pretty, still would help me become the one man band I truly want to be. And believe me, that's really my only goal in life.

ALSO: Steady Tattoo does gift certificates. How great would it be if when I go home to see my new nephew I can also get started on my left sleeve? Amazing, I know. I haven't been poked since I finished my ribcage over a year and a half ago... I know for some people that seems like a very short time, but then again, you're incorrect.

(Tattoo by Poohki at Steady)


Glasses: If you know me, you know how much of an influence RUN-DMC had on me as a child (again: proof) And you might also know I have to buy new glasses because my old ones do not fix my astigmatism. What do these things have in common?

Cazal 607's.

You'll notice they come with a hefty price tag though. That's why I'm still blind at night.

THIS could potentially be me (it's actually Doze one, famous b-boy and now quite a fine painter)

Anyway, I know I'm stretching, but it's fun to dream, isn't it?

Conversation once colored by esteem...

Trees Grow Leaves

Least popular among the middle west.

It's an awesome feeling

I love Youtube.

Remember when my homework used to be writing papers?

Oil painting, the historical standard for excellence and beauty. Refined, sophisticated, elegant.

Hair Metal Zombie 35"x 24", my homework for painting class a few weeks ago.

Sorry about the quality of the picture, it's from my phone.

Overheard on the bus*, Volume 5

Yeah!!! My favorite feature is back! Overheard on the bus: *to be honest, it was a trolley.

Woman: Tony, Tony! I've got a banana.
Bus Driver: Yeah?
W: Yeah, it's real green. You want it?
BD: Sure.
W: Yeah, it's green, just put it on your counter. It's too green to eat now.
BD: Yeah.
W: Yeah, you can't eat it now, you'll get sick. It's too green still.
BD: Yeah.
Woman: Yeah, it'll be too hard, it'll make you sick. It's too green.
BD: Alright
Woman gets up, hands him banana
BD: What the fuck. I can't eat this until 2010.
W:Don't be ridiculous Tony, it'll be good tomorrow.
...
...
W: You know what, you like pizza? How about mushrooms, olives, pepperoni and onions?
BD: Nah, nah, I don't eat mushrooms or olives.
W: Good thing you told me. You work Wednesday? I'll bring you a pizza.
BD: Where's my pizza?
W: I'll bring it Wednesday.

At this point a man got up really fast to get up and smashed the top of his head on the ceiling.

M: OHHHHHH FUCKKKK! Sonofabitchfucker!

I believe the term "Sonofabitchfucker" is my new favorite piece of English.

Aaron Horkey

I first was became acquainted with Aaron Horkey at a show at what I believe is the now defunct OXOP gallery in Minneapolis. Let me try that again. I FIRST became acquainted with Horkey via his pseudonym. He had a way with letters (which has transferred to his type treatments) that was completely different than anyone I had ever seen. After that I got to know his fine art at one of the first Burlesque of North America group shows and it essentially blew my mind. Everyone over there is talented, but the Horkey paintings made my head explode. The rumor was that Horkey painted with a magnifying glass and a seven haired brush, and his paintings look three dimensional. It was the catalyst for me to start painting. I swear I went home that day and made my first painting.

(Click the image to enlarge)

Well, turns out now I'm studying illustration, and Horkey is the guy that I look at and say "Well, there's always a career in food service." He is an amazing draftsman and I basically curse my hands every time I see him churn out a new print.

Anyway, I thought I'd share.

Third Wind, It's a Celebration!

50 Hours awake and counting, I caught my third wind after a ten minute nap. My sense of time is completely eluding me now, which is weird. Um, oh yeah. This video:


If you were to ever ask Meg what I do when Prince or Michael Jackson is playing she will tell you that I have a secret affinity for doing these dances alone.

My friend Jeremy and I are planning a Prince vs MJ show where I will represent the hometown and play Prince and Jeremy will play Michael Jackson. Be on the look out for this show, it's sure to be a doozy.

Diabeetus

Today's Joke

Have you ever found yourself eating something, read the packaging, and immediately become nauseas? Usually this happens when someone finds out they are allergic to something in the ingredients or they find out that hot dogs aren't as wholesome as they appear. These things tend not to bother me, if I'm eating something delicious and then find out that it hats rats eyes as the main ingredient, it doesn't make me throw up. It leads to me hunting rats.

But don't let mislead you reader. Packaging doesn't only include the ingredients. No sir/ma'am/smirmam. For instance, sometimes companies make terrible mistakes in branding.

"Give us an example Emmanuel, right now you just sound crazy."

Old Dutch Potato Chips. There. I wish all potato chip companies just agreed to share the name "Deep Fried Potato Slices." that's all the information I need. You can start making them out of delicious rat eyes as long as that's the name.

"But why do you hate 'Old Dutch' so much?"

Because every time I grab a handful of those salty crinkle cuts (which is the worst chip cut), I feel like this is what I'm putting in my mouth:

This, by the way, is the first thing you get when you type "Old Dutch" into Google search. Blame it on me being a visual thinker, but I don't like to imagine each chip as a geriatric, telling me the same stories over and over as they limp down my throat with a walker. Even if it's not a person, then I just imagine a really old potato that traveled all the way from the Netherlands via steamboat to America, where it was made into a chip. Which might explain why I dislike their taste as well.

You may be accusing me of ageism right about now, but it was 'Young Dutch' then I'd just be thinking about eating babies. And while babies are arguably easier to stomach thanks to their size and lack of orthopedic shoes and bifocals, it's still gross. The moral of the story of course is to buy Tostitos. How can that name offend?

4:30 AM

Remember what the soundtrack to life was ten years ago?
I forgot how much of an influence house music had in the 1990's...





How similar are those two Vengaboys songs? they're essentially a different arpeggio button hit on the came keyboard with a synth horn. That's right, I figured you out!

Onibaba

"Yo Kid!"

"Whaddup Homie? I got crazy hiccups son!"
"Boo! Are they gone?"
"Nah son, they're driving my fucking crazy!"

I rented Onibaba from Netflix a couple of weeks ago. It was rather odd, but really beautifully shot. And I can't get over how ill that mask is. Will you carve me that mask and give it to me? I promise I won't wear it.

Blackroc

You hear this? It's incredible. Black Keys + Mos Def + Pharoe Monch + Jim Jones + Raekwon + RZA + ODB + Q-Tip + NOE + Ludacris + Nicole Wray + Billy danze = Blackroc.

I'm going to vouch for Mos Def mostly. I wish Mos Def would put out another album in the same vein as New Danger.

Advances in technology will give us more time for leisure

I don't know if it's the music or the narrator, but this video is really frightening to me. Perhaps made scarier by the fact that some of these things do exist, and I can only assume the others are on their way. Do you think that in medieval times people feared the advances of the horse drawn carriage and the modern science of superstition? Am I out of touch with today's youth?

Oh, that's why I'm cold

The heat is not working in my apartment, which is something I plan on remedying as soon as business hours start (two hours) and I can figure out what's wrong with the gas company.

As you can see it's 37 degrees. Indoors as well.



Also, why am I awake? Because I painted my face six times, and ate some walnuts. Walnuts don't really keep me awake, but sort of. Good Morning Blog.

EDIT: I realize now that I am not sleep deprived that rather than saying "painted my face" I should have said "painted six self portraits." I can only imagine the confusion that caused you today, oh plethora of readers.

Sexism v Racism

Recently I have become involved/studying more about feminism and gender equality.

For those of you who know me well you know that when I set off for college (the first time) I went to study "Creative Expression and Racial Relations/Social Justice." Really, that was the title I gave to my major (the Gallatin School at NYU let you create your own major). I have always been really interested in race relations, especially the ways which race operates in the United States. This stems, I believe, from growing up in two different countries where race is treated differently but with some similarities, as well as from growing up in predominately non-white neighborhoods but going to school in predominately white institutions. So, come my first year of school the majority of my courses pertained to studying race and racism, the African diaspora, and the legacies of racism that the institution of chattel slavery created in the United States.

This however, has been a limited scope of 'social justice.' I believe that as a male in this patriarchal society it has been easier for me to be aware of racial injustices and remain relatively ignorant to gender and sexually based injustices. Luckily I've become more aware over the last couple of years to the issues faced by women in this country, as well as those outside of heteronormative social construct. (Wow, that sounded like college talk). I've become aware of actions I'd been taking which made me not only complacent in this inequality but an actual agent of sexism and gender-bias. Luckily, like when I was first studying racism and it's proponents I have been slowly chipping away and I believe become a more active advocate of general equality.

I have to thank my sisters (congratulations on the marriage!) and my girlfriend for helping me take a more honest and revealing look at my actions and the general power structures that are in place. I appreciate having conversations around very general ideas of sexism, such as why cat-fighting is encouraged by both males and females, to more emotionally charged and personal revelations about customs of "picking up" women and things of that sort. One of the interesting and hardest parts for me to come to terms with has been the intersection of race and gender struggles. Often times these two positions are aligned in their fight for equality, yet they have often been pitted against each other and used to suppress one another. I had an interesting debate, for instance, while applying a collage to my coffee table, about whether or not it was appropriate to place an image of Huey P. Newton next to a white woman with a crown... Because both of these positions come with emotional ties and are so charged, it becomes important for each side to remove itself and be able to see the other side of the argument. I do not believe that these two positions are fundamentally opposed, but it is tricky to navigate the way that different systems of power play out in various scenarios.

Anyway, I wanted to reflect, because I heard some particularly offensive gender-based comment made by a professor today, and I think if I had heard it a few years ago I wouldn't have even noticed that it was offensive or have taken action against it. Anyway, I encourage everyone to be more aware of all types of inequality in their everyday lives. It will only lead to us all creating a more equal world, (and I hate the word 'tolerance.' Being able to 'tolerate' something means begrudgingly accepting differences. I think we should strive for something more than that).

OH! Also, don't let me come off high-and-mighty or self important. I often times throw these to the wind, make inappropriate jokes and then kick myself about it later. I believe it's important to realize there is a separation from joking to point out inequality and joking in ignorance. I also believe that the receiving audience has a lot to do with whether something is appropriate or not. Please don't go straight from this post to any of my "Today's Jokes." I don't like to be an immediate hypocrite.

Anyway,
Thanks.

Cranberries

On occasion I get excited about certain things. One of those things is cranberries. I wish this were a fruit that grew year round. I just decided that for dinner tonight I'm just going to buy two bags of cranberries. Hell yeah.

Woops!

So I've gone almost two weeks without a post. The answer? Midterms, Halloween, and no internet access. Here's some pictures from Halloween, credits belong to other people:

Mischa and Micah were two banana buddies. Rose was a werewolf. I am two miniature versions of myself, one riding piggy back on the other.
Photo credit to Blanca

Photo credit to Genah

I will make sure to write more often, post some sketches, jokes, youtube links, etc.

Probably the BEST thing I've ever seen

Aaron Zenz has been posting his children's artwork on their own blog "Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty," and on the occasion of the third anniversary held open submissions for other artists to reinterpret their favorite drawings. What happens next is wonderful.

Original by Grace

By Adam Rex
Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty

Another productive day of work monitoring the nature lab

Team Society League

I fell in love with this Illustration

It has spurned my advances.

More here

Awesome

I finally have a way to use my jar of dead bugs!

Between the Folds

Netflix don't fail me now:

Abstract Expressionism

This Buff painting is genius. Maybe only to me.


KR makes ink. KR makes paintings. Taking the drip to a place you wouldn't have thought was possible.

For more on KRINK click here.

Sketches 2

This week's drawing homework is to draw an exploded view of an object in 1/2 scale, using either parallel projection of perspectival projection or a combination of both. Here are my notes, with the example of a blender.

We then did a few quick sketches of stools at the end of class so that our professor could make sure everyone understood how to explode an object. I am very excited about this project, as I really love the idea of drawing something in the exploded view. Should I be a product illustrator... probably not. You generally can't draw monsters.
As you can see sometimes I get carried away with the "quick sketches" and spend a little too much time on letters.
My illustration homework this week involves making two sketches of the New Yorker's iconic Eustece Tilly. At first I was getting really wild with it, but then after re-reading the assignment realized it had to be more controlled. One sketch (not shown) turned him into a flower pot with similar proportions. Apparently it actually has to be him... oops.
So I did these two: A frontal view of Tilly with the text disappearing into the background to give a sense of space...
And the modern day Dandy: A New York hipster looking at his iPhone instead of a butterfly, which is also a little self deprecating as I actually quite enjoy my iPod, flannels and facial hair. Haha.
I have a few more, but I think these might be the two I show in class. There's one made of abstract shapes, but I don't know how that will go over.