I was too young to understand all this but late at night the TV would be on and my older brothers would be watching SNL. I laughed I guess because they were, not fully knowing exactly what they were laughing at. But some things I didn't even have to try to understand. Like when Chevy would take a fall in the beginning of each show. I'd have to say that the time when I really began watching SNL was about the time when Charles Rocket was in the show. It was also a time when there used to be a show called Fridays. That's when we first got a taste of Michael Richard's comedy. And if that wasn't enough late night comedy, there was also SCTV with Eugene Levy, John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin, etc. Lots of funny stuff going on during that time. Smart, goofy comedy. Add to that Midnight Special and the British Kenny Everett Show, Monty Python and you'd wonder when TV went so bad? So I got the first season of SNL in order to watch all this stuff that have not had their re-runs recently. But don't be too surprised if you didn't find it as funny as it was back then. Just they way some things go. Chevy Chase saying "I'm Chevy Chase and you're not" seemed a lot funnier back then. But not to worry as there are still plenty of timeless funnies here. I've only been through two of the eight discs in this set. I'm waiting for the one season to come out when Blondie made their appearance. The whole thing reminds me of Junior High and subway cars covered in that wonderful graffiti. I thought they were great works of art.

So I had this transistor radio that I would place by the window and I think it was during Saturdays that Kasey Kassem had that top 10 radio show. I just wanted to find out which number in the top 10 Blondie's Rapture or The Tide is High made it to. Somewhere between Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 and John Lennon's Imagine. This was 1980 and rap music was mostly an underground movement at the time. But a band from the CBGB's punk scene brought it to the top 10. I certainly had never heard anything like it. When I first heard Rapture (it made it's debut on Solid Gold when Debbie was hosting it), I was wondering why she was talking throughout the song.


Here's a movie I can't live without Life of Brian, I think is one of Monty's best made film. Poke fun at religion, and you can't go wrong. I bought this for $20 at Borders the other day. It's a great value for a 2 disc set (The Immaculate Edition). It's tempting to watch it now, but would like to save it for a more appropriate time. It's almost here.

View & P.I.D. No. 14

View from an office, somewhere in Manhattan. A chilly, snowy and grey day. The view wasn't always like this. Whenever I came in the room, I would look out at this area and just be amazed with wonder and awe. The sky wasn't as visible as you see here. That empty area in the middle, where now there is so much sky is where the World Trade Center used to live.

Post-It-Doodle No. 14

These three tracks came up on my pod's shuffle this morning. And it made the commute this morning bearable.

Nitzer Ebb - Shame

Nitzer Ebb - Warsaw Ghetto

Frontline Assembly - The Blade

Post-It Doodlers!

Yep! There some others out there doing this!

First check out The Post It Project in which I'm a contributor now. And lots of links to others who are now doing Post-It Doodles. Some fantastic stuff out there.

Check 'em out!

P.I.D. No. 13

It's Post-It No. 13! and it falls on Valentines day. V-Day! So in honor of V-Day, I give you my "black hearts" post-it.

Deb's IF I HAD YOU video

Click image to see.

The Debster has a new video for "If I Had You." What I like about this video is that one, I think she looks great. And two, I love those old Debbie clips. It's a celebration of her career as a woman in rock.

Phone picture tags

Me and my brother are playing phone picture tag. He sends me pictures of the desert where it's 75 degrees, I send him pictures of the city where it's snowing and below 30 degrees. He tells me he's wearing shorts while I send him a picture of me all bundled up.

But I did like the recent picture. It reminds of the first time I moved to Phoenix and upon waking up in my brother's apartment, this was pretty much the image that I saw out the window. Clear, blue skies and hot air baloons hovering up the sky. Landscapes of cacti and other desert-y things. Anyway, it's quickly owtgrown as it would be to any New Yorker or anyone from a big city (I'm so over it...)

What is funny about this is that they (meaning my brother and anyone living out there in Phoenix). Think because we have a winter season here, that we must be miserable and want to be out there on the sunny side. That may be true to some people, but it sure isn't true of me. Anyway, in contrast, below is the picture I sent to him outside the Native American museum.

No doodles, just words.

I deserted The Monster Island sometime ago. The island and its occupants (The Monsters) have been calling my name saying things like "You are needed here." and "You can do much better here."

I don't know. Sometimes I feel like going there and visiting with the monsters. But then I tell myself that towards the end, really nobody cares. The whole "I'm doing it for myself" thing is such bull. Off course you're doing it to get someone to notice, react, interact and give you feedback. Otherwise, it would be done with pen and paper, and "only for myself." I do know for a fact that writing comes a lot easier when I'm all about the feelings and emotions. A particular event that I'm fond of or not so fond of.

Sigh... I will try and get back to the swing of things soon enough.

I may begin a new blog featuring just the knit projects. Who knows.

Currently reading:

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

You know, I became a skeptic once I began to take science a serious look and started reading up on it. From the bits and pieces that I took from these books, I started wondering how people get so delusional about such things? I will get into it later, but not today. I'm still in the middle of the book.

Right, cheers, thanks a lot.

P.I.D. No. 12

I had this idea of bringing in my moleskine to do my doodling in during the day. But I keep forgeting. Perhaps I feel like I didn't want to make the post it doodles obsolete. You know, because they are SO popular.

Marc Almond has found it difficult to put up a couple of tracks for sale up on iTunes. These were left out of "Stardom Road." So because of said difficulties, he's kindly put them up in his MySpace page for free downloads.

Yazoo - Their remasters should be coming out soon (packaged with a DVD). They have already announced tour dates in the UK. Lucky bastards. Hope they come to the U.S. soon! I just think when you reunite and start touring and all, how about a couple of new songs? There doesn't seem to be anything like that in the works.

So here's the thing. Picture this. 1986. Young boys and girls on their way to the show.....

I mean, the show didn't even start UNTIL 11:30 and that was the opening act! By 12:30, Book of Love would come on to the stage and we were as awake and jumpy as anything. By 2 AM, the show would end - but that's when the disco began (well, he starts off with Yaz's "Don't Go") How do you not want to dance after all that jumping around for Love? We would leave by 4 AM and find ourselves one of those 24 hour diners to have a meal and talk and about it. None of us really had any nerve to even think about whether we were ever going to find love or not.

Comfort Zone

Lately, this has been sort of a comfort zone.

It all started back in the beginning of 98. I had the flu and I was out of work for about a week. I was looking for something to do. So passing by the fabric store I saw all this yarn in the window and thought, well, why not? So I came back with a couple of skeins of yarn, a pattern booklet and a pair of aluminum needles and began teaching myself to knit. Along the way I've made several sweaters, a lot of hats and socks, scarves and shawls. Today, a lot more men have taken up the craft and are making themselves, families and friends more comfortable with their hand made woollies for the winter. Check out the website Men Who Knit where I've gotten a lot of nice comments on this project.

I made this hat with nobody in mind. Just wanted to knit the thing. It's not the kind of hat that suits me. I just wear a basic black hat that I've made for myself.

I sent the picture to a friend who lives out in GA and he's expressed interest, so I will send it out to him. And I'm happy that he's requested more hats.

Submitted for Inspire Me Thursday's prompt: Comfort Zone

Details:

Pattern: Norwegian Banded Hat obtained from Countrywool
Yarn: Brown Sheep's Naturespun Sport
Needles: Size 3 & 5

P.I.D. No. 11

If I can pull off wearing a kilt, I'd totally do it. I was in San Francisco some years back and saw lots of men wearing kilts and I thought "that totally looks cool!" Not that you'd have to be hanging around Castro street to be wearing them, but it just should be a an option, you know? Well, it is an option for a lot of people, but is it for me? But I think we're a long way from men wearing kilts to work as part of the business-casual wear.

I went to Borders today looking for a calendar to put up at my desk at work. It's all about puppies, kittens and off course chickens and half naked fire fighters with that stuff. The one astronomy calendar I found was all opened up and nearly destroyed and there wasn't another one unopened. I settled on tigers. It came with magnets which will go on my fridge.

I also bought the book "In Search of Schrodinger's Cat - Quantum Physics and Reality." I'm hoping this will be the book that will for once help me get a grip on the subject.

Sprinkled with Almonds

Marc Almond has put up a couple of new tracks on his MySpace website. One in particular which I like is Smoke and Mirrors. An electro-disco track which will be released by the band Starcluster on January 14th. It might be available on iTunes. Doesn't state. The two other tracks will be released by Punx Soundcheck (Saint Now) which he's previously done work with and a track for a tribute album for the film maker Kenneth Anger (The Devil in Disguise). More to come as Marc will start work on his new album to be released in 2009. More info on his official website.

2007 in doodles

Back in June, I started posting some doodles that I'd been making with those yellow post-it pads. I found myself from time to time just doodling around at my desk and I decided to just put them up. I got some nice responses, so I figured I'd make it a regular thing. So for Inspire Me Thursday's prompt, I'm putting up a collection of them. Thanks for checking it out and Happy New Year!

You'll shoot your eye out, kid.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. Enjoy the yule log!

I wanted to share a gift with you that a dear friend of mine got for me. It's called "COSMOS - A FIELD GUIDE." by Giles Sparrow. I love it! It's a giant book of the most fascinating pictures and descriptions of every object in our universe. So far as we have been able to photograph. Stars, galaxies, planets, etc. Perfect for coffee table, so I should get a coffee table. In fact, the book is so big, if it had legs, it would BE a coffee table. Where's Kramer when you need him?







Addendum:



I cast on today to work on yet another hat from the book 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. This time I chose the "Lattice Basket Cap." Worked in the same fashion as "In Between Seasons Cap" where you knit up the band for 20", seam it and then pick up stitches to work the crown. I'm just about to decrease for the crown. It's working up nicely with Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride Worsted in color Prairie Fire. The hat will go to the Shining Star who gave me the book mentioned above for Christmas along with the previous cap I finished.

Between Seasons Cap - Done.

I just finished the cap. I'm pleased with it. But, I don't know if it's me or the instructions were wrong, left and right twist stitches seem to all lean to the right. Eh.. I won't mention it to the recipient, maybe she won't notice. :)

My yoga

I'm currently working on making a hat for a friend from a book I recently purchased while at Border's the other day. 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. They are mostly accessories which usually take just one skein to make anyway so it's basically a book of patterns for socks, mittens, hats and baby items and the like. So I decided on the "Between Seasons Hat" pattern which wants you to knit the cable band first, seam it and then pick up stitches for the rest of the hat. So far, I've finished the band. I'm making mine out of Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece on size 6 needles.

I've also finished up a pair of toasty socks to wear around the apartment. They are knitted tightly on size 3 needles to make it wear longer. They're great in Paton's Classic Worsted Weight wool.

Our favorite 80s duo return!

The fantastic 80s music will never die. And one of the best 80s duos of all time are returning with their re-issues of their only two albums, Upstairs at Eric's and You and Me Both. Under their original name of Yazoo. Not sure if Sideline is 100% on their report of them actually touring, but it will be a total kick in the rubber parts if they do tour!

There's not much on their site right now, but you can check out their MySpace page. The link can be found at their site. I'm sure that anyone in their 30s and 40s that hit the clubs back in the 80s danced their asses off to such great dance tracks as Don't Go and Situation. I think we were all pretty lucky that we were just the right age to enjoy all this music when it was new. Not only the synth only bands, but also some really great guitar and mixed bands like New Order.

Siouxsie Live on Jools.

Siouxsie is making her rounds with the release of her new album Mantaray. I really love this album and here's a little taste of some YouTube finds of her recent appearance on Later With Jools Holland, which is pretty cool Brit. show (if your favorite artist is on). She looks flawless!

Here she's performing the classic Banshees, Spellbound.



Interview with Jools.



Into A Swan from the same show.

Dragon Scales ATC

It looks like dragon scales to me. So that's what I'll call this piece.

Recently I went to the art store and saw watercolor postcards so I figured this would be great to make Artist Trading Cards. So I took out my watercolor set today and brushed away on the background colors and took out my sharpie and made the scales. This will be going out to Steve over at Go Flying Turtle. I had stated previously that I was going to send him an ATC for trade based on the doodles that I was doing. Sorry it took so long!

This was the inspiration from a previous post it.

I thought about blacking in like above. But the way the background colors were showing through looked pretty cool so I didn't.

Post-It Doodles No. 9 and wintery goodness

Doodles! And in color. I usually go with a black Sharpie, but I wanted to use red & blue today.



I'm enjoying the wintery coolness already. I don't know what it is about the cold that makes me feel more alive than in the heat. The heat just exhausts me and I'm always irritated and annoyed by it. But in winter, there's something about having to keep yourself warm. It's comforting to me. Warm beverages, woolly socks and the hissing of the radiator. Waking up to the sounds of snow shoveling (my delight but not the shoveler). Also, the silence that the snow brings during the evening hours. Did you too hear angel choirs while reading this? Speaking of which, I shall be at a church tonight listening to a friend who is in one of those GLBT choirs.




Another old winter friend is usually hovering over us in the clear evening sky. It's name is Orion and is very prominent in the winter sky. A favorite among sky watchers. It is named Orion The Hunter but has also many other names by many other cultures. It looks kind of like an hourglass with a belt in the middle (the three stars). It is said, the three pyramids of ancient Egypt were modeled after Orion's belt. A good binocular can reveal many things within. I no longer have a telescope and NYC has too many lights to observe. But there are many deep sky objects to be found in Orion's constellation. Namely the Horsehead Nebula (pictured).


Anyway, I've linked to the wiki page so you can read up all about it.



Wintery melodies (80s off course). They are not winter themed songs but they always remind me of winter.

Ultravox - White China
The Armoury Show - Castles in Spain
Echo & The Bunnymen - Seven Seas
Visage - Mind of a Toy
Duran Duran - Planet Earth
Eurythmics - 1984
Depeche Mode - Master & Servant
The Cure - Let's Go To Bed
Depeche Mode - the "Black Celebration" album
Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas
Howard Jones (HoJo) - What Is Love
Erasure - Crackers International (Ok this is winter themed!)


Not so 80s...

Erasure - Breath of Life
Pet Shop Boys - The "Very" Album
Several clubsy songs and all that techno craziness during the early 90s.

V on Ice

This picture was from about two years ago. But it's where I ended up last night with a couple of friends. Yesterday was one of those days where you leave the apartment during the early hours and not come back till after midnight. I started by going to the theater to see a friend perform on stage at a kid's show which was OK. I mean it was for kids but fun to watch all the same. My friend did quite well. We sat through it twice! Two hour show each.

Between shows, we went for a quick bite. After the second showing, we headed uptown to a friend's apartment and then headed for some Italian food. Nice place, can't remember the name but will come back to whenever in the area.

After dinner, we took a cab over to central park and headed for the ice skating rink. At first, I thought about how much a fool I was going to make of myself cause I've never ice skated before. And I didn't want to embarrass my friends either. But I went anyway and guess what? I only fell once! I started off pretty slow and kept near the wall of the rink but I was able to glide along most of the time. It was when my friend held my hand and we headed off near the center of the rink that I took that fall. The other thing is that the skates do not come in 1/2 sizes and even going up a size, the skates seem to be pretty tight. I have wide feet. So if I'm ever to skate again and feel comfortable, I'd have to buy my own skates. Well, I tried something new and after taking pictures of people skating, I can say that I have actually done it. So after the skating, we went over to a coffee shop to meet a couple of friends and hung out there for a while then headed home.


And I finished the scarf! Since the fabric came out pretty thick and it's kind of wide, I didn't feel it necessary to make it so long. Just long enough to wrap around the neck once.