My favorite place on earth is Moab, Utah. Specifically Arches National Park. More specifically Delicate Arch. On a road trip through the area I took a back road, Highway 128 I think. Man it was amazing. Right on the edge of the Colorado river, there were like 50 different ways to crash and die, but it was beautiful, hugging the outside of the park. Somewhere on that road I saw an abandoned old gas station and stopped the car. I remember little things like the gravel under my shoes being the only sound, and the sun setting so fast. I took some pictures and took off.

Sometimes I think I do myself a disservice carrying a camera to beautiful places. The moment becomes more about capturing the sites instead of experiencing them. Anyways, I think that’s what this is about.

Not sure if you’ve seen this.

This might be a new series: Things I’ve seen that can be better.
#1 Mothers smelling babies’ butts for poop.
Now I know that kids crap themselves. Fine. And that parents don’t always know when that happens. Sure. But in NO other part of society is this an acceptable act. No one looks at someone crying and thinks, “Hey, there’s probably a good chance that person has gone the bathroom in their own clothes. I better put my face real close and try to breathe it in.”

Every time I find myself feeling my years and thinking about starting a family, I see something like this. The single man’s life is relatively poop-free, and this is how we like it. We can barely acknowledge our own defection, much less be elbow-deep in another’s.

Is the only alternative to this act “Sticking your finger down there to try to get proof of the poop on that finger?” I SAY NO. This is AMERICA. We can do better! I don’t know how, but we have robots and the Japanese. Let them figure it out.

#2 Playing with digital dogs while perfectly adequate dogs sit nearby.

Man, now I’m sounding like my dad. Those darn video games. But really, I feel that video games should be about two things: Shooting other people or blowing other people up. Anything more than that is ridiculous. (I’m talking to you, Wii.)

But now we have all these little kids playing with little digital dogs and cats. Like the audition I was waiting for the other day. This little girl was sitting and waiting for her mom playing with her fake dog, petting it, feeding it, swinging it around by its leash. And her feet were not 1, but TWO of those tiny dogs. It’s bad enough we’ve shrunk God’s creatures to the point we call them “Toys”, but now we’re ignoring them.

It’s like shooting a platoon of alien warlords on your Gameboy when there are totally awesome ones to slaughter SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU.

We can do better. We have to, America.

I have some paintings I’ve done hanging on the wall, but they all have to come down as I search for another place. But while they ‘re still up I snapped some pictures. I haven’t put some of these online, so I’ll put them here this week. Basically cause I’m sick of making videos.

This one actually comes out of a dark time (but then again what doesn’t, right?). About a year ago I was going through something pretty tough and I called a friend. I was actually walking underneath this tressel at the time, hidden in downtown Pleasanton. It’s really beautiful down there, unexpected. Anyways, the call didn’t go how I wanted it to and it hurt. It was salt on the old open wound.

So I went back later and took some pictures so I could remember that moment, how that junk felt. I shot from my feet to straight above me, and painted it. The “We Are Loved” slogan at the top was more than just a little tag for me, more than throwing in the catchphrase. Cause honestly at that moment I didn’t feel loved, just rejected. And I guess I painted it in there cause I still knew it to be true despite the pain of the day. Or at least believed it to be so.

Kind of a declaration, I suppose.

Anyways, its big, like 6′. There’s a horizontal version floating around LA somewhere, too. There needs to be more graffiti on the concrete wall. I’ll get to it.

So enjoy the exact moment of my misery!

The famed trilogy comes to a close in this final segment. Let the good times begin! And end terribly.

It wasn’t funny.

Click to enlarge pictures.

Wednesday night I hooked up with the ‘Hybrid Culture’ show and believe me, the culture was HYBRIDED.

Pretty fun. But then the musicians began playing in the main room while the painters were herded into a side room and forced to paint a large wooden feather. And in the spirit of community and artistic creativity I instantly began competing with the others quietly in my heart. I wanted to WIN. I didn’t, though. Cause everyone else was pretty sweet. In the end I’m not sure what I painted. I was cold and tired and tired of my cold.

The highlight was Alex who bought me a burrito. Thank you Alex. Thank you.

These photos helped me realize one thing, though- tomorrow I get a considerable hair cut.

Music “Birds” by Ben Folds

Three hours of my life for about a minute of video. Not a fair trade.

Music by Phoenix

I was trying to google someone I met the other day and discovered this PRETTY GREAT page. Apparently Akron has a prostitution problem. But as they say, “One man’s trash is another man’s funny collection of pictures.” Oh and for the record, the person I was looking for wasn’t there. Too bad.

Click here! Akron Police Department’s official “John-Be-Gone” website.

Here’s some quick thoughts:
Don’t blame him. Blame the ’stache.
The asthmatic kid from Malcolm in the Middle?
You know who has a good attitude? Nicole does!
These eyes see into my soul.
These eyes see THROUGH my soul
These eyes see nothing.

And a quick rundown of the music scene, in order: Creed, Metallica, and Snow*

*If you get the Snow reference, bless you.