f*tron

memphis at night

2009-10-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

memphis at day

2009-10-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

i visited memphis a few weeks ago. found there, were many painted buildings and a puppy in a bag.

molly's sweet tator

2009-10-15T15:40:00.001-07:00

my coworker, molly was pretty excited the day she walked to work with this gigantic sweet potato from her garden.

at stirrup pants on dave mcnelly's birthday

2009-10-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

bass

2009-10-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

sometimes i really like the way my phone's camera picks up light. maggie got a bass guitar.

stirrup pants

2009-07-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

maggie opened her chapbook shop yesterday. there was music, beverages, snacks, and friends. and a really fat cat that wandered in off the streets. he had a very glittery collar.

summer sun

2009-07-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

i kind of think that if there had been an ant on either side of emily's glasses, it would no longer be with this world.

blackberry season

2009-07-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

james and i visited my parents' house and couldn't stop picking blackberries. also, we couldn't stop eating them, so we had nothing to show for all the picking.

elephant rocks

2009-07-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

sometimes i forget that missouri looks like this.

carrot legs

2009-07-13T11:12:00.001-07:00

(still haven't found my usb cable--this is from my camera phone.)

dude, where's my usb cable?

2009-07-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

as sometimes happens, i haven't updated this here blog in a while. this time, i want to, but i can't find my usb cable at the moment. see, i've been having some bad luck apartment-wise and most of my stuff is in boxes at the moment. i moved out of the apartment i had in forest park southeast because the landlord was negligent and my neighbor had her apartment broken into twice. fun, yes? i decided to move back to the cherokee street area, (texas ave.) and, to put things simply, much more negligent landlord, carbon monoxide poisoning, and a good hunk of mold hiding out not so secretly (which has done wonders for my asthma and anxiety, let me tell you).

so, i'm looking for a new place. and my usb cable.

my shitty friends

2009-06-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

I'm behind again on updating this here bloggy blog. This is from before Jay left.

fuck blood (it's spring)

2009-03-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

walking around the grove (within a couple blocks of my apartment).

carwash

2009-03-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

ann got a new (to her) volvo station wagon, so we took it for a spin and a wash.

jay is not falling

2009-03-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

beer the color of sun

2009-03-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

UMSL has a nice bathroom

2009-03-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

in mid-february, i accompanied jen to UMSL to check out some photos that were taken (by kids) in granite city, IL. the photos weren't so hot, but this bathroom was pretty captivating, with the mirror within mirror within mirror within mirror thing and whatnot.

deal on wheels

2009-03-17T20:56:00.001-07:00

so, it's time to play catch-up again in the land of this blog. i moved (same neighborhood, slightly smaller pretty rad apartment) and didn't have internet here for a bit and well, maybe i've just been lazy about it too. anyway, these are from when the breeders shot a video here in st. louis. kelley deal was present (see her skating in her striped sweater), but kim was not.

XR2

2009-01-29T17:24:00.001-08:00

every january 12th, rob severson throws xmas round II. this year, it was in his garage and the shitty friends got to play. we had a fantastic time, in part because we played with the climax and tracy as herself (on guitar and vocals) and a very special weirdis perfomance, during which she danced to patti smith's pissing in a river.

into the woods

2009-01-20T21:04:00.000-08:00

On the 10th, the shitty friends took a trip to my parents' house in near Salem, MO. We spent a bunch of time practicing in a building that my family built on top of the foundation of the original house on the property. We also ate a ton of food (note the double yolked eggs--I think my parents have magic chickens with the best eggs I've had in ever). Band pictures courtesy of my mom and her first attempt at using a digital camera. Maggie might have taken both pictures of Twinkie, the ancient cat.

george

2009-01-12T12:37:00.000-08:00

This is george. He's one of the cutest pups I've met in a while.

new year's day

2009-01-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

close call

2009-01-05T11:37:00.000-08:00

taking this photo could have easily resulted in me being knocked down by a flock of ducks, but luckily they managed to avoid me as they flew off the bike path in forest park.

a new year

2009-01-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

christmas is for making shit

2008-12-25T19:50:00.000-08:00

wear your best winter felt

2008-12-24T20:04:00.000-08:00

that swan that was at my home

2008-12-24T20:03:00.001-08:00

Chicago in November

2008-12-24T19:58:00.001-08:00

remember fall?

2008-12-24T19:51:00.000-08:00

man man

2008-11-01T21:19:00.001-07:00

the most beautiful room

2008-11-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

practice at some point and thanks, e

2008-11-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

our first show (9/7/08)

2008-10-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

the neverending ice cream

2008-09-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

glow

2008-09-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

fbc ride 9/15

2008-09-23T20:43:00.001-07:00

The FBC ride ended at Rue on Washington Ave. It had been a long time since I'd been on a full moon ride. I was accompanied by a smallish (shared) bottle of Wild Turkey American Honey, which was just as exceptionally smooth as the bottle promised.

bodies of water

2008-09-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

I'm really stuck on listening to Bodies of Water. Have you heard them? If not, listen to them. I was immediately in love with at the sound of a capella singing about gold, tan, peach, and grey sweatshirts.

Bodies of Water

bellafea

2008-09-13T16:34:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday, the shitty friends played their first show ever in their existence of a couple of weeks with the fantastic Bellafea, from North Carolina. Sure, I might be biased because I've been friends with the band since the days of the defunct Muff Dive (circa early 00s), but they are rad and I'm always glad to share a stage (or floor, more accurately) or meal with them.

introducing the shitty friends

2008-09-09T11:57:00.000-07:00

There's this band that I'm in with Maggie and Jay. We like bathrooms, but we also like to make music.

the bird with the citrus body

2008-09-01T22:16:00.000-07:00

Blogging my consumer life

2008-08-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

So, I have been working for www.yelp.com. I feel like I'm blogging my consumer life, and I guess, well, I'm blogging my consumer life. Not really in a chronological way, but still. There's also photos of places. Some of them aren't very exciting.

If you don't know about yelp, and to be honest, I didn't know much, but it's a review site meant to promote local businesses and help people figure out what to do in their city. Here is my profile on there if you're interested in having a look: Me

A night with dudes

2008-08-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

David showed up in town unexpected so I ended up out with him, Mike (for a while), Dave, and Shaun. The last drink of the evening was a round of Chimay bought by Shaun.

Dogs like corn too.

2008-08-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

Behr eating things will never cease to amuse me. If only I could accurately capture the sound of her crunching on a baby carrot.

Chicago in July

2008-08-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that I have been very bad at updating my blog. So, now for some updates. In July, I went to Chicago to hang out, eat some good, food, see my friend Jonathan, and go to the Pitchfork Festival.

I stumbled upon a gorgeous farmer's market (Logan Square) while wandering around one morning.

This guy was the most annoying person at Pitchfork. Actually, he was part of a threesome that I am assuming had just eaten a mouthful of ecstasy. I think that some people see the word "Festival" and think "Hey. Time to bust out the recreational hippie drugs, dude." I didn't get a picture of the girl dancing with a flag.

NC

2008-07-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

I went to North Carolina last month and took so many pictures that I got really overwhelmed with updating. So, I'm just going to post a few and move on to other things.

miscellanea

2008-06-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

I moved into a new apartment on the 22nd and with packing and moving and work, I have neglected things on here. So, here are a few random pictures from the last few weeks. The tops ones are on my new deck and the other two are from the Gypsy Caravan flea market, which was mostly filled with obese folks eating obscenely large corn dogs and other super-deep-fried items. Is the golden boy more or less a relic of racism in gold, rather than a more traditional hue?

out of order

2008-05-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

these are from before my last couple of posts. there was a very quick stop at mangia before i had to play a show at lemp.

fire makes your lawn look fake

2008-05-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

waving and drowning

2008-05-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

deconstruction

2008-04-29T14:42:00.001-07:00

jen and i found this shell of a building during an evening bike ride through the city.

not really earth day

2008-04-23T20:52:00.001-07:00

sunday was not really earth day, but that's when the celebration in forest park was. really, it was just bunch of booths, oddly, a lot of meat, and predictably too many hippies. it was also a day of sunburns and couple of nice beers with jen and ann in the cwe.

the day amoeba lost its "O"

2008-04-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

on walks

2008-04-11T21:58:00.001-07:00

dogs i know

2008-04-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

Jasper

Behr

Hanley

Sonia

and on the lard's day there will be sun.

2008-04-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

I went on a little biking adventure with cameras today. I fixed my first flat. Yes, generally, I've been lazy and taken my bike to the shop, but I do own a patch kit and pump which I always have with me and figured things out while I was broke down on Broadway near the Soulard Market. With ridiculously greasy hands, I bought an apple from the one stall that is open on Sundays.

I have no idea what "FRESH WHSE" is. Do you?

I really like this 219 building. I suspect it might be an art studio of some sort, but that's just speculation.

The arch through an archway at the Metrolink Station on the Landing.

not regular egg

2008-03-31T18:04:00.001-07:00

I imagine return complaints of these eggs to Jay's International Market that would have gone something like "Ummm...Excuse me. I would like to return this. Not regular egg! Having baby inside!"

negligence

2008-03-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

I went to Chicago the weekend of the 15th.

2008-03-04T20:44:00.001-08:00

light and paper

2008-02-22T23:00:00.001-08:00

slap in the face

2008-02-15T20:41:00.001-08:00

royale

2008-02-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

glasses

2008-02-15T19:59:00.001-08:00

rob's new specs get around.

actively watching tv

2008-02-10T16:32:00.000-08:00

primary

2008-02-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

i've got to say, up until yesterday, i was thinking about not voting tomorrow because i was worried about making some last-minute arbitrary decision. which is maybe what i did anyway, but it wasn't a coin toss. it was reproductive rights. i'm going for obama.

this is what miranda july has to say about voting (tomorrow, for so many of us) :
I'd like to think all the people who follow my work are radical, political firecrackers. But those of you who are don't need any encouragement from me. Instead I will focus my efforts on the demographic who, like me in 1996, feels completely disconnected from life, never mind your country. I'm hoping that there aren't very many of you, in this day and age. You people are hard to encourage, because all the political arguments will mean nothing to you. I just spent the last hour typing up my case for Obama, but you won't even read it, you'll skip ahead to something that seems subtler or less cliche, I know you. (And those of you who will read it, who are perhaps torn between Obama and Clinton, are well tended to by better writers.) So never mind all that. Here's why you should vote: you are going to really love it, the whole strange procedure. You get to walk right into a building that you would never normally be allowed in, often an elementary school. You can pause in the hallway to look at all the weird school-art and feel the eerie vibe of hundreds of kids living their endless kid lives right nearby. Then you follow the arrows to the voting room and look at the faces of the volunteers - who are these people? There is a hush of secrecy, the voting booth is clunky, the whole thing seems fake somehow. You consider filling in all the bubbles, like you did on the SATs. But you don't. You vote. You walk back outside feeling like you just gave blood or something, lightheaded from citizenry. You are wearing a sticker that says "I Voted" and you wish you could continue to get stickers like this throughout the day: I Ate Dinner, I Went To Sleep, I Got Out Of Bed, I Went To Work. But alas, it is just this one thing that we all do together, savor it.

I tried to find an easy link for you to locate your polling place, but the best thing to do is just type the name of your city + "where do I vote" into google. If you're not registered, then you can't vote in the primaries, but register right now so you can vote in November.

sunday afternoon sludgy walk

2008-02-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

the neighbors' house. missing from photo: children and a leather-clad poodle.
salt's exciting. sand's exciting. ice melt, not so much.

tower grove park is a desolate and lovely place when it's snowy.
at jay's.

ny times popular tags (because i like this lump of words)

2008-01-30T07:39:00.001-08:00

bluefin tuna currents of thought hopeful monsters infectious diseases mackerel men and women of science public health repeated evolution sticklebacks transplanting cells viruses

sweater

2008-01-29T23:07:00.001-08:00

best sweater ever.

dogs on parade

2008-01-29T22:37:00.000-08:00

once again, thanks to global future ball of flaming earth, sunday was unseasonably warm and a biking adventure was necessary. the barkus parade was pup and drunk filled.

city museum

2008-01-28T20:37:00.001-08:00

the city museum has added a museum of st. louis architecture. this also includes a little room of (dead) animals native to missouri. okay. not really sure why the penguin was included. just for fun?

moonboots?

2008-01-28T18:33:00.000-08:00

the roommate, mike has a pull-up bar that has moonboots. or maybe that's not what they're called. thursday night, he gave maggie and i a demonstration. maggie succeeded in swinging around and whatever as well, and i got up there and felt a little weird about being upside-down in between two rooms.

MLK

2008-01-23T20:06:00.001-08:00

on monday, i went on the mlk day march with rob, nora, and nora's dad. we marched from downtown to powell hall.

pevely flea market

2008-01-23T19:42:00.000-08:00

at the pevely flea market, i could have bought a "fur cat" or some old cans, but i ended up buying some four for a dollar old photos instead. it was so sunny on saturday that a mini road trip had to happen.

scrabble

2008-01-17T19:17:00.001-08:00

211 to 210.

2008-01-15T20:43:00.001-08:00

jen gave me cookies, so i gave her the love of a sleepy cat.

i...don't really know.

2008-01-15T20:26:00.001-08:00

these items were on my gate this morning. i imagine someone stumbling down the street decided to decorate late at night.

french toast

2008-01-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

sunday morning, i woke up late and wanting french toast. when i finally got out of bed, i made this.

white flag

2008-01-15T20:07:00.001-08:00

the antler thieves (and i'm switching fonts)

2008-01-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

on fox news, i just heard a child say these words. "if you kill something this good and you want something that you like, would you want it stolen?"

with context or not, the statement is really disturbing. he was referring to deer antlers stolen from a taxidermist.

2008-01-06T21:58:00.001-08:00

babies, wet dogs, and pot smokin' kite fliers were out in abundance today at forest park. it was 70something degrees in january, which surely means impending doom. today we frolic in the sun, for tomorrow we go up in a big fiery ball.

tonic

2008-01-06T21:46:00.000-08:00

if you're in stl, check out the newstead tower pub. it's new and non-smoking! the staff's superfriendly. at some point, i was convinced to try a peanut butter and jelly shot (because i made fun of it). it tasted...like pb&j. imagine that.

warning: new camera

2008-01-06T21:29:00.001-08:00

i finally got another digital camera (previous one stolen quite a bit of time ago). this means: instant gratification! i'm joining the modern world, folks. here we go.

spot of eagle

2007-12-31T15:47:00.001-08:00

See that winged speck? That's a bald eagle.

wispy

2007-12-31T15:46:00.001-08:00

stolen

2007-12-31T15:32:00.002-08:00

My parents found this safe in the woods by their house. They haven't moved it. We discovered the cashbox while I was visiting them. Most likely, this is the result of a long-ago convenience store robbery. The door appears to have been blown off with an explosive.

former animal portraiture

2007-12-31T15:29:00.001-08:00

animal portraiture

2007-12-31T15:26:00.000-08:00

2007-12-30T14:31:00.001-08:00

a couple of weeks ago, i was picture takin' for my job. this is part of a series of one tree. one tree and all it's little parts, including these folks roosting at the top.

salem

2007-12-27T22:21:00.000-08:00

I grew up in Salem, Missouri. While off for a few days around Christmas (Jewish family, actually),I went back armed with quite a bit of film. Here's the first installment of photos. A couple of these were double exposures. While I'm quite happy with the way they turned out (who doesn't want to turn their dad into a freakish ghost in coveralls?), I must admit they were mistakes. Happy accidents.

man a tee

2007-12-26T18:35:00.001-08:00

what if...?

2007-12-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

what if the videos i transcribe were turned into plays? these would be lines in such long-winded things:

TM: Veggie stirfry. We had that yesterday. That was good.

JM: Macaroni and cheese.

2007-12-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

helpful

2007-12-09T14:50:00.001-08:00

My friend James is writing a short story involving carnies and con men during the depression. I have not read this story, but I offered to complete it for him. These were his options:

1. And then, with one swift motion, the hot dog was entirely devoured. It was gone and in it’s place was my sadness. The sadness of leaving something behind. But it was not left behind. It was in my stomach. Intestines, mechanically separated chicken. Bits of sawdust. Bits of rat.

2. For all the world could see the impact of the carnie. Bright colors and bad taste. They will be with us forever. Forever and a day.

3. Love for the bearded woman was shed like so many pounds from the fat woman. It was over. It was all over and I was crushed. Literally, crushed.

questions

2007-12-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

so, friends, i just want some input: should i make prints of my illustrations and perhaps sell them? would you buy them? would someone?

also, who reads this? just say hi.

hay is for horses

2007-12-07T06:47:00.000-08:00

bears. oh my.

2007-12-06T22:13:00.001-08:00

i think this has to be the next nonfiction book i read. "bears: a brief history

speaking of chinese things, i'm a rooster. i'm a cock.

2007-12-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

you are extinct

2007-12-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

this article makes me feel crappy about being human. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/world/asia/05turtle.html

this is the planet's last known female Yangtze soft-shell turtle. she's about 80 years old and lives in this really crappy looking zoo in china.

are sexy

2007-12-01T15:41:00.001-08:00

because i have myself listed as middle eastern on myspace, i get weird ads for middle eastern dating sites online. this is probably the weirdest one yet.

2007-11-26T18:47:00.000-08:00

In history there are no control groups. There is no one to tell us what might have been. We weep over the might have been, but there is no might have been. There never was.

--Cormac Mccarthy
All the Pretty Horses

2007-11-25T18:41:00.001-08:00

The first drawings I remember making were of little birds with nostrils instead of beaks. I think I’ve seen other children making this mistake. Anthropomorphism in the form of childhood indiscretion.