NO...

so, seeing as how i managed to skip any "best of 2011" action a few weeks back, i thought i'd pull out one item that did cross my mind for such a run-down...


best cover art i've seen in a damn minute: 
NO - "Don't Worry, You'll Be Here Forever"

this is a more appropriate way of celebrating this particular taserness, since it's kind of a 2011/2012 type of deal. i got the online version last year, but the physical 12" is coming very soon. they're in pre-order mode right now, more info here:
http://origamivinyl.bigcartel.com/product/no-don-t-worry-you-ll-be-here-forever-pre-order


simple is best...kinda like the band name. 
behind the rad cover art, you can find a very taser band...can't wait to have it on the shelf. 
your radar should be beeping.

scoot scoot.

so, i'm not attempting to make taser factory 80's-ccentric or anything (see: simon & simon post below), but tubeway army and my new t'pau- "heart and soul" 12" have recently been getting a lot of play time in the studio, and things just...happen.


however, i've developed a fascination with 80's scooters. scooters of action. scooters of the future. space scooters (thinking tom selleck in "runaway", or robotech: saga 2)...


my research turned up some tasered up honda scooter commercial campaign featuring some true bad-asses: miles davis, devo...



and grace jones and adam ant...



as well as that "dog-faced obstructionist" lou reed...

fuck you, lou, i enjoy walking...i wonder if he rides this to band practice with metallica?


it didn't take long to fill up my desktop with taser factory imagery galore!

tf: do you want one?
jk: fuck yeah!
tf: would ride it around?
jk: fuck yeah!, no!? ...well maayyyybe.


there will definitely be a new scooter division at united eggroll.

simon & fuckin' simon...

hands down the best show ever. 
with the best theme song ever. we used to jam this right before doing something really stupid...check out the bad-ass truck and the part where rick busts out of a burning shack in a piece of construction equipment:





here's a taste-uh...features rick, a.j., short shorts, san diego, and "marathon" music:



this is what taser factory was born from/for. eat it.

new year, new project - rebel hands press.

today, instead of reflecting on 2011, which would undoubtedly be marred by negativity and dwight yoakam videos from youtube, i've opted for taking an initial glance at what 2012 has in store. 
the perfect fix for a new year is a new project. enter rebel hands press...


during the summer months of last year, jeff moerchen, david smith, and i put together a shiny little project revolving around the film Point Break, which culminated in a book titled "the Point Break is..."

the success and excitement from that project poured over into the founding of rebel hands press:
Rebel Hands Press is an independent publisher of books, and possibly other items, with a leaning towards art, photography, and great ideas. Established via phone, Rebel Hands exists in the roaming mind and pockets of Jeff Moerchen (Right Hand) and the cramped Los Angeles studio of Jeremy Kennedy (Right Hand). When the idea is right, we do something.


so this year we'll be moving comfortably forward with this venture. in the time leading up to now, we've been able to reinforce our catalog with 2 new books, along with the "the Point Break is..." project. a totally taser way to start things off. 


meet the new books:
Zephyr
photographs: Jeff Moerchen      Tyrone Toral :layout
Zephyr is an attempt at continuous photographic seeing, a document of memories. It is not cohesive, a timeline, or thematic but a document of what I see as a photographer. Similar to the blur of flipping through channels of a television these images are nonsequiturs that if strategically organized gain significance. Simply put these are pictures about taking pictures. 

thirty two page newspaper,  215 black and white images.
materials: newsprint, black ink
measure: ~17x22

cheerleaderisms
by: jeremy kennedy
a collection of selected comments from a former collegiate cheerleader concerning her personal views and recollections from high school and coming of age in the sports culture. set with xeroxed images.

sixteen pages, black and white.

materials: xerox on plastic core book-block.

measure: ~4x6

check out the site: rebelhandspress.com

and/or follow us on facebook or tumblr, as there will be updates for sure.

sherlocked - jeremy brett vs. robert downey jr.

i really like robert downey jr. and the new sherlock movies are terrific testaments of hollywood blockbusterism, in most all the ways i like.
however, i can't help but favor alpha-brit jeremy brett in the role.
while the new films have jude law and a major advantage in the area of budget, jeremy brett is taller and so outstandingly british...



plus, brett's low key drug use is kinda cool...



this whole thing brought out a rare childhood memory:
as a small child i told my grandmother that i liked jeremy irons. but i really wasn't familiar with his work, i just thought i liked him because we were both named jeremy. similarly, in that same period, i tried to convince myself and others that i liked diet dr. pepper, but i really didn't. i just liked the can, because at that time, it looked the regular dr. pepper can, except it was blue.


everybody knew i really didn't it, but would still give it to me knowing full well that i wouldn't drink more than a sip or two. 


this memory makes it pretty clear that i have no idea what i'm talking about, and discounts any judgement i might attempt to pass on the subject of sherlock holmes.

assemble / disassemble

putting things together and taking things apart. i'm a big fan of both. these two themes keep popping up lately. 


todd mcclellan:
i've taken many things apart, for many different purposes. it's fun to see all the parts, and it's fun to have a reason to use break out those tools that never really get much use, like those tiny screwdrivers that are usually required when disassembling machines.

however, i've never achieved the level of beauty seen in this series of work by todd mcclellan. for fans of design and tiny parts, this is it.

check out the full set:
http://toddmclellan.com/


thomas thwaites: 
"the toaster project" addresses many larger questions and things about the modern world, but the part i really like is the actual attempt to build a toaster from scratch. 

here's some words someone else wrote about it, and a ted talk video below.




website:
http://www.thomasthwaites.com/the-toaster-project/

the family fang

fiction fiction fiction, say what you will. a lot of folks say it's a great thing for the wintertime. 


since it's appears that wintertime is closing in, i thought i'd bring up this book. "the family fang" by kevin wilson. it's the best piece of fiction i've encountered in ages. 

i feel like i'd be terrible at literary review and have no intention of starting...so i'll just leave it with some stolen words from the author's website, http://www.wilsonkevin.com/:


Mr. and Mrs. Fang called it art. Their children called it mischief. 
 Performance artists Caleb and Camille Fang dedicated themselves to making great art. But when an artist’s work lies in subverting normality, it can be difficult to raise well-adjusted children. Just ask Buster and Annie Fang. For as along as they can remember, they starred (unwillingly) in their parents’ madcap pieces. But now that they are grown up, the chaos of their childhood has made it difficult to cope with life outside the fishbowl of their parents’ strange world.
 When the lives they’ve built come crashing down, brother and sister have nowhere to go but home, where they discover that Caleb and Camille are planning one last performance—their magnum opus—whether the kids agree to participate or not. Soon, ambition breeds conflict, bringing the Fangs to face the difficult decision about what’s ultimately more important: their family or their art.
 Filled with Kevin Wilson’s endless creativity, vibrant prose, sharp humor, and keen sense of the complex performances that unfold in the relationships of people who love one another, The Family Fang is a masterfully executed tale that is as bizarre as it is touching.

this book was delivered to me from mrs. mary steffens, wrapped in a pair of canvas fangs handed out as part of a performance art project called "aliens of the devil". clever and thoughtful, and excitement on my part, as the book was just recently added to my read list. 

perfect timing. a lot of things in this that i needed to read, even a few close to home things, like a detailed bit about an art project almost identical to one that we, (knee shy), had planned. 

and even though i often say that i don't really care for illustrators, the cover art by Julie Morstad is pretty cute, and apparently tattoo-worthy for some...

...it's seems as though nicole kidman has gained the film rights for this...hopefully this doesn't end up giving me a new reason to dislike her.

"scanwiches"

this is f-ing amazing! "SCANWICHES". it is what it sounds like, scans of sandwiches...or as the creator writes: "Scans of sandwiches for education and delight." 

this is the type of action that keeps the little universe in my head spinning at the proper speed, and encourages me to continue following the passions in my big blood-filled heart.

powerHouse Calls Presents: Scanwiches: The Ham, Apple and Brie from powerHouse Books on Vimeo.


k. that's enough...there's a book available, and looks like prints as well....see for yrself: http://scanwiches.com/

maybe a great new mind-blowing item of interest for fans of "tom selleck waterfall sandwich"

photo-blinds: we be shreddin'...

working habits change. in my case, photography and the making of books has steadily infiltrated what i've been making over the past year or so. 


something that hasn't changed is my draw towards large quantities of a single item. a rule that reads something like: 1 red plastic cocktail sword isn't really that amazing, but 15,000 of them holds great potential.
this rule, combined with the above photo/book making thing, and my reluctance to waste anything, and an obsession with the work of jennifer bolande lead to these "photo-blinds". 

here's the original. ~32L x 16W.

i've been building (and subsequently selling) these pieces in the wake of an exhibition that wasn't to be. created by bundling shredded photo and paper off-cuts and tying them into mats of various lengths. they can be installed in several different ways. 

my negative eve.

it's quite very true that i'm not a fan of halloween, but i do like some creepy old movies. here's 2 really tasered up favorites:


dementia 13 (1963)
it's francis ford coppola's directorial debut, and it's totally hot and creepy and grainy and slightly british-y. it also features luana anders, one of my all time favorite actresses and major personal influence, in a terrifically grumpy, jaded and burnt out alpha-blonde, negative creep, bitch role...it's perfect! perfect-o. 
mr. coppola apparently got handed this opportunity by his then boss roger corman, which is beautifully evident.



night tide (1961)
wow...it's rad to see anything with a young dennis hopper, and this takes the shotgun on the fire off with pleasure, and yes, luana anders is here too, acting grumpy and concerned! fun to watch, and i would kill someone i don't know (with a knife) to go back in time and behind the scenes for the making of this film.



a bit unrelated...george romero should have made more creepy films with judith o'dea.

river city ransom. the book.

over the past year or so, books, or rather making them, has seriously infiltrated my working habits (i can't imagine why...). whenever an idea for a project comes up nowadays, one my immediate responses is: "let's make a book."


such is true with this new thing...

River City Ransom (a text-only, play-by-play account of the 1989 video game, as played by some guy.)

as a kid in the 80's, i spent a decent amount of time with the nintendo entertainment system, but somehow missed out on river city ransom. then a few years ago, when i was on tour with the Mean-Agers, Mean Chris turned me onto the game at a place we were staying in Pittsburg. 

personally, i thought the game kinda sucked, but it was really funny and i loved how excited Mean Chris was about it. earlier this year, river city ransom seemed liked the perfect target for this project...

so here it is....
a text-only play-by-play account i wrote of watching the game being played by some dude from beginning to end. all written in that weird monotonous phrasing and pace that i use to chronicle action packed stories. 

the physical product, at least phase 1, is now completed as a super limited edition handmade book. 

find more and new stuff at http://table-blue.com