It's about time someone told that guy to shut up

sean young enters rehab after heckling the irrepressibly narcissistic julian schnabel at the director's guild awards.

she should get a peace prize, that guy is an art menace.

Paint color: Nightmare

today while helping my friend J. find a new car, i came upon this brand new Honda Fit. the paint color is listed as: Nightmare. they got that right.

the challenge of finding a cool-looking car inside of a budget is one of my hobbies. lucky for me i now have real purpose with my friend who's shopping around.

normally i just pretend.

Cheese samples

i sent these off today as samples of my love for color and skillz in photoshop. the job was one of the few interesting ones of the last few weeks. people hire this company to inform them of how to color their offices. whatever. it's hard to drum up enthusiasm when my favorite gig is not available.


so this was one job in a growing list who ask for links to articles, or links to a portfolio. it's not entirely new for art, but writers are now starting to get in on the sample site idea.

it made me decide to start another blog, but one that appears as a website. i don't want to actually purchase space. i guess it would be a place i could send potential employers for writing and design. i might even type up my published pieces from long ago before magazines and newspapers were online.

is blogger tweakable this way? i think it could be. this is what i'll be filling my days with from here on out. i just need a clever title first.

The Peace Industry: needs help

Effective

shepard "giant" fairey does it again. beautiful.

Twist

barry mcgee. loved his work before i knew who he was. watched him rise up to art star status. saw his work move from the N-Judah tunnel to the SFMOMA. by total luck, total generosity, total bliss - i have one of his paintings.

it was 1999. my friend took me to an art auction at The Lab because "twist," one of my all-time favorites had a piece up for auction.

the starting price was $50. we got our paddle and got ready. the auction started off with a bang. quickly rising to $500, it soon became a battle between me and another girl. my friend told me she'd give (yes, give - it was the dot.com boom years and she had built an impressive "portfolio") me $500 and i could take it as far as i wanted as long as i could pay any extra. the fight was on. this girl and i kept bidding in $50 increments. we were both just regular indie girls in their 20s. it's not like we were loaded, we were just stricken with a deep love for the most popular and exciting piece in the show - and a load of adrenaline. the crowd was cheering loudly. there may have been screams. it's kind of a blur. needless to say i won. when i gave the final bid of $600 and was declared the winner, a huge cheer went up. people stomped their feet and clapped. the girl who did not win gave me a shrug and a smile. i jumped up in the air like a lucky little leprechaun and went home with my first seriously collectible piece of art.

i love it so much. it has never left prominent display in my house. fortunately the thieves who robbed me two years in a row in 2001-2 had no idea how much money was hanging on the wall right above the $3 pot pipe they stole.

my piece resembles this one:

now, barry "twist" mcgee is moving forward after being absent on the art scene for years. i heard rumors that his wife died shortly after giving birth to their only child in the early 00s. i'm sure this is what has kept him quiet. but now he's opened a solo show in England, and his graceful, delicate line paintings have expanded to include graphic blocks of color reminiscent of MC Escher's backgrounds. perfect.

so take note. it seems Barry is Back. but please just call him Twist.

Maxon Crumb, loon extraordinaire

there's little in the world as befuddling as the totally insane crumb brothers. it seems unusual that a whole family would be certifiable (unless you're from texas and love chainsaws). only middle brother robert crumb seems to have escaped the cold, evil blade of total insanity.

in this vein max crumb is unduly fascinating. he used to be out and about often, doing his weird, looney stuff. it's almost a right of passage as a san francisco resident, to witness max crumb out on the street. guy and i have both run into him, and tried not to stare. i saw him sitting on a bed of nails by a bus stop on market street. apparently he has recovered some mental health recently since making a friend who has helped him keep his bed of nails indoors, and eat sometimes.

none of this would be exceptional at all, especially given the area (6th street) that he lives in, except for the fact that he's such a gifted artist. all the crumb brothers are, but in my opinion max takes first prize. on any pop art fan's list of purchases should be a piece of max's art.

This Just In: Beck, not a robot!

this came to me from one of my people out in the field:

"Beck sat in front of me on my last trip to NY on 1/12. I’m happy to report that he is SO VERY NICE. And, now I’m an even bigger fan! No one else recognized him and there were definitely some much younger and hipper looking people on the plane. He was very surprised I knew who he was (me with the suburban housewife thing going on!) – apparently he rarely gets recognized. He was traveling with a few of his entourage/band who were also very nice. I guess I was a little surprised because some of his music can be pretty weird and dark, although I do love it. I was afraid to say anything to him until the very end of the flight. A totally nice guy, and almost blushing when I told him I was a big fan of his music! I guess they’re all just people, just like us…"

the funny thing about this friend and what she says here, is that she is directly related to a famous rock star who played with beck during a tour several years ago. she didn't even think to tell him that they have someone in common. how funny that she, as much as anyone, can struggle to see the human-ness in the very famous/very talented while at the same time sees her relative as so human, she forgets he's very famous/very talented.

UPDATE: in further news my contact tells me that beck went out of his way to wish her "happy trails" in baggage claim after the flight. she said he seemed genuinely appreciative of her attention. she also tells me he had a short, sort of dorky haircut.

(picture above was taken one week before my friend ran into him. no wonder he wasn't recognized. nice new look! UPDATE: does new update make this a wig scenario?)

A Cool Quiz

surely everyone with access to the internet has received an email from a friend encouraging you to "fill out this quiz!" i always fill 'em out, and i'm sick of them always being the same and having some really dumb questions...so i wrote my own and passed it around to my friends.

1. do you think Drew Barrymore is smart or stupid?
2. do you think you’ll die young or old?
3. what’s the first time you threw up in public?
4. when you spill something on your shirt, do you watch it sink in? do you rub it in? or do you run to get a paper towel and quickly mop it up?
5. what’s the first rock concert you ever saw?
6. what is the grossest thing you’ve ever put in your mouth?
7. how long have you known your oldest friend?
8. when are you happiest?
9. do you chew on the ends of pens?
10. what’s one thing you wish your parents had taught you that they totally did not?
11. what is one different thing you would do in raising a child as opposed to how you were raised?
12. did you have an imaginary friend as a child?
13. do you have a “uniform?” what is it?
14. if you could have one other career than the one you have, what would it be?
15. what could you never do as a career?
16. rain or shine?
17. where do you want to go on vacation next?
18. will it happen?
19. what’s your favorite kind of music?
20. what’s the worst physical injury you’ve ever had?
21. ever had surgery? If so what kind?
22. needles. Love ‘em? Hate ‘em?
23. are you “half-empty” or “half-full?”
24. what are some tools you have employed in order to stay sane in an insane world?
25. what are your nose-picking techniques?

RESULTS
by far, the most thought-provoking answers i got were in response to the question, "What do you wish your parents taught you, that they totally did not." i also found it interesting that they were so similar. maybe this will be quality info for those of you with children.

- that most people are assholes
- that not everyone has good in them
- to floss
- that i'm good enough
- the importance of education (x2)
- self confidence
- to learn to drive

other answers of note: most of us think of our glass as half-full. this is nice to know! i am one of two who admitted to being half-empty, with one person going a step further to say their glass is 3/4s empty.

most people think drew barrymore is very smart. this is probably something that only i have spent time thinking about. but i was relieved when one of my friends agreed with me that drew's likely a dummy. my favorite answer: "i don't know, but she tries really hard."

2nd favorite answer came from, "What's your favorite kind of music?" with the answer: "The kick-ass kind."

everyone has a uniform.

nose-picking techniques are wide-ranging and even more widely developed. i applaud all who gave me the details.

people were seriously closed-mouth about my favorite question: "what's the grossest thing you ever put in your mouth" answers included: no comment (x4), rocky mountain oysters, chocolate covered grasshoppers. huh. seems like some minds were in the gutter. or just firmly planted in reality.



(ps. this quiz experiment took place in april of last year)

Kim Deal decides to fight the good fight

blah blah blah roger waters blah blah dark side blah blah. i love the Floyd as much as everyone born in 1970, but what really matters here?!



(fist pump) YES!