good dog

Another one

2011-03-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

Now that I got this over with, next up is wedding invitations.

Which is 100% inspired by these covers:

Some Sketches and Photos

2011-03-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

Since I been down here, here's some stuff. A few sketches, quickly colored.

Well, well, well

2011-03-29T21:28:00.001-07:00

Looks like I haven't made a post in over a year. Might be because nothing really happened last year. Just smooth sailin' all around.
Which brings us to right now, which is not so smooth. I'm currently in New Orleans, been here for a month and half and have, with the charity of good friends, been living freely and burning my money away on nothing but beer, good food, and adventure. Mardi Gras was a mess, by the time Fat Tuesday rolled around I was speaking monosyllabically as in:
Larence: "What do you want to do tonight?"
Me: "FUN."
Lawrence: "How you feeling?"
Me: "GREAT."
Sometimes delving into strange, antediluvian remembrances of weird, esoteric Lovecraft verses best left unquoted.
And at one point was so foggy I panicked at a bar yelling "Where's my bike? I lost my bike!" Only to find upon leaving that I locked it not two posts beyond the doors of Kajun's Pub and karaoke lounge. But the parades were great, I've met a lot of people, some of them actually interesting, caught a lot of useless shit thrown from men and women in masks that I will probably throw away, spent a lot of time in the Tree House, spent every night at Kajun's, lost my voice, got sick, restored my voice, got better. Then realized I hadn't heard from my boss in two weeks.
So the job I came down here to do no longer exists. The man doesn't answer his phone and his website is down. Gone like the shitty wind. Out of an asshole. But! I got one more month or so here and plenty more to do. I just got a job making pizzas (HELL YES) but its remarkably strict as far as New Orleans establishments go, so I think I might look for something a little more lenient, like where they let you drink at work like every other place here. Because I won't be able to see those little graces unless I decide to move back here. And that won't be unless I find an actually good job here. And so on, and so forth.
In other news, I've been sketching a bit. I'll post something tomorrow. My roommate Ava is teaching me piano, I've had one lesson. I visited the New Orleans Museum of Art with her the other day. It was alright I guess. Although there is this one spot on the second floor, where if you look across the atrium to the room beyond the angle and lighting are perfect so that this portrait just makes it seem like there's a giant lady waiting for you. It's far enough away that it gets blurry and looks real. SO REAL.
Oh yeah, I went to SXSW, but it was kind of a frenzy and I wound up not being able to see a lot of the bands I would have liked to like Gayngs or Anamanaguchi, but I did see a face-off between Pteradactyl and Parts & Labor which was excellent. With dollar High Lifes (High Lives?). Which was breakfast. Man Man were ok, as were the Strokes, but it was just good to see them. At one point we crawled over a fence with barbed wire and onto someone's roof so we could see MSTRKRFT after we got turned down at the door. We couldn't see them and had to run away when we saw shadows in the yard below because it was, you know, illegal. I was really happy that I remembered the layout of Austin after not visiting for three years. Drove by my old house, went to the donut shop where you ask for one and they give you five and charge you less than a dollar. Saw the bats. Swam in the Springs. Hung out in a millionaire's house. It was good.
So that's it for now. More tomorrow, hopefully updates on the reg.

Been busy

2010-01-11T17:53:00.000-08:00

Last few months have been pretty excellent. Landed a decent job, had a solo show at a cafe (oh my!) and moved twice, first to Lynn, then back to the Motherland, JP. The band is still going alright, but I broke two drumheads the other day because our practice space was an abandoned apartment with no heat. I'm going to get prints made of my new work soon, but I've decided to post some drawings since I haven't done that and I don't feel like updating the website until I get my massive scans done. Big update to that bitch soon, plus a few more project pages.

Pet List

2009-06-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

So there's been a lot of discussion lately as to the exact amount of pets to have come and gone in the Giuffre household throughout the years. So here's a chronological list as best as I can remember:

1980's
Merlin & Monroe - before my time, but I've heard about them
Sherlock - Horrifying dog who destroyed fences, got hit by many cars and refused to die
Lightning - Cat who in her waining years scared builders shitless
A couple rabbits - There's debate as to who actually left the hutch open

1990's
Patches - Annie's cat that ran away (ha)
Tiger - Adam's cat
Stripe - My cat who was almost always pregnant
Bigfoot - One of Stripe's kittens who stayed with mom during her recovery from surgery, then stayed with us until last year. Had seven toes and brain damage.
Five - The last remaining cat of the Old pack, found in a dumpster in Westfield by Annie
Peanut - Annie's cat. Doesn't really count, but she lived here for a while
Jack - The wonderful dog who when we were both 14 (he in dog years) we were the same height and weight (5'3", 110 lbs)

2000's (the age of strays)
Ahab - Real name Oscar, moved from down the street to here, then to my house in Mission Hill, then back home
Buster Brown - Walked into mom and dad's window and refused to leave, lived with me in JP for a few months where he was named by my roommate Marion
Puerto Rico - The stray who hung around my house in Austin
Dave - True name still undecided, found by Annie in Somerville. I call him Leto II after the Emperor of the Universe in Dune.

Grand total of my 25 year stay at this house is 12 cats, 2 dogs, plus one Puerto Rico. I have a vague memory of there being fish at one point and Lightning knocking the bowl over and eating them. Annie still has Peanut in San Fransisco, Adam's thinking about getting a dog, and Five, Buster Brown, and Dave still live here. I'm moving in a week to a house with two cats so those three are staying here.

I'm saving the good stuff. But you can have these.

2009-03-16T19:26:00.001-07:00

So I guess I'll write a little on what's been going on. Things are progressing wonderfully with the Auntie Lee project, its just a matter of time. In the meanwhile I've been successfully scoring great interviews for the past few weeks. Still no bites and I'm waiting to hear from this one place on Friday, which would be not only a decent job but actually exciting and stimulating and could put me in a direction I've been meaning to lean myself. I had a great interview at a Candy Factory last Sunday and although the interview went well, when I went in to work the next day, the inner turmoil of a Father-Son operation presented itself. I never like when you have two bosses and neither can agree and both will occasionally come in to where you're working and tell you to work in a manner that completely negtates what the previous one had said, rising to the contradictory crescendo of me not getting hired. Tim raised the cute question of "Do you think anyone could have done that job?"

Saturday was lovely. Rolled into JP around the 3, got coffees at Miami Restaurant, which I'm convinced is the best and cheapest coffee in Boston or anywhere near it. Hung out with Keanne for a while then went over to Tim's and beat him at the version of dominoes Matt learned from the Domicans at his work. Then Tim beat me by not too much in the version his grandfather tought him. I think its the Cuban. After that we went to Same Old Place which is no longer the same old place because it now serves wicked cheap beer. We got pitchers and slices and they told us if we were to drink we'd have to do so in the back room which as it turned out was occupied with a six year old's birthday party. So we drank with a bunch of six year olds and were loud and vulgar and saw a Cabbage Patch Kid sticking ass-end out of a trash can. The party wrapped up and the moms assured us that if the kids had any more sugar they'd never go to sleep, so they gave us the rest of the birthday cake. We brought it home, ate it and played Mario Kart. We then went over to Chico's and found that we were the first to arrive at his basement show party. Chico's parties are usually really fun, but this one was totally busted. No one there, awful bands that I couldn't pretend to be interested in and a pay bar in the basement. We lost Harry and sang and drank all the way back to Tim's to get my car so we could go to All Asia where Aslhey was working the bar and could give us free drinks.

By the time we actually got to All Asia there was a line out front, I couldn't find parking, and I'd lost my voice singing along to Nick Cave so I just kicked Haggerty and Tim out of the car and went over to Amanda's. Woke up the next day to Karen christening me yet another nickname: Mini Gun. This is derived from a few weeks ago when I was talking about my noise band BCMG and said that rather than standing for Brian.Calderelli.Matthew.Giuffre, it stood for Big Cold Mini Gun. We drove to Swampscott, got scones and coffees, sat on a bench and looked at dogs and the ocean. At one point a jogging lady stopped to stretch and aimed her butt right at us, after which some wierdo said "Now I'm gonna stretch just like that" then gave us a bunch of seaglass in an oyster shell wrapped in painter's tape. "I'm saving the good stuff," he said. "But you can have these."

I then went over JD's and rearranged the shit out of his apartment and helped his downstairs neighbor move a washer and dryer from the basement to his second floor apt. He gave us ten bucks so we went to Kappy's and got some nice beer: Weihenstephaner Weissbeer Dark and Unibroue Seigneuriale (did I have to do a google search for spelling on those? Yes). We're waiting until another round of Resident Evil to crack them open.

So I've been keeping busy. I've finished four paintings since the new year, got a call from a freelance agency today, saw Watchmen and was pleased, started a band with two more hypothetical bands in the mix, and have just been doing well. The final piece is landing a job. Tomorrow I begin learning Javascript in an effort to learn ActionScript. And hopefully Friday I'm in love.

2009-01-13T13:05:00.001-08:00

So I now know the basics of PHP and this shit is mad boring. Its the type of stuff that made me disinterested in web design in the first place. Oh well. Its good to know. I guess I'll move on to Java now. I'm going to start recording the jam seshes and maybe set up a youtube channel for it. We'll see.

2009-01-12T20:30:00.000-08:00

Oh my. So I've been a creative tornado lately. I'm learning perl this week, and I'm moving on the php next week and I think I'm just going to code up some pages to show what I'm capable of, which is something I can't find a reason for not doing yet. I've been jamming constantly, typically with Brian at the metal shop in Lynn which is always fun and interesting. We pulled Marat in one week to play guitar and Tim the week before to play banjo with excellent results. Last Monday I had a wonderful jam with me playing drums, Tyler on upright bass, Marat on guitar, Evan on sax, and Tim from upstairs on trombone. Epic. Brian brought his set up but it was too loud and he just kind of sat out for most, but we're going to play again tomorrow night.

I've sold out of comics again and need to get to the shops to collect. I'm going to put this money towards printing my next comic once it gets finished, then from there sending shit to publishers. One of these days. I've begun drawing again. Large scale. Check out the work in progress as well as the two old boys that got finished. I only made two drawings last year in addition to other things. Although I did make two comics and started writing an intensive series of scripts. It was a good year kind of. Regardless, I aim to improve on this. Crummy pics, I know but I'm working on it.

And one of these days I swear to god I'll get a job. Until then, I'm still pretty happy. Its nice having a place to live.

2008-11-21T11:57:00.001-08:00

Oh me, oh my. So. The JP experiement failed and I'm back in Wakefield, but not dreading it as much as I did last time. Last winter I was all over the place, but this time I think I can use this stability to get some work that I've been neglecting done. I bent another keyboard the other day and used it last night playing music with Brian at his metal shop in Lynn and it was really good. Brian said it made him think of soldiers. I'm currently cat-sitting and watching Ghost Hunters. The problem with this show that makes it total bullshit is that the cameras are on them, not where they're looking, so all the show is is them talking to nothing then going "Oh shit!" and the camera shooting over to where nothing is. Its happened like ninety god damn times so far. The should have head mounts, whatever.

Oh here's some sketches from the past few months. I'm going to start to try to do this at least a couple times a week. We'll see. I'm still plagued by the fact that after drawing for twenty years, I still can't draw cars.

God Damn It

2008-09-15T01:36:00.000-07:00

I just made a huge post about how wonderful tonight is, my current wonderful thoughts, wonderful things that are going on and a whole bunch of wonderful shit then accidentally hit "back" and lost it. But to Sum Up:

-Tonight's the type of night where you feel bad for anyone that's asleep because there's few nights like this in a year and they're missing it. Like every night in Austin in October. You also feel bad for yourself because you're experiencing it alone. Like every night in Boston in September.

-I need to stop. I'm starting to seriously miss having a home. I'm too transient. I haven't lived anywhere for more than three months in the last two years.

-I might move in with Tyler, Tim, and Mel into this great place in JP. I also might move back to Texas. I'm an idiot, now and forever.

-I'm in the process of acquiring bands for a show on October 12 at the Midway. Currently enlisted are Big Blue Octopus and Peace & Quiet. Eat Cloud is very probable, I just haven't heard back from Andy, but that's in no way unusual behavior. Andy's the type of person where you're crossing the street in Ohio and he happens to be on the other side waving and saying "woah." I emailed Neptune to headline because if they do the place'll be packed and the aforementioned bands would get a lot of exposure with the right type of audience.

-I had a roll of film in my camera for the last four or five months. It starts in Montreal and ends on Lamartine St. Visual catalogue of my pesonal lack of direction in the last few months. Here's some winners:

Man Man at the Paradise. Wierd night for me.

Jess at her senior show. Wierd night for me.

Keanne and Mel in the back of my car. Good day for me.

Garce got in a car crash in LA and that scar is from his bones leaving his arm. He had to move home. Wierd.

Horror Movies and 40's and Asheville all over.

Remember that bug I was talking about?

Queechee Gorge. Great day for me.

Me in Queechee Gorge. Great day for me.

You thought you knew what sweet was.

Lamartine.

So yeah. The original post was all sappy and poetic and whatever. I got work to do.

I got Bless This Mess tattooed on my chest

2008-09-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

Not really. So August barely happened. I think it's because I never really stopped moving the entire month. Since my triumphant return from a month of leisure and splendor in Asheville I wasn't ready to stop. I hit up New York, got pissed at it (thought I did shoot a video with Casey which turned out pretty good), went to Providence, loved it again, then got home. I spent a lot of time in Salem, met some new people, hung with the old and classic.

I spent three beautiful days in Vermont visiting my friend Becca and was constantly reminded about what's actually nice in life and what isn't. We camped every night in the rain, one night running for our lives from some hidden (imaginary) terror. Woke up to fog and sun and walked around tiny, lovely towns.

I came home wishing I didn't have to and started work on a new comic, a scathing review of my life in the spring. Its a reflection on how I basically did nothing but mope and drink from February til May when I finally realised that it was bogus and that I had been doing nothing for no reason, not for some person. It was my own decision to be shitty and being that way isn't going to fix anything that's wrong. Its called "Unproductive -or- My Sorry State In Spring 2008" and should be on shelves in Cambridge and Somerville in a week or two. 30p. Not bad. My most straight forward story ever since there's no monsters or blood or fights. Its good to look at the bad you and remember why you weren't like that before. I remember one night I was talking to Jess about something, maybe some fight I got into, and she said to me "What ever happened to going to the beach? Or flying kites?" And that helped me to get where I am now.

I drove to New York again to help a friend and left feeling horrible and alienated. I had a long, loud talk with myself for the six hours it took me to get home for some reason. I felt better when I got back.

I worked for a week and a half as a sculptor's assistant (helmicksculpture.com) and I can easily say it was the best job ever. Free coffee twice a day, free lunch, needless bonus pay and I landed free tickets to see Grizzly Bear at the MFA. And there were two cats in the studio. Dreamy. I saw Black Dice as well at MassArt and was terribly disappointed. I've seen them twice before and it was great, but this time... not so much.

The following week I spent three days at Alan's parents' beach house on Prudence Island and suddenly everything was great again. I felt like nothing was horrible and it was just good to hang with my friends like it was old times at Meatland. We grilled and watched cartoons and swam and I got pretty good at piloting a corical (a tiny circular boat). Lots of sunsets, lots of drawing, lots of writing, lots of reading. Just good times.

I got back too late to go to a wake I wanted to attend, but went to the fund-raiser the next day. The thing felt wierd and I left early. If you heard about a girl dying in Salem that was this girl I knew. No one should die yet. The Gulu, however, managed to raise 10k that night for her parents which is nothing short of amazing. Place was so packed I couldn't get JD's attention to pay my bill...

I spent the next day until sunday in Maine, bringing Lawrence back to the farm he'd been working on and to bring Mel home. It, too, was pretty wonderful, though I had hoped to score some cheap boots and found none. We had a nice surprise when we got there that Homefries and her friend Andrew were also coming back with us, with their bikes, but they had abandoned their bike rack in Bar Harbor. We played Apples to Apples and I managed to offend everyone somehow. There was lots of stars.

I slept that night with Lawrence and Mel in The Marshmallow, a tiny trailor the likes of which I hope to own one day. It was great except that I had a needlessly savage nightmare. One of those where you wake up and all you can think is what the fuck was that? I won't get into it. But I stumbled out of the trailor and into the most beautiful morning I can remember and felt intantly wierd. Still quivering from the nightmare but smothered in wonderful 7 am northern Maine on a farm. The Farm Mom had made blueberry muffins which I used to wake everyone else up so we could get to organizing the incredible ten pounds of shit we had to fit in a five pound car. Everything Mel owned, everything Lawrenced owned, a surfboard and two bikes. It took about 5 tries and the dog kept trying to get in. Such a good dog. But we did it and then went to Harrington? Beach in Scarborough. There were no waves and Tyler almost cried. I think we just came at the wrong time. The tide was going out, but the waves were breaking in the same spot, so if we came at high tide it would have been awesome. There actually were waves but at the time they were breaking about three feet from the shore.

I drove from there to Salem and got free Italian Ices from some new place that opened on Essex. Hung with JD and Brian, made a fire then went to JP when I got word Tim and Keanne had been baking pies. I got there and it was Corey's birthday so we drank a whole mess of mead but Tyler wouldn't sumo me. Piaxao fell asleep at some point, I got upset at some point (maybe aftershocks from the nightmare mixed with other things) and decided to just drive back to Wakefield for no reason.

I spent today applying for jobs in Boston, East Hampton, Asheville, Austin and Redrock and fixing my guitar. I've been working on it for six months and like most projects I put off, when I got back to it the solution was incredibly simple. It still needs a new 1/4" jack, but that's nothing. I'm starting a new band with myself and hopefully other people once I get it going called Human Hogan. Be on the lookout.

Speaking of bands I may be booking shows at The Midway in JP and Great Scott in Allston. That last one I might've imagined, but I think Natalie said that Ben said I could. So, if you need a show in a small place, I'm your man.

I'm reprinting DadMan Be Damned (this time with color covers!) and reapplying for the Xeric. The deadline is in 30 days. I got to mosey.

Tonight I began shading Unproductive then took a break and went to the beach. I sat down saw a shooting star and went home. Made some tea and started writing this.

I guess that's it. I'd say that's a pretty good month. Lets hope the next is >than or =to.

2008-07-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm in Jurassic Park. My screens aren't actually attached to the windows, so all manner of horrors creep in when the lights on. A beetle flew into my face twice until I decided to hit him with my guitar, then he stopped and rested on the wall. I can't just crush him. I noticed it looked like he was taking a shit on the wall and oh my god he's molting. Have you watched a beetle molt? Its horrible. Just pumping his new body out of his awful shell.

Then I got back to work modifying a poster I made for Steve's band Talk Modern (up now on matthewgiuffre.com) and I looked at a different part of the wall to notice a daddy long legs hanging out there. Then the shitty beetle fell off the wall and near my shoes so I said "keep away" and kicked them across the room where they landed next to another beetle.

Nothing beats the horror of a week or so ago. We were watching that awful horror movie and noticed this buzzing in the room. When the movie was over, on went the lights and there he was. Tim thought it was a "spider cricket" except that it had terrifyingly long antennae and MANDIBLES. Which it gnashed at us. We caught it in a cup and threw it into the yard.

I think the beetle died giving birth to itself.

Good night.

2008-07-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

Its been a while and I've done a lot and I'm really tired, so I'm not sure how much I'll write. Why am I tired? Well. Saturday I drove 150 miles to Columbia where we stayed at an abandoned apartment that one of Tim's friends stopped paying for, but the landlord was ok with him still using. I don't know. That night we went to a great bar called The Whig. It itself was allright, $2 pbr's, etc, but the thing about it is it used to be the basement of a bank, so there's one room that's a converted vault and it just feels like a victorian hunter's lodge. There was a deer head (for some reason painted black), a stuffed fox and an entire wall of antelope scull caps with antlers, those of which Tim's friend Will was convinced were fake for no reason. There were end tables with glass tops and beyond that glass were cow skulls surrounded by fake flowers. It was a strange, great place. The owner apparently worked as a chemist (no shit?) for three years to save up money to open it. It sounds like a good plan. It's what I'd like to do at least.

The next day we didn't do jack shit. It was something like 100 degrees in Columbia so we got Keanne got on her bus to Raleigh (I forgot to mention I had to stay up all night to bring her to the Greyhound, only to sit there from 4-6 while she missed two buses since the workers were entirely unable to tell her which bus to catch) went to breakfast, checked a record store (I didn't find anything worth getting, but Tim got some old George Thoroughgood records) then just sat in the air conditioned vagrant's lounge of an apartment and watched Cowboy Bebop. 7 episodes. That's a lot. That night, though Will invited us over and made some insane pasta and cream sauce and afterwards we stopped at The Whig again since the paper said it was soul night, but when we got there there was no soul. That's every other sunday, but they advertise every sunday just because. So we had a few drinks and rolled another 100 miles to Charleston. The next day it was 102 out and Tim's parents had some friends over who developed marital issues while they were visiting, which made everything go very smoothly. They were nice, just, separately. We went to the beach then sat around, Machaela's flight got cancelled so she'd have to come in the morning at like 8, so we went to the water and shot off a shitload of fireworks. The most surprising was a sweet little fellow called the Colorful Wheel. not so interesting on his own, he's just one of those fools you nail to a post and he spins, but we kicked it into the water and it spun and smoked and screamed. Awesome.

Today we woke up and went to the beach. I'd aparently been laughing in my sleep again. Oh well. The waves were a lot stronger than the last three times I'd been there and the ocean finally stole the sunglasses I stole off the front porch off of my face.

Then I headed back to Asheville. I lost one of the lenses to the pair of shades I stole from Dad a few years ago but I wore them anyway. What happened is that my eyes sort of evened themselves out and when I took them off, my left eye saw fine and right eye saw brown. They're fine now. Also it was unkindly hot in South Carolina so I drove with my shirt off like a winner and I now am the proud owner of a seatbelt tanline. Could be worse. Could be lace.

Last Friday I got shamefully drunk and wound up puking, but felt instantly better. I still slept on the couch in shame. What I had was another 32oz beer at that place, then another beer, then three white russians. That's enough for anyone.

Earlier last week I spent on a mountain. I'll go more into that later, but there's not much to tell, really, so I might not bother.

Good night.

2008-07-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was great. I wound up going to a derby game. The teams were relatively new, less than a year old, I think, but they were brutal. it was a lot different than games in Boston. For one thing it seemed more of a novelty than the actual sport the dames up north treat it as. For example, the anouncers kept saying things like "Don't they look great, folks?" That shit would never fly. It was like a throwback to the staged games in the 70's, when it was more about cute girls getting in fights (which happened) than actual serious competition. The first game kind of sucked, it was I guess the Asheville B-team, and the final score was like 50-40, but there was plenty of spills and injuries and two girls got ejected for starting a fight after two pig piles brought both teams entirely to the ground, I just don't think they've realised the full intent of the sport yet. The second game however, was the Asheville allstars vs Charlotte and that was great. It was close the whole time, yet again there was lots of spills, but the Asheville jammers were really good, definitely on par with the pros. We left with ten minutes left and apparently during that ten minutes Charlotte caught up to pass Asheville by 3 points, but then Asheville made an insane 20 point comeback.

We talked about it after and if they get sponsored, they could be great. I guess they only have each other to play right now, since they don't have the funding to travel anywhere. Greg, who's house we had the q at the other day, said he'd build them a bank track. Awesome.

After that we went to the Frog again and it was awesome again. Eric caught me impersonating him, which was funny. I went to the bathroom and they had repaired the stall door which had been ripped off the other night. Eugene was right.

Then we went to a marvelous party. It was luau themed, which didn't really mean anything, but there was a trash can filled with ice and pbr's and a percussion jam going on in the basement. For a while we sat and drank in an old VW minibus parked in the back, which was surreal. The beers were wearing little Hawaiian shirts. The best part, other than getting hit on which is always nice, was upstairs. In the living room this guy and girl were playing old timey hits on banjos. We sat around and sang along, they played all those southern songs you know some of the lyrics to somehow. "I was born in east Virginia, North Carolina, I did roam..." Then out of nowhere, this guy showed up with hard face, goatee, ripped carharts and fiddle and made everything perfect. He knew so many songs and was so amazing he could have been born during the civil war. Then someone kicked over a lantern and the whole place caught on fire and we had to run home.

Just kidding.

I caught a white moth and threw it at Tim.

Afterwards we had gin and tonics at Tim's, Keanne went to bed and Tim and I investigated a 24-h coffee shop on Merriman. There was almost no one there, except for some nerds upfront arguing about which class is best in Neverwinter Nights. Obviously its rogue, since rogue is the best class in any game. I can't stand nerds who can't also be cool. Its so easy. In a lot of ways I'm a lot nerdier than any nerd I've met, I just do a lot more. Oh well.

Then I went to bed.

2008-07-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

So thursday was spent at a BBQ at Tim's brother's friend Greg's house. Ha. It was great. We sat around, drank, ate, played with the pitbulls, played Hot Dice and listened to the Pogues and The Dirtbombs. You can't picture anything more appropriate and neither can I.

Yesterday we drove around West Asheville, I got my car looked at and rather than being totally screwed with a transmission problem, the rattling was just a rusted heat shield that the guy at The Organic Mechanic would later grind off. No more problem other than that I can't park on dry grass or it'll set on fire and blow up my car, like, as Dad told me, on the Sopranos. Keanne found me the perfect job here working for the city as exhibit Curator at all the museums, so i'd basically go from museum to museum see if anythings broken, take it, and fix it. Also, I'd get to design the exhibits as they happen, all in all a great job. The description was exactly what I am. They were looking for someone with experience in exhibit design, sculpture, photo, web design, carpentry, pretty much everything I know and am good at. Only problem is the deadline was last week, but I submitted a cover letter anyway, you never know. I might call next week to check the possibility.

Then I got really drunk. We went to this place that had 32oz Dos Equis for 3.50. So we all got on and Keanne only had half her's so Tim and I split it. Then I came home and passed out on the porchcouch for two hours, woke up, Tim brought me a 40, drank that, then we all split another. That was fun though, we just hung out on the porch with a couple of the people who live in the house that I hadn't met yet. Then we went to the bar. Tim bought me a glass of whiskey but I couldn't finish it. I dropped them off at another bar and went home.

Then today I got my hair cut! At this great place where they gave me a free beer with the cut. I talked to the chick about Asheville, how its better than Raleigh (no way!). Not much happened since. Tonight we're going to see a band comprised of three cute girls, so that should be fun. Everyone's at the Falls right now, but I didn't feel like going. When I'm new to a place I don't really like doing doubles, as we already went like two weeks ago.

Oh yeah. Yesterday we watched a horrible movie. The DVD said it was called Burial Ground, but when the title came up it was called The Nights of Terror. Either way it was stupid. And this horrible thing is in it:

But this also happens:

And that's all I'll say. Don't watch it. We didn't mean to.

2008-07-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

I wish I had kept a more attentive record of what I've done this past week of travelling, but I didn't. We started out Sunday morning and met up with Jess in Providence for breakfast which was great. Moved on to New York. Keeping with tradition we saw a horrible accident on route 15. First there was traffic, which I thought I had avoided by opting to take 15 instead of 95, then I saw the dead dog on the side of the road. A real cutie too, little fox. Then I saw the car that tried to avoid it, still killed it, then drove istelf through the guard rail and almost down a hill, but got caught by some trees. Comepletely destroyed. I love animals of all shapes and intellects, but I tell you, I will kill a dog if it keeps you alive. I'd feel bad, but not as bad as if I'd killed you. I love you.

After that it was pretty easy and by driving slow I got beautiful mileage. We got caught in Mets traffic simultaneously with the most beastly storm I've ever driven though just as we were getting into Brooklyn. Not too bad. We then met up with Alice unloaded out stuff and rolled out to meet Alan at some bogus heavy metal bar that wasn't. There was $2 pabststststs but whatever thats still like paying to drink unattractive water that also smells. After that we met up with Jack and his silent crew at a nice bar where I spent 7 bucks on a white russian but oddly didn't feel shitty about it. I talked to Alan about fantasy novels, games and relationships, talked to Jack and James about comics, basketball, and relationships and talked to Alice about everything else. My friend Mollie was there and she made a great new comic. In the morning we got up, made breakfast and Alice and I recorded a song. around 12 we hit the road.

The trip down was pretty uneventful since I just drove in a straight line for 14.5 hours. I got a horrible cough that I'm just now getting rid of. We stopped at a Hottle House in either Virginia or West Virginia where we got a brutal, greasy breakfast for 4 dollars tha I would later shit out in the morning in a swirling brown shotgun blast. Other than the retarded (literally) cook, there was the 300 lb 14 year old (why are you here at one in the morning?). Child Abuse I say!

Asheville is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a beautiful. The parkway on the way in constantly goes up and down hills, with big rig brake failure ramps at every turn. I almost tried one, but they're made of sand and I was too tired to deal. We stopped at an advertised scenic outlook and for the first time in my life, I saw the Milky Way. And a shooting star. They might be old news for you guys but I didn't see one until I was 20, they're still magic. We sat there for a minute then made it into town and my car started making a horrible noise that I've yet to investigate. A few days later it all but vanished, but I'd still like to get it looked at before I go anywhere of consequence. If that transmission dies, I'll die with it.

We stayed up watching Nightmare on Elm St V at Tim's brother's house until about 5 or 6. The next was spent wandering around downtown Asheville, having Tim point things that are neat and things that no longer exist. We visited his brother's roomate Eric at the bar he works at, The Flying Frog, and he gave us about ten beers and several shots for the price of three. We got trashed by 3. We think its the altitude. We stumbled around and eventually found our was back to his brothers house and passed out on the porch couches. Around 8 I got a call from this girl Emily who told me if I still wanted, I could move here:

My room is second floor, left

The place is great with a massive old stove with a built in deep fryer (obvi), piano, guitars, ukeleleleles, garden with blackberries, nice roomates who are rarely around and sweet when they are, big old yard and no smoking, which is nice. My room is massive with enough empty space that Keanne and I can both do workouts. We've been doing lots of pushups and stretches and aerobics. I feel like I've gotten weaker lately and I need to work on myself. I think it might be my proximity to Tim since he's basically my height and build, just thicker. I think I'd look wierd if I wasn't a stick, though. We'll see.

Also, Asheville's great since its hot during the day and cold at night. Perfect. We leave the windows open and get to sleep with blankets. The closets big enough for us to change in so we don't have to keep telling each other to turn around and close our eyes.

Thursday we went to Tim's parents' giant house in Charleston, SC. It was a couple days of painful leisure. We did nothing but sit around in the AC and drink and eat and read or play video games until it got dark, then we'd go out onto the porch and play cards and listen to music or go tot the beach. The water was so warm and was made out of tiny bioluminescent buddies. When you popped out of the water you could see little sparkles on your arms. Universe Arms. Standing in the water and letting glowing waves hit your chest is something you could do forever. We pretty much did. We went at night and it took over an hour for us to get cold. Kids on the beach shot fireworks over our heads. It was so nice.

But it was unproductive which bothered both Keanne and I. We understand we're not here long, but we'd rather do something with our time than sit around our lovely house, playing lovely guitar, on the filthy, horrible porch couches. So the second we got back here today we started looking for jobs both in Asheville and Boston, just to do it. I'm not sure if I'll stay. Of course, if I get a wonderful job I'll stay for a few months but I can see this place getting tired pretty quick. Unless I meet an excellent girl or something like that, but its unlikely. But yeah, odds are I'll be back in August, ready to pick up where I left off, nowhere.

Menu for tomorrow:

Walk around looking for jobs at record stores, cafes, and galleries.

I guess that's it. Maybe record some of the songs I wrote on the porch. They're pretty cute.

Okee doke. Also, if you haven't done so, go to my website and give me feedback. OK. Goodnight.

2008-07-02T23:37:00.000-07:00

So I guess things are going well when you live in a town for two days and you already know how to drive your friend's blackoutdrunk friend back to their house in the middle of the night from across town. And you wind up driving them to another bar first. I think I'm doing well.

More later. Asheville's great.

2008-06-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hey! Major redesign to the website! Check it out!

www.matthewgiuffre.com

Feedback is greatly appreciated. Granted, if you use Internet Explorer, it won't be as neat, which is why you should take this oportunity to download Opera. Much better in every way. It actually just got ranked as the most secure browser, and its just superior. Read about it. I've been using it for four years. Do it. Do it. Oh and for you dorks, its also better than Firefox, which stinks. Although, for mac users Opera isn't as great, since a lot of its beauty comes from having two mouse buttons for navigation, but whatever.

When you go, your computer might still have the old site up, so just hit refresh. I'm very pleased with it.

In other news, zero hour is closing in. I'm moving to North Carolina for no reason in two weeks. First stop is CT to shoot guns with Clay, then to NYC to see everybody. Then NC to paint houses or bus tables for a month, then return and hopefully get an actual job. Who knows. I'm feeling good, even though I drank a lot of cheap Mexican agave liquor last night and my stomach hates me. Its not tequila... its something else.

Oh and I didn't get my grant. Looks like its back to the old ways. Small runs and submiting the comic to publishers and artists. A long-ass road ahead of me.

2008-05-24T21:06:00.001-07:00

My problems are becomming redundant so I think that means its time to fix them.

In other news, its hard to find a place to work that you are interested in.

In other news, I'm becoming interested in things I never really thought I would. Like web design. Its really floating my boat right now. I wish it floated my boat about five months ago when I had absolutely nothing to do all the time other than sit around and mope.

I'm trying to learn a chord a day. I think a chord a week is more probable. I cannot make an F minor for the life of me. At least not on the Tiny Guitar. And the big guitar is missing two strings, one of which is integral to the construction of the F minor. F being my favorite note, minor being the mood I've been in.

Auntie Lee put me in touch with a great lady who's going to give me advice in the long hard road of becomming a real-life illustrator. You know, my dream job.

I've been teaching kids lately. Its been great. I got a few stories already. My job is basically pushing kids down and calling them stupid. Pushing them down hard. On concrete. Then ripping up chunks of concrete and putting it on top of them so they can't get up. And if they did I'd do it all again.

And now, I'm going to break out that whiskey Tim got me and code for a little while. Maybe work on the comic I scripted a month ago.

Gabby came back for no reason. I gave her her watch back. I need a new watch.

2008-05-17T23:07:00.000-07:00

Another sleepless night. No matter how much time passes its always for the same reason. Oh well. I got a few good ideas for drawings and photos while I struggled. I think I'll start one tomorrow, but we'll see. It's hard to work in JP. The house is madness. But its getting better.

I'm realizing the Seagull is a wonderful camera and one of the greatest gifts I've ever received. I'm going to use it in staged photos and one day blow them up so they're not trapped as 3x5s.

Here's an illustration I did for the MA Family Law Quarterly. Bogus, yeah? At any rate its nice when people remember you from things you did almost a decade in the past.

Whatever. It's nice that while I mostly do the gross and vulgar now I can still pull out the cute when its called for. It was for an article about parents mooching off their successful kids. Vamparents. I'm happy I didn't have to go through that during my good times as a small, lovely boy.

In the morning I'm going to work on something for Brian's book and finally get it off to him. Its been like two months. One day at a time, dog. One day at a time. I'm grossing myself out at my increasing interest in web design. I never wanted to be that guy.

I found a watch in my car. I think it's Gabby's. I'm wearing it. I need one anyway.

The other night Tyler couldn't sleep so I lulled him to bed with guitar. I think that means I'm getting better.

I rode Mel's minicycle the other day. I want a motorcyle real bad now.

I'm done with deviance. All it took was a fight and a few ugly parties to put it past me.

Time for sketch and hopefully sleep. Good night.

2008-05-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

She Had Casey's Eyes

So this is what I've been working on. Much more to come, hopefully enough to propose a show by the end of the summer. If the large hadron collider winds up making a small black hole in Europe, remember I love you.

2008-05-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

So I guess one fo the most difficult things for a person who strives more than anything to be more altruistic than anything in his life is to experience someone who refuses help. When from your perspective you observe someone gradually getting sadder and colder as time passes and no matter how honest and true your intentions, they just can't accept them. It kills me. Its why I can't sleep. Like right now.

I'm planning on moving away for June and July and getting back in time for JIll's wedding. I'm scared and excited all at once. We went out eight years ago which is insane all on its own, but this is just one of those critical events that show that you're growing and aging. I need to call some people.

I discovered today that that wierd thing I had in September is called Exploding Head Syndrome and I have it, or at least have experienced it. Twice in one week. Look it up, it was terrifying.

My head is swimming. I think I'm going to do what I've never done and take some valerian.

I have two episodes of Waterbear Evwywhere scripted, and I think I might make them comics before the next step. I think I'm going to try to start and finish a comic this week. Maybe the one with the ghost. We'll see.

2008-04-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

I'm apparently done with titles. I got another hour or so to kill before I cart ma and pa off to the airport. I spent most of tonight learning CSS and its great. Yet another major redesign to the website soon. Maybe even by next week. Its really fun and exciting and I probably sound like an idiot, but I can make dumb and easy webpages and actually make them look good. A thrilling development. I plan on going to the infamous Doowop Diner in Malden after the airport. I haven't been there in a few months.

My prescience has been bothering me. At least in relation to Gabby. She gave me the heaviest deja vu of my life in Montreal. So heavy that I knew exactly what she was going to say as she said it because it was one of those things that in a way she'd already told it to me, in a dream or something like that. Another example: last night she left Haggerty's party to go to CVS and when she got back I knew exactly what was in her bag. Another dumb thing that's been bothering me.

I'm applying for jobs again. I'd like to have time to at least go to the Carolinas with Tim before it picks up again, but whatever. The drawing's coming along, the writing's coming along. To repeat myself for the thousand time This Is Great. TIG. But really, things have been nothing but great lately. One aspect I'd like to improve but there's nothing I can do about it. Other than that, TIG.

I think I might just make breakfast. Some rockhash and scrambies. We'll see.

I figured out a good band name that's actually pertinant if the thing with Tyler and I works out : Sisyfist. Get it? Its like, Sisyphus pushed that rock and Ty and I are gonna PUSH ROCK to new levels. Right.

2008-04-16T23:58:00.000-07:00

So tonight was Haggerty's birthday. Enough said about that.

I spent five hours today as emergency room accompaniment yet again. This time Natalie with a 103 fever. Woof.
I didn't bring a book and felt like I was going to die.

We're going to bed and are all farting.

Outside, birds are singin.

I spent a good amount of time today at City Feed talking to amigos new and old about babies, the circus, anarchy and motorcycles. The more time I spend around my pregnant friends, the more I fantasize about settlin down and getting one. Not yet. I hate it. I just wish I were 30 with a cat, a lady and a good job I could quit to open a cafe at my leisure. Small dreams.

Rock doves. More real jobs opportunities are developing, but people keep asking me to go places. Like the Carolinas. And California. We'll see.

2008-04-13T21:06:00.001-07:00

So I just made a quick run to dunks. 24 hour dunks was closed so I went to the one on route one. A few dirtbags were there, but they were playing young turks which made everything all right. I worked on the new drawing a little bit today. I'm very pleased with the progress and that part I messed up doesn't bother me.

I got my confirmation letter from the Xeric. I'll know ina month and a half whether or not I get the grant. So much is wating for the summer. I've decided to spend my tax returns on an Octave Cat synthesizer (ebay willing), Gocco machine, and some drum parts. I'm going to pick my drums up from Matt MacNeil's house tomorrow so I don't have to practice at Tyler or Nicole's anymore. All I need is a cymbal and a high hat. Then the Matt/Tyler power project begins.

Been thinking about getting Powfact running again. We'll see.

So tomorrow I go to work, finish the Westlake site, get my W2's and do my taxes. Right now I'm going to start scripting the pilot for Waterbear Evwywhere. Good night.

Work in Progress

2008-04-13T00:19:00.001-07:00

I'm ffre.

Another sleepless night

2008-04-11T05:07:00.000-07:00

This time I didn't even try. Yesterday was great. First Nice Day 08. We spent it sitting on the front porch, drinking whiskey and lookin shitty. Seriously. It was great. We took a walk at some point to get frozen strawbs for smoothies and I bought a seagull mug for 53 cents at Boomerangs. Then we took a little trip to the far end of Cambridge to the Modern Brewer to get beer-making supplies. We weren't sure how to go about it, so we just got two kits. A porter and a stout. My exhaustion caught up with me and I passed out on the couch around 530. Mel was playing Chrono Trigger and I woke up a few times, and each time she was in a different era. Once I was up, Home Fries showed up with spinach pie and eclaires and we started making beer. There was a lot of waiting so we started up a round of Risk, and I have to say Blood Money by Tom Waits is the perfect album for the combination of stirring foul black goo while simultaneously taking over the world.

Risk lasted six hours and was probably the best game of my life. The contenders were myself, Lawrence, David, Tim and Home Fries. Both Lawrence and I were almost immediately crushed then made massive comebacks and thousands of devastating rolls and eliminated everyone else until we were the last armies standing, he white me red. By then it was 230 and after spending ten minutes pitting my 30 Venezualan armies against his 31 Central American we just called it a draw. We were done with the beer by midnight, and it now has to sit for two weeks before it yields 60 beers. We need to harvest bottles in this time. If you have any, let a dog know.

Around 5 we went to the BCD only to find out as we sat in front for an hour that they open at six now. Breakfast was actually good this time, and we saw Scruffy there which is always nice. Then we drove around and sang to the Kinks for a little while before going home. We then watched the three lovely lady cats fight each other slowly for a half hour, then I finally got to task of writing my cover letter. I think I thought the job I want was something else entirely. But whatever. Maybe it'll work. Or maybe they'll just find out I can't read or pay attention or discern between what things actually are and what I expect they are.

Everything's great. Monotonix again tonight with Black Pus in Providence. Man Man tomorrow. Then I'm Ffre.

This was the view at the top of Mount Royal. Stupid crows.

Here we are

2008-04-09T06:14:00.000-07:00

Its been quite a month. I worked as a massive foam sculptor, freelance illustrator for textbooks, and tshirt silkscreener, which I quit. I've come up with a few good ideas for future projects. I submitted my grant proposal to get my new comic Dadman Be Damned printed. I've seen a lot of mates I hadn't in a while. I spent some time with new amigos as well. I haven't been to sleep yet and its 9 am. I tried three times, but frantic thought kept me up all night. I botched an infusion this morning. It'll get fixed in the afternoon. Things take time.

I'm applying for a real job this week. I'm writing my cover letter later today. I'd like to be more coherent when that happens. This is the first job I've seen since graduation that I've actually been excited about, but who knows.

I spent last week in Montreal after quitting my rediculous job. The reason? Tim was going to Montreal. It was fun, but there was no real point. All I did was drink, not sleep, drink coffee, and not drink water. I got to see some fun museums and we played laser tag, though. And I saw Wolf Eyes who were as upsetting as ever. Its hard to watch grown men scowl at their homemade noise-instruments for an hour. You just want things to work out for them, but they're from Detroit, so it won't.

I got back to Lawrence's, slept for maybe three hours and jumped on the bus to New York. The reason? No reason. Well. I wanted to see the Marcel Dzama exhibit that was up (and it was great). And I helped Jack write and record a pilot for this show he's working on, Space Burger. And I started writing the yet to be titled show I'm working on with Alan. Hopefully I'll have it and the other one I'm working on me own pitchable by the end of summer. I got sick on the Fung Wah and spent sunday and monday reclined at Alan's. It was nice though, I watched the Fellowship fo the Ring Rifftrax which was kind of funny. A little repetative. Then Casey came over and we talked a while and ordered pizza then Lawrence came over and we played Smash Brothers, then Alan came home and we all left. Woops! We got more pizza and beer and went to bed.

I have never felt as happy to be home as when I got back yesterday. Just everything felt right and I wanted everything to be right. I hung out at Lawrence's for a bit, then got pizza with Keanne, then beers and sammy's in Salem with the boys. The Boys did show up. Then I got home and thrice tried unsuccessfully to sleep from heavy thoughts. Well, one thought, but its the one that's been troubling me the most, but I think I've come to a reasonable solution, if I can just get the oportunity. Well.

I worked on my drawings last night, though. I messed up one part bad and I'm kind of upset, but I think it'll work out. The second time I woke up, I went for a drive around town between 330 and 430. It was nice and foggy. I listened to the Glow Pt.2 and drove and thought. I thought up a good video/installation with glowing helium balloons weighed down with pennies, so they hover, floating over a pond on a moonless night. I just think the reflection'll look nice. I'll do it when it gets warm out.

Add it to the list. And with that I'm going to try and pass out for a few, and I'll leave you with this gem:

Man Man is saturday, and after that: ffredom.

MORE!

2008-02-26T11:58:00.000-08:00

CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

2008-02-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

Here's some recent photos. I like them, I hope you do.

Its an ugly day

2008-02-13T06:52:00.000-08:00

Bleak. Its been an eventful time though, since I came to Boston last night. I saw a free performance at Berklee, classical piano, cello and violin. I liked it alot, though obviously not as much as the experimental set I saw the night before. That was wonderful. After that Tyler, Ryan, Keanne, Paola and I went to Paola's friends house and hung there and played strange Brasilian instruments, listened to Lead Belly, and watched American Idol, something I've never done. We hung there till around midnight, which I didn't understand as being possible.

I crashed at Keanne's and we talked for a while about our brains, and the difficulties of living and finding reasons for everything especially when there isn't a good reason for anything right now. I went to bed around 2 or 3 and got up at 8. I saw Keanne off at the bus stop and abrubtly bumbed into my friend Robin who I haven't seen in at least two years, maybe more. She worked at the animal hospital and suggested I get a job there, which I just might apply for. No reason not to. Prepositions. I hung in her little office for about an hour and witnessed a janitor take extreme pleasure in peeing.

I'm killing time right now. I'm meeting with auntie Lee in three hours. I don't want to wake Lawrence up, buts its pouring out and I've been in this cafe for almost an hour. My friend Meg works here, and I thought she'd moved to New Mexico, but aparently that's been postponed. I couldn't get free coffee because her boss was sleeping on the couch. I'm not sure where I'll head after this. I might just walk to the pru and kill time. Its pretty raw out, but no big deal.

Later on I'm working with Lawrence at the bakery. Accross the street from Caitlin. It could be problematic, but I don't think so. She says she's over me and I'll just be hiding in the back. Not much else you can do. I wish I wasn't working there, but its the only work I've had in three months, a realisation that has been crushing me this past week. I've been home for three months.

I have a few leads in regards to work. Freelance, etc. Time is very slow. I'm emptying my studio on Friday. I need to lighten my load. I discovered some savings bonds I thought I'd already cashed, and have to figure out whether I should spend the money on a car, or a month in Italy. It really is a tough call. I should get out of here.

MORE!

2008-01-28T12:52:00.001-08:00

Seagull photos

2008-01-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

My first real roll of film shot with the illustrious seagull. A sweet little machine she is.

Ah yes

2008-01-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

The crotch of my jeans just ripped.

I've made my website a little less obscene.

I've also made one, which requires serious updates, for Keanne.

Next up, one for Jess.

That's a bout it for now.

2008 you say

2008-01-01T21:36:00.000-08:00

Year in review, I guess.

The year started pretty well. I had a girl and moved home, though I didn't really have to. My moving allowed a friend to exit a hazardous situation to take my place at Meatland, our third floor monstrosity above the butcher shop in Jackson Square so that much is beneficial. Your Parents had devolved into a trio, but we played an excellent show with The One AM Radio in Providence where I was too broke to buy coffee and almost threw up from anxiety before playing. It was our first set where we didn't even play all our songs, we left one or two out, but there was good response, despite the knitting art school girls who always have to be doing something. I still stayed at Meatland on weekends and worked two days as a graphic design assistant for a manipulative and absent-minded boss. He wasn't so bad. He liked jazz and actually used the word Cat to describe people. I had tried to convince him to give me more hours, but that was passed. I wrote the script for my constantly evolving comic tentatively titled "Dad Man and Mum Lady" which is nearing a close. I'm pages away from the intermission, and resolve follows quickly after. I've been glorifying and rethinking it so frequently I just need to stick to what I have and finish it. I need to talk to comic guys other than Jack and see is this is how it usually goes. Nothing against Jack, its just nice to have more than one input on things you dedicate your life to.

Not much happened in the winter and spring. Lots of Your Parents practice, a few house parties. I moved back to Meatland in February, realizing my absence made no sense. Caitlin and I shared a room and split rent. I fought a guy who was starting trouble and wouldn't leave the apartment on Chinese New Year, and I got a black eye and eternal silence from Kristin's boyfriend and eventually Kristin. I don't know what the guy got. Maybe I broke his glasses. Lets hope so. My mind left my body and I forgot how to draw for a while. I was so out of practice. It literally took months until I remembered how I drew. I was trying this bogus, simplistic Henry Darger / Chris Fogues style, which isn't me. I started watercoloring. Landscapes, comics, illustrations. I started illustrating again. It was one of those things where I felt I was good at something, then studied something else and realised I liked this more. I'm better at this. I'm not giving up on sculpture, drawing's just easier.

Late spring held a few of my happiest days. My ideal setting is to be surrounded by people creating while I do. I was busy cutting foam and making molds and my friends were always around me, making films or making noise or shooting photos or painting. Its perfect. The weather was healing and we were able to do this on the porch, with a tarp blocking the other houses. We'd blast Black Sabbath and wave to the senors grilling next door. Your Parents hosted one miserable show at MassArt with our friends Jack Turnbull and Tall Ships, who were brilliant. I had borrowed equipment for no reason and it broke and I drank too much though no one noticed and I finished the set sitting on the bass drum, operating the pedal backwards. We had another raw set at a roller derby benefit show, where in front of I'd like to say 3-400 people our blessed chopped organ that I salvaged from the basement of MassArt died. I wanted to go with it. After that we decided to take a break.

Alice started doing solo work and by then I'd ran out of money, quit my job and moved back home again. I had a show at school which I was far from proud of, but had a few good pieces. My video-powered theremin particularly. I filmed trees go by from my car, then take photosensors to the monitor and it made little bleeps and beats. I'm building more right now.

I graduated and my car died. I got a lovely job working for a woodworking shop run by Berklee alumni. I started illustrating the comic and setting goals that would be constantly set back as I realised it was unnecessary to print a 30-50 page comic in full color. Not yet. So I redid a few watercolors in black and white, hated how it turned out and stopped until the fall. I turned 23, rode the bike Jess built for me to and from work every day and it was a month before I realised I should blow the sawdust off myself before leaving. This was when we made plans for moving. All of Meatland in one beautiful mass exodus out of the northeast. Our original destination was Philly for no reason. I think Caitlin wanted to hang out or collaborate with Man Man. None of us shared any interest in the city. We wanted someplace warm. We decided on Austin, since California's vapid and no place else makes sense. Two weeks later Casey and Alice decided to move to New York. We couldn't change their minds.

At some point I had to return Sean's drum equipment and was left with no cymbals, something I've yet to rectify. I moved the kit to Matt's basement. It's been there despite a month-long stay at Steph's house so she could practice before moving to North Carolina to teach at Penlan. The summer was nice. Lots of bike rides, meeting Caitlin at Oak Grove, then just scooting around. I had the greatest birthday I can remember. A surprise with 80% of my friends from far and wide making appearances. Certain people put their differences aside to come and miracles happened that night. My room was on the porch and was perfect, the best living space I've ever had or will ever have. I read a lot. Bi-weekly trips to the surprisingly well-stocked Wakefield Library. I lived like the psycho I was and saved up a good amount of money so I could leave for a while. Our heads were directed south and we were going. Somewhere along the way Caitlin got a car, a thing I'd simultaneously love and hate more than any other. My old car, The Hatred, was good and an heirloom, but we hadn't been through as much. I had an excellent graduation party in which almost all the Important People showed up.

At the end I moved to Texas and that's all too recent to recount. If you know me you know the story. I'm home now. Sad, but generally satisfied with nothing but time. I'm working on the things I'd planned too but my brain was too scattered to devote time to. The comic's almost done. I will make the deadline. I'm understanding the guitar and the piano. I have a studio and am about to go on a final micro trip before blank and undecided future is present. This year was insane. Parts I'd like to change, but its too soon for judgement. Tomorrow I help JD move and get photos I'm very excited about developed. You're probably in them.

put put

2007-12-28T21:23:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day. Quick wrap up of current events. I didn't get my job back, which stinks. Times are slow, but maybe in the future... Bah. I've moved half of what I own into the shed/studio, from this day forward known as The Clubhouse. Or maybe The Cubhouse? Stubspouse?

There's tarps and tvs and lights and drills and a bench and its perfect. I'm making a theremin for you. Beleive it. I got four IC's left and they're just itching to transfer light into sound. I've worked on a few more pages of the comic, its going. I'm almost positive I'll make the deadline. If not, there's always next year. But seriously, they give grants to stuff with titles like "Pizza Wizard" so, you know. Tomorrow I think I'm going to build a case for my Seagull TLR camera. It's like 5x5x6, so that'll take about ten minutes. Stuff it with foam and it's secure.

Today was good because I woke up at 10, started uploading my music onto Dad's old Ipod, which is now my ipod which is good since I'd never buy one for myself or have one buy one for me. This one came free when my dad ordered a certain microscope for his lab. Just how I would've done. Coincidentally my old mp3 player died yesterday, so the timing is as good as it could possibly be. I then got picked up by JD and we drove around and I rode his bike for a minute and it was very springlike out. We then went to the Gulu cafe and got beers and sandwiches. A girl there had hair wax and I used it on my mustache and gave them perfect points sans mirror. That means its natural. Natural for the mustache that I have to be in points. I played with JD's manager's daughter and helped her spell words with her toy instruments that looked like letters. Then to make more words, we cut letters out of newspaper (she happened to have scissors). We spelled BIO, CAB, BOAT and RIOT. That's when people go crazy, I told her. Then we burned the place down.

After that it was back to JD's for games, music and cleaning. He has to move out in three days. Some people came over then we went back to the Gulu, had more beers and I was pleasantly surprised that a certain Marat Freisis and Clay were there. We hung out and a few bands played and we talked about what's wrong with our friends and what they're doing right and what they could do better. And that O'Mothie, the combination of White Moths and O'Malley (our respective highschool bands), was a thing that should have happened. We went outside and played frisbee in the park next to the cafe, which for some reason some people hated. Others, however, were pleased with our youthful frivolity and joined in for a round or two. More drinking, crises averted, and I took JD's truck and went home, blasting Animal Collective.

I got home and the ipod hadn't uploaded so it's doing that now. I want to go to the studio and test some things out. Its one. But I no longer have plans tomorrow so it doesn't much matter. Ahhhhh... Drawings, news, etc soon.

What a wuss

2007-12-16T20:50:00.000-08:00

Anyway. So time goes by and things improve. I'm going to hang out with the dudes from my old job tomorrow and try to get at least a couple hours a week. I'm in the disconcertingly long process of attaining a studio (shed) so I can start sculpting again after six months of inactivity and unfulfilled projects. The ideal situation here would be that I'd work from 9-3 then walk the half mile to the studio and hang there till ten-ish. Go home, shower and repeat until January 15th. Then we drive accross this ugly country. Linda suggested we checkout the South Dakota Badlands. Or was it Montana? Regardless, I'm not sure how inviting they'd be in Januray / Feb but then again I have absolutely no idea. But the comic is coming along and I've been working on regaining my illustration ability. Here's two things. One done, one not.

Things change

2007-11-28T10:24:00.000-08:00

So. There hasn't been an update in a while, maybe you've noticed. I kind of wanted to keep the whole moving home experience under wraps until Thanksgiving since I think 90% of the people who read this are my family and I wanted it to be a pleasant? surprise. My mind has left my body. I'm all over the place right now, incredibly unsure of how to procede. My plans for now are to hang out until the middle of January, then drive to Boulder, CO with JD. Plan is to roll down 95 until South Carolina then take a right. Maybe stop in Austin, maybe make our way to the desert. We have no idea. Its almost good that way. Thing I found out the hard way is if you want to you can drive 1800 miles in a day and a half. So we'll never be too imperiled. I don't know why I thought the deadline for the Xeric grant was January when its actually March and aparently has always been that way. So I've put the brakes on the comic, since I've been forcing it, rather than letting it happen.

I can't lie. I am bummed. We had a few good shows lined up for the Rodney Stewart Gallery. Urban Monsters in december I believe, Mark Mothersbaugh in April. Todd Barry, Eugene Murman and possibly Brad Neely in May. Its difficult when things were going very smoothly, then all of a sudden, not. I've been listening to Reality by David Bowie. I like it a lot. A lot of Neil Young too, mostly Silver and Gold. I just have absolutely no direction right now.

The Week in review

2007-11-04T16:59:00.001-08:00

My submissions

2007-11-04T16:51:00.001-08:00

To the Word of Mouth Show are as follows:

They're about 5"x7" ; going for 100 each

My thumb

2007-10-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize my thumb was at war with glass and today lost twice. While doing the dishes it cut gashed by a mug I broke the handle off of a week ago. Later on I got a mexican mineral water from the place across the street to go with my almost impossible to obtain taco. not being a screw-cap, I did my trick of lining the edge of the cap on something hard and popping it off, but the top of the bottle came with it. I tried a sip and felt little glass crystals snap between my teeth, spit and threw it out. Oh, and Before I threw it out I decided to see if it really was sharp or just some crazy glass mirage and cut my thumb, through my shirt, again. Its ugly and not looking forward to a day of labor and doctor's offices tomorrow.

My thumb lost today.

Progress, progressor

2007-10-28T00:49:00.000-07:00

Substantial update to the website, after some very helpful feedback.

http://matthewgiuffre.com/

New and improved. Two out of three videos in the circuit bent section are up, a new bio section (secret), changed the statement to something sensible, more music info, more drawings all over. More changes en route once I figure it out.

In other news, we have a room mate now. The lovely Leela Pahl will be staying in The Sideways Howse until Christmas, then its come to CT, then farther south. The place is better with her, I always like a full house and this place isn't hard to fill. Besides, its forced us to consolidate out crap into one room and the places is starting to feel real, lived in and I don't want to leave. But I will. When I have to.

An author showed interest in my work for a children's book. We still need to schdule a meeting. Monday I'm going to be doing carpentry work. The first work in almost two months. Its wierd. i don't suggest being unemployed for that long to anyone. Its just strange. The free time's great if you can handle and manage it. I feel I did an ok job. Could have been better. There were some shameful days of inactivity, but I'm busylike now.

I've been pumping out between one and six pages a day for the new comic. I've yet to think of a title. A problem I usually have. It's coming along great. I had this problem where I think I tried to forget how to draw and I started looking like henry Darger or Marcel Dzama, but that's not who I am and I'm getting my abilities back. I'm pleased with the process. Some things still need consideration, like shading, but there's still time.

I've decided to not drink from the first of November until Thanksgiving. Not that I'm blacking out every night, its just a challenge I want to take. And I know thanksgiving's early this but whatever.

I have health insurance and am about to fight Lavos in Chrono Trigger before I go to bed. Good night, sirs.

Late noights, sir

2007-10-15T02:55:00.000-07:00

More and more. Now website business is being replaced by comic business. I realized I was being a chump to hold out for nice paper, since sensibly if I do get a grant, I still can't afford to print color anyway, and it just makes my strokes look crummy (see previous post). So. I'm starting over for maybe the eighth time since I wrote this story on a cold February night in Meatland after Your Parents practice. Its a moral story, about two people trying to do the right thing and maybe over doing it. And there's a kidnapping, a planned and foiled drowning, and a few broken bones. I'm really jazzed on it though. As I've explained to a few of you friends and fam that in the past ten years of comic-making (Jesus) this is the first time I've written a script. And this is the first time its taken me more than a few hours at a time from start to finish. In this case its been eight months and one grant submission deadline missed. The next is January. Here's hoping.

This was a good weekend. Yesterday we went to a really good opening at Okay Mountain. Good fabric sculptures and video. Talked to some people and for the first time got excited for the art scene here. I shouldn't base things off first experiences, I guess, since that bit ass. We then saw the new movie abotu Joy Division, Control, which was pretty good. I felt it could've used a littl emore time to show Ian Curtis' descent. It sort of was like "I'm kind of sad, I guess. Oh, there's a rope." Then today we went to a video show but unfortunately had to leave before it started. We met some chick from Worcester who was completely rad and had some free beers and cupcakes. We had to leave early because we went to see the new Michael Cera movie Juno, which was excellent. A little long winded and I felt too smart and esoteric for its own good at times, but overall pretty perfect with several genuine moments.

So I'm excited for art here and I hope we stick around for a little while. I should just get some dumb job to tide me over. Why haven't I done that? I don't know. Tomorrow I'm going to apply at a few places and call or email people I'd like to have shows here. We know how to advertise and could probably get an ad or at least a write up in The Onion, which acts like a Phoenix here. I feel Fionn would do well here. And Jack. And Urban Monsters.

Todd Barry, Eugene Murman, and Brad Neely(possibly) are lined up for having a show here in the spring, and I just need to email pictures to Mark Mothersbaugh's assistant to get that rolling. Time's should be good.

Man Man saturday. Friends stopping by for Halloween with Quintron. And a few friends are coming down from California for Thanksgiving. We need to find a table. Smiles all around.

Ahh

2007-10-11T23:43:00.000-07:00

Panel from new comic

So I just finished Sputnik Sweetheart and as Mike Tarkanian said, it was good. The surrealism was more muted, isolated events, not as blatant as in other books of Murakami's I've read. The ending left me extremely melancholic. The focus just seemed to be about friends and how there's certain people you can't imagine living without because they are in essence a part of you. When they leave or vanish a part of you goes with them.

Good news in relation to this is that Matt MacNeil will be stopping by for a few days either late this month or November. Another of Caitlin's friends is stopping by in November as well. We're turning into a fine little B n B over here.

I like my little house. I hope we can stay here a little bit longer. I don't think austin has sold us on a two year plan as we had originally envisioned, but I think we could easily kick it here until the end of Roller Derby Season: August. That means we will experience the divine horror and torture of a Texan summer.

But things are good. We have two shows lined up for 2008 and I'm feeling like calling some friends and having some shows for them, if anything, to put on a resume. The Rodney Stuart Gallery will be well stocked. I'm going to be working on an installation of a giant inflatable snake which I'll begin construction as soon as my new heat sealer gets here. It'll either fill up the gallery or go out the window and onto the roof. Out one window into another, etc etc. The heat and free time, people. The Heat and Free Time. That's the name of the bar I'm going to open. Or The Harsh Plan or The Regrettable Female, but that might be more of a name for a motorcycle.

I just printed out the application for the new Word of Mouth show. This time its in Miami. If you haven't, here's links:

http://wordofmouth.gallerydiet.com/womsubmissionFORM.pdf
http://wordofmouth.gallerydiet.com/womsubmissionINST.pdf

So enter, sell work, make us all proud.

I'd also like to say that over the last few weeks I've caught up on some cinema classics. The French Connection, Easy Rider, and Godfather Parts 1 and 2 were all awesome and I'd never seen them before. What's with James Caan pretending to be Italian? Did that make sense in the 70's? No? ok. It's Austin Film Festival and I only have two movies I want to see. Control which is about Joy Division and Juno which has Michael Cera. Brilliantism.

I guess I forgot

2007-10-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

To tell everyone we live in Jurassic Park, or the Land Time Forgot. Some crazy palce because this lives in our window:

And this spins webs next to the car.

A real life skultula. There's also the cicada the size of Caitlin (her new name is Cicaty Roy) who decided to jump onto my chest when i tried to close the window. And the yellow, translucent salamanders that wiggle above our heads on the porch.

A wild, savage place be this.

Kyle and Brian were fun. We finally got to the party barn (a drive through liquor barn lined with 30 racks and fridges) and got an Oregonian beer called Session. And we had a Sesh on the front porch till 3 this morning. Woke up, got breakfast, got knocked out by the finicky sun who isn't strong enough to help me silkscreen, but is still hot as the devil. I'm playing bass instead.

For papa

2007-10-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

That really good moon picture.

Must be the moon.

Have to say my favorite planet of the last few months has been Jupiter.

I'm tired and waiting for laundry to finish up at the apartment complex across the street. I thought it was nice to do it at night then forgot just how loud dryers are. Today I worked on a new site for NEPIN. The old one looks like it was hosted by geocities. Not saying I'm blowing minds, but its softer, gentler more approachable. Not times new roman or courier.

Tonight Caitlin and I got some horrendous Tex Mex then went back to the garage across from Stubb's to listen to Sonic Youth. It was ok. I've never really been into them which everyone finds surprising. I kind of want to be, but nothing I've heard other than Teenage Riot which Jack put on a mix for me in high school and Incinerate which Jess put on a mix for me in the spring. I got all their albums, too. Goo was ok, but not enough so that I remember it. Caitlin says she's going to go through it and make me a best of mix, as I've done for her with Tom Waits and Big Black.

Everyone gets bored sometimes

I got embroidery thread and plan on doing a little something on my backpack. When I bought it the girl at the counter was amazed I took them out of the bag. "That's like.. awesome of you. That's so good for the environment." I said something like "I hate bags" and smiled and left.

We have more visitors this week. A certain Kyle Geist + 1 other is going to be stopping by late tomorrow or early sunday. He was at the Grand Canyon today, driving around the states and figured he'd stop by. Been a good week for that. The friends seem to be coming in bursts, leaving us with months of loneliness or, Jesus, making new friends.

Plans for tomorrow: Get power strip so amps and korg can work, get photo emulsion for my bat face screen (see below), embroider, read shopgirl, apply for more jobs, if I hear back from Stan finalize the NEPIN site, maybe work on comic.

Busy times, ladies.

If anyone wants one of these, I'm printing them on wife beaters.

Yesterday

2007-10-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

Was fun. I'm tired for no reason right now. Maybe simple lack of activity. Caitlin's out getting interview clothes. I'm thinking of something to do. But anyway. Yesterday Adam and Theresa showed up and we did a bunch fo stuff I'd been meaning to do. First thing was we found Barton Springs which is awesome. They took the river then enclosed and filtered out a section of it, so its it becomes a nice, clean, natural public pool. We swam for abotu an hour and talked to this little kid who was hogging the diving board and showing all the special dives he knew. He stunk at cannon balls. Fact. Adam pulled some wierd sideways flop out of nowhere.

After that we went to the Congress St bridge and we finally got to see the bats. At dusk everyday a swarm of bats fly out from under this bridge. Boats with people go by underneath and its all really nice. The bats get really close and after a while it really becomes this constant hypnotizing swirl underneath you. Of bats.

Then we went back the house and changed into human clothes and went out to this BBQ place that despite the ineptitude of our waitress who rather than say "sorry just a second I'm new here" would say "Oh, shit" and run away. At one point a manger came over and asked if she was doing alright. Regardless the grub was excellent and we got mounds of it. Thanks, mom.

After that we hit up 6th street and stopped at a few bars and played pool. Adam bought us drinks and we hung there till about one and went home. It was pretty great. It really made me look forward to having more people visit since Caitlin and I just don't really go out all that often. I'm realizing I'm one of the thriftiest people ever and typically prefer to stay in and work. But tomorrow I think we're going on a date somewhere.

In retrospect Caitlin pretty much got hosed. We went to a barbeque place so she had to have mashed potatoes then we went out drinking and she had to drive, since I don't have AAA or car insurance anymore. She's nice.

It Works!

2007-10-02T10:20:00.001-07:00

YEAH! There was a problem with capitalization. Problem no more. This realization came around 4 this morning as I was trying to get to bed. So!

WWW.MATTHEWGIUFFRE.COM

Allright. Today we're going to get breakfast, get some fabric and sew up some curtains. Heading to SoCo. Doing Laundry for the very first time. Woof.

Sending of my health insurance app today. Life is like a wave.

So I need to learn

2007-09-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

How to make it so that this isn't /index.html... Maybe fix that tomorrow. In other news!

matthewgiuffre.com

There she blows. Today I spent uploading this lady. I've slep ten hours in three days and it shows. We finally got some cat food for Puerto Rico. She's been hanging out a lot. She sort of comes in then runs outside for no reason and rolls in dirt then comes back in just to leave. I'm going to spend tomorrow cleaning the house. I'm not sure if the "We just moved in" excuse is still valid.

Dreamweaver's taking its time

2007-09-28T02:08:00.001-07:00

I'm uploading my website to my server right now... So this blog may not exist for too long. Or at least maybe in another place. The site's not done, but the four main pages are and I've decided to stop for tonight since its 4 and we have to pick up Malicen and Ruby at the airport tomorrow at 11. Then get lunch and its back to work. This has been good though. I've spent a lot of time exploring the programs I've been slobbing through since highschool. Check out the new Soft Intelligence posters once they're up. Soft Intelligence being my band/video project with Caitlin. More on that as it develops.

Tomorrow I'm picking up tickets for Man Man and Quintron (which is a Halloween show!), total cost: $21. Some things are great here.

Last night we couldn't get in to see Interpol and more importantly Liars, since it sold out almost a month ago. So instead we packed a couple beers and sat on the top of a parking garage across the street. It was an outdoor show and even though we couldn't see them, the sound was perfect. And on top of a parking garage is the one place where nobody thinks to look. Nobody being pedestrians. We saw some fun stuff. Drunk girls walking at a 30 degree angle, shirtless guys doing laps on single speeds, pedicabs doing laps with nobody getting on then the peddler getting off their cab trying to get into the show then getting denied and sitting in his cab waiting for the show to get out.

Some guy snuck onto some adjacent buildings that had a better vantage point in that from there you could actually see bands, and a place we considered sneaking up on to. We watched him flee security as we biked home.

The good news is there seems to be a good flow of people coming through. This weekend brings Malicen and Ruby Khan. Next week the brodukes and Theresa are passing through for a few hours. A few weeks later Caitlin's sister will be here for a weekend. And supposedly a certain John Dewey Leone should be stay for a week in November. I meant to call him tonight. I guess it'll wait.

VIRTUAL TOUR!

2007-09-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

Here's the house! Note the rags and debris we haven't taken care of yet. And the all around disarray of the place, since we don't have shelves or anything to put stuff on. Its ugly and it leans but its nice and its ours. The ugly neighborhood cat just let Caitlin pet it. I'm naming him Puerto Rico.

I got a bike! Its got a flip-flop back wheel (one side is a singlespeed freewheel, the other is fixed), good brakes, good parts and short bullhorn handlebars like I wanted. Its exactly the bike I was going to build but now don't have to. I took it for a spin earlier and its super tight. The chick who sold it to me was awesome, too. Her name was CJ and her boyfriend is aparently in an awesome stoner metal band with a complicated name that I wrote down and have since forgotten. I'm going to paint it since a teal bike really isn't my deal.

This is our show! The opening is in two hours and I hope to meet a lot of cool, motivated people. I'm especially interested meeting the people who run Collective RERT, the home-gallery people.

So that's that. More when it happens.

We're in an art show

2007-09-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, sir. And apaprently there's a whole collective down here of people with the same goal as Caitlin and I: to have shows out of the home. So we'll be meeting them. The show is friday. I have two drawings, I might make some more and Caitlin put 6 or 7 in. Wish us luck. For no reason. Since we're already in it. I'll post a flyer later.

Good news, everyone!

2007-09-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

The house gets free internet! The place is a charmer. Today we spent scrubbing the floors and getting all the old plaster off them, then scrubbing the tub and the toilet (out in the street, for all to see). We put the toilet in but had some troubles with the sink, Bob got a new one and its not lining up with the existing pipe, so he has to go get some flexible hose tomorrow. So we have no sink, but we do have hot water and just took showers, but the AC isn't working yet since he also got the wrong size filters for the intake duct. But the ceiling fan is new and nice and the windows open (they need to be rescreened and giant moths are swooping in)and we just got a mattress from IKEA which is really nice. Its not the one we wanted as that was obviously sold out, but its cheaper. And thinner. But still nice. We have a nice stack of pillows too. In a couple days we'll go back and get some house stuff which will be very nice.

The Departed was excellent.

Tomorrow: Finishing the kitchen and bathroom, scrubbing the gallery, and a little bit of organizing.

One more day of hotels thank god

2007-09-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

So spent the last days sitting in the Extended Stay till the afternoon, getting Puffy Tacos then driving the twenty minutes from Round Rock to Austin, applying for jobs, looking at nice houses, and being amazed at how many mascots here have sunglasses. "Ah, dragon with sunglasses, mushroom with sunglasses, snow-cone (caitlin's favorite, picture later) with sunglasses..." None of those are jokes. Then we go back to the room and watch movies or Arrested Development or Futurama then go to bed. We did this because we thought the house would be done by today but since we are now in the Walnut Forest Motor Inn, it isn't. Our landlord, Nice Guy Bob, had to leave town for a few days for family stuff up in Oklahoma, but he said he'd have some guys go to the house to paint and sand the floors. They never showed up. So today was spent with Caitlin and I being little homeowners and painting our walls (two light brown, one white for the gallery, and the kitchen is a lovely yellow) and then I got to be a man and scrape out all the old black caulk from the tub and recaulk all the seams.

We took a break and went to an ok greek place on Guadalupe. Then we worked until about eight thirty and spent the next two hours trying to find a cheap place to stay, since by now we've both spent at least 350 on hotel rooms; many thanks to everyone who's helped me out in that respect. So the first place we tried was this Motor Lodge that as soon as we pulled in we could feel the low bass hum of warning brewing up from within the earth. We were stared down by a man at the teller window, not the teller, but some 50 year old getting a room. We walked up and notice he was with a girl I'd love to say was at least 16 but I have no idea. Your conclusions in regards to that are your own. When he said "how y'all doing?" to us we both thought "did you have to?" but said "just fine." He then through vulgar, sexual comments to the 60 year old fat lady behind the counter, while his lady laughed. It was incredibly upsetting. One of those rare occasions where you think in the past that you've met a sociopath, only to actually meet one and know that you need to get away from him as soon as possible because he doesn't care about anything. The scariest person alive. Other than that there was a guy lying down by the pool, yes pool, with his thousand pound girlfriend dripping over the fence onto him. As we pulled right the fuck out of there, we had just enough time to see a shirtless monster loom in a doorway with no lights on inside. Jesus.

No place is perfect.

So we cam to the Walnut Forest which is very cute and nice and we talked to a guy who had the misfortune of spending last night at the palce I just talked about, it is thirty bucks a night, but some things aren't worth anything. "Just nasty" is what he had to say, the business man from Lubbock. This room is a little smoky and hasn't changed ever.The curtains won't close, but these photos were shot there.

Tomorrow I install the toilet and sink, then we finally empty the car after two weeks of torture and we go to Ikea and buy a damn bed.

Good night! Tonight we watch The Departed.

By the way

2007-09-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

My copy had German subtitles

Grindhouse was awesome. We watched the first half last night and its like that whole thing with bands now where people are realizing they can just make things awesome. The whole movie is just dudes being bad ass and heads exploding.

Same thing goes for Smokin Aces. With less heads exploding and more semblance of plot.

We have a membership to an amazing video store now that has several out of pront John Waters and Ken Russels movies.

Man Man is playing in October and Liars is playing in two weeks. At a place half the size of TT's.

Its been hot, obviously, but not too bad, if you were wondering.

Reel Missing

A few days to decompress

2007-09-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

I don't like to admit it when I've pushed myself too far, but between the time change (lame), driving for ten to fourteen hours a day and eating at Bob Evans, by Friday I had to accept that I was completely tired. We spent the last three days applying for jobs, but mostly sitting in the hotel watching discovery channel, which luckily has been showing nothing but Blue Planet and Survivorman.

Monday found us in St Louis. We met up with Caitlin's cousin Michael and his boyfriend Jim and their two adorable puppies. They were australian shephards, like Sparky, mixed with collies and were incredibly soft. I wish I got a photo of them.

We got in a fight and I had to make it to Austin by mule.

They gave us a tour and St Louis is a pretty neat place, but I doubt I could live there. Maybe for a summer. Probably not. We went to a decent pizza place and they gave us a tour of the town. We got back around 1030 and I crawled straight into bed. The room proved to be a germ furnace and I woke up at 3 in the morning coughing with the heaviest head and cracked the windows, something I should have done before I went to bed. Bad combination of dry heat and dehydration I am just now getting over. We both woke up feeling like garbage and have been blowing our noses and couhging up garbage ever since.

We headed out and made it to Graceland by the afternoon, but Memphis depressed me so hard we didn't even go in. It was the six bucks for parking that was just too much for me. It looked like a bunch of shitty buildings with Elvis' plane and car out front. We headed to Arkansas.

The road takes its toll

Arkansas provided us with terrifying storms and little else. I don't think we even stopped before Texas. El Dorado was about two hours out of our way, so we scrapped that idea, and we drove b y Arkadelphia around 8 and weren't ready to stop, and forgot to call Marshall to tell him thanks anyways. We stopped outside Dallas.

I wished I had known Dallas was only 200 miles from Austin and if I did I would have pushed myself to make it there that night. But we got up Wednsday morning an headed south on I 35. A straight shot that continues to San Antonio.

Somehwere along the way we saw a man who probably built his motorcycle. He was roughly 350 lbs with a three-wheeled motorbike with the front and grill of a hotrod. On the back in script was written "Free Spirit."

And so do I

We got to Austin around 2 or 3 and drove around and were totally down with everyone we saw. There's no hipsters here, its too hot. Everyone's in basketball shorts and its great. Even the bike messengers. Let that sink in. So we scooted around and grabbed some free internet which is provided by the city, so if you're in the park on a bench, the internet is yours. And if the signal is weak, you just have to go to a bar, get a beer and they'll have it. Beer, by the way, is 1.50 almost everywhere. A dollar everywhere else.

After spending a minute on the internet we found a house and met with our landlord, a really nice guy from Chicago named Bob. He's letting us keep some of our stuff in an empty house of his until our house is ready, which could be as early as tomorrow or as late as Friday. We have this hotel paid for until Thursday, so either way. I've seen a bunch of fun bookstores I want to apply to since I'm realizing I really just want to do stupid work for a little while.

There's a good market here that's like Walmart but better called HEB. The proces are reasonable and they have better stuff. We've discovered the most amazing place on accident, as well, Tio Dan's "Puffy Taco." Its incredible. They take tortillas and lightly fry them then stuff them with awesome crap. We've been there every day.

In other news, there's an arts fair in Round Rock, where we're staying, today that we're going to and we're both applying to be in a show in a month or so, the deadline's in a couple days. In a few months I'll apply for a show at these two galleries while hopefully hosting shows at our house. Times are good.

More when it happens.

Time has passed

2007-09-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

And we have a house! However, it won't be ready for a week or so. So, Caity and I are shacking up in an Extended Stay Suite. A massive step up from the incredible dive we stayed at last night. Maybe it was the giant moth on the wall when we came in, or the broken lock (still worked?), or the sheets that gave Caitlin hives, or maybe and ultimately the cockroach I accidentally crushed when i moved the nightstand. That Rodeside Inn can get stuffed.

So. Not much happened Monday. We drove though some farms in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Tried and failed to find a ghost town in Illinois and just found a crazy place I wish I hadn't seen. Saw a few crushed houses, more crosses and abortion billboards. We stopped at a Bob Evans which I guess is like a western Bic's, so imagine Bickford's but where everything sits in a pool of oil. I'll never go back.

Driving by people and seeing the country you begin to understand its problems. Not all of them, obviously, but you're able to put things together. There's nothing there. We'd drive for hours which equals hundreds of miles and there would be nothing but chain restaurants. Not good ones, but things like Bob Evans and Cracker Barrel, where everything is microwaved. I know all I saw was highways and interstates, but everynow and then we'd get off to look for something and see a town or drive down a small road and rather than have smaller restaurants where things could be nice there is either those same places or nothing at all. For hours and hundreds of miles. So there's so few places to go and everything is so grotesquely prepared that it gets less and less hard to figure out the weight problem. Or at least understand. There's a whole lot of people with nowhere else to go.

And that's why they drive giant cars. I can assume a reliable and efficient Toyota Camry would be too tight and compact and uncomfortable. SUVs are huge and can house a huge man, or huge family of which I've seen many.

More tomorrow.

Ah the Hotel...

2007-09-03T06:01:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention a few things from last night.

We stopped at a Starbucks by the side of the road last night watched an eight year old girl rub her butt all over the open refrigerated case. We stopped at a Denny's, had some transparent coffee, and watched a twelve year old boy comb a Barbie's hair with his hands, then sit her down on the chair rail. "You're so perfect" I wished he said. I tried to find the bathroom, couldn't find it and my appearance made a black kid say "Dayum!" which I had thought only happened in movies.

Then we stopped at the Rodeway Inn, not Rodeside Inn as previously indicated. It came complete with:

A dead fly waiting for us on the bathroom floor.

This bath, which I'm about to step in.

We need to be out of here by ten, so good bye. I'll start resizing these before I post, I swear.

The End of Day 2

2007-09-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

So rather than post last night as I had planned, I just got drunk with Alan at his parents' house in Brooklyn. We went to this place around the corner which Alan said absolutely anything could be going. We suggested Squid Rodeo? and he said it was a possibility. That or five year olds in a hardcore band or spoken word. However, when we went there was nothing happening. There were a few people hanging out outside but no one inside and it was silent. We had beers and talked to the chick werking there then played Metal Slug on an outdoor arcade machine and couldn't beat the first level.

When we got back to Alan's house we watched the new instalments to R Kelly's Trapped in the Closet saga while Alan cooked me a steak and we drank Porkslap, the foulest.

Before all this Caitlin and I had a fun night in Salem on Friday in which many heads did roll through, some stars including Ryan Piaxao and Clay who owns guns. Got to see Jack and Matt and Cassy and Tyler and JD and the Dames.

The next day found us scrambling to finish off packing the car after a 430 am farewell to Annie. I forgot a few things, like my four rolls of medium format film, one of which I had planned on wasting during the trip. JD and Steve showed up at zero hour to pleasantly wish me off, then I had one last burrito at Anna's with Lawrence, Keanne, and Corey, which was perfect.

When we got to the car there was a highway, or in this case parking lot, diaper waiting for us behing the reart tire. I guess we rolled over it and onto the Pike where we saw a car moments away from bursting into flame. I wish that were the first time I'd seen a car on fire.

From there we made our way to Hartford and the Old State House which made me think I'd made a mistake in coming to until we found the curio room on the second floor. Two headed cow and pig were waiting with three horned goat and petrified skate was just hanging out with some friends. There was a six foot narwhal horn in a very tall belljar and a very eager fox's head.

Me and the two-faced cow.  Never could trust him.

Gay City was kind of a let down. Less of a ghost town and more of a state park there was only remains of an old mill, which was neat to look at, and I saw maybe one ruined foundation. Caitlin caught a frog.

These things happen in Gay City.

Be seeing you

We went some places

Then we got to New York and remembered yet again why I can wait to move there. In the morning we spent an hour trying to find this bagel place Alan told us about, gave up, and had to find gas. Paid 9 dollars to leave the city and headed to Philly. We got there and walked around and realised that we were happy that we weren't moving there either. Philly is like if the worst people from RISD and JP had a baby and it fell down some stairs. All it makes me think about is Keith Haring and the early nineties and art that tries to pull the community together, like making a person out of traffic cones and milk crates.  But we got to Mutter Museum after spending another hour looking for a place to eat and not finding one.

We left and did not persue Centralia as it was getting late and there was must driving to do. Caity did most of it, about 250 miles, while I read Factotum by Bukowski.  I like it.  There's a few memorable and filthy lines.  Went through some long horrifying tunnels and saw some strange things at pit stops.

I took over driving at eleven and continued till 130 when we found this Rodeside Inn, with an oddly friendly innkeeper. And here we are. We're about 20 miles away from Columbus and only have two goals for tomorrow, one ghost town in Indiana and then getting to Caitlin's cousin's house in St Louis. Time for bed. Smooch.

Tomorrow's the day

2007-08-31T13:55:00.001-07:00

Ok, sir. This is the first post. There's not much to report. There'll hopefully be a large hang out tonight in Salem at the Gulu Gulu Cafe. Many heads present. Many heads.

Here's a drawing from last November.