Approximate...

This is the "award winning" piece from the VAST show! I won a $100 award. It's the 4th award, so I guess it's considered 4th place. I'm not sure...

Anyway, I'm excited!

Cathy, who teaches Sam's art classes, won best of show. Her piece is really cool.

The other Cathy was also there (the one I went to IKEA with yesterday). Here she is with her piece, titled Sticks and Stones:


Her piece was installed next to my piece. You can see the shadow from her piece on the image of mine above.

There was a lot of really good work in the show and it was nice that they put it in the bigger gallery this time. They also had some overflow work at Banter. So they had what they call a "progressive reception." After the mingling and awards at the art center, we all went to Banter for another reception. Not as many people went to Banter, but it was really fun. I broke my "no drinking before 5:00" rule (again!), so there's no telling what I said...

Got to talk to Mark. Here he is:


Here he is again, talking to Penny and Cathy:

It's hard to get a good shot of Mark, for some reason...

My new wine rack, in its natural environment...

It was fun to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail last night. It had been so long since I had seen it. It's quite silly, but hilarious. Hearing some of the lines reminded me of some silly sounds we used to install on our computers. You know, when it would start up, it would say, "And now, for something completely different." And when you'd get an error, it would say, "Get on with it!" Or something like that. We also had some Star Trek and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sounds. I loved to hear my computer say, "Oh, God. I'm feeling very depressed." Served it right, as far as I was concerned...

I also had a book called Stupid Mac Tricks. It came with a diskette (remember diskettes?) that had silly things you could install on your computer, or if you were a prankster, some unsuspecting co-worker's computer. We were very easily amused, and our favorite was "The Talking Moose." When you'd get an error or if a dialog box would pop up, the moose (who sounded a lot like Bullwinkle) would pop up and read the text of the message for you. And he would also pop up every now and then and say something silly. Wow. He's still around.

El Diablo...

When Cathy was moving and getting rid of a bunch of stuff, I saved a Loteria game from the garage sale pile. I thought it would be fun to make some art with the cards. I've seen a few Loteria themed art shows in recent years, where the artists are assigned certain cards to interpret. I'm using them for collage elements.

I've had a lot of good food in the last 2 days.

Last night, Jenna and I went to the Wine Safari to do a wine tasting. We went next door to Banter to order some tapas, and they delivered them to us at Wine Safari while we were tasting. The wine was great and the food was even better. My favorite was the mushroom dish.

We walked over to Beth Marie's for our favorite - Emily's Campfire Marshmallow ice cream. There was a bit of a scare when we didn't see it in the display case. Luckily they had some in the back. Schwew!

After the ice cream, we waddled over to Recycled Books and shopped around a little bit. I bought a book for Sam that I had read and loved when I was his age - Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander. It's about a boy who has a black cat with a white ankh symbol on his chest. The cat can talk and travel through time. How cool is that?

I also got a book for myself - The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa by Michael Kimmelman. I decided a couple of years ago that I would try to only buy art or art-related books. I rely on the library for the rest.

This morning, Cathy picked me up and we fueled up on caffeine and then hit the road. We went to Half Price Books to sell back some books. I only got $5 for my box and she got $15 for three bags full. Better than nothing, I guess, especially considering that Recycled had already rejected mine...

And I only bought one book while I was there - a book on at-home chemistry experiments for Sam. I don't know why I keep encouraging that type of thing...

Then we stopped at the hospital so Cathy could visit her aunt. While she visited, I sat in the lobby and started on the above-mentioned book.

We headed to IKEA after that but had to take a detour at Blue Mesa. I heart Blue Mesa! The sweet potato chips are the best. I had salmon tacos. Delicious!

It was Cathy's first time at IKEA and I think she was a little overwhelmed. It's a lot to take in the first time. But she managed to make it through OK. She bought some small shelves, a set of dishes, some lighting, and various other small things. I just got a wine rack, some non-skid bathtub thingies, and some bookends. Of course there were a lot of things that I wanted but couldn't really justify buying - no room, no money, etc.

Tonight I think I'm going to watch some more Monty Python. I started watching The Holy Grail last night but couldn't stay awake (too much food and wine!).

Tomorrow is the opening reception for the VAST member's show. They told me that I won an award, so I kind of have to go. No, it'll be fun.

OK, I promise I won't complain about the heat any more. We're just experiencing our normal Texas summer heat. We can escape into any over-air conditioned building and get cool (or frozen, in my case). I feel sorry for all my friends in California who are roasting in the heat wave and enduring high humidity and general lack of air conditioning.

Even my dad and stepmom, who live up in the mountains, had 108 degree weather the other day.

You need to practice your pirate speak, because September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

This company caters to the pirate demographic - check out the choice of languages at the bottom right...

Arrgghh!

Colleen blogged about her awesome Lyle Lovett experience. I'm excited to say that I'm going to have one of my own on November 10th! Trish and I are going to see him perform in Fort Worth. It's going to be great.

Movie night.

Just got back from Dallas. My friend Susan's husband is a filmmaker and I was invited to the premier of his new independent movie. It was very low budget but fun. Kind of a sci-fi time-travel thriller. It was fun to see it in a theatre and I could tell that he was really proud of it.

After the movie I tagged along and had drinks with them at Cantina Laredo. The margarita that the waiter recommended was $9.75 . I asked for the cheap margarita. $8.50. I can't afford to drink in Dallas...

Frustration.

Blogger's being weird today - it won't let me upload images.

Now I can't even remember what I was going to write about.

Oh, I was going to talk about politics. Fun! Jenna blogged about it recently, so I thought I'd chime in a little...

I actually do catch the news every now and then. Not that that makes me informed or enlightened (you've watched the news, you know what I mean). I was watching Meet the Press this last Sunday and I was reminded of how inane people sound when they stick to their, "talking points." Tim Russert interviewed Josh Bolten, the White House chief of staff. Bolten sounded like an idiot. Russert was trying to get him to agree with some idiotic statement that Karl Rove had made, and rather than disagree he said, "Well, I'm not a scientist..." Russert pointed out that Karl Rove isn't a scientist either and Bolten said, "Well, Karl knows a lot of stuff..."

There was more, but that stood out, for some reason.

Have politicians always been like that? The part about sticking to their talking points, I mean. It seems pointless to interview someone if they're just going to say the same 3 sentences over and over. Maybe in different ways, but basically the same.

OK, so as far as being informed and active in the political process, I'll admit that I'm not really. Informed or active. Probably more informed than the average person but not as informed as I think I (and everybody else) should be.

I write and email my senators and congresspeople every now and then, although I wonder if it makes a difference. For years, I've gotten letters back from them saying, basically, "Thanks for telling me what you think. I don't agree. I'm going to vote my way anyway."

And then I'm sure they report me to the FBI or NSA or whoever...

I do feel especially compelled to vote, though. As frustrating as our system is, it's really a great thing that I can walk down to the voting booth and cast my vote for whoever I want to. When you look around the world today and see countries where there are whole categories of people who are not allowed to do that, it's staggering. So I do take that very seriously.

On the other hand, it's depressing that (to me, at least) we don't have much of a choice in our candidates. Maybe because we don't have enough of a say in picking the candidates? That's probably another rant...

There have only been 3 occasions where I have been genuinely enthusiastic about a candidate that I was voting for - Clinton in 92 (I wasn't enthusiastic in 96) and Ann Richards (Texas Governor) in 90 and 94 (although she sadly and inexplicably lost in 94 to George W Bush). Every other time I've voted, I've just been voting against someone instead of voting for someone. And that makes me sad.

Here are a few good websites for getting more informed:
Congresspedia - lots of great information
Congress Votes Database - see every vote in Congress
Open Secrets - shows where the money goes
Project Vote Smart - find out how your representatives vote on certain issues

On a lighter note, if you find a weird bug, go here.

And if you like Monty Python and Star Trek, this video is for you.

TJ's still there... don't worry.

Dave asked "if that one cloud that looks like a skeleton just above TJiaB represents our looming, inevitable death."

And Colleen said, "I say it's Albert Einstein to represent the transcendential judgement of man's resistance to chaos in the natural world..."

And I said, "You're both right! *And* the frog face on the left represents the metaphorical resonance of the biomorphic forms that spatially undermine a participation in the critical dialogue of the 90s."

Colleen and Dave used their brains to come up with those questions. How quaint! I used the Critical Response to the Art Product (CRAP) Generator to craft my response. Definitely comes in handy in grad school...

Saw Strangers with Candy today. Hee-freakin-larious! It definitely helps to watch the show before you see the movie, I think. But Michael seemed to enjoy it, even though he hadn't seen the show. Amy and I laughed uncontrollably in quite a few parts. It also helped when Michael busted out his flask of Tito's. I'm definitely going to the movies with them more often. They come prepared.

My only criticism is that there was not enough Mr. Jellineck. Paul Dinello (who plays Mr. Jellineck) directed the movie, so I guess he was too busy to be in it that much. Mr. Noblett was hilarious. His trademark, "God-dammit!" cracks me up every time.

The movie was a lot like the show in that there was a lot of visual information that requires repeated viewing. There are always funny things written on the black board in Mr. Noblett's room. He had a great little statue on his desk of Jesus playing basketball with some kids. When he says, "Take out your science books, he's holding the Bible." And there are always pictures and drawings everywhere of the principal, Mr. Blackman.

There were quite a few prominent actors in the movie, too - Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Allison Janney.

Here's a funny clip of the show. Mr. Noblett and Mr. Jellineck have a bit of a "thing" going on...

Now that's censorship...

(That's assuming that I'm seeing TJ in the same place you're seeing him, Colleen...)

OK, I didn't mean to make everybody feel sorry for me. I know I'm not a loser. I just have loser friends who bail on me. :-)

Good news, though. I'm going to see Strangers with Candy tomorrow! Yay!

Tonight I watched Match Point. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but I enjoyed it. First of all, there's Scarlet Johansen. I have to admit that I have a girl crush on her. The movie turned a little more "noir" than I expected it to, but it wasn't the typical noir ending, really.

I had given up on Woody Allen after Deconstructing Harry. I hated that movie. I didn't see many of his movies after that until I saw Melinda and Melinda a couple of years ago. That was a really good movie - actually 2 movies. It was the same story told 2 ways - one a comedy and one a tragedy. The tragedy had a really great ending (in an ironic twist kind of way).

I think it's interesting that the promos for the new Woody Allen movie Scoop say, "From the director of Match Point," instead of, "From Woody Allen." He's obviously in the movie, why do they want to downplay the fact that it's a Woody Allen movie? I guess the public hasn't forgiven him for that whole Soon-Yi thing...

Then I watched Bottle Rocket. It got such great reviews when it came out that I was actually a little disappointed when I saw it then. But I really enjoyed it this time. Maybe it was too quirky for me back then. I don't know. It was fun to see all the Dallas locations - I kept rewinding and stopping it so I could figure out exactly where they were in certain scenes.

I was thinking about little movies that are really great that nobody ever sees. Here are a few that you should definitely check out:
Dancer Texas, Population 81
Enchanted April
Looking for Richard
Smoke
Happy, Texas
Mystery Science Theatre 3000, The Movie

There are more but I can't think of them right now... Any other recommendations?

Here's the Thomas Jefferson in a bikini painting - still in progress. Well, it might be done. I'm not sure yet. (Colleen, I think he's still there, down in the bottom left corner...)

I worked on it for a while today but I need to leave it alone and see what I think later.

Last night I watched The Constant Gardener. It was sad but really good. I love Ralph Fiennes. He definitely has that sweet, bungling, sensitive man thing down.

It made me think of a movie that he was in that I had seen a few years ago called Oscar and Lucinda. I need to find it again.

I got some sushi last night. I went to I Heart Sushi first but they said it would take an hour for my order to be made! What's up with that? So I went to a place down the street that used to be a bad Chinese buffet but is now a nice Korean/Japanese place. The sushi was pretty good. I haven't had a whole lot of sushi, so I'm definitely not an expert.

Jenna came over this morning to pick up some boxes that Cathy donated. It was really nice this morning. A "cold front" blew in and it only got up to about 96 today. I know. Only 96. It feels a lot better, though!

I was hoping to go out tonight but my two possibilities bailed on me. So I guess I'm going to have another loser weekend. I do have a couple more movies to watch...

I was playing around with Photoshop and all the silly filters... It's annoying when other people do it but it's OK when I do it. :-)

It's still freakin' hot outside. I'll be saying that until September, I know... My mom and stepdad got Sam a bike the other day but it's been too hot to ride it. Poor guy.

Seriously. Why do I live here?

I'm going to hang out in my studio this weekend. I also have a couple of movies that are due back at the library soon that I need to watch. I also have a couple of books that are due soon that I've barely even opened. I read so much last year but I've been a total slacker this year.

I'm also hoping to see Strangers with Candy. I think I'm developing a crush on Stephen Colbert (although my heart belongs to Mr. Jellineck). Last night on The Colbert Report, he got a congressman to say, "I enjoy cocaine because it's a fun thing to do."

Here's an interesting article about a prisoner who creates paintings using M&Ms. It would be sad if he weren't a violent murderer...

Click here if you need to insult someone in Elizabethan fashion. Example: Thou ruttish urchin-snouted boar-pig!

Colleen had a link to a hoff-tastic site.

I see bird silhouettes everywhere these days. Thought I'd get in on the action.

I've had weird dreams the last couple of nights. Last night I had a dream where I couldn't find Sam. I hate those dreams.

The night before I had a dream that I was on Project Runway (but it didn't look like the show - it was just in a house or something). Anyway, I won a challenge that involved making 4 dresses in 2 hours. And in the dream, I had just recently taught myself how to sew, so I was really proud of myself. I was going to the finals!

I also had a dream about buying an iPod Shuffle. I don't remember much about it, but I was really excited and I was trying to decide what music to put on it.

I'm sure you've seen the video of George Bush trying to give the German Chancellor a back rub. It's just bizarre. Why would he do such a thing? I can't picture him walking up behind Tony Blair and giving him a back rub. "Yo, Tony!" What is wrong with him?

I like this comparison.

I'm a little worried about the weather on the east coast. There's a tropical storm headed for Cape Cod. I have paintings there! I hope the gallery and everyone in it stays safe.

It reminds me of a hurricane that threatened New England when I lived in Rhode Island. I lived there when I was in 3rd and 4th grade. I'm going to have to do some research and see if I can find out the name and when it was...

OK, I think it was Belle in 1976. As I recall, we were worried that it might hit us, so we taped up our windows and headed to Canada. I remember that my parents had talked about taking a trip to Canada, so I guess they just decided it was a good time to get out of town...

I don't remember a whole lot about the trip. We spent the night in Vermont (I think) on the way up. My parents had talked about spending the night in Montreal and I was SO excited about that for some reason. When we got to the border, the guard asked if we were going to be spending the night and my dad said, "No." I cried and cried.

What I remember about Montreal - we drove past the stadium that they had built for the Olympics (they had just ended a couple of weeks before we got there - I was bummed that I had missed Nadia Comaneci), I thought it was funny that they had Kentucky Fried Chicken, and then we went to the mall (malls weren't as ubiquitous then as they are now). I bought a little yarn rabbit (I think I still have it somewhere).

The highlight was what happened in the bathroom. My mom and I were each in a stall. One of us needed toilet paper. All of a sudden, some guy walks in, speaking French, handing us toilet paper. I don't know. It was weird and that's all I remember...

My all time favorite bad literature contest is still around - The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Edward George Bulwer-Lytton penned the opening line, "It was a dark and stormy night." The contest rewards bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. There are some really good (bad) ones. It's hard to pick my favorite.

This was one of them:
"She looked at her hands and saw the desiccated skin hanging in Shar-Pei wrinkles, confetti-like freckles, and those dry, dry cuticles--even her "Fatale Crimson" nail color had faded in the relentless sun to the color of old sirloin--and she vowed if she ever got out of the Sahara alive, she'd never buy polish on sale at Walgreen's again."

And this:
"Sex with Rachel after she turned fifty was like driving the last-place team on the last day of the Iditarod Dog Sled Race, the point no longer the ride but the finish, the difficulty not the speed but keeping all the parts moving in the right direction, not to mention all that irritating barking."

Great stuff! Don't you wish they weren't imaginary novels?

Oh, you have to watch this video of a human-powered recreation of a video game. Space Invaders . Too fun.

Alien trees...

So I'm a little freaked out by the state of the world right now - war, terrorism, global warming, Republicans running amok, snakes on planes... It's all just too much.

How do I handle it? I surf the internet, watch Project Runway, and take naps. Nothing like an informed, involved citizenry...

I watched a little bit of Kathy Griffin at lunch today. I know she's catty and obnoxious, but she just cracks me up. Today she was talking about high school and how horrible it was. She said she didn't understand people who said they loved high school. "If you loved high school, you must have been one of the mean assholes who tortured me."

Hey Colleen, looks like the Kansas school board has itself a new scientific controversy. Evolution, gravity... those evil scientists are always trying to force their agenda on our innocent children.

Did I already post this link to World Jump Day? On Thursday, everybody needs to jump at the same time. This will push the Earth into a new orbit and reduce global warming. Reminds me of the Paint the Moon project.

Oh, and lastly, check out Stephen Colbert's commencement address to the 2006 graduates of Knox College. It's funny and surprisingly inspirational.

This is a (not very well photographed) detail of one of Krispen's paintings. It was just laying there in the studio and I just had to take a picture of it... I'm curious to see what Colleen sees in this one... I can kind of see the Virgin Mary wearing a captain's hat, holding Baby Jesus.

Krispen and I were in grad school at the same time and now we share a studio. She does these big, flowy acrylic paintings.

I gave Jenna a ride back from the car dealer today and we stopped at On the Border and ate way too much Mexican food. It was really yummy, though.

When I got home this evening, I had to take a nap. I'm getting old! No, I blame it on the food and the heat. Yeah, that's it.

Cathy came over to get some images of her encaustic workshop pieces on a CD. She's going to enter them in the VAST regional show. I hope she gets in. We need the encaustic art to take over. It's all part of my plan for world domination.

Sam is doing "art camp" this week with another Cathy. Really just 3 hours of art class for 4 days. He said he worked on ceramics today - a sculpture and some tiles. He does fun stuff. I think he has fun, too. At least it keeps him off the streets.

Linkages -
For some reason this really made me laugh. Hitler Cats.

I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it's kind of fun. Not Starring. The roles that actors turned down or didn't get for one reason or another.

Oh, and if you like The Office, be sure to check out the "webisodes."

Beverly sent me this. Made me laugh...

Had a busy weekend. Friday night I took Sam to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was good - lots of piratey fun. Johnny Depp was hamming it up again.

Johnny Depp story: I was watching the Oscars a couple of years ago and they had some kind of pre-show, red carpet, interview kind of thing and there was this really annoying guy interviewing people inside the building as they were taking their seats.

He cornered Keisha Castle-Hughes, the girl who was nominated for her role in Whale Rider, and she mentioned being overwhelmed by all the big stars. He asked who she'd met, and then he spotted Johnny Depp behind her. He said, "Hey, have you met Johnny Depp? I'll introduce you!" She said, "No!" and practically had her heels dug into the floor as he dragged her over. She looked completed mortified.

Johnny Depp stood up and shook her hand and said he loved her performance and the movie and was just so sweet. You would have thought she was the big movie star and he was the one that was excited to meet her.

I think he even introduced her to his stick-insect French wife.

Just channeling Bridget Jones for a minute...

I taught a workshop on Saturday. It went well. I had 2 and a half students. Two new students, and then Kim, who had taken the workshop before, came and worked on some stuff. I always learn things when I teach, so it's always good. Someone will say, "Can I do such and such?" And I'll say, "Hmm... I don't know. Let's try it."

Today I took Sam to the pool. It was so hot. I think it was around 104. Yes, Fahrenheit. It's 91 right now, at 11:00 pm. Why do I live here?

Anyway, I felt so sorry for all the kids at the pool. Everybody kept saying, "Walk! Don't run!" But the cement was so freakin' hot. Burns their little toesies. I'm sure they couldn't help but run. I wanted to run, too.

Then we met for dinner for my mom's birthday.

I was planning on going to bed early tonight, but I guess I should head that way.

Had a fun night last night - I went with Trish to the All Good Cafe in Deep Ellum to see Meredith Miller play. I've mentioned her in a previous post. I've been a fan for a while but she hasn't really been doing music much in the last few years. She's living in Austin and working on her PhD in behavioral health. While she was performing last night, she reminded us that we should get between 3 and 5 hours of physical exercise per week and that we should be eating 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. So it was fun and educational.

Anyway, I talked to Meredith after the show and made a complete fool of myself telling her that I think she's great and I've listened to her CD over and over for 9 years. She had a kind of worried, "Is this woman a stalker?" look on her face at one point.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I watched Simone's movie the other night on Lifetime (I had to look up the channel - I'd never watched Lifetime before). She was really good. The movie was... well, she did a really good job. I was bummed for her, though, because they misspelled her name on the credits at the beginning - Simon instead of Simone. Drag.

I'm teaching a workshop tomorrow. A small one - just 3 students and maybe Allison hanging out. Should be fun.

Ze Frank is hosting an Ugly MySpace Page Competition. It made me realize that that's what really bothers me the most about MySpace - it's ugly. When I had a MySpace page, I kept trying to make it look better. That didn't work. So I tried to make it less ugly. That didn't work, either. There are many many many ways to make it more ugly, though.

I thought it was just the gross atmosphere and the icky friend requests I was getting from people who I suspected didn't really want to be my friends. Turns out it was mostly the ugliness.

I've been thinking a lot lately about my nomadic nature. Am I nomadic by nature or was my nomadicism (? nomadicity? nomadicality?) learned? Or am I just used to it?

My dad was a computer programmer for IBM, which, everyone knows, stands for "I've Been Moved." He worked on a lot of government contracts, so we would move somewhere and the contract would end or fall through and then we'd pack up and move somewhere else.

I'll attempt to create my own personal timeline of places I've lived. The first few are rough estimates, as I wasn't really old enough to know what was going on (and now I'm just too drunk to care - just kidding).

1966 - Houston, Texas
1967 - Gaithersburg, Maryland
1968 - Fort Walton Beach, Florida
1969 to 1972 - Lenexa, Kansas (preschool to 1st grade)
1973 - Newport News, Virginia (first half of 2nd grade)
1974 - Manassas, Virginia (last half of 2nd grade)
1975 to 1977 - Middletown, Rhode Island (3rd and 4th grade)
1977 to 1979 - Lenexa, Kansas again (5th, 6th, and the first month of 7th grade - my parents also got divorced and remarried - busy time!)
1979 to 1982 - San Jose, California (junior high - 7th, 8th, and 9th grade)
1982 to 1984 - Lewisville, Texas (high school, parents divorced for good this time)
1984 to 1986 - Lake Dallas, Texas (last part of high school and first year of college)
1986 to 1990 - Lake Dallas, Texas (got married)
1990 to 1995 - Little Elm, Texas
1995 to present - Denton, Texas (I've lived in 4 different houses in Denton, oh, and had a kid and got divorced, too)

So the longest that I've ever lived in any one house is 5 years.

I've been in my current house for almost 2 years and it's starting to feel like it's time to move on. Weird. I can't explain it. Restlessness? Maybe I'm just fickle - I think I've found the perfect house but then after living in it for a while I realize that it's missing something or there's something not right about it. Or maybe I just like the idea of starting over every now and then. It's an excuse to redecorate, get rid of a lot of stuff, clean out the closets...

Or maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment.

Oh, I know what it is. Firemen. I've hired off duty firemen to move me the last 2 times I moved. I definitely recommend it.

So maybe I should just hang out at the fire station for a while every now and then. Not a bad idea!

And even though I move a lot within the same area, I still feel pinned down. I want Sam to be with his dad and to grow up around extended family (which I didn't have). Ed called it being "placebound." I think that's a good word.

This area's not such a bad place to live, really. I just can't handle the summers. And it's not very pretty. And there are a lot of Republicans. And malls.

So where would I go if I could go anywhere? Hmmm... That's a good question. I want to go everywhere! If I could, I'd like to live for a year or two in a few different places and then maybe pick the one I liked best and then settle down. Could I settle down?

I definitely want to live in New York for at least a year. And Paris. Seattle. Chicago. Vancouver. Rome. Tuscany. Definitely London. And then I'd like to visit a few other places - Spain, Greece, Hong Kong... Then maybe after that I'd be content to retire and live out the rest of my life on my private Caribbean Island.

Well, that's the plan, anyway. No idea how to carry it out, though...

Where would you want to live, if you could live anywhere?

All I can say is, I hope "The Hoff" graces us with lots more of this transcendent video artistry...

Oh, and if you're feeling sadistic, play the waxhoff game. Good luck!

I'm still laughing about the "tumbling routine" on The Colbert Report last night. Check out the video. I'm excited to see Strangers with Candy, but I doubt it could be as funny as the show was. Have I talked about this before? I'm having some serious deja vu...

Oh, and here's another funny video. It think it left skidmarks on my soul.

I went to my studio last night for a little while. I worked on the Jefferson in a Bikini painting some more. (He's gone, though, hopefully.) It seems like the bigger paintings always take a lot longer. The smaller ones seem to resolve themselves easier. I'm going to work on some bigger ones. That's what the people want...

Oh, good news! I was invited to a show in a gallery in Sacramento in October. I'll let you know the details when I know more. Maybe I can go out there for the opening and see my dad and some friends that don't live too far away - Teresa and Celeste and Heidi and her family. Fun!

I'm going to drive up to the lake tonight to visit with Sam and all the Georgia relatives that are hanging out there. I'm sure Sam's having fun, but I miss him.

I'm not sure where I found this site, but it's got some great old photos. I love how they have them categorized. This is my favorite category: Shadow of Photographer. Enjoy!

Wait, I just have to add one more link: McSweeney's today is quite funny. Check out Notes on "Sweet Child O' Mine," as Delivered to Axl Rose by His Editor. I love everything about McSweeney's.

Waterwall at the Master Grill...

A bunch of relatives are in town so we all got together tonight at the Master Grill, where it's all about the meat. It's a Brazilian steak house where they give you these Yes/No buttons and when you're ready, you turn it to Yes and waiters come around with skewers of meat and cut off chunks for you. Then when you've had enough, you turn your button to No and chow down. When you want more you do it all over again.

Ironically, they also have a really good salad bar. And good sushi.

I didn't really eat all that much but I still felt really full when I left. I had garlic beef (my favorite), chicken wrapped in bacon, filet mignon (also wrapped in bacon), pork loin with parmesean cheese, top sirloin, and something they called the "special beef." Luckily they serve fairly small portions, so you can sample a lot of different things. And I actually didn't eat the bacon that was wrapping some of the meat. It just doesn't seem right to wrap meat with more meat...

Oh, but the best part was the grilled pineapple. They also bring it out on a skewer and slice off pieces for you. It had some sort of sugary mixture on the outside. Thankfully, it wasn't wrapped in bacon.


Sam and the other kids enjoyed the water wall in the front of the restaurant.


Then, to prolong the insanity, we went back to my mom's house for birthday cake for my uncle.

I'll need to spend the next week at the gym.

I met my friend Kim today for lunch and a movie - The Devil Wears Prada. It was really good. I liked it a lot. Meryl Streep was deliciously evil.

Last night I watched Must Love Dogs. I love John Cusack. The movie was typical chick-flick fluff, but it was funny. I read the book a couple of years ago and it was typical chick-lit fluff, but it had some funny parts as well. Actually, I think it was even more fluffy than most... Anyway, they changed a few things in the movie. For the better, I think. Except the ending. It was stupid. I mean, you obviously know how it's going to end, but the stupid thing that they had the heroine do at the end was just completely irrational. They didn't ask me, though, did they?

There were two little possums in my back yard the other night. I managed to get this shot after one of them climbed a tree and posed for me. No, those aren't laser beams shooting out of his eyes. Although that would be cool, wouldn't it?

I was planning to go to Fort Worth last night to see a painting exhibition but I was so tired. I was falling asleep on the couch while we were waiting for Sam's dad to come pick him up. I fell asleep around 7:00 and then woke up at 11:00. I went back to bed at 2:30 and didn't get up until 10:00 this morning. What a slug.

Congratulations to the red paper clip guy! He started with one red paper clip and a dream: own a house. Looks like he made it happen. It only took a year and a few trades (and a lot of press).

My friend Marlys' daughter, Simone Carter, is going to be in a movie on Lifetime - Not Like Everyone Else. It airs Monday, July 10th at 8:00 pm central (9:00 eastern and pacific). I'm really excited for her. She's really talented at a lot of things but she's decided that she wants to be an acress. She's even on IMDB! Anyway, be sure to check it out.

Well, it's 4:00 and I'm just now getting ready to head out. I did get my office cleaned up today, so it wasn't like I was sitting around watching TV. So I'm off to the studio for a while.

Jenna and I spent way too much time playing around with Catster yesterday. I was a little worried about us, until Jenna discovered the real "Crazy Cat Lady." Scroll down to see a woman covered in cats. She has 22 cats. We're not nearly that bad.

It worries me that a lot of the "profiles" are written from the cat's point of view. They mention their brothers and sisters and their mommies - or worse - meowmies. Yikes. Promise to slap me if I ever say anything like that.

I actually got off my ass and made it to yoga class last night. It's always good but it's just hard to get there sometimes.

My mom took Sam to the dollar store again yesterday and this time he got a teddy bear. He named it Nacho, I guess in tribute to Nacho Libre.

Oh my god - it was like Wild Kingdom in my house last night - when I got home from yoga there were two of those big ass bugs in my kitchen. I ran and let Chocolate in so she could help me. She knocks 'em over and I squish 'em. Yick. Why do I live here? Then about 20 minutes later I can hear her running around in the kitchen, so I tentatively go in and she's sitting over yet another one, waiting for me to squish it. Then about 10 minutes later she sees a cricket and goes after it.

She normally sleeps on me but last night she slept on the bottom corner of the bed, keeping her ears open for more critters. She's a good kitty.

Good, lakey fun.

We had a lot of fun swimming, eating, and lounging around. We went out on the boat, watched Savannah waterski again (this time for about 4 seconds), tried not to get hit with the neighbors' fireworks, and tried not to get sunburned.

Jenna tried the jet ski and really liked it.

Sam, Jenna, and Hannah.

Sam and I have been hanging out for the last couple of days, trying not to drive each other crazy. I took him to the indoor pool yesterday and he had fun swimming and going down the slide. I decided I'd had enough swimming and just watched him this time.

We saw the new Superman movie. We both enjoyed it. Sam liked it but was scared in a few places. The new Superman is quite a handsome young man, so it wasn't hard to look at him for a couple of hours.

Last night we saw Nacho Libre. I went into it with really low expectations but was still disappointed. I hardly laughed at all. I was embarrassed for Jack Black, who I really like. I thought he was great in School of Rock and High Fidelity. He did some of that same kind of schtick, but it seemed out of place in this movie. All of the funny parts were in the trailer...

The new Will Ferrell movie looks pretty good. Kind of silly but in a funny way.

There was also a preview for How to Eat Fried Worms. I think I read that book when I was little, but don't remember any specifics. It looks really gross and icky - the perfect boy movie.

Sam's bugging me to go buy some noisy popper thingies (those little things that you throw on the ground and they go bang). I felt bad that I didn't let him do fireworks at the lake, so I might get him a few of those. They're mostly harmless.

Oh, I forgot to mention - thanks to Trish, I signed my cat up for Catster. It's kind of like Friendster for cats. It's just one more step on the road to being the Crazy Cat Lady.