August 30, 2002

Oh man this Moby and Eminem feud is getting way out of hand. I was shamelessly perusing the MTV message boards after watching their little tiff last night on the VMA's and ran across this little number from one of MnM's minions:

 RE: Eminem Started The Fued
>Obviously, the average Moby fan is more educated than the average Eminem fan.

Im obviously an Eminem fan. This statement is completely untrue. The level of your intelectual compacity has nothing to do with the music you listen to. In my school im in Honors and Advanced Placement courses, these courses are college courses, and im only a Junior in highschool. And I listen to Eminem on a daily basis, and my intelectual compacity has not been affected in any way by his music (which i love).

Denver. "intelectual compacity". This makes me laugh (er...laff) out loud.

Moby's take on the ordeal is pretty straight forward.

I have to admit as much as I really want to enjoy Eminem's music, his fan base is too much to take. It's almost a given that every time I'm biking home and I pull up to a light and some Saint Paul white trash bleached hair "G" is bumping the his stereo at a volume that can be heard by all, that the voice coming out of the speaker is always Eminem. And when the voice coming out of the ride is Eminem, 100% of the time that person driving or someone in his posse will scream something at me as we both take off from the light. Every time. It must be a genetic thing, and just as Eminem will want to beat up Moby for no apparent reason other then the controversy will sell him some more records, his fans will want to toss shit at me on the streets from the safety of their borrowed fathers Toyota.

Photographs everywhere! Zeitgeist photographer Ryan McGinley has dropped his first book available at index magazine. Check out some of his snaps here. The one's of the band mum are great.

I went to the Walker's One Planet Under a Groove, a loose collection of contemporary art inspired by Hip Hop's back catalog. The highlight of the whole show was definitely Adrien Piper, with funk dance lessons from 1983, a great documentary on how to dance funk.

It was the first time I was able to catch a glimpse of Ricky Powell's new photography book The Rickford Files. A great collection of old school snaps. Ricky makes Puff Daddy's parties seem weak.

August 29, 2002

Ouch. Late night at Kinko's. Mad printing fury of brochures and materials went late into the night. Thank god for Kinkos and their 24 hour policy. And god bless Ben, the Kinkos helper for taking time out between tracks of his "new" Gorillaz CD to help me negotiate some tricky maneuvers on their Macintosh. And while I'm thanking god - thanks for Whitey's World Famous Saloon for serving food till midnight and Heinekens long after that.

This morning I am feeling the crunch of the baseball strike. I think I would feel very different about this tragic situation if our Minnesota Twins were not sitting on the top of the American League Central, pounding their chests, and looking down at all the sub-par teams that have bigger bank accounts and have players who do badder drugs and have bigger arrest records. But I think after I get over the fact that I wont be able to see my team fight in some well deserved playoffs, I wont shed too many tears for the loss of this baseball season. This whole strike thing has dragged on longer than that stupid American Idol show and I'm sick of both. Erase them from my memory. If you care, here is a good article on the position of both the owners and players. Better yet, here are some great strike inspired sign from fans who may not be fans much longer.

In other sports and politics news, I have decided that my vote for Minnesota Governor will be determined by each candidate answering to the following question: how many skateparks do you plan to build during your term as governor and in what neighborhoods will you build them? I'm thinking the scope of that question covers so much ground and such a diverse spectrum of issues that I will be able to cast my vote with pride and vigor when I have assessed all the candidates answers.

Dreamland Skateparks, a skatepark design company actually mentions on their homepage "skatepark ROI" in all seriousness. The times they are a changing.

Finally someone named a band after Ferris Bueller's school principle Rooney. And one of the members of the band is the kid brother of Jason Shwartman. That family has some musical ambition.

August 28, 2002

Fair day was a blast. It really takes almost a whole day to do the fair proper. And it will probably take a full day of biking to work off the Buckets o' French Fries and other greasy assorted edibles that were consumed at every turn. My favorite thing at the fair was Lillian. Lillian is a 91 year old lady who has a little table in the agricultural building and sits there from noon to 5:30pm and makes crop art from seeds. She makes things like, We Are the World posters, where you have to wonder what seed is pink enough to make Cyndi Laupers hair stand out. No problem for Lillian though - she's a master in her field - one seed and one drop of Elmer's glue at a time. Over the years Lillian has amassed quite a collection of celebrity crop art. Bill Cosbys up on her wall. So is David Letterman. She was hard at work on some gigantic bird when I was watching. She was in a zone so I didn't bother her.

The other highlight was definitely flying over Machinery Hill in the micro gondola and getting to see aerial shots of all the latest shiny new farm equipment and then flying over a crazy new addition to the fair called "Big Boy Sandbox", where anyone with a valid drivers license can not only operate a BobCat but can race other contestants to see who can build like the biggest pile of dirt in the shortest amount of time. Ahhh...Minnesota.

August 27, 2002

After a hefty morning of playing my melodica, drinking coffee, listening to live jtb and playing the new tony hawk on my mac, it's off to the fair to gawk at barnyard animals, strolling humans and the wonderful hazy line that distinguishes the two.

Jackass the movie trailer.

August 26, 2002

Readers of these narrow pages and the comrades who watch me devour huge plates of greasy fries at local midnight eateries are well aware of my excessive use of the condiment known as Heinz Ketchup. If there were a help group for abusers of this tempting tomato treat, I'm sure that there would have been an intervention long ago and I would now, after years of shock therapy, scream in fright at the site of a 20 oz bottle of spreadable, dippable love. But there isn't and so I go on in a cloud of bliss, drain whole bottles in one sitting and befuddle the help when I request a second bottle of ketchup when I haven't even ordered my first beer.

I am always pleased to try just about any variety of new Heinz Ketchup product that comes down the marketing pipe from the wizards at H.Q. (I still have a bottle of wild purple ketchup in my fridge) and was no less enthusiastic when I discovered that Heinz was releasing an organic ketchup. Finally, I can shop the organic co-op just down the block and buy everything I need for a good grill out and not have to make a separate trip to another store just to buy ketchup. That organic Muir Glen brand posing in the condiment isle as ketchup is a cruel joke on the intelligence and taste buds of all and should be eradicated from the consumer landscape with the speed of economics.

It's interesting to note that the Heinz organic ketchup is a whole lot thicker and perhaps chunkier then its un-orgaganic and less viscous older brother, which makes me wonder if a) there actually is no real difference between Heinz regular and organic ketchup and that the wizards at Heinz inc. think that organic just means thicker and with more "real" whole looking chunks (New Heinz Organic Ketchup! Now with bigger and and thicker chunks! 25% more organic than the next leading brand of organic ketchup), and b) how many French fries do I need to dip at one time in order to provide a sufficient barge for which to transport the heftiness of the organics. These are the questions that keep me awake at night.

Speaking of condiments and greasy food, tomorrow I am heading to the Minnesota State Fair. I've kinda avoided it for the past few years. The last time I went, I ended up drinking on and off stage with the Goo Goo Dolls bassist, Robby, who was actually a pioneer band weblogger back in the day. I also got him to admit that they hadn't made a decent album since "hold me up". But that whole night ended in barnyard craziness and I was barely capable of finding my way back off the fairgrounds. I do remember stumbling into a new modern RV show and quickly running into one, shutting and bolting the door, and falling asleep.

Tomorrow at the fair the mood should be calmer. I am most looking forward to the livestock judging. Especially the Swine Spotted Hogs event that will be held in the Swine barn. I will try and take a picture of the winner and post it Wednesday for all to enjoy. Also on the docket tomorrow is the Celebrity Animal Calling. With local newscasters calling their favorite animals. Take note of the cool wood type poster designed for the fair by HartungKemp, with wood type borrowed from my typography teacher, Bill Moran's archives.

August 21, 2002

Fitzcarraldo. Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog's masterpiece of a movie. Makes all other movies seem like kindergarten. Werner's directors commentary on the DVD is the most articulate I have heard on this medium yet. He talks about the hardships of making the movie, the border war that broke out between Peru and Ecuador, the natives attacking them with arrows, planes crashing in the jungle, crew members maimed or killed, the three years it took to make the movie, the worst drought and subsequent worst rainy season of the century, controlling Kinski's madness and daily "yell outs" on the film, and yet throughout it all, his unwavering faith that he had to see the movie to completion. After watching this movie I wanted to get Kinski's autobiography, All I Need is Love. But the cheapest one at Amazon is $120.00. I was able to track one copy down at the Library and am having them ship it over. I love the Library.

August 20, 2002

It feels so good to have my site back. I don't even know where to begin. How about my typography class? Well it's beyond incredible. It's taught by Bill Moran a third generation letterpress printer and graphic designer. We work with only old lead types and wood alphabets on huge old iron equipment that makes me want to throw all Macintosh computers out the window and get back to the basics of metal, ink, and wood. Wood type, its creation and use is an inspiring craft that is both a wonder of engineering and of design. Bill's publishing company is Blinc Publishing and he still does a ton of letterpress work for different clients. The textures of which can not be beat by the stale and precise nature of the electronic machine. Recently he has worked with the Hamilton Wood Type Museum (a personal field trip is in the works for afrojet) to create one of the first new wood type font faces Hamilton offset which is available at Chank. The best part of the class is exploring the historical and sociological aspect of type, their designs, and the engineering problems vs. design problems that the designers were trying to solve when they were invented. Also interesting is how different and newer technologies for printing changed the way new typefaces were designed. It's also given me a new appreciation for arts and crafts wallpaper.

August 19, 2002

oh hey. My site is back online...

Wow. I am overjoyed. I think I may have broken some record for sites being down. Denver. Long story short - my old host, although being free, had no idea how to administer their server and had no reason to fix it when it went down. Afrojet was shown no love. But you get what you pay for and now I am paying for it. Huge shouts to the good and decent people over at Mcdonaugh Brothers for hooking me up, hosting me and plugging me back in. May all further vacations be my own decision. I realized while my site was down how much I had become addicted to it and the communication with others that it sparked. So without wasting any more time...let's just pick it right back up. Q.E.D.

August 02, 2002

Wow! I got to say the revolution smile are blowing me away right now. Be one of the first 1000 to sign up on their site and they'll send you a limited edition 11 song CD. Can't wait for mine.

A little more redesign here. I wanted to give afrojet that faded out look - something like the Star Tribune newspaper that's been sitting on my patio since early March. It's all dusty and hazy. I also wanted to inject some blue and get rid of the underline in the links which was getting uglier everyday.

I would like to go on record before Tuesday, and proclaim that Bill is definitely the Mole.

My new favorite television viewing is Unwrapped on the food network. It's a 'behind the music' of old candies, cereals, gum etc. I had no idea Cheetoes were spray painted with cheese. Next Saturday they are portraying "Crazy Drinks". Damn that's solid television.

Cool new site gives us a look into the new Baltic Contemporary Art Museum on the river Tyne. A huge artistic space, with some open studios. It would be great if more of it was open to the public but it looks like a great project nevertheless. Featured artist is Tatsumi Orimoto, whose performance piece envolves him "turning up unexpectedly in busy places - a restaurant in moscow, a tea shack in Tibet, Oxford Street in London - his face covered with round loaves and baguettes, often accompanied by an entourage of fellow Breadmen."

Copenhagen offers a 10 step blueprint to a more pedestrian city and offers some stylish bikes that you can rent for $2.50.

August 01, 2002

Just missed the rain this morning. I thought I was goner for sure. Last night I spent some time trying to digitize some old 45's on the powerbook to very mixed results. I really need to find a way to efficiently digitize some of my old records. So far my setup is sub-par and an Ipod is useless until this can happen.

I can't quite put my finger on it but there is something about this couch [ via core77 ] that looks really comfortable. I've been contemplating a new car and although a toyota will probably be dialed in the near future, I'd much rather have a pimped out school bus.

Yesterday I wrote about Carhartt and the bottom up marketing of their brand and then about two hours later I read this article about Sony Ericsson and how they plan to use real actors who will be scripted to talk about their product. The actors will then go hang out at bars and local hip spots and pretend to create a buzz for a product where there is no buzz. I REALLY want to know what Minneapolis bars these people will be "kicking it" at. I will keep my vision sharp for anyone getting gushy about their new mobile phone. Very strange times. How strange? How about the guy who's auctioning on Ebay advertising space on his penis? Or how about the people who are so addicted to chatting online that they don't mind having fake friends (bots), whoes only purpose is to sell some 11 year old girl tickets to the latest Disney movie. I'm amazed sometimes that I even work in this industry. Take one wrong turn and you end up in a very bad neighborhood. But hey, I love my job. Which is a bummer because now I can't write a letter like this [ from Kelly ] if I ever leave.