Snack

7" x 11"

pen, watercolor and gouache on board

$100

Tut

This are my halloween costume OK? Quit asking.

New Carbon Offsets

You may be familiar with the concept of Carbon Offsets. They're basically opportunities for greenhouse gas emitters, (manufacturing, mining etc) to buy indulgences in order to keep emitting. Essentially they invest money in carbon sinks like green technology (which seems oxymoronic), tree planting projects and the like to "offset" their emissions.
It's a major part of the European Carbon trading program which has been somewhat successful in reducing emissions there. Additionally it's on the table for a similar carbon trading plan that is slowly circulating in the US.

In a recent story on NPR they interviewed a guy about beetles that bury dead animals and lay their eggs on the carcass. They also mentioned a novel idea for disposing of human remains; hydrogen-freezing, shattering and composting the fragments of corpse.
I'd like this to be added to the list of possible carbon offset investments please.
Also, vasectomies and tubal ligations should be added as well.
However, these last two come on a sliding scale. They are worth dramatically less for each child you have already had up to 3, beyond which you get no credit for getting snipped. And,each year it is worth less as you become less likely to have kids.
Wind farm? Check. Shattered corpse? Check.

Real Change Cover

This should come out next Wednesday, I don't know if they'll use the green and yellow title. See also Crownz.

A Couple of; What The Fuck's With's

What the fuck's with people and their big ass strollers?
This is not a new problem and I am not the first person to rant about it but goddamn it, it is highly fucking relevant. I know that not a damn person who owns a big stroller will ever read this, but that is OK.
I have no doubt that it is merely a byproduct of oblivious consumerism that anyone would ever buy a giant stroller. Only in extreme circumstances could anyone ever possibly think that there was some kind of advantage, child rearing or otherwise, in owning an SUV stroller.
DO NOT TELL ME there is a good reason for owning a big ass stroller. There is NO REASON that a regular one won't do. Not even a double regular one. BULLSHIT! GET OUT OF OUR FUCKING WAY! I swear to Dog I will yell at the next spandex slow ass condo-whore who takes up the whole fucking sidewalk or grocery aisle with her condo-stroller and skim-latte. I may even slash the tires on the fucking stroller. This stroller costs 700 dollars and you are AN EXTRAVAGANT VAPID NARCISSIST. The only reason to buy one of those things is to prove that you can or to show that your in-laws can. In both cases you SUCK. YOUR BABY IS NOT SPECIAL AND DOES NOT ENTITLE YOU TO SPECIAL TREATMENT.
Shit, now I want to get into a fight with a baby daddy.

Where in the hell did the whole "I don't know how to cook" thing come from?
OK, let me backtrack a minute, I know where it came from. But it MAKES ME FUCKING WEEP none the less. It is perfectly reasonable to not have the knowledge of how to prepare certain types of food. Particularly if one has never made them before, this happens to me all the time.
I have ten plus years of working as a professional cook so I am biased. Additionally, I have written extensively on on the intentional dependency promoted by commercial food interests in their attempt to promote easy food.
Yes, I know, everything points to microwaves.
FUNDAMENTALLY one of the most important things in this culture is to train people how to cook/prepare their own food, because it promotes awareness in the ingredients and how they are produced. Nothing encourages peoples concern for their own well being more than a healthy meal produced sustainably in their/our own back yard. These are the things that temper my temper when someone buys a bunch of fresh fish and then asks, "how do I cook this?"
Really, you bought it without knowing what to do with it? Fair enough, this is my opportunity to go to work. These are the moments I should be looking for.
I can work with this, I am uniquely disposed to work with this, in fact those of us in my fish department are really adept at this dilemma. I'm just surprised and shocked when people buy the fish first, and then ask how to prepare it. So I guess in a way I embrace this WTF moment as an opportunity to change society because I can maybe teach people how to be more self sufficient and healthy.
That's a good way to end a bitter bitter rant.

Look; I'm Busy and Things Happen

I'd first like to apologize for whatever disappointment I may have cause a few sad souls out there who might have been deceived into thinking I would have something to say on a regular basis on this blog. I am pretty distracted by my everyday happenings and the things I am studying in school on a day to day basis. (not to mention the other blog) Nevertheless this is hardly an attempt to excuse myself from my present lack of public thought. As much as I would like to receive feedback from the public, I rarely do, so forgive me if I allow myself to beg off on the intellectual vacuum excuse.
Despite the lack of dialogue I should never let myself fall silent. It is my firmly held belief that regardless of objective resistance one should remain respectfully vocal.I hate to sound like a radical mouthpiece here but silence really is complacence.
Society is pushed towards elusive perfection only when all it's constituents express their desires and needs. (even if I may not agree with those needs) So I'll try harder.

Crownz

For some reason I decided that this illustration was going to be 3-D, so I made this crown in two parts and glued them together to create that effect. HERE is the finished cover illustration it was the first cover I did for Real Change.

Racism, Art & Marketing

If racism is incidental in art and humor does that make it tolerable? For example, the drawing above is a double joke about cheap delivery food and low quality food giving you the shits. They guy only has a sombrero and mustache because burrito's are nominally Mexican food. What makes us laugh, the burrito emergency, or the guy? If it's just the poop then is it even racism? Am I trying to get myself of the hook?


What happens when the artwork is supposed to make us recoil? This piece by R. Crumb is I believe quite intentionally racist in order to confront us whitey's with our own perceptions of race and social hierarchy. Yes, it's racist, but it uses that to illuminate racism. It might remain a little unsettling though since it is about African Americans but drawn by a white man.

This is a little different though, being as it is a first person account.




This is just racist because it uses a stereotype as its sales pitch. I've often heard the refrain that stereotypes aren't totally wrong because they have a historical basis in fact. While I agree with the premises, I disagree with the conclusion of this argument.
While at some point in time a feature or characteristic may have been particular to an individual or a group of individuals, a stereotype assumes that that feature is universal to all persons who can conveniently be categorized as that group. Additionally the characteristic is frequently exaggerated in the extreme and supposed to be a defining feature of that group. And finally stereotyping often ignores the socio-cultural and economic circumstances in which the feature materialized, different speech patterns for example doesn't reflect a lack of intelligence, rather it underlines the disparity in educational opportunities between groups in the same economic hierarchy.
So next time somebody tries that line with you, tell 'em it doesn't hold water.

Saint Bronson Ascends to Valhalla

Finally done, well there might be a few more tweaks, but it's done. Considering that my first St. Bronson related post was way back at the end of March, that makes this about a six month project. To see the progression from the beginning, click on St. Bronson.
To see the rest of my Saints click on the word there that you just read, "saints".

Get your own signed, numbered (of 50) print of St. Bronson for just $30! Contact me at eatenbyworms(at)hotmail.