happy halloween

565 pieces of candy. gonzo.

start time: 6:07
ran out of candy time: 8:20

i'm actually surprised it made it that long.

birthday month

getting older is what it is.  in fact, i really don't mind getting older, and don't get weirded out by numbers.  this thursday, i'll be turning 36 (oops, typed 37 first).  i'm going to use this day as a starting point for a couple of things.

the first thing i decided was to try being a vegetarian for a month.  i watched a few short videos recently about the meat industry, and it did bug me a little. one of them challenged people to try to be vegan for a month. i'm not going that far, but i did think that i could try to be a vegetarian.  for me, this is about discipline.  can i eat a little healthier, and a little less conveniently?  honestly, a large portion of my diet now is because i'll have limited time at meals, especially lunch. so, i'll eat a hot dog or two, or grab some fast food.  not so good for me. hey, i'm getting older, and the lbs don't just fall off any more.  now, i'm not totally becoming a vegetarian, as i'll actually be more of a ovo-lacto vegetarian, which means i'll be eating eggs & dairy. frankly, there's no way i'm giving up cheese, and i've yet to enjoy any of the faux cheeses i've tried.

the next thing i want to commit to is painting more.  man, i used to paint most days, and my art was coming along nicely. for whatever reason, i stopped, and really haven't painted much in over a year. i need to force myself to work on paintings every day. i won't say i'm committing to every day, but i do want to at least work on something four out of seven days in each week.

i think these are two pretty good challenges. hopefully, by december 4th i'll have stuck with them, and will be able to reflect back on the experience. i'm also going to try to blog frequently about the experience over the next month.

gone, baby, gone

do you remember this mural?

well, i hope you do, or that you have some photos of it because here's what it looks like now.

maybe this adds some credence to the fresnan's story about rumors of palominos closing.

UPDATE:
couple of things to add
- my friend adam actually texted me and let me know about the mural being painted over and i ran with the story.
- the bee has been working on the story since, and has dug up a lot of great info. see here and here. i don't advise you read the comments on the bee version of the story.

i'm interested to see how this continues to unfold, and a little discouraged by the tower district marketing committee.  also, when i begin my mural downtown for creative fresno, i've got a lot better idea of what needs to be spelled out in the contract.

red state review

months back, i remember hearing about kevin smith making a new film, and it was definitely floating under the radar.  it was called red state. it wasn't getting a ton of press, although it seemed to have buzz from the film festivals. i saw smith on talk shows, and he was pretty vague about what the movie exactly was.  he was asked about the political connection to the title, and he sorta played it down, and played up how this movie was sort of a horror film.  outside of those initial press junkets, i didn't hear much about the actual movie.

flash forward a few months, and the movie has had some limited release, and i'm pretty interested to see it.  today, netflix announced that red state was now streaming and so i popped it in our instant queue.  we decided to watch it tonight.

now, i'm not going to tell you much about the movie, because it seems that smith has worked to keep it sort of a secret, and i'll respect that and not put out a lot of detail in this review.  if you want to talk specifics in the comments here, i'm game.

here's what i will say: this movie is not compelling at all.  i didn't find it that well made.  i barely even found it interesting.  i kept waiting and waiting for the movie to take me somewhere different, and it never did.  maybe i'm expecting too much of kevin smith.  for the life of me, i can't figure out why this movie is being billed as a horror film.  it's not eery, it's not frightening, the only horror is that the scenario of the film could be real.  and heather pointed out how much you ham-fistedly coming through a few characters at the end of the film.  real novice level writing there.

watch this film if you want.  just don't invite me over.

installiday

today was a good day around the house.

• installed hand towel bar
• installed towel bar
• removed shower doors
• installed shower rod
• installed shower curtain

what will i get into tomorrow?  i don't know.  i doubt i'll install anything else.

gatorade hangover

um, yeah.

tom morello, this land is your land

i've had some interesting discussions about the occupy movement, and i'm still not sure i would say that i endorse it all, mainly because i don't know what the all is.  that's alright, i do love that americans are waking up to the class struggle that exists in our nation.  i hope people see the inequality in wages, the injustices going on in our government and society, and that change happens.

today, i saw this video of tom morello, of rage against the machine fame, playing arlo guthrie's "this land is our land."  pretty damn cool.



nice use of the people's microphone

straight outta dunwoody

so, this is a pretty humorous video about living in an atlanta suburb.  i really appreciate how well they copied straight outta compton with some very similar cadence and vocal tone.



i'm going to have to check out some more vids from dormtainment

rademacher, light fm - post art hop show

 

thursday night is a return to post art hop shows.  it's not at tokyo garden, like the good old days, but it's rademacher and light fm.

light fm, well, they're just about to go on tour with the smashing pumpkins.

rademacher, they're only releasing their latest ep.

be there. be.

hidden valley ranch taste test

so, this was my favorite sketch from this last weekend.



i'm not naming names, but this totally reminds me of a local business owner in some weird way

tower dogs is closing

from facebook today, "

I would like to start off by thanking everyone who supported TDogs. I am going to sell TDogs so I can move on to doing something I've always dreamed of doing. Its not that I don't love TDogs but it just isn't what I personally want to do anymore, so if you are interested or know someone who might be please call me.This could be a great opportunity for the right person or family. I would really like it to stay Tower Dogs, but I really can't control that. Today will be the last day we're open until after the Fair, not sure after that. Again thank you all for your support I'm so grateful."

 anybody wanna loan me some $? i've always wanted a hot dog stand.