So an update on unfinished projects...I'm still painting kitchen cabinets. Two down, three to go. I now remember why I never finished this 2 years ago.
Today while painting, I listened to Shiny Toy Guns, who Jay and I saw open years ago for Mute Math. They had some radio songs, but I decided today I really like this less-listened-to song:
And this is Jay's favorite off this album:
And this was in a Lincoln commercial:
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
The Worst Feeling...
...when you find something you love on Craigslist, email the person, and they never respond back.
[Sigh]
[Sigh]
Monday, August 15, 2011
August = Unfinished Project Month
I decided a few weeks ago that August should be "unfinished project month." I have lots of ideas for new projects I want to do, so I figured we should finish up a handful of projects that have been sitting 99% complete for too long. We pretty much already had all the supplies we needed. And now that we have a nail gun, these were even easier!
Project #1: Quarter round in my closet
Procrastinated for: 1 year
Time to complete: 20 mins to cut and nail (40 mins if you include my trip to Lowes)
Cost: $4.69
Project #2: Install glass in guest bathroom cabinets
Procrastinated for: 1.5 years
Time to complete: 30 mins
Cost: free (that's right...we already had the glass cut and everything thanks to my mother over a year ago)
Project #3: Touch-up paint baseboards
Procrastinated for: 1 year
Time to complete: 2 hours
Cost: free
I've left the worst for last...painting the rest of the insides of our kitchen cabinets. I wrote about the horribleness of it here. What I didn't mention is that we didn't exactly finish. We didn't paint what we knew we wouldn't use. And we, in fact, don't use any that haven't been painted.
And here's a pic of Jay with my sister's baby Jack at a brewery (blurry because Jack wasn't digging the brewery). Just because they're both cute boys:
Project #1: Quarter round in my closet
Procrastinated for: 1 year
Time to complete: 20 mins to cut and nail (40 mins if you include my trip to Lowes)
Cost: $4.69
Project #2: Install glass in guest bathroom cabinets
Procrastinated for: 1.5 years
Time to complete: 30 mins
Cost: free (that's right...we already had the glass cut and everything thanks to my mother over a year ago)
Project #3: Touch-up paint baseboards
Procrastinated for: 1 year
Time to complete: 2 hours
Cost: free
I've left the worst for last...painting the rest of the insides of our kitchen cabinets. I wrote about the horribleness of it here. What I didn't mention is that we didn't exactly finish. We didn't paint what we knew we wouldn't use. And we, in fact, don't use any that haven't been painted.
And here's a pic of Jay with my sister's baby Jack at a brewery (blurry because Jack wasn't digging the brewery). Just because they're both cute boys:
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Backyard: Planning Phase 1
If there is one thing NOT lacking in our backyard, it's vision. I absolutely obsess over what COULD be because right now there is not a lot happening.
Well tonight was an exciting night, because I found 1 thing I was thinking we could use back there for free. These are now sitting in our garage:
I saw them on the side of the road (trust me, they weren't actually still in the person's yard...they were more on the road, which means you can take them). So right around 9 tonight, Jay and our neighbor Kevin loaded 3 up in the car. I knew Kevin's wife Stephanie would be totally on board with this and want a few, too. [I forgot to mention that they were REALLY heavy...Stephanie said, "They must really love us," as we stood there watching them get them in the car...]
So now the plan is to get a chain saw to cut each in half. We're thinking we'll need to strip the bark off, and I haven't decided about painting. But then they'll be nice little tables.
This is my plan for what I like to call "Phase 1" for the backyard:
We already have the lights, fire pit, stumps (!!), bench (antique store for $150), and captain's chairs (free from my mother...and apparently kind of in right now I discovered while Googling for a pic). I'm thinking about painting the chairs a funky bright color just for the heck of it.
So now we just need some tall plants and a brick patio. (As a side note, I found several palettes of bricks on Craigslist for $100, but you had to go pick them up and figure out how to get them loaded up and transported wherever you wanted them. For the sake of our marriage, I figured it was worth buying them somewhere that would deliver.)
Well tonight was an exciting night, because I found 1 thing I was thinking we could use back there for free. These are now sitting in our garage:
I saw them on the side of the road (trust me, they weren't actually still in the person's yard...they were more on the road, which means you can take them). So right around 9 tonight, Jay and our neighbor Kevin loaded 3 up in the car. I knew Kevin's wife Stephanie would be totally on board with this and want a few, too. [I forgot to mention that they were REALLY heavy...Stephanie said, "They must really love us," as we stood there watching them get them in the car...]
So now the plan is to get a chain saw to cut each in half. We're thinking we'll need to strip the bark off, and I haven't decided about painting. But then they'll be nice little tables.
This is my plan for what I like to call "Phase 1" for the backyard:
We already have the lights, fire pit, stumps (!!), bench (antique store for $150), and captain's chairs (free from my mother...and apparently kind of in right now I discovered while Googling for a pic). I'm thinking about painting the chairs a funky bright color just for the heck of it.
So now we just need some tall plants and a brick patio. (As a side note, I found several palettes of bricks on Craigslist for $100, but you had to go pick them up and figure out how to get them loaded up and transported wherever you wanted them. For the sake of our marriage, I figured it was worth buying them somewhere that would deliver.)
Thursday, August 04, 2011
David Ramirez - Fires
Another project Jay worked on. One of my favorites. Visit the Serial Box for an interview and pics.
Everything is tracked live (hence the video), and they typically only do 1 or 2 takes of each song. Jay engineered and mixed. Here is all the audio they did from the session (that you can download for free!):
Everything is tracked live (hence the video), and they typically only do 1 or 2 takes of each song. Jay engineered and mixed. Here is all the audio they did from the session (that you can download for free!):
Monday, July 18, 2011
Toothpick Sculpture
San Francisco, 35 years in the making:
By Scott Weaver. This news story talks to him a bit (and as someone with toothpick "sculpture" experience, I agree with him on the choice of Elmer's glue):
By Scott Weaver. This news story talks to him a bit (and as someone with toothpick "sculpture" experience, I agree with him on the choice of Elmer's glue):
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Fluorescent Light Sculpture
Now this is an interesting one to me because I admittedly find these a bit perplexing. But I've seen Dan Flavin installations in nearly every modern art museum I've ever been to.
They usually look something like this, and I thought I was missing something the first time I saw one in the corner of a museum:
This one is here in Houston in an old warehouse (actually an old grocery store), the design of which was completed by Flavin just 2 days before his death. There is something kind of cool about the intensity of the colors. (Jay lasted about 5 minutes when he went):
But like the paper and glass sculpture, what's impressive to me about this is the creative use of something common that we all know...Flavin "limited his materials to commercially available fluorescent tubing in standard sizes, shapes, and colors, extracting banal hardware from its utilitarian context and inserting it into the world of high art."
They usually look something like this, and I thought I was missing something the first time I saw one in the corner of a museum:
This one is here in Houston in an old warehouse (actually an old grocery store), the design of which was completed by Flavin just 2 days before his death. There is something kind of cool about the intensity of the colors. (Jay lasted about 5 minutes when he went):
But like the paper and glass sculpture, what's impressive to me about this is the creative use of something common that we all know...Flavin "limited his materials to commercially available fluorescent tubing in standard sizes, shapes, and colors, extracting banal hardware from its utilitarian context and inserting it into the world of high art."
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Glass Sculpture
The graphic designer I worked with years ago loved Dale Chihuly's work. He does these crazy, glass blown chandeliers and installations.
This one is at the Bellagio:
This one was a Christmas decoration at the White House and is now at the Clinton library in Little Rock (I saw it):
Related Story: When my parents were building their house, their builder took them through some of his biggest, baddest houses. My mom talked about how this one house that was over the top in every respect had a giant chandelier that hung 2-3 stories high in the entry way of the house and looked like sea urchins. Well it ends up the largest privately owned Chuhuly chandelier is in The Woodlands. Wowser.
This one is at the Bellagio:
This one was a Christmas decoration at the White House and is now at the Clinton library in Little Rock (I saw it):
Related Story: When my parents were building their house, their builder took them through some of his biggest, baddest houses. My mom talked about how this one house that was over the top in every respect had a giant chandelier that hung 2-3 stories high in the entry way of the house and looked like sea urchins. Well it ends up the largest privately owned Chuhuly chandelier is in The Woodlands. Wowser.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Paper Sculpture
I write a lot about music on here, so I've decided to intentionally write about some other things for a bit. This week, I'm thinking artsy sculptural things.
First up, Peter Callesen.
I would consider myself pretty handy with an xacto blade, but this is incredible. This is the type of work that just blows my mind in terms of the creativity someone has (not to mention patience in execution).
"A large part of my work is made from A4 sheets of paper...The thin white paper gives the paper sculptures a frailty that underlines the tragic and romantic theme of my works...The paper cut sculptures explore the probable and magical transformation of the flat sheet of paper into figures that expand into the space surrounding them. The negative and absent 2 dimensional space left by the cut, points out the contrast to the 3 dimensional reality it creates, even though the figures still stick to their origin without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is also an aspect of something tragic in many of the cuts."
First up, Peter Callesen.
I would consider myself pretty handy with an xacto blade, but this is incredible. This is the type of work that just blows my mind in terms of the creativity someone has (not to mention patience in execution).
"A large part of my work is made from A4 sheets of paper...The thin white paper gives the paper sculptures a frailty that underlines the tragic and romantic theme of my works...The paper cut sculptures explore the probable and magical transformation of the flat sheet of paper into figures that expand into the space surrounding them. The negative and absent 2 dimensional space left by the cut, points out the contrast to the 3 dimensional reality it creates, even though the figures still stick to their origin without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is also an aspect of something tragic in many of the cuts."
Sunday, July 10, 2011
The Damnwells
I've said it before, but I love hearing all the projects Jay works on. Here is an amazing SerialBox session that was released not too long ago that Jay mixed. Go to the SerialBox site to read an interview and hear audio from 4 other songs.
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
A few months ago, Bon Iver released a new album that we just bought called Bon Iver, Bon Iver. It's a good one.
Towers:
Though to me it's not as memorable as his first album that came out in 2008. One of our faves - I listened to it so much I should be embarrassed. Something about this song makes you feel like you should just cry:
This guy is hipster gold because not only is his music kind of this weird, indie thing, but he recorded his first album one winter in his father's cabin in Wisconsin after he left North Carolina to recuperate from his band breaking up and relationship ending. He said: "I left North Carolina and went up there because I didn't know where else to go and I knew that I wanted to be alone and I knew that I wanted to be where it was cold." Gold.
Towers:
Though to me it's not as memorable as his first album that came out in 2008. One of our faves - I listened to it so much I should be embarrassed. Something about this song makes you feel like you should just cry:
This guy is hipster gold because not only is his music kind of this weird, indie thing, but he recorded his first album one winter in his father's cabin in Wisconsin after he left North Carolina to recuperate from his band breaking up and relationship ending. He said: "I left North Carolina and went up there because I didn't know where else to go and I knew that I wanted to be alone and I knew that I wanted to be where it was cold." Gold.
Kick Starter?
Some of you may have heard of this new website called kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com). For those of you who haven't I can explain. Kickstarter is a website where creative types can raise money for new projects. This isn't limited to just music, but can be applied to many different creative endeavors. For example, documentaries, design ideas, musical records, and the list goes on. The catch to raising money is that people pledge and if the goal is met the funds are pushed through. If the goal is not met no ones pledge is collected. It's pretty crazy how much money is being pledged and raised through this site. Projects can be any amount. I've seen projects range from $1,000 to $250,000. It's pretty amazing and crazy.
When I first heard about this I was really excited. I saw how people were getting their projects funded and paid for. It was great. It was more than great it was amazing. All you had to do was offer some sort of tier based return system. If you pledge $1 you get.... $10 you get... $25 you get... and so on. The website started getting all sorts of attention from people in Houston. I only really know of bands and songwriters who used it to fund projects, but people were really talking about it.
But then I started to think about it. Yes it is an amazing way to raise funds for a creative project or design idea etc. But, at the end of the day the burden of this project no longer falls on the shoulders of the artist and or creator, but on the shoulders of it's supporters/fans/network/whatever you want to call it. I think most artists would say that's why it's so great, but I tend to disagree. Not completely, but on a couple of levels.
First, what if you are a big fan of a certain songwriter or band and you have the ability to give $10 dollars so that they can make another record? Sounds great right? What if the record isn't any good? I guess you are willing to take that chance at $10 bucks right? What about $25 bucks? $50? $100? Over $1000?! and yes people are giving thousands if not more in some cases. I think at the end of the day the burden should fall on the artist.
Second, don't we have to work for what we get? At least it used to be that way in the days of our parents. I think we have turned into a society where anything goes and most things should go your way and be free at the same time. There is a huge sense of entitlement amongst our generation. People expect to live in a nice place with nice things and have a nice job that pays a lot of $. All the while basically doing nothing for it.
I don't know. On some levels I like it and some levels I don't. Honestly it's probably just some really douchey people on there that don't need the money and are getting all of their "fans" to pay for their lazy ass self centered lack of hard work.
Last thing. I have a studio. It's a creative endeavor. I could set a goal to make my studio better, bigger, higher quality, etc. I could offer all sorts of tiers as to what you could get from my studio. The difference is that the end product is up to the pledger instead of the artist/creator. But would you REALLY give money to that cause?
J
When I first heard about this I was really excited. I saw how people were getting their projects funded and paid for. It was great. It was more than great it was amazing. All you had to do was offer some sort of tier based return system. If you pledge $1 you get.... $10 you get... $25 you get... and so on. The website started getting all sorts of attention from people in Houston. I only really know of bands and songwriters who used it to fund projects, but people were really talking about it.
But then I started to think about it. Yes it is an amazing way to raise funds for a creative project or design idea etc. But, at the end of the day the burden of this project no longer falls on the shoulders of the artist and or creator, but on the shoulders of it's supporters/fans/network/whatever you want to call it. I think most artists would say that's why it's so great, but I tend to disagree. Not completely, but on a couple of levels.
First, what if you are a big fan of a certain songwriter or band and you have the ability to give $10 dollars so that they can make another record? Sounds great right? What if the record isn't any good? I guess you are willing to take that chance at $10 bucks right? What about $25 bucks? $50? $100? Over $1000?! and yes people are giving thousands if not more in some cases. I think at the end of the day the burden should fall on the artist.
Second, don't we have to work for what we get? At least it used to be that way in the days of our parents. I think we have turned into a society where anything goes and most things should go your way and be free at the same time. There is a huge sense of entitlement amongst our generation. People expect to live in a nice place with nice things and have a nice job that pays a lot of $. All the while basically doing nothing for it.
I don't know. On some levels I like it and some levels I don't. Honestly it's probably just some really douchey people on there that don't need the money and are getting all of their "fans" to pay for their lazy ass self centered lack of hard work.
Last thing. I have a studio. It's a creative endeavor. I could set a goal to make my studio better, bigger, higher quality, etc. I could offer all sorts of tiers as to what you could get from my studio. The difference is that the end product is up to the pledger instead of the artist/creator. But would you REALLY give money to that cause?
J
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Domestic Disturbance and Me
Interesting/Crazy story.
Tonight: Left house around 11:00 to meet my friend for a late movie. On my way a young girl steps out into the street waving her arms. My first thought was that she was joking, drunk, being stupid, etc. But, as I got closer I could see there was something wrong. I pulled over and rolled down the window. As she approached a young guy/boy came up behind her and tried to block her from talking to me. She said that this guy used to be her boyfriend and that he wouldn't leave her alone. She was a little hysterical and crying. She had a bike and wanted to ride home. I didn't know how serious it was and the boy was a little standoffish to me even though he was being loud and physical with her. When I would talk to her he would back away. He started to get more physical with her - pushing and grabbing pretty forcefully - which was pissing me off. I was worried so I told her to get on her bike and that I would follow her home. Selfishly I did this to protect myself first - I needed to asess the situation.
After she was on the bike for a bout 700 or so yards - I decided to pull over so I could put her bike in the back and drive her home. As I was pulling up the tailgate when I saw the young guy approaching on his little ghetto looking bike. This time it was more serious. She had not entered my car yet and so I walked over to the passenger side to let her in. The boy was yelling at her not to get in my car. After I put her in - I began to walk back to the driver side - I assumed she locked the door when she got in but the window was still down. As I walked around to my door he had unlocked the door and pulled her out - this was the point I got angry. All I did was raise my voice. I yelled "hey" which was just enough to get him to leave the girl alone. I walked towards him quickly and thankfully it took his attention off of the girl. I approached him and he pretended to have some sort of knife behind his back. Which of course he didn't grab or take out of a bag. He threatened to stab me. I was %80 sure he didn't have anything, but I didn't want to risk it. Then for some idiotic reason he got his phone out pretending to call the cops on me. (really? you're going to call the cops on me? right after threatening to stab me?) The girl was in the car and he wasn't trying to get her out this time. I got in the car and took her home.
It's crazy the things you think about though. Honestly, I was looking for something to use as a weapon. Most likely it would have been my tire iron. I really wanted to beat the shit out of this kid. You must be a complete coward to hit women. when I backtracked from taking her home - I went looking for him. Drove around and didn't find him. Lucky for him.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
I don't think my friends and I have enough tattoos to pull this off...
But look at how colorful and beautiful this wedding is (and read more here):
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
4 Years
Last week was our 4 year anniversary. Jay called me the morning of to gloat about how after 4 years, he finally knew exactly what to get me. So I spent the rest of the day telling a co-worker my guesses.
I was wrong. This is what he got me:
Six metal drawers for our lower kitchen cabinetry! This says 2 things about us. 1 - He does get me well enough now to know EXACTLY what to get me. 2 - There must be something very wrong with me.
[And I technically didn't get him anything. I just told him he could spend money on studio gear. My VP jokingly told me, "Honeymoon's over." It probably is - but I think it's much better than that now.]
I was wrong. This is what he got me:
Six metal drawers for our lower kitchen cabinetry! This says 2 things about us. 1 - He does get me well enough now to know EXACTLY what to get me. 2 - There must be something very wrong with me.
[And I technically didn't get him anything. I just told him he could spend money on studio gear. My VP jokingly told me, "Honeymoon's over." It probably is - but I think it's much better than that now.]
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Thank you Internet
The internet has come along way since AOL. The most interesting thing to date has been my ability to talk/connect with musicians and other working professionals in my industry so easily.
A couple of years ago I listened to a record called "Albertine" by Brooke Fraser. The record was great, but the drumming was incredible. I found out who tracked drums on the record and then using facebook of all things I tracked down the drummer. His name is Aaron Sterling. Since then I have had the opportunity and the privilege to correspond with Aaron quite a few times over online messages and then through a series of emails. He was very insightful and willing to give me some of his time and most recently he was nice enough to call me.
We talked about drumming, the industry, changes over the years, working as a drummer, LA, Nashville, etc. etc. He is currently tracking John Mayer's new record in NYC right now. The small connection I've had with him has been a blessing. It's a small thing for him, but a big thing for me.
The internet is amazing.
J
A couple of years ago I listened to a record called "Albertine" by Brooke Fraser. The record was great, but the drumming was incredible. I found out who tracked drums on the record and then using facebook of all things I tracked down the drummer. His name is Aaron Sterling. Since then I have had the opportunity and the privilege to correspond with Aaron quite a few times over online messages and then through a series of emails. He was very insightful and willing to give me some of his time and most recently he was nice enough to call me.
We talked about drumming, the industry, changes over the years, working as a drummer, LA, Nashville, etc. etc. He is currently tracking John Mayer's new record in NYC right now. The small connection I've had with him has been a blessing. It's a small thing for him, but a big thing for me.
The internet is amazing.
J
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
I Don't Really Like Movies...
Not like Jay does. But I do love documentaries! And I'd like to watch this one:
[Jay plays for this guy's sister and her husband. And they are wonderful.]
[Jay plays for this guy's sister and her husband. And they are wonderful.]
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Belong
I'm a bit particular about the art in our house. This really bothered Jay at first - he hated all the blank, empty walls. But my deal with art is that it should be meaningful in some way. I'm completely not a picture person, but I think what a lot of people do with pictures in their house is what I do with our art. So I like to either do it myself or know the person who did it, and I like for it to have a story that is significant to us in some way and represents our life at that moment in time.
Well we've just acquired a painting that fits all the criteria!
At the church we go to, there is a resident artist that paints during all the services. It's pretty incredible because he paints these in just over an hour and does it 5 times per weekend for each service (the five are usually similar with slight variations). Jay has asked him a few times if we could buy one of the pieces he's done during a service, but it never works out. Well 2 Sundays ago, I really liked his painting. So I asked him if we could buy it (he usually sells them for $250 I think), and he straight up gave it to me! It's now in our living room.
In addition to the message behind the painting and Scott's awesome artistic style, another thing I love about what he does is that he painted it on a cheap piece of 4'x3' particle board that's maybe 1/4" thick. Somehow that makes it more accessible to me. We decided to mount it to a 1x3 frame to give it some more substance. Here we are building said frame in our living room (this is the project that actually led us to buying the nail gun).
And since I'm never in a hurry and tend to have a long-term vision, I see this as having 2 friends in the future to really fill up the wall. See?
Well we've just acquired a painting that fits all the criteria!
At the church we go to, there is a resident artist that paints during all the services. It's pretty incredible because he paints these in just over an hour and does it 5 times per weekend for each service (the five are usually similar with slight variations). Jay has asked him a few times if we could buy one of the pieces he's done during a service, but it never works out. Well 2 Sundays ago, I really liked his painting. So I asked him if we could buy it (he usually sells them for $250 I think), and he straight up gave it to me! It's now in our living room.
In addition to the message behind the painting and Scott's awesome artistic style, another thing I love about what he does is that he painted it on a cheap piece of 4'x3' particle board that's maybe 1/4" thick. Somehow that makes it more accessible to me. We decided to mount it to a 1x3 frame to give it some more substance. Here we are building said frame in our living room (this is the project that actually led us to buying the nail gun).
And since I'm never in a hurry and tend to have a long-term vision, I see this as having 2 friends in the future to really fill up the wall. See?
Monday, May 16, 2011
Small Laundry Room Projects
Sometimes it's the small things in life...
We've just added 3 small, cheap organizational things to our small laundry room, and it makes me so happy. I just really really like for things to look nice and for everything to have a little spot to go home to.
First, a wall-mounted thingy I got at Lowe's to hold brooms, mops, etc:
Second, a screen thing to hide the water heater (these were actually already in our house from the previous owner, and it seemed like a good use for one - we've got 2 more):
And finally, a little drying rack we got at Ikea. This is my attempt at a panoramic to show where things are in relation to each other:
Jay's got some big ideas for the laundry room. We just bought a nail gun (!), and he's more open to projects when he's got new tools to try out.
We've just added 3 small, cheap organizational things to our small laundry room, and it makes me so happy. I just really really like for things to look nice and for everything to have a little spot to go home to.
First, a wall-mounted thingy I got at Lowe's to hold brooms, mops, etc:
Second, a screen thing to hide the water heater (these were actually already in our house from the previous owner, and it seemed like a good use for one - we've got 2 more):
And finally, a little drying rack we got at Ikea. This is my attempt at a panoramic to show where things are in relation to each other:
Jay's got some big ideas for the laundry room. We just bought a nail gun (!), and he's more open to projects when he's got new tools to try out.
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