Monday was a crappy day. I overslept, lost this shirt on ebay, and when I eventually did go to school it was without my backpack. I didn't notice until, waiting at the subway stop, my train arrived; I reached down to pick up my bag like I customarily do and grabbed nothing. I panicked for like three seconds, an in one sweepingly lame moment of realization, admitted to my own incompetence and stepped on to the train. I ended up skipping my class anyway.



BUT

In spite of these pretty minor hitches (and some really crappy pickup basketball that evening), Monday couldn't have been that bad, because MONDAY comes after SUNDAY, and on SUNDAY night, THIS happened.

I mean,

THIS.

And then, THIS


Woo!! So excited. Tom kinda looked like he was bummed Angels and Airwaves wasn't getting a best rock Grammy. Maybe that's why he's giving up his U2 stadium rock band to go back to what really made him big. Regardless, this is a really cool day, and I'm excited for the tour more than anything else. I never saw them when I was a kid and hopefully Tom will still cuss...

Here's Blink talking about Star Wars.



And the Josie video.





ok later

cali dreamin

I've been "trying" to get into the habit of writing down my dreams when I wake up. There's definitely an art to it and I can't say I'm very good yet, but every so often I awake from a deep sleep in a groggy limbo-state that allows me to, albeit somewhat retardedly, jot down the details of whatever happened so clearly just before. Obstacles include not finding a paper or pen in time, falling back to sleep, going to the bathroom, and just generally not remembering/ caring.

Rereading the ones I've written is always exciting and fresh and totally fucking batshit goofy. In a way it's kind of like trapping thoughts from one world and bringing them into another. Like fireflies. OOOH...


NEW BLAKECITY.COM CONTEST

Hey readers, draw a picture of this dream I had. Click to enlarge. Translation follows.



"DREAM" (lol dreams are always in italics)

"TWO GIRLS CLIMB UP A SKYSCRAPER with a complex harness/ metal bungee system,
Where they have suction cups on their hands.
When one jumps off the topfloor bungee line (?)
the cord snaps and she goes flying into the water.
Somehow both ?...

There is a boat nearby with scuba and safety equipment but it has no paddles.

Michael Cera is in another boat, wearing strap sandals and socks.
He has little sympathy."

Please spend as little time as possible. Best picture wins a cookie.

---------------


Also here is a song I have been listening to all day. For anyone who likes Burial or dubstep or just a dark, intense/mellow (?), trippy sort of Rap-jam, here is Pinch. Let it soak in.

Pinch - Brighter Day (ft. Jukali)

"knucklehead!"

I LOVE

youtube
Charles Barkley
Nirvana



oh god there is so much good Charles Barkley material out there.




I HATE

RAFA

This brat right here,freak of nature PUNK, no respect, fucking pulling wack ass angles out of his ass every other shot, seriously he grabs his ass after every point, no lie. And he hits wack angles too, like stuff that isn;t physically possible. Except I don't admire it at all it's bullshit to me. C'mon Federer please just smack his returns down the line or something like you do so well and get your first serves in and don't try to play points with this guy.

If you're up at 5 AM on sunday you can watch the match here.

http://aus-rogernadal.blogspot.com/

It's gonna be a dooozy!!

At the Union Square Walgreens, in line to buy a Coca-Cola after the m83 show (excellent!), I photographed this fantastic baby t-shirt that, incidentally and hilariously enough, foretold what I would become later that night.


I Love You, Man - Redband trailer




This looks good. Along with Adventureland I am pretty excited for some comedies in 2009.


Lately I have been more interested in good comedy, in how good comedy works, in the structure of jokes and gags and stuff. I definitely want my color sync to be funny, I guess.

sandiego and new york shitty

(Note: This post was supposed to come a week or so ago. For posterity's sake I'll put it up unedited)

Back in New York city!

(just me and my girl in the citay)

It's been a really nice almost-week here, and I've gotten the chance to relax and settle down with some cold hard venting, a Christmas party, Super Mario Galaxy, book-buying, Edamame Hummus, and pickup bball.




I saw this guy on the subway. He played a decent version of "All Along the Watchtower", after getting off to a particularly shaky start. What a microphone rig though! All into an amp in his backpack. In addition to witnessing this, I also: watched/ate/waved my face in pretty snow that fell like ripped cotton, pulled my hamstring slipping on ice, ate samosas, and saw former roomate Michael Brink and Bjork on the street within the same 24 hours. NEW YORK SITY!

No, in all seriousness, it's been a positive couple of days, but I am scared crapless by the amount of shit in front of me and the inevitable stress and anxiety that creating work tends to bring. I wish stuff would come easy sometimes. I wish that I could intuitively crank out 10 pages a day or set my mind on an idea that I could follow through on, or even have fun FINISHING something. Unfortunately, the masochist in me not only knows this isn't going to happen, but is silently preparing myself for the struggle to come, rather than finding ways of making things more manageable. SIGH



I just want to go back here for a little while. Just a little while.








Winter Break was quite fun.



God why are some Blink-182 songs so sad? I've really fallen in love with this band, in the utmost, completely unironic sincerity, over the last six months. They really provide some genuine insight into the joys and failures of young love, as well as singing about Sombreros and Star Wars. They're far less immature and crass than their image suggests, and as I was never really into/ allowed to listen to them as a kid, there's not an excess of nostalgia in my appreciation; these albums are very good and complete on their own, even to a 20 year old kid in an era long after pop punk mattered.



This one, the last song off Dude Ranch, is particularly sobering.

Blink-182 - "I'm Sorry"

"Don't bide your time
'cause it is almost over
and I know you're down
I'll see you around

And I know it hurts
but you're just getting older
and I know you'll win
you'll do it once again"

I am fairly drunk right now but with the help of the google/blogspot.com spellcheck tool hopefully you will not notice.

I feel like I should post more when I'm drunk because then my insecurities won't be as prevalent and, umm, "inhibiting."

Lately I have been really into, Happy Go Lucky, which I downloaded illegally (missed the theatrical, sorry). Tis' a film by Mike Leigh which I found absolutely enrapturing, and really effective, but in the most human and non-dramtaic ways. The homeless scene seemed a little much. Then scene at her sister's house, though, was brilliant. It's a clear message but so humanistically expressed by the performances and the filmmaking that the effect is transcendant.



At times, (or during this film at least) I think of films like great athletic events, like boxing matches or Kobe vs. Lebron or Federer vs. Nadal. In this film SALLY HAWKINS AND EDDIE MARSDAN were the battle for me and I could have watched it all day; how do these actors and characters bounce off each other? What does one fundamentally different character do when just in the mere presences of another fundamen tally different character? How do these situations evolve? There's a certain vitality created when two characters enter the ring with each other; Jarmsuch I think works like this, in which he puts catalystic characters into situations and lets them "interact" or something. Like adding lions to a gladatorial fight. I like acting.


Anyways I really enjoyed the movie. But I think I might be biased because Sally Hawkins's character was unbelievably attractive in my eyes, in both personality and looks. Not grating at all. Like a dreamgirl.

Regardless, the movie is great.


But this post was really just designed to highlight the song of the year (2008), in my eyes.

This is SALEM with "whenusleep".


lyrics

Are you crying when you sleep
Or do you stay up
jacking off
to the thought of me

it's okay to be awkw~~~~
~~~~something~~~ blah~blah~~~
just like me

Are you crying when you sleep
Or do you stay up
jacking off
to the thought of me


ok wow about to pass out. whissky!

Zero Boys - Civilization's Dying

Sometimes I wonder how different I'd be if I'd gotten into skateboarding and punk music when I was supposed to (15) as opposed to when my interests for these things grew (now).

ONETHINGIDONTKNOWWHY

Today at my house Omar randomly plucked the "E♭" key on the family piano. For some reason I instantly thought of the beginning of the song "In The End" By Linkin Park. I then played around with it a little bit and recreated the whole opening melody on the piano. Needless to say Omar and I were really excited.





E♭ - B♭ - B♭ - G♭ - F - F - F - F-G♭ - E♭ and repeat.





Linkin Park is huge. Hybrid Theory is a top 10 album of the decade. Anyone disagree?

hahaha

one of my greatest dreams, realized.

merry christmas and die!

this is a picture of me on christmas day, 1999 or so. In a few hours I will open presents in the same room.





FUCK YEA!!! I AINT NO GODDAMNED SON OF A BITCH!


What did you get for xmas!?!

THESE ARE TWO SONGS THAT MAKE ME FEEL REALLY BADASS!!! HAVE A FUCKIN COOL XMAS (emphasis on X)!!




I'M CUSSIN YALL

POWAY

Is giving me headaches. HEAD ACHES
HEADACHESSS

hadaches, I wish i had aches
i wish I had a cabin and acres and a machine

to slow time so I could get ahead
ache
headache



Poway: MY HOME

I've been seeing friends and everything, which is really great, but the fun I've been having is being negated by too much food, too little sleep, and too much driving around with my parents.

I'm realizing how bad I am at maintaining friendly conversation with anyone these days. Every time I start talking to a parent or old friend or person I'm not comfortable standing through moments of silence with (that's a true point though, think about it- Your best friends aren't the ones you feel most comfortable talking to; they're the ones you are most comfortable being silent with) I just steamroll through a number of generic topics until I can find a suitable jumping off point for me to do something and leave the room. It's almost like a little game now, because the pattern is so predictable. I always wonder about what the other person thinks of the conversation and my consistently distrustful mind always assumes they don't really want to be listening to anything I have to say either.

I don't really know what to do about this. Be more of an asshole? I've been thinking a lot about this too and decided it's time for me to be meaner about stuff. Nice people never get anything done. Actually, this isn't true.




Woah that was a rant.
I've had a bad day.

Slacker is the best movie ever. I want to move to Austin 1991 so bad.

"Finals" are upon me and this week is busy. The 1 year anniversary of BLAKECITY has come and gone and I forgot about it. Oh well. Nic Cage remembered BLAKECITY'S birthday though and dressed up for the occasion.



I've been listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen and Orange Juice (great!) and some new music too. I'm excited to post my end of the year lists because I love lists and I think I've been pretty up to date on material, so I'll be able to actually talk about stuff with some sort of confidence. Movies too. Not books though, I go through those like molasses. Suttree over break (fingers crossed).




Speaking of books, I saw Twilight the other day (sidenote; apparently after 11 on weeknights there is no one taking tickets at the theater[??]), which, as a film, is a preposterous mess that stumbles through so many levels of seriousness and cheese that it can hardly contain itself. That being said, it's one of the more interesting movies of the year and so much fun to watch. I've never seen a movie take place in between the staring eyes of two people more than in Catherine Hardwicke's mindfuckingly exaggerated shot-reverse-shot staring contest.



There are a lot of good movies out too. Che comes out this week in its 4 hour cut, as well as Gran Torino and some other stuff. Wendy and Lucy comes out this week too, which is as essential as any film is this year, in my mind. I saw it at the NYFF and... wow. Really amazing stuff.




Not to mention the new Punisher film which has received some surprisingly positive reviews from friends, and Transporter 3, whose trailer blew my mind.

I also saw Benjamin Button tonight, which was disappointing.

ANYWAYSSSS

Back to work, world. Stuff to show eventually, I suppose.






Home in less than a week. Here's a gem from the olden days.

WRITINS

I'm taking creative writing right now. It's real fun. Hopefully I can get a minor (only 4 classes). I love writing stories but I'm a horribly undisciplined writer so it's nice to have someone on your back making deadlines.


What an idea! I would love to have my own personal man on my back making deadlines. Productivity in life and school and in Blakecity would increase tenfold!


(maybe it would be like the personal stenographer from that episode of Chappelle's Show. At least that's what I imagine.)


As much as I like writing, I find it really tough sometimes to show people my work. "It's not ready!" is a common excuse I've been known to use, and a weak one at that. "But it's not, I swear!"

Maybe one day I'll "finish" one of these stories that sits in development limbo (industry term) and print it out and give people copies and draw little pictures at the beginnings of the chapters.

(Redwall was always great at this)

But we have to write poetry in the class, and it's not something I care about as much, so I show that without any anxiety or hesitation.
Here is a poem I wrote about my greatest fear. Can you guess what it is?


MY BIRTHDAY

I woke with a start-
Cried for my wife,
“My face! It’s melting!“

Pressed my hands to my cheeks
tried to hold it all together
catch the falling bits just in case

Then she rushed in, upset,
But soon calm. Told me to relax
led me to the washroom

I dropped my hands and, well,
saw for myself. My face looked the same
I guess I’d just forgotten.

lines

I found this really neat 4-color ballpoint pen the other day. You know, the ones with the green, red, blue, and black nibs, interchangeable by the cool clicky tabs in the back. Awesome stuff.

So here are some drawings with that. I call the first one "Le Struggle" and the second one
"Bearded Man on a Motorcycle with Guns on the Handlebars"





Two of my very best friends from Poway have some exquisite Blogs I would like to highlight in this post.

Josh Brown, aka The Bill Pullman Experience, has been my friend since the sophomore year of high school. We bonded in Mrs. Walton's English class over doodling, dorky movies, and maybe video games. Once we drew a giant, seven foot mural on the whiteboard that took an entire class period. An unknown girl took a picture of this but I've never seen it.

Anyway, Josh is a swell artist who draws really bad pun cartoons and really good cowboy stuff. He also recently posted a joint doodle we did in the wake of Katrina, back in high school, where we always tried to be about as politically incorrect as possible. He posts more often than me so check him out.


Rachel Cooper, aka Spooky Trees, has been my friend since about Junior year and she is also one of my best buds. Last Summer we went on a roadtrip up the coast; it was really fun and we unironically listened to lots of Lavigne's "Let Go" and Spears's "Lucky". She has a wordpress blog (cleaner layout methinks) and writes about really personal shit so be prepared. Just kidding she writes about Twilight and nostalgia and other stuff. She also posts more often than I do.



I'll post some more scans tomorrow of some other crap. Also I have a new recommendation for everybody because I am drinking it now and it's quite good.

Tea with milk

A classic

In honor of finally fixing the border around my title page picture, I now present to you a short comedy I made with a good friend, Richard Provencio, in the Fall of 2004. I was 15 years old.




"Doin' Coke!" was an assignment for the illustrious Digital Media Production class, in the first semester taught by the inimitable and hopelessly under qualified Robert Kaechele. The program has inconceivably grown into a very successful and well equipped entity since then, which is a real mystery to anyone who has taken the class and seen this guy.

Yes, my teacher was/is a house DJ outside of school.

Anyways, I'm pretty certain the original idea centered around remixing the start of Pink Floyd's "Money" (you know, the part where they have all the change and cash register sound effects) by replacing those sounds with the sounds from a Coca-Cola can. Richard liked Coca-Cola a lot, and would have at least three a day usually.

None of us had ever done coke. I had yet to drink alcohol or smoke marijuana at this point either.

We filmed this is one night in my house, with a skeleton, two-man cast/crew combo. Notice the interesting, sort of over-the-shoulder conversation; that was filmed by pressing record on the camera, then running into place to do the scene, and then stopping it afterwards. Also notice the somewhat notorious "fridge shot" that Omar Malik so kindly remembers this film by. You won't miss the cameos by my two dogs (Happy and Shasta, I miss you! Well, Happy mostly) and a lot of strange homoerotic undertones.

I kind of love watching this stuff, because I couldn't even tell you what kind of movies I liked at the time, or why I was influenced to do things this certain way. It was pure dumb luck and intuition that anything got done at all.
Now I'm at film school where I spend hours learning how to dissect the craft and the art to its most excruciatingly minute details, almost seperating myself as much as possible from the stupid fun of the experience. I miss that creative innocence.

Anyways, enjoy.