on second thought

maybe they should send the united nations here.

no snappy title for this one

and arriving late at the party is...the u.n. 'bout freakin time. only 200k dead and 2 million displaced. i mean, they are supposed to be some sort of world peacekeeping agency.

we'll see how this goes. i mean, the u.n. did bang up jobs in places like: serbia, rwanda, somalia.

oh you tokers

you know, i am positive that i have heard several potheads explain to me how weed was less dangerous than tobacco. it seems that common sense is losing out to science, once again. lung problems and schizophrenia, you guys get it all!

maybe if you're lucky, you can take part in some american version of this study. lord knows we need people to sacrifice for science.

irrational fears

not too long ago, i was telling heather, adam and eleanore about some of my irrational fears. now, i'm sure many of us have the same ones, like sharks. really, sharks? i live hours from the ocean, and they say you're more likely to get bit by a dog or struck by lightening than bit by a shark. and yet, i hated being in water that isn't clean. i don't like being in a lake in central california. anyway, this isn't the issue.

what am i scared of? ladders. ladders falling off of trucks in front of me. this scared me when i drove a car, and it's got me constantly changing lanes to avoid trucks with ladders on my motorcycle.

this brings me to my next one, tow trucks. especially those flatbed tow trucks that have a car on it. sure, they're chained on, but i don't care. get me out from behind them.

so, about two days after relating this fear (and somewhat spoiling a blog post for 3 loyal readers) what do i see while i'm speeding down the freeway? something in the road. at a distance, it looks like it could be a gatorback. but, as i get closer, i realize it's something different. it is...a ladder. holy ish! there's a ladder in the road. the fast lane, no less. it's not going to fly off of the truck in front of me as i fear, but it's still a hazard. i easily navigate around the ladder and see on the side of the road a guy, behind his truck. i think he had on a painter's get up, and he's seeing how he's going to run across the three lanes of freeway traffic to get his ladder, that has fallen off his truck. i also see his truck, racks on top empty.

other fears i have - mental illness. which reminds me, i need to start doing crosswords, or figure out that soduku crap.

something else to contemplate, if not fear: the chief justice foaming at the mouth after having a seizure. hmmm, maybe the next pres will have a chance to put a judge on the court as well.

something not to fear - a lack of butlers. nightline did a brief story on it. it seems there aren't enough butlers to go around. hey, lazy mofo's, get up and answer your own door. dress yourself. make drinks for your friends.

i loved you in that

today i was watching young guns 2. i was around half way through the movie when i saw this guy. it was strange, they had showed him quite a bit, but up to a certain point he had quite a set of chops going. and then, he had shaved, but had a five o'clock shadow. he was saying something to the proprietor of a house of ill repute, and it all clicked.

you remind me of someone else

is it just me, or does the new prime minister of the uk remind anyone else of the voice of londom from v for vendetta?

brown


the voice of london

shark week

last night, shark week started. it's like the twentieth year. they kicked it off with the story of the indianapolis, a ww2 ship that was sunk by a japanese u-boat. the survivors were left afloat in the ocean for four days, and basically picked off by sharks. well, that and dehydration and exposure.

anyway, they started shark week off with a movie they made about the indianapolis.

sucked. couldn't even finish watching it. just boring. and not that well made.

we'll see if any of the other shark week offerings are any better.

fresno fuego over tacoma tide

on to the finals! tonight, the fuego are playing byu's team in the pdl western conference championship.

here are some photos from last night






anyway, the game was pretty good. we led 1-0 @ half, but the game was equalized in the 2nd. there was a foul in the box, which led to a penalty kick. the fuego keeper continued to be unimpressive. not only did he guess right on the direction, he also guessed that the shot was going low. he timed it right, yet somehow he still missed it. lame. so, the game went to overtime (heather and kasey weren't happy to have to sit through two 15 minute o.t. halves). our side scored two in the first, and one in the 2nd. 4-1 final.

i'm hoping we have a similar score tonight, but in regulation.

but how old are you really?

so, i came across this site that tries to determine your "real" age based on life factors, and even predicts how old you'll live.

i think i was quite honest, and according to the site i'm actually 5 years younger. and, i'll live to 78.

blog birthday

two years ago, and 700 posts ago, i started this blog. i first signed up with blogger because justin, who apparently spends most of his time on blog hiatus, had his blog set up to only accept comments from people with an account. so, i signed up, and started all this. my first post:
"so, to post on my friend's blog, i had to become a member, which ment i got one. so, i used my presumptious title that i've been sitting on until i scratch out some cash for a real website. so, hopefully, this blog will chronicle the development and rants of me until i make edwardstewartartist.com. so, yeah.

here are goals i'm establishing for myself on this blog:
1. post at least once a weak, but not multiple times a day.
2. show pics of my art, family, friends
3. complain about tv
4. interact with your comments
5. whatever else i want to do

in the words of the passe Kool Moe Dee,
How ya like me now?


ed"

i like that i misspelled meant. and presumptuous. and that i basically through that first goal out the window. but the ball keeps rolling. i keep posting.

old world assassins

i think the media may be trying to tell us something: be afraid. be very afraid...of cats. kasey has a post up about a cat that's the harbinger of death. and today, i read this story about a cat taking on a bear. it seems a black bear strolled into a new jersey yard. the family cat chased it up a tree, twice! the bear was able to escape when the cat's owner called it into the house. finally, here's a look @ the history of the domestication of cats.

and our cat, well she's not scaring anyone.

here she is, looking dapper with a collar and tie


here she is, doing her best to look fierce

new links in the chain

mike, rebecca, you've made the side bar. keep up the posts to stay there.


carry on.

dr. dr.

i am sad that a country as great as this one does not provide health care for its citizens.


is this an issue that any of the candidates are actually going to stand behind?

earn them stripes

really, you're worried about kangaroos? there's plenty of them. worry about that polar bear (even if 70% don't live in the artic).

we shall over come. we shall over come. (uhhh, is that last line offensive?)

fuegificent

while i was out of town, the fresno fuego not only clinched a playoff spot, but they vaulted into first place! we host the playoff tournament on july 27-28.

now i know what i'm doing this weekend. i hope that we'll win friday night, and saturday i can bask in a championship for our side.

i don't practice santeria

tonight, heather and i watched one of the scariest movies from my childhood. i can't precisely remember, but i think i originally saw it in the theater, at twelve years old heather stumbled upon it as it started, and it took me about a minute to figure out what it was. she was already going to, but i demanded we watch it.

art, steve, you guys remember the believers? it's not great, but the movie holds up alright. i mean, it is a twenty year old movie about santeria. it definitely holds up better than the serpent and the rainbow.)


it was good to see martin sheen treat his son in the movie how i imagine he treated charlie and emilio.

one question: why do movies of this era seem to end with a jeep and a german shepherd?

got a minute?

like tetris? check out this game.

au revior notre amie

so, this last weekend, heather and i went with adam up to oakland. why? were we seeing mc hammer or oaktown 357? perhaps taking in an a's game? looking for the raiders? no, none of those. our little friend is moving to a city where her coke for breakfast routine will fit right in.

while we were there, we ate some grubbin pizza @ a place called lanesplitters. my first thought was bowling, but the decor was more racing, like splitting lanes with a motorcycle. but, they also had bowling pins on their menu. sorta split personality. but the food was good. after that, we walked back to the apartment and went up to the roof. i heard that this was a cool hangout, but it was super nice. good breeze, beautiful scenery. here's photos:






i wanted to also get some daytime pics so you could see what those lights were


almost dead center of this pic is the golden gate. yeah, it's small, so what?


this is the view going the other way, towards the hills.


saturday we went to this great ice cream place. i had eaten a sensible lunch at a nice tapas place, and then gorged myself on frozen milk. i also got it on my shirt.

did you know oakland has a lake in downtown? i didn't. it's sort of natural, but still. of course, i didn't actually take a picture of it. nor did i take a picture of the sushi place where we had dinner. or, the parkway speakeasy theater. instead, i took a place of the place across the street from the theater, woody's laundromat.



about the parkway, i'd heard it was a really cool place. everything i'd heard was true. imagine, seeing a movie sitting in a nice recliner, drinking a beer in a glass. you can order a pizza, made somewhat to order. i watched them ladling butter onto popcorn. now, we didn't have pizza or popcorn because we were stuffed from dinner, but still. it was super cool. it makes me really yearn to win the lottery and open something similar in fresno. anyhow, we watched knocked up, which cracked me up. i had pretty low expectations for this film, but i completely enjoyed this. it had a good story, lots of witty dialog, and plenty of gags. funny stuff. and i got to enjoy it with adults. good times.

the iphone pics were alright, but i wished i had remembered to take our real camera all weekend. especially for those night shots.

so, goodbye eleanore. we'll miss you falling asleep at landmark. we'll miss your snappy wit. we'll keep reading your blog but it won't be the same. and we'll see you sometime in the future. enjoy atlanta. and if you see mike vick, go the other way.

personality

sara and woody saw some personality deal on the tube, and then took a test on the website. i thought i would check it out. i ended up:

I'm a O70-C74-E70-A32-N11 Big Five!!

now, i don't think these things are perfect, but i do find them to at least be consistent with other personality tests i've take (myers briggs, etc)

quick hit

tomorrow i'll have a full post about this weekend, featuring some pictures. but, in the meantime, i just wanted to briefly reflect on soccer in the u.s. this weekend.

the other day, i mentioned that the mls allstars beat celtic 2-0. well, they also played chicago fire. that game ended up being 1-1. cuauhtemoc blanco, mexican international, scored for chicago and just missed another. this result impresses me because chicago isn't an allstar team, and i wonder if their combined salaries are equal to 1/3 of celtic's.

sadly, the galaxy were unable to come up with a similar result against chelski in beckham's debut. but, they did play well on both ends of the field, especially in the first half. i didn't get to watch the second half, but have it taped for later. i hoped beckham would play a little more, and figured he would be on for about thirty minutes. he only played 17, but it's a start. and, as they drilled it into our skulls during the game, no one wants to aggravate an injury in a friendly match. but, like my chicago assessment, the overall salaries lag far behind chelski's. they are a freaking allstar team. if you take away beckham's endorsements, he's getting signed for less than many of the chelski players. now, you can make an argument that these high played players are @ a different point of their careers, like malouda who recently signed for 35 million.

i may not think everything alexi lalas says is gold, but i think he's right, you could take mls teams and drop them into the premiership. they would finish middle of the pack, and with time and wide open checkbooks they could compete.

other upcoming noise

for those of you that don't sleep on school nights, or who keep saying they want to see el olio wolof

it's just a cartoon, right?

see, muslims aren't the only ones that don't appreciate comics.

i like this line, "(it) was the closest he would come to working."

what i don't like:
"Slandering or defaming the Spanish royal family carries a two-year prison sentence."

be afraid,

be very afraid. the devil will be in control this weekend.

places to avoid:
iraq
iran
pakistan
texas
probably most places

footy news

celtic sucks.


okay, i admit, it was an preseason friendly/warm up type match, and it was against the stars of the league. but still, 2-0 on some really nice goals. and, it's not like all star teams have the benefit of practicing together, knowing where people will and should be. and, it's nice to see that this is the second year in a row where the mls all stars have beaten a top notch squad. last year's victim, chelski, will be playing the galaxy on saturday. maybe you've heard, this beckham fellow is supposed to play.

oh, and dana, the earthquakes are coming back.

upcoming noise

velvet revolver
alice in chains
sparta

fresno, ca, sept 12 2007.

i think i'll be there.

jokes and jokes and jokes and jokes, spaghetti spaghetti

i know tyra wants people to know that being a model is hard work, but this job seems pretty easy. well, it's not physically demanding in my opinion.

i have a proposal for you...

perhaps now a certain son of a former dictator will stop sending out emails asking for help accessing money.

neil diamond's checking out, red lobster here i come

saw this skit from an old snl over @ stereogum. cracked me up, thought i'd share.

link dump

been a while since i've done a good ol' link dump, so here we go:

apparently, kids these days aren't downloading music. instead, they're buying vinyl. except, saying that vinyl sales are up doesn't really mean that people aren't downloading.

teh internets (aka, those series of tubes) is the cause of neglect. or, you're just a bad parent.

we may be nearing war on three fronts. that always goes well, right?

so, some senators had an argument about iraq (shocking, i know). we had a little bit of one in the class i t.a.'d during the dinner break.

the maverick ship seems to be sinking. or, maybe the rats are all jumping off.

in some fresno related news, riverpark hates teenagers. well, at least those ones that do what teenagers do: hang out. and teh kids are organizing.

the wall street journal says new atheism sells well, lacks substance and uses the word tract, all in subheadline. and the sun wants you to know that the pagan's are ticked off. but, hey, the sun also wants you to know that birds singing loudly are a problem.

not sure if this jesus action figure is better than the one i have. i mean, it comes from walmart which is akin to the holy of holies.

not everyone is happy that trump is coming to fresno. now, this guy has some good points, but i think that he goes a little far with his quotes on who benefits from a development in west fresno.

i heart l.a.

yep, kids these days may not always be smart. in fact, here's an example of how stupid and wrong they can be. really, it's pretty sad.

choice quotes:
"The suspects are accused of recording some of the attacks with their cellphone cameras, footage police said the boys intended to post on the Internet.

"That's not going to happen now," LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon said."

i like that modern day delinquents often help the case against them by posting it on the net.

cause of death

ah shoot, this made me almost laugh out loud, which would have been a terrible thing to do while t.a.'ing a class.


marriedtothesea.com

cause, you know, the wu tang clan ain't nothin to...

btw, no, you can't have a cheezburger.

two for one

top hat = dignity

marriedtothesea.com

south = meth


marriedtothesea.com

except, really, we do most of that meth making out here in ca.

fuegeazy

so, mike and i went and saw the fuego whip up the bakersfield brigade on saturday night. the fuego played very well together, and looked very potent on the attack. our side scored 4, including a hat trick, and gave up two cheap goals in the last 15 minutes. good stuff overall.

today, i read a story that was from july 3. former u.s. national team player (3 world cups), eric wynalda signed to play with bakersfield. wha? dude's been retired two years, but still, national teamer, scored the first goal of the mls, now playing in the developmental league? maybe he's only playing home games, because he wasn't there saturday.

that win puts the fuego in second place, and the playoffs. but, right now we're only in 2nd on goal differential with one game to go. we need to win next saturday @ san francisco (currently 4th place) and hope that 3rd place ventura loses to l.a. storm (6th place). the first place san fernando are done, so maybe if we win 10-0, we can pass them on goal differential.

a link for sara (and woody, too)

you guys need to order some stuff off of here. i personally want this.

here's their complete catalog.

lunch review milano

I was hungry for lunch and thought, "what would i like to do today? i think i'll go downtown and find something for lunch. ooh, i've been wanting to check out milano." and off i went.

loaded the meter with $1.50 in quarters, giving me the full two hours.



i wonder why this fountain is dry? did the crane drink all the water?



this one is good though



but this one's dry, and it's got a soda can in it to boot



walking up to milano



btw, milano has a snazzy website.

here's their hours.



the menu




the yum



the done



and now for the details:
i didn't think about the size of the slices, despite the fact that they call them large slices. so, i ordered a slice of pepperoni ($3) and a slice of combination ($3.75), and a soda to drink ($1.50). as the guy at the counter put each slice on it's own plate, i realized that i may have ordered more than i could handle.

i started with the pepperoni. it was good, but in an average sort of way. not too spicy, and the extra mozzarella i shook on soaked up the bit o' grease that pepperoni pizza tends to get.

next up, the combination. i'll let you know that combination pizzas have snuck into the spot of favorite pizza in my gut, and this didn't disappoint. there was a wealth of toppings and the flavor of it all was great. honestly, if you're going here and aren't doing some create your own whole pizza, get a slice of combination, you won't be disappointed, either.

the atmosphere in the restaurant was comfy and cool. I sat at the bar/counter but there were plenty of tables for bigger groups. had i wanted to pick up a stick, there was a pool table (i think it was a pay per play one).

the staff there was very friendly. they were quick to take my order, and serve my food. they checked in on me just enough, so i felt well taken care of. actually, when i was walking the mall later, i walked by one of the people and we exchanged friendly head nods. good stuff.

the time it took to get my food was great. as should be expected with pizza by the slice places, they had each variety ready, and they dished it right up. not sure how long it would have taken to get a pizza made to order.

so, i admit, i both of the slices completely. i didn't lick the plate, but i probably could have. now, i'm stuffed. i figured i should work off some of this good meal, and decided to stroll down the mall to tres hermanos. over there i picked up two shirts, good stuff. got a new western shirt and yet another guayabera for my never ending collection. i was hoping to catch a ride back to my vehicle with the pedicabs, but they weren't around. i had seen a few on the way over, but i guess they were all busy on my way out. so, i strolled back, and headed home.

total time of ordering, leisurely eating, strolling and buying shirts - 45 min. you could totally go and eat lunch there on your lunch break. and, they do stuff to go (in fact, several people got slices to go while i was there). heck, you can even phone your order in so it's ready for pick up.

finally, did i mention milano has a snazzy website?


*this is cross posted @ fresno famous.com

spin

a little film (8 min) called Spin.

is the message that you can never stop helping? people want to much of you? it doesn't turn out how you want? get out while you can? there is always more work to do?

emo scares you (but not me)

worst. journalism. ever. damn. my hometown made nyc's stereogum. and it wasn't for things like rademacher, julia dawn, the sleepover disaster, el olio wolof, ibid, (yeah, i know those last two are from merced) or any good reason to get mentioned in a fairly well read music blog.

a good day for a ride

i had a little free time today, and the weather was great, so i jumped on the bike and headed east.



then i turned around and came back. nice little 3 hour ride.

ten years of ok computer

go here . download the tracks. that is, if you like radiohead's ok computer.

thank you stereogum. thank you.

fuego game july 14

hey fresno! your soccer team has clawed back into playoff contention. they're 2nd, with only two games left. if they win out, they should get into the playoffs for the pdl, who takes the top two teams.

let's all go out to chuckchansi stadium this saturday @ 7:30 and cheer on the fuego. as an added bonus, we're playing bakersfield! let's keep our little brother to the south down!





*cross posted @ fresno famous

post with a BIG disclaimer

let me start out by giving a big fat warning. this post is about a mature subject. and, frankly, it's not really the type of thing that i usually talk about here on the blog. but, as it is, i came across an article that got the wheels turning. and then another article. and more thoughts. and, i realize that i many of my readers (hey, i get about 25 hits a day, so that's what, 4 people?) won't want to talk about this. because, frankly, it's a taboo subject. or, it was. so, here we go. oh, and another disclaimer is that although is that the links may not be safe for work. not that there were offensive pictures (that i remember), but still.

anyone care to defend porn?

some people claim that porn has become mainstream. i don't know if that's true, but i think we can all admit that sex is a commodity, it sells. and, hey, i'm not trying to tell you what to do in your own house. but, i read this rather frank article (warning, very bad words and accurate descriptions) and it turned my stomach at points.

and another piece.

now, i realize that these are only one side of the equation. i know there's bloggers out there defending porn, both female and male, but i haven't read them. the second article ends with this quote, "Is pornography misogynistic? In my mind there is only one response. How could it not be? Pornography comes from a culture that breeds misogyny. At least it seems to have done so in me."

now, i can't say that "a" has been proven, so that it definitely leads to "b". but, if you will, humor me. at least, let's talk about whether or not we are a misogynistic culture? are we a culture that breeds misogynistic attitudes and behavior? how does this happen? how can it change? and, if porn is misogynistic and if it is becoming mainstream, how do we move back in the other direction (i realize that those are two rather big if's i've emphasized there)?

let me throw another quote in the mix, "These are five movies depicting consensual acts between adults, exclusively for consenting adults, there is nothing criminal about these movies." oh, i hadn't mentioned that the star spoken about in the second article has been indicted for violating standards. some say it's a free speech case. others say that it's an issue of obscenity. now, i'm not wanting to argue free speech or the merits of this case. i'm interested in talking about porn and the relationship to misogyny.

this leads me to this movie, which i heard about and have recently seen previews for. i haven't seen the movie. but, when i read these articles, it made me think of that movie as the mainstream version. or, do we just live in such a screwed up culture that realistic portrayal of torture and kidnapping can be entertainment, and the porn is following suit?

but, something i didn't know, the scandal over the firing of whitehouse lawyers deals with porno cases. interesting twist. not the aforementioned case though.

finally, on an unrelated, and much lighter note, i just finished watching an hour of seinfeld. it was the episodes where jerry buys his father a cadillac. and, this causes him to get impeached as the president of the retirement village they live in. maybe we should allow art to inspire reality and impeach the president. but, another thing stood out to me: the laugh track. real audience or not, it doesn't matter, but i'm not sure if i really noticed it until i read the article earlier in the evening about the simpsons. it was a brief mention there, and i don't know how significant it is. i think i had noticed it, but whne you're thinking about it, it really stands out. is ending this post with this paragraph a cop out?

simpson family values

great article over @ vanity fair about the history of the simpsons and their impact on culture. it's 8 pages long, so beware! or be prepared! or, sit down with enough time to read it. whatever you want.

i heart wiki

oh t.f.d.

how you killed your brand

i've heard the rumors, and here's the confirmation. sony is dropping the price on the ps3. sadly, this may not matter at all to gamers. and people like me, i think i've been won over by the wii and will be looking for one of them. and, if i go that route, not only will i save the $100 sony is discounting, but i think i'll also be saving about $250 other dollars on the regular price.

a tale of two teams

one team didn't play very well

one team did play very well

the results? well, the men's national side is exiting the copa america early. and, people aren't too happy with the u.s. for sending what is considered to be a "b team." as a supporter of u.s. soccer, i'm not real happy. it's good for us to try out new guys, to get experience for others, but should we do that in a pretty important south american tournament? we won the gold cup, and seemed to be riding a swell of energy. we looked like we were actually building something. then, we send a squad down to venezuela that bore little resemblance to that squad. what happened? 3 losses, and didn't look that good in this losses.

the other team, the men's under 20 side, beat brazil yesterday. this sent us into the next round of the under 20 world cup, and sent brazil home. as i mentioned the other day, i'm trying to catch these games now.

a metaphor on life, a thought on el olio wolof

i was playing a dvd in one of my classes. we're talking about narrative, and telling their story, as well as seeing the relation to the stories around them. anyway, i'm using the movie the joy luck club, recommended by my wife (i also like using it because amy tan has fresno connections and i like showing the students that they aren't limited in any way by being here). in fact, i'd never actually watched the whole movie before i showed it a few terms ago. anyway, back to this story. we were watching the movie in class, and the dvd kept skipping. this was really frustrating, and it seemed that each time the class was back into the story, it would skip a little or pause. a few times i took the disc out and tried to wipe off any smudges or dirt. and even when it didn't seem like there were any more smudges, it still was skipping. so, i started thinking, maybe it's the player and not the disc. when i went home, i tried it out, and it played perfectly, all the way through.

this made me think about life, and the difficulties that we face. sometimes, nothing feels right. sometimes it seems like everything we do, all the attempts to right our lives, to fix things, just don't help. is it possible to live in the wrong "player"? this one we're in is misreading us for some reason, thinks that it should jump here when we say, 'no, it's fine, keep playing.'

now, i'm not saying this about my own life. honestly, i'm pretty sure i'm where i should be, where i want to be. but i was just thinking that maybe there are people out there that have just been stuck in the wrong set up. what do you think? it's not a super profound thought, just something bouncing around in my head.

can i make a similar metaphor about the jack on my headphones? i have some really nice headphones that i received as a gift (birthday or Xmas, i forget). and i love them. but, they don't fit in the deep well of the iphone. so, i've had to use the iphone earbuds that constantly fall out of my ear. the other ones worked great on the ipod but not on the iphone. but a remedy exists, a friend of mine who has these same earphones, and iphone, told me about modifying the input on the earphones. you just have to shave the housing on the cord a little. he had already done it on his, or maybe he had done it on a part used to connect to the car stereo.

finally, i went to the post art hop show @ tokyo garden. i was a little tired, and actually left just before rademacher came on. maybe it was the heat that sapped my energy. or maybe it was that rademacher never seems to be coming on before 1, who knows. don't mistake that for criticism. i love rademacher, and have enjoyed seeing them so frequently. when they make it big, i'll treasure the memories of seeing them in a packed, sweaty tokyo garden. but anyway, i did see el olio wolof. these guys are magnificent. i've seen them now probably five or six times and each time i am more impressed with the quality of their music, their showmanship and energy, just everything. last night they had the crowd in their hands in such an amazing way. people moving, singing along, dancing, just beautiful. when i saw them here i compared them to a pentecostal tim burton carnival, and i think it still works (if you click on that link, you can actually see some low quality videos i did of them). i easily dropped the $5 for their tour demo. it's got some of the songs from their upcoming cd, and some others. it's not quite the same as actually seeing them, but it's good, and it will hold me over each time i need a fix of el olio, until i see them live again. wow, that sounds obsessive. anyway, i can't wait until both rademacher and el olio wolof get their full length albums out. i know that they've both been on the verge of releasing them, so i hope it's soon.

oooh, one last thing. i sold another painting yesterday. one wednesday, when we were doing our set up for our art hop show, a lady came through the door wanting to leave a note for the artist that had shown last month. she wanted to pick up one of the paintings as a gift. i then identified myself as that artist. we planned a time that we could meet on thursday (i didn't have the painting there). so, yesterday, the deal was done. goodbye, asparagus.

another chance to make a mark

so, one of my favorite websites, fresno famous, is doing feature pieces on some of their users. they stay on the front page for about a week. well guess who's being featured this week...little old me. supersweet. check it out here.

screw the copa america

i'll be watching the under 20 world cup as much as i can. right now, the u.s. is pasting poland. it's 5-1 mid way through the 2nd half. two guys have two goals, including freddy adu. some of these guys have been playing for the regular national side, as well. good stuff.

us vs paraguay

well, today yields another chance to watch soccer, another chance to root for the national side, and yes, another chance to be disappointed. we'll see what happens.

9th min - olsen has a great cross into the box and klestjan misses the easy header. but, just before this, the u.s. had looked pretty good, a lot of movement just outside the box. could bode for a good start.

10th min - long ball sent into the box, sorta high, eddie johnson just can't get an outstretched boot on it.

29th min - had been somewhat uneventful and i dozed off. i awoke to hear gol and sadly it was a paraguayan celebrating. replays look like bad marking in the back. but, it also looks like keller should have made the stop.

32nd min - eddie johnson has a great run, low cross into the box, nice shot by bornstein and a fabulous save by the keeper.

40th min - clark gets his first goal for the u.s. (i think). good passing around the 18, hammered home by clark. i think the assist goes to twellman.

half time - 1 - 1. i was glad to see the u.s. not give up, but really work back from the small deficit. they came back, played good football, and their pressure resulted in a goal.

51st min - paraguay's keeper takes a goal kick and hurts himself.

55th min - again, paraguay has a guy wide open. keller cuts the angle to something difficult, but the paraguayan is still able to slot it in. 2-1. it also looked like keller was expecting his defender in the area to do something, anything, which didn't happen. i'm pissed.

72nd min - free kick to eddie johnson header, just doesn't get turned enough to get on goal. but good effort.

74th min - great run up the side by the guy subbed in for ben olson. chips it over the keeper, and just over the cross bar, too.

last ten minutes - good flurry of action from the u.s. several decent chances, including two really nice headers that the keeper managed to snare.

91st min - u.s. gives up free kick just outside the box. 5 man wall. back of the net. went right over the wall.

and it's over.

july 5 art show

this guy has an art show this week @ tower mosaic. and, i lucked into hanging some pieces behind his work. so, if you're art hoping, please feel free to stop by. also showing are artists currently housed in fresno's juvenile hall.

thursday, july 5
1040 n fulton
fresno, ca
5-8 pm

getting my iphone

so, as i mentioned on friday, i was going to try and get an iphone. i went over to the nearest at&t store @ 5, knowing the doors would open @ 6. i figured that this store near me would be the least crowded, and was right. a few people behind me had been at other stores and said that there were many more people, even up to 100 @ the apple store. me, i showed up an hour before open, and was about 30th in line. my friend mark showed up at about 5:15 or 5:30 and was about 6 people behind me. i would guess that there were 45 people in our line by 6.

a few minutes before 6, one of the workers came out, and announced that they would be letting small groups in to help the process along. they let the first group in at 6, about fifteen people, and it seemed like it would fly right along. but, nope. i'm still not sure why it took this first group so long to get it done, especially since all the set up & activation would take place @ home via the internet. i finally was in the door @ 6:45. by 7, i had my 8gig iphone and was out the door. simple.

along with the unexplained wait of the early people going in the door, the biggest frustration that i had with the process was that no one had an accurate idea of how many phones there actually were. i haven't read much news lately, and none of what little news i have read has said how many phones were out there. so, we're in line just guessing if were getting a phone. i figured that since the at&t stores were letting you buy one, and the apple stores would let you buy two, that each location had to have at least fifty. that was just my guess, and so as the 30th person in line i felt alright. when i went inside and was being assisted, i even asked the lady working with me if she knew how many they had. she didn't know, and said that the people in the back would just hand out the particular model requested, and that they were just going to tell them when they were getting low on supply. it seems to me that i would have been a little more helpful if they had told people how many phones would be available so you know if you're wasting your time or not. but, even if they ran out of phones, i would have just placed an order, and been on the priority delivery list.

as i said, i had my phone by 7. i wasn't going to be able to set up my phone right away because i was going to the fuego game at 7:30. btw, the game was a huge disappointment. not only did we lose to the last place team on terrible goals (good job keep!) but this loss eliminated the team from playoff contention. awesome. after the game, we went out for a bit. so, i didn't start setting up my phone until like 1 in the morning. the set up process all went really smoothly. basically, the longest part of the process was just waiting as all the music was loaded onto the phone.

so, here it is, my iphone getting set up.