Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Vampire Santa's Eggnog


What's that I hear? Is it the sound of Vampire Santa dragging his sorry sackful of eggnog around once again for the holiday season?

You betcha!

And as the sole purveyer of Vampire Santa's Eggnog, I have only one wish for you: That you get a bottle. But we'll see how good and/or bad you are in the next few weeks.

Big ups to Cricket Press for the art collab!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

"Oh no you didn't!"


"Oh no you didn't!"
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey

Lucy mugs for a funny little company contest that requested a picture of her on the phone. We went the extra mile. Alternate poses here and here.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

from the archives

I'm migrating from the Palm to the iPhone world, and have needed to pull over some random notes that I just wanna keep. Here's one of them:

I'm sitting at the library eating illegal thai salad. The view from the fourth floor is just too enticing and I was simultaneously hungry, so you know — connect the dots. (bite)

I guess cops have never liked it when lawbreakers tell them "shouldn't you be out chasing people who have really done something wrong?" Anyway, it's the dead week, for adults. Or at least me. That's the week after xmas and before new years. I love dead week. It has the potential to be so — I don't know — dead. That usually is a condition intensified by a lot of snow which is semi-freakish anymore here in the bluegreass, enough so that people tend to run to grocery, buy lots of water and bread (why with the bread? I've never understood) and pretend that the end is nigh.

Not the end of the snow mind you, but The End. That's not the case today though. It's clear and beautiful. I promised myself a walk, as a kind of tribute both to dead week and the weather. A no-jacket, no-camera, no-errands walk. Okay, so i tucked my Treo and amazing folding keyboard into my pocket. What's the harm? Well, for me the harm is that I routinely try to multi-task all the time. It's become a real theme. In some ways my life has become a list; A list of ludicrous mixed magnitudes, where "buy another house" mingles freely with "get some okra." It's madness.

So the idea is that occasionally, I travel light and go for a walk. It rarely happens, but today it did. I felt better just knowing that it was warm outside. And that is why I consider moving. But in the meantime, the brisk walk. It's hard for me not to not to make lists in my head or even on this Treo. But today I'm trying not to.

Note to self: look into buddism to battle "future-itus"

See?? There I go again. How did i get this way? Why are more and more peo0ple becoming this way? I remember the first time I did business on a cell phone, walking down the street to pick up something at Kinkos. With an internal exclamation, i thought "wow, now I can get two things done at once." And it's been downhill ever since. I'm up to, like, 5 things at once. And that seems like an achievement, but I can't remember why I had to get all thesse things done. WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING?

I'm taking a walk, that's what.

And maybe on the way, I'll drop a letter off at the post office, renew my Y membership, get a cup of coffee, pick up a couple of library books and and and …
late december 2007

Monday, November 10, 2008

Jackie OH!


Jackie OH!, originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Just a funny Jackie O meets Oscar mashup that I just saw one morning in Lucy's office.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Barack on Flickr

As a continiuing insight into Obama's grasp on "the new media," check out his Flickr stream, full of candid "behind the scenes" shots from election night and before..
clipped from news.yahoo.com

Behind the scenes with Obama


Obama's campaign photographer, David Katz, has uploaded thousands of behind-the-scenes photos onto Flickr, Yahoo!'s photo-sharing site. Among our favorites were these candid shots of the Obama family hanging out on election night, watching history unfold. (To see more of these photos, you can check out the Barack Obama photostream on Flickr.)

President-elect Barack Obama and family on election night. Photo by campaign photographer David Katz.
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Thursday, November 06, 2008

It's fixed!


It's fixed!, originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Nearly 2 hrs later, terry's got my turntable back in service! And I got to assist, even. Priceless.

Terry Layman at work


Terry Layman at work, originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Terry Layman directs his mad mad skills towards the rehabilitation of my failing JVC turntable, bought by me in 1982 and in constant service since that time.

Terry the Electric Alchemist


Photo_11.jpeg, originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Terry Leyman works his near-obsolete magic on my vintage life-long JVC turntable. I bought it in 1982 and it is just an amazing piece of technology that was merely in need of a little TLC from a latter day good shepherd of electronics.

Helping the old tech


Helping the old tech, originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

The only turntable I've ever owned (a JVC L-F41 bought in 1982) is on the fritz but getting some TLC from the amazing Terry Layman, electronic repair wizard. There aren't too many left like Terry. Thank goodness I've got him.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Barack Obama

Yesterday was, finally, a day to remember for all time. And not for a sad or tragic reason — for once, in our recent history — but for the very best of reasons: Some poignant, timely, important progress for our country, and the opportunity for the US to make inroads once again as a power for good in the world and a beacon of hope. Galvanizing, it was. And being a good deconstructor, it's always fascinating to me to look at the nuts and bolds and see "how it happened." Here's a pretty interesting account of that.
clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com

Obama's near-flawless run from start to finish

Dem's journey to the presidency was marked by organization, discipline

The story of Mr. Obama’s journey to the pinnacle of American politics is the story of a campaign that was, even in the view of many rivals, almost flawless. But Mr. Obama and his aides believed from the outset that it would have to be nothing less than that if he was to overcome obstacles that sometimes in the drama of the year became easy to forget: that this was a black man with an unusual name and exotic past, someone dogged by a stubborn (and inaccurate) belief among some voters that he is a Muslim, who began plotting his presidential run less than two years after moving from the Illinois Legislature to the United States Senate. the rest of this story

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Monday, November 03, 2008

Zombie Photobooth 2008


Zombie Photobooth 2008, originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

This year for Mecca's 7th Thriller, I eschewed my historic gig documenting the parade itself — there's a sea of photographers doing that now.

Instead, Zombie-master Mel had the bright idea to do a Zombie Photobooth, similar to the Belly Booth that I'd done for a Rachel Brice workshop last year.

I was curious because I wanted to test the bounds of instant print delivery a la Polaroid for the digital age. Without, y'know, the high expense of polaroid. So I set up a light kit and shot with my Canon XTi tethered to my laptop where they were slurped fairly-instantly into Adobe Lightroom. From there, I could print them immediately to this sweet little Lexmark P350 and Voila! Instant Zombie souvenir!

It was great fun. The tech was challenging and somewhat flakey, but basically workable.. The turnout was somewhat light (at the photobooth, not Thriller), but we'll work out the publicity next time. This was a great trial run!

Extra-special thanks to the Third Street Stuff barista crew for making me feel extra-welcome and also being my lighting guinea pigs!

see the whole zombie photobooth set

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Thriller 2008!


Thriller 2008, originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Super fun at the 7th annual Thriller! In the Streets of Downtown Lexington, folks! If you weren't there, we're talking about over 200 dancing zombies, and thousands of onlookers. Yay to Mecca Live Studio, WRFL-FM and Lexington Parks and Recreation as well as the many many who helped out in one of the finest annual community events anywhere.

Here's the Thriller photo pool where you can see assorted people's shots and add your own! (please do!)