art!

I definitely have not been utilizing this blog to showcase my art as much as I should be.
CHECK OUT MY FLICKR PORTFOLIO

(Being that one cannot live outside the grip of capitalism, I am also selling my art.)



Drippy Diptych:


more coming soon!

SF Anthem

(I know I am a little late on this, but it is so hot!)

I really don't know if you can rep The City any harder than this:

Sprite/Republic Of Regina

One of my best friends in the whole world designed the new Sprite soda can for Japan.
You can see him holding the new can (and a bunch of other stuff I don't understand) HERE!

DVC pigs on fire!

The Police Services Office on the Diablo Valley College Campus has been completely destroyed. A fire was reported at 2:25 a.m. Monday in the 1,700-square-foot police services headquarters building located in the southeast corner of Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, CA.

Police in Pleasant Hill and at DVC said they are looking in to a posting made on a Web site from a self-described anarchist group that praised the arsonists. The posting was made on indybay.org, a political blog site, and talked about a "bold move against the growing police state."

Office Tales: meat

A co-worker was talking about Bear Grylls of Man Vs. Wild fame. She was completely disgusted at his eating dead animals.

I reminded her that she eats dead animals. That did not sit well with her as she insisted that it was completely different.

Can you say "cognitive dissonance"?
(Is anyone else alarmed at how commonplace killing non-humans is on so-called reality television programs?!)
_____

[Would you like to fight] an animal abuser or a factory farmer?
Mac Danzig:
"[Laughs] This is just a sport for me. It's not about animosity and wanting to be violent. I wouldn't give those people the satisfaction of fighting me in my sport. If I had to take care of one of those guys, it would be in a back alley with a baseball bat [laughs]."


(thanx Mel)

Office Tales: Milk

Today at work, I was asked why I didn't consume dairy by a co-worker. I paused and then replied, "because it is bad for you."
He was blown away! He had never heard of such insane claims.
...Then he wanted to know why soda (that he is so fond of) is bad for you as if he couldn't believe that either.

I understand most Americans think 'milk does a body good' but I guess I just assumed that they were aware milk, in fact, is not good for you on some level... I couldn't believe that soda is thought of as not bad for you.
_____

Another co-worker wanted to know why I jog.

tired

I seem to be in an almost constant struggle against feeling fatigued.

I hate sleep. Sleep is no fun and it only brings the next day- which is just more work drudgery. I get frustrated with myself for being so quick to fall asleep whenever I stop and take a break.

If this is growing old, I want no part of it.

classic: Blowout Comb

I was just reminded of the oft-slept on genius of Digable Planets' 2nd lp 'Blowout Comb.'

When that joint came out, I ate it up... again and again! The layers of radical politics are deep and I can honestly say a record taught me who folks like Mumia Abu-Jamal and Sekou Odinga are.
I think a lot of people wrote DP's off after that fuckin' annoying 'Rebirth of Slick' song.
Another absolute beauty of the music/lyrics/politics is that, like all great hip hop, it is done in "code." If you don't know what to listen for or aren't already in on the verbage, the magic will be lost on you.
Too bad the mix on 'Blowout Comb' is garbage.

"We be readin' Marx where I'm from"


"Why? That's most asked by 85"

Peace to the Gods & Earths and to All African Peoples Revolutionary Party

Jailbreak!

An attack on an Afghan prison partially destroyed the facility and liberated a reported 1,100 inmates, both men and women. About 380 of the those freed were Taliban militants, but many were social prisoners.
The jailbreak began with a car bomb attack on the prison's main gate after nightfall around 9:30 PM last Friday. Another explosion occurred at a rear wall of the facility and the sky was lit up by a barrage of rockets before militants stormed the compound with small arms. Minibuses were parked in the area to quickly evacuate the freed prisoners from the area, which is now being closely scrutinized by foreign troops.

Minibuses!!? wow

"closely scrutinized by foreign troops" = US occupation troops are now terrorizing everyone nearby

Attacks on US forces have been stepped up following the jailbreak.
_____

Empire must never let us see the cracks in its facade. When we see them, we see that Empire is not unbeatable. This is a crack... an inspiring crack.

17th June 2008. CA

I am not exactly pro-marriage... On a personal level and a political level, I think marriage is a bullshit institution. That said, I admit it is touching to see people get to partake in a social/legal custom that was previously denied them.



of course...
ALL THE FAGS THAT THINK GAY MARRIAGE WILL SAVE THE WORLD WILL BE OUT - IT WOULD BE AMAZING IF EVERYONE SAID FUCK MARIAGE "WE WANT HEALTH CARE FOR ALL
-Jason from Gay Shame

Punisher: War Zone teaser

"I’m not sure what kind of impression I would get from this trailer if I didn’t actually know the film. I am utterly impressed,
though, they managed to find that much PG rated action footage at all. It had to be a challenge to cut a trailer from our
action stuff without showing any gore and blood.
"I’ve been told that you can’t even show heads blowing up in red-band trailers. I hope that’s not true because that would
suck. It’s weird to see Castle shoot all those bullets and not see the thugs who are catching them. That’s the best
fucking part about it!!!"
- director Lexi Alexander

movie review: Bigger, Stronger, Faster

I just saw the film; Bigger Stronger, Faster. No, it isn't about DaftPunk or Kanye West. It is about steroids and America.
The filmmaker/narrator is probably close to my age because a lot of the imagery and messages reflected upon come straight from my 1980's childhood. With my current preoccupation with weight-training, a lot of that rang true to me as well.

The film takes a look at USA's obsession with being bigger, faster, and stronger by any means through the lens of a steroid using family.
It clearly points out the double standards of performance enhancing drugs used for various activities. It also clearly points out the problematic culture's competitive nature.

Obama: ZOG

(I know I am a little late on this, but...)

What was Obama's first speech on foreign policy upon declaring himself the Democratic presidential nominee?
To pledge UNWAVERING support of Israel!
No big surprise.

"He believes that Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state should never be challenged."
He also insists forcefully that the United States must not "recognise Hamas unless it renounced its fundamental mission to eliminate Israel." No state can recognise Hamas, a political party, so what he must be referring to is the government formed by Hamas after a free election that came out "the wrong way" and is therefore illegitimate, in accord with prevailing elite concepts of "democracy."
-Chomsky


(thanx Mel!)

Philippines: Disappearing Dissidents

The mass disappearances/kidnappings/murders of progressive activists in The Philippines are so blatant even corporate news outlet, Yahoo!, is reporting on them!
Karapatan, a Philippine human-rights group, estimates: 902 murdered labor leaders, journalists, local politicians, priests, and peasant organizers. Dozens more activists have vanished.

STOP THE KILLINGS!

(I prefer not to just "report" on disheartening news but would rather provide some sort of optimistic vision or progressive steps for us reading this to take. Afterall, it is our U$A government that is helping fund these atrocities in The Philippines. The Filipino community is big and strong in the Bay Area. Perhaps we could/should pay attention next time they could use more support in working to raise awareness of this issue and fighting to end it.)

Badder Brains vs. Baader Brains

Report from Your 6th Young Tiger Party Congress

We were all excited for the Baader Brains Affinity Project to take the stage in celebration. We started to cheer and get ready to rock out as a group took the stage but something was amiss. It looked like what we were used to and we were sure it could rock but it soon became evident that this band of co-opting hacks had 'cut out the part that mattered.'
Evidence of the counterrevolutionary thought propagated by who we came to understand was Badder Brains (Diagram Group):

Luckily, The Young Tiger Free Organization was prepared to ward off such lackey dogs of imperialism... with force. YTFO (Baader Brains) stormed the stage, "Revisionists! Revisionists! We reclaim this stage in the name of the Young Tiger Free Organization!" The imposters ran like cowards with nothing to defend.

Ballons were dropped and a revolutionary fervor took the crowd as we danced and celebrated those who did not surrender.

"Our vision: To carry forth this capsule of hope through the bombardments of a dark age, to fortify this message, free of the influence and contamination of alien appropriations and co-optation, ultimately, delivering it's magical gift to the children of the future, breathing life into their hearts and souls.
Now let us celebrate the possibilities of future, past, and present."
-Dr. Leslie

John Mayer is Cool

He is.
I can't stand pretty much all his music but every time I see him fuckin' with paparazzi, I wanna give him a high-five.
I knew it was a sign of his coolness when he appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone wearing the exact outfit I often wear right down to the shoes and the tattoo!

Some friends and I got to talkin about Mr. Mayer's genius and I was hipped to his blog.

CHECK IT OUT!


(thanx Jesse!)

SF Hipster Film

Medicine For Melancholy

Assistant To The CEO. Part 1

I hate my job. What else is new?
What follows is a rant; pure and simple.
Any Personal or Executive Assistant probably has similar stories. After all, what is such an Assistant but someone a wealthier person pays to be responsible for them.

My day at work as Assistant to the CEO:

CEO is driving me nuts...
He walks in at 9ish and tells me to get a certain obscure office supply. He says "go pick them up... at Office Max or something"...as if I have time to go around to places
Then just now, he walks by my desk and says HE is going to get them then, ONCE AGAIN, starts in on decorating the conference rooms telling me that I am taking too long.
So I tell him- "I am certainly not trying to be slow. I just need to get certain supplies..."
and he tells me (talking over me) "I get things done. I make sure things move fast!"
I tell him that I was just ordering the supplies and he says he will pick em up then starts in an another million other bullshit projects- insisting that there are easy to find and cheap sites that frame online and that I can't find them "have you search picture framing onine?!.. Google 'picture framing online'!"

My new philosophy is to be rude and forceful right back at him and just not care about the speed of shit.
He is so unrealistic!

CEO comes in and I ask to meet with him re; a bunch of scheduling I have been trying to get him to go over ... he says no and insists I must first apply stickers to a poster and then can talk to him. So I do so and walk back to his office and he is unavailable.
Typical.

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS! CEO acts like a retarded asshole! It blows my mind sometimes.
If I am expected to do my job- he should be expected to do his!

ok- so I FINALLY catch him and ask if he has a sec. He says yes...
I start going into my stuff and he is ignoring me totally
-For instance: I say "your flight arrives at 11. You have a lunch scheduled at noon. Can you make it?" After ignoring me, he starts asking unclear questions and as I try to answer, he just talks over me... and then asking/demanding to know when his flight arrives.
At one point, I start discussing June 11th and he interrupts and starts going off about an appointment I need to put on the date... but then says the appointment is for June 18th!
I said- "ok but I am talkin about June 11th" He ignores me.
The only time he stopped what he was doing to really give his attention to me was when I said BigWig#1 was unavailable for a planned dinner. He wasked if the other bigwigs were available. I said I had not confirmed with them becuz I was waiting on a time and location. He stopped, looked at me, and flipped out about how we need that asap! Everytime I confirmed and agreed, he would start the lecturing over and over - not listening to me agreeing.
Keep in mind that last week I tried to schedule all this and he stopped me and told me we could just do it this week (he still has not given me the needed info)!
I just stopped talking. Glared him in the eyes and waited for him to shut up. Then I said "I got it" and moved on
I was close to telling him he was too high maintenance and walkin out!

oh! one more thing... I gave him his expense report to review/sign. 1-2 days later, it is sitting on my desk with some receipts and it was unsigned... so, I checked and some of the receipts were old and had already been paid. The new ones I added. This morning he asked me about the (old) receipts. I told him he was already paid...
I added the new reciepts and gave him his expense report back to sign. He then condescendingly told me I shouldn't have added those receipts to his expense!!!!!
I told him I would bring in the "correct" report for him to sign RIGHT THEN... as I approached his office, he left!

I am so frustrated I can barely focus.

I forget to mention- I informed CEO that if he wants this certain shit moved, taking the velcro off the wall will remove the paint. His response was that it was no big deal becuz I could just get some paint and touch up the wall!!!
Has he no concept of reality?!

NO ON 98 / 99!

CALIFORNIA!
VOTE NO ON 98 YES ON 99!!

Prop 98 is a deceptive measure funded by wealthy landlords that pretends to be about eminent domain, but would actually...
-Eliminate Rent Control everywhere in the state
-Get rid of cities ability to require developers to create affordable housing
-Make property owners exempt from environmental laws
-Allow for evictions without just cause (including evicting seniors and disabled persons)
-Make it so easy to turn our apartments into luxury yuppified condos

COME ON CALIFORNIA. Prop 98 is bad for poor people. It is bad for people of color. It is bad for students. It is bad for workers. It is bad for grandmas and grandpas. It is bad for you. It is bad for me.
_____

(I really shoulda posted more on this sooner. Too little too late? I hope not. Fuck all the too cool anarchists and radicals who tell you not to vote. This is a survival tactic!)


(thanx xJoshx & Harjit)

Young Tigers Sixth Congress