Well, it’s finally come to be. Both parents are now retired. Now my Dad no longer has the house all to himself during the day. After school there was a retirement party for my Mom. It was was not surprisingly like a school play. Little skits and people singing goofy songs. Just replace kids with adult kids. Now they’re off the the San Juan Islands to spend the summer on the new boat at Friday Harbor. And yes I’ll be going up in August to partake in free whale watching.
Zathura is hurtling towards our completion date so as people started rolling off the project we had a white trash pool party. Malt liquor in bags and pink flamingos by the blow up pool. It was crazy, man.
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(click image to see the full painting) One of my favorite painters is Mark Ryden. Although these days it seems almost cliche to like him, but I still do. In January, while in Seattle, I went to the retrospective show of his at the Frye Museum. A museum show is pretty rare for a living painter. This same show later moved to the Pasadena Museum of California Art where he added his current painting “The Creatrix”. I found this photo since I actually didn’t take one of it. Not sure where I found it either. Anyway, everybody’s been going gaga over it and I was hoping he’d make a print available on his website. I’ve been hearing the original painting is going between 250K and half a million dollars. Staggering numbers.
The title of the painting “The Creatrix” is a term for the feminine creator god. The pattern spiralling down her gown is a DNA helix. There’s a Virgin Mary pin on her breast and the Santa representing the birth of Christ. Also, the central area of her dress that looks like curtains is patterned with protons, neutrons and so on. Simple life forms like a jelly fish come after that and moving down you find a fish taking it’s first steps on dry land. The evolution theme is also seen in the background where on the left side you can see a dinosaur era and to the right mammals. All the way up front you can see an infant astronaut and on the left a beehive with a clock and skeleton on it. The clock says “Tell”. Other usual Mark Ryden trademarks are an Abraham Lincoln head up near the neck line, a piece of meat, and random numbers and bugs that line the gold of her dress. Ryden also has his frames hand made in Asia. The same themes can be seen in it’s carvings. This is his masterpiece.
Being on his website mailing list, I hadn’t received anything saying there would be a limited edition. So last Tuesday as I was looking at some gallery sites that deal in Ryden’s work, I found one that said “The Creatrix” was now for sale on the official website. Oh shit, I better look… there it was for $200 and wasn’t sold out. A 200 quantity edition was released. I filled out the form as quickly as I could to lock in my order. Everything went smoothly but I didn’t receive a confirmation email. I clicked “get mail” all night long and hoped. Nothing. I checked the next morning and the site said the edition had sold out, but I still hadn’t received an email about my order. Damn, I resigned myself to not getting one. The next morning I checked my email and there was the confirmation email saying I was order number 305. Crap! Maybe that means they took extra orders in case people’s credit cards are faulty or what not. Also in my inbox was an email from Porterhouse ANNOUNCING that “The Creatrix” was going on sale! I found out later that their email system got hosed or something and none of the emails went out announcing it was on sale. Needless to say there were a lot of pissed Ryden fans that missed out. So I was one of the few that had the window of opportunity to place an order. The only problem now was if I was actually getting it with order #305. Yesterday I received an email from UPS saying I should expect delivery today. Yes!! So, knowing what a hot commodity Mark Ryden is, I logged onto Ebay to see if anyone had posted their print yet. Good lord! Someone has already sold theirs for $1300! [LINK] They seem to be consistantly selling for over a thousand. Well, mine showed up today in a huge fat tube. I even washed my hands before carefully opening it and looking at it. I got #153. Not a bad $200 purchase.
Oh, and happy days with Starbucks [SBUX] coffee too. I bought a bunch of its stock a month and half ago on the dip it’s up 20% for me already. I don’t even drink coffee! I’m a friggin’ Warren Buffett.
I sped up to the Humboldt redwoods, as evidenced by my speedometer photo below. Ok, it was only 104 really, but I had cruise control on. I made my way to the Avenue of the Giants again like I did last year. This year though I had the ultimate ride for doing this. My Honda S2000 convertible! Oh yeah, top down, radio blasting and the camera clicking away from the tripod mount between the seats. After tooling around all day on Sunday and swimming in the river I called up Keith and Shelli on my way down to see what they were up to. Being well connected as they are they were at a party at [Angus’] in the Mission. They lured me with an invitation for a burger. Which was great because I didn’t have any cash on me, but that only made me have to go to the bank to get money for the bridge crossing. Which is why I got a Wells Fargo account when I first went to school in San Francisco. They’re everywhere, and right next to me as I got off the phone. And there was a burger sitting on the grill when I arrived. Sweet. So a recap, I took my cool ass convertible up to the redwoods, drove around a lot, swam in a river, ate sandwiches, oh, saw Revenge of the Sith in a theater in Ukiah, shot a photo of a dead deer outside of Willits, went to Angus’ party in the city, and saw Keith and Shelli and their dog Stoli, who’s apparantly been eating too many cheetos and watching a lot of TV. Oh yeah yeah yeah… I bought a tripod head for the car that installs in place of the small wind shield between the seats. So you just attach a camera and go driving around. Which is what the video is of, um, me driving around. It was shot with my still camera at a frame a second and then all linked together.
I also redesigned the website. If something’s broken, I know. I just got tired of having the old site up while this one’s been sitting there waiting. The new rules are: photos are big, the latest entry is the only one on the main page, each post has its own page that can accessed by clicking on the time stamp at the bottom of the entry, each entry can be emailed by clicking on the little envelope icon at the bottom of the entry, the monthly archives are now in a pull down menu for less clutter, so if you missd something just go to the month you want, the lists are somewhat there, the travel galleries are still f’ed up. But not as much. The older the gallery is the more likely it’s been ignored. Whew.
This is Cutie. She’s a longhair that recently got shaved for the summer. Except for her head, tail and paws. But my point is that I picked up a new lens. The widest angle zoom lens Canon makes for my camera. The EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, or 16-35mm on my 20D. If that means anything. It also makes people have really big noses and cats have no bodies. The salesman said it gets the chicks.
The last two movies I’ve been on have had little flash games built for them. Polar Express and now Zathura. We screened the film today. I can’t really reveal anything about the movie, but the house that’s in it is beautiful. Such a grown up statement. I wouldn’t have said that 5 years ago. Cinco de Mayo, ole! It’s partly cloudy, cool, and I rode my bike to work. Which I do most of the time. I’m a regular Ed Begley, Jr. Junior these days [LINK]. Sometimes I have to throw a little bag of things together and strap them to the handlebars of the bike. Two days ago it was a container of teriyaki chicken from Trader Joes. Which I threw into the refrigerator as soon as I got home. Tonight I got it out of the refrigerator and found my iPod and cell phone. Doh! So that’s where they went…
Spent the day cruising around San Pedro and ended up at the Warner Grand Theater [LINK] for a screening of “I Built the Tower”. It was part of the 2nd L.A. Harbor International Film Festival. It’s a documentary on Simon Rodia who built the Watts Towers over a period of 33 years between 1921 and 1954. For a film that was 22 years in the making it left a lot to be desired. It never fully answered the question of why? They never get the answer from the subject or really present a reason for themselves. Councilwoman Janice Hahn was on hand as a sponsor of the film, and surprise, surprise, she was in it. She got up and talked for a brief moment. She’s the daughter of the late Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and the sister of current Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn. Who is so gettin’ voted out of office in the next election. Also scenes from “Pearl Harbor” were shot at the theater and on the street out front. Right after Ben Affleck gets his punk ass blown out of the sky and his best friend totally starts puttin’ the moves on Kate Beckinsale. San Pedro is also the old haunt of Charles Bukowski. I was never really a fan of poetry until I read a few things from him and realized it wasn’t poetry I disliked, but poets. Most dance around too much describing what red would be like. Bukowski said “red” and got to his point. One in particular called “air and light and time and space” [LINK] has been my kick in the pants when I’m procrastinating, lazy, or just complacent. From the book “The Last Night Of The Earth Poems” [LINK]. Do yourself a favor.
The Bungalow Heaven area in Pasadena contains a huge concentration of my favorite type of homes in the Los Angeles area. The Craftsman style bungalow. It contains over a 1000 homes in various forms of bungalows. Craftsman, Tudors, Period Revivals and Queen Annes. This house was constructed in 1914 foor $4000. On a clear day you can see Catalina from the second story. This house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in August of 2004 for it’s influence of the Arts and Crafts movement. Love it.
I just got my new painting back from the framer and I love it. I bought it at one of Jett Jackson’s shows a couple of months ago. It’s called “The Belly of the Beast”, Los Angeles being the beast. I liked it because it reminded me of the downtown area and the 6th street bridge. There are also lots of water towers on buildings down there. It’s the area where the artist lives so its no doubt had an influence on her.
It only took me four months to put the photos together but what the hell. Nine days in New York City and I didn’t see one superhero. So, a recap from December… After years of trying to find someone to take me to New York, so they could show me around, I finally caved. I’m now going. I went. Last time I was in New York was 1977. The summer of the New York City blackout, Son of Sam, the Apple II was released, Star Wars came out, Elvis died, and Studio 54 was in full swing. I thought I would try to finance the trip in a way that steers clear of my bank account. So as I was cleaning the house I was thinking of ideas of how to do this when I came across the infamous “penny jar”. Hmmm… I’d been throwing quarters, dimes, and nickles in there too. I certainly didn’t want to count it all and put them into rolls. I remembered the Coin Star machine at the grocery store that does all that and takes a small cut. So I packed up pennies, put them in the cart, wheeled them through the store and started dumping into the machine. Ching, ching, ching, ching… it took forever and I refused to look at the total until I finished. As the last coin dropped through, a total of 4106 pennies, 818 nickles, 1146 dimes, and 329 quarters. Total cash amount $279.31! Minus the processing fee, 254.45! Ok, so straight to the bank and then online to book a ticket. No one can beat Jet Blue to New York so I type in Long Beach to New York. $255.20. Roundtrip ticket to New York? .75 cents. Priceless.
Anyway, favorite thing I overheard on the street while passing two girls… “…if it wasn’t for my boobs I would have been completely broke…” I so wanted hear the rest of that conversation. Random photos from the city, people looking at art at the Met and MoMA, Trump related things, the scariest ass display of Polar Express in the windows of Macy’s, an a final link that has all the photos in one big gallery. Also a video compilation of songs from the John Lennon anniversary in Central Park and two of the news stories from a couple of my photos. The Pale Male story and Senator Charles Schumer bitching about something.
It was a cash loop day for me on Thursday. I work for Sony, they put money in my account, I go to store and plop down the debit card for a Sony PSP, the money went back too them. Hey wait a minute?? I bought two games, Wipeout and Ridge Racer. Two of my favorite games from the old system. I like racing games because you can quit them at almost any point. Unlike full immersion games where I’ve sat there all night getting fat beating up an elf to steal a knife so I can cut open a spider to get a magic crystal. I don’t have that kind of time. I’m not in college anymore. Not only did I pick up the PSP, but my Amazon UK order came in with two Stereophonics cds. An old one with extra songs including their cover of “Handbags and Gladrags” and their new one that’s not even released in the U.S. yet. And they’re at Coachella this year! Rok on.
The goal tonight? Rip the Stereophonics cds, put them on a Memory Stick so that I can play them on the PSP. Exactly what they wanted. I’m putty in Sony’s hands today. When I pulled up to the store my thought was… “that’s only about 100 people, that’s not bad.” Baa. Baa.
…and the coolest thing? Logging in and making this post via the PSP’s web browser.
After two years I finally made it back out to the Poppy Reserve in Antelope Valley. It’s a nice show this year but more importantly it was the first time I got to see the memorial bench we had put out there for both of my grandparents. We spread her ashes out there and now having a place to go sit makes it all the better. As I was out there an older japanese couple came up and asked, in broken english, if I could take their picture. As I talked to them I told them that the bench was for my grandparents. After first saying they were sorry, I reassured them that it was OK they asked if they could sit on it. I laughed and told them that’s exactly what it’s for! So they smiled big for the camera in front of all the flowers on my grandparent’s bench.
Caller I.D. on my phone. The Prince of Peace, AKA Jesus, didn’t leave a message. I wonder what he wants? Hopefully tomorrow a burning bush won’t try to talk to me, that’s too much responsibility.
According to the real time tracking on the L.A. Marathon website, this is Luis Armando Medina Guillen from Victoria, Mexico. Victoria is just south of the tip of Texas on the Gulf of Mexico. He is 37 years old and did the 26.2 miles in 2:44:02 to finish 27th in the wheelchair division. He smiled when I shot photos of him [LINK].
We won the Academy Award last night for the Visual Effects on Spider-Man 2! A long overdue first for Imageworks. Yes I fondled the little gold men. Heavy little buggers. We had champagne to drink, sandwiches to eat, and balloons to pop. [John Dykstra], [Scott Stokdyk], [Anthony LaMolinara] and [John Frazier] all picked up an award. Anthony partied a little too much last night and didn’t make it to the party today. 3 out of 4 ain’t bad. This is John’s first Oscar since he won one for the original Star Wars in 1977.
Another trip up to Mammoth for the Imageworks ski trip. After last years solo snowmobiling trip I was able to gather 5 more this year and the trip was outstanding. Visted the caldera and a couple of small craters where we stood on the edge and looked down. It had snowed all week so we had huge drifts and massive amounts of powder to ride in. All the trees were covered in snow and looking very Seussical. Me, Jill, Alberto, Alice, Howie, and Michelle all partook. Below is our group on the caldera. caldera: a volcanic crater that has a diameter many times that of the vent and is formed by collapse of the central part of a volcano or by explosions of extraordinary violence.
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Last year my parents had bought a boat in Michigan and trailered it out to California. It was to replace the smaller boat, but they never felt comfortable on it. So on the chopping block it went and they found a boat that they really liked. The size was better and they could take it more places and sleep much better on it. The real plus for me is that it’s in the San Juan Islands! Uh… nice one parents!! So my dad was driving up to take the things from the old boat to outfit the new one and my sister was going to in Seattle on business. I just hopped a plane out of Oakland after Macworld and picked my sister up in Seattle and we drove to Anacortes and ferried over to Friday Harbor and stayed the weekend hanging out! Unfortunately my mom had to work. The boat is a Nordic Tug [LINK], which is way more comfortable to cruise in than a sailboat, and warmer. In Friday Harbor there’s a seal that hangs around the dock that has only one eye. Her name is Popeye. She’ll come up to your boat and slap the water to tell you she’s there. On Saturday, we took the boat out around Shaw Island and skirted below Orcas Island. On Shaw Island there were a few Bald Eagles and I was able to get a shot of one of them. As we were coming back in it started snowing and ended up snowing all night. Snow is so rare in the San Juans and it’s been so long since I’d seen any I loved it. I was staying in a warm suite at a hotel in Friday Harbor while my sister and dad slept on the boat. That is until the electric cable running from the dock to the boat shorted out and they lost power. Which meant no heat. Which meant they were heading to the hotel for the night too. Of course my sister had been in Seattle on business and had all her business luggage. It’s snowing like mad out and she had to drag her lugagge 1.5 miles to the hotel as the streets were fluffy white, and my rental car doesn’t have chains. The movie theater was playing “Elektra”, so I didn’t go. This coming summer I get to see the Orcas swimming around for free!
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