Home owners

We bought a house! I know, crazy, right? We closed back on January 11th and our lives have been chaos ever since. We've been struggling to get settled and unpack everything. We've been hanging curtains and stocking the guest bathrooms. It's been pretty unreal.

Yesterday Leslie and I were getting really excited about buying a new front door. I sat at my desk at work and thought, "Is this what being an adult feels like? Getting excited over a new door?" I was able to rationalize it that we were ordering the door online and it has to be custom made and all this other nonsense that is far beyond what I think your average adult would do for a door. This doesn't make us extrodinary, just as obsessive about stuff like young folks, and that's what counts to me.

There's bound to be more new house news coming soon. There are even rumblings of a joint house blog that Leslie and I will write together. Stand by for more news.

Onward to mayhem!

The Best and Worst of 2009

2009 was an interesting year for music. Please note I didn't say a good year. The theme of the year for me was disappointment. It seemed like there were lots of big projects and ideas that ultimately let me down.

A perfect example is Monsters of Folk. Monsters of Folk is a supergroup that should have been the highlight of 2009. Take three giants of modern rock and put them together and you would expect them to produce something earth-shaking. Sadly that wasn't the case. What you have are three dudes who are allegedly pretty talented on their own putting out an average album. Granted I'm only familiar with Conor Oberst's previous work, but I expected to walk away wanting to hear more by Jim James and M. Ward, and that wasn't the case at all.

I was also apprehensive, but excited when I heard the news of The Decemberists epic Hazards of Love. Even though it remains one of my favorites of the year, it still didn't live up to what it could have been.

There were a handful of great albums though. Here is my top ten, in no particular order. I tried to recommend a track for each album for those that want to explore the picks a bit more.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Fun, chanty, hippy bohemian music. I'll be shocked if you're not whistling and tapping your foot when it comes to an end. The best song on the album is Home. Go download it. Now.

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest When hearing Grizzly Bear's first single off this album, Two Weeks, you might think this track was left off the Breakfast Club soundtrack. While it doesn't necessarily live up to all the hype it's been getting, Veckatimest is definitely a great album.

Dead Man's Bones - Possibly my favorite album of the year. Actor Ryan Gosling and his friend Zach Shields join with a children's choir to create an dark and eerie album. The Dead Man's Bones debut looks like a Halloween album on paper, but you'll be listening to it year round. My favorite track is probably My Body's a Zombie for You.

Hockey - Mind Chaos - A friend passed this album to me and it was a few listens before I finally got it. I don't know exactly how to describe Hockey; probably as updated '80s rock. Check out Work.

The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love - I don't know if I would like this album as much as I do had we not seen the songs performed live. It can be a bit to take in. Read my review of the album from earlier this year. The highlight of the record is The Rake Song.

Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone - I'm not going to lie to you, part of the reason I love this band is their crazy name. Bizarre name or not, this band knows how to rock. Fun and poppy meets fast and heavy. You have got to hear Pink Sabbath.

Passion Pit - Manners - This is the follow-up to the bands successful EP. Sweet and poppy electronica. Perfect for driving on a sunny day with the windows rolled down. I recommend The Reeling.

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone - Case is my favorite female artist of 2009. At times this album is a bit soft, but her heartfelt lyrics will have you begging for more. The opening track, This Tornado Loves You, is my favorite on the album.

Andrew Bird - Noble Beast - This musical genius combines whistling and violin to make one of the most unique sounds in music today. We managed to catch him live and he is nothing short of a virtuoso. The best track on the album is Fitz and Dizzyspells.

K'naan - Troubadour - K'naan (pronounced kay-non) is a Somalian born rapper that came to America at a very young age. He rhymes are fresh and clever and he's beats are strong. I recommend Wavin' Flag.

Other honorable mentions include the releases from Kid Cudi, Avett Brothers, Girls, Raekwon, xx, NOFX, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, MC Chris Part 6 Parts 1-3, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Dead Weather, I Fight Dragons, Lonely Island, Matt & Kim, A Fine Frenzy and Felice Brothers.


Most overrated album of the year - Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I love pop music. Critics give Phoenix points for being minimalists when the truth is they're just an average band.

The 'hide the razor blades while I listen to this' album of the year - The Antlers - Hospice. Lead singer Peter Silberman tells the story of watching a loved one slowly die in this dark and moody album. This dark and emotional album is quite a feat, but make sure it's a sunny day when you put it on.

The album I wish I loved as everyone else album of the year - Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion. I like Animal Collective, I really do. And I would never say that this album is not worthy of all the praise it gets. The truth is that it just doesn't do that much for me. And that bums me out, because I loved Animal Collective's last album, Strawberry Jam.

Most listened to track of the year according to iTunes play count: MC Chris - Neville - This year MC Chris released three EPs, Part 6 Parts 1-3. While each EP did include a new Star Wars bounty hunter track, following the tradition of Fett's Vette, Neville was the stand-out track of the year from my favorite 'nerdcore' rapper. Neville, is of course about Neville Longbottom of the Harry Potter books. In the story MC Chris explores the untold story of Neville and the success he finds as a drug dealer at Hogwarts.

And since I've already been all whiny about this year's music, here are my top disappointments of the year in no particular order:

Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Wilco - Wilco (the album)
Volcano Choir - Unmap
Discovery - LP
Swell Season - Strict Joy
Weezer - Raditude
Cursive - Mamma I'm Swollen
Regina Spektor - Far

While there were a few good offerings, overall 2009 was a bummer. With releases from both Vampire Weekend and Los Campesinos! lined up in the next few months, things are already looking up in 2010.

Dunny Project 1.0

If you know me then you probably know that I'm obsessed with Dunnys, the popular designer toys from KidRobot. It has become commonplace amongst Dunny collectors to make their own custom Dunnys. Feeling inspired by some of the success I've seen other fans have, I decided to take a shot at designing a Dunny.

To design your own Dunny you start with a Dunny you no longer want.You then remove all the paint from the Dunny, prime it, and paint it up.

I am obsessed with glow in the dark stuff, so I knew I had to incorporate that into my design. I wanted it to be a surprise though, and not a known aspect of the toy. The basic idea I had for my Dunny was going to be an electrician bunny and I would use the glow in the dark paint to make it appear as if he was being electrocuted.

So I primed my Dunny, painted it with a bit of acrylic paint, and used a Sharpie to do the finer details. I taped off where I wanted the Dunnys skeleton to be and hit it with the glow in the dark spray paint. That was one of the most difficult parts because I wanted there to be enough paint to give it a good glowing effect, but not so much that it would show up in the light and give away its hidden feature. The head and arms came out pretty decent but the chest was way too prominent. I decided I wanted to give the Dunny a nice matte finish so I picked up some satin gloss spray paint. Little did I know that the gloss would make all of the Sharpie on the Dunny run like it was wet.

It seemed like every time I made it to the next step I realized I had to go to the art store again. This made the project take the better part of a month to complete. By the time I came to end I was so frustrated and bored with it I just wanted it to be done and over with. I had also planned to put a "KR Electrical" logo on the back and I wanted to give him a little name badge patch on his chest that said "Sparky". They would have added some much needed character to the design, and taken up some of the negative space on his back, but I was ready to move on so I left it the way it was.

Here are photos of the finished product...



The glow in the dark paint job didn't come out as great as I had hoped, but Leslie managed to make it look really great in photo. I wish it only looked that bright in person!

I'm disappointed in the finished product, but I think it came out pretty well considering this was my first attempt at doing this. I think I was a bit overly ambitious. I took a couple chances and I don't think they paid off. Next I'm going to try to design a mini Munny since it's a bit of a larger piece.

This is all part of my mission to create more, and so far I have to admit I'm pleased with myself.

Drawing Bored

I decided to get some business cards printed over at moo.com. The site is pretty sweet and lets you add your own art to the cards. Because the kids like them so much right now I thought I'd draw up some zombies to put on the cards. And here they are:

Jabber Jaw

I like to talk. At great length. To whomever about whatever. The art of conversation is not dead, it's just that some people are lousy artists.

Rarely do I find myself without the words to say. I can have a conversation with a complete stranger just as easily as an old friend. I also take great pleasure in throwing out words and phrases that people haven't heard before. I'm obsessed with sounding like I have the vernacular of a cool character in a movie. I say what's on my mind and sometimes I'm a bit too honest for my own good. I think this throws people off and sometimes they think I'm trying to be funny when the truth is I just don't care. I hate being back into a corner by a string of little white lies, so I come out with the truth up front so people always now where I'm coming from.

I think of talking to a new person as a challenge. It's not like I'm a remarkable person. My job is only mildly interesting and my hobbies are a bit too nerdy to appeal to most audiences. I think I know just a little bit about enough things that I can keep a conversation afloat and not look like a complete idiot. Some people mistake my chatterbox ways for cockiness or confidence. I think the truth is I just enjoy hearing myself talk.

Most great conversationalists will agree an important strength is to know when to stop talking. I'm pretty good at it. Usually. I'll admit, there are times when I'm on a roll at a social gathering where it can be hard to shut me up. I yammer on thinking I'm the life of the party, thinking everyone's hanging on my every word. I like to think people think I'm interesting, but I think sometimes they're just too polite to tell me to shut up.

It should go without saying that listening is one of the most important parts to the conversation. All participants should be equally involved. Otherwise you can practice the art of talking to yourself since you won't be invited to any more parties. You can't just be waiting for the other person to finish just so you can say whatever is on your mind. And timing is everything! Sometimes I will have something funny to say and I'll wait for the chance to slip it in, but if the moment passes I've learned to just let it go. You can't force it in! And if you say it and people didn't hear it, don't repeat yourself a few times hoping to get the laugh you think you deserve.

I've also learned that sometimes the most intelligent and kind thing you can say is nothing at all. Sometimes it is better to think than talk. People expect me to comment on everything, so sometimes it's best just to let it go. For instance, if I see someone at school who's got a new haircut; chances are they've heard a million and one questions and comments about it, so I might just opt to leave it alone. It's not that I don't like paying people compliments, but you can sense when someone's talked enough about something. At least I know when I have.

Obviously all this babble stems from my constant need to be the center of attention. Just the act of writing a blog proves I've convinced myself I have something to say and there is people out there that will listen.

Now go out there and talk, people! And now I will practice knowing when to shut up.

with teeth.

I haven't written in anything in a while.

The fever that is Summer has finally broke and the cool weather is slowly seeping in. There's a chill in the air that sneaks up your shorts and makes you tingle in your gentleman parts.

I had a brief dentist appointment this morning. In and out. It wasn't the kind where they leave you in the chair for an hour while you sit there wondering if the dentist and hygienist are in the other room discussing how best to tell you all of your teeth are going to fall out. As much as I'm not pleased with my station in life, as much as I get discouraged about being overweight, as much as I'm disappointed I'm not back in school, I can always count on receiving a heaping handful of compliments at the dentist office. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I have some pretty good teeth; and the dentists remind me every chance they get. Granted this is the South, and I'm sure they are accustomed to patients with all manner of jagged and missing teeth. If every other patient comes in looking like Shane McGowan it's probably a relief to occasionally get a guy that at least owns a roll of floss, let alone knows how to use it.

On the highway on the way home I saw an 18 wheeler in which someone had scrawled on the back door, "Jesus loves me," and "Jesus saves." I couldn't help but wonder if either of these statements were true then I'm sure Jesus would prefer it not be written in the dirt and soot on the back of a truck. And more importantly, the person who wrote it must have been in a sad state if they found themselves writing messages to people on the back of an 18 wheeler. Maybe Jesus does save, just not that person apparently.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this weekend is Dragon Con. We managed to get press passes courtesy of Broken Frontier. There are a ton of celebrities and comic artist. There is also going to be a big Kid Robot event called Dunny Fest. Oh, and MC Chris will be there as well. This could end up being the biggest con I've ever gone to.

And so that's it. Nothing enlightening or important to say. Just a bunch of rambling that will no doubt be labeled as "stream of consciousness writing" by my co-worker, Foxy. We have a dermatologist appointment later so I took the day off for that and the dentist. Guess I'll clean the house a little.

Going Down

A lot of people get killed in elevators in the movies. I began to muse about why this might be. I can only imagine it's because there is a universal feeling of claustrophobia in elevators. Here you are, trapped in this 8' by 8' steel cube and there really isn't much you can do other then hope it's functioning properly. If you were in there and someone came at you with a gun, knife, tentacle, whatever, there is no place to run.

Or perhaps there have been too many screen writers riding elevators to some movie exec's office only to find their script was rejected or trashed.

Eh. Just be careful in the elevator I guess.