Children, Rabbits, So Far, No Good

Sorry for no posts yesterday, kids. I ran into cousin Thomas while I was checking the web from Weaver Street Market, because my neighbor's wireless connection is running really slow right now and I am having trouble posting from home, and ended up talking to him instead of writing a post. So, to make up for it, here's some info about the new exhibit that is starting tomorrow night at Wootini:

Hey kids,

Just a friendly reminder...tomorrow night is the opening for A.D. Puchalski's "Dark Children and Rabbits from Another Place" and Sam Fout's "So Far, No Good". Come see the wonder of Aunt Tessie's apartment, and marvel at what she's crammed in here!

Opening begins at 7pm and goes until 12am. Music by Family and refreshments by Wootini. Lots of extra bonus stuff with this show...not to be missed!

And, just to keep you kids entertained, Anne sent me an e-mail today that reminded me of an old Saturday Night Live skit about Action Cats a toy I still wish someone would produce. Action Cats, for those of you who didn't watch SNL in the early nineties, were little plastic armor suits with real firing plastic missiles that you put on your pet cat. My favorite was Stego-Puss! The kitten dressed in the Mini-Mite armor was really cute, too. The cats in the commercial looked like they were really being tortured. It was hilarious. I wanted one of them to scratch one of those kids' eyes out. Now that would have been funny! Collect all 22 Action Cats. Including: Skela-Kitty, Laser Gal, Cat-Atomic, Spider-Cat, and all the rest!

Also, check out the new Music Hurts website for all of your new music news needs.

Yummy Kicks

Sorry for no posts yet today all three people who read my blog. My temp job ended yesterday, so I am back to pounding the pavement looking for employment. Okay, maybe not yet, but I will start pounding the pavement tomorrow, when my back is fully recovered. The nice thing about not working is that I get to see Anne. She graciously took me out to lunch this afternoon. That was so nice of her. She wanted to make me feel better after my bad day yesterday, and it worked. My back is feeling much better now. Anyway, I got an e-mail from Ron Dijon about these delicious looking Al Cabino Swiss chocolate Nike Vandals. Apparently inspired by Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, these one-of-a-kind, sweet (literally) kicks are on display at Colette in Paris. According to the MTV website, they're priceless... and delicious!








Also cool on the MTV.com Collectibles web site is this Bape x Nigo x Jacob the Jeweler five time zone watch. For a mere $13,000 this puppy is a veritable bargain, especially when compared to the chocolate sneaks. I think it's funny that Jacob the Jeweler has become famous for making jewelry for celebrities. It's like if Snoop Dogg's weed dealer became famous. Hey, it could happen.

Tennis Anyone?

I just stood up and my back popped and now I feel a little better. I wish I could have gotten it to do that a couple of hours ago. Oh well. At least I feel like posting something Limited Ed. now, even if it is just a link to some pictures over at Freshness of the new Limited Ed. Alife x Reebok Court Victory Pump - "The Ball Out". When it's warm outside, I like to walk around with my "Ball Out". Get it? Hilarious! These hand-made kicks feature tennis ball felt all over, the Reebok pump system and Hexalite soles. They also have the Alife logo stitched into the side and come with a badge expounding the benefits of Reebok pump technology. These sneaks are limited to 48 pairs and will only be available from Alife. These are the first in a three product collaboration between Alife and Reebok. I'm sure all of the products will be equally as cool and hard to get your hands on.

I've got to give it up for Freshness because I got an e-mail from them this morning informing me that I am one of the winners of their Nike Invincible contest. Awesome!

Suggestions

I woke up this morning and my back hurt so bad I couldn't get out of bed for half an hour. I tried stretching, some light yoga, but I could barely touch my toes. I took some Advil, but my back is still killing me. I made it into work, but I could barely walk the eighth of a mile from where I parked to my office. I will post some Limited Ed. stuff later when my back feels a little better. If anyone out there has any suggestions of what I should do to alleviate the pain, I would greatly appreciate it.

For those of you who don't know, I fell off of a motorcycle and broke my third lumbar vertebrae in 1993. It's twelve years later and it still causes me intense pain occasionally.

I Love Mochi!

Anne just reminded me of something I forgot to mention this morning. Something that she is actually wearing today. Something that was my birthday present to her yesterday. It is this Limited Ed. I Love Mochi! t-shirt that I have available right now in my Limited Ed. Cafe Press Shop. If you haven't already, check out all of my other super-spiffy designs as well. Mochi, for those of you who don't know, is a type of Japanese ice cream with a chewy candy coating. I submitted the I Love Mochi! t-shirt to Threadless, but they rejected it, those little punks! So, I had to produce it myself. I think I'm going to start submitting t-shirt designs to La Fraise now instead of Threadless. The French love me! I'm like a younger, hairier Jerry Lewis, but funny. Glaven!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I never realized how many cool different styles of Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars there were. Damn! Gotta' catch 'em all!

New Toys, Bub!

My favorite cigar-chompin', trash-talkin', pint-sized Marvel mutant, Wolverine, has got his own Limited Ed. 12" Real Action Hero figure by Medicom. How come nobody told me about this?! I had to learn about it while surfing around Action HQ when I was bored at work. Come on people, y'all gotta' keep me updated on these things. I knew about the 12" RAH Venom and the 12" RAH Carnage. I had even heard about the 12" RAH Spiderman, but I hadn't heard about Wolverine or hey, check this out, it's Spiderman in his black alien costume, my other favorite Marvel superhero, available for pre-order. You can't get much cooler than that. My favorite DC superhero being Superman of course. Anyway, now that I've demonstrated how mature I can be, I've got a couple of other things to take a look at.

First off are these Limited Ed. Big Daddy Roth Rat Fink figures that they have over at Ningyoushi. I thought the Rat Fink was the coolest thing when I was a kid. I loved how gross and distorted he is, especially when posed in a gear-shreddin' hot rod. I also really liked Garbage Pail Kids, so that again demonstrates my level of maturity. They have several different flavors of Rat Finks over at Ningyoushi.

And, lastly, because I'm going old skool here, take a look at these Limited Ed. Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Roll-Downs with built in leg warmers. Perfect for the cold weather that has descended upon us here in Chapel Thrill. Canvas Chucks just don't cut it in the winter. Speaking of which, check out these Chuck Taylor All Star boots. Speaking of boots, I'm going to have to bust mine out pretty soon. At least it's still warm in the afternoon. Hey, that rhymed. I'm a poet, I know it.

Hanukkah Rocks!

I know it's a little early for this, especially since Hanukkah starts on Christmas day this year, but I just received an e-mail from JDub Records about the newest addition to their family, The Leevees, and their latest album release, Hanukkah Rocks. According to JDub, "The LeeVees are the brainchild of Guster's Adam Gardner and the Zambonis' Dave Schneider and formed around a shared concern of the lack of solid Hanukkah tunes." Every song on the album is a Hanukkah tune, and JDub has called the release, "an instant indie-pop Hanukkah classic." The Leevees will be opening for Barenaked Ladies beginning November 28^th and will headline JDub's Jewltide in New York and Boston at the end of December.

Das AFX

On a foggy October Monday 10 years ago, in Sheffield [England, duh], Warp records quietly released Aphex Twin a.k.a Richard D. James' 'Hangable Autobulb' project in it's original 2 E.P form. Much speculation surrounded this mythical release as only 1000 pressings were ever made on vinyl. Of course, in 1995, information wasn't as commonly shared on the worldwide web and so many enthusiastic punters didn't get to hear these strange beats. These were the first releases that marked AFX's experimentation with the dynamics, speed and programming that had evolved through the UK jungle scene morphing it into something entirely alien or rather, something entirely Richard D. James. This sound is one which many now find synonymous with Aphex Twin, defined by the landmark 'Richard D. James' album, even though 'Hangable Autobulb' was first to introduce it. The rest is musical history.

Along with Alec Empire and Squarepusher, Richard D. James, a.k.a. Aphex Twin, is one of my favorite electronic musicians. I appreciate his twisted, demented, dented and inventive sound. It sounds like what is going through my head when everything is still and quiet. Well, everything except for the rattling of the heater, the sound of passing cars, the hum of the computer, the buzz of the fan, the ticking of the clock, the click-clack of hard shoes on linoleum outside of my office door, etc. All of which actually sounds a lot like an Aphex Twin song. If you can find an original vinyl pressing of Hangable Autobulb or if you got one when they originally came out, consider yourself amazingly lucky. This is one fine piece of very Limited Ed. vinyl. And now anyone can own it on CD.

Also very Limited Ed., but plastic and not vinyl (like some toys are), is this carded Boba Fett Kubrick over at Ningyoushi. This was only available at the BAPE Gallery in 2003 and features the look of the original Kenner Boba Fett packaging. For $350.⁰⁰ this little guy better be extremely rare and hard to get! Also, at that price, you better keep it mint in the package. I just wish my parents hadn't sold all of my old Star Wars toys at yard sales when I was a kid. I got so mad one time, I went over to the kid's house who bought my Snowspeeder and smashed it, so he couldn't play with it either. That was awesome! I am so proud of myself for that! Those were the days. I'd go apologize to the kid, but I heard he eventually went to Princeton or Harvard or some such ivy-league school and is probably making a ton of money now, so I don't feel so bad about it. See, Karma dude, Karma. It really does work!

That's Munny, Yo!

Kidrobot will be hosting the Munny show in all of their various locations, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, tomorrow. You must RSVP to get into the show because with all of the great artists and celebrities that will be represented with their own customized version of Kidrobot's Munny character space will be limited. Proceeds from the show go to benefit children affected by hurricane Katrina. The list of artists and celebrities is too long to publish here, but you can see some examples of the work that will be shown on Kidrobot's Munny discussion board. Munnys will also be available to the general public for customization. It should be a good time for all who attend. Unfortunately, I am nowhere near LA, San Fran or NYC, so I will not be attending. Plus, I have something much, much more important planned for Thursday, November 3^rd.


On a completely different note, my brother just sent me a book recommendation that I felt needed to be passed along. It's Jonathan Lethem's book The Fortress of Solitude. According to my brother, it is all about "tagging in NY and Brooklyn in the 70s, and comics, and Pumas." Three of my favorite subjects. Amazon.com gives it a slightly different interpretation.

Projected through the prism of race relations, black music and pop art, Lethem's stunning, disturbing and authoritatively observed narrative covers three decades of turbulent events on Dean Street, Brooklyn.

Sounds good to me. The next time I am at the library I will have to pick up a copy. Yeah, right, like I've ever been to a library! Alright, so the next time I have a few bucks to spare, I'll go on Amazon.com and purchase a copy of the paperback. It's going for $10.17 right now. That's cheap!

Scary Ghosts & Ghoulies, Part II

Last night, for the Halloween festivities, I went to a party over at Mac's house. From there, several of us walked up to Franklin Street to enjoy the craziness that always ensues on Halloween. Here are some pictures from the event:






I hope I didn't scare ya' too much! What a wild night. I barely remember it. I'm just glad I didn't suffocate in that scary clown mask.