AMP

Just a warning – I’m not responsible for any seizures you may have while watching this video…

Dan Deacon – Crystal Cat (2007)

Hey everybody! I’ve got another show jam-packed with brand-new artwork made by me! Go check it out!

Human Error
Coe College – Sinclair Gallery
1220 First Avenue
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

Runs Sept 14th – Oct 7th

I’ll be at the closing reception on Saturday, October 6th from 4:30 – 6:30pm. If you’re in Iowa, you should check it-check it out.

Finally got my film processed…

Slept in Nesser’s hotel room in San Diego the first night. Took a nice steamy shower.

When a rental car company offers you a free upgrade, don’t always assume it’s going to be a cooler and better car…case in point, our ‘plum’ HHR.

Took way too many detours off the PCH to shoot photos of ourselves shooting photos. Also found paradise.

Arrived in San Francisco, ate mediocre food.

Totally!

Tucker and Zig in the Deluxe warehouse.

Back to life, back to reality…

I’m not normally a fan of music videos that slip in and out of the song and added dialogue/storylines, but this fantastic gem from Hoboken’s Yo La Tengo makes up for it by including David Cross and Bob Odenkirk from Mr. Show. Eat your heart out, Jack Black.

Yo La Tengo – Sugarcube (1997)

I’ve got to do my part in spreading the beauty that is Brad Neely. He sort of came onto the radar when he did Wizard People, Dear Reader, Neely’s own narration to the film ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’. He’s also a prolific comic artist and does one-panel pieces as well as slightly animated features for superdeluxe.com (watch the series ‘I Am Babycakes’ and ‘Professor Brothers’). You need to check this guy’s shit out–it is because of him that I don’t have a television anymore. He’s based in Austin, TX and his internet home is at the Creased Comics web site. Below is one of Neely’s one-panel pieces. You can find more at the Creased Comics archives.

Here’s a classic. One of the best opening shots ever.

Dinosaur Jr. – Freak Scene (1988)

I really have nothing against San Francisco–I saw the name ‘San Franshithole’ scrawled onto the wall of the men’s bathroom in SFO and found it too hilarious not to spread around. The city is dirty, I will give it that, and also the homeless/panhandling population is through the roof. But without that the city would just be a gentrified coastal town. In other words, the crazy acid-fried geriatric hippies are essential to the San Francisco experience. Anyway, here are some videos from the drive up the 101.

I’ll have photos as soon as I get my film back.

Got back from beautiful San Francisco the other evening and wanted to offer up a few impressions from my way-too-brief stay:

1. Weather = Awesome. Seriously, warm fall days followed by cool fall nights. Does this happen year round? Don’t tell me–I’m afraid I already know the answer.

2. Eating = OK. Good selection of vegetarian restaurants, but didn’t have anything spectacular. Did have some banging pizza @ Little Star (and the waitress gave us some mega-pointers on where to go).

3. Night Life = OK. I know a huge part of this is because we tried to go out on Monday and Tuesday nights, but it’s San Fran-fucking-frisco, you’d think there would be people out, yeah? Mission was dead, but we ended up going to Madrone in Lower Haight which was a last minute saving grace for my opinion of the city.

4. Art = Good. I probably would have put OK if the shows that are up now weren’t so damn good. Saw the Olafur Eliasson retrospective (is it really?) at SFMOMA and it is easily one of the top 3 art exhibitions I’ve ever been to. I’ll save the full review for a later post. Conveniently located across the street is the YBCA and they’ve got a solid line-up right now, too (Schmid retro + Ben Rubin’s ‘Listening Post’ in the Dark Matters show).

5. Skateboarding = Amazing. Drunkenly bombing the steepest hills at night only to hit a trolley track and eat shit in front of a crowd of people. I loved every minute of it.

6. Driving the PCH at night = Sketchy. It took my friend Tucker and I a solid 14 hours to drive from San Diego to San Francisco, but that’s because we stopped to gawk at epically beautiful landscapes so often. Unfortunately, the day didn’t last as long as our drive, and we (read: ME) were forced to drive in the dark along a narrow, curving road full of wolves, oncoming traffic, and a pure sense of danger. At least I wasn’t driving an 18 passenger van this time. I’ll post some videos later today.

Totally random posting, but here’s three music videos that all have big arms.

The Futureheads – Skip to the End

Matt & Kim – 5K

Foo Fighters – Everlong

I will be traveling for pure shits and giggles over the next week to the (not-so-mid) west coast. If anyone wants to grab a beer, or even better, a Frisco burger in San Francisco, send me an email.