12/23/05 Here's to everyone having a good set of holi-days. Cheers. I want to say thanks to all who helped me out this year and kept me going. Things are looking good. My head feels pretty straight (though you should please feel free to tell me if it looks crooked). Peace, people. Do the right thing. Lots of love and other good things your way, Andy 12/15/05 Here's the deal. A man's gotta eat (and pay for a motorcycle)... ALL ARTWORK AND OTHER ITEMS ON BEND 20% OFF UNTIL JANUARY 1st That includes the paintings to the right and a few more. Check 'em out. AND any of the other stuff for sale on the site — Wrench Pilot originals, giclee prints, notebooks... If you have any questions, don't be shy, drop me an email. 12/14/05 Licensed, insured, ceramic flat black headers and another reason not to post as often. 12/13/05 Yesterday was a surprisingly good day. I heard from two friends and both of them made me smile. One sent me a story of coincidence that blew my mind. I'd try to write it down, but it's too bizarre. Suffice to say it was the sort of story that makes life worth living. Thanks Lori and Bernie, I am a better person knowing you two. Lori Damiano. Bernie McGinn. Gotta go, I'm on another Wallride deadline. #11. 12/12/05 Who is this man and how did he become God of California? 12/06/05 Still haven't posted the paintings for sale (two of them are at the right). I'll get to it this week in the evening some time. I haven't been painting at all the last couple weeks. Been lost in Illustrator creating ads, board graphics, and bike graphics for Ryan Clark's indy MX team, Solitaire. Little points and arrows and thin lines wrestling each other... lift my head and a day has past. Thanks Porous, Greg, Bendall and Son Tran for your responses to my post from 12/2. 12/02/05 I'm back, that must mean something. Here's a fun activity to do when you find yourself watching television. Specifically, commercials. Take the characters out of the context of the advertisement and place them into your real life. Pretend you are witnessing their behavior first hand, then tell me about it. Then maybe visit this site and look at everyone of the photos consecutively. Call it a study in naive anthropology. I guaranty, you will get a strange sensation... 12/01/05 I had a dream the other night. I won't bore you with the details. In a completely unrelated matter, I've been struggling with the idea of this online diary, or journal of sorts — dare I say Blog? Hate that word — ever since I started it, some five years ago (I think — I'm too lazy to look at the archives to find out, you'll maybe understand why here in a moment). The question I ask myself is simply, "why?" I'm gonna think/write out loud here without editing too carefully (a danger, I know). The problem begins with my origins. I am no anthropologist. I have no degrees other than an associates in design from a trade college in the middle of America. I claim no expertise in understanding what I see. I am not a simpleton, but, on the other hand, I don't know shit, really. Maybe I know just enough to trip myself up. Anyway, that aside, I think it is fascinating to "people watch" in the broadest sense of the word. About half the time I'm appalled by what I "see." The other 50% is split up between witnessing the pathetic, mildly amusing, funny, boring and very rarely the beautiful and inspiring. What of it? This is the crux for me. When I sit back, outside of it all, I realize that most of what we all do as human beings is marvel at ourselves. I tend to think I am watching this from some unique point of view but, in truth, it is what most everyone does. We watch ourselves, watch others, record ourselves and our feats, record others feats, analyze, gaze in wonder. When we don't like what we see — when morality steps in — we argue, fight, kill, destroy. Then record and analyze again. Wonder. A circular set of motions. A mirror maze. What, WHAT, should I be doing with my time — the time I spend watching, examining, maybe even judging other human beings? Am I simply adding to the massive waves of trivial information we crank out at an alarming rate? One reason I quit working in the magazine industry was the waste — mostly the physical waste made up of the 75% or so of every print run not even sold. Maybe the web — specifically, personal blogs — are whole other form of waste... time and energy misguided. Squandered. My answer today, for right now, is that I don't know what to do. I will continue to do what I do, I guess. But that's not an answer. I'm not even sure what my question is... oh yeah, "why?" Fuck if I know. Have you seen this funny commercial clip of a naked man playing pick-up basketball? VISIT "OLD NEW NOWS" #1 / #2 / #3 / #4 / Write All words/images ©2005 Bend Press and Andy Jenkins All Rights Reserved