My Foster Kid

Sinya!

The gallery and I myself donate money to the amazing David Sheldrick Wildlike Trust. They have an elephant sanctuary near Nairobi in Kenya, including an orphaned elephant nursery. A a result of donating a certain amount of money I was given a certificate that stated I was a foster parent to this little darling, Sinya, who's had a pretty rough time of it, but is now in caring hands.
I occasionally get a little shit for being so nerdly "into" elephants, but I can't help myself. I adore all creatures, but elephants are seriously wondrous creatures, majestic, powerful, very intelligent, and kind (unless you cross them). I first became involved with elephants starting with the fantastic Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee as well as trying to get a local zoo elephant named Bamboo transferred to that sameSanctuary a few years ago. That was sparked off when I watched a documentary about them on TV. In the show, a baby elephant had just seen its entire family killed by poachers, and it was running in terror through the brush alone, tears (yes, I said tears) streaming down its face. The wild desperation and fear emanating from this little creature was so palatable I could almost taste it through the TV. That terrible moment etched itself into my heart and that was it. I started to do a little research on them and have found nothing but wonder and amazement and terrible sorrow for the state they are in, both from being poached like CRAZY, to being confined in teeny zoos that have no clue or care as to take care of them best, not to mention the disgusting spectacle of circuses.
The funny thing is, as devoted as I am to them, I have never seen a wild elephant, nor ever touched one. I hope I can change that soon. (And goes to show that not all TV is a bad thing!)
The other thing I'll say about my involvement in this cause is that while I've gotten to do some pretty amazing things in my life, to me, being able to give money to these people for the elephants was one of the things that gives me the most joy. It's highly rewarding to give the finger in whatever way you can to people who plunder the earth.


And no, I don't collect elephant figurines.

Hey Kids! Remember the 80's?

So I was a teenager in the 80's. I was obsessed with anything counter-cultural and weird, and adored anyone who looked like a new wave/avant-garde freak (ok, ok, I still do). Because I was too young to go do anything interesting I spent a lot of time renting and watching movies from the "cult" section of the video store. One of my favorites was Liquid Sky, a really terrible yet also kinda awesome flick about a drugged up androgynous model who communicated with space aliens, who fed off her endorphins released during sex, which ended up murdering her seedy partners of various sexes. I'm not sure why I was able to rent this when I was 14, but anyway...revel in the fabulous new wave cheesy glamour:

Great Moments in Cool Part 1

Bo Diddley, 1966.



You're welcome.

A Good Car Commercial

One thing I hate with extreme prejudice is car commercials. God I hate them. Whether it's the sexed up chicks trying to sell you on how "peppy" the car handles in traffic (barf) or asking if your car turns YOU on (really?), to the shots of the dealerships where the "dealers" are running around like chickens with their heads cut off only to breathlessly stop and blurt out whatever they are extorting to the camera and then run off because so many people are buying their cars omg! - they completely annoy me with how horrible they are. Especially the "This Is 'Merica" ones. Completely tacky.
THIS however, is a fine car commercial.


via Neatorama

Dial "L" For Low

Sometimes you have to set aside all that high falutin' art business and ask yourself...is THIS the greatest music video ever made?



The answer is: Word.
Word up.

They Unblinded Me With Science

Last Saturday I had lasik surgery to correct my vision. I can see close up, but was unable to see far very well (hardly at all). I could not wear contacts and hated wearing glasses so I got over the fear of having lasers slice my eyeballs open and went for it. The actual surgery kinda sucks, but only lasts a few minutes. Afterwards I took a second valium because my eyes hurt so badly that it was making me cry. That second dose made me start tripping and I thought I was in a carnival land made of drippy candle wax-like mud. (I'm SURE there is a painting of that SOMEWHERE) After I woke up that evening I could see! And I see GREAT now- it's astonishing. The only downside is that I look like a zombie from 28 Days Later since the surgery made my eyes turn red. I thought I'd share the beauty of my ruptured eye whites. Bon appetite!