The Times They Aren't A Changing

Here's an interesting website that finds old news articles that are almost exactly the same as the ones making headlines today. Spooky and a little sad:


http://www.unchangingtimes.com/times/

Halloween with Heather

I spent Halloween in Los Angeles visiting my pal Heather. On the first night I couldn't pull off my Prince costume. No one understood that I was supposed to be the creator of Purple Rain and When Doves Cry. I just looked like "fancy velvet lady" so I abandoned that costume and ended up being "Little Orphan Annie as an Old Lady Mall Walker." It wasn't my best work. Heather on the other hand, went as a sexy day laborer. She was sick of all the sexy cop, sexy nurse, sexy pirate costumes out there. I think she pulled it off pretty well.











The second night, we went as Glamour Shots, the hideous soft focus mall photos. We put on our most 80's style glamorous outfits and held cheese cloth stretched in embroidery hoops in front of our faces to create that soft focus/diffuse filter effect. Our costumes were also simultaneously the song, "Black Velvet". I was in addition to Glamour Shots and Black Velvet, my 8th grade performing arts teacher who loved big turquoise jewelery and interpretive dance.


Enjoy the photos:











For even more pictures go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10057&id=563357662&l=5505e

ipod ad and Kara Walker

Doesn't this ipod ad remind you of Kara Walker's art?


If you don't know much about Kara Walker, this will help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_Walker

Kitty's Wedding

Kitty just got married. Here are the photos:

Kitty's mom did her hair.


Kitty and her mom worrying.






Kitty and Jon.

Kitty's mom, Darlene, had an old timey feathered British half-hat on called a Facinator. She looked like a Victorian mermaid.




Me and my old high school friends. (I'm the one on the left who looks really uncomfortable)

War and Peace and a Kitten

Brick was excited because the new Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky translation of War and Peace came out on Monday. They are a married couple who translate Russian classics into English. Their collaboration and their closeness results in especially accurate and poetic texts. This is Brick's new kitten seated atop War and Peace.

New Chalkboards

Here are some new signs:

Marathon!

My brother, Moe, ran a marathon today. It was an unexpectedly hot October day in Chicago and when he got to about mile 22 the race was canceled. The cops and race volunteers drove around and announced that too many people had heat stroke already and they didn't have the resources to take care of more people, should any of them get ill. He was understandably disappointed and was ordered to walk the rest of the race.



Tired runners in Chinatown:






My disappointed brother:



My disappointed brother running away:

Another Painting

This painting is done. There's always more I could do, but for the moment at least, it's done. It's big (five feet by eight feet), which is the same size as the last one I finished.

My painting

Here's my new painting (finished) !





And a detail:

Drug Test

Last week I had to pee in front of a prison guard. It wasn't that bad at all-- she was really nice. And the whole thing took less than ten minutes. In order to volunteer at a girl's prison I had to take the drug test with just a few days notice and they told me that I had to take it when they scheduled it, otherwise they would have to assume I had something to hide and give me an automatic positive. The only way out of it would be if I got in a car accident, and then, they said, I'd have to show them proof of the accident. They really take every precaution.

New Signs

New Painting

Here's a picture of my new painting. It's hard to tell, but it's actually really colorful. There are a lot of red and green layers in the underpass and a lot of yellow, purple and pink in the sky. When I'm done with it there will be cars and trucks going through the underpass. It's five feet by eight feet. When I finish it, I'm going to start some smaller ones that I can work on in my apartment.

Kitty's Bridesmaids Tea

Kitty's getting married. The other bridesmaids and I had been trying to plan something for her, and had been e-mailing back and forth. Here's what I suggested:


I think there should be naked swimming in Lake Michigan or a visit to the Turkish bath house on Division. Something that we don't tell her about ahead of time that would be scary fun- i.e. a whipping with branches, skipping stones, really loud screaming, breaking glass... something symbolic. I know she always wanted to fill nice stemware with red paint and throw them at a brick wall. (She told me) We could do that. How about staying awake for three days on end? Does anyone have any nice pictures of her from a long time ago? How about a pinata? How about setting something symbolic of all the dead weight of the past on fire? I know she likes to shoot things. Maybe we could go to a shooting range and all take turns aiming at pictures of things we'd like to leave behind. It could be like Rosh Hashanah, but fun. The Mexican grocery store by my house sells whole pig heads for 8 dollars! A goldmine of meaning for super cheap! (All of my options, while meaningful are also very affordable.) Think about it.



We went with pedicures and the Bridesmaids Tea at the Drake Hotel.







Doesn't her new haircut look adorable? Just like Cat Power.

Boozeless Cruise

We had to take a dinner cruise for work. More on that in a bit, but in the meantime enjoy these pictures:

Joey's 18th Birthday

Look at the boys wresting!

Tragedy at the Grocery Store

Early Friday morning there was a huge storm that caused a power outage at the ol' grocery store. The generators kicked in, but they couldnt stay on long enough and about $70,000 of food had to be thrown away. Kinda breaks your heart to look at it.

Johnny

This is my cousin Johnny. His grandfather painted this picture of him when he was under a year old. Johnny is about 5 now and has grown up to look a lot like the boy in the picture.

Rococo Nighmare Chair

I finally finished the Rococo nightmare chair. It is more comfortable than before and clashes now more than ever with my roommates white minimalist Ikea furniture.

Phil 'n' The Blanks

In the 80's my dad was in a New Wave band called Phil 'n' the Blanks. They were one of the first bands to be on MTV. They didn't make it big outside of Chicago, but my siblings and I loved watching their videos when we were kids. I just put a bunch of them on youtube. Enjoy:

Head Screwed On

Advertising Girl

The National Dance Contest

Visectomy

PRL853

How It's Done

Pooping Barbie Dog

Why didn't they have this when I was little? I can just imagine the hours of hilarious poop related play I would have had with this dog and my sister.

First the commercial:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=58r0hHgjWLs


This one is worth watching to the end:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=deVHdWfDS-Y