New DVDs Coming Soon!

I've mentioned before that I'm going to be releasing some special edition Dreamboat DVDs. But what, you may be wondering, will be so special about them? Well, it's going to be incredibly special because it's going to have, along with the original Super8 version of Dreamboat, the soon-to-be-completed digital version! When we shot the movie, we actually did the whole thing twice. Allen shot it on his Super8 camera, but since the light meter on the camera didn't work we weren't sure if everything would be totally overexposed or not. Luckily it turned out looking awesome, but we had a backup plan in case it didn't. Colin re-shot each scene on his digital camera, which took really high-speed sequences of photos that look almost like film. The effect is really cool, and I have finally gotten it all edited together two years after it was shot. I am making a remix of the song to go with the new version. The dvd's will also contain several interviews with me, and maybe some other surprise special features as well. Plus new packaging!

All of this will be completed by July 19th, which is the date of the SF Zinefest. I'm going to be there selling dvd's, zines, bags, and whatever else I can think of/finish making before I go. I'm also planning to finish the sequel to my joke book "Funny Jokes About Sea Creatures" which is entitled "More Funny Jokes About Sea Creatures."



More info on the zinefest:
Saturday, July 19 from 11:00am – 8:00pm
Sunday, July 20 from 11:00am – 7:00pm

SF County Fair Building
(formerly Hall of Flowers)
9th Ave. at Lincoln Way (in Golden Gate Park)

Free admission

Golden Retrievers

Craig Party U.S.A. (the band that Channing and I started) has decided to be a movie project instead of a music project, which makes sense since neither of us know how to play instruments. Channing just purchased a fancy camera so he'll be able to get videography jobs. That means I get to use his fancy camera to make movies! Hooray! So I'm kind of waiting for him to finish school, which happens in 2 or 3 weeks, and then I'm going to force him to work on our movie. I've already started making my golden retriever costume. Mr. Tusks is in love with the golden retriever fabric. He's constantly sitting on it or scratching it, and his devotion to the retriever is making it a bit difficult to work on the costume. I have to wait for him to fall asleep somewhere else before I can work on it or else he just bites the fabric the whole time. Here he is modeling a retriever paw:



That disheveled pile of books in the background is Mr. Tusks' work. He enjoys jumping on top of them and knocking them on the floor. We're hoping to get a bookshelf soon.

Mr. Tusks hates it when I do pretty much anything besides playing with him. If I try to read, he bites the pages of the book. If I try to paint, he bites the paintbrush or tries to lick the paint or steps on it. If I try to sew, he pounces on the fabric and bats at the super-sharp fabric scissors. My laptop has tiny tooth-marks on the corners above the screen. I love Mr. Tusks so much, but I hope that when he turns 1 (June 25th!) he'll take his adulthood seriously and start cuddling more and biting less. Especially since we have a lot of work to do on our upcoming Craig Party U.S.A. film.


On a non-tusky note, the interview Channing did of me for a class project is now on youtube here. Everything you ever wanted to know about the making of Dreamboat. Maybe.

uppity dates

I DID get hired to run the carousel! Hooray! It's so much fun, and half of the people who ride it are tiny children who get incredibly excited. Plus it's super cheap so I don't even feel like I'm ripping anyone off.

Also, someone bought my collage at the Southern Exposure auction! Hooray! I was really excited because I'm pretty sure no one there knew who I was. The theme for the event was "optic illusion" so of course there was a 3d Sigfried and Roy movie playing in the back room along with some other more mechanical optical illusion machines. Awesome! See:



Channing and I started a band. It's called Craig Party USA, and it's really more musical theatrey than bandy since neither of us really play instruments and the one song we've been slavishly rehearsing is very story and costume-based. We might be playing a show soon. Maybe.

We have lots of visitors coming in the next few weeks! It's nice living in a place that people want to visit. Hopefully they will still want to visit again after being asked what drugs they want to buy 18 times every time they exit our apartment and seeing approximately 2 dudes peeing in the street per day. In case you didn't know, our neighborhood isn't the best.


Also coming soon: Special Edition Dreamboat DVDs with amazing special features and behind the scenes footage! Hooray!
Dreamboat is going to play at an owl-themed extravaganza in Kansas City. I don't know any facts about this, but if you're in KC you should ask me to find out about it and I probably can. Maybe it already happened? I don't know.

Cabinet just came in the mail!!! I ordered my subscription like 3 months ago, and this is the first issue I've gotten because it's totally quarterly. Best magazine ever! Now I get to read it! Bye!

Etsy!!!

I totally forgot to mention on here that my etsy shop is now fully functional. Please buy things. I don't think I'm going to get hired to be the carousel operator in Golden Gate Park, so I have to find some other summer job which will obviously be lamer. Does anyone know how to answer the question "How do you like for people to know you?" in a job interview for a job where you will not be interacting with any coworkers? I definitely didn't. I also accidentally said I was an introvert instead of an extrovert, which is the truth, but the kind of truth you're probably not supposed to admit to during a job interview. I guess there's a chance that all the other applicants were totally awful, but it's not that good of a chance. So here are examples of things you can buy from me so that I will not have to work quite so many hours at a potentially terrible job:







And there's more if you follow this link. And, as always, if you tell me what colors and measurements you want, I can make a special bag just for you!

Thanks!

My Mom

This is my family tree:



It's made from a real tree, because my mom made it and she's really cool. And now you can look at her new website which features other really cool calligraphy stuff that my mom has done.

But she doesn't just do calligraphy! Of course not! My mom can pretty much do anything. She stopped running marathons because they weren't long enough. Now she enters super-marathons or something. She recently carved an enormous memorial stone for a horse. And she's currently painting a jungle mural in what will be the baby's room (after it is born) in my sister's new house. It features Aztec Pyramids and I assume a variety of animals, although I can't remember specifically which ones. Jungle animals. She used to paint murals in people's houses all the time, but she got tired of carrying ladders around so she switched to a mostly-calligraphy business. It was more fun for me when she did murals, as my sister and I were at the age where we were often brought along to be watched while she worked. Which a lot of the time meant hanging out in really fancy houses with bathrooms twice the size of my bedroom or backyards with crazy swimming pools.

You can hire her to make stuff for you, but she probably won't paint a mural in your room unless you're her grandchild.

bears and worms

Click to watch We are at a really fun party, true or false?

I hope my webpage will be updated soon, but I'm not really sure when that's actually going to happen.

Last night I found my notepad from a few years ago that I used to carry everywhere I went. My to do list is still pretty much the same. Please note the fangs on the evil butterbeast.

I've been rethinking my huge multi-faceted video project. I'm officially putting it on hold until I figure out some technical details. In the meantime, if anyone knows of a cheap source for gummy bears and worms, I would be most appreciative. I need a lot of them, and not just because I'm addicted to sugar.

I just got my box of art supplies sent to me from my parents, so now I have paints and markers and all sorts of wonderful things. But before it arrived, I was supposed to be making a piece for Southern Exposure's annual fundraising auction. I finally finished something I liked after about 17 nervous breakdowns. It's collagey, but also mixed media because it involves a print that I made in my first ever attempt at printmaking. The event itself looks like it's going to be really cool, and I'm pretty excited about being a part of it. I'm hoping my piece fits in with the surrounding things being auctioned, but I've never even been to an art auction before, much less one for this gallery, so I don't really know what to expect. Here is some more information, and a link you can click if you want to know even more:

OPTIC ILLUSION
Southern Exposure Annual Spring Fundraiser and Art Auction
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Location: SomArts, Main Gallery 934 Brannan Street
MAIN EVENT: 7:30 pm - 11:00 pm
VIP RECEPTION: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
LIVE AUCTION: 8:30 - 9:00 PM
SILENT AUCTION: 7:30 - 10:30 PM, lots begin to close at 9:45 pm
Tickets: $30 advance purchase, $40 at the door
$65 tickets includes a one-year membership to SoEx
Tickets for the VIP Reception start at $150
Buy tickets online at www.soex.org or over the phone at 415-83-2141.

Video Under Volcano

I'm so excited! Snowfakes got accepted to a screening at a museum in Italy! It's the Casoria Museum of Contemporary Art in Naples, and the screening is next Friday. So I guess if you're in Naples you should stop by. I might be doing a brief interview at the screening via Skype, which is also exciting/scary.

After the screening my video (and the 30 others that were selected from almost 300 entries) becomes part of the museum's permanent collection. So maybe someday I can go to Italy and maybe my video will be on display there. I'm so excited, as I haven't ever been involved in anything so fancy. And, as a person who is constantly visiting museums, I have always wanted my own work to one day be in one. So now my dream has come true, but luckily it is easily replaced by other dreams.