La Rana Cupa 2 of 5

La Rana Cupa 2 of 5, originally uploaded by omnicollective.

For those who have not yet seen this in the gallery or on Flickr, here is La Rana Cupa specimen #2.

"Happy Art" Group Show

If you want to see La Rana Cupa in person, along with a bunch of neat things by other artists, go to the "Happy Art" group show opening at Brian Marki Fine Art. It's this Friday, December 5th from 5 to 8 PM. The show will stay up through January 2009.

2236 NE Broadway
Portland, OR 97232


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La Rana Cupa

We have discovered an intact specimen of the mysterious plant/mollusk/amphibian known to the locals as La Rana Cupa. At this time, four other specimens are known to exist. Once we have solved the mysteries surrounding La Rana Cupa's extinction, these samples will be made available for sale to parties interested in doing their own research. Please contact us for more details if you would like to obtain one of these rare specimens. More images are available here.

Erase You - DJ Shadow

She was buried for a long time
Disappeared into the night
She had a voodoo smile
And a devil inside
So she's been down to the [something]
Spitting words out like her name
They got devils inside
That explode in your face

You gotta be so careful
Don't talk in your sleep
You gotta be so careful
'Cause the souls can hear

He was quiet for a long time
He never was asleep at night
He knew every little short cut
He did everything right

Trying to be so careful
So he wouldn't speak
Trying to be so careful
To hide his disease

Under the blood red sky
Under the blood red
Under the blood red sky
Under the blood red

Erase you
[something]
And broken free
'Cause it's feeding time
And they're sharpening their teeth

Erase you
Can't hear the noise when it gets too much
When it gets too much you can't hear the noise

[please help me fill in the somethings if you can]

Halloween Opening

Check out the pictures from the opening of the APW Halloween Custom Toy Show. More pictures (from actual attendees) can be seen here and here. Also, the toys are for sale on APW's eCrater page.

Photo by APW Gallery

Halloween Toy Completed

This weekend I put the finishing touches on "Fall Faux Fawkes", my entry for the Halloween Custom Toy Show at APW Gallery. If you happen to be in NY around Halloween, I hope you'll stop in and see it in person. I've seen previews of a few of the other pieces in the show and they are looking quite amazing. For those of you who won't be able to make the show, I have more pictures here.

Two Weeks

Yes, after 10 years, I put in my two weeks notice at my day job today. A new adventure begins!

Noah & The Time Therapist

So here it is - our entry for the 48 Hour Film Project Portland 2008. We originally drew the Holiday Film genre, but we tossed it back because we did that one last year. We took the wild card genre, which was Fable. All movies were required to include these three elements:

• Character - Jane/Jake Gravenstein (a wellness practitioner)
• Prop - Jumper Cables
• Line of dialog - "Ok, I think I got it straight."

In addition to our Audience Favorite award, we also (once again) got the award for best use of the line of dialog.








If you want to see our previous entries in this contest, you can catch them all (and more) at nealham.com

The Votes Are In!

We have been informed that our 48 Hour Film "Noah and the Time Therapist" was chosen as one of the four Audience Favorites. Thank you to everyone who voted for us!

You now have one more chance to catch our film on the big screen, since it will be shown in the Best of Portland lineup on Monday August 25th, 7 pm, at the Hollywood Theater. You can get your tickets here.

What's that? You say you've already seen it? But this showing will include the best films from all four screening groups. What? You went to all 4 of the initial shows? Well alright then. But don't you want to find out who wins all the fancy awards? And what's another eight bucks to a Moneybag like you anyway? So.... see you there?

mystery solved

Going through an old notebook on Saturday night, I found these notes from March 3, 2007. They puzzled me at the time because I could not figure out what they were in reference to. But looking at them again this morning, I realized that they are in Haiku format. A-ha.

Stupid Songs

I've heard this before
When it was original
It sucked back then, too

Caveman Robotman

Extinct, obsolete
Missing wireless data link
But retro is cool

Old Lady Hair

Brittle, grey and limp
I'd dye it, but that's a chore
Who cares, anyway?

Old Candy

I remember this
It's the taste of my childhood
It used to be good

It's 48 Hour Film Time Again

It is good news. We [Nealham] finished our 48 hour film on time and we're quite pleased with it. It will be included in the group of films screening at the Hollywood Theater this Thursday, August 14th at 7:00 PM. These shows usually sell out, so if you are interested in making it to the screening, I suggest you purchase your tickets early here. I hope to see you there. We would really appreciate your support (and your vote for your favorite film of the evening).

Cringe

little girl: oh, yeah, what's something super f*cked up that just the sound of it makes you cringe?
little girl: poop
little girl: furrie poop
omnicollective: eeew
omnicollective: so intimidating
omnicollective: let me think
omnicollective: i know there are things like that
omnicollective: but i probably block them out
omnicollective: i wish there was a word for having glass dust in your eyes
little girl: ooh, ouch
omnicollective: Broken Teeth
little girl: Virgin Saw
omnicollective: this saw has never cut anything!
little girl: hahaha
omnicollective: you can befriend this saw without guilt or regret
omnicollective: because you know for sure
omnicollective: that it has not cut anyone in half
omnicollective: especially not a virgin
omnicollective: oh..... sounds like maybe you're looking for a virgin cutter
omnicollective: gotcha
omnicollective: aisle 7
little girl: virgin cutter
omnicollective: yeah, is that what you wanted?
omnicollective: oh... a devirginizer?
omnicollective: no problem
omnicollective: aisles 1-5
little girl: hahaha

Starbucks Analogy

omnicollective: [pasted link to news article about starbucks coffee closing 600 stores]
dweeb: holee shit
dweeb: they're doing worse than i thought
omnicollective: yeah, crazy
omnicollective: it's like if your penis got so damn hard
omnicollective: and shattered all your blood vessels
omnicollective: then slowly deflated
omnicollective: never to harden again
omnicollective: basically
dweeb: ...
dweeb: yeah, i guess it is actually like that

Back From Japan

I've actually been back for awhile, but I just finally got all of my pictures posted. I still need to go through and add some explanation to a lot of them, but feel free to check them out. Just click the pictures below to see the sets.

Tokyo


Kyoto


Uji


Fukuoka


Tokyo National Musuem

Cake Topper in Action

Cake, originally uploaded by Neven Mrgan.

Here's my cake topper serving its intended purpose. A fine example of life imitating art imitating life or something.

New Sculpture Completed

Hey! I can finally post about the sculpture I finished last weekend. It's a topper for the wedding cake of some friends of mine who are getting married today. Please take a look at the pictures if you have some time.



Also, I'm going to Japan for a little while. I'll try to post some updates here - but may just wait until I get home. Keep an eye on my flickr for pictures.

Later!

Wormfood Sold

Thank you to everyone who inquired about my custom toy at Missing Link. He has moved on to a wonderful home. Also, thanks again to Missing Link for showing off my stuff.

Wormfood for sale

Hoorah! The nice guys at Missing Link have put Wormfood up for display in the store. I hope you will drop in and see it in person if you're in the neighborhood. 04/01/08 UPDATE - This piece has sold.

Insignificant Premonition #3

Check out this dream I found while going through an old sketchbook:

May 4th, 2006

Alden had some custom, homemade guitar for Guitar Hero (knobs all over it) and also a crazy homemade light gun for the shooting games. Instead of a trigger, it had a switch like this, you know – a metal toggle switch like in airplanes.

It also had a thing you could turn that focused the beam from a shotgun blast that took up the whole screen to sniper shot that was accurate down to a few pixels.

I was playing a game with it when we got attacked for real and I had to take out our attackers. Luckily, the gun could be switched to laser mode. You couldn’t see the beam but only the contact – a little blue dot burning a hole in your target.

The gun’s silly looking - made out of funny white squishy plastic. The guitar’s normal but has HUGE knobs all over it.

Nearly two years later, on February 2nd, 2008 I went to Alden's house for his wife's birthday party. Alden does not own Guitar Hero, a modified fake guitar, nor a homemade light zapper. Some people did end up playing some video games, but I did not participate. We did not get attacked.

None of the things in my premonition had come to be. However, at the end of the night, Alden gave me his spare Wii Zapper because he had gotten two of them for Christmas.

As you may or may not know, the Wii Zapper did not exist in 2006 when I dreamed of that silly white plastic gun. Another thing you may or may not know is that the on-screen aimer for the Wii Zapper is a blue dot.

This premonition does not seem to have held any importance so far, but it's closer than anything I've heard from Nostradamus.

Cosmic VD

omnicollective: earlier, i hit the power switch on my videocamera
omnicollective: to test a new battery
omnicollective: wishing i had a videotape to test with
omnicollective: and at that moment the doorbell rang
omnicollective: so precisely on time with me hitting the power switch
omnicollective: i almost thought it caused the ring
omnicollective: UPS was there... with a box of 10 videotapes
omnicollective: that i had totally forgotten I'd ordered
christian science monitor: whoa!
omnicollective: it is the most cosmic valentine's day ever
christian science monitor: indeed

A real life fable

little girl: hey, do you know fonts?
omnicollective: yes. a little
little girl: cool, I'm trying to find one that's stretched out length wise
little girl: but a little bold
omnicollective: did you already find a good one?
little girl: i did find some good ones
omnicollective: ok
little girl: but I can't figure out how to get them into Photoshop
omnicollective: do you mean you can't figure out how to get the font into the fonts folder on your system?
little girl: well, it's in the folder
little girl: no, I can see it on the fonts list, but when I choose it nothing shows up
omnicollective: it's a font you just downloaded off the innerwebs?
little girl: yeah
little girl: like even the curser goes away
little girl: damn, looks like it's just the font
omnicollective: some of those free fonts off the web are trash
little girl: it works in TextEdit, but not Photoshop
omnicollective: weird
omnicollective: is it truetype?
little girl: right, yeah, I'll have to research it
omnicollective: i was about to type 'a little research never hurt anyone'
omnicollective: but then i remembered that is not true
little girl: ooh, what's an example?
omnicollective: i'm glad you asked, little girl
omnicollective: have a seat on my lap here
omnicollective: and i will tell you of the time
omnicollective: i wanted to learn how to open champagne bottles with a sword
omnicollective: the way those cool guys do
little girl: of course
omnicollective: so i did a little reading
omnicollective: felt like i had a pretty good handle on it
omnicollective: ordered a sword off of ebay
omnicollective: and snuck it into an award banquet my friend invited me to as her date
omnicollective: she was set to get an award and i wanted to make it extra special
omnicollective: they put champagne bottles on each table
omnicollective: it couldn't have been more perfect
omnicollective: when the time came and she was up accepting her award
omnicollective: i shook up the bottle and attempted to saber off the top of it
omnicollective: the whole thing exploded
omnicollective: shards of glass flew into me and the people at my table
omnicollective: 2 of them got it in the eye
omnicollective: but that's not the worst
omnicollective: the cork flew up and hit the chandelier
omnicollective: and spun it
omnicollective: i guess it had a weak link or something
omnicollective: it crashed down right on my friend
omnicollective: slicing her into a zillion pieces
omnicollective: everyone freaked out
omnicollective: and i panicked
omnicollective: the security guards were coming for me
omnicollective: and i sliced my way through them
omnicollective: i made it to the top of the building
omnicollective: but some guards caught up to me
little girl: oooh
omnicollective: i was trying to put the sword down
omnicollective: but my panic made my grip so tight
omnicollective: they started shooting at me
omnicollective: but fired into the Portland World Trade Center across the street
omnicollective: within minutes, jets were in the air
omnicollective: i guess there is a top secret nuclear weapon called the Champagne Sabre
omnicollective: so they misunderstood the situation that had been reported over their radios
omnicollective: and exercised deadly force
omnicollective: blowing the entire building to rubble
omnicollective: everyone died
omnicollective: so the message here is just be careful with research
little girl: wow, I guess you're right
little girl: who knows where this Kool-Aide font will take me

Brainwashed - still dirty

I am stricken no less than five times a week by the realization that I am humming a tune that was forced into my brain long ago by an advertisement. One major repeat offender that struck me again today is the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. Do you remember this ad?



There were others in the series, too. I can't find a video of it right now, but if you are like me, this song has been running endlessly in the back of your mind for most of your life:

When you tell one lie, it leads to another
So you tell two lies to cover each other
Then you tell three lies and, Oh Brother,
You're in trouble up to your ears!

So you tell four lies to try to protect you
Then you tell five lies so folks won't suspect you
Then you tell six lies and you'll collect
A life filled with worries and fears

'Cause you can't remember how many lies you've told
And half the things you say aren't true
And sometime you'll slip up, you'll trip up and then
Whatever will become of you?

So you lie and lie without even trying
And each lie you tell will keep multiplying
'Till the whole wide world will know you're lying
Then you'll be
Suspected
Detected
Rejected
Neglected
Disliked
And you should!
When you lie, you're closing the door
On everything good

I never actually listened to or understood what the lyrics of these ads were getting at until I heard myself singing them when I was much older. And of course this realization came far too late for the ads to have their intended effect of guilting me into mormonism.

A Drinking Game

On the eve of the new year, we created the best drinking game. Because it is so much fun, I want to share it with you so that you can have fun, too. You will need the following:

1. Some form of suction-cupped-dart shooter (one for each player). We chose the Nerf Maverick because it is rad and currently $8.99 at Fred Meyer.
2. An awesome movie. We chose Army of Darkness because it is rad and currently $7.99 at Fred Meyer.
3. A TV that suction-cupped darts will stick to and that you aren't worried about shooting said darts at. We chose my TV because it sucks and it was there.
4. Something to drink. We chose Sangria and Beer because we had them on hand. Champagne was added to the mix at midnight.
   

Once you've got everything, it's time to define the rules for the movie you've chosen. Army of Darkness is easy:

• Shoot all Deadites
• Shoot other justifiably "bad" guys (like the guy with the mullet)
• Do not shoot good guys
• DO NOT shoot Ash

You must drink when:

• You shoot a good guy
• You shoot Ash
• The word Necronomicon is spoken in the movie

And that's all you need to know to get started. Reload during talky parts, have fun and don't hurt anyone.