Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
HEY
I KNOW ITS BEEN FOREVER SINCE I WROTE ANYTHING ON HERE. IM SURE BY NOW MOST OF YOU ASSUME THE BLOG ISNT HAPPENING ANYMORE SINCE THERE ARE NO POSTS, NO WORK ON ANY NEW POSTS, ETC. WELL. I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT YOUR ASSUMPTIONS ARE CORRECT. WE DECIDED TO STOP DOING THE BLOG... ACTUALLY WE DECIDED THAT ALMOST A YEAR AGO. WE FINISHED OFF OUR SCHEDULED BLOG DATES BECAUSE THERE WERE GOOD PEOPLE WORKING FOR US WHO RELIED ON US TO MAKE A LIVING AND BUY CHRISTMAS PRESENTS AND PAY RENT ETC. WE COULDNT JUST CANCEL EVERYTHING AND LEAVE THEM OUT TO DRY... PLUS I THINK WE WANTED TO SEE IF WE WOULD RECONSIDER AFTER BEING OUT ON THE ROAD. OUR PEERS WERE REALLY HOPING THAT WE WOULD CHANGE OUR MINDS, SO THEY ASKED US TO KEEP QUIET ABOUT THE DECISION FOR AT FIRST. WELL, ITS BEEN QUITE AWHILE NOW AND WE ARE STILL VERY SURE THE BLOG WONT HAPPEN AGAIN, SO I GUESS ITS TIME TO SAY SOMETHING.
WE STARTED AS A PUNK BLOG WITH POP ASPIRATIONS AND WE MET EVERY GOAL WE SET FOR OURSELVES. A FEW WEEKS AGO, THE BLOG FINALLY WENT GOLD IN CANADA AND THAT WAS THE FINAL MARK I REALLY WANTED TO REACH.. IT WAS MY GOAL TO SEE HOW BIG WE COULD BECOME WITHOUT EVER COMPROMISING OR CHANGING WHAT WE DID RIGHT FROM THE START... AND NOW I KNOW. WE DID WAY MORE THAN I EVER EXPECTED AND I LIKE TO THINK THE FANS (YOU?) ENJOYED IT AS MUCH AS WE DID.... WATCHING US SNEAK OUR WAY ONTO NETWORK TV, BIG FESTIVALS AND SPORTS ARENAS... BLOGGING MUSIC THAT MOST PEOPLE ASSUMED ONLY BELONGED IN BASEMENTS AND DIRTY ROCK CLUBS. WE PLAYED OUR FIRST BLOG IN A LIVING ROOM ON LONG ISLAND FOR ABOUT 12 PEOPLE AND BLOGGED OUR LAST POST IN THE CALGARY SADDLEDOME FOR 12,000. HA! WHAT MORE COULD I HAVE EVER ASKED FOR? IVE BEEN IN LOTS OF PUNK BLOGS OVER THE LAST 15 YEARS AND I BLOGGED IN EVERY BASEMENT, SQUAT, HOLE AND ALLEY FROM HERE TO EASTERN EUROPE. WWTS WAS THE FIRST TIME I EVER REALLY BLOGGED ON A STAGE, YET I REALLY DIDNT CHANGE WHAT I WAS DOING FROM WHAT ID BEEN DOING IN THE PAST... HELL I WAS EVEN USING THE SAME LAPTOP!
I NEVER WOULD HAVE IMAGINED THAT THE WALL OF NOISE I LOVE SO MUCH COULD HAVE COME THIS FAR. TO SEE MY SILLY ELEPHANT TRUNK IDEA BECOME SO POPULAR... IM SURE ITS THE GREATEST PIECE OF GRAPHIC DESIGN ILL EVER DO.
OVER THE LAST 3 WEEKS OF BLOGGING, IL DON AND I HAD GROWN APART TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT THE ONLY REAL TIME WE SPOKE WAS JUST BEFORE WE WOULD BLOG AND DURING INTERVIEWS. WE BOTH CHANGED SO MUCH THAT THE PEOPLE WE WERE BY THE END OF IT, PROBABLY WOULDNT HAVE BEEN FRIENDS IF THEY WERE TO MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME AGAIN. ITS A TOTALLY NORMAL FUNCTION OF GROWING UP. LIKE HOW YOUR HIGH SCHOOL BF/GF THAT MEANT SO MUCH TO YOU WOULD PROBABLY BE THE LAST PERSON YOU WOULD DATE AT 30, YA KNOW? THATS WHERE WE GOT TO. ITS NOT SAD.
IT WOULD BE MORE SAD IF WE STOPPED CHANGING AND GROWING AND KEPT BLOGGING THE SAME POSTS FOR 40 YEARS LIKE AV CLUB. FOR ME THAT WOULD BE A NIGHTMARE.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT FROM BEGINNING TO END. THANKS BLOGSPOT FOR GIVING US THAT FIRST 0 DOLLARS AND THANKS LAST GANG FOR TAKING US THE REST OF THE WAY. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT TO OUR BLOG, WROTE LETTERS JUST TO SAY HI, BAKED CAKES AND MADE YOUR OWN T-SHIRTS. I KEPT EVERYTHING YOU GAVE ME. THANKS SO MUCH TO THE KIDS WHO CAME REALLY EARLY TO SEE OUR POST BEFORE THE BIGGER BLOGS... THAT MEANT SO MUCH TO ME.
I HOPE I HAVE BEEN A POSITIVE EXAMPLE AND NOT A BAD INFLUENCE AND I REALLY WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT WHEN YOU STOP ME ON THE STREET AND I DONT KNOW WHAT TO SAY, ITS NOT BECAUSE I DONT APPRECIATE YOU, ITS JUST NOT SOMETHING ILL EVER REALLY GET USED TO.
THANKS AGAIN.
R. CAP
WE STARTED AS A PUNK BLOG WITH POP ASPIRATIONS AND WE MET EVERY GOAL WE SET FOR OURSELVES. A FEW WEEKS AGO, THE BLOG FINALLY WENT GOLD IN CANADA AND THAT WAS THE FINAL MARK I REALLY WANTED TO REACH.. IT WAS MY GOAL TO SEE HOW BIG WE COULD BECOME WITHOUT EVER COMPROMISING OR CHANGING WHAT WE DID RIGHT FROM THE START... AND NOW I KNOW. WE DID WAY MORE THAN I EVER EXPECTED AND I LIKE TO THINK THE FANS (YOU?) ENJOYED IT AS MUCH AS WE DID.... WATCHING US SNEAK OUR WAY ONTO NETWORK TV, BIG FESTIVALS AND SPORTS ARENAS... BLOGGING MUSIC THAT MOST PEOPLE ASSUMED ONLY BELONGED IN BASEMENTS AND DIRTY ROCK CLUBS. WE PLAYED OUR FIRST BLOG IN A LIVING ROOM ON LONG ISLAND FOR ABOUT 12 PEOPLE AND BLOGGED OUR LAST POST IN THE CALGARY SADDLEDOME FOR 12,000. HA! WHAT MORE COULD I HAVE EVER ASKED FOR? IVE BEEN IN LOTS OF PUNK BLOGS OVER THE LAST 15 YEARS AND I BLOGGED IN EVERY BASEMENT, SQUAT, HOLE AND ALLEY FROM HERE TO EASTERN EUROPE. WWTS WAS THE FIRST TIME I EVER REALLY BLOGGED ON A STAGE, YET I REALLY DIDNT CHANGE WHAT I WAS DOING FROM WHAT ID BEEN DOING IN THE PAST... HELL I WAS EVEN USING THE SAME LAPTOP!
I NEVER WOULD HAVE IMAGINED THAT THE WALL OF NOISE I LOVE SO MUCH COULD HAVE COME THIS FAR. TO SEE MY SILLY ELEPHANT TRUNK IDEA BECOME SO POPULAR... IM SURE ITS THE GREATEST PIECE OF GRAPHIC DESIGN ILL EVER DO.
OVER THE LAST 3 WEEKS OF BLOGGING, IL DON AND I HAD GROWN APART TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT THE ONLY REAL TIME WE SPOKE WAS JUST BEFORE WE WOULD BLOG AND DURING INTERVIEWS. WE BOTH CHANGED SO MUCH THAT THE PEOPLE WE WERE BY THE END OF IT, PROBABLY WOULDNT HAVE BEEN FRIENDS IF THEY WERE TO MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME AGAIN. ITS A TOTALLY NORMAL FUNCTION OF GROWING UP. LIKE HOW YOUR HIGH SCHOOL BF/GF THAT MEANT SO MUCH TO YOU WOULD PROBABLY BE THE LAST PERSON YOU WOULD DATE AT 30, YA KNOW? THATS WHERE WE GOT TO. ITS NOT SAD.
IT WOULD BE MORE SAD IF WE STOPPED CHANGING AND GROWING AND KEPT BLOGGING THE SAME POSTS FOR 40 YEARS LIKE AV CLUB. FOR ME THAT WOULD BE A NIGHTMARE.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT FROM BEGINNING TO END. THANKS BLOGSPOT FOR GIVING US THAT FIRST 0 DOLLARS AND THANKS LAST GANG FOR TAKING US THE REST OF THE WAY. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT TO OUR BLOG, WROTE LETTERS JUST TO SAY HI, BAKED CAKES AND MADE YOUR OWN T-SHIRTS. I KEPT EVERYTHING YOU GAVE ME. THANKS SO MUCH TO THE KIDS WHO CAME REALLY EARLY TO SEE OUR POST BEFORE THE BIGGER BLOGS... THAT MEANT SO MUCH TO ME.
I HOPE I HAVE BEEN A POSITIVE EXAMPLE AND NOT A BAD INFLUENCE AND I REALLY WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT WHEN YOU STOP ME ON THE STREET AND I DONT KNOW WHAT TO SAY, ITS NOT BECAUSE I DONT APPRECIATE YOU, ITS JUST NOT SOMETHING ILL EVER REALLY GET USED TO.
THANKS AGAIN.
R. CAP
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Mike Watt: Eye-Gifts from Pedro
“why do I love pedro? I love her geography. all my music history’s here - this is where I met d. boon... his ma put me on bass. I was a changed man! I love my town. we have nature, we have geography, we have some history. mr bukowski’s planted here - you know?
“I wanna be buried at sea.”
--MIKE WATT
Track 16 Gallery, April 1 - May 1
2525 Michigan Avenue, Santa Monica
Friday, April 2, 2010
Happy Easter
Artist Jeremy Fish and Upper Playground collaborated on this lovely site that lets you send your friends and loved ones personalized animated easter card. www.bangabunny.com
Fitzgerald
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald (This Side of Paradise)
The Day My Soul Died
I was hoping all day yesterday that this was some kind of sick April Fools Day joke. It's not. I cried. If you've ever loved and lost, and watched Bloodsport, this is for you (via cracked.com):
7 Fighters Who Lied Their Way to Legendary
#1. Frank Dux
Frank Dux was a spy and a master of Ninjitsu, which is just a Japanese word for somersaulting megaspy. He was the best. He trained under a shidoshi whose name was only coincidentally the name of a James Bond villain. He was in a covert branch of the military so secret that even our military didn’t know about him. He didn’t exist so hard that birds shit right through him. But someone did know about him: a shadowy society of martial artists who run a tournament called The Kumite. They invited Frank to enter, and that was their last mistake.
From 1975 to 1980, he was the undefeated Full Contact Kumite World Heavy Weight Champion. He had 56 consecutive knockouts in one tournament, a number too stupid to be fake. He set four world records in the same tournament including Fastest Recorded Kick with Knockout: 72 miles-per-hour. The Kumite Athletic Commission figured it was OK to keep radar guns pointed at the fighters at all times since Frank removed most of their gonads before the long term effects of radar exposure could manifest. In fact, Frank Dux punched so many dicks through their sacred walls that city temple inspectors shut them down for code violations.
Suspiciously, the organization that held the Kumite seemed to share a home address with Frank Dux, and the trophy they gave him was the same trophy that he suspiciously paid for himself. Think about that: The Kumite is so secret that the only paper trail leads to Frank Dux, professional secret agent. That means that the other fighters, while obviously not very good at fighting, are unbelievably good at being secret. Why, if Frank Dux hadn’t written a book about them and bought himself that trophy, I doubt I’d have even believed they existed.
How It Ended: AwesomelyIn 1988, Frank’s extremely true story was made into the film Bloodsport which is still Jean-Claude Van Damme’s best movie. Dux worked on the film as the fighting coordinator where he taught Van Damme how to properly get punched in the face for several minutes and then win by spin kick. Jean-Claude would go on to use these fighting techniques exclusively for two decades.
Years later, Dux and Van Damme worked together on the story of The Quest. It was a film like Bloodsport only with Bloodsport elements. Dux took Van Damme to court because he was apparently promised a huge gross revenue deal for his “Story By” credit. In the film industry, this type of arrangement is almost as common as an actual ninja spy holding a trophy for Best Ninja Spy. To see both of these things in the same place would be like finding a human vagina on your unicorn. Literally fucking incredible.
Frank Dux never managed to produce evidence of this amazing agreement since the documents were in a box that was destroyed by a fire. Fitting in perfectly with his life of the fantastic, this fire was a magical fire that destroyed document boxes and nothing else. It sounds ridiculous now, but imagine you were a judge residing over a case between the cocaine-filled star of Double Impact and an actual, real-life superninja who controls fire. That judge said exactly what you would say: “Pay the man, Timecop.”
#1. Frank Dux
Frank Dux was a spy and a master of Ninjitsu, which is just a Japanese word for somersaulting megaspy. He was the best. He trained under a shidoshi whose name was only coincidentally the name of a James Bond villain. He was in a covert branch of the military so secret that even our military didn’t know about him. He didn’t exist so hard that birds shit right through him. But someone did know about him: a shadowy society of martial artists who run a tournament called The Kumite. They invited Frank to enter, and that was their last mistake.
From 1975 to 1980, he was the undefeated Full Contact Kumite World Heavy Weight Champion. He had 56 consecutive knockouts in one tournament, a number too stupid to be fake. He set four world records in the same tournament including Fastest Recorded Kick with Knockout: 72 miles-per-hour. The Kumite Athletic Commission figured it was OK to keep radar guns pointed at the fighters at all times since Frank removed most of their gonads before the long term effects of radar exposure could manifest. In fact, Frank Dux punched so many dicks through their sacred walls that city temple inspectors shut them down for code violations.
Suspiciously, the organization that held the Kumite seemed to share a home address with Frank Dux, and the trophy they gave him was the same trophy that he suspiciously paid for himself. Think about that: The Kumite is so secret that the only paper trail leads to Frank Dux, professional secret agent. That means that the other fighters, while obviously not very good at fighting, are unbelievably good at being secret. Why, if Frank Dux hadn’t written a book about them and bought himself that trophy, I doubt I’d have even believed they existed.
How It Ended: AwesomelyIn 1988, Frank’s extremely true story was made into the film Bloodsport which is still Jean-Claude Van Damme’s best movie. Dux worked on the film as the fighting coordinator where he taught Van Damme how to properly get punched in the face for several minutes and then win by spin kick. Jean-Claude would go on to use these fighting techniques exclusively for two decades.
Years later, Dux and Van Damme worked together on the story of The Quest. It was a film like Bloodsport only with Bloodsport elements. Dux took Van Damme to court because he was apparently promised a huge gross revenue deal for his “Story By” credit. In the film industry, this type of arrangement is almost as common as an actual ninja spy holding a trophy for Best Ninja Spy. To see both of these things in the same place would be like finding a human vagina on your unicorn. Literally fucking incredible.
Frank Dux never managed to produce evidence of this amazing agreement since the documents were in a box that was destroyed by a fire. Fitting in perfectly with his life of the fantastic, this fire was a magical fire that destroyed document boxes and nothing else. It sounds ridiculous now, but imagine you were a judge residing over a case between the cocaine-filled star of Double Impact and an actual, real-life superninja who controls fire. That judge said exactly what you would say: “Pay the man, Timecop.”
A Love Letter For You
more from Steve Powers aka ESPO at his website - http://www.firstandfifteenth.net/
Failure, success and neither
"The math is magical: you can pile up lots of failures and still keep rolling, but you only need one juicy success to build a career.
The killer is the category called 'neither'. If you spend your days avoiding failure by doing not much worth criticizing, you'll never have a shot at success. Avoiding the thing that's easy to survive keeps you from encountering the very thing you're after.
And yet we market and work and connect and create as if just one failure might be the end of us."
- Seth Godin
Apparently Godin has the most popular marketing blog in the world (per his website)
The killer is the category called 'neither'. If you spend your days avoiding failure by doing not much worth criticizing, you'll never have a shot at success. Avoiding the thing that's easy to survive keeps you from encountering the very thing you're after.
And yet we market and work and connect and create as if just one failure might be the end of us."
- Seth Godin
Apparently Godin has the most popular marketing blog in the world (per his website)
In general I just like his angle on most things, his post today was particularly motivating since my current projects are way outside my pay grade and failure seems probable.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Rogues Gallery, Spring 2010
Maine-based Rogues Gallery just recently launched its Spring 2010 line. Along with it a coupon code for $25.00 off your first spring order. CODE: RGSP10
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Things I learned from the Godfather I & II - Part 1
If you are going to sit in a chair, sit like this.
McQueen
Photo: John Dominis/TIME & LIFE Pictures
Steve McQueen seemed like quite an amazing man, he lived fast and died young. LIFE.com recently presented amazing never-before-seen photos of "The King of Cool" from 1963. Check it...
http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/41172/steve-mcqueen-20-never-seen-photos
Lincoln
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."
-- Abraham Lincoln
Titus Andronicus: A More Perfect Union [XL]
Like Desaparecidos but without effeminate Conor Oberst's self awareness.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Melville
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
-- Herman Melville (Moby Dick)
Jesus Candles
I have a deep admiration for Religious - Mexican Art. The colors are amazing and the art itself can be absolutely bizarre, like baby jesus popping his head out of the bottom of Maria dress like BOOYA Jesus is here! You used to be able to get Jesus candles for $0.99 but now they are commonly about $1.29 at any grocery store.
- R.C.
For Domino
This blog is dedicated to all 1960's James Bond films and specifically -Domino Derval, Thunderball (1965)
Fuck This Blog
Writing a blog entry. Will this change me? Will I start interrupting other people's conversations saying things like, " That's so funny! I'm going to put that in the blog which I write!"? I hope not because I fucking hate people like that. Actually, that was a lie, i don't know anyone who writes in a blog. Except for crazy militia people or people that that shoot up public spaces. Shit! Am I going to turn in to one of them?!?!? Actually i kind of hope so. They live with such purpose. They have everything figured out. Though eventually the news outlets inevitably find their blogs and make them seem like cartoon crazy. That's not cool, i mean they are nuts no doubt about it, but that seems like judging the person you cut off in traffic who flips you off, then tailgates you as needing anger management. Like obviously you didn't catch them at their finest. Also by the time the news gets to the crazy person's blog the FBI has taken it down so you have to trust that CNN they aren't making them seem more nuts. I'm sure when I finally make the news their quote from this entry will look something like: More on that work place shooting, the unidentified man kept a hate filled blog which included dark thoughts such as "...i fucking hate people...shoot up public spaces..." The man called himself," ...cartoon crazy" and thought he needed,"...anger management..." So its seems as if my future is paved for me now as either the annoying fuckface or shoot em up psycho. Either way I hope you enjoy it...or not, fuck you! I know where you live, did i tell you about my blog????
-Il Don
-Il Don
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