Unwrapped.

Okay, so, really quick; I have to say something about the film "Exit through the Gift Shop."

I don't think a lot of people (by which I mean the handful of critical reviews I read by Googling it and reading the first 3 pages of user reviews on Netflix after I had watched the film) "got" that it was poking fun at and questioning the way one person could take someone else's art--Especially someone else's art which was already using someone else's art--And make it their own (or try to). Street artist/counter-culture tee profiteer Banksy put it best: "He (the artist known as Mr. Brain Wash) took Warhol's concept of making images in pop culture useless through reproduction and then he made them even more useless."

Essentially the film is about this fellow who sees something counter-cultural and says "Hey, I can mass-produce that and sell it!" much in the way we see Che Guevara or Audrey Hepburn on tee shirts that can be seen everywhere from Value Village to Wal-Mart. He is definitely an artist, but the film begs us to ask ourselves if he's made art for the right reasons (and if there are reasons); at what point is it not "using your own lens to make commentary using someone else's work" and instead complete and utter bullshit? I really feel like that is what the film is about.

Best moment: When L.A. proves itself to be as vapid, lame, and completely head-up-the-ass as everyone thinks that it is right there on film. I miss my home town :)

Anywho, Christmas was pretty great.

Spent a day that was 80% neat, 20% awkward with Josh's extended family. It was nice to be around people with his last name that don't think our love is one-way ticket to hell (or at least aren't so obvious about it). I could go on and on about the people there, the stuff we ate (Jello with 3 distinct layers and an "ancient family secret ingredient" being the third layer), and my thoughts on how the whole family dynamic of his clan and their feelings about us is totally fucked up, but I will respect his wishes and keep my mouth shut and my fingers in my pockets instead of typing about it here. I've probably already said too much.

I got some very cool items, including this interesting piece of art by James Jean entitled "Rift" which you can get an idea of here or by watching this video . . .

As you can see, it's pretty fucking sweet.

We also got a Nintendo Wii! I could gush, but you'd get bored, so all that I'll say is that it's candy apple red and celebrates the birth of our Mushroom Kingdom's Lord and Saviour, Mario. Like my relatives in Rhode Island would say, it's gaaaaaaaaaawjus!

I don't have any regrets about this Christmas, other than that as always I wish I could've gotten more for more people. The thing is, I feel pretty damn good about what I was able to get and that everyone I value in my life received some form of my appreciation for their kindness and friendship. Whether it was in presents or drinking my booze, I'm truly one of those rich men with the friends and not so much the moneys that we're supposed to emulate because of that parable; which is nice.

Speaking of James Jean, I finished the fourteenth TPB of Fables entitled 'Witches' the other night. Overall I enjoyed it (I think Mr. Willingham is at his best when setting up arcs and laying the ground structure or when writing shorter, prose-y tales and charming vignettes), even if I didn't care for the baseball two-parter at the end. I've so many questions because of my trade-waiting! Will Rose Red ever get out of bed? Will the Blue Fairy kick some ass? Whom will stand up to Mr. Dark? Will Ozma and Stinky the Badger face off for control of Nu-Fabletown?! If you've never read the series, I'm sure I sound balls-out crazy. But then that's your loss, I suppose.

Some other things of note: DADT has been repealed which is awesome. Men and women with much more intelligent and much more eloquent thoughts on the matter have already said much, so I'll simply say "thank you" to those whom helped rid our country of this backwards-thinking law and given us one more step towards true equality.

And my friend Ally's mother passed away last week just before the holidays. She's in a much better place, and I'm glad that Alli O and I got to see her before all of this happened, but there are some definite, ah, issues that I've been dealing with ever since all of this began. I know it's not my place to speak about what her death means to me right now, so I'll wait to post my feelings and thoughts about the whole thing for another day.

Right now, I have my cat and I have my coffee with Bailey's. And the world feels sort of peaceful.

"What could I do? What could I do?
I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I came away with a different point of view."

Brrrrrrrrrrr

It's HELLA cold in Seattle. You know I mean it because I used the word "hella" in a sentence without a hint of snark.

Although, since you can't sense snark on the Internets you'll have to trust me when I say that the use of the word "hella" is part of a snark-free zone.

Side-Bar: "Hella" is recognized by my Mac as a real world, but "snark" is not. When did this happen, of computer of mine?

But yeah, it's hella cold and I love how this city freaks out about it. The snow makes Seattle piss its pants and forget itself, which is hilar and terrifying all at once. I'm going to have to be a cautious driver again, and you all know how I hate being the bigger person.

I'm working on an "It's Hella Cold" mix. So far all I've got is a track by New Young Pony Club (that super-duper-awesome-one-you-guys that was played on Gossip Girl like a month ago), "Secrets" by OneRepublic, and "Crystalized" by The XX. A hunt for new tunes is definitely in order! Short order, you might say.

Today we went with Brian and Gabby to the Sunday Market in Fremont and saw lots of cool things. Things like a turn-of-the-century type writer that I fucking had a massive want-boner for, and this guy was selling it for $20. A disturbingly good deal, and here I had no cash.

But alas, I'm sort of waiting for some of my moneys to get dispersed back to me. I, like several hundred other Seattleites, recently had my identity stolen. Apparently anyone living in or boozing it up in or eating foods in the Capitol Hill area was a target. I personally had around $200 stolen from me, but luckily my bank kicks ass and flagged the phony charges. I'm waiting on $90 of that bunch to still be returned--right now it's just a provincial credit, but I'd rather not tempt fate, you know? I'll wait until it's real dollars in there and not imaginary pseudo-dollars.

Anyway, it was really cool to see everyone out and about despite the cold supporting local vendors and crafters. I will be back with moneys for you, kick-ass type writer! After we browsed, we had pho. It was really nice for this cold I'm starting to get (yes, it's time for my annual "cold of perpetuity" whereupon I'll have a cough and the sniffles for about 2 months). Alli says that during this time I'm a lot like a Dickensian orphan struggling with the black lung, guv'nor.

Speaking of Alli, last week Ellen and Alli and I had a "ninja photo shoot" in the arboretum. Details/photos will hit this blog as soon as Ellen is done editing them. It's for a calendar for their friends in Korea. I played a bank robber. Juuuuuuudge.

Un-Related: This is the most adorable thing I've scene on the Internet all month. A cute scruffy and tatted boy holding a corgi puppy like his own personal piratey parrot? WHERE DO I SIGN. Note that it's not even a question as to where.

Today I watched the first 20 minisodes of that new Avengers cartoon on Comics Alliance. It's actually not half bad, for having very "kid friendly" animation. It views a lot like the first run of the Justice League cartoon that Timm and Dini did in the late 90s/2000s. Lots of epic moments and cool cameos, new-to-universe accessibility in stories, and nods to fans. If you can get past some of the cheesy dialog clearly aimed at the childrens, it's totally worth it. And kudos/balls for including The Mandrill. Here's hoping that it gets a few good seasons and segues into a more badass version of itself, much like the JL cartoon did when it turned into "Justice League Unlimited." Would I love to see a similarly plotted series featuring a rotating cast of Avengers characters? Oh you bet your ass I would. Especially if it would mean animated Kate Bishop or animated O'Grady Ant-Man.

This week we'll be hitting the road and heading back to Idaho to be with my family for Thanksgiving. I'll be skipping entires for a day or two while we enjoy family time, but I might need to therapy-rant on here while we visit, so be on the look out for that . . .

. . . Also, be on the look-out for THIS!

That's right kids, my piece for Mutineer on the fine folks at Coffee Strong was published in the annual Holiday issue (Nov/Dec for the layman among you)!

Because I love you, loyal readers, I'll link you to the Internet-only version found right here.

However, you'd be doing me and my pals at Mutineer a huge favor by getting out there and buying yourself a copy. How else will you see the AMAZING photography work done by Josh Mackey and Mike Bowen? You could Google it, I guess, but you would probably fail in an epic sort of way. So go grab yourself an ish, yeah?

If I don't see you before then, Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

"I like the bad boys,

In the big towns.

I like the bad bands

And their big sounds."