spurse event 12.18.08

I swear people were there.

Last Day.

Today is the last day of this wonderfully tiring week. Things have progressed nicely, albeit a bit slower than I think we had hoped. But that is the nature of working with groups.
I've heard I missed tough weather back in Portland, but that this guy has reset the clocks in anticipation of my arrival. He sent me this image to back up his email:

Grand Arts 12.16.08

BLOGday Night Lights

There are many things to write about from Texas and all will come in due time. For now just know that it was not all art. There was time to take in a highschool football game, also. The Marfa Shorthorns were well attended despite the chilly temperatures.

I was happy to get to the airport this morning and be greeted by this news:

vote

Crit Cat

I've been through my fair share of rough art-school critiques. I remember always wishing, when they were over, that I had formed my thoughts and responses better. It's not that I think I do bad work or not enough work or not the right work. I just seem to have trouble, at times, rolling with the conversation and defending what I do to a room full of people.
But all those tough times were put to shame last night when I returned to my studio to this:
Shackleton has upped the ante of art school critique.
As they say, I guess it's back to the drawing board.

"Let this be my annual reminder...

...that we can all be something bigger".

Latex Casting Went Well in Kansas

Yesterday was the first paddle in the ocean. Some good times and good stories to be described in a later post (with drawings to help). For now, a picture of the kayak approaching Fort Gorges.
When all was said and done, we think we paddled about 5 miles or so. It turns out that is quite a workout once the wind picked up.

Rich Rad

4, 298, 543

drawing machine #12 (globe)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5RVRbLgGo0

This week was the annual Mill Creek fishing trip. I don't fish, so the highlight this year was Miles feeding this Harbor Seal some bait fish when we got back to the dock:
Yesterday, I left the house with the yard looking like this:
And returned to it looking like this:There is now some clean-up to do and a stump to figure out what to do with, but I get a lot more light in my apartment, now. And things that seemed perpetually damp already seem dryer.
And I also had a nice view of my neighbor as she angerly threw some fallen branches not only over the fence, but all the way into the middle of the backyard. "We only did this so that the tree didn't fall on your house," I thought to myself she stomped around her yard. Middle-school teachers are angry.

One More Reason to Vote for Barak O-Blog-A

Palin Supported Penalties for Using Skateboards on Public or Private Property in Wasilla.
“Beginning Oct. 15 — after the expected opening of the $233,000 Wasilla Skate Park — skaters will be breaking the law if they use their skateboards, in-line skates, bicycles, scooters (or any other recreational, non-motorized wheeled device) on public or private property where signs are posted forbidding their use.”

The Frontiersman added, “In the ordinance approved Monday, the penalty for first-time violators of the ordinance is a written warning and the skate device may be confiscated for 10 calendar days. For a second offense, a $50 fine shall be paid and the skate device may be confiscated for 30 calendar days. A third-time offender will have to pay a $100 fine and will lose his or her skate device permanently.” [Frontiersman, 9/18/98]

new site

A very long story that I wish not to go into leads to the happy announcement of the launch of:
www.11lp.org
spurse is now officially a part of dialog:city. We have websites to prove it. And if it's on the internet, it must be true.

Rush LimBLOG

Yesterday, I was driving back from a little weekend jaunt/work session and was in the mood for a little talk radio. I usually listen to NPR, but the local station was playing classical music (which always makes me feel uneasy as I feel like I should like it, but in reality I have no interest in it) so I began to flip through the stations. I came upon this one show that was just going into break but claimed to be the "center for news". I kept it there waiting for them to come back when they did I was greeted by “You are listening to the Rush Limbaugh Show". I quickly changed it while muttering something when it occurred to me that this is the exact behavior that has led to many a misunderstanding between political viewpoints. “Why not listen to what the ‘other’ side is saying?,” I thought to myself. So I turned it back and listened in for at least a good 30 minutes. And I must say, there is a lot of hate in that man, more so than any of the music in my car. He went on a point-by-point breakdown/attack of Barack Obama’s talk about the oil/energy situation. I admit I haven’t listened to the talk aside from what I heard yesterday, but Limbaugh’s points seemed way off the mark and so filled with anger and hate. It makes me a bit sad that he is the highest paid radio person and has such an impact on so many people. Such slanted viewpoints are best suited for blogs and even more lowly means of information dissemination.

ICI Cabinet

I just finished this cabinet for a friend of mine:

I went together nicely after being expertly cut by a friend in Maine. The top is painted Starry Night Blue to reference the evacuation route signs in Boston. The sides of the closed structure are Foil Gray and the rest is left as raw birch (waxed). The biggest difficulty I had was finding hardware in Providence. Cabinet building/builders is not the circle I run in down here. I asked around RISD and the advice I got was "Lowes or Home Depot". It seems that everyone orders online down here. Oh, well. Lesson learned.

A Few Randoms

Recently, it occurred to me the large number of actors that got their start on 90210. It's funny that it seems that only the bit part actors went on to do anything. Hilary Swank is arguably the best known but I had no idea that Nate Fisher (Peter Krause) from Six Feet Under was on in the early years. Just for one or two episodes but he was on it none-the-less.
And then this guy showed up:
I'm pretty sure that this was very early on in his "career".
My other fun game is to find where the boom mic enters the top of the screen in each episode. Really, after 3 seasons you still can't hold that thing up out of the way? Or even, say, re-shoot if it does? The show was clearly a success at that point and money was being made. Let's look professional, eh?

On an unrelated tangent, I went with my international friends to see The Dark Knight at the IMAX theater last night. And I feel it safe to say that it's incredible. It is beautifully shot, well written, and extremely well cast (with the exception of that Batman voice). Heath Ledger was amazing. I vote him for awards for this.
But the most amazing parts were the clips that were shot with the true, 2:3 IMAX film. The first scene in the film had us all gasping at the crispness and "real-ness" of giving the feeling of diving off of the top of a building. I'm not sure how to describe it...My only complaint is that it's odd to keep switching between 2:3 IMAX and 16:9 aspect. For the most part it's pretty seamless, but there are a few points where it's just too obvious.

Rarely Do I go This Route...

"Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." --George W. Bush, in parting words to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at his final G-8 Summit, punching the air and grinning widely as the two leaders looked on in shock, Rusutsu, Japan, July 10, 2008.

I heard this on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and thought it was one of their jokes. Turns out it's fact.

How much longer?

Fusion Arts

Well, the summer here at RISD has begun. The students have been here for a week and we've had a first day away in Boston. Above in a conversation that took place in the first few days about the idea of home and what it means to students. We visited with some really great people there including a gentleman that is part of a company that is developing multi-user interactive touch screen tables. Pretty amazing and fascinating.

It Floats

Yesterday was the big day and all went fine. We went to a nice lake just outside 0f Portland. The weather was not the best, but the mist gave the lake a nice, mysterious look and the cooler temperature made the water seem not too cold.
The kayak floated fine and paddled nicely (not that I have anything to compare it to). The only complaint it the lack of seat padding. An hour or more of sitting on thin, wood ribs gets a bit uncomfortable. But padding will be easy to add.
It was very satisfying to see this project all the way through, from lumber yard to water.

kayaks

The exciting news is that the kayaks are done:

Not to pat myself on the back too much, but they're pretty cool looking. Once the poly is spread on the nylon (which took about five hours of hand sewing to put on), the skin takes on this beautiful, translucent look. Where it stretches around the cutwater, it looks so thin and delicate, like a membrane stretched over bone. Finally the framing is visible again. After all the work that was put into the woodworking, it was sad to cover it.
My paddle is made and I've purchased a spray skirt and life vest. Tomorrow is the big launch and it feels like that will be the end of this project.
This has all been a really great introduction to boat building. I've learned some great skills and my woodworking abilities have certainly improved. I'm looking forward to the next steps to be made when I return to Maine and the days once again get shorter and colder.

BLOGerly Hills 9021update

PS. This is a crying, 45 year old highschool student. Can you believe Ian Ziering didn't win awards? 

I know...I know.

MonBLOGen Island

This week, I had the pleasure of going out to Monhegan Island with a group from the University of Minnesota and Mr. Kerr. It was a wonderful trip. I learned a lot about Rockwell Kent and we were able to tour his home that he built and his studio. The hope is that this will lead to a project involving a short jaunt to Greenland where Mr. Kent spent some time living.
We also learned that Kent was a vegetarian. This is the first glimmer of hope I've heard in reference to my diet and the arctic.
In kayak news, I spent the day yesterday making my paddle and bending the hoop. Tomorrow, we'll bend the hope flange and sew it on in hopes of being able to skin the boats next weekend. We're in a big push to try and launch them before I leave for the summer. We'll see if that happens.

"Just because I'm popular doesn't mean I have to like everybody"

Every now and then I find something online that allows me to re-live parts of my life. Usually it's music or skateboarding related; the deck graphic I remember from when I learned how to ollie and not just bounce off a crack in the sidewalk or that one song I remember listening to over and over again as I drove out to Toggenburg after school to snowboard. But this recent discovery might be the crown jewel:
cbs.com has the first three seasons of Beverly Hills 90210 free for the watching. I started high school with them (well, David Silver atleast). And sure, they beat me to the punch of graduating college, but they remained on TV to coach me all the way through until I caught up with them. I remember watching this show at home in highschool. I remember watching this show when I took my break from college and lived in the mountains of CO. I remember watching the final episode at Ryther's house in Killington, VT. And I certainly remember watching the reunion the night before I moved from Denver back to the east to go to grad school. I think I might have even pushed the drive back a few days to watch it with a long time lover of all things "Kelly", Matt Kitt.
This show will stand the test of time as thee single best teen soap opera. I salute you "Bev 9'r".
(Please note above that Steve Sanders is wearing a blazer with shorts. Dude's about 45 here, yet still in high school.)

Back

We are back from our long journey. The last few days were spent in Brooklyn with bbq's, big buck hunting, and a lot of skateboarding. Our friend Shawn brought us to a little private (kind of) bowl in Williamsburg which, according to me, was one of the best things we got to skate. Big thanks to him for taking us.
On the drive back to MA, we stopped to see our friend Doug who, despite being in the middle of uprooting his life and moving, took some time out to share in a beer with us. It was great to see him after all these years. Still as positive and happy as ever.
It's always good to get back home after being away for awhile. But a part of me (a big part) is a bit sad to realize that the trip is over. Last night, Rich and I joked about getting back in the van and continuing on. We were able to see so much great stuff and skate so many good places in such a short amount of time. I can only imagine what could be seen and done in months/years of this lifestyle. It has finally become clear to me that Kenny Reed has it right.
A large and loud "thank you", Rich. Every year you make this trip something to look forward to. I swear next year I'll drive more. Look at how well I do with the cooler now. Think of the possibilities if I apply that to driving a van.
A equally large and loud "thank you" to Jenny and James for hosting us for a few days and taking time out of your busy lives to show us around and spend some time with us hobos.

I'll miss the daily updates, but I can only assume that Rickville is still THE happening town online.

BLOGlyn Banks

Sure...we skateboarded a bit today (alot)...took the train to the LES skatepark(a fun little piece of Chinatown with a little pyramid and flat bar and some ledge/manny-pad things)...kicked our way up to the banks (so very hard to skate but a must-go-to spot each time we are here. I mean really...push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push...all for a 4" high wallride? Really?) and back across town to Red Hook...did some shredding.
But let's get to what is really important. Did y'all see LOST?

Rickvillage..."I mean, they all know I'll bring the noise. I'm the man. You saw what I just showed you...all those people around me are my b&*@#!s. I could unleash the fury at any moment. I'm a virtual planetoid."

No BLOG 'til...

We made it a point to wake up a bit early today to hit the road. The hope was that No-Show would come through in the clutch...but no. So we drove for a few hours to Sayerville, NJ, home to NJ Skateshop and a wonderful cement park. I'd never been there before so it was a real treat...despite the fact that the park is located across the street from the high school and we rolled in as school was letting out. The bowl there is the right combination of open space and hips and pockets. The downfall is the waxed coping. Oh, well. Overall a good place. After all this driving, the van has earned a few days off.
Now we're in Brooklyn. Rich greeted James with a wonderful new facial hair configuration. It truly is a sight to behold. All are well here.


Rickville..."Pretty quiet. Actually, a few of my European people are giving me props...European Props."

FredericksBLOG

Today felt like a turning point. We're right about half-way through the trip and we've begun to head north. Really, nothing to report. We skated a not-so-good park in the out-of-way town of Williamsburg, VA. Same kids as every park doing their snowboard fly-outs and the one park champ that 360 flips things yet can't do a simple trick. Oh, well. We still had a good time.
We are now in Fredericksburg, VA. The plan has been to visit No-Show Joe in NJ tomorrow. But, as shocking as this may seem, Rich emailed him a few days back to get his phone number and he hasn't responded yet. Is he trying to up the No-Show ante? Taking it to previously unforeseen heights? I nod to you, No-Show. You have outdone yourself.
What do you think this guy is reading to Stella right now?:
This just in. Rickville update..."Ya know what? I didn't check it. But I have a feeling that the village is blowing up. I made some moves yesterday that I think are going to pay off."

The Legend of Ricky Prouty

Birmingham wasn't really what we had hoped for (bad timing I believe with the holiday and all), so my hobo friend and I got up this morning and promptly left. We headed towards Atlanta and found one wonderful stop off:
We took some pictures and looked around as much as we were allowed. The track isn't really that close to the actual town, so I say might be a bit off. But, we saw no hotels or motels are anything that would resemble a hotel/motel. What we did see was about a hundred empty RV lots. Come October, that place must be Crazytown, USA. But on this day, it was calm...some might even say empty. Rich posed by the sign with the van (pretending it was broken down) and then we were out.
We continued on through Atlanta (which seems like a good city...good size...some nice buildings...not nearly as bad as David Cross makes it out to be in his rant about Light Up Atlanta) and found our way to Duncan Creek Skatepark. This park opened within the last month or so, I believe. It's pretty good; Four different bowls (all of which have many pockets and hip), a bowl/street type area, and a few legit looking sets of stairs and rails and ledges. As far as Wally Hollyday built parks go, I think it's the best I've skated.
We're now in a little town in South Carolina.

Rickville.."Yeah. Ya know. It's fine."

Ala..BAMA

We skated the Nashville park one more time this morning before leaving. It's a pretty fun place. Not really a destination park like Louisville, but still a good time. It's also home to more head-bandannas than I have seen in one place before.
The drive down was uneventful. Not nearly the number of roadside attractions as KY.
Birmingham is hot and there are no people. It's like a set for "I Am Legend" downtown. We couldn't find one street spot or any signs that people even skateboard down here. I'm sure they do, but we didn't find anything. So we saw the sights and headed out of town to find a spot to skate...and we turned it out:
'Nuf said.

PS. RickVillage...fine.

The rain let up sometime last night, allowing us to shred this morning. Good times. As I wrote before, I love that skatepark. Nice and wide open...doesn't feel cramped. But enough about that.
We've continued on south into previously (by me) uncharted territory. Once again, we were suckered off the highway towards the Bourbon Trail:Jim Beam was what we expected (shot glasses and bandannas). Heaven Hill was next (much nicer but more pricey than we were prepared for [I see no need to pay $350 for a bottle of anything, let alone whiskey]). Finally we ended and Maker's Mark (The biggest let down of the trip. Sure, if you buy a bottle you get to dip it in the red wax yourself.But you must wait for them to call your name before you get to put on the smock...and gloves...and protective glasses. All show with little payoff).
After this it was on to Mammoth Caves National Park. This place is amazing. It's a series of caves, all connected, that stretch for over 350 miles. We walked down to one of the mouths and was told by a park ranger that...well, we're not really sure what she said. But we took it to mean, "Sure fellas. Go in the cave and look around. It's nice". So we did. And it was nice. At one point we were about 140 feet into the earth in natural caves.
Upon walking out, however, we were informed by the afore mentioned Ranger that we were supposed to pay and that the people behind her (two serious looking gentleman that had driven their official looking vehicle [complete with lights on top] down into the woods to where we were) wanted to write us some tickets. But she was nice and reasonable and let us go with a slap on the hand (literally). It turns out that the National Park system is at risk for terrorism and under very close watch. Plus, they want money.
Now we're in Nashville...Grand Ole Opry and car fires...Skateboarded a bit...

PS. "The village is rocking out hard" -RLP

Well, in an effort to send one out to "Barbarians At the Gate" we sought out some-out-of-the-way, non-skateboarding activities.
After this little stop, we moved onto Louisville.
After 17 or so hours of being in a van, our old bones moved slow. But me managed to skate for a couple of hours or so before being in need of food. And some site-seeing:After some food (Note:When moving away from the coast, sushi is not the best choice for food) we tried to skate again:

We'll try again in the morning before moving on to Nashville.
Despite the weather, it's really fun to be back in Louisville. The skatepark is a ton of fun...no pads...24 hours...full-pipe...just a lot of fun to cruise around. I could come back here every year and skate for 20 minutes and the drive would be worth it.


PS. Village Le Rick is still good and producing lot's-o-corn

Clarksburg's the new Flatwoods

Well, we are on our way. A night stop off in West Virgina and tomorrow we'll be in Louisville. Then it's off to the glamor of Birmingham and Nashville. We stopped a bit earlier in the drive than in past years with the intentions of avoiding the $110 a night Holiday in in Flatwoods. And we realized that goal at the Knight's Inn in Clarksburg. Super.
Now back to watching a sport I know very little about...

PS. Rick's village is doing fine.

Back from Denver.

I guess the good news of the day is that we are safe from any new Wesley Snipes movies for the next three years.

Usually house-sitting seems like a chore to me, but this time it has allowed me access to the shop whenever I like. Which means I've had a chance to get back to working on the kayak. It's very satisfying to see it come together and take shape.
The latest step required that I get into and out of the framework to check the height of the masik (the curved laminate). Now, I don't consider myself a large person. Nor am I overly out of shape (a bit beat up from a recent bout with skateboarding, but out of shape no), but this thing is hard to get in and out of. The Greenland Kayak was designed this way as to make it very responsive for quick maneuverability and rolling.
Here's to hoping that swimming comes back to me from my youth.

Capital Kitchen

Just got back from installing the counter at Capital Kitchen in Montpelier, VT. It went together well and was good to see put together. It will also be nice to have the space back in the shop. Now maybe that kayak stands a chance of getting finished.