what?

On friday I took my Father to get a tattoo, which came out really well. It's beautiful. But this isn't about the tattoo, it's about the loons that wander in and out of the shop all day. The shop is in an odd little part of town and there are always guys with varying degrees of sketchiness roaming around.

I'm sitting there chatting with Paul and then I notice some guy shuffling around.
His shirt read "WILL WORK FOR RABIES."

I don't have any idea what that means.

Meat!

I love these paintings....




visit http://www.mikegeno.com to see more. He paints other things too, but these meat portraits are really really neat.

Really good movie, really bad poster...

"No Country for Old Men" was a really really good movie. I've mentioned before that I love a good movie poster. Too bad the poster for this fantastic movie is so horrid....

It's so obvious. See, it's a chase/pursuit film. The poster stinks. There's no need for the looming face of "Anton Chigurh" to appear anywhere on the poster. We get it. That guy is chasing that other guy. Jesus. I think it would be more powerful if he wasn't revealed until you saw the movie. When "Seven" first came out in theaters, no one revealed the killer in any ad or review prior to the movie's release and it was a really neat element to the film. "Anton Chigurh" is such a powerful and creepy character that it would have been great to bring that little element of surprise to him as well.

Here, I fixed it...


You still get the idea that it's a pursuit film, but the "so-obvious-it's-not-at-all-symbolic" element is removed.

Why so serious?

I love this one-sheet for "The Dark Knight."


It's so creepy and stark. The design of everything related to this movie is fantastic. I love a good movie poster.

Did I mention how excited I am for this movie? Geek!

The Winter is winning...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Wipe-Out!

Yesterday I had my first Three Stooges moment of this year's ice and snow season.

It happened as I was getting out of my car at the supermarket. I opened the door and stepped out. My feet instantly went out from under me like those fawns that are first learning how to walk. My knees went smashing into the icy cement, and now my kneecaps look like two shiny purple plums. Also, for some reason I tried to break my fall with the TOP of my left hand. I ended up splitting my knuckle open on the ground. AH!

The funny thing is, I was going to the supermarket to pick up some rock salt for my own icy driveway.

As I was checking out, I asked the cashier if she had any papertowels or something so I could clean up my knuckle a bit. She asked what happened and I told her. The manager was called over and craziness enveloped me... "Where did it happen? Did you hurt your neck? Don't Sue. Are you sure you're ok? Please don't sue. Show me where in the parking lot you were. Don't sue. Please don't sue."

Obviously, I'm not suing. The thought never even entered my mind. I simply wanted to clean up my hand so I didn't bleed all over my steering wheel!

Snow me.

Yesterday was the first substantial snowfall of the Winter. When I got home from work I had to shovel my driveway before I could park. Normally when it snows, I try and gun it up and over the snowbank into my driveway. There was just too much snow for that to work. I tried anyway, but stopped once I smelled the burning rubber of my tires spinning pointlessly in the snow.

The sidewalk in front of my house is home to a fire hydrant, so the first thing I do when shoveling is dig out around the hydrant and make a path from it to the street. Safety first!

Anyway, I'm digging around out there and my jerk neighbor comes outside and starts up his snowblower. He then notices me shoveling, stops his snowblower and goes back inside. What the hell. I didn't ask him to snowblow my sidewalk or anything, and I don't expect him to. Is he really that spineless that he feels guilty for not offering help and therefore has to hide inside his damn house until I'm out of site?

All my other neighbors were helping each other dig cars out, salting sidewalks, taking turns sledding down the street and generally having a good time, despite the winter mess. It was great.

I finished shoveling and went inside my house. As soon as my front door slammed shut, that tool came back outside, started up his snowblower and started his driveway.

What a jerk.

POW! KA-BANG!

I'm so geekishly excited for this movie. I love the darkness of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies. Much much better than the cartoony nosedive the other Batman movies took.

Also, the viral marketing campaign for this movie is insane... clown cakes with cell phones in them, Gotham newspapers handed out in airports, skywriters, odd phone calls, not to mention several websites for Gotham City businesses.

Books and more books...

This weekend I went to the New England Mobile Book Fair with Myk and Allison. I hadn't been there before, and it was overwhelming. The place is huge and choking with books. A lot of the shelves have books BEHIND other books. Everything is discounted, which is great for cheapskates like myself. They have current titles there as well as lots of great out of print stuff. I saw a neat Robert Crumb collection sitting in the stacks, but I didn't adopt it because I already had a half dozen books in my arms.

It's not really all that organized, which means you have to hunt around to find things, but that just makes it all the more interesting. I could have spent several hours there, but forced myself to leave lest I bought too much.

I really can't express how amazing this place is. It really just needs to be visited to understand.

Hatch Show Print

Last night I saw Jim Sherraden speak about the history of Hatch Show Print. I've been a fan of the work they do over there in Nashville since college, so it was fantastic to finally meet the man who helped bring Hatch Show Print back to life.

I really really think that what Jim is doing is important, not only for design, but history in general. He's not allowing any new typefaces to be brought into the shop. So, jobs that are printed there now use the same type blocks that were used back in the early 1900s. Those letter sets in the trays have so much history behind them...posters for political campaigns, traveling variety shows, pharmacy ads, posters for musical acts coming to town...it's amazing.

After the lecture, there are print re-strikes for sale. I am the proud owner of these two prints...


Great, two more prints to add to my pile of things I need to have framed!

Here's a nice video about Hatch Show Print, snatched from youtube...


Here is a short little Video of Jim working in the shop. Again snagged this off youtube...

Extra! Extra!

An article was recently published about Bag Lunch. Visit the Bag Lunch Press blog to read it...
http://baglunchpress.blogspot.com

65 years ago today...

November 28, 1942 was the day of the Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston.


I've never seen this sidewalk plaque located on Piedmont, but I'm going to make a point of hunting it down next time I'm in the general area...


A good book regarding this tragedy is "Fire in the Grove: The Cocoanut Grove Tragedy and it's Aftermath," by John C. Esposito. Uh, It might be the ONLY book about Cocoanut Grove, but it's quite good none-the-less.

The bastard in the basement.

I love owning my house but, there is one aspect of home-owning that I hate. I hate dealing with my heating system. I have a boiler in my basement that is at least 75 years old. It's the bane of my existence during cold weather.

I'm constantly running down to the basement to check on it, swearing under my breath as I approach the monster. I'm constantly touching radiators to make sure they are warm. I question the reading on my thermostat. The father in "The Christmas Story's" battle with his boiler is no longer funny to me. Now I relate and sympathize. AHHH!

Also, the bastard in my basement is covered in a thick layer of asbestos, so removing it in order to replace it will be an expensive hassle.

Luckily, my friend is dating a swell guy who deals with this crap for a living, so he fixes and tunes up everything for me for free. Otherwise, I'd already be out several hundred dollars this year. (Actually not free, I pay him in dinners.)

I'm going to switch to natural gas in the next few years, and I hope the damn boiler lasts until then.

Damn it.

Sack o' fun

I wish they still made this product. It's so weird...

I can actually hear you now.

Went to a show this weekend, which is nothing of note because I go to a lot of shows. But this was different... I could hear the vocals! It was amazing!

Normally at shows, the drums get mic-ed and end up too high in the mix, thus drowning out everything else that's on stage. It's maddening.

Jim Heath wrote an article called "How Sound Men are Ruining Rock 'n Roll", about the drum problem at shows, it's quite good and explains the drum problem better than I can...
http://www.reverendhortonheat.com/rev_updates/07_01_19.php

The sound guys at Toad's Place this weekend did a really great job. It was one of the best shows I've ever been to, in terms of sound quality. I feel like I should send them a muffin basket or something... it was that impressive.

(Oddly, this show I went to this weekend with the fantastic sound quality, was Jim's band, The Reverend Horton Heat.)

It's a White Oleander

On Saturday, I took my sister to get a tattoo from "my" tattoo artist...

Oil oil everywhere, and not a drop to spare.

I filled up my heating oil tank for the first time this year. Heating oil is so expensive that I nearly vomited when I opened the bill.
Last year I made it through the entire Winter on a little over one tank, and I'm hoping to do that again this year.

Heating oil burns about one gallon an hour, which adds up to about $3.17 an hour right now. The small space heater that heats up my living room quite nicely runs at about 13 cents an hour. Soooo, I'll be keeping my boiler temperature quite low and running the space heater a bit more. What can I say? I'm cheap!

So if you plan on stopping by for a visit, bring a sweater! And a hat! A scarf would probably be a good idea as well!

cherry!

I normally don't post too much bag lunch related stuff on this blog, but this is worth mentioning...

Bag Lunch has donated some limited edition balms to help a great gal out with her medical bills. Visit the link below to buy one...

http://cherrybrat.livejournal.com/231554.html

Go buy one! Medical bills are expensive!

What are you supposed to be?

Yesterday was Halloween. Here is a list of all the "Trick or Treaters" that came to my door...

three princesses

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Not sure which one. It was the one who wears the orange eye mask. Michalangelo I think.

ninja

kid in a full chicken suit

little kid in just regular clothes with one of those tiny fake handlebar moustaches glued to his face. It should be noted that his 3 college age brothers and his Father came to the door with candy bags as well. They weren't dressed up, but they out-numbered me so I gave them candy too. Jerks.

Three kids in regular street clothes. Looked like they would pummel me so they got candy, even though they weren't dressed up. Again, jerks.

dalmation

Some sort of fairy

little boy dressed as a lady

kid with regular clothes on, but wearing a skull mask

Some kid's mother dressed as a giant fat naked lady. Disturbing.

vampire

the killer from the "Scream" movies

two snotty high school girls that were "too cold to dress up." I gave them candy, but I hope they get cavities.

a kid in regular clothes, holding a fake head

sugar plum fairy

flapper

some sort of broken whore doll. I would never call a little kid a whore. This girl was a senior in high school, and was dressed like a whorish doll. Gross.

zorro

a medieval something

wizard of some sort

the tiniest superman I've ever seen

darth vader

This is only my second year in Suburbia, so I feel compelled to give out good candy. I don't want to be the new neighbor who is known for giving out like, "maryJanes" or Canadian mints. So I handed out big handfuls of gummy things and blow-pops.

Also, I feel like Halloween is sort of similar to when the mob shows up to your deli and makes you pay for 'protection." I feel like if I give these little jerks candy, they won't steal shit off my lawn or whatever, and won't look the other way if my house is burning down. Maybe. I don't know.

An Important Reminder...

DIE YOU ZOMBIE BASTARDS! will be screened at Cinema Salem in the Witch City of Salem, Massachusetts. The fine folks at CinemaSalem and the Salem Fright Festival would like to see this become a Salem tradition on Halloween -- closing out the night with DYZB! These terrific people feel like our movie could become a "Rocky Horror"-type phenomenon, which would be very cool. So PLEASE come out for this historic FIRST ANNUAL event, raise your fists and yell "DIE YOU ZOMBIE BASTARDS!"

It shows at 10:30pm on HALLOWEEN NIGHT -- TONITE! (October 31st)

http://www.cinemasalem.com

Also, Cinema Salem has a policy where if you were actually IN the movie being screened, you get in for FREE. If you were onscreen in DYZB!, let them know for FREE ADMISSION.

Hooray!

As of today, I am out of credit card debt. I have zeroed everything out. It's very exciting.

Now all I gotta do is pay off my house. In 28.5 years.

Dolemite's Birthday Present...

You've come a long way, baby.

Today is Dolemite the Cat's birthday. He is 4 years old, which translates to "still a jerk" in people years.

Technically, his birthday might not actually be today. The shelter where we adopted him from couldn't pin-point his actual birthdate, but did say he was probably born between October 20th and October 30th. So we decided he was born on October 24th. It doesn't really matter... he can't read a calendar anyway.

I can still remember the day we adopted the jerk...

We (me and the boyfriend at the time, who is now no longer the boyfriend) had just moved from a mouse-infested apartment in Boston to another apartment in the building next door. I wanted a cat to protect me from rodents in the new apartment. I NEEDED a cat to protect me from rodents. I was so tramatized from the mouse apartment that everytime something glinted in the corner of my eye, I assumed it was a mouse and promptly freaked out.

The boyfriend did not want a cat. I whined and begged for weeks.

A few weeks later, on New Year's Eve, we attended a party hosted by one of his co-workers. He is a chef, so the party food was elaborate. The host, knowing that I don't drink, prepared a highly carbonated non-alcoholic fancy shmancy fruity lemon thing that I think also involved ginger. It really was quite beautiful, although I really don't like carbonation. It makes me gag. It's too fizzy. Wah!

I sat there holding the giant glass of good intention in my hand, trying to think of a way to dump it in a plant or something. I didn't want to be rude, but I could not drink this thing. I do not have a sophisticated palate. There was too much going on with that beverage. I like plain things. Like warm apple juice.

So I sat there surrounded by tiny sausages wrapped in puff pastry blankets and spare ribs marinated in imported sauces I had never heard of, while bitter over-worked chefs argued the merits of Kobe Beef. I sat trying to hatch a plan to get rid of the lemony, zingy beverage.

Then, the boyfriend solved the problem for me by saying,
"If you drink that, we can get a cat."

Gulp.

Two days later, we are at the Animal Rescue League in Boston looking at felines when we spot him... a tiny grey and white mangy looking kitten hovering in the corner of a tiny cage. We ask to see him in one of the "get to know you" stalls to see if we get along. We had to wear rubber gloves because the kitten had just arrived about 3 hours ago and had been flea-dipped.

The Rescue worker tells us that he was rescued from a dumpster in the back of a Burger King, and he was all alone. No siblings. Nothing. A tiny kitten all alone in a big fast food dumpster. Cue the dramatic music.

We carry the little trembling furball into the stall and the woman tells us to watch out because a rabbit was just in there with it's future adoptive parents.

The little grey kitten jumps out of my purple-gloved hands, runs under a chair and begins eating rabbit droppings.

Obviously, we had to adopt him.

And then there was none...

Joey Bishop passed away a few days ago. (October 17, 2007)

Now there are no living members of the Rat Pack.

Lead Sled

Here are some photos from the Fallout taken with the same camera that we used to take those neat-o vintage-feel photos at Coney Island about a month ago. I really love the way these look.

Like a Rocket

I love the interior of this car...

The Gamma Rays

The Gamma Rays played at the Fallout...



Johnny Custom's Bass...

...He was filling in for the day.

Vroom Vroom

Hot Rod Fallout

Went to the Hot Rod Fallout in Connecticut on Saturday...

Butter Dish

"Don't Postone Joy"

For twenty five cents, you too can "fall in love."


I seem to be putting a lot of Coney Island related stuff up on the ol' blog lately.

Ding-Dong Cart

Now that Autumn has arrived, the ice cream truck that drives around the neighborhood has not been seen. I think it's gone for the season.

I can still remember the first time I heard it. It was the beginning of last Summer, and I had not fully moved into the house yet. My father and I were fixing a lighting fixture in the bathroon, when a faint melodic pinkly tune wafted in the window. We both froze. "Ice cream truck?" we both said in unison, excited at the thought.

Yes. It was an ice cream truck. That familiar, annoying yet comforting sound is easily recognizable. We scrambled around the still empty house looking for money, and flew out the door to trade it for happiness on a stick.

I was already excited about moving into my house, but to learn that it's on an ice cream truck's route....It's nearly too much. I love my neighborhood.

This is the second season that the ice cream truck has been spreading treats around, and I hope that it returns next summer.

It should be noted that I, along with everyone else from Western Massachusetts, call Ice Cream Trucks, "Ding-Dong Carts."
So in the above story, my father and I actually said "Ding-Dong Cart?" in unison. For the sake of allowing non-Western Massers to know what the hell I'm talking about, I made the small word change in the story.

Ding-Dong Cart.

Tiki Time!

I bought this thing at Coney Island. It's so amusing to me. I don't know why, but it makes me giggle everytime it's on.
Simple things for simple minds, i guess!

Honk Honk, Beep Beep.

Whenever I'm driving my car and I detect anything that smells remotely like it could be coming from my car, I freak out. I end up inhaling so deeply over and over again to try and determine what the problem could be that I nearly pass out. Everytime. It's odd because I know nothing about the mechanics of vehicles, so it's not as if I would ever be able to diagnose anything anyway. I'm not even worried about breaking down in the middle of nowhere, I'm worried about getting ripped off by mechanics.

Also, most of the time it ends up being a truck in front of me or another car or whatever. It's generally not even my car emitting the "bring me to the mechanic" odor.

Not this time, however...

As I was driving home from a show Saturday night, my friend Ray mentioned that he could smell burning rubber. I inhaled deeply with purpose and squinted eyes and could smell it too. But then it went away. Then came back. Then went away. Then came back. The smell was wafting in and out of my car like this for the entire hour long drive home from Wormtown.

So I dropped my car off at the mechanic's shop and told 'em to replace the two front tires while it was there. Ok.

I get a call later in the day. The mechaanic tells me there is good news and bad news. I opt to hear the bad news first. I ALWAYS opt for bad news first. I like to get it over with.

"well, you need all four tires to be replaced. Some sort of rod thing was rubbing against something and a bunch of crap needs to be replaced. We also had to remove some sort of plate near your bumper. "
(I paraphrased that. heehee)

"How much is that going to cost?" I ask, clenching the armrest of the chair.

"SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE DOLLARS."

"Shit. What's the good news?" I ask, feeling naseated.

"That'll get rid of the burning rubber smell!"

oh good. At least I won't be smelling burning rubber on my way to the market to buy Ramen Noodles. Because that's all I'm going to be able to afford to eat for the rest of the month!

What's that smell?

About three years ago, I bought one of those Febreeze "ScentStories" smell-players, or whatever you want to call it. It seems like a dumb gimmicky gadget, but it's really great. I like to burn candles, but I'm always afraid that my damn cat will accidently light his tail on fire. The "Smell-Player" has all the fragrance tossing goodness of a candle, without the potentially cat-scorching flame.

Anyway, the discs for the ScentStories are very difficult to find in stores. I began hoarding them and figured that the product had been discontinued.

TODAY, I got an email from the folks at Febreeze (Yes, i signed up for the ScentStories newsletter, whatever.. I got coupons from it.) and Yankee Candle is now putting out the discs!




This makes me happier than it should.

"Die You Zombie Bastards!" News...

The following information is from the "Die You Zombie Bastards!" newsletter...
A screening in Salem! A gallery opening! Fantastic! I love when people I know are putting great, creative stuff out into the world...

From the newsletter...
1.) T-SHIRTS are selling fast, but we wanna clear 'em out FASTER...
so for the Halloween season we've dropped the price to a mere $10
apiece. Quickly, now! Click on:
http://www.dieyouzombiebastards.com/T-SHIRTS.html

(the sooner we can get these on your backs, the sooner we can whip up
our NEXT limited edition wearable masterpiece. Stay tuned...)


2.) DIE YOU ZOMBIE BASTARDS! will be screened at CinemaSalem in the
Witch City of Salem, Massachusetts. The fine folks at CinemaSalem
and the Salem Fright Festival would like to see it become a Halloween
tradition, so PLEASE come out, raise your fists and chant "DIE YOU
ZOMBIE BASTARDS!"
On Saturday October 27th, you can meet co-writer/co-producer Haig
Demarjian annnnnnd... KID FANTASTICO himself, Doug Williams!
It shows at 11pm on October 27th
and 10:30 on HALLOWEEN NIGHT!
click below to uncover the spooky details:
http://www.cinemasalem.com/


3.) the above-mentioned Haig Demarjian is currently having a solo
show of his very own paintings, drawings and prints. The show is
called EERIE HORRORS FROM BENEATH THE VAULT OF DREAD and is at the
Winfisky Gallery on the Salem State College campus through October
18th. It's a show you don't wanna miss; it includes the debut of a
colossal seven by eighteen foot painting Demarjian has been working
on for two years, and Creep-O-Vision, a multimedia monster
presentation. All are welcome at the gala reception, 6-8pm THIS
WEDNESDAY Oct 10 -- there'll be food, fun, prizes and surprises!
For more info:
http://www.salemstate.edu/arts/spotlight_art.php

In His First Starring Role...

Jalopy

I wish cars were still readily available in these colors...



My car is a boring color. It's that blue-grey color that Cape Cod artist's always use when they're painting pictures of dolphins on driftwood. It's boring and in a crowded parking lot, it's difficult to find my car because it's such a common color. But, I bought my car used, so I didn't have much choice. It was either the dolphin-mobile or another car that was black and had cigarette burn holes on the ceiling upholstery. I went with the former.

My car is in fine working order, but recently I've been obsessed with getting a new vehicle. I don't know why. My plan is to get a new (well, new to me) car in five years. So five more years with the dolphin. And I hope I'll be able to find a car in a color that isn't entirely dull.