Saturday, December 29, 2007

Friday, December 28, 2007

St. Hello Kitty and her Racket of Doom

Hello Kitty, patron saint of eccentric goats. She called to me from the gutter over the door to my shop, which she was guarding with her mighty Tennis Racket of Doom. She guards the shop from the inside, now, so watch your step, mister!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

It's the new '60s.

Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto, President Musharraf's wildly popular political opponent, has been assassinated. She had just returned a few months ago to Pakistan from years of exile, after being ousted from power in a coup orchestrated by then-General Musharraf, who promised free and fair elections again and again and again, but never seemed able to allow them to happen. Pakistan is now falling apart, and it's not likely to go alone. Don't worry so much about war with Iran now- US engagement in Pakistan is now almost a foregone conclusion. And that mess is going to make the mess in Afghanistan look like a game of Scrabble. Mark my words.

This makes for a very sticky situation. Pakistan is still very sensitive about outside involvement in their activities, ever since the British left and the UN split the subcontinent into Muslim and Hindu nations (Pakistan and India, respectively). Even before Bhutto's assassination, US troops were expressly forbidden to enter Pakistan, even in pursuit of known Taleban soldiers (even Bin Laden). The government of Pakistan may be on good terms with ours, but the people of Pakistan -including their soldiers-- don't like us much, and certainly don't want us in their neighborhoods. They will fight us as though we are invaders.

A couple of additional things to consider: Musharraf is Georgie's kind of guy (or maybe I should say Dick's kind of guy, depending on who you think does the thinking in the White House). They let their power do the talking, they don't compromise unless there's absolutely no way around it, and worse: they play religious zealots on TV.

Even worse still: this military dictatorship, already facing popular revolt in urban areas and uncontrollable tribal elements on the frontiers, has nukes. An active, fully tested and armed, nuclear arsenal. Which they have already demonstrated a willingness to use.

I don't have a clear idea about how this is all going to play out, but I'm thinking that it's not going to be pretty. Pakistan is a Rogue State. If Musharraf doesn't step down in January as he said he would, then Big Trouble might well come to pass. India might try to intervene (probably the worst case scenario, because it would almost inevitably lead to -if not begin with- a nuclear confrontation). China seems to be courting India, so they might have a hard time staying out of it. Separately, we might try to intervene (it might be seen by some as a way to ensure a Republican victory in November, if we were fully engaged in a real war), but in that case I would expect India and China to try to stay clear of the fray while trying to talk us out of it. Bottom line: No country currently involved in Afghanistan will be safe until Musharraf is out of power. And even that may not be the end of the trouble.

Not yesterday


Don't try this with your real arms. Use your fake ones.

This wasn't yesterday- those are Gabe's hands, as he was working on my shop last summer. He was in town yesterday though- I took him and a friend of ours (old friend of his, new friend of mine) to Oregon Leather Company for their first mind-blowing visit. For all of you non-leatherworking folk, Oregon Leather Company is The Best place in the Pacific Northwest to go for all things leather-related: tools, findings, thread, tack, and yeah, lots of leather. In fact, it's the best leather-related store I've ever seen. It's the place at which I am most tempted to throw all of my money onto the countertop at once and gesture vaguely and widely at the rest of the store and say, "Give me this much worth!"

It rocks.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Boxing day


I was setting up Raoul's new habitat yesterday, and this guy was banging his head outside the window, so I shot him.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Melly Kalikamaka!


I used to hate Andy Warhol. As a kid, I always thought he was just making fun of art-patrons, sort of turning them into the punch line for his own private jokes. I still don't like him, personally, and frankly think most of his well-known work is overrated and overpriced, but you're not likely to hear me disparaging his ideas.

But before I knew who Andy Warhol was, or what he was about, I had a fascination with Pop Art and Op Art. As I came to figure out what the point of Pop Art was, I tried to grow out of it. Maybe I thought I was "above" it, or that it wasn't "serious art," I don't know. I idolized the masters, though, people like John Tenniel, Rembrandt van Rijn, Albrecht Durer, even painters like Greg and Tim Hildebrant or Ken Harris (Ken Harris!), not jokers like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. But as I grew older and continued to make art of my own, I found that I just couldn't get away from pop art, as much as I'd have liked to, and now I find that I can't make a print without getting playful with colors like Warhol did.

Time makes fools of us all. Now I'm the joker ...but at least you're not the butt!

p.s. I have to give my respect to the rest of the great Looney Tunes artists, Robert Gribbroek, Philip DeGuard (background artist for Rabbit Fire and Rabbit of Seville), Peter Alvarado, and yeah of course Chuck Jones, because I never got the chance to tell them myself. Their work -with color, shape, texture, dimension, perspective, -hell, everything-- affected me so deeply that it took me years to realize where the influence had come from. They shaped the way I see the world. I would not be the same person, without them.

Monday, December 24, 2007


Foothills of the Cascades.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Ceci n'est pas une Magritte.


I looked out the window and was reminded of a painting by Rene Magritte, the surrealist painter, called The Empire of Lights. I love his work, but never really got that painting. Still don't, I guess. Hats off to him, though.