Some of the things you can actually go out and see right now (that at some point only lived on my computer) are MySpace layouts for Boys Like Girls and My Favorite Highway. Both these bands are amazing, and BLG have a new record out, that I’m sure you’ve heard a few songs on your radio from. MFH has a new video out, which you can see on said MySpace.

I’ve also been working on quite a few logos, print work and layouts that aren’t quite out in the public eye yet, and MySpace layouts for Andrew W.K. and The Bleach Works should be up next week. Recently I launched a website design I did for a film called The Road Less Traveled, it’s a pretty interesting concept and gives a whole new view of a part of the world we don’t all get to see.

I’d also like to bring back what may have been a feature of my blog and recommend some things, mainly because I think everyone could stand to hear some good music:
fun. – Aim & Ignite – This band has one of The Format guys in it, along with a cast of other talented musicians who all played in a few other bands and came together to create fun. I happen to think The Format’s debut was one of the most perfect complete albums ever, so at first I HATED fun., then I let it play and found that I couldn’t stop. I had to apologize to a couple good friends for ever trying to say that this record isn’t absolutely phenomenal, and even the songs I hated I now love. Lesson learned.

Third Eye Blind – Ursa Major – I never expected to be this addicted to a new 3eb record. Sure their catalogue is one that is constantly playing in my life, but did anyone really expect this resurgence? I wanted to feel this way about this record, for months now, but I knew I wouldn’t, yet here I am. I think my favourite track has to be Summer Town, it just gives you that feeling where you want to be inside, is full of classic 3eb lines, techniques, phrasing, etc that just make it the classic non-single 3eb fave. The pseudo ending is spectacular as well. If you have somehow missed everyone talking about 3eb again, you need to drive a few laps around town playing this album.

Ryan Adams – The other day I realised I haven’t listened to Ryan Adams in months, and then I proceeded to listen to it for 3 days straight. Perhaps it got me back to being a little too jaded, but I think it was exactly what my days needed. Next month will be filled with lots of Elliott Smith as well.

Hope everyone out there who still checks in on this nonsense of a website is well, I’d name you by name, but that would just get awkward.

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Here is Ken Block showing some impressive maneuvers over at the Port of Los Angeles.

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So I’ve been busy, again. I got my tax extension turned in on time, so I’m doing better than some people, but it’s just an extension, so I’m doing worse than most. If you don’t appreciate the greatness of Twitter, and/or realise I don’t really say anything about what’s going on there anyway, and want to know what’s going on, this is your Huckleberry (I’mmm yuh Huhklebehhy).

I wrapped up a few MySpace re-designs for some great bands: My Favorite Highway (record was released yesterday, and you should own it), Green River Ordinance (FFO: The Fray, etc), The Urgency, and Young Love. I got up the website for a ska band from Boston called Westbound Train up, I’m not really into ska, and if you aren’t either realise these guys have much more of an old R&B sound to them. I also finally finished up the layout for a band I used to do a lot of work with called Parker Theory. I’ll get the cover up somewhere, sometime soon. I was also working a lot of sleepless nights on a secret logo project that I can’t really discuss yet, and don’t really know the outcome of, so you may never hear about it, but hey at least me writing this makes me appear “mysterious” right?

Other non-design things I have been up to include: Building an HD antenna with Kyle so we are one step closer to canceling cable, Finally fixing my Mail so that my Junk Mail will stay on the server (tip: don’t put periods in your account name), Got out to see the Ducks knock off the Sharks and fully reinvigorate my love for NHL playoff hockey, Bought more vinyl (still no turntable), and successfully got an external HD once deemed dead, back in the world of the living.

I’m off to get back into the work, nice seeing you again.

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For those of you who don’t know, I’m out on tour with William Tell and Jimmy Robbins. I have to tell you guys Jimmy is one of the best new things in my life, and William is one of the best old. We are a pretty great band of travelers.

So we started out in Boston, Cambridge proper for 2 days (including a great stop at Drink), and then Greyhound’d down to NYC. We crashed in Williamsburg the first night, then mid-town at the Pod Hotel (bunkbeds, with Eames patterned bedspreads). The show in NYC was at the Highline, and it had a great turnout. From there we went to Hoboken, NJ. Now let me tell you, I have said a lot of bad things about NJ, and quite a few about Hoboken (I mean it does start with Hobo, and Eli Manning lives there), but I take it all back. After 2 days I’m a fan. It’s a great town where you can still grab a slice at random hours of the night, but escapes the complete craziness over the river.

Sometime after that we finally got a car, drove to Baltimore, stalked the “Ace Of Cakes” place, and wandered Fell’s Point. I wound up buying hat’s and old screens (screen printing screens), and we even cheered for the Buffalo Sabers (I can’t really explain). The next day I headed to the airport for a flight to Newark and then Orange County, only to be greeted by a delayed flight which would have made me miss my connection. So then I was on a Delta flight to Atlanta, then Orange County. Yeah, so then a ground stop in Atlanta kept me at BWI another 2 hours (I had already waited 3). Did iI mention I was flying back for my Father’s wedding the next day?

So I was a bit concerned I would be stuck forever in Maryland or Georgia, but eventually I made it back to California. The wedding was great, very musical oriented, and out in the Angeles National Forest. That evening I got on a plane for here, JFK. I promptly passed out, and that flight is now known as the Best Redeye Ever. Soon I will be heading to North Carolina to meet up with William and Jimmy, who played Philly and Raleigh while I was gone.

If you want to be involved in my insane travels, I will soon be in Charlotte, Wilmington, Delray Beach (Ft. Lauderdale), Orlando and Tampa. If you have ways to get me and 2 others into Disneyworld for free, you are especially encouraged to reach out. I really recommend you come out to a show if you are around one of these cities, it’s a great chance to see wonderful music in it’s barest form performed at levels the likes you may never see. At least stop by and familiarize yourself with William Tell and Jimmy Robbins. I’ll see you all soon.

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Currently the Associated Press is upset that an image that they hold the rights to was the basis for Shep’s illustration. They want license fees, and profit, and credit, and probably one of his children. The issue is actually pretty interesting in terms of copyright law. However frankly this case has no legs, and I’m surprised the AP is this hard up for cash (though no one in the newspaper world is exactly thriving).

The AP owns the image, they don’t own the moment in time the image was taken.

Fairey started with their image, and then he applied his now famous illustrative style. He didn’t simply threshold the thing in Photoshop, he didn’t auto-trace something in Illustrator. His work is no different than someone painting the image in a cubsim styling. Copyright simply doesn’t protect deviations in such things. Someone at AP has to know such things. If anyone should be able to claim rights to deviations based on photographs, it should be the person in the imagery. Kind of funny how they get no share of the AP’s licensing fees.

Anyway, that is my take on this whole thing, and I really hope Shep doesn’t back down or make a settlement. He deserves to stand alone as the source of such iconic imagery, and he is just the right person to stick it to the old media.

Also if I may rant…
I find it hilarious how the old media has talked about him as this “L.A. street artist”, like he is some ruffian who slums through streets stealing bread and spreading wheat paste wherever he goes. Do they not understand the guy went to THE premiere design school in America (RISD), do they not understand the guy owns his own clothing line, do they not understand the guy’s first studio he formed is responsible for such things as the Mt. Dew logo and the Mozilla logo, do they not understand his current studio is responsible for the “Walk The Line” poster and the cover art for The Smashing Pumpkins comeback album? This is no “street artist”, this is one of our generations most heralded graphic designers, this guy will be included along names like Bass, Lubalin, Rand, Glaser, Carson and Sagmeister.

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THE 20.5:

1. I get Deja Vu… a lot. Usually about feeling like I’m getting Deja Vu. (If you follow me on Twitter, you now have Deja Vu!)
2. The best Death Cab For Cutie album is “The Photo Album” end of discussion, this fact also known as “Lindsay lies”.
3. My first concert ever was The Beach Boys, 4th of July, 1984, National Mall, District of Columbia.
4. The only computer I have ever had in my home (from a child on) has been made by Apple.
5. I recently hung up artwork on the walls of my place after living here 4 years.
6. I have had this strange quest to be “mysterious” for years (less is more, right?), the best response was from the girl I was dating (at the onset of said quest) which was… laughter.
7. My wallet is bigger than yours.
8. Some people have magazine subscriptions, I have a Quarterly subscription, a DVD subscription, and a book clup subscription. I heart MCSWNYS.
9. I have a long standing addiction to WB/CW shows I should have no part loving. It started with “The Creek”, and has included “Smallville”, “Veronica Mars”, and “Gossip Girl”.
10. There isn’t much that is better than a fresh loaf of Boudin’s sourdough bread.
11. I played Lacrosse and Ice Hockey in High School, in San Diego, CA. I was a New Englander at heart I guess.
12. Speaking of New England: I have always had a fascination with JFK, I love the Red Sox, I hate the Patriots, I love Boston.
13. I unabashedly love pop music, of all types, that other people try to pretend isn’t pure hits.
14. As a kid (11-15ish), I couldn’t fall asleep to anything but the radio. Not a CD even. I had to hear a talking voice at some point or else my mind would spin into a labyrinth of thoughts on life and death.
15. I firmly believe I could save entire companies if they would just consult me on everything they do.
16. I tend to get infatuated with girls from far away cities, okay infatuated might be putting it lightly.
17. I’m horrible at filing, but quite organised.
18. I should mention, I use the Queen’s English whenever possible.
19. Almost all of my family teach, at one point I was going to fall in line as well, but wound up a designer. Lately I have the desire to be the jaded professor at Art School who: tells everyone their projects are horrible, everyone hates but realises years later was vital to their succes (i.e. Winter Sorbeck).
20. I’m great at buying old cameras, I’m horrible at buying new film.
20 1/2. I hate committing to making plans, except… (How else am I supposed to make a half fact?)

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1. Queen Latifah.
2. The whole, “high five the people as you go to the mic” thing.
3. Kid Rock over Coldplay.
4. The constant “Obama won the election” references. Like the actors did anything.
5. Ellen over Letterman.
6. Robin Williams.
7. Two And A Half Men.
8. Everything else, except The Dark Knight.

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I enjoyed a lovely holiday back “home” (Long Beach is home to me, but San Diego gets jealous when I say that) in San Diego, five-ish full days of family, friends and homemade cookies. My last few weeks of work had been slammed full of work (thanks all), and the time away was a great recharge. New Years was approaching and instead of being lame and doing nothing, we threw a last minute party. The flyer was probably the best part, but we had a pretty epic time all the same. I invented a new drink that night, and drank far too much of it, leaving me a little hurting New Years Day down in the OC. I hate people who say “the OC”, slash myself. Watched some football, played some poker, drank to cure the hangover and had some of the best chili ever made, then we ended the night with “Frost Nixon”:, great film.

The holidays, as they are known, were great, and I am endlessly thankful to have the amazing people in my life that I do. I don’t say it enough, but I appreciate you all.

Somehow in the middle of all that craziness above the Chargers made the playoffs, so this past weekend I trekked back down (stopping in HB to play some football myself) for what was one of the best games I have ever seen. I was so fortunate to see that game in person, what a start to the New Year. Sunday I went and saw “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” with my Mother, I was a little nervous of how this would be adapted. I had heard some things that essentially made it sound like “The Notebook” and “Forrest Gump” were starring in a “Brad Pitt is rebuilding the ninth ward” infomercial, then I saw it and cried like a little old man baby. They nailed the potential this story has, and Pitt once again impresses. Everyone should see this and love it, but then again I do love “The Notebook”.

In the middle of all those things I also made a server switch (still MT, just a new version of the DV along with PHP5, finally), put up a few new websites (splash pages) for various friends and a few of my various projects and hung up a ton of art around the place.

I hope everyone else enjoyed some time with friends and family (or locked up avoiding them), whatever you needed the past weeks, and is looking forward to where 2009 can take us.

Oh, did you hear?
Yes we did.

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PLEASE NOTE: We are not looking for a college student or hobbyist or a social networker who stays up all night and surfs the Internet with their friends and designs graphics out of their bedroom for t-shirts. ONLY PROFESSIONALS SHOULD APPLY.

Now I’m not simply being defensive because I’m writing this from the same room as my bed (though this side of the room is clearly business only), but that whole combination of words is just so out of touch with reality. I know some of the most talented designers around, and almost every one of them designs graphics for t-shirts out of their bedroom, surfs the internet with friends and stays up all night. Artists tend to not exactly live the 9-5 office lifestyle, and you would think anyone wanting a truly talented designer would realise that.

Good luck with your production artist, nameless medical company.

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Here is the wrap-up:
I was sick for a good solid 2 weeks, most of it came from breathing pure ash from some of the lovely fires in Southern California, I finally recovered the week of Thanksgiving, but was way behind on work (thank you to everyone whose project was delayed, your grace is wonderful).

I got back on the ball and wrapped a ton of stuff up the past 2 weeks, including a 3 day trek to San Diego to see family/friends whom I love, and a 2 day trek to AZ to ride along with Tell as he played ASU. It was all great, and we officially decided AZ may be the best food state ever. Think about it, they get the west coast (In-N-Out, Del Taco, etc) and the Middle America (Waffle House, Chick-Fil-A, Sonic) along with other random things from states far off. Put a White Castle out there and my vote is in.

I just wrapped up William Tell’s MySpace the other day, if you haven’t been by lately he has quite a few new songs up that you should listen to. This little project was a fun nightmare. Lots of work overwriting MySpace and figuring out stupid little one line code issues, but it’s only the first time that this will kill me.

Also not too long back I finally got up a semblance of a website for Department Three. I have been promising this for years, and now finally some of my recent work is up to view at the studios site.

I’m working on a ton of other things, filing away files, getting caught up on emails, do if you are wondering why I haven’t replied to something, be patient. In the works are a few websites, some branding work, and a few more MySpace re-designs.

In other news, my friends at Hozell are having a warehouse sale this weekend. It’s today and tomorrow, and it also includes WeSC another great brand I’m a huge fan of. Info is on the MySpace linked there (because they didn’t want to put it on their MySpace?), and i’ll be there in a few minutes. If you are in LA/OC you should head down and hang.

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If you loved The Jealous Sound’s other 2 releases, you need this. If you loved Knapsack, you need this. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, start here, you need this. This may be the last we hear of them, or it may not.

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To wrap up my thoughts on the baseball season, I thought we would go to Ralph Nader for a comment.

Ralph Nader, after he’d been told by Washington Post editors that the lack of coverage of his presidential campaign was because he had no chance of winning:

“Then why are you covering the Nationals?”

Best thing ever, thank you Ralph, thank you Nationals for losing 3 more games than the Padres.

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Sounds like all is well out around the epicenter, and there is no damage reported.

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He will be reading from his book “What It Is: What It Is” and Filter Magazine is presenting the events, so it should be quite a wonderful literary event. Check out Flavorpill if you are in LA or NYC for all the event info.

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So how did I wrap up an utterly amazing week? Well, first I went down to San Diego and saw my family and celebrated my birthday early. It was a lovely time, and I got in some seriously needed pool time, because being on a river all week is way different angles of sunlight and the tan takes a serious toll.

Heading back home to Long Beach, I was ready to get back to reality. Well that was all thrown afoot on Sunday when we headed out to a little party that wound up being the biggest thing in LA County on Sunday. There were Lions, Tigers, Monkeys, Waterfalls, Margaritas, Old Friends, Amazing New Friends, Long Walks Back To The Car (Or For The Entrepreneurial Sorts Domino’s Car Rides), and Telling People Our Names Were 80′s Band Names (Which Worked Out Well For Todo). It was an absolute amazing time, and did I mention BI happened to have left his bayou home (and was visiting the place that misses him way too much, or maybe just the people do) and made the whole day that much better.

Thanks to everyone who invited us/threw the party, let us not wait in line, poured us beverages, gave me chips, made us smile, and all the rest involved, especially one graceful pizza delivery driver. I am thankful to have the friends I do, and the ridiculous times we get into. Life is good.

As if that run of days couldn’t get any better, early today I purchased a replica, orange, Chad Johnson jersey for far too ridiculously little. Ocho Cinco, check; Man Ram, up next.

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All the prints of my photographs will be 30×20, and I will post the day of the event the pieces that are there, maybe. I’m really excited for everything Chad is doing with Panda, I’m absolutely in love with the musicians he is working with, I’m thrilled to be a part of an art show where my work will be completely showed up by some of the most amazing artists out there today who I am also honoured to call my friends (therefore, such as.

If you are in the Atlanta area, you should make it out to this. I was trying to work out an appearance myself, but I think I will wait until the fall to fully experience the ATL.

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Do you ever get those messages out of the blue on MySpace or Facebook from an old HS (or earlier, or later) friend, whom you truly have some good memories of, and have once over the past 10 years wondered how they are? Yeah, me too.

Here are how they go:

Catching Up

Subject:
Long Time (Or some other vague title about how you haven’t talked in years)
Body:
Hey _________, wow it’s been like __ years since we have _______. How have you been? Are you still __________________? It’s crazy finding all our old __________ on __________________. Did you hear ________________ is ___________________?

I have been _____________, just _____________ and living in __________________. I am really glad I found you, we HAVE to ___________ soon. You have to catch me all up on _________.

And sometimes in there they slide in some guilt trip, like it’s your fault you forgot to get info about the 10 year reunion, or that it’s your fault you never come see them when you go home.

I get these, all the time, and even though a lot of people would assume I would treat then with attitude I am presenting here, I don’t. I love these messages, well used to, I love these people, well used to. I have noticed a strange pattern, and it goes a little something like this (hit me). I will write back, and I write back a well thought out response that I take a portion out of my day to sit down without distractions and write. A couple paragraphs, not much I know, but I do my best to truly try to re-connect with these people.

Then you know what happens? I never get a reply back. Maybe I don’t prod them enough to warrant one, maybe I don’t ask enough questions about _______ being _________, I really don’t know.

I have always been the kind of person who was accepting that there are certain times in your life where people you are close with are meant to leave, and new ones will soon be around; moments like these remind me why those people had their time in my life years ago.

So in conclusion, thanks, but no thanks. If you really care about me, we probably found a way to connect before the MySpaces, Facebooks and LinkedIns of the world were around. I’ve had the same phone number for 6 years, the same email address for 6 years (though be on the lookout, that is changing) and I’ve lived in Los Angeles County for 4 years, if you wanted to catch up or missed those old times, it isn’t hard to find a way. If you are just gonna message me to feel like you fulfilled a good deed by reconnecting with an old friend, and then just not even have the urge to reply even 3 words to a conversation you started, just read my blog and pretend like we are still friends.

Optional Bonus Activity:
Pretend above “Catching Up” conversation is a mad lib, post your most creative version as a comment, and the winner will get a special gift. Oh, and let’s keep it clean, it’s takes zero creativity to turn that thing sexual, it takes genius to come up with clean humour. Remember, this blog is a class act.

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Now that we have all the title possibilities out of the way.

Just the other night Kyle and I were discussing the ridiculousness of the V-neck. It’s pretty much a plague the likes of Von Dutch hats. Sure the V is comfortable, and shows off all that cool chest hair we have worked years to have, but it doesn’t mean it’s applicable for all moments of life. If you think wearing a Deep V out to social events is a good idea, you should probably just take it to new levels and rock a tank top next time you are heading over to Les Deux (Les Deun’t? Hahaha).

The fine folks at Radar apparently listen to our conversations and decided to write an article about the “Deep V”, I have provided the below image and my favourite pull quote to make your life better.

Radar

So, at least for a little while longer, the question isn’t crewneck versus V-neck, it’s V-neck versus aggressive V-neck. Just be careful how low you go. “It’s getting pretty close to being a vest as it is,” Polk points out. “It’s, like, another three inches and that’s a vest, motherfucker.”

“Aggressive V-neck” may be the best description ever, well that is until you look at this image:

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I can only describe it as a one man hip hop opera. One man on stage, the band/orchestra in the pit below, and one broken spaceship.

Kanye West just constantly impresses me with each and every thing he does, and it was one of those things in life that I honestly think will stay with me for years and years to come. If you have any way of catching the very few shows left of Glow In the Dark, do it, without any thought, go.

Special thanks to the lovely friends who helped make it an even more wonderful night, and the spectacular people who allowed us to share their suite with us for Mr. West’s performance.

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Tell just made all his new demos on his MySpace available for download, so you can drive down the 405 singing “Let’s Go To Bed” like the rest of us. Do it.

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I have 2 allegiances in baseball, Padres and Red Sox, and I had already found my way to Dodger Stadium to support the BoSox in their exhibition game, so last Friday we decided to see Peavy v. Penny and support the Pads. Left field bleachers, no Padres hats present, Kyle, Liz and myself. There we were minding our own business, cheering for our team, witnessing countless Padres fans heckled, assaulted with peanuts, popcorn, seeds, soaked with beer, etc. Granted these fans were a little more outspoken, and finally each one at some point had enough and started throwing things back or yelling back, and every one of them was kicked out. What about the 30-40 Dodger fans who started the whole ordeal? Oh, they were fine, no need to stop that kind of behaviour in the stands.

I really was shocked, I had dealt with some obnoxious Dodger fans at moments in the old days of The Murph, I guess I just expected that to be the exception, not the rule. It is definitely the rule. The Dodger organization apparently supports this kind of behaviour and does not care about the fans of opposing teams and their right to enjoy a ballgame. The Dodger organization is a classless lot, which is probably why their fans like them.

We sat in the front of a section, Dodger fans behind us, it started out quite friendly and the guy directly behind me realised we knew baseball and we had some good fun talking a little trash with a known and vocalized respect that it was all in the fun of the game. I love trash talking, it’s encouraged, but at the end of the day, when the game is over, let’s go have a beer and laugh about whichever of our teams sucked the worse, it’s just a game. So this guy had a couple friends with him, they were apparently die hard fans (whom later told me they didn’t even like the Dodgers, and only came because of a free ticket) who refused to let any sort of friendliness exist with Padres fans. They decided the best way to act was to constantly talk trash and heckle while their team was losing.

Soon they realised we didn’t really care about what they had to say, and if they were gonna annoy us they had to step it up, so they did. Next thing you know I have a guy pulling up my hood. Is this 4th grade? Is this really happening? I shrug it off, whatever, we have style and grace they lack. The Padres continue with the monster 4th inning which seems to seriously upset said Dodger fans. Now they have moved on to poking us in the back, now mind you the main offender was already warned to stop causing trouble earlier when he was throwing seeds at people, so I turn around and tell the guy that if he touches me again, I’ll tell security he is back to throwing seeds at people and there happens to be a huge pile right behind me that will dispute his surefire response to not having anymore seeds, of course since it’s 4th grade he pokes me in the back once I turn around.

So then I turn and glare, and this guy thinks it’s a good idea to touch my face, now I know how this stuff works, he wants me to hit him, but I’d rather introduce him to the full face wipe, and then it gets a little heated and out of precaution Kyle restrains me. So I walk over to security, let them know the guys behind us are “poking and touching us the whole game” (yes, definitely the creepiest thing I have said in a while) and that I want them thrown out. So security takes them out, for 10 minutes, and then lets them back in. Wait, what? Yeah, apparently they just needed a time out. Well knowing these guys behaviour and track record you can bet they didn’t just calm down after almost being kicked out. Instead they tried to plot what they would do to us once they got their chance.

The main flaw in trying to plan an attack on people sitting right in front of you, is that they are right in front of you. I heard every word, and was planning my counter attack. My counter attack was brilliant and mostly involved ducking and shoving him down the stairs. I spent the rest of the game waiting for these guys to jump out of their seat and try to hit me, it was a really great way to enjoy a Padres victory. They stayed seated because a couple of LAPD had posted up near our section, joining the security a few feet away from us. I was even more excited for the assault now, knowing I would get to press charges, but eventually the officers decided to walk across to the opposite end of the bleacher, and conveniently the security guard left too.

The chatter of their plans grew more intense, and I kept an eye turned towards the main offender. Kyle and I exchanged some glances that ensured we were on the same page. During one of my looks back, the third rabble-rouser who was very intoxicated decided to show me the knife he had. He pulled it out of his pocket, and gave me a look that wasn’t very welcoming. I’ve never been in a knife fight, and I imagine they aren’t like the ones in Westside Story, I imagine this guy is the sort to let his friends start a commotion and slip in and stab somebody in the middle of it all.

So to make sure we are all up to speed, the Dodger fans behind us, who were only there because of free tickets, who had already been kicked out for their behaviour, but then were allowed back in, who were also allowed in with a knife, were behind us plotting their attack. After 2 outs in the ninth, we left, I turned around to the 2 sober ones and said “guys, it’s only a game”, extended my hand to them and left.

Thanks for the great night of baseball Los Angeles.

Interested in the Dodger Stadium code of conduct? I wonder if anyone who works there has ever read that?

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I go shopping for yogurt and bread buy way too many things decide that I need to go green and buy reusable bags because they will fit more in them and completely forget yogurt, schedule servicing for the Mini, wearing the Persol’s constantly, wandering through art stores, driving laps at the Long Beach airport, watching the Discovery channel all day expanding my knowledge on Egypt, drinking wine on a Tuesday night, keeping secrets, drinking wine on a Monday night, being politically active on the internet, not being shocked when people say they will call and don’t, missing people, dealing with an insane 2 day window graphic installation at work, adding icons to my iPhones home screen, realising I suddenly have a Converse “collection”, cleaning out the freezer, wondering what percentage of people use Q-Tips for the proper use which is not cleaning your ear canals, missing the entire final four save for the last 2 minutes of the championship game and lastly, offending the French.

None of that is in chronological order, so just enjoy it as the pile of letters it is and move on.

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Check out the rest over at his MySpace as well as some great pop hits.

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Brandon drove separately because they had to stop in Van Nuys (read: he doesn’t know Dodger Stadium isn’t south of Van Nuys), and once they finally got there a lovely time of heckling Yankee fans (seriously why do they show up to Dodger v. Red Sox and Angels v. Red Sox games?) and trying to convince Planet Man Ram that he didn’t need to worry about the game. Manny was focused though, and played a solid outfield for 4 innings (read: he didn’t have one ball hit to him).

I tried to convince the concession lady to put duct tape (or scribble with a Sharpie) over the Dodger’s logo on the Souvenir cup, she wouldn’t so I went with a small beverage and a Red Sox dog (there are somethings you will never do, and I won’t support the Dodgers even in my ordering habits). Cocoa Crisp made 2 terrible plays out of routine flies in center, to show us all why he lost the starting job to Ellsbury, and later showed us all why he is great trade bait as he caught one while diving into the wall.

Buchholz drove his pre-season ERA to >9, while I refused to make eye contact with, while berating, the Silverlake girls in front of us.

Dialogue With Silverlake Girl

Her: Why is every Boston fan so grumpy?
Me: I’ll throw ice at you.
Her: I think you need a beer.
Me: I think you need a shower.

It was an absolutely lovely day at the game, and even though the Sox failed to score a run, we left the day happy, because, after all, the Sox are in first place.

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Recently in the village of Los Angeles the FSM marketing has started up. It’s absolutely brilliant, and I have heard quite a few people talking about how they had no idea what it was until they saw one of the ads and checked it out. That’s what marketing is supposed to do right, expand the potential target market? Anyway, the transit marketing consists of signs that say things like, “My Mom always hated you Sarah Marshall”, “I’m so over you Sarah Marshall”, and my personal favourite “You do look fat in those jeans Sarah Marshall” (Ed. Note: Kristen Bell is perfect, so this one is a little hard bit unrealistic).

Thursday as I was driving over to work from the home of one “Young Beverly Hills Adjacent”, after another amazing evening night at the Stone Rose where the game of “Beezerays” was invented, I snapped a pic of another one of the transit ads. Remind me to tell you about “Beezerays”, it’s a fun game, and strangely fun for Men AND Women, which is weird once you find out the game. I have been told that this game may only work in the greater metropolitan ares, so you may have to adapt it for your own use, and remember be polite.

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Damion Suomi – Ghost

You might also want to consider that my Saturday night hijinks involved some Jameson on the rocks (along with a few Glenfiddich’s on the rocks to start things off) and way too much musical reflection and geek-ing out over Squeeze, photo poses of the modeling varietal and the “weird things you do at a bar” assortment, Ivy leagues, way too much use of the word “pensive” and some other amazing moments I don’t yet fully remember so drinking songs are definitely rocking the playlist right now. I will leave you with an amazing quote from Saturday.

Tell

“I just had the drunkest moment of my life. I just looked over at that shamrock sign on the wall, and it started talking to me.”

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The LAist recently ran a story about the renovation of the “Elliot Smith Wall”, which was of course the mural which is forever attached to Elliott due to it’s iconic presence alongside him on the cover of “Figure 8″. This mural is on Sunset, I drive by it now and again, and it was really in a sad state for a while. Solutions owner Stephon Lew even discusses some plans he has to further tribute Elliott.

Stephon Lew

These are my dreams: I plan to place an electronic object of importance….a 5 foot 7 inch tall monument (of Elliott’s size–with two loudspeakers at the base of the monument to represent his two big shoes) formed from crushed electronics parts —to play and to identify Elliott’s musical influences (Elliott’s hobby, I hear, was to experiment with electronics to make music tone)—to have the monument –emanate new energy and the many solutions that music can provide.

I am thrilled to know in future times as we all pass by we will see a familiar friend once again. It’s all kinda like a Figure 8.

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I attended the Hollywood, CA stop of the tour, and it was quite the show. My personal highlight was when Sherwood covered The Get Up Kids “Holiday” (One of my all time favourite songs) and some guy in the crowd responded by flipping off the stage for the entire song. Guess you aren’t allowed to play TGUK’s without checking with him. Also, The Matches put on quite a performance, I never seem to get into their records, but everytime I see them live it makes me wonder why I don’t.

You can check out the tour dates here.

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President of the United States of America*:
Republican Nomination: Mitt Romney
Democratic Nomination: Barack Obama

California Propositions:
Proposition 91: Yes (For humours sake, for those not in the know: The proponents of Prop 91 urge you to vote No)
Proposition 92: Yes
Proposition 93: No
Proposition 94: Yes
Proposition 95: Yes
Proposition 96: Yes
Proposition 97: No (They have “Hot Water”, I don’t trust them… only kidding, it’s a Yes for me)

* I also like to call this country Uniteria, because we act like we are the only thing in America that matters, we aren’t, or are we. At least Canada (dot) com gives you free email, we just give people pure hits.

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Okay, okay, so Boys Town just has a horrible logo. I even blew it up a bit and blurred it to make it look a little more mysterious for your viewing pleasure. I saw this thing this morning and was so confused, but then I found out Boys Town is a Jester training academy, so it makes total sense now.

The other night I apparently lured Brandon into all the Cloverfield side stories, and realised quite a few people might be missing out on some of the Cloverfield “Universe”. For those of you who didn’t geek out for months over Cloverfield, this should catch you up on a fair amount, but if you haven’t seen it, there are spoilers over there.

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I found the interview to be an enlightening look into how the viral-ness of Cloverfield snowballed so much that even the people closest to it were caught off guard. It’s amazing to see marketing change so much in front of our eyes that it becomes something that can literally grow past the scope of it’s intentions. Cloverfield’s marketing has done just that, something that could have been simply used to create an interesting backstory, has now created an entire universe that will surely be explored again.

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Well, recently I discovered a spectacular video Judd Apatow and friends put together to promote this lovely little non-profit. It’s quite hilarious and Jonah Hill delivers a stunning performance to say the least. Enjoy.

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The Echo Park Time Travel Mart is a fun little shop full of trinkets and empty packages spouting clever words on their packaging. All of the proceeds go to support 826LA and it’s programs, and this clever little store will surely have something worth picking up and making your boring house more interesting. Jordan and I chose “Robot Emotions”, because, well, because, who doesn’t love an emo robot?

Anyway, the event was absolutely wonderful, in an absolutely amazing space, with absolutely more impressive people than me. I decided to post a couple pictures showing just how amazing this event was (the fireplace in this room literally blows my mind, I mean that literally, like the proper use of it), and if any of you fair persons should be able to locate Jordan and myself in the photos, there will be some sort of prize. Of course with any internet based contest, there are rules. The rules are; people who are named Jordan Percy, Brandon Chamberlain, Lindsay Strannigan, Edward Norton, Judd Apatow, Michael Cera, Jenny Lewis, Spike Jonze and David Eggers are exempt from winning any prizes. Sorry.

Photos courtesy of Andy Barron:

Hint #1: Jordan and I are class acts.
Hint #2: Jordan and I were being stalked by a girl in a red dress, though I’m not sure if that is really pertinent to the photos.

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Wednesday I made my way to the Roxy in Hollywoodville to see Holiday Parade play their first LA show ever. Kate Beckensale and her family were even out to see the band. Underworld 3 soundtrack? Maybe. The show was great, and being able to finally spend some time with these guys was even better. I cannot stress enough what amazing people these guys are, talented musicians and class acts through and through. If you are able, catch their path around the States that we call a tour, Scotty their merch guy will honestly make your life 500 times better on his own. I took the following picture on Wednesday, I do things like this on occasion.

The real entertainment came after the show when we headed over to the after party for The Format’s show. Brandon Chamberlain was aces as usual, and I told Chavez I expect to see him out at the next march. I gave these two scholars a ride back to Long Beach because Brandon lost his car… and Lindsay… who was in his car… passed out… and no one could find her… or the car… sorry Linny.

Thursday was back at it again with the HP guys, this time in Santa Ana. The venue seemed newer (read: it was interesting) but the kids there sure do support the bands, good to see. We got in some great conversation at various times in the evening, and _____ (name witheld to protect further damage to his ability to pull) definitely stole the show with his stories of romance. His absolute finest moment came when he told us a story about how he had an “encounter” with a young lady who later went on to tell her sorority sisters that he wasn’t good in bed. What did _____ do to rebuke such claims? Tell the sisters that he just couldn’t get it up, of course.

I will basically miss anyone who currently resides in Georgia for the rest of the weekend. Thank you all.

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In attendance were:
Michael Rapaport (It’s like a roller coaster with this guy, on one hand you have “True Romance” on the other, “Hitch”.)
Jonathan Silverman (I think I’m the only person who enjoyed “The Single Guy”.)
Ben Stein (…and his money.)
Quentin Tarantinos Ex-Girlfriend (I really have no idea if this is true.)
David Duchovney (…drinks Stella Artois.)
Woody Harrelson (THE Woody Harrelson.)
Pink and Carey Hart (Drank wine, and were a lot more boring than I hoped for slash had heard.)
Benicio Del Toro (He looks a lot different these days.)
Dave Grohl (…well, he was on the list.)
One of the Hobbits (I was unimpressed, I actually thought they were midgets.)
The other guy from We Were Soldiers (…not Mel Gibson.)
Gabriel Byrne (Looks like a drunk.)
Ethan Suplee (This guy has a pretty impressive IMDB, but I’ve yet to get into “My Name Is Earl”.)
Two guys who might be from Good Charlotte, but looked like they could be from any band like that. (Mmhkk.)

Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer was not present, so that meant no high speed rolls out of the Mini Cooper tonight. Kiefer did also once tell Rory Felton he was a “born leader”. In related news J.D. Salinger once said I was “a Scholar and a Gentleman” after I held the door open for him.

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P is for Panda cares about artists (and hey look at me I’m an artist!), which is actually a rare these days. Perhaps more rare, P is for Panda cares about our world, and backs it up with real monies. One of my other good friends (oh, look at me and all my talented friends) has designed all of the items currently available, so not only are you supporting one of my friends, you are supporting two! I’m gonna just go ahead and pull this off their Virb site, so I get you all the facts.

What is P is For Panda?

After leaving The Militia Group – a company that I founded over 9 years ago – I still don’t really know how to respond to that question. However, I do know this: P Is For Panda is and will always be a company that supports the artist and the community.

For now, we are a clothing company. It may not necessarily seem revolutionary, but we believe that it takes small steps to incite change. Our clothing will be completely based on artist submissions. If we choose to use an artist’s design, the artist is then allowed to choose the item price, the size of the clothing run, and a charity to donate a portion of the proceeds to. World Wildlife Fund is the charity we will suggest to them, but again – it is the artist’s choice.

From there, the profit will be split three ways.
1. The Artist. We thought it was unfair that when an artist designed a shirt they simply got paid a flat fee. If the shirt goes on to sell thousands, the company makes all the money and the artist is left trying to pay rent. With this model, if the shirt sells well – the artist actually sees some of the cash!
2. A Charity. We want to give back. And what better way to give back than to give 1/3rd of our profits to a charity that is trying to better the world we live in? It’s a hell of a lot better than just making some cool shirts.
3. Us. We need cash to keep this thing rolling!

Many people in the “business world” have said that this model cannot and will not work. My question is: “Why?” Because we are thinking about someone other than ourselves? Because we are not concerned with a bottom line? Because we would rather help save a life rather than pad our pockets? People in the normal business world simply do not understand how a business can succeed while “giving away” 2/3rds of its profit. My simple answer is “Why not?”

If we fail – at least we failed while trying to do something meaningful. We would rather die trying than sit around on our butts complaining about the war, the worsening situation in Africa, the lack of aid in New Orleans, or the staggering number of people that are dying right now because they need a new kidney while most of us have one we don’t even need.

If you want to support Panda – thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We believe this can work and we want to show the “business world” that together, we really can change things.

Lets change the way business works.

Chad Pearson and P is for Panda

Who can argue with proving narrow minded suits wrong? Not me, and not Billy Walsh either.

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Everyone knows I’m a huge fan of Bay, I think he does action the way it should be done. He isn’t artsy enough for most people it seems, but he knows cinema. I really liken him a lot to Quentin; both make films their own way, are very successful in what they do, love making things over the top beyond reality, and are met with sharp criticism about almost every film they make. If he’s good enough for Tarantino, he should be good enough for all you pseudo-artistic types.

Michael Bay

“Quentin Tarantino called me once. Someone had written ‘Is Michael Bay the Devil?’ Quentin said, ‘Don’t worry, last year they called me the Antichrist.’”

I have a point, stick with me. Bay is doing something which I find to be spectacular, premiering Transformers on four screens in Westwood at the LA Film Festival. Now some might think, “yeah you need four screens for all those blockbuster hollywood types,” but you would be wrong. Transformers will be premiering on four screens so we can all have a chance to be a part of the premiere and the after party. Tickets go on sale for the Transformers premiere next weekend, and package tickets for the LA Film Festival (which include the premiere) are already on sale. See you there.

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Upon said green light, a bus came from the right, possibly still catching the yellow. This was no ordinary bus, Kyle describes it best as “That was Satan’s bus.” After the bus, we proceeded to turn left, a bogie appeared close on our tail. This car came out of nowhere, clearly running the red light Satan’s bus had almost run and along the way decided we needed to be tailed. Kyle and I don’t appreciate those sort of actions, so Kyle tried to improve foreign relations, to no avail. Suddenly I noticed a blur in the left mirror and a vehicle was suddenly on the side of us passing us. I felt like Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder as he erratically threw his Lancer at the front left of the BMW. I slammed on the breaks and let him fly right by, masterfully avoiding any collision as he passed left to right in front of us.

He threw his car back left and swerved at us a few more times, and I countered with avoidance each time. He finally stopped just before the end of the onramp where the freeway was, and threw his door open to get out. What happened next was unreal, he was charging straight at us sporting his Cleveland Browns Brady Quinn jersey and clenched fists, we had to think quick. The ARod special was unfortunately at Toyota of North Hollywood, so I muttered to Kyle “Get his plates,” and planned for the worst. My mind covered most scenarios and I decided the worst thing he could do was try to break the window, so I raised my arm up in preparation and Kyle shifted from License Plate capture mode to ready to dial 911 mode. The worst case is exactly what he had in mind, and he punched the window as hard as a Brady Quinn fan could. Neither Kyle, nor myself flinched one bit when his fist struck the glass.

An amazing thing happened, the glass did not break. I had decided in my head prior that once he had taken this past assault, and on to battery I was fully justified to run him over. I had already eyed enough room to the left of his Mitsubishi that was drivable terrain, and my feet were on the triggers so off we went leaving him in the rear view mirror cursing and spitting. By all accounts he either chose not to follow, or could not catch the Bimmer, and we were left only to revel in adrenaline.

Note: Im sure Kyle will have his account of the events surrounding the early morning of May 26th sometime soon, so be sure to check out his view of the night. In addition, I realise a large portion of this blog sounds like an ode to Tom Cruise. While it would be acceptable as it would be an ode to the old, cool, not insane Tom Cruise, I assure you it is only an ode to Tony Scott.

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I got over the $1200.00 bike when I realised I would be scared to take it out in public, so I decided that I should purchase an urban bike. You know the kind that bike messengers ride? I would go urban biking (yeah i make up a lot of urban ______ sports, but that’s what we do here in the Arts District), I would ride at night and rule the streets.

Fortunately I have a former professional mountain biker in my friend Jordan Percy (who rides his bike to work every day, and once rode from Pacific Beach in San Diego, all the way up to Oceanside just because he was bored), and fortunately Jordan paid us a visit last week. We took some time out of our interviews and meetings to discuss my bike situation with Jordan.

Jordan shot down my urban bike idea in seconds, claiming those mountain/bmx hybrids were for adults who rode bmx bikes as kids and want to pretend like they still can so they get an urban bike. I tried to explain that I am exactly that person and have no issues with it, but he demanded we go another route. Jordan then suggested a fixed gear bike. I being a good friend have listened to Jordan talk about these bikes before and know I want no part in a bike that you have to peddle to slow down. I immediately deny him, and go back to the urban bike.

Jordan finally asks me why I want an urban bike and why I was so fixated on the $1200.00 bike, so I tell him the most honest 2-drink answer ever, “to intimidate people.” Now I’m (not yet) a cyclist, but I feel intimidation is a big part of cycling. I need to look like someone who rules the streets at night in the cutthroat world of urban biking.

Jordan finally convinces me to let him build me a perfect single speed bike from vintage road bike parts and some sort of cut off bars that will look mountain bike-esque but he assures me will still intimidate. We have not yet set a bike building day, but you shall be updated… and you have been warned.

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There were a few wardrobe delays getting to the track, but once all was overcome an absolutely wonderful time was had on a gorgeous day. I really wish they would create a Place-Show Exacta, because I would win them all (and yes I would bet it). Other important lessons learned were; the 9 horse is out to ruin me, a $0.10 Superfecta box on the entire field of 12 is costs more than you would think, some horses just have pure natural instinct to finish (with or without a jockey), the only horse I didn’t bet on is always going to win the Preakness. I missed about 5 Exacta’s by one position, blew a Superfecta by one position, and threw countless monies at horses who just couldn’t finish.

The other entertaining moments of the day were a close encounter (seated at the table next to us) with the infamous Wal-Mart wine/condom guy, and a baffling game of “are we girlfriends, or are we girlfriends” with attractive mid-twenties East Coasters as the subject.

I pretty much lost all day and had thrown in the proverbial towel on the day via text message, when my last bets all hit with the 3 horse in the Seventh. A good day turned even better, thank you for the luck kind text message-ers.

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Dinner was aces, per the standard at the Ram’, and the drinks were the thing of legend (I rec’ the Mango Mojito, though I’m always a sucker for the Rambutan Cosmo, slash anything with Soju in it). For the rest of the evening we decided to help the social resurgence of Downtown LA by visiting a few local watering holes. The Edison was dead, and there were no good leads for the Times so we pressed on to The Redwood.

The Redwood is one of the finer nautical bars in existence, complete with Quill and Ink sketches of ships and other lovely works of art. Once we headed to the stern we found the dance floor, complete with a DJ dropping hits everywhere (He had a few slips, but with most the wanna-be hipster DJ’s in this town refusing to drop some JT in his mix, I find the gesture unique and different).

B-list celebrities surrounded us on the dance floor, however these were a slightly different crowd than the usuals; Lil Jon, Kwame Brown and a few of the leaders of some rival b-boy crews. I have to admit I’d take this group on the dance floor over the Bang crowd on most days.

On our exit, we decided to go Bridge and Tunnel-ing through the city. Perhaps you weren’t aware of all the tunnels and bridges around Los Angeles, but while you are planning your own route, be sure to check out Angel’s Flight. Our soundtrack for the B&T-ing was the ever appropriate TBS, who reminds us of what fine young knives we all are.

Taking Back Sunday

Literate and stylish
Kissable and quiet
Well that’s what girls dreams are made of

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After the long journey, some interesting appetizer’s and a run of the land we headed off to revive our singing careers. If you have never been to Dimple’s, you are cheating yourself out of a good time, and potential fame. I’ve heard this place was where Record Industry A&R signed pop stars before American Idol existed. They even snap pictures and film you.

Edit: Kyle has a longer description of the evening, with less metaphors and more promise of our DVD and allusions to internet infamy (that’s right, Dimple’s has a live feed every night) on his blog.

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I love people coming to America, I love the idea of the American dream being something people want and lust over, furthermore I am blessed to be able to live the life that I do (Here is the part where I potentially offend you). However I do have a few suggestions for the cause; respect those of us fortunate enough to have been granted our pass enough to not shut down areas of business on a weekday, fight for your right to be here AND for those same rights in the country you are trying to leave behind as you wish granted here. I say this last part not because I don’t want anyone in the country I was born in but because all countries can be something great, however if all of a countries truly innovative people abandon their homeland their will never be any progress or change.

This world needs leaders, not followers.

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A different town’s not much different when your there, it’s just how it feels to drive, clear phone calls when your friends call every one in the car’s cell phones, catch drug runners in action, spend hours making signs to hold out to no one, meet random people in random places saying random things to get them to hang out with you, never figuring out exactly what number she left on the voicemail after an hour and at least 70 numbers dialed, naked people hugging non-naked people, camera phones are a must, maybe we’ll take the 1 back, Avril Lavigne’s sweet sounds from the speaker of the car, whatever means is neccesary get to Krispy Kreme.

On the transition, seeing good friends in town, even if they were here 3 weeks ago, and seeing good people’s hard work paying off dull’s much of this world. We need more good people, but what do we do with the bad? Can we work out some sort of free trade agreement?

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