The illusionist.

Remember the Triplets of Belleville? The same guy did this. It will be released in New York and LA this Christmas and everywhere else sometime after. Sometimes I wish I lived in one of those two places or that Salt Lake would be included in the initial release. New York, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City. Why not?

Impressionable.

I got into this show down in Salt Lake that the Saltgrass Printmakers are putting on at U of U. I was hesitant to tell anyone about it until I saw the show, just in case it blew, but I just got the postcard for it and I saw my teacher, Kathy Puzey's work on it too. I guess that gives me a green light to announce it. Being in the same show as her makes me feel so grown up.

Also, for the few of you who I did tell before, note that the opening reception date changed.

Living quarters.

Someday I want a house filled with stuff like this. And secret passageways. Is that too much to ask?

Avatars.

One thing you probably don't know about me: I'm a sucker for making avatars. It really should come as no surprise to you since I'm such a narcissist. As you can tell from the picture below, I like to make my avatars extremely life-like. While I appreciate everyone that makes these "avatar generators" and believe me I understand the work that goes into them, but I have a couple issues with most of them. Those issues are glasses and curly hair. I realize having them is this bifecta that puts me in a minority, but there have to be enough people out there in the same predicament as me for the creators to address the issue.

First, glasses come in many shapes and sizes. Don't just draw John Lennon's perfectly round glasses and check that item off your list. At least give me 2 or 3 options so I can relive a few of those precious seconds from Lenscrafters.

Second, curly hair can be tricky, I know, but I'm pretty sure nobody would draw my hair as one of those perfect 70's afros (yeah, I'm talking to you xbox 360). Just like straight hair there is more than one way to style curly hair. Curly hair also comes in a variety of lengths. So please, more than one option there too.

My regards to the Scott Pilgrim website for making a pretty unique feeling "avatar generator" (is there a real term for that?). Also is anyone else excited-but-worried-it-won't-live-up-to-the-hype about this movie?

Moving mcallister.

Do you remember that one time you were watching that stupid movie Moving McAllister? You watched the entire thing, weren't entirely satisfied with how you just spent a few hours of your life, but then came the credits and that one last scene and you saw someone that looked somewhat familiar, but you couldn't figure out who it was. Let me help you out. It was me. I was taking the Bar Exam.

Record club.

No, this isn't a post about Columbia House or BMG. Have you heard about Beck's Record Club? Probably. I'm usually the last one to hear about things like this. One of the advantages to having a new computer is that I now own a computer that has a fast-enough processor/graphics card (or whatever) that I can actually watch video on the internet. I recently found out about this series of videos that Beck has been releasing on his website and on Vimeo that is called Record Club. In his words:

Record Club is an informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day. The album chosen to be reinterpreted is used as a framework. Nothing is rehearsed or arranged ahead of time. A track is put up here once a week. The songs are rough renditions, often first takes that document what happened over the course of a day as opposed to a polished rendering. There is no intention to 'add to' the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. Only to play music and document what happens.

Who are the musicians involved, you ask? Well, there's St. Vincent, Feist, MGMT, Wilco and Wolfmother along with a bunch that I am less-familiar with but are probably your favorite band.

My only wish? That they would actually release the albums. My favorite is Kick by INXS.

Frolf.

This is a message for all you in- or out-of-the-closet frisbee golfers here in Logan. Have you heard that they took down the frisbee golf course? That's just one more strike against living in Logan. In fact, I'll bet if Emily had known that before moving back it would have been a dealbreaker.

If you're in the neighborhood.

Dear friends,

Somehow I got into the Springville Museum of Art's Spring Salon. It will be up until July 3rd.

Respectfully,


Me

Die gestalten verlag.

Those jerks at Gestalten did it again. Don't they realize that I don't make enough money to buy all their books? They just keep churning out book after book only to very quickly be added to my already expansive Amazon Wish List. The latest two to make it to the top of my wish list are Impressive and Beyond the Street. Impressive's subheading reads: "Printmaking, Letterpress and Graphic Design." Wait, Printmaking and Graphic Design? Aren't those the two things I emphasized in getting my bfa? Now if it only covered Arrested Development, curly hair, sporadic video game playing and my wife I could get all my passions between two covers.

Beyond the Street promises to be an exciting volume to add to your library. It contains interviews with "the 100 leading figures in Urban Art," including my favorite, Herakut. The one big surprise I had was that Banksy is not included in the list of leading figures. Beyond that I can see little disappointment with this book. It's 400 pages, so it'll be heavy, and with Gestalten's reputation for putting out very well crafted books I can see I'm going to have to do some quick calculations to figure out when I'll be able to get this one off the wish list and on to my shelf.

Quote unquote fantastic.

Fantastic Mr. Fox came out on video yesterday. Needless to say I picked it up on my lunchbreak and we watched it again last night. I had forgotten just how much I love that movie. It quickly made its way into my "Top 5." What else is on my "Top 5" you ask? Well, at the moment all I can remember is Groundhog's Day and Stranger Than Fiction. I really like the Brothers Bloom but I'm not sure it can replace the two movies I can't remember right now. It might be number 6. And there are great movies like Son of Rambow and (500) Days of Summer, but I don't think they quite make the cut either. Turns out I might not have a physical list of 5 films that I hold closer to my heart than any other. It might just be a euphemism for saying, "I really, really like these movies" where the ones that don't make the cut I only really like (only one "really"). Then there are those movies that I hold in whatever body part is the opposite of the heart, like Eragon and Jumper, that I wish I could go back in time to convince myself to schedule a dentist appointment for the showtime of the movie instead of subjecting myself to sit through it. Even the painfully bad Riding the Bus with My Sister doesn't quite make that cut.

I wish I could find good bandit hats like these.

"I wonder if I can find a good burger around here."

I was asked somewhat last-minute to take part in a print exchange between students of Ohio State and USU. The theme was "Wanderlust," which is a word that makes me somewhat uncomfortable. You could use any media and the (final) paper size was 11x11. Mine is 6 colors printed in 4 runs on machine-made Mulberry. You'll notice that it's a portrait like 99% of my other prints. This time was the smallest face I've ever done and I'm happy with the addition of an environment. Doing this made me wish that I had more time to spend in the print studio. It also made me question whether I'll ever finish a print that I don't wish I had done something different with. I'm generally 90% satisfied but there are always little things here and there that I wish I could change but by that point I've generally carved 2-4 blocks for the print and can't see how carving one more would actually help it. Anywho, hope you like it.

"Steve Zissou's a sell-out."

Remember back in June when I posted a picture of a block I was working on? Well, I finally finished printing it on Friday. Why did it take so long, you ask? Turns out employment muscles its way into time that could otherwise be spent in the print studio. That, and I ended up laying down 2 more colors than I had originally planned, which also included carving a 3rd block to get the finally print how I wanted it. Anywho, it's a multiple-block suicide, 10 colors printed on machine made Mulberry. The final paper size is 12.5x16.5" with an edition of 25. Later on I'll post some of the process photos because I always think it's interesting to see what goes into the final piece.

Now, if you want to pick up one of these little suckers, they will be available this Thursday and Friday at the annual USU Print Sale along with whatever other prints I can find floating around in my drawer here at home. Most of mine will probably be in the 40-60 dollar range, so bring your checkbook and support a good cause (me).

Jonas Bergstrand.

I can't get enough of his work lately. Check out his website. I love the juxtaposition of the 1950's style illustration and the photography. Plus his sense of humor comes through, which is great. And if anyone wants to get me a print of this for Christmas here's a link, I'm sure I've got an anonymous rich uncle out there that wants to add to my art collection since I can't afford to do it myself.

The ark project.

Dear friends,

Lately I've been incredibly bored with the internet. I feel like I'm going to the same sites and seeing all the same things and for some reason can't come across anything fresh. One ray of sunshine into this desert of boredom is the ark project. I stumbled across it earlier this week and wished I had heard about it with enough time to submit something. I have a weakness for illustration... compilations? The only other word I can think of is annuals, but that doesn't work. Someday I'll get those Gestalten Illusive books (1, 2 & 3) off my wishlist and now I find that I've got to add another book to that wishlist. The book contains submissions from illustrators across the world of animals indigenous to where they live, so you end up with a book full of what must be at least one of every kind of animal. Now, while the website doesn't feature any pictures aside from the book cover, it does have a list of all the participating illustrators with links to their individual websites. I can't guarantee all of them will be golden, but there will be enough jewels in there to make it worth your while, including one of my all-time favorite illustrators, Mads Berg.

Heist music.

A couple weeks ago Oceans 12 was on tv. I was a big fan of the first one and when 12 came out in theaters I went opening night, then promptly decided to never watch it again. It was bad. Julia Roberts playing a character who just happens to look like Julia Roberts? I guess they didn't realize that Brad Pitt looks like Brad Pitt, not to mention George Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Bernie Mac. Now, I was pretty resolute in my decision, but I had some friends tell me that it was a lot better the second time around. That didn't convince me to ever rent it but when it was on tv I thought that maybe I'd give it a second chance and after having watched it for the second time I now know that it is still just as bad as before and I really don't ever have to watch it again, but I didn't leave the movie empty-handed. While the movie seemed like nothing more than an excuse for these celebrities to make a couple bucks off us, the soundtrack was great. I immediately went to my computer and added the soundtracks to my already extensive Amazon Wish List. And then I came across Brian Gossett.

Those of you who know me well know how I'm a sucker for anything free. You know all those commercials that tell you to go to such-and-such a website for a free granola bar/stick of gum/individual box of cereal? I do all of them. Every one. iTunes free single of the week? I download all of them with very few exceptions. I don't know how many times I hear about a group from a friend, go home and find out that a month earlier I downloaded one of their songs--for free. Months ago I found out that Urban Outfitters periodically releases downloadable compilations with their project LSTN. So far there are six. Then very recently I found out that Amazon does a new free single every day (today's is great. It's Sondre Lerche who scored Dan in Real Life. Just check out Amazon's MP3 Downloads section).

A couple days after watching Ocean's 12 I saw some of Brian Gossett's compilation album covers on ffffound and, following the link, came to his website where I found out you could download the albums--for free. He's done 20 of them, each with beautifully designed album covers and each inspired by heist movies, the people who scored them, and exotic locations (Detroit's exotic, right?). Quite a few include David Holmes who did the scores for the Oceans movies and I'd also check out any of the Shawn Lee comps. Anywho, ever since then I've been listening to the music pretty much nonstop, wanting to drink (virgin) martinis and cruise around European mountain paths in an old Aston Martin. Can you blame me?

I never thought I'd see the day.

An In-N-Out in Orem? Is anyone else worried that this will make the chain less "special?" Pretty much every year my dad takes our family to Disneyland for a week and while we're there we go to In-N-Out every day. Now, I wouldn't normally go there every day but I know that this has to last me for a whole year until we go down again. But now are we to get rid of that blessed tradition, now that I'll be able to pick up a Double-Double Animal Style every time I'm in happy valley?

It's for moments like these that you go to the parade in happy valley.

Now fighting even more dangerous enemies...

This is not real.

You have most likely seen some pictures of items from this fictional Wes Anderson film festival, they were making the rounds on most of those bookmarking sites we all frequent so much. The work was done by Alex Cornell, a SanFran based graphic designer who did this incredible project as part of his graduate studies. What really impressed me was the scope of the project. DVDs, posters, billboards, a trailer and so much more all had to fit the identity system he created for the festival and were all done so well that, according to this blog post, he received more than one email from confused fans wondering where to sign up for this film festival. I can't say that I don't wish that it were a real thing too though.

Proof.

It's been a while since I've posted anything so I thought I'd show one of the things I'm currently working on. Here's proof that I'm alive and I'm still doing some printmaking even after graduation. I'm exactly half-way through this print. I've got 4 colors done and 4 more to go. I've got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get into the studio tomorrow to lay down one more.

Takach brayer.

For quite some time I've been worried about post-graduation printmaking. It's something that I love to do and yet, with the exception of some woodcarving tools, I don't have any of the tools and materials to do any of it. I've been pretty content to use the school's supplies, complaining the whole time when another student wouldn't take care of or clean the community supplies. Having now graduated I find myself in a bit of a pickle. But thanks to my amazing in-laws, I am now one step closer to home-printmaking. As a graduation present they pulled out all the stops and bought me a brayer. Not just any brayer but the queen-mother of all brayers, a 4-inch Takach Brayer. I can't find the words to express how excited I am about this. Now I just need to sell a couple prints so I can buy some ink and paper and figure out how to hand-print so I can take advantage of said brayer.