Now that's some crazy creativity

Check out this incredibly oh-snap-worthy video. (I will be surprised if you don't utter "Oh snap!" several time while watching it.) It might take an extra minute to load...and it's so worth the wait. I'm serious. Soooo worth it. Thanks for sending it along, dpe!


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Sock puppet nation

I love this blase sock puppet. Whassup sock puppet? I didn't make it, but I wish I had (this person did). My attempts at sock puppetry turn out more like this:



Which is not so bad, I know, but I aspire to the artistry of Mr. Blase up there. Yeah, man. And thinking about it further for a moment, I just realized who that rad puppet kind of reminds me of:



Janice from the Muppets. Right? Or at least, like, they should hang out together or something.

Update: The incredibly musically aware dpe emailed me this pic, to show who Janice looks like — indeed, right down to the crazy Isis gem necklace. Nutty! So Janice is like some kind of Carly/Joni hybrid (see comments, below). Whoa.

A hot (and I mean HOT!) wedding adventure

P. and I flew down to Texas for three days of extravaganzas celebrating the wedding of our friends Mark and Emily. Boy are those two ever married, now! I mean, they are MARRIED. Did you ask if they're married? Well, they're MARRIED. As in the-knot-has-been-seriously and ceremoniously tied-eth. I wish I could post all the silly pictures I have of P. and the wedding, but P. is a man of mystery and will not allow it. So be it. I will have to turn your attention to some other interesting things in San Antonio.

The iguana in the hotel, for instance. I have mixed feelings about this iguana. I'm sure he's not on the payroll. I kept imagining him sneaking out to the parking lot for a smoke and to complain to one of the two toucans, who were also in work/residence. Does he look happy? I can't tell.



Then there was the architecture. Does a pig live here? Is he working in a local hotel, too? Is this where he comes home to watch T.V. and plan his next attack against America's unflagging love of bacon?



There was record heat going on, 100+ degrees day and night (or at least it felt like it), so the discovery of Fruterias was a source of much joy.



I cannot even begin to explain how yummy and awesome the Fruterias were. There is very ripe and delicious watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, coconut, and cantaloupe in those huge styrofoam cups, so cleverly wrapped higher to contain as much fruit as possible. And OK, I know, some of you have heard me crowing about Fruterias and want me to shaddup already. But I'm telling you...if you ever see the magical word "Fruterias" on the side of a building...walk into that building.

We'll see us again very soon

My good friend Vera was in town last week (or was it the week before last? Jeez.) from Hamburg, Germany, and we hadn't seen each other in five, count 'em, FIVE! whole years. Vera is a true glamorpuss in that she's both super smart AND super foxy. She is a fashionable European intellectual, people. She will whack you upside your head with her Isamu Noguchi knowledge and then blast past you with a crazy scarf-tying technique that no one on 7th avenue has even thought of yet. Watch out, is what I'm saying.

I spent part of the visit trying to learn the real, true way to say "Vera." I say it very American, like V-EAR-RA (with the E like "EEK!"), when it should be more like V-EH-RA (with the E like "EH"). Oh, Veehhhrraa!

One of the many things I admire about this woman is how whenever anyone is about to take her picture, she looks suddenly very serious (and glamorous) whereas I usually look like some sort of demented clown whenever a camera is around. So when we took a picture of us after dinner at Seymour Burton, I tried to drop the silly expressions and go for a more no-nonsense look.



Which didn't work out so well. I look like someone just stole my bike or something. Damn. Now let's see what some smiles on these faces look like. Preferably with as much cheekbone interlocking as possible.



That's better.

I love the internet so much

I've been working on a drawing lately that I can't tell you much about because it's ultimately going to be a little surprise, heh heh. But it's been making me wonder if I ever would have gotten back into drawing with such gusto if it weren't for my pal, Internet. Without el Internetto, I probably would have taken one trip to the Mid-Manhattan library to look in the picture files for interesting snaps of alligators, etc., and by the time I got home and was finally ready to draw, I'd be like, "Damn! This is exhausting!" and lose interest. Now, all I have to do is get all Googley and I've got all the images I want, if not way too many I'd rather not have. It's so much fun to have a huge picture library at my fingertips. I love you, Internet! Anyway. Here are a few images that have come in handy for my latest drawing, which I will undoubtedly post about at some later date. Unless, of course, it ends up sucking tomatoes, in which case, it will never see the light of day, and you will thank me for not exposing your impressionable eyeballs to it.



This is Graycie, courtesy of a blog called "My Seattle Pets," who hopefully has been adopted by now. Graycie, you are one foxy momma. You inspire me.



This image is for desktop wallpaper, apparently, created by some dude named Michael Chavez. I have a major crush on this lizard. Look at how freaking cool he is, especially his curly fingers! If I saw this lizard crawling by me, I'd turn into a total construction worker at lunchtime and start whistling and tossing out inappropriate propositions. Obviously, Mr. Lizard, you inspire me, too.

And the beautiful birds above are from the Philadelphia Print Shop Ltd. Thank you all, but thanks especially to this guy, who apparently had a serious hand in helping create el Internetto.