tree removal

so, i've been needing to get a tree removed from our backyard. we're putting a tuff shed in, and i didn't want the tree waste on it and junk. so, check it out.



if you need a tree removed, john's tree service is pretty good. just found him searching tree removal fresno. worked with me on the price, was able to do it the next day, and his crew had the tree out and cleaned up in less than 30 minutes.

merry christmas and happy new year videos

i wish i'd found this a few days ago, but here it is anyway:



and here's a little something to help you ring in the new year:



happy new year from the animaniacs

here's something much less kitschy from rufus wainwright

art update

some thoughts on my current painting over here.

zooey deschanel and ben gibbard engaged

in an effort to scoop hmac and the scoopy squad, zooey deschanel is engaged. she said yes to a proposal from ben gibbard, from death cab for cutie.

so, all you friends of mine that are pining away for her, you're out of luck. and all you hipster chicks with dark rimmed glasses, too bad for you as well.

end of the year list

it's the end of another year, and everyone is making lists. their best of this, best of that, worst of this, mediocre that. you know what, i'm...not going to. i was plotting out a post about the best fresno bands i've seen this year. top 7 or something like that. but you know what, i'm not.

want to know why?

because everyone and their mom on teh internets is doing it. and, you probably don't care that i enjoyed rademacher, the sleepover disaster, the fay wrays, it's an icicle, circles and circles. you don't really want to know that i enjoy seeing blake jones and the trike shop, even though they may not technically be a fresno band. you don't care that i enjoyed patrick contreras @ the undercurrent benefit show.

so, i'm not making a list. just maybe a blobby paragraph.

the united states air force nu metal band

yeah, you read the title right. the united states air force has a nu metal band. i'm surprised that i haven't heard them on 103.7 krzr or it just rocks 104.1 yet. this band is as bad good as anything they play on those two stations.

it really reminds me of this classic



that's right, party posse, yvan eht nioj!

now, if you click over to the air force band link, they're not all nu metal. just most of them. there are a few rb-esque songs written by msgt regina coonrod.

(here's another version of youtube/simpson's goodness that's longer and has funny homer & lisa dialog)



btw, if you google 103.7 krzr, the first result looks like this:
103.7 KRZR.....Fresno's Rock Station
A radio station in Sacramento that plays Heavy Metal rock music.

wtf? seriously, how are you fresno's rock station, and the next line in your website coding tells google to tell me that you're a sacramento station.

morons.

gratuitous third simpsons video

reunited and it feels so good

mrs. puddles and our friend justin have had a long relationship. they don't get to see each other often, but when they do, they always hit it off very well. here they are holding hands.



i like the spacing between the two of them. very sly.

yep. here's another time that puddles and justin got toether



that's right.

rademacher at tokyo garden 12/27

if you're not like me and watching a crazy good ufc fight tonight, here's what you should be doing in fresno.



really, get the heck out of your house, brave the cold weather, and see some great local music. i'm not totally sure, but you may also be able to pick up a copy of rademacher's newest, 4 trx xmas. it's pretty nice, and i'll definitely throw on auld lang syne to ring in the new year.

if you're really lucky, you might even see me there after the fights.

and, maybe you're looking for something different. here's another fresno option...40 watt hype

merry Christmas

always young always fair

another picture from the wallpaper @ our local

lost glasses

anybody seen these bad boys lying around your house, car, somewhere? i seem to have misplaced them, and have been turning my house upside down trying to find them. it's been a few weeks since i've seen them, so even if i haven't been in your car/house/purse in a little bit, i'd appreciate if you'd give a look.

thanks

readership decline

what the heck? i've been doing decently on my hits lately, but today i'm hitting the bottom of the barrel. barely any visitors. has the winter break taken a toll? is everyone on vacation and not looking @ blogs from work? seriously, what's going on?

or am i just over-analyzing things and by the end of today my blog hits be up to normal levels?

living well in a recession

"But I'm young, single and don't have the burden of property. This sounds really sad, but maybe we're like the carpetbaggers of the horrible economic situation."

okay, i recently entered into the realm of owning property, but sometimes i feel this way. we're young, have steady jobs, and the recession isn't affecting us that badly. should i feel wrong about this? i mean, sure, i'd feel wrong if i was profitting off of others' misfortunes, but i don't really feel like i am.

maybe it's perspective. i mean, we have debt. plenty of it. student loans, house, credit, auto, yeah, we're working it all. but, it also seems to be a very manageable level. would i like less of it? of course. but the debt we have isn't really hurting how we live.

perhaps if i was older or actually had a retirement fund set up. i imagine i'd be pissed if my "future" was dramatically reduced to half or a third of what i'd been able to stash away. but, like a jerk, i've got no retirement or stocks, so those fluctuations haven't bothered me.

don't read this wrong, we're not living high on the hog. money is tight at points. and i'm not saying that i don't feel bad for people that are losing jobs, homes, etc. i guess i just don't feel bad that people like me are doing alright.

what do you think? are we the nouveau carpet baggers? should we all be trying to make small steps into the stock market?

free death to anders song

so, the gents in death to anders have a free christmas song out. click over here and you can download it FOR FREE!

• Our Manager Says That Writing A Christmas Song Is by Death to Anders

More Death to Anders music on iLike

rebuilding my digital life

ugh. so, as i mentioned here, my laptop was in the shop getting a new hard drive installed. i've now got it back, and have been laboriously putting software and data onto it, trying to get back to were i was before it dropped out on me.

oh so many little things that i've got to find again, especially all of those little quirky websites that i had bookmarked.

future of fresno

a few weeks back i was having a conversation with some friends. we were all discussing the need for younger members of fresno to really start stepping up and organizing and working toward a better fresno. one thing i knew about organization is that it's often easier to piggy back off someone else's work, to use a ball that's already rolling rather than trying to start something new. so, i started suggesting some of the fresno's public arenas that are already out there.

we talked about creative fresno, and how it offered some of this, but that it didn't have some of the things that we were looking for. i offered that i heard they were restructuring some, and that perhaps it would change in this direction. but, creative fresno, due to it's nature, is focused on drawing in creatives, boomerangs and fighting the brain drain of fresno. definitely worthy causes.

so we chatted on more, and i remembered that i knew a guy who had started a website called future of fresno, and it was intended to cover the mayoral election process. i wondered what had become of it since the election, and we all really dug the name. so, i sent him an email and inquired about the site. we've dialogued a bit, but the site is currently being used for the purpose of..."Future of Fresno is a local social network for civic-minded citizens, professionals, and business owners who are invested into our city's development and progress."

hmmmm, sounds a lot like what we were talking about. i invite you to check out the site and comment here on whether or not you think it could be a viable network to help instigate change in fresno.

flies on the windscreen

so, there is the depeche mode song that goes, "death is everywhere, there are flies on the windscreen..." and i've always thought about a screen door. tonight, the song popped into my head as i thought about painting and i realized that it's talking about a windshield.

language is funny.

the view looks good from here, fresno

so, i've been listening to recent episodes of our podcast, the view looks good from here, fresno. funny stuff. if you haven't listened to them, the last three are pretty funny, although the further you go back the less relevant some references are.

episode 18 - featuring death to anders

episode 17 - featuring jacob anderson

episode 16 - featuring mike the fresnan/wiffle/dorktown

so, go ahead, spend a few hours with us.

i'm also putting up our recent undercurrent articles.

dec 08/jan 09

nov 08

oct 08

bad football day

well, today sucked. the rams lost. both of my fantasy football teams lost (well, one team still has a shot tomorrow). bleh.

hard drive replacement

yep. stupid effin hard drive is jacked up. replacement ordered. effin crap.

sean penn vs the homosexual community

perhaps one day soon the movie milk will open in fresno. it's playing elsewhere, and i know i'm pretty interested to see it. for those that don't know, it's about harvey milk, california's first openly gay politician. the movie stars sean penn as harvey milk.

penn is a very outspoken person, especially in the area of politics. he is very far left leaning. it seems that recently penn interviewed raul castro of cuba and hugo chavez of venezuela and wrote an article for the nation. the article is interesting. on the net it's four pages, and it seems like the first two pages are more about the journey while penn pontificates about the beauty of cuba. when he finally gets to interview raul castro, the piece is much more of a reflection of the whole deal, rather than dealing with any real issues. maybe penn didn't ask any questions. well, that's not entirely true. the article does move to some issues that castro seems to bring up, about long term relations between the u.s. and cuba and possibility of u.s. companies drilling off cuba for oil. after a day of getting to know him, penn finally breaks off some tough questions for castro about human rights violations that sort of get answered. the article wraps up with penn returning home to the u.s. and eventually celebrating obama's election victory.

all in all, not a bad article, but it kinda reads like a puff piece instead a good journalistic interview with the presidents of two nations.

and here is where the homosexual community enters in. over at the advocate, james kirchick rips into penn. he points out that penn is likely to gain much acclaim for his accurate and honest portrayal of milk. that's not the problem. the problem is that penn has just sat down with the leader of cuba, a man whose policies, and whose brother's policies led to the imprisonment, torture and murder of homosexuals. penn waxes nostalgically about cuba, asks about human rights, but doesn't push at all on the issue. his movie about civil rights, human rights was premiered in september of this year, so it's not like the movie wasn't already done by the time the interview was conducted. it really makes me wonder how you do a seven hour interview with someone who has actively stood against your passions and not press them on the issue. an interesting statement from the advocate article, "Penn’s credibility as an effective advocate for gay rights is also weakened by the generally illiberal policies of the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes." penn is being diminished by his association.

so where do we go from here? what do you think? should penn have gone after castro & chavez? should he have pushed harder on their track records of violating human rights?


i must disclose that i learned about these articles from the l.a. times.

lego hip hop album covers

over @ formatmag.com they have a quite funny post up recreating 20 hip hop album covers in lego men & women. funny stuff.



one of my favs, album and lego cover is this gem



click on over and see the rest.

new painting up

click over to my art blog and check it out. it's in progress, and at a pretty early stage i think, but feel free to lend your thoughts.

thanks for working for us, formerly

dear top guy @ the university,
thanks for the Xmas card, the 2009 pocket calendar, and the handwritten note thanking me for being adjunct faculty. i'll be honest, i'd give all three back for 1 class next semester. i know, the economy sucks right now, and everyone is tightening belts. full time faculty are having to take on heavier loads. other staff are having to teach classes if they're qualified & able. and, i understand that the cost of the three things you just sent me in the mail, including envelope & stamp < cost of me teaching a class. but damn i'd like to be teaching.

plus, it's pretty cool cache to say you teach @ a university, even if it's just adjunct.



don't worry fearless readers, i've got enough work @ my other job. you won't find me selling blog posts on the street corner.

good day for the fresno bee

so, today i got a chance to read the print copy of the fresno bee. i usually don't have time to do it, but today i did so i sat down @ work and whipped through it. couple of nice pieces today.

interesting article about fresno rock taco...err...cabo wabo cantina. it seems that they've cut down their hours and may be making more changes soon. i'm thinking a name change may be in their future. btw, i couldn't find the article on the front page of their website, but knew mike oz had a piece up on the beehive that had a link. what a bassackwards way to find something. step your game up bee website. turns out i could actually have seen it in a small box on the front page, but didn't. come on, this was the head of your local section. might want to have a headline on your homepage.

bill mcewen writes a humorous piece about talking smack to your former fresnan or out of town friends. i can't say i always like what mcewen writes, but this was pretty good.

then i hit the comics and saw this depressing non sequitur



i didn't quite catch it at first, but then i realized they were talking about people eating cat or dog food. man, recessions suck.

finally, i saw this article. i think they may be trying to frame the fresnan. he must have angered the gods over @ the beehive.

dr adams' wart cure

saw this picture @ the local and thought i'd share



i'm always surprised when i see one that i don't remember. and, this picture makes me wondering what someone may be hiding.

jack in the box junior bacon deathburger

what costs only $1 and may kill you (quicker)? well, that would be the junior bacon cheeseburger from jack and the box. it seems they have the most unhealthy item on any fast food value menu with that little gem. the burger weighs in with 23 grams of fat, 860 milligrams of sodium.

in their defense, "jack in the box spokesman brian luscomb said the burger was a 'great value for guests looking for a flavorful meal, but if you are looking for something else there are plenty of other great items on our value menu to choose from,' including a chicken sandwich and a salad."

whatever. if you don't know that a bacon cheeseburger from a fast food joint is bad for you then you're not smart. just because it's cheap doesn't mean you should eat it.

bailout comedy

i saw this gem, originally from the buffalo beast and thought i'd share:



it also reminded me of this comic i've shown here before:


marriedtothesea.com

boom boxes (music for the slaughter)

good lord, there is a super funny website out there called things bears love.
the drawing above was taken from there, and apparently bears love boom boxes. check out the rest.

virgania horsen's pony express

come ride with me!

beehive birthday bash

everyone's going to bee there...so you should be too

krull - the book

so, at last night's amazing post art hop show, there was a book sitting on the bar. it took me back to my childhood. in fact, it even takes me back to this post on the blog.

i never knew that marvel comics did a book version of krull.

slow posting

so, my internets has been problematic lately @ home
which has the blog on a bit of life support. my wireless router could be the problem, my Internet service could be the problem, or my computer could be the problem. or maybe gremlins.

post for arthur

it's weird how things strike you, when they strike you. my bro and family will be in town soon and I am so excited. not that you care, but i am so stoked.

post art hop show featuring rademacher, the sleepover disaster and death to anders

i'm going to borrow a friend's words to promote the show right now:
"it's not really a post-art hop show without rademacher now is it? the originators and curators of this first thursday phenomenon are at it again, this time with guests (the sleepover disaster (devil in the woods records) and l.a. band to watch death to anders, who have - since their last visit to fresno - released a new record and become big players in the l.a. indie rock scene. good music and good friends always make the post-arthop show the best thing to happen to thursdays since, um, 'must-see tv.' come be a part of it."

taken from december's indie preview in the undercurrent

post art hop reminder #2- the sleepover disaster, death to anders, rademacher

vince from the sleepover disaster told me the show goes in this order:
the sleepover disaster
death to anders
rademacher

goodbye novembeard

so, as a part of november's beard appreciation month, i grew one hell of a novembeard:



well, today is december 1, so goodbye novembeard. welcome back face:



i kinda liked the beard. maybe i'll rock one some other time. or maybe i'll just readjust to being clean shaven and not grow one.