tour de france prank

this is AMAZING. how happy would this make you? i would play it out as long as possible.

Recent tattoos

some recent work i've done lately. an update since starting at Ultimate Tattoo in san diego. just a few i had on file with me at the moment.

Metro Area

Normal Heights Market

Normal Heights is getting a farmers market!! This coming April, 2010. exciting news.

It's gonna be 2 blocks from my house, every wednesday. While biking to Hillcrest to go to the market on sundays is fun, this will be very convenient to always have fresh produce available.

1st annual SD Tweed bike ride!

it's this saturday, meeting at velocult at 330pm.

Bike Boulevards

watch this short video on bicycle boulevards. traffic calming should be a much greater focus in the US.

electro SWING

love it! samples for you to hear.

parov stelar: matilda

caravan palace: brotherswing and cafe de la danse ..LOVE them

chinese man: artichaut

free the robots: jazzhole

dunkelbunt: cinnamon girl

g-swing: sing sing sing

kormac: scratch marchin


and getting ever so slightly off topic. here's birdy nam nam.

100 Abandoned houses

100 Abandoned houses, a project by Kevin Bauman... From his website:

The abandoned houses project began innocently enough roughly ten years ago. I actually began photographing abandonment in Detroit in the mid 90’s as a creative outlet, and as a way of satisfying my curiosity with the state of my home town. I had always found it to be amazing, depressing, and perplexing that a once great city could find itself in such great distress, all the while surrounded by such affluence.

Brush Park, on the outskirts of Detroit’s entertainment district was always an area of interest to me. For as long as I can remember the area, housing large houses and mansions, sat largely abandoned just a stones throw away from the Fox Theater, and not far from Wayne State University, the Masonic Theater, and even the central business district. How could an area that was obviously once a wealthy enclave in the city become an example of the downfall of American cities?

For years the area had signs advertising the redevelopment that was about to take place. It finally began to happen, with the construction of the new ballpark for the Tigers, and Ford Field for the Lions. New condos, and town homes began to appear amidst the rubble of burned out mansions turned apartments. Some of the houses were so large they became “loft condos”. As the entertainment district flourished, and Brush Park began to transform into something new, I realized the other approximately 135 square miles of Detroit was largely ignored. The excitement about Detroit’s “rebirth” took center stage, while much of the rest of the city was becoming largely abandoned. Even Brush Park itself was still largely abandoned, but with the remaining tenants of Brush Park buildings being pushed out, and many of the old houses torn down, I moved on to other areas, where Detroiters were attempting to make a life among abandoned and burned out houses. Often times, the neighborhoods were almost completely abandoned. In these neighborhoods I encountered concerned citizens, packs of wild dogs, 20 foot high piles of toilets, and houses with the facades torn off, filled with garbage.

As the number of images grew, and a documentary style emerged, I switched from mostly black and white, to color, and decided to name the series 100 Abandoned Houses. 100 seemed like a lot, although the number of abandoned houses in Detroit is more like 12,000. Encompassing an area of over 138 square miles, Detroit has enough room to hold the land mass of San Francisco, Boston, and Manhattan Island, yet the population has fallen from close to 2 million citizens, to most likely less than 800,000. With such a dramatic decline, the abandoned house problem is not likely to go away any time soon.

Girls

Note to self.

girls is playing at The Loft in La Jolla December 4th at 9pm. Buy tickets.

Music Links

Just added a bunch of music blog links, in part because I've been really needing to organize that shit, and in part bc hypeFM put up a few that were worth noting for a couple of you guys :)

check them out on the side, there are gems in there.

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

royksopp + karen (theknife) + remix = ear and brain orgasm happening!!!!

turn up the volume.

Royksopp- Tricky Tricky (Volatile Tidy Tidy Remix)

Vela Creations

This has got to be one of the most inspiring things i've seen in awhile. while there are smaller scale things you can do in large numbers as a renter to lessen your impacts on "the grid" (environmentally speaking), this couple has taken this to an "extreme" by going to a simple lifestyle "off the grid."

they built their own house, and are now building their 2nd, by hand from simple materials. gardens, of course, a roof that channels rainwater to save for months in tanks, chickens, and a an awesome method of potty training their baby to minimize diaper and water waste.

they've also blogged most of their progress in their life projects, thanks to today's technology, so you can see their photos on flickr and read about their creations on their website.

in my near future, of "owning" or building a house of my own, i am dying to incorporate projects such as these (wind turbine, solar power, rainwater collecting for garden use, etc). these people are an example of how simple life could be.

bicycles

three interesting bicycle articles.

"42 folding bikes vs. 1 car"

and

"cycling saves australia $200 million"

and

"cyclists cause less than 10% of bike/car accidents"

enjoy :)

we're here!

we made it to san diego!

i've got a few photos of our trip from texas to cali and our new place. check them out:

living in San Diego!

we're moving!

IT'S OFFICIAL!

we're moving to san diego. finally. after years of planning, it came down to this last 2 weeks of madness and house searching.

we're working out a deal with this lady....... we might get an AMAZING huge house in downtown for half of what it should be (rent). it was a long ordeal, but it just might work out. 2 story, big deck, 2000sf, yard, amid beautiful huge houses, a few blocks from balboa park. who would've thought.

now he just has to get a job.... i've got one, and our savings should last us a few months, but where is that amazing job he's supposed to have? what is wrong with the world today? oh well. we've been told he won't even be considered til he actually lives there, so here goes!

oh, and babu says he's moving with us... hmm.

bubbles

photos by Richard Heeks.

open air shower

I GOT A JOB! in San Diego! at a custom tattoo shop!!!

now hopefully lucas will get a job soon so we can actually move.

while in reality, ANYTHING we move into is likely to be amazing compared to the shit hole i live in now, but i've been thinking of all the little upgrades that will make us happy.... cabinets that close, ceilings that aren't falling apart, not having neighbors from bangladesh that scream all day, not having AC vents ducts that are connected to the bangladeshi neighbors' so your whole house smells like curry 24/7, and maybe a sink disposal. maybe lights that work too.

but yeah, anyway. i'd like an outdoor shower too. like clontsy's. pics of that later.

oh, and here's a DIY tutorial to make your own outdoor shower. gonna do it! in SD!

cat workouts

i saw this on CNN (no joke).

www.catworkout.com

"Nudist" Gardeners

How do you feel about this?



What I feel:

1. they aren't exactly nude.....??? they are scantily clad.

2. Are they doing it to push the limits on purpose, or are they just burningman people?

3. do they look gross in the clothes? because i feel like i've seen way more disgusting/offensive looking people fully clothed.

tattoo portfolio

so, I've been trying to get a job tattooing in San Diego. I made a portfolio separate from the PYT website portfolio, for the future... If anyone has connections to a reputable, clean, safe, talented, friendly shop in San Diego, please feel free to pass the link on to the shop and let me know!

TattooMeg Porftolio samples.

Portfolio Samples

enjoy!

Queen Bee

AAAHHH!!!

just bought one of these. from Queen Bee Creations.

i've been searching for the perfect bag for days and days, and i couldn't avoid the truth, that i wanted this one so bad i had no choice.

expensive, but the best quality/style i've seen anywhere. and handmade in portland.

artististic people

need to add a couple artists i (and many) love. a little tribute.



jeff soto.. check out his page, and be totally amazed. you probably recognize his work, and it's on juxtapoz all the time.




mike giant updated his website and added art!



Amanda Wachob is a tattoo artist who pushes boundaries between fine art and tattooing.

all modern houses

new site i'm exploring, with tons of modern houses!!! great photos.

inspiring- check it out. Plastolux.

police give helmets and hugs

in denmark. promoting helmets in an area with huge bike culture and awareness.

death rides on my left

a video that a bicycle commuter made about the dangers of riding the streets.

makes good points... makes you remember your mortality.

cannondale update

today i did it... forked over the money... to do a major upgrade/change on my old cannondale road bike.

it's in storage at my mom's for the move, and i've been dying to ride a new style of bike (comfy, upright, geared, with a rack/panniers, vintagey but smooth..).

so, i finally put 2 and 2 together, and bought stuff. silver fenders, soma sparrow bars, some cross brakes, cute grips, and a green b67 s brooks saddle (hell yes) for $50 (where? it's a secret).

photos of her in a week or 2.

pool day

it's getting warmer, and we're all dying for pool days.

this will be one lazy summer... last summer in texas. forever.

Olle Lundberg

wow.

olle lundberg is an architect, scraps salvager, ikea designer. he has 2 incredible homes, one being a salvaged car ferry boat in the san fransisco bay, and the other being a gorgeous "cabin" in northern california.

here's the apartment therapy article, and here's a longer NYtimes article on him. you absolutely have to look at all the photos of his 2 homes. you will be amazed.

here are some to get inspired.

and his ferry home: