Bohemian Slacker

You have no idea what's in store for you when you sit down to watch The Dark Knight.



That's all I'm going to say about it.


That and there's a trailer for something I thought they could never pull off, and visually they have. I don't want to spoil that little treat either... but I'll drop a hint.

"This world's smartest man means no more to me than does its smartest termite."

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LetsPolka/~3/339633390/

http://www.letspolka.com/?p=837

I try to avoid watching reality TV because it usually just makes me angry. For example, take this clip from the latest episode of America’s Got Talent in which Branson accordionists Dan and Kim Christian get the boot simply because they play the accordion.

“If there’s one thing worse than an accordion, it’s two accordions.” But what about three accordions? Or five accordions? Or (gasp) fourteen? Frankly, I don’t think you can ever have too many accordions.

I log into okcupid this morning only to find a message with the subject heading of "ugh". Intrigued, I ventured further, and saw it was from one "bobbydole6969", and it said: "women who drink are disgusting. period."

(My page has various pictures of my true love and I. ...true love being booze.)

Fellow drinking ladies, I implore you to tell him what you think! Or at least laugh at his sad profile with me.
http://www.okcupid.com/profile?u=bobbydole6969

And I have a very special message back to you, Mr. ...er, 6969:

Belated as it is, I have to say that visiting back in Virginia was terrific. It's not that much of the place itself felt like home, but once again being with people who matter to me, in some cases for the first time in over two years, did my heart a lot of good. I've missed folks!

I was very gratified to see my family more together and invested in each other than I can remember in a long time. It feels like things have worked out after all, and we have each other as a priority. I had some priceless Bajcsi-time too, and while I wish I had been able to feel things out more outside of my own whirlwind of change, it meant a lot to come back from all the good and bad of California and find meaningful company with great people - and then get them plastered. I also feel like I had the heart-to-heart conversations I wanted. Even the ones that could have been confrontational were more "this is how I feel" delivered in a get-it-off-my-chest manner in both directions, an open and sympathetic approach, and it made a positive difference. I feel that I have two home-states now, and I'll be back.

I had a lot of unwinding to do, and the past months have seen me giving up what I can't fix and focusing on what I can put back together with new vigor. I think it succeeded beyond my expectations. I scarcely got a moment to slow down, catching up with everyone. Let's see, how did it go?

Expect heavy editing to follow here as I go through all the material.

( This spot saved  )

( Brain-dump for Molly on community )

I had a great visit with my best friend Bajcsi in Richmond, and one really cool thing that we got to do was see Denali in concert.



I thought that was never going to happen! I discovered them four years ago and got all excited about them, just as they broke up. It was singularly lucky to be in town when they had their reunion concert. It was great; I loved the live music energy, the crowd was full-throated in love and appreciation to the point where the lead singer Maura teared up, and I came away happy. More pictures of that event here!

For that matter, their opening bands Prabir and the Substitutes and Tulsa Drone did a great job, and I had to buy the Substitute's latest CD, and for that matter, tell Prabir what a great show they put on, and tell one of their merchpeople that were they to come visiting out they should look up The Orange Peels as someone to perform with. No really, I think they're a good match.

See? My old home state has a music scene to be proud of.

There's more, a lot more, and I'm going to just have to work on this entry
when I can.

( And back to California, lots going on )

I feel I'm barely scratching the surface. I have pictures to dig up, videos to clip from, and more. I'll be updating.

In the meantime, the thought of Rob and Beth touring the dinosaur exhibit at the Living Museum with the matching his-and-hers no-raptor shirts I got them is rocking my socks. :)

josie long, patrice o'neal

Don’t forget to check out my photos if you are interested! [link]

I'm trying to get MTV to buy the rights to my TV show idea, My Super Sweet Septuagenarian Birthday. Basically it would involve throwing the biggest birthday bash ever at the assisted living retirement home, with surprise appearances by hip-hop artists that no one has ever heard of.

Behold the first batch of photos from the new camera. It does great work with tomatoes, flowers, TV screens, and cats. Look at that giant lens.

The Patterson Irrigator reports on one of the most important news stories of our time.

Last night I went with my mom and brother to the horribly-named "SleepTrain" Pavilion in Concord to see Elvis Costello and the Police. It was a great show (this would be the 4th time I saw Elvis and the - obviously - first time I saw the Police). The worst part was having to hear my mom talk afterwards about how sexy Sting is these days (his ridiculously tight shirt and rippling pecs were constantly displayed on the jumbotron for all to see). My only gripe was that they did not play Synchronicity II. But apart from that it was a really good selection of songs. Elvis did a lot from the new album plus a few older hits, including Alison (which was an impressive duet with Sting, almost as good as Khoi's duet with Allen Clapp). Anyway, it was fun.

Account Structure Update
Back by popular demand, Basic Accounts will be available to all users again by the end of the (northern hemisphere) summer. More information on the decision-making process and proposals relating to the future of Basic Accounts are in lj_2008.

New Themes
Two attractive and all-new Flexible Squares themes, "Circular" and "Circular Brown" are now available.


L to R: Circular and Brown

New V-Gifts
Give someone you care about the gift of enticement. With the new Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi v-gifts, all the significant people in your life will be able to share in the longing for the tasty edibles below. Plus, it reminds loved ones you think they're really sweet, really savory or just plain satisfying.


L to R: Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi

Ж-Men...but not the ones you might expect!
This week LJ Russia launched Ж-Men, a new comedy series about superheroes, inspired by the LJ communities dedicated to superheros, comics and cartoons. The title's "Ж" comes from ЖЖ, the nickname for LiveJournal in Russia.

Ж-Men's script is written by a group of LJ enthusiasts who also happen to be television professionals. Who knew? Following the premiere, five more episodes will be broadcast over the next two weeks. We hope you find the series fresh and enjoyable.

This is, of course, an experiment for LiveJournal. As always, we'd love to hear what you think!

There's a cat who likes to jump on my lap whenever I sit down at the computer, making it a little difficult to type, so this will be brief.
Unusual sidewalk chalk scrawl spotted today:
"The Illuminati
Google it.
Wake Up!"
It's not exactly a haiku. There are some nefarious political/economic groups, but the whole Illuminati plot gets a little tiring to hear about. It sounds a little too Da Vinci Code. There are plenty of wealthy & politically involved individuals that make decisions which are not in the best interests of mankind, but it's probably more their personal greed & ambition that are screwing things up rather than a secret society agenda.
My vision for myself in old age is as an Abe "Grandpa" Simpson type. I plan on writing to newspapers and rambling on about how the world has gone to hell in a handbasket, how things were so much better in my day, and how I don't like the looks of those teenagers.
That's about the extent of the disclosure of personal information on the internet right now. Maybe I'll get Perez Hilton be a guest blogger on here next time so this will be entertaining to read.

A week ago I told Jillian I only wanted to speak over email, but she refused and said she would only communicate by phone. After a week of the silent treatment, she sent this:

"As far as all of this goes- your a closed minded drama queen who is unable to not judge your friends because of your own insecurities and jealousy issues. I was fine with all of this and loved you anyway until you wouldn't stop getting on your judgemental high horse and pointing you finger at me. For you to not call me and not return any of my messages also shows your level of maturity- limited. Again i didn't care until it spilled over into my life in a very fucked manor. I am not you and have no desire to be as "perfect" as you. I am some one who celebrates that differences in people- you should try it sometimes."

I will fess up to being judgmental, but for one I think everyone is, and for two, my judgments are usually for good purposes such as looking out for people I care about. I think it's pretty funny that in her mind this is a letter to try to work through things.

You know you've hit a new low when, rather than deciding on your own, you google "What do I want for lunch?"

So here's the cover I did for this little ditty I put together for the San Diego Comic Con. I'm so stoked to go! I love going to San Diego. LOVE IT. The book is going to be done in all grayscale, and it's been a totally different experience trying to figure out the nuances of gray tone coloring. I'm basically using three shades not including white on this book. It'll only be 7 pages, but I just wanted to tell a short story. A little taste to get people hopefully hooked in. Oh yes indeed, Robin.

As always, let me know what you think. I'm going to do a full color version to show you what I had in mind before the decision to go to b&w. And now that it's ridiculously late, I'm hitting the sack.



Second first is different than the first... so in other words keep clicking on the image until you get yourself a nice big gander at it!

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LetsPolka/~3/336804254/

http://www.letspolka.com/?p=835

mysterious monster accordion, uploaded by tinyprayers

Our friend Dave came across this gigantic accordion on display in Virginia City, Montana. As noted in the caption, it is “Unfinished, with at least an extra octave of keys, and 192 (!) bass buttons.” Wow. That’s a whole lotta accordion! (Thanks, Dave!)

i totally need to help more friends move on my day off. I know I helped my mom today and she pays better, but I figure being paid in pizza helps too when i get the workout i got today. My mom works on the 3rd floor in this apartment. I felt bad that the three dudes she hired were doing all the work; I was gonna get paid either way. I thought I should help, so I did and run up 36 stairs at least 50 times today. AT LEAST. It was a good workout though, I'm sure. My leg'll feel like jell-o tomorrow, so they tell me.
I gotta go pick up someone from the Bus Stop...Bonnie!!
Now I have $250 more. That's enough to say...go to Disneyland for a weekend, eh? Yeahh.
Sorry I'm an idiot,
<3todd

No thanks to mangosavvy, I have become hopelessly addicted to Burt's Bees pomegranate lip balm. I shake my fist at you!

So, WOW, I think I really like my class 5 teacher. He seemed to really love my three ideas, said I have a great imagination, and got all excited about pitching little ideas for each scene. YEAH!

I had more things to say, but then I got distracted by looking up every single bay area house I've ever lived in on google street view. Good god, is that a weird feeling.

Remember a few weeks ago when I was lamenting the fact that our mortgage was bought by Countrywide? Well, up until then it was owned by these guys. I don't exactly know what happens when your lending institution goes under. I can only assume that means you get to stop making house payments and everything is free forever.

We got a new camera yesterday. It's a Lumix TZ4 with a 28 mm lens and 10x zoom. We should finally be able to take pictures in dark places that don't turn out like this. What really sold me on that model was the fact that Panasonic's website promoted the use of that camera specifically for taking photos of Black Crowned Night Herons. Also their blurbs read like they were almost translated from Japanese, but not quite: "that, for example, expresses the natural beauty of animals without having to get too close to them." (Yeah, I'll make sure to be 20 feet away from Pean every time I take a picture of him.)

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME GET IT INTO MY HEAD THAT GOING TO COMIC CON IS NOT GOING TO BE THE END ALL BE ALL OF GETTING MY WORK OUT THIS YEAR!


Sorry for the caps, I just had to scream. Deadlines make me crazy sometimes. I'm also very anxious to get myself on to being a full time artist. I need to get into more galleries and get more freelance work. Or maybe even a staff cartoonist job in some far flung galaxy.


Anyways, I feel better getting that one out. Hoooo.


I talked to my friend Mike Dye today over email... building bridges again. It felt good.


My brother leaves Friday for Texas. I still don't know how I feel about this. It's going to be weird and lonely without him.