This blog details the daily routines of famous artists/scientists/thinkers/and politicians. I particularly like the responses of writer Joseph Campbell.

So during the years of the Depression I had arranged a schedule for myself. When you don’t have a job or anyone to tell you what to do, you’ve got to fix one for yourself. I divided the day into four four-hour periods, of which I would be reading in three of the four-hour periods, and free one of them.

And of writer Saul Bellow,

Of course he worked the morning of the nosebleed, lying down on the futon in the studio whenever the bleeding started, and then getting up to scrawl out a new paragraph. When he hadn’t returned for lunch, I carried a bite out to him and found him typing vigorously, his face and his T-shirt covered with blood.

Others HERE.

2) Yamaguchi Otoya Photo

According to a Time Magazine article November 14, 1960:

“In a bleak cell at a Tokyo juvenile detention home one night last week, a mop-haired teenager mixed a palmful of tooth powder with a few drops of water and scrawled a message on the wall: “Seven lives for my country. Ten thousand years for His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor!” Then Otoya Yamaguchi, 17, tore his bed sheet into strips, knotted them into a rope, stood up on a toilet bowl and hanged himself from the light fixture in the ceiling. Yamaguchi, who last month stabbed Socialist Chairman Inejiro Asanuma to death at a political rally, had lived his bloody samurai tradition to the end. His suicide was an act of owabi—apology to those inconvenienced by his murder of Asanuma. “

via HERE.

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the curtains of that shady ‘day spa’ you pass by on your way to work? Well, after reading way too many posts from CJ’s blog HappyEndingz, I can assure you that your suspicions about solicitation and handjobs are correct.

I’ve never run across anything like HappyEndingz on the Internet. It offers an interesting glimpse of what it’s like to work in an area of the adult industry that exists just below the line of legality.

“My name is CJ, and I’m an Erotic Massage Therapist. Now if you don’t know what that is – I work in a massage parlor. Ever drive by one of those places with a red neon sign that says “SPA” and wonder what goes on behind those blackened windows? Well I’m gonna tell ya my massage parlor secrets! I’ll teach you what a “Happy Ending” is and all the little tricks I use to give one. So just lay back, relax, and let me do my job… And remember – I work for tips.”

She does weekly blog posts called ‘Freak of the Week’ that are pretty funny:

The Dead Guy

Father and Son

The Chicken Dance

Tony and Tina

Visit HappyEndingz HERE.

2) New Tin Salamunic Art

Apparently Tin is working on a comic which looks like it will include a Godzilla like creature stomping through the streets of Richmond. Excellent.

I love this guy’s style. Look how amazing those buildings look!

Check out Tin’s blog HERE.

I came across Foals Olympic Airways video this afternoon and didn’t know what to think at first. The band’s music is comparable to a mixture of Battles/Minus the Bear/and Bloc Party. There are a lot of high end guitar lines soaked in reverb and chorus. Lots of tremolo picking and riff swapping between the two guitarists with the drummer and bassist holding down a steady dance-punk beat. Their CD seems to be getting mixed reviews. Pitchfork gave it a 5.5 a few other sites gave it between an 8 and 9.

The video itself is really gorgeous. It’s what made me want to write this post. The shots are incredibly detailed, the lighting seems perfect, and it reminds me of a summer day. It actually brought to mind a MewithoutYou tour poster where all the band members are sitting in an overgrown field of grass and cattails. Olympic Airways was directed by Dave Ma, a 29 year old director from England who has done 3 other videos for Foals. Check the close up shots of the bass at 46 seconds and tell me this video doesn’t rule. At 3:15 there’s a shot of a guy shooting off roman candles over a lake as the sun sets that is really great. Check it in High Def if possible.

2) The Box Doodle Project

A cool idea. Have people rearrange a box to make an original package, send in pictures, post them online.

More HERE.

Most mixed media art pieces ususally can’t hold my attention for long because I feel like they’re lacking a direct point, are hastily thrown together, or just look like crap.  Kris Kuksi’s “Imminent Utopia” exhibition is different.  Judging from these photographs it is very apparent that he took his time with these.  They’re so crowded with figurines and little details that it blows my mind.  I can imagine how great these would look in person.  Go visit Kris’ exhibition in NY at the Joshua Liner Gallery.

Kris Kuksi – Imminent Utopia
Nov. 22 – Dec. 20
Joshua Liner Gallery
548 West 28th St.
NY, NY 10001

More Pictures HERE. (via Slamxhype)

2) Splitter

Splitter is an extremely addictive physics based game in which you split blocks of wood and pieces of rope in order to reach a checkpoint.  The premise is simple but completing some of the advanced levels takes a lot of effort.

HERE.

The Baker Artist Awards is offering Baltimore artists two large cash prizes this year. Up to 3 individual artists could be awarded the $20,000 dollar Mary Sawyers Baker prize (which will be decided by jury) and the Baltimore’s Choice prize will award $5,000 dollars to the artists who receive the most online votes.

A few of my favorites so far (in no particular order):

1) Alex Roulette

This is a large (36″-38″) oil painting. I thought it was a photograph at first glance. The detail on the water is amazing. This guy is still enrolled at MICA.

2) Tony Shore

Another painter, who is a teacher at MICA, and recently won the Sondheim prize for painting in Baltimore. All of his work is painted on large panels of black velvet. Pretty cool.

3) Danielle Yurchinkonis:

This photo was actually taken in my backyard when I still lived in Trash House. After hours and hours of lining up these pennies (somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000) we snapped this picture from the roof of my house. The pennies then sat in my backyard for about a month until we finally swept them up and took them to a Coinstar where we ruined the machine by dumping in a mixture of pennies, leaves, and twigs.

I think half of what makes me admire her photography so much is the meticulous work she puts in to setting up the scenes.

Voting began on November 1st and will continue until February 1st. Go sign up and check out all the amazing artists that live in Baltimore.

http://www.bakerartistawards.org/

Tin Salamunic is a young illustrator based out of Richmond, VA.  He just posted a huge blog update filled with scans from his sketch books.  I think it’s really interesting to see what people draw in their down time.  I can tell that Tin has a cute Asian girlfriend, likes video games, lives in a cramped and cluttered apartment, and likes to draw hands and feet.  I wish all of my friends would keep sketch books and let me look at them.

Check out the rest of Tin’s work HERE.

2)  Safe for Work Porn

Lets take really vulgar porn pictures and use MS Paint to make them safe for work.  Great concept.  I want to give a high five to whom ever photoshopped this picture.  Those finely waxed moustache curls and his over sized golden monocle somehow elevate this photo from run of the mill interracial porn to a high caliber fast food advertisement.

More SFW Porn goodness HERE.