I still hate Halloween.

My least favorite day of the year. The day which all my monumental inadequacies as a parent shine with the brilliance of ten thousand suns. I have holidayaphobia: the marked inability to make a special day on the calendar even remotely special for my family. Tom refuses to trick or treat this year due to my past problems gathering friends for him to participate with, the strange nature of being a solo trick or treater and the fact I bought a house in the isolated hinterlands of humanity.

He did dress up for school as a obscure character from a Japanese Manga that he loves. (see above) I suppose I can rejoice that we are raising another generation of outsider nerds.

Cosmetics rule us all, so say the Dutch

Job for Dutch TV featuring an annoying digital hybrid phone patch (which was cheaper than flying a producer from Holland, but more frustrating) that only worked miraculously,  at the last second. The interview was strangely interesting, the message being- don't buy expensive face cream because it's crap. The subject was a fabulously successful woman who researches such things. This was obviously lucrative as it was an amazing house on the lake. Cosmetics makes some one lots of money. Worked with Been There Dunlap.

Barren Conquest 2

Still working on it. It's better but I still am unhappy. There is something going on here but it is not fully realized. Practice make muddy. Photographs always make the color look weird and the proportions distorted. I am confused as to why her eyes do not look the right direction in the photo but do in real life.

I need to move on, though I might like the instagram better than the real thing:

Graffiti War 3

It has been a crap fest at taggerville: so bad with the illegible tags that some one else (entity or individual) has painted out the graffiti instead of me. My latest proto-fascist, all seeing eye is pictured above.

http://evaporationofjim.blogspot.com/2012/06/graffiti-war.html

http://evaporationofjim.blogspot.com/2012/10/graffiti-war-update.html

The Cat of the Father of the Biggest Philanthropist in the World

Since no one actually reads this, I can say that Bill Gates Sr. is a nice, well accomplished person and his cat is hilarious. It was a three day shoot for the Gates Archives and I heard a lot about Bill Gates Sr.'s life, which as it would happen seems to be very similar to my parents' life. He was in the army, in the occupation of Japan, like my dad, in fact on Hokkaido at the same time.  He and his first wife were married at the same church that my parents were. His cat, who's name I did not get was a Manx who demanded my attention during the interview.

I voted. I have the Hives. And Yesterday I worked

I am about 90% sure that everything sucks. Since last Thursday I have had an annoying allergic reaction to my neoprene knee brace that resulted in the hives. While this crisis will be on the minds of all Americans for the next 48 hours, I am prepared to say: I am getting better, though my confidence in neoprene is a an all time low.  I sent my vote in, as did my luscious and wonderful mate. If only the election could be over too now, however it will drag on  and on, not unlike my allergic reaction to synthetic rubber.

I worked on talking heads for a company that books international private jet tours, presumably for people who are underserved minorities and people with low income backgrounds.

Photo depicts cats. Your results may vary. Consult your owner's manual for further options and solutions to cat infestation.

Hilarity of the Corporate Skit!

More fun with stuff that isn't funny. 

Made a video about office remodel possibly .07% more funny than compost.

Cosmetics Sharecropping

I shot a "College Make Up Event for Gen Y" today.  The audio was challenging. Why do 19 year olds need make up? It was a room of beautiful girls being introduced to multi-level marketing make up that famously offers pink Cadillacs to the top earners. It was like school for trollops.

 I worked with Bruce Hutson and crushed him with a giant bowling ball.

My knees both hurt.

Where the money grows

More corporate love feasting. It looks more ominous than it really was. No goats were sacrificed
.

No Sleep Country For Old Men 2: The Reckoning

Sleep Country Android can drive a forklift.  Obama can get up in Romney's grill.  I made mediocre yakisoba. The world is still spinning.

Update to Earth

Orwell was only off by a couple of degrees.

I have this elaborate conspiracy theory, that started as a joke but is becoming rapidly real. What "they" (the 1% let's say) really, really want is to actually own us all. Under slavery and before that, the various feudal systems, those in charge (the "owners") held deeds to the subjected classes' souls. This is the one thing they now lack: ownership. The one possession that is denied them is the human being. John Hubbard, a Republican State Legislator from Arkansas said recently that Slavery was a Blessing in disguise".  In times past that would have ended his career, now he is a just a guy with a strange idea. Statements like this are laying a ground work for future acceptance of of some kind of "corporate soul mortgage" (they will never call it "slavery" again), wherein, your vote, your life decisions, every thing that you count as your very own will be owed to some person or entity- and it will not be on any kind of strictly racial lines either, every one will be up for grabs. It will take a while, but eventually they will try and use the biblical references to slavery to their advantage. We won't be called slaves or serfs, we will be "long term contracted employees" and they won't be "masters", they will be "Job creators"  or "Beneficient Lords of the Universe." Think about jobs in a world without pensions or Social Security or medicare, how essential it will be to have that privatized support.

It's a really bad Kilgore Trout Sci-Fi novel theme but just watch it happen.

I screwed up my knee by just walking across my driveway.

Like an elderly person, I mysteriously destroyed my left knee through the dangerous stunt of trying to walk upright across my own driveway. Being old sucks. The brace is almost worse than the feeling of there being shrink wrapped golf balls inside my kneecap.

No Sleep Country for Old Men

 

This is frequently my view on a studio shoot. I found it funny that the two shots lined up. Sleep Country is a factory shoot, with multiple versions recorded one after another. "The Sleep Country Lady" is actually a fairly normal person, until she turns on the lifelike, on camera android. She never flubs a line reading and is always perfectly modulated. It's kind of scary and impressive.

The Strange Machinations of Industry and our Sorrowful Part to Play in Their Video Rituals

Two days of making lemonade. Payday loans are here to stay, they are the "banking" of the future. They also need their "skits" committed to video by professional  crews. These are not usually our finest hours. The actors are usually employees who are not professional talent. Audio sucks. Things go wrong.  Shame ensues. Our shame circus is lead by Jai Suh, who always keeps the train moving and stays positve. He also buys the beer upon completion.  Frankly, he pulled a rabbit out of a hat on this one: there were at least one hundred ways it could have gone wrong and they didn't.  One could not ask for a better ring master. Pictured top to bottom: Mr. Suh, Ray, Nacime, Ryan and John. 

Graffiti War Update

Latest installment to baffle my taggers:

The thought that I have too much time on my hands has crossed my mind.

http://evaporationofjim.blogspot.com/2012/06/graffiti-war.html

10/12/2012- Just drove by and it has been majorly defaced. A bit of an intellectual disappointment , as it looks like a lame magic marker tag rather than a witty riposte.

Fight Club

Inducted Beth and Jai into fight club. Not gonna talk about it.

Barren Canvas

Not sure, but I think it's close to done.

I kind of like it, I kind of don't.

She is a hybrid of my lovely Laurie and Joey Heatherton ( and maybe Uhuru.) I was thinking about a planet of belligerent humanoids who,  after misusing their own females, set out to repopulate with the earth's women. Sort of Republican nightmare world where enforced reproduction is mandatory. Earth women called to action and not being doormats, kick their alien asses and save the day. As written, of course, by Johnny the boot. I may have one more sic-fi cover in me before I cut and run to the next idea.

Colorful Old Folks are still amusing

Had lunch with my parents today. It was fun. Together they are 179 years old. Try not to think about that. Bud was pretty good and had no issues getting around. Enjoy the time you have and try not to make everything too focused on the uncertainty of the future.