Hello Cutie

Here's a little post for my sweetheart Anne. Tokidoki has teamed up with Hello Kitty to create a new line of plushies and accessories [pictured above]. There are cosmetics bags, cell-phone charms, a mirror, ball-point pens, a business card case, an ID case, a wallet, letter sets, notebooks, a couple of plushies, and a camera case. I'm not sure what I should get for my sweetie, but I know I have to get her one of these. They are just too cute. Just like her.

Secret Headquarters

I got e-mail from Secret Headquarters [pictured below] on Sunset that Andrice Arp [pictured above] has an exhibit opening this Friday, tomorrow in fact, September 19th, my brother Seth's birthday (happy b-day, bro), from 8-10 pm. I really like the Secret Headquarters. It is cozy, they have a wide selection of comics and the staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Anyway, I will try to make it out for this. I am moving this weekend, so it might be a little tough. I do have tomorrow off, though, because my boss is heading to Las Vegas for the Art Expo. He invited me along, but I have to move and Seth is coming back this weekend and it is his birthday and he needs a good clown-raping. I think I've said too much. Anyway, check out the art of Andrice Arp tomorrow night if you are in the Sunset Junction area. Maybe I'll see you there.

Lunch With Hank

Henry Rollins wants to kick my ass! Not really, but it sure looks like it from this picture. This afternoon I had lunch with Seth's friend JD at Toi on Sunset, which has decent Thai food, but an amazing atmosphere, which today consisted of eating beside Mr. Henry Rollins, a personal hero of mine for his work in Black Flag back in the 80's. I was a huge hardcore punk rock fan in high school because of my friend Edward who was in the band Celibate Commandos. Anyway, Henry Rollins, just fucking sitting there having a nice chat with a lady friend. Five feet away. I had to get a picture. Henry was actually very pleasant. We talked about East Coast hardcore back in the day. He remembered coming to Chapel Hill to play the Brewery in '86. It was awesome. I was totally star-struck.


Anyway, on a completely different fucking subject, Tokyoflash has got a new watch, negatively called the Negative. "Negative is one of the most sophisticated designs available from Tokyoflash and features an "always on" LCD display alongside its multi-color LED light guide. At the touch of a button, the display can be backlit with one of seven user-selectable LED colors." Just ¥16,900 or $158. Cool. But not nearly as cool as lunch with Hank.

To Infinity And Beyond!

Super7 just announced their Halloween set for this year. The Snakes of Infinity Halloween set includes four figures, [three pictured above], cast in beautiful clear orange vinyl with black and silver spray. "Complete the set, and the fifth figure is on the (haunted) house!" One will be released each Saturday in October. I am really looking forward to October 4th when the first figure is released. I wonder which one it will be?

Obaaamaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!1!

I just got word about this Baruch Obama toy from Jailbreak Toys in an e-mail from Turntable Lab. I haven't given props to Turntable Lab in a while, but I like this toy. I have decided to start calling Barack Obama Baruch Obama. It makes him sound Jewish. Here's what TTL has to say about it:

I'm going to restrain myself from writing my longest review ever for this toy. I will simply transcribe the conversation that Ak Boogs and I had when it came in. These were my first reactions, I am not claiming any accuracy for my belligerent statements. Real talk.

Me: "I don't know... His features are a little too Curious George (The skin tone is accurate, but strangely the product shots that Snack looked up online were mad suspect in the skin-lightening department. Had a brother looking like Nat King Cole on television in the 50s and shit). I'm not feeling the fact that his campaign probably isn't seeing any of this money, either (it's since been confirmed that $1 goes to his campaign for every figure sold online). Why does he have the ill Arsenio finger? I bet these toy-making motherfuckers are a bunch of white boys trying to cash in on one of the most amazing moments in the history of the United States."
Ak: "I bet you're still going to buy one, aren't you?"
Me: "Two. One for my desk and one for the crib."

Anyway, I am tired from a long night last night at the art walk and a long day of work today. I am working on another piece for Billy Dee Williams. This one is a composite of two paintings that will be used for the cover of a magazine that goes along with the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz 2008 Saxophone & Composers Competition. Billy Dee Williams really likes my work. Then I had to scan some images and print out some super high quality prints the same size as the originals for Igor Kovalyov, the director of The Rugrats Movie and an episode of one of my favorite cartoons of all time, Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man, and a very close friend of the gallery. I was getting ready to leave when a guy came in wanting to print an image five feet by twelve feet on linen. My boss was out, so I had to show him around the studio, show him our printers and that we had the capacity to print that large. I don't know prices or anything, I'm a production designer, so I was trying to get him to come back in the morning when my boss would be there. It was after five. I wanted to leave, but stayed and helped him as much as I could. He is coming back in the morning. I hope he has deep pockets!

Vodka With The Boss

Yesterday was a rough day at work. I am working on a new website for the gallery, which should be up soon, and my boss kept changing his mind about how he wanted the intro animation to look. First he wanted it to be a paint brush dripping paint onto our business card, then it flipping over to reveal the website. Then he wanted smears of paint going across the screen to become the website. But they were both too busy. Not clean and simple enough. By lunch, I was on the verge of exasperation. I took my lunch to do some meditation and calm down, got some caffeine and headed back to work. By four o'clock we had completed the intro animation for the website and it looks very nice, clean, represents the gallery well. When I am done with the rest of the website I will put a link up here for everyone to check it out. Anyway, my boss was so excited by the results, he busted out a beautiful bottle of vodka. We had to toast to our success. He had even showed it to Billy Dee Williams, who was also impressed. This was right before I was getting ready to leave for the day. So we did several shots over vodka, four or five, in rapid succession, finishing the bottle, with some blueberries to chase it, the only food I had eaten all day.

Then I drove home.

It didn't really hit me until I hit traffic on Sunset Blvd. I was overwhelmed by a sloshing sickness. My head throbbed. Vodka on an empty stomach is not a good thing. I much prefer it with some food or after a meal. When I got home, I figured it would probably be a good idea to eat something if I was going to throw up, give it a little substance. Also, I hate the dry heaves. So I ate a few handfuls of peanuts, some dry bread and yogurt. The yogurt did it.

I called in sick this morning. My boss understood. I am getting ready to head into work right now. We have an art walk this evening, so I will probably be there until nine o'clock, which will be a full day. If you are in the La Brea and Santa Monica area tonight, stop on by and say hi. It should be fun.

Speaking of fun, a few things for y'all folks:

Erick Scarecrow of ESC Toy Ltd. has a new 8" Micci plush coming out in September. It will be available in five different delicious flavors, Purple Lurple, Snow Attack, Pink Rage, Green Master, and Mocha. Available now? Soon? How much? We shall see... we shall see.

A Paper Tiger has a beautiful new Limited Ed. print from Nimit Malavia entitled The Spark That Hath Set Fire. Limited to ten 12" x 16" prints signed and numbered.

Update: It looks like they are sold out already.

There is a new iPod Nano and new iPod touch. iTunes 8 is out. The world is changing my friends. The world is changing. Now I gotta go to work!

Moving Right Along

This past weekend Anne and I traveled 3,004 miles (twice) at an average air speed of 452 miles per hour and ground speed of 45 miles per hour from Los Angeles, California via Atlanta, Georgia to Fenwick Island, Delaware. It was a grueling trip that began at 12:55 am (PST) Friday night in Los Angeles and concluded at 3:05 pm (EST) Saturday afternoon on Fenwick Island, but it was worth it. Somewhere in the Atlanta airport, I lost my mind. Luckily, I didn't sleep Friday night, so when you factor in the time change, I was awake for 38 hours straight. Sleep deprivation and traveling across time zones rapidly does some strange things, especially when you add alcohol, which I promptly did upon arrival at our palatial beach house, mere steps from the beach.
I didn't make it to the beach that first day, but I did eventually make it to bed. Before that, though, I was treated to the finest of foods: corn on the cob, hamburgers and Frogmore stew. The second day began with a trip to the beach for a little boogie boarding, volleyball and getting sun burnt as hell. Sunday afternoon, Seth grilled up some sickly delicious lobsters for lunch [pictured above]. They were indescribably good. After lunch we set up the horseshoe pitch and threw some shoes. That was fun. Sunday night I made a huge pot of paella with grilled chicken, sausage and shrimp for the family. It was delicious. I think some of the family might have had their doubts, but I know what I'm doing when it comes to paella. After dinner we had what everyone had been waiting for, Mama's chocolate bourbon pecan pie a la mode. I went to bed drunk and full again Sunday night. The sunburn and jet lag didn't help, though.

Monday, Seth and Gena left in the morning, then it was off to the beach again for more boogie boarding, walking hand-in-hand with Anne on the beach like two lovebirds and trying to keep from burning any worse than I already was. I wore the wrong shorts for boogie boarding, and lost them in the surf a couple of times, to everyone on the shore's delight. Lunch Monday was hamburgers, hot dogs and barbecue chicken on the grill a la Scotty G. It was delicious, and still we begged for more. After lunch Anne and I walked down to a little skateboard shop called Rebel One to check out their 45% off sale. They had some decent wares, but I don't have any money to spend right now. But if I did, I would definitely get one of these exclusive Limited Ed. Yuta Onoda Wishing Upon a Star prints [pictured below] from the I am 8-bit show that are available from A Paper Tiger. It is a 12" x 16" archival print, signed, numbered, and limited to only 30.
Scott, Magnolia, Hip Hop, and Peter left Monday evening, then the rest of the gang ordered pizza and played Taboo until it was time to go to bed. Anne and I had to leave early Tuesday morning, but not until after a hearty breakfast of blueberry pancakes and french toast bagels. Back in the car, back on a plane, back to the Atlanta airport, and finally home to Los Angeles. It is still a little weird to call Los Angeles home.
Anyway, another Los Angeles, well Culver City, friend of Limited Ed., project:gallery, is moving. After their new exhibit, Fresh Faces [Yuta Onada's Libido, pictured above], which begins this Saturday, September 6th, from 7-10 pm (PST), they will be moving to a larger space just down the street. The new exhibit features the work of Nimit Malavia, Yuta Onoda, Dominique Fung and Martha Chan. I might try to make it there. I will see if I have fully recovered by Saturday.

Speaking of recovery, Lee "Scratch" Perry [pictured above] will be at Amoeba Music on Sunset this evening at 7 pm (PST). I would like to make it out for that, but I don't know if I will be able to. Anne isn't home yet, she will have Kallie the Kat with her and we haven't had dinner yet. It is going to be a mess trying to get everything taken care of before seven. I still might try to make it out, 'cuz I'm a huge "Scratch" Perry fan. Anyway, I am exhausted from work today. Check out my pictures from this weekend here.