HOLY Cloverfield!!!!

did it last night at the Mann Chinese. SO fucking good. JJ Abrams is the fucking king! I'll even see his Star Trek movie in December and I hate Star Trek. I think midnight premiere crowds are my absolute favorite company when watching films and last nite was no exception. Plus we brought in a coupl'a mix drinks to make the night even better (so hungover today - ungh). k' wont say more 'cause I don't wanna give anything away but go now!



Hmmm movies. It's really been quite a year. Some thoughts on the best ones...

Manda Bala (Send A Bullet): One of the best documentaries I've ever seen. Definitely the most beautifully shot. Directed by Jason Kohn Manda Bala covers the kidnapping problem in Brazil. After the trailer I was so excited about this one and it totally payed off. I heard from a friend that the director's next film is gonna cover modern day pirates, an awesome subject I really only know from watching The Life Aquatic so can't wait. looky:



There Will Be Blood: people seem to either love or hate this film. I thought it was great mostly because certain filmmakers are being aloud to make big Hollywood films that are extremely personal and deal more with spanning time with characters (Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James and of course the Coen's No Country For Old Men) like back in the non-corporate 70's. I also saw 'Blood' the absolute best way: hungover under covers in my livingroom Christmas Day with the fireplace blazing. Maybe I'd feel different on a Friday night at the Arclight. Hmm.

No Country For Old Men: I'm not gonna say anything 'cause clearly this is the one everybody loves. I think I was more excited this year to see this than anything this else and it payed off huge. I've seen it three times in the theatres and a coupl'a other times at home and it holds up so well. It's like the Coen's slapped the cock outta everybody's mouth and kicked us in the stomach and made us shut the fuck up and shine their shoes. REAL moviemaking plain n simple.

Zodiac: people didn't really seem to like this one because I think everyone wanted another Se7en which it clearly wasn't. I was obsessed with this case in Junior High with my best friend Eric (we even sent a Zodiac letter to the San Francisco Chronicle) so to have David Fincher (probably my favorite working director) attached seemed like a godsend and was. It's a film about police procedure at a time before CSI. Totally frustrating in the best ways. I have to admit too that this one holds up way better at home.

The Darjeeling Limited: Wes Anderson did something for me that I would never think possible: make me wanna visit India. This one is such an amazing journey captured by Wes' perfect eye. It really left a huge impression on me. I don't think alot of people saw it which really is a crime.

Superbad: got a chance to go to a screening of this one a year ago and it blew my fucking head off. One of the best comedies ever made in my humble opinion. Jonah Hill plays it loud and angry verses Michael Cera's quiet and reserved but both come off as the 'funny one'. A return to the type of 80's comedies I was raised on but way better.

Live Free or Die Hard: I will say if you weren't a fan of the franchise stay away but this series is probably my favorite trilogy (and now quadrilogy) ever! Bruce Willis brings the mighty return of old-school action films that only he can own this hard (pun intended). The most fun summer film this year. BoomBoomBoom!

Ok, that wraps up my Roger Ebert bullshit. Shit! I realized this blog has just turned into a blahblah site about movies and music. Because my gallerists don't want me posting early images of my gallery pieces and the other work is freelance for animation studios so it's copywritten and can't be shown here. Also I really don't like writing personal stuff for fear of who's out there reading it so this can't be THAT interesting, right?! So, sorry to all who ever check up on this thing. Maybe I'll start doing art specifically for this page. OK -so, New Years' resolution: Put. Art. On. Blog. Will do my best!

As far as artstuff goes I finished up another round of freelance this week and am back painting in my studio. Still on elephants. It's the biggest piece in my show and is looking to be the hardest one so far. Still laying down the background but will be painting these giants in the next coupla days -hazah!

AND I've been running alot lately! I think this is the healthiest I've ever felt. Which is good 'cause now that the party's over and I have so much work t'do this year. k' back to paint!

one rainy weekend.

...and now it's giving us lightning! SO great!

The Sea Wolf show was amazing. It was raining cats and dogs and was horribly packed! But we were lucky enough to see friends in line to cut in for booze and get into the show just as they started. A great show in the most amazing room I can ever think of.
Pretty magical.



but other than the rain and barstuff the greatest thing that happened this weekend was a late Christmas/New Years potluck dinner with friends which turned out to be the best meal I've had all year. But it would be topped by the best desert I've ever had ever! 'Galette des Rois' with champaigne (in honey bear glasses) prepared by a real life Frenchman. It was kinda like a hazlenut croissant covered by a chocolate mousse. Doesn't sound like much (or looked like much) but have been thinking about it ever since. The fun part is there's a game to it. One lucky eater gets a prize in their piece (in this case it was a button) and whoever gets it is crowned king/queen of the party and gets to dub a queen/king for night by placing the prize in their champaigne glass. SO you have to eat the entire piece given to you. Problem is nobody found their button so the king would have to wait a few days to crown his queen (it wasn't me by the way).

more r a i n ! ! !

ahhhhh, awoke to the sweet sweet sound of rain droplets hitting the windows of my bedroom. This makes me happy. It almost makes me happy that I get to stay in today and work on a buttload of freelance (and Nico just came up on the iPod) with Bucket at my feet. He tends to get touchy/feely on days like this.
AND it'll be raining thru Sunday according to Mr. iPhone!
Here's the view from my livingroom window...

Scotch Mist.

Radiohead put out a live show for New Years of InRainbows. So great to see it performed live...

Sea Wolf @ the Natural History Museum!

The first Friday of every month the Natural History Museum will be putting on live shows. Since the NHM is something near and dear to my heart and is a heavy influence on my gallery show I will definately be there!
January 4th will be one of my favorite local bands, Sea Wolf. They go on at 8pm.
See you there!

Happy's News Years!

Haven't posted in awhile and don't have much news but here goes...

Christmas and New Years were the best I think I've ever had in my life. Still a little dizzy from it all. So many great get togethers, dinners and parties. Christmas eve into Christmas was a perfect mix of fixing dinner for the fam, making it to a dive bar with friends in time to celebrate baby Jebus and being cocooned inside for the next coupl'a days. Absolutely perfect.
New Years was an absolute blowout. Did the Justice/Peaches thing downtown complimentary press pass-style (thank you RICK!). Free drinks and all! Peaches did the counting down to 'Fuck the Year Away' and from midnight on Justice destroyed everything. Check it...





...then parties. then home for some more severe cocoon time. Then had amazing Korean bbq in K-Town with friends the next day. Everybody looked terrible so we all knew we did NY's right!
So, officially this has been my funnest Halloween thru New Years I've ever had. I really have to give it up to the most essental part of having a good time: partners-in-crime and this year has brought out the best of them and I can't thank you all enough! Truly truly.

The odd side effect to all this is my recent accumulation of injuries in the last month due to various party shenanigans. I've busted my knee, twisted my ankle twice, banged in my head, gotten various bruises and scratches and and have just been generally soar like an aged stuntman or Daniel Day Lewis in the last 15 minutes of There Will Be Blood.
ouch.



But now commences the new year and with that the party is OFFICIALLY over. I need to spend the next 6 months to finish my gallery show, figure out how to continue to pay my mortgage with my roomate moving out and my adjustable coming to an end. AND figure out what my plan is for the rest of my life. That's ok. '06 was pure hell, '07 was the fun year and '08 is the year of ALL business. I'm up for it and always love a challenge. Bring it on 2008!

Hmm, other than that have been obsessed with the Kinks, 'Waterloo Sunset'. Such an amazing song. Here's an acoustic version of it from Elliot Smith from '97. enjoy!



let's have breakfast soon, yes?

PPS: Make sure to go to Martha Rich's (my studiomate and friend) show at La Luz Friday nite January 4th from 8-11PM k?