Happy sleep, mind you. Though, as always, I didn’t get to see every panel or every attending friend that I wanted to, this was one of the best Cons ever for me. In part because I got to meet a ton of shifty internet types I’d been in orbit with over the past few years, in part because I finally managed to make it to all the parties I’d missed in the past, in part because Ales came, too, and had in implausibly productive time. Also because the Sheraton’s beds are among the most comfortable I’ve ever slept on.

DISCLAIMER: hair is much shorter now

So, despite the exhaustion and the back in knots thanks to a particularly unwieldy zoom lens and that remarkable Con smell, I had a good time. I also shot a ton of photos for Chinashop, most of which are now up in conjunction with posts by staff writer Jeff Nau.

1. TRON: Legacy panel and booth

The panel was incredibly difficult to get into, but I managed to sneak in, using both my charm and my laser machete. 3D glasses were handed out at the doors, tons of clips were show, Jeff Bridges talked about the importance of recycling, and a few sound-clips were recorded using the voices of the audience. As a bonus, Guillermo Del Toro made a surprise appearance toward the end. Click here to see more.

2. Creepy resurrection signing at the Dark Horse booth

Creepy is back! This was fun to shoot, and I got to chat with artists Dennis Calero and Rahsan Ekedal. Click here to see the gallery and rejoice.

3. Geek Girls Panel

From the program:

Kristin Rielly (Geek Girls Network) leads a discussion about growing up geek, turning passions into careers, and who shot first. Representing the many awesome aspects of the geek culture, panelists Morgan Romine (The Frag Dolls), Bonnie Burton (The Star Wars Craft Book), Marian Call (singer/songwriter), Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory), Jill Pantozzi (Has Boobs Reads Comics blog), Veronica Belmont (Qore), Kari Byron (MythBusters), and Kiala Kazebee (GeekWeek.com) school you on what it means to be a real geeky girl and even make you LOL IRL.

Click here for MOAR.

4. Yo, Gabba Gabba! Panel and Dance-Off

The cutest thing at the entire Con, complete with a dance contest, tribute paid to influences, and hilarious Q&A. More right this way.

5. Grant Morrison and Usagi Ujimbo’s Stan Sakai

Not really sure how these two made it into the same post but HEY. That’s what Con is all about! Besides, a samurai bunny can totally be a transsexual shaman’s vision. And vice versa.

6. Artists’ advice on making it, with shotsof V for Vendetta’s David Lloid and Tony Millionaire

A mixed bag of Jeff Nau’s Con experiences and advice to aspiring comics artists, with a collection of images by yours truly. Check it!

7. Moody Mondays: Ben Templesmith

The man behind Squid Girls names his top 5 songs for when he’s feeling moody. Now with youtubes!

It’s that special time again, when we pack extra rations of vitamin C, deodorant, surgical masks, and hand sanitizer in preparation for San Diego’s ComicCon. It seems like only yesterday I stood in the Avatar Press booth with my Coilhouse cohorts, signing Coilhouse 03. This time around, we’ll be selling and signing copies of Issue 05,and displaying all of our back issues, too. Come say hello on Saturday morning, from 11am to 12pm at the Weta Workshop booth.

Micron and me in our home environment, from the Coilhouse 05 editors’ portrait by R. Stevens

In addition to reppin’ Coilhouse on Saturday morning, I’ll be around for the duration of the Con, shooting event coverage for Chinashop. I trust you to behave if we run into each other.

And speaking of Chinashop, I haven’t returned from NYC empty-handed! My words and Kate Black’s photos of the Master and Margarita Dr. Sketchy’s are here:

Click the jump at the end of this post for some of my favorite sketches from the night. If you were there and have sketches to share, post them in the comments, please.

Also during this trip, which, by the way, turned out to be my favorite New York trip yet, I finally got to visit the strange and fascinating Coney Island.

There, Molly and I gorged on deep-fried things, admired decaying amusements, rode the Wonder Wheel and made friends, and I took many, many pictures of our expedition. Click below to see:

There are tons more photos and thoughts about the trip, but that’s for another day. Now, naptime!

By Campatron Design:

By Kristin Chiappone:

I believe the above image accurately sums up our NYC stay so far. Ales and I have been staying at Molly Crabapple and Fred Harper‘s bohemian wonderland of a studio, going on extensive walks through the city and exploring the ever-unfolding aspects of this place. Ales is already trying to build a case for moving here, to which I respond with approval of NYC as a winter residence. The scorching, humid summers however? No thank you, no sir.

Despite the constant battle against the spiteful elements, it’s been a beautiful trip. I’ve met so, so many excellent people, and got to catch up with old friends, too. We’ve walked through night-time Chelsea and sipped mint iced tea in Williamsburg, consumed incredible steaks at Dumont and art at Joshua Liner and Last Rites galleries, inhaled raspberry hookah smoke and looted CB’s I Hate Perfume gallery. I even had my parachute dress soiled by an angry ice cream man with a neck tattoo! It’s safe to say this trip is a sensory feast.

I also touched Molly’s reverse mermaid inappropriately.

Today, we’re moving camp to Samantha‘s, whom I’ve missed sorely since her move back to New York from LA. Which reminds me that it’s time to scrub off last night’s glitter and get to it. Four more days!

After a weekend of intense Coilhouse meetings and signing one thousand copies of Issue 05 with my esteemed co-editors Nadya and Mer, yesterday was for the chill things in life: a hike to the dog park, a trip to our favorite Korean BBQ place and watching Videodrome to the sound of exploding fireworks outside. Catching a redeye on Wednesday night to land in NYC at 6am the following morning. I’ve been there a handful of times, but, of course, there is always more to discover. I’ll leave the rest of this Photo Flurry light on words, except one pressing question:

What are your favorite things to do in New York City?

Please leave your answers in the comments section! Now, on to the photos.

The last of the Dark Arts Festival adventure coverage is now up on Chinashop. In gallery 04, we discover the dark art of cake-eating — unlike anything I’d ever seen. Click the graphic to read all about it.

Gallery 05 is my favorite of all, and documents the drive itself. I even did my own captions for this one, and it has over 80 images. Roadside stimulants, open road, and the omnipresent Big Boy Burger mascot [rivaled only by the Bun Boy].

The 800 thread count sheets my mom gifted us for our first wedding anniversary

Micron’s towering behind

Eggs over easy with Kalonji seed and black truffle salt

Pasta and Brussels sprouts salad with Parmesan and cracked black pepper

Me, ready for a jog. And a jig.

Some of my favorite humans and dog

Fat stack of Coilhouse

Pretty

Why, hello tharr. It feels like I haven’t written here in ages, and I do apologize. Work and unpacking have been usurping much of my time and I’ve neglected Biorequiem and Coilhouse and almost everyone I know, too. Part XTREEM busyness, part XTREEM burnout. However, the house is about two days from 100% unpacked and all manner of exciting things are afoot, so your pilot is coming back in effect.

1. Coilhouse issue 05 is almost out! We’ve revealed the cover and ask you to sign up for our Mailing List to be sure you don’t miss out when the issue goes on sale.

2. In my previous post, I promised that I would be documenting my trip to Salt Lake City, where I drove with Clint Catalyst and Paris Sadonis to wreak artsy havoc on unsuspecting Dark Arts Festival attendees. As it was told, so it shall be done. Three of my five scheduled Chinashop posts are up and ready for viewing*. First up: Ten Years of Dark Arts in Salt Lake City, an introduction to DAF and tons of pictures.

Second, a most disturbing Mummy-Wrapping Contest, where I expect to see everything from live evisceration to bondage, yet end up seeing something else altogether.

Last, but most certainly not least, an Impromptu Fashion Show at Deseret Industries, a Mormon-owned thrift shop where we got away with being rowdy, sleep-deprived monkeys for over an hour with no repercussions.

Next time I’ll show a few photos and maybe even a video from our Butoh-inspired performance at the festival. And there are two more galleries to come! A hilarious cake-eating contest and perhaps the most hilarious post of all – an epic [actually epic] gallery and tale of the drive there and back again, complete with further overcaffeination and sleep deprivation, Clint scandalizing Subway employees in the middle of nowhere with breakdance moves, me taking pictures of and with things that say “Beaver” on them, and curious truck stop finds galore. A preview:

*Be advised I didn’t write the image captions in the Chinashop galleries. They keep telling me that as long as I don’t write my own I have to submit to the will of the Chinashop captions guy. Look, I know I should probably write them, but can you imagine how long that would take? Also, this way I don’t have to be embarrassed because of my wit deteriorating after writing 30 to 40 captions per post. You understand.

We have arrived. More or less. There are still some things to be put into storage or brought here at the old apartment, but the Big Scary U-haul Move is over and done.

Last night, after many hours of boxing, moving, stairs and sweat, we laid our mattress on the floor, covered our new windows with blankets and celebrated with Frighteners, Mexican Coke, Champagne and raspberry-filled chocolate. We only made it through 30 minutes of the movie, but it matters not. We’re home.

It’s all an unmarked box maze for now, but today is going to be the first day of rest since we decided to move. I’d be shocked to find a single muscle in my body that isn’t tired and screaming. So today, we’ll venture out for groceries and I may try to locate my toiletries and underwear, but there will be no major unpacking until tomorrow.

We couldn’t have made the move without the help of our awesome friends, so big, squishy THANK YOUS go out to Ginny, Kevin The Intrepid U-haul master, Gretta, Matt, Courtney, Katie, Annah, Josh, Daniel, Chris, Jhonen, and Q. You’re all amazing and I’m looking forward to inviting you to our first BBQ deck soiree.

We’re thrilled about exploring the new neighborhood and Micron is thrilled about making friends with our landlord’s border collie, but for now the empty fridge demands fulfillment, so I take my leave.

How to Paint a Two-bedroom House in 24 Hours…

…Is a post I would write if at least half of my normal brain activity was in effect. Since that’s not the case, allow me to instead plop these here photos on your screen, say “I can’t believe we Duddits!”, and attempt to soak the throbbing pain away in a bath of herbs and Jojoba oil. Also, I know the following picture is crooked and I’ll try to take it again when I can hold anything steady.

This is what you see when standing at the end of the little hallway between the bedroom and the rest of the house.

That’s the gold bathroom, right next to the lilac and lavender bedroom.

Here be the sea-foam and coral kitchen, ready for hawtt cooking action.

The black cherry and deep sea-foam workroom, and a little piece of the mustard green living room, plus a view of the bedroom from the deck.

The silver bathroom. Thus concludes our mini-tour.

I can’t feel my legs.

Realistically, I shouldn’t even be typing right now, considering how tired I am, but I GOTTA. You see, Relocation 2010 is well underway now, with the soon-to-be-former Shadow Gallery about 2/3rds packed, and looking like this:

It’s still difficult to wrap my mind around it, but after today’s labors I’m even more ready and PUMPED to move on. I’ve packed about twelve massive boxes so far, we’ve settled on eleven colors after picking from the below samples, and the ordination of our new home is now well underway.

Earlier today, a merry, precarious paint and supply pile in the back of the ol’ spacebucket:

New master bedroom has a tiled floor and little ledge along two walls. This ledge and one of the walls are now a deep lilac, with the rest of the walls to be a dusty lavender as of tomorrow. Explanatory smears of the lavender in the shot below.

Moving into a new place calls for some form of initiation. A house built in the 1920s calls for a little extra. I’m grateful for such wonderful and understanding friends, who not only offered their helping hands, but didn’t seem to mind waiting while we smoked the place up with sage and sprayed every nook, crack and corner with lavender and frankincense oil. Man, it smells good in there.

Below, Ales sprays Ginny and Kevin in an attempt at a quickie exorcism. Also below, our mustard yellow living room and eggplant fireplace, after one coat of paint.

When some form of normalcy resumes, I’ll write up a how-to on painting, whether you’re transforming a house or a room. Meanwhile, here is our handsome paintcrew, gloating and enjoying a break of pesto-ricotta-shrimp pizza and beer.

Now off to pass out, so I can do it all over again in the morning. Aww yeahh!

‘Suup! I’m dedicating today to learning new visualization techniques. There is a lot of exciting stuff in motion, and the next couple of months are going to be a beautiful tornado of activity, travel and, oh shneep, most likely moving in the midst of it all. As such, extra helpings of level-headed tranquility and organization are in order. Hence today’s plans. Here’s what’s going down.

June

MOVING

Unless something goes horribly wrong, in the next 24 hours Ales and I will be signing a lease for a little amethyst house nestled on a hillside in Echo Park. It’s magic.

Naturally, preliminary painting plans are in place, albeit a little prematurely. Here is what we hope to do with the place, assuming our Feng Shui adviser approves. Ales’ mother studied the art for ten years and is a seasoned interior decorator, so we shan’t spill a drop of paint until she gives the go-ahead.

If you’re in LA and have spare boxes, I’ll be most grateful, because literally the moment the lease is signed we’re going to start packing. You see, the move must be swift, because…

DARK ARTS FESTIVAL

In the second week of June, I’ll be hitting the road to make an appearance on the 11th at the Dark Arts Festival in Salt Lake City with a certain Clint Catalyst and Paris Sadonis. I haven’t taken a road trip in ages, and even though this one will be brief, I’m very much looking forward to the drive. Will be documenting everything. EVERYTHING. Details to come.

Photo-break

RECENT FOODS

1. Breakfast of soft-boiled eggs, sliced tomato and French cheese
2. Maple bacon-wrapped garlic and rosemary pork roast, about to be cooked. FUCK this is good, and here is the recipe.
3. Sesame oil scrambled eggs with crackers topped with chipotle hummus

RECENT TUBS

Right. So! Here is what’s happening immediately after Salt Lake City.

E3

Sawa and I will be shooting Suicidegirls and guests at the APB booth in the South Meeting Hall of the LA Convention Center. This is going to be quite an undertaking, as we’ll be at the booth all day, every day of the convention. Then…

July

NYC

Ales and I are heading to NYC, 8th through the 14th. On July 10 we’ll be posing for a very special Doctor Sketchy as Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. It’s a Devil in Moscow Sketchy’s, so be there or be damned for all eternity.

On the 12th I’ll finally be getting my back tattoo finished by the incomparable Tim Kern. Those are the only in-stone plans as of this moment, and more slowly brewing. Very much looking forward to squishing my East coast peeps.

COMIC CON

Ales and I will make our annual pilgrimage to San Diego. I’ll be covering all sorts of fun stuff for Chinashop, while Ales zooms around taking care of bidness.

I love Poladroid so very much. Here is my head:

So that’s my grand 2-month battle plan, as I see it. I also want to shoot more, draw more, Coilhouse more, spend more time with Ales, read more [currently reading A Rebours, as it's perfect for moving time], blog more, travel more, and spend more time doing nothing at all. Doable, right?

…Right?

What’s your plan?

Adorable spirit guides to ensure that your week is a success.

A photo essay to gently guide you into the weekend.

Visual nutrition. Feed your eyeballs.

One of the most beautiful deserts of my life thus far: sticky rice layered w/violet taro and coconut creme. Pale, velvety alien eggs.

Nails in hair

Nuclear sky over Culver City

New addition to my 36FAIL project

1. Gaze into Micron’s eyes.
2. She wants to inform you that your weekend will be made of pure win.
3. Resistance is futile.

Aaand now I go, leaving you with a new, 5-day-migraine-inspired addition to the 365 project. Until Monday, when Ales and I unleash something new and terrible upon you.

Photo is hypersaturated. In reality, my hair is approaching the pale dusty violet over gray+cobalt+amethyst+black that I asked for at a salon last month. They failed to deliver. I took matters into my own hands.

Thought about getting all lady-like on you and writing a long post about this celebration and what it meant to us, but I think I’m going to keep it to myself, instead. Suffice to say this was one of the most dazzling, decadent, and heartening nights of my life. Friends gathered from all over California to celebrate, surrounded by sparkling shades of black, creme and gray, dipped in candle light. Paper-thin petals, plastic diamond raindrops, Russian food and visuals by Tarkovsky.

This post is dedicated to the scrupulous, glorious details.

THE INVITATIONS

Our invitation process consisted of two parts. First, we sent out hand-typed letters, which included dog tags with our names and the celebration date:

The text reads:

CLASSIFIED

Procedure: Molecular Fusion
Subject 1: Zoetica Ebb
Subject 2: Ales Kot
Outcome: Positive

ENORMOUS VICTORY FOR SCIENCE
CELEBRATION TO BE HELD MARCH 27, 2010
YOUR PRESENCE IMPERATIVE

Second, once we realized that half of our mailed invitations were damaged or lost in the mail, an email blast went out with party details and the following graphic:

The image is comprised of our combined hand prints.

THE RINGS

Our rings were custom sculpted and cast for us by Shane Case, a talented jewelry artist based in San Francisco. We wanted heavy-duty silver, textured to look like something between between flesh and bark, with sigils carved inside, all of which Shane executed to perfection. Yes, he takes commissions!

THE DRESS

Courtney’s gorgeous and generous wedding gift, the parachute gown from AllSaints.

THE HEAD

Did my my own makeup, natürlich. Sugarpill on the eyes and cheeks!  Styled the hair myself, too, and the color is by Sirens Salon in Hollywood, whom I do not recommend if you know exactly what you want, but do recommend if you want to just leave with your hair looking cool, regardless of what you actually asked for.

This was before I sprayed myself with glitter head to toe, and stuck a few branches in my hair.

THE DECORATIONS

We stayed with a consistent look throughout everything involving the party, the theme being Winter’s End. A large television plaid Tarkovsky’s Stalker and Nostalghia, and later, the Quays’ Institut Benjamenta. The gorgeous 1920s space where the event was held was bedecked in twine, tinsel, dried flowers, bare tree branches, mirrors, roughly a ton of plastic diamonds [these represented rain and dew-drops] and small photos of the fateful carnage that ensued when we first physically, er, met in Paris last April. And white candles, everywhere.

THE FOODZ

We didn’t mess with catering, and instead placed a large order with Traktir, our favorite Russian restaurant in town. On the menu:

• red caviar and bliny
• chicken-stuffed blintzes, served with porcini mushroom wine sauce
• two kinds of salad, made by mom
• herring with potatoes
• potato vereniki [dumplings stuffed with potato]
• pelmeni [meat filled dumplings, served with sour cream]
• lamb kebab
• tons of fresh fruit
• two kinds of cake – cranberry + buttercream and chocolate + chocolate buttercream
• blackcurrant, peach and cherry nectars, and plenty of water and alcohol, including a few bottles of red and white, with these labels:

The celebration itself was exactly that, a celebration. A second, public ceremony didn’t make sense, considering how private we consider the act itself. It’s likely that I’m forgetting something, but this mostly covers the technical aspects. Ooof! For photos from the party, click this:

This is what my never-ending 365 project is reduced to at the moment, for the most part. That’s because I’ve been reading and drawing and, by Da Vinci’s nuts, even painting!

That’s not the big news of the day, however. Today on Coilhouse, we are revealing several major developments, among them our brand new media kit, a dropped in-store price, tripled distribution, and working with Last Gasp to bring Coilhouse Magazine to more independent stores than ever before. Mhmm, we’re rather thrilled. Read about all the impending excitement here, especially if you’re a small business owner who’s been thinking about advertising with us.

Download the media kit here!

As for me, in recent days I’ve been enjoying a withdrawn, cocooned state, oscillating between moments of hyper-productivity and extreme hibernation. Feeding my brain, collecting data – all those things essential to the creative process. The flurry below is a few odds and ends from the past week or two. More to come next week.

Blackberry/strawberry shakes [+soy milk + honey].

Eggs nested in kale, made from a simplified version of this recipe – amazing.

Milk tea, eggs scrambled with sesame oil, anise crackers with chipotle hummus.

One of my stickers, proudly decorating someone’s hard drive

Ales and an adorable beast.

First things first. Ales and I thank you for all the wonderful, warm wishes and wedding congratulations. We’ve been going back and reading though the announcement‘s comments and, well, you guys are the best.

Second, it turns out I have no time to write this week either! D’oh. However! I have stuck to my Spartan Resolution, donated two massive bags of clothes to Goodwill, and am beginning to list stuff on Ebay in an effort to rid myself of Too Many Clothes.  Tons of really nice things at ridiculous, rock-bottom prices, because I want this stuff out of my apartment, NOW.

And third!

Me and Clint had the big fun at the Gen Art Alumni Celebration that kicked off LA’s Fashion Week, and the evidence is up over at Chinashop.

And last, but certainly not least, I have new hair. More or less. Of course it’s still blue, but now with streaks and varying color chunks throughout – wanted lighter hair for the summer. Actually, I asked for dusty, subdued colors but I ain’t gonna complain about mermaid hair. It will fade and I’ll do dusty the next round. Also, the photo below is a little on the dark side.

In the mix: azure, cerulean, sapphire, onyx, silver. This jewel-toned concoction took five hours to achieve and hell no, I didn’t do it myself. The ladies at Sirens salon on Melrose are to blame. How am I going to maintain it? No idea, but it will be fun to try!

I’m going to be taking a little internet vacation next week, which should explain the numerous updates this week. As much of a vacation as possible to take in the midst of magazine production, of course. This flurry has a few odds and ends from the past week or two, but first! A mini-rant.

I just watched James Ivory’s and Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The White Countess” – a film about displacement as much as a film about a Russian countess in exile, forced into taxi dancing by circumstance in 1930s Shanghai. I generally really liked it, but does anyone have any clue as to why directors insist on casting non-Russians to play Russians, badly?

The lead, Natasha Richardson, is actually great, but her entire on-screen family pains me with their verging-on-British-accents and inability to even properly pronounce each others Russian names. Dignity, people! I found myself actually cringing. It’s not that I don’t believe in a good actor’s capacity to play an array of nationalities [example - in the very same film one of my all-time favorites, Ralph Fiennes, plays an American, seamlessly], but when they clearly can’t, why insult your audience by sacrificing authenticity in favor of bigger names?

Another case in point: “Eastern Promises“.  UGH. I love Viggo and think he did a good job but the supporting cast. Whyeeee! If, as a director, you love certain actors and deeply need them to play Russians, please, for the love of fuck, have a herd of angry Russians coach them. Put them through Russian boot camp. Make them UNDERSTAND.

For the Motherlaaaand!

Anyhow! I am now out of word-juice, so I trust you to peruse the photos below, and make of them what you will.

The lovely Suzy, a photographer from Germany, just got her Centipede tattoo finished. It’s her second one of my drawings, the first being, Up Here, We Breathe What We Can

Ales made us this dinner recently. Beet plus a potato with butter-sauteed red onion and sour cream.

Ales also went through a lot of trouble to present me with this delicacy platter after a twelve-hour workday. I needed it.

No glamorous, serious shoot is complete without the test shots.

You feel me?

A huge box from miss Molly Crabapple arrived with this note and a sixteen massive wine glasses inside.

Mer is amazing. This is one of my prized possessions now.

<3

Art of Bleeding is a performance art troupe dedicated to warping its audience, one pseudo-medical extravaganza at a time. With former Cacophony Society leader Rev. Al Ridenour as its intrepid founder, AoB are notorious for their multi-media shows featuring a  real ambulance, injured “patients” ensnared by medical equipment, fetish nurses ready to ambush attendees, traumatic video projections, and of course, puppets. I’ve been dying to witness this madness for myself ever since seeing the act described as a “paramedical funhouse”, and on Saturday, I finally got my wish. Read more and see the rest of the gallery here.

My favorite place in the known universe, to date, is The Edison. I know I mention it all the time, but in all my travels I have yet to find a venue quite this extraordinary.

I just had the pleasure of introducing my long-time friend Ross to the splendor, and partaking of the legendary Electric Squid once again. A few of Edison’s notoriously potent cocktails made appearances, too, most notably the Anejo Old-Fashioned. It was early on a weekday, and therefore fairly empty – just the way I like it. Unfortunately, even a place like this has to make money, so weekends here are near-unbearable, with pungent, over-cologned yuppie types flooding the floors and lazily ignoring the dress code. But during the week, the atmosphere is precisely what it should be – majestic and mysterious, instead of matter-of-factly.

Somehow, I got my camera past the doorman to sneak a few more photos of what my dream lair looks like. Enjoy the Flurry, below.

Through the mirror, into the forest of light.

The Edison is worthy of Fluevogs and Vivienne Westwood socks.

Ross takes in the new environment.

I wish this was functional. Not that I could play it without making ears bleed – I just want to hear its voice.

Let’s play a little catch-up, shall we? I’ve had these files on my desktop for days and, in some cases, weeks. Prepare for hawtt non sequitur akshun.

First up, some satisfied customers. A bunch of the peeps who bought my stickers took pictures. If you have photos with my wares, send them over and I’ll post them here, in due time. If you don’t have any of my wares yet, head on down to the shop and get you some!

And here we have a couple of photos from TheDaniel‘s birthday party at Oiwake karaoke bar in LA’s Little Tokyo district. Please note the dark overlord to my right. I believe he is shooting pure evil straight from his eye sockets.

It was in the best interests of the party that I didn’t sing, but I did take part in a robot back-up dance, while Daniel and Ales performed Devo’s Whip It. Apparently my top is too short for those pants, even with the suspenders. Pft.

I’m not sure who sent me this, but here is Coilhouse, somewhere in New Zealand, I believe!

Stuntkid and I did an art trade some months ago – I gave him my original Frog Prince drawing, known to the world as Inspire, in Coilhouse 04.

On SG, I am known as the Ass Master, and here is why.

One of my Facebook friends posted this on my page. It’s MSI’s video for Shut Me Up, directed by my friend and pig, Jhonen Vasquez a few years back. It stars my once-roommate Josh [also recently featured on Coilhouse], and I was the key make up artist. I was also one or two of the zombie shoppers in the background [see stills below]. Possibly the most fun I’ve ever had on set.

Photos of me actually putting makeup on Josh are on an old hard drive, but! Here is me making an ass of myself on set. I was platinum blond at the time and the “normal” wig + pallid shopper makeup were extra-hilarious in comparison.

A couple more images by Cherry from the Induced Epidemics opening. The photo at the bottom does a fine job of showcasing my cowl-hood.

Jason snapped this at a bar in Studio City. Nyarrf! Some news regarding this are not too far off.

And finally, my collaboration with Taslimur and Jessica Rowell ended up on a cover. Check it:

Now I must flee to shoot a hot girl and work on Coilhouse 05, so that’s all there is time for today. Stay tuned for new editions of Style Dispatch and Blush Response, soon.

It was like that when we sliced it open.

The Master Cleanse is over as of last Saturday. Ales and I stuck to it for our pre-determined trial period of five days. I have to say that I liked it and will definitely be doing it again, but was a little underwhelmed. Since I lead a fairly healthy lifestyle anyhow, there was no dramatic catharsis. There was no promised euphoria, either, and I spent the week operating at half-power which is the last thing I want when there are Things To Be Done. On the flipside, I felt far more relaxed than usual, and my sense of smell and sense of hearing improved significantly for the duration of the experiment. By the end of it all I was like the wolf, senses sharp and claws ready for FLESH. My conclusion: do it again, longer, no work. I suspect that the cleanse could be extremely beneficial when I have a bit of time to focus on myself and my surroundings instead of work, so that’s what I’m going to do in a few months.

This is a photo of my avocado shake. There are few things I love more than half of an avocado splashed with soy milk and honey and blended to frothy perfection. Breakfast of the gods, perfect for a power-punch before my morning workout.

Fence ghosts on Melrose Avenue, Valentine’s day.  I was on assignment from Chinashop and Ales joined me. I finally had a chance to introduce him to the magic of M Cafe, my favorite macrobiotic foodery in town. Which brings us to:

When we set out on Sunday morning, I was skeptical. My mission was to capture the spirit of Melrose Avenue – for me, a place filled with stubborn coming-of-age memories.  I still remember my first experience with that stretch of shops and concrete.

It was 1996, and I gothed the fuck up to pay my first ever visit to Retail Slut and buy purple hair dye for a touch up. I was so racked with anxiety, I’m not sure how I made it through the door. The shop, and the street itself, was once a mecca of all things cool and alt, and I felt a tinge of reverence when I first approached them.

Many years later, I ended up dating someone who worked at Retail Slut, working in another shop on the strip, and effectively becoming one of the salesgirls who used to intimidate the teenage me during shopping trips. Though my slightly elevated status in the subcultural food chain was amusing and I got to look at Lip Service and Illig catalogs before most mere mortals, my view of Melrose was significantly tarnished.

So, on Sunday, I was skeptical.

It was Valentine’s day – as I understand it, the celebration primarily belonging to chocolate, postcard, and flower companies, when they hold a midnight mass and chant over a massive bag of bloody recession money. Many Melrose shops also paid tribute to the gods of finance by bedecking their windows in red hears, balloons and tinsel, and dressing up mannequins in extra flirty party getups. Ten years ago, things would have been different.

Read the rest and browse my massive gallery from that day, on Chinashop. And that gallery really is massive, because we ended up spending three hours wandering the strip, talking to shop owners and sampling local delicacies.  A few samples below.

The campaign, started in early ’90s, struck out against the “she asked for it” mentality.  With a series of television commercials and stark black and white images with the campaign slogan on them, This Is Not An Invitation To Rape Me dispelled misconceptions of women “provoking” acts of sexual assault and confronted rape within family relationships.

When one of the campaign founders, Charles Hall, approached me about being part of an photography exhibit dedicated to this powerful message I was thrilled and honored. Four of my photos along with many others, including my good friend Lou O’Bedlam a.k.a Lou Noble, will be on display this coming Thursday. Please visit the official show website here.

Fox Art Gallery is located at:
Lower level of Logan Hall on the Penn campus at
249 South 36th Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19104

___________________________________________________________________

P.S. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Charles in a two-hour Skype meeting to discuss the campaign and my photo selection for the show. Ever since I first saw the campaign images, I was aware of the absence of male and transgendered victims, as well as same-sex rape situations. Noticeably, all of my images chosen for the show were of women, too. So, since this Skype meeting was my “chance”, I brought it up because I felt it was the campaign’s responsibility to give these scenarios exposure.

The This is Not an Invitation to Rape Me FAQ states that they set out to tackle the most common stereotype, but I thought that without addressing the full scope of the issue they were reinforcing a few stereotypes themselves. Of course it turned out I wasn’t the only one to ever mention this, and, fortunately, Charles was open to talking about it. As a result, some of the featured photographers were asked to submit work addressing a wider scope of subjects – I’ll post mine here after the reception. I sincerely hope that this important campaign will expand its range in the coming years.

Starting on Saturday,  Ales and I embarked on the notorious Master Cleanse. The MC’s purpose is to rid your body of toxins while you subsist on nothing but spicy lemonade for a week or more. You also flush your system with many liters of salted water, but, even though I’m also subjecting myself to this part of the cleansing process, I’m not going to be discussing  it here. There are plenty of informative websites out there that cover this aspect of the Master Cleanse, and I’d rather not burden Biorequiem with all the gruesome details.

Let me preface the rest of this entry by saying that I am not a proponent of extreme dieting and do not recommend the Master Cleanse if you’re trying to lose weight. The weight you lose from the cleanse will come back gradually, as you start eating again. My actual health and diet regimen is that of exercise, avoiding processed food and not eating too much of anything. I’m trying the Master Cleanse as its name implies – a cleanse. If i like the effects I’ll consider doing it twice a year, or maybe even quarterly.

Anyhow, the first time I heard of this seemingly insane remedy was three years ago, when my friend Micki Krimmel decided to try the Master Cleanse and document her experiences with daily video-blogs. I’ve been curious about it ever since. Sure, at first glance it sounds like any other diet fad, but almost every single person I know who’s tried it has reported improved health, diet and even incredible feelings of euphoria after the third day. I finally decided to find out for myself, easing into the process with a day of nothing but vegetables, followed by a day of soups and blended food, followed by a day of orange juice. I decided to take a few pictures of what I’d be putting into my body during this process.

Ease In Day 1: Roasted Beets

You can eat all kinds of fruits and vegetables on the first ease-in day. I’m just on a massive beet kick anyway, and roasted beets have got to be one of the easiest and most delicious dishes ever. Those interested in this recipe will need:

• 3 beets
• salt
• black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly wash the beets, leaving the skin on. Slice into 1/4″ thick rounds and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. You can also add a pinch of Cinnamon and sliced onion to taste, but don’t need to. Put into any oven-safe dish and bake, covered, for 45 minutes to an hour. Simple and delicious.

[We ended up screwing up Day 1 in the evening, because our friends had a housewarming party and we weren't strong enough to resist Claire's deviled eggs. And fondue. Oh god.]

Ease In Day 2: Soups

We took the least effort necessary route and went with Trader Joe’s Sweet Potato Bisque and Butternut Squash soups. Season them with a little red pepper, black pepper and nutmeg, and it’s magic.

Ease In Day 3: Orange Juice

This is where it really gets tricky. I’m glad I was aware of this day being the hardest, because I felt extremely low-energy and out of it the entire day. Its almost discouraging, but the key is to get through this day. Everything after Day 3 is much easier. For Orange Juice Day we bought Simply Orange High Pulp, because it’s really very good. We ended up having the OJ for breakfast and then easing into the lemonade the same day.

The Lemonade

We bought 4lbs of lemons to start, a new jar of ground Cayenne pepper, grade B maple syrup from Trader Joe’s and a lot of water. That’s all. I love the simplicity of this mixture, and it actually tastes amazing. I think I want another glass right now, actually. Thought it’s the first lemonade-only day, I already feel less hungry and more energized than yesterday. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the week. I’m probably only going to keep this up until Saturday and will write up my final thoughts on the process sometime next week.

Have you heard? The fourth issue of Coilhouse magazine is out and ready for love. According to everyone’s favorite Space Bastard, Warren Ellis,

COILHOUSE is, as ever, a huge slab of a cultural object, and a stone fucking bargain at $15 American plus postage.

This link leads to an extensive post about the contents of this issue, which features Grant Morrison, Alejandro Jodorowsky, cover girl Kristamas Klousch, and many, many more. You can pick up your Coilhouse 04 here.

For 04′s Inform/Inspire/Infect section dividers, I decided to go with meticulous pen and ink drawings. Snake Charmer, below, is Infect, and might be available in limited edition print form one day soon.

I have a list of other posts I intend to make that’s THIS BIG, too. Initially I was going to write one of those monsters that take half a day to peruse, but today is not the day. In the next few days you can expect news about Style Dispatch, new Chinashop galleries, a limited run of small things for sale, and a few big announcements. For now though, I’m going to dump some photos that have built up over the past few weeks, and I’m going to dump them right under this here jump.

Let us start at the beginning of what turned into the past two-and-a-half weeks. Christmas! One of the very few Christmases I’ve enjoyed, in fact. First of many? Perhaps! Our table looks like this, and that’s just the appetizers:

And this. My god. What we have here is goat cheese with cranberries, prosciutto and cheese roulon, plus smoked salmon and cheese. Ayee.

What might be my last self-portrait of 2009.

And what’s a holiday without getting wasted and spending the night at mom’s? NOTHING.

The rest of the photos are on flickr.

BONUS: New Year’s Eve photos about which I can tell you close to nothing.

My beautiful city. Click for BIG.

My beautiful ghost. Also click for bigness.

Lumi and a very fancy hat.

Downtown gnomes.

And finally, a Pisco sour -  a wonderful drink with a terrible name.

It’s Christmas and no one’s online, so while I have this moment to myself I will sneak these photos of holiday cheer, LACHSA-style. Two of my oldest friends, Lumi and Josh, share a birthday on December tenth and occasionally celebrate together – this was such an occasion.

Birthday hobo.

These birthdays tend to turn into high school reunions and when you are a person who attended an arts high school, reunions are pure illicit merriment. The party was vagrant-themed and there was cake and truffles and wine and amazing shmancy macaroni and cheese, and a huge dining table dedicated to one thing – papercraft!

Crafty guests had an array of paper, glues and vintage scissors at their disposal with which to make holiday decorations for a very speshul Christmas tree. I couldn’t resist the lure of the creative spirit [there was also a bag of truffles on the table] You can see the whole set here, my favorites – below.

Sweet panda butt.

I made this Krampus to make up for the thing behind the jump. You’ll see it in a few seconds.

Its tongue moves in a fashion that makes the laydeez giggle.

Piggy.

Josh-made skull. Once, Josh made me a pair of underpants, which I still wear, with this same skull bleached into them.

Below the jump, an articulated paper penis I made and am extremely proud of.