Dear Joe

boogadda boogadda boogadda!

dear melissa

some stop-animation, puppetry, etc. for your love

warming you up



Sugar Skull by Paul Alexander Thornton

dear melissa

I try

I am not a writer. I am the type of person who wants to be. My father is that type of person too. I am because he is, maybe he was because his father was. However, despite my lack of talent for writing it still does me good. First of all it feels good. Catharsis (I like to use words like that) through pen on paper, it makes me feel like a deep clearing breath, like when my figurative heart is all torn up and the ship has sailed or I missed the boat or I am late for a very important date.

People reach my words. They walk up and touch them. Not the writers really, not, especially, the good writers. And it is not a self-depreciating thing because I appreciate me, my effort, my spirit of refusal to submit and then sometimes (just sometimes) my submitting.

Mostly I fall short because I try to capture the truth. The elusive truth. The truth you can only experience (for people like me), but cannot write. But I do try. I try until I am tired and exhausted and feel a caffeine-like crash and must sleep or run or eat a lot of food. And when it is all over (whatever 'it' is), it feels better, at least for me and maybe for you too. If you too that is a miracle and I believe in those as hard as I can.

Dear Joe

Fried Chicken for 40, Cole Slaw, 20 lbs of Potato Salad, five dozen Buttermilk Biscuits. All from scratch.

Your move.

Dear Joe

A rare one, better than most, one of my favorites, I pull his thin volumes from my pile of dollar-minis, I send this to you.

http://penrod-pulaski.livejournal.com/53732.html

dear melissa

Publish Post
http://www.underwatersculpture.com/

this is something Id love my name to be associated with, I guess Im going to learn how to do some sculpting

Dear Joe

RIGHT HERE

dear melissa

I want to be your weave

Dear Joe

GOOD GRAVY pt 1
THIS right here. Let's bookmark it for the next, hm, 3.5 months.


GOOD GRAVY pt 2
i freaking made this swiss sauce

you want the recipe, don't you.

dear melissa

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

Melissa......stop animation coming soon.....soooooooon!

Dear Joe

Here it is here it is here it is here it is!

http://vimeo.com/10066407

yessssssssssssssssssss

dear melissa

an entirely new era

Dear Joe

I need a new wallet.

dear melissa

just for reference here is what happened during our conversation last night:

Melissa: yeppers, although with this hangover i dunno, that little dago is out for my blood i start working for him at the end of the month, after kelly leaves

Me: There should always be at least one dago who is out for your blood around

Melissa: that's like a barometer for whether or not you're living a full lifedoes a dago want ur blood? good, you're having a good time

Me: ahahahaand yes, it should. though if you are the dago should someone still want your blood and if so who?

Melissa: i cant answer these complicated italian questions, dont you have a Mario bros handbook around somewhere

Dear Joe

look at this shit

http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissastanley727/4743309413/

it's all about the tags, and what the hell.

pink floyd
wish u were here

dear melissa

The common man he wants to grow

But he does not know

What he does not know

He seeks the vestige of his friends

With little faith that hearts will mend

He writes this sobby dribble trash

Making him all more the ass

His hands get rough and head less dense

While wishes and dreams lose all sense

The common man he wants to grow

He tells his Father, he tells the road

The common man I thought was not me

But I did not see, I did not see

The common man he wants to grow

But he does not know

He does not know

Dear Joe

I thought this would amuse you.

A food-community on the old LiveJurnalz is accepting applications for moderators. This was part of my application submission:


Q: Why should we pick you out of everyone who applied?
A: This week I baked eleven loaves of bread, studied thai cooking ingredients, read My Life in France AND the new Bourdain book (medium raw) (twice), stole a case of wine off a boat, and replanted my balcony herb garden. I know the difference between this community and (another, similar community), and what is appropriate for each. I think people who only want traffic to their personal blog are a pain, that's not community. I believe that excessive use of the term "om nom nom" is a crime. Food porn is exactly that - it's porn. It should arouse and inspire, and occasionally be slightly disturbing. And lastly, I know how to create a f***ing lj-cut. I've been using lj for 10 years.

dear melissa

I tumbled about you, I honor you :o)

a few months ago one of the greatest influences and friends and loves of my life, Melissa Sue Stanley packed up her life and moved to Switzerland. To a tiny town nestled in the mountains filled with the most amazing cheeses, breads, etc.

we stay in touch as one does with a close friend. We write letters, we skype, we email and facebook status update and share a blog exclusively for keeping up with one another. I do not typically share these letters on this blog because it is such a very different format.

Dear Melissa I miss you greatly you. You have taken with you to this new land a piece of me. One that I was happy to give up to see what you could mold it into. Whisper it secrets and great truths and then I can come pick it up or you can mail it to me and I will be better again.

The year has been a carousel of transition, but it stops every now and again and we can try to stand on our feet and see what change has transpired. And if we remain still enough we an actually see some of our struggle, our pain, or losses spin off with the wind.

Letting go....oof....not the best thing I do and yet it has become one of my strongest lessons and best assets Ive ever acquired. Of course I am still learning.

Layers and layers of messaging. This is written for Melissa, for Maggie, for my Father and Mother and Sister, and for you. You know who you are right? Beyond our limited capacity to see and experience the world is a that great, great open universe in which we are all connected. Doors open and close, carousels start and go. We are all full of fits and starts and perhaps I am now embarking on my next.

Just listen to the melody of the carousel, get lost for a minute, step carefully and hold someones hand, smile, it will be all too soon before the ride is over.

dear melissa

Domesticity Isn’t Pretty

My father told me he would always help me find my way home. I have reached a point in my life where I would like to or perhaps need to build my own home. I miss the idea that used to visit me of bringing to life my own family. It seems to have taken a temporary vacation. Tickets for a return trip are scarce. I suppose that is what happens when we deconstruct our identities. I begin to see a sad boarded up house, wood planks blocking the windows, broken down car in the driveway, weeds overtaking everything.

I used to keep a list in my wallet titled “Good Thought: In Case of Emergency.” I pulled that out tonight and it read:

1. Keep playing the game, just keep playing the game.
2. Driving down the highway, in traffic, do not switch lanes. Have patience, things will begin to move at the right speed again.
3. Listen to Amsterdam music, close your eyes and go there.
4. Sing everything you know.
5. Write until you hands cannot work anymore.
6. Run until your legs cannot work anymore.
7. Think of all the people who love you, write down their names and why.
8. Remember you have to let go a little sometimes if you want people to come back.
9. Go to a bookstore.

I realized I’d written that list almost 10 years ago when I was just coming to terms with my sexual identity.

I am not a crier. I wish I could. Thoughts of my family can sometimes induce tears, but they are almost always stifled by an unconscious resistance. As I read through the list I began relating to that scared and pressurizing feeling I felt at 15, eyes welled up, maybe I let one tear escape, sniffle, sniffle, cough and resume control.

I then thought of that home again, seeing now piles of lumber and hammers, nails and screw (all neatly organizes of course). The silhouetted figures of a husband and a kid and a dog (okay, Samson was definitely there too).. One piece of furniture to move in, my first real kitchen table.

My hands are ready for the labor. I am ready to make the first strike now. Bruising, scraped, swollen thumb be damned (I am not too good at the construction thing), but it will be my own home.

And you will come to visit. Will you come to visit? And you will sit at my kitchen table. And maybe you can help me build it stronger, make improvements here and there. And you, you will give it the name ‘home.’ And all of you will bring me home..

Dear Joe

Something's gotta give. Gather the matches. It's time to light fires.

Dear Joe

A small series of X-Men comics that you would probably be amused by

Right Here

dear melissa

this is what I imagine your life is like in Hombrechtikon, Swissville

p.s. I spelled that right on the first go without even looking, look ma' no hands!

dear melissa

potato! potato! potato!

it started as an experiment, but I have to say I will happily dig my hands in the dirt this fall to see what bulbous rooty delight will come forth.

shhhh....they are being kept and watched by Lucille until they are ready.

dear melissa

if you dont not send me some bread soon I will eat this cat!

dear melissa

i have transcended

Dear Joe

You owe me:
1 email
1 letter
5 CC blog postings

Therefore, I punish you with my absolute Love Of Trevor:

Seriously, I adore what this skinny bastard does. The Hitler Rap is pretty freaking amazing also.

Dear Joe

Read all of these:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bar-art/sets/72157623479860723/

super tip top.

Dear Joe

Important things to remember.

Dear Joe

I need one OF THESE THINGS but I don't know which one. Raar!

Dear Joe

"And at the end of all this? I don't know - but since we must work, let us work. Let us plow the field to find the treasure, and if there is no treasure, never mind; the earth will give us back a good crop of potatoes."

~~Jacques Villon

Dear Joe

I have been really enjoying all of THESE.

dear melissa

food porn

dear joe

holy fucking cheese, dude!

...i'm not going to poop for days.


i'll blog this proper tomorrow on my page. just had to share in my bowel discomfort and extreme pleasure this evening.

dear melissa

you would have been proud of this

slow-roast pork delicious

Dear Joe

Thanks for the recipe. This turned out Super Tip Top.

dear melissa

i know i did bad, but sometimes i can fix my stupid mistakes

we are always

Dear Joe

Basic Math:

THIS:



EQUALS



(the video is better)


TIMES

Dear Joe

Dear Joe

Let's all thank Baby Jesus for websites like

THIS ONE RIGHT FUCKING HERE

Dear Joe

"When seeing a new place, I often think: I am going to come back here later - when I am rich, or when I have more time, or when I have a purpose, or when I am with someone I love - and do this right. But it is self-deception. More often than not, my feet lead me somewhere new rather than somewhere I've already been. And as I sat at that window watching the train bore through the heart of China, I had a different, more probable thought, and I wrote it down: I better remember what this place looks like. I will never be back."

-Brad Newsham, All the Right Places

dear melissa

Dear Joe

Porous Walker Feature from TheCreativeLives on Vimeo.

Dear Joe

click it

Dear Joe

The most profound exclamation can only be truth. Truth in yourself. The expression, "work is love made visible", has never had so much meaning. You must live gloriously.

(Yes, I just quoted Rand and Gibran in the same paragraph. Fuck you if you don't like it)

dear melissa

five years ago you (perhaps more) you gave me Atlas Shrugged to read, I got through a quarter before something....nonetheless I marked it up and now I begin again. Enter Dagny Taggart:

"She thought: For just a few moments--while this lasts--it is all right to surrender completely--to forget everything and just permit yourself to feel. She thought: Let go--drop the controls--this is it." "This is why the wheels have to be kept going, and this is where they're going" (Rand, p. 20)

Dear Joe

Here's something fun I learned today:
If you do a google image search for "chicken fucks a cat picture", one of the images that comes up is of Samson.

dear melissa

sage advice

Dear Joe

will you go to prom with me?



Y N Maybe

Dear Joe

Dear Joe

I have been shamelessly (shamefully) spending my mornings


i have two pink nipples and a penchant for sparkly things, fine, i admit it, after years of black-clad Dagny-esque defiance.

Dear Joe

dear melissa

what is Totoro doing here?

Dear Joe

My motto and mantra for 2010:







with just a little touch of

Dear Joe

life lessons:



this crazy bitch didn't cook anything until she was 36 years old.

dear melissa

Riku and I will miss you

dear melissa

I am not doing well with this moving to Switzerland thing your doing

you brought me the bookcase

and pogan

it is silly, but if feels like when you went off to college and left me all of your amazing collection of drawings and massive amounts of Elfquest stuff, I had no idea how close you actually were

Im going to try and see the world like that and then it will be

and all will be well

I dont have a good image to post with that thought, Ive already started writing my first letter to you, I will be a good pen pal I promise

dear joe

this is the sort of thing i like

http://unhappyhipsters.tumblr.com/

dear joe

quote

The Creator gathered all of Creation and said,

“I want to hide something from the humans until they are ready for it. It is the realization that they create their own reality.”

The eagle said, “Give it to me, I will take it to the moon.”

The Creator said, “No. One day they will go there and find it.”

The salmon said, “I will bury it on the bottom of the ocean.”

“No. They will go there too.”

The buffalo said, “I will bury it on the Great Plains.”

The Creator said, “They will cut into the skin of the Earth and find it even there.”

Grandmother Mole, who lives in the breast of Mother Earth, and who has no physical eyes but sees with spiritual eyes,

said, “Put it inside of them.”

And the Creator said, “It is done.”

end quote

dear joe and me

i dont have time for this now but i want to remember it for later.


http://drawn.ca/2010/01/21/madame-tutli-putli-hd/


OH MY GOD NO MORE WORK

Dear Joe

The last one on this page is how i imagine us at age 70/74.
Kate's Comic

dear joe

also, i love the art and comics of JULIA GFRÖRER and so should you.

www.thorazos.net

dear joe

tumble this, bitch

dear joe

we chose rejoice

dear joe



RAAAA HIPPIEZ

dear joe.

just setting the mood for this weekend. do enjoy.

the word of the day is...

Dear Melissa

I need your help, we have a robot that refuses to commit to his role in the Pee-Wee Herman revolution slowly approaching in my new apartment

help me get him in line wont you?


also, I need to 'anthropomorphize' more items in my home

and this is also the world of the day! AHHHHHHH!

dear joe

the sultans elephant

dear melissa

career options

I want this frogs job:

dear joe

i bought us a house.

this is what I did with my Friday

fits and starts

i have been searching for this short film for years, it existed only on a VHS packed away in one of my previous dwellings

it is full of wonder, delight, orange soda, useful information about diabetes, and a diabolical French maid

if only id known

now be amazed

dear joe and kelly and me

dear joe



polish weddings.

lets take more

dear joe

mandatory, starting today


1 photo, every day.

PHOTO BATTLE!!
doesnt have to be fancy, doesn't have to be good, doesnt have to be anything.


inspiration:
http://www.foundphotos.net/
http://www.troyland.com/

adult float

dear melissa

I strongly feel we need one of these


how does this beer get rated??

via thekitchn

dear joe



via desgin*sponge, it's the indoor-picnic.

lovely.

dear joe,

this is what i'm doing tonight: reading all of these with a pint or two of stout.

Book a Minute Classics

lazy river

isnt it time for this yet?

dear joe

SERIOUSLY are you following this blog?

Michael and Michael Have Issues

add that to your 'daily' list.

what the hell??

Joshua Hoffine's photo there is awesome.

found VIA SUPERPUNCH (also is awesome)

who told....

the rest of the summer shall be filled with ongoing quotations from the season finale of 30 Rock "Kidney Now"

including:

- you've got sexually transmitted crazy mouth
- bisexual is something they invented in the 90's to sell hair products
- 's' to the 'd', shut it down
- but you know how there are no secrets in the tanning community?
- Pleased to meet

and one that will still put me in stitches "who told"

oh no! videos at 2AM

first off, how did this escape our radar:

Video Game - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

also, this is how fairy tales were meant to be told, I didnt really feel I could share it with anyone else

dear joe

here is a link, in which one of my personal heroes more or less sums up how i feel about waking up at 5 goddam am every morning to sew monsters and doodle things.

CLICK IT NOW PLEASE

Personal Letter to TinyMeat

Melissa, remember that entry you made about the "grown up aesthetic"? I have been practicing, but can't I just grow up with my favorite creators and continue to acquire the things they make for me? Such as:

Dear TinyMeat,

I love you. You make my favorite wallets in the world. It feels like just the other day when I drunkenly stumbled upon you in the Etsy bar to get a case for when I first received my passport.


You were sitting next to SEIBEI and had been flirting all night with Joined At The Stitch, they thought they were so grown up changing their name from Vagrant Aesthetic (we are all so proud).

but here's the thing, once a year I indulge on nabbing a new one from you kids and one for Melissa because ours have gone through a year of the natural disaster that is our ass and require replacement, plus the plastic and stiching start breaking and tearing.

They all started out so great:


Do you think you can make a grown up wallet? We, your early fans are growing up and sometimes we cannot pull out something as wicked as that last Zeptonn wallet in inappropriate situations like business dinners, funerals, turkey hunting, and Babylon 5 theme parties.

Yours Truly,

Joe

dear joe

i really think you should take an evening and read my 3 issues of Eye of the Magnificent Creature


but they are printed on newsprint, and i am afraid
1) your cat will piss on them
2) your cat will eat them
3) you will grudge them up
4) all of the above

so

can you either promise not to destroy them, or
go to
HERE HERE HERE and drop the $8 and buy them yourself. They come in a lovely christmas-like package, with a little OMG button. perfecto.

really, these are FREAKING great.


ps also let's try this blog shit again.
pps also let's start the mailing list up again. i promise not to suck so much this time
ppps i love u

oh mister Gondry

The Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind are some of his most most recent claims to fame, but this imaginative genius has been setting the bar higher with every creation that makes it to screen and has been long before these full length features.

Gondry has the uncanny ability to make you show us as adults how to "play," how to tap into our dreamworlds as children and make them come to life again. He saves us from the terror of a complacent life and although never without its faults and drawbacks presents us with the opportunity to be a part of a better world.

This being said when I read today that:  Michel Gondry is going to direct Green Hornet? on my daily Pop Candy blog check. I nearly fell over in my chair with excitement. 

I am a comic book kid. I grew up on Spider-Man and X-Men. I was never really a DC guy. In recent years I've been that "graphic novel" guy, which is what we adults say we read to sound a little less like nerd-kids and more like nerdy-half-grownups. 

With the new release of Watchmen and several other projects on the film circuit; Y The Last Man, Ex Machina, Fables, etc. I am often told to be weary and often dissapointed, but with Gondry on the case I think we might just be okay. 

So keep your eyes out, cause this is just starting to get fun.