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Here's how I decorate my home office:

-I've collected quite the family of unicorns over the years. I found the tall one in the family basement. I assume she belonged to my sister. The goatee dude and the three kids were given to me in the box on the very right with the National Geographic clippings piled on top. Cronos, a cat, broke the middle one.
-My high school class ring is in there. It's an awesome piece of jewelry.
-The shot glass full of buttons is a gift from Germany. The buttons were found or purchased by me and are mostly made by friends.
-Behind that is an art deco lighter I got from goodwill.
-The lovecat was a present. It holds quarters.
-It bothers me that the top of the Post-Dispatch says the word 'website' before 'newspaper.' I read stltoday.com daily and pay too much for a crossword puzzle a couple times a week.

The aforementioned clippings fulfilling their purpose.


Rte. 3, headed south somewhere between Alton and Granite City. It's a barbecue pit of some kind, and the greatest spoiler ever.

On a more serious note, The drive up Route 3 to Alton and back is fantastic. There's the biggest goddamned factories across from farms, a geodesic dome, some kind of Lewis and Clark tower that you can go up and see the rivers meeting...In the early mornings you can see strange lights from the river beyond the tree line. Looking forward to seeing it in the snow.

dogs, dudes, and 'ludes

I celebrated 9/11 with my roommate Kenny by roadtripping it to Chicago for a tramadol-, pot-, hamburger-, and nature metal-fueled weekend of stony bliss. We got on the road about 5:00 pm Friday and arrived at our host Joseph's apartment in Lincoln Park around 9:30. The trip up was uneventful. I drove to test out my new car, and it proved to be a comfortable, economical, and convenient road trip solution. We stopped at a Burger King in Springfield.

Joseph, Kenny's brother, lives above Trinity, an Irish pub near W Diversey and Halstead, and there were a bunch of skinny college dudes around all weekend. The place had been completely renovated inside sometime in the 90s, so there was a dated vibe the place. I forgot to take a lot of pictures.

Here I am in the living room with Walter Sobchak.


All night we were worried about the parking situation, as there was no free parking available on the street. Luckily I was able to secure a spot in the Home Depot garage a half-block away with the help of Kenny and Joe's mom. Thanks again, Cindy. We had a 4:00am breakfast at Golden Nugget, a Denny's-type place.

Saturday, after a late $3.00 burger-and-fries lunch at Trinity, we took the train to Reggie's to see Agalloch. Everyone on the train, it seemed, was headed to a show. Aside from us, the crowd was an even split of people going to see either U2 or Omarion.

At Reggie's, we hunkered down in some comfy chairs front and center on the balcony and had the best seats in the house. Our friend Marissa came up and we were able to take smoke breaks in shifts and not lose our seats. Local openers Velnias and Indian stole the show almost, with Indian having the best mix of the night. It was punishing, and matched the level of intensity they had been at a few years ago when I first saw them. Velnias are just awesome, like a funeral doom version of Agalloch.

Another band played too, but I forget anything about them.

Agalloch had a terrible mix. the guitars were too quiet and the bass too loud. Otherwise they performed flawlessly and the clean vocals were actually good, despite my fears.

Back in Lincoln Park after the show, Kenny and I tried and failed to get food at two separate late-nite Mexican joints. We left pissed and hungry before ordering due to douchebags before winding up at the Golden Nugget again. The food's not that great.

Sunday, We met up with Marissa again before heading home and enjoyed a burger at Kuma's Corner. My friend Heather, whom I have not seen in too many months, got us a table relatively quickly and the bornerfication of the weekend was complete. I got the High On Fire, which is a burger with prisciutto, grilled pineapple, roasted red pepper, sweet chili, and siracha. With waffle fries and honey mustard for dipping on the side. This meal, combined with Heather's graceful and prompt service, was the highlight of the weekend and the perfect coda to a wonderful adventure.

On the way home we stopped in a cornfield in Elkhart, IL. Kenny took a shit while I photographed the sunset.

He's in the lower right somewhere fertilizing a future box of crackerjacks.

We got back to St. Louis around 9:30. I won my dollar back on a scratch-off ticket, did some laundry, ended things with the woman I was dating, and returned to work Monday morning a tired, yet renewed man.

Here's some collage work I did. It's a triptych based on the triune model of the human brain. The first two pieces were assembled in my sister's apartment in Las Vegas during the summer of 2007 from a stolen coloring book and some magazines. The third was made during the fall of 2008 after John and I found a bunch of old books in an alley in Soulard.



R. Complex



Limbic System



Neocortex


Triune Model

I'm going to do something cool with framing them eventually.

I first read about the triune brain in 'Broca's Brain" by Carl Sagan about seven years ago. At the time I wrote an article relating each layer to one of life's Three B's--beer, books, and black metal--for the print zine Speak For Yourself.

thesaurus time

Here's a blithe and roseate young fellow whom I chanced to meet at work this morning.




Of his errand in our world he would not speak.

"Themes From will.i.am Steak's 'Miscarriage of Kevin and Michelle'" by Brett Hullver

A bunch of camera phone pictures from today back to May 9th. I've included some perhaps informative (but definitely fun!) facts and anecdotes.


I bought this at Dunaway Books, along with 'After Man," and "Unsolved Mysteries Of WWII." It's about the cosmic dragon gods that created the universe, as told by the last dragon on earth.



A forbidden romance blossoms between an Ice Dragon and a Dragon from the Warm Lands.



My favorite of the lot.



Spotted at Powerhouse Gym. I was at Value Village, wherein I purchased a Dead Guy Ale pint glass and "Metamorphosis and Other Sories" by Kafka.



The hood had a giant Captain Spalding and said something like 'ain't klownin around!'



Logo I made for the band Niggers. They are the Midwest's premiere powergrinding bastards.



Kenny and I worked on some logo designs. The True Host--who are affiliated with the STL Circle Of Cheetahs--are not to be confused with the False Host--who are lame.



I'm particularly fond of the bird. It would look good as a black on black t-shirt.



Some of Kenny's logos and assorted goings-on.



Really cool book that posits what animals will have evolved into 50 million years from now.



Get a load ofthese charming young fellows.



Those tricky Flooers. These are the descendents of bats.



Here's the stages of the lampshade I made. it's just a collage taped to the inside of an old shade. Made from some magazines and books and posters. For almost a year, it was just Obama's face. I did the rest over the past few weeks.






I might add another face in the empty space, and perhaps give it a fringe of some type.



Cool goat I made at Lemmon's one night.



Hitlurch.



Winter and I left our mark on the picnic table in front of CBGBs.



Riley's men's room.



Sunn0))) at the Firebird.



This is only funny to the select initiates who know the secrets of the toe tap.



Teenaged lesbians from Belleville bought me this funnel cake at Pridefest.



Greg, Eric, and Todd at the Way-Out Club.



Black Dog, White Dog, and Winter.



More Way-Out Club hijinks with Rachelle and Swan.



What happens.



BUSCHHHHHHH!



A grammatically-disabled snackmonger's sweet ride was parked on my street for a week or so.



Accidental picture taken while working the door at Lemmon's. This is now the wallpaper on my phone.



John (right), White Dog, and I.



Some crap I scribbled at Lemmon's.



Ben Schulte and the Man-Sized Boy.




An oddly-marketed tool I found at the mall.



Middle stage of a thing I drew. It eventually turned into a tree.



Ben in a tree at Tower Grove park.



Chris and Cash in the foreground. (l to r) Starla, Tony, Greg, Todd, Adrian, and that other dog whose name I forget but he looks like a gremlin. The rest of the people to the right aren't important.


My shoes. I think it's a cool photograph, and it encapsulates the reality of my living room rather well.



Kenny in his Crowley-esque cushion hat.



Kenny upon the coolest tree in Tower Grove. The tree used to be a forest giant. he tired of life one day and rooted himself. Within he is reborn as a young sapling, soon to be free as the last shards of ancient bark shed as the seasons pass.



The crumbling remains of an age-old temple rest their weary bones along the banks of a quiet pond, giving strength to the geese who dwell here. I like this place.



Emo collage I worked on for a minute, then disassembled.

Tullamore at The Arena.