TINSELTOWN BY STORM

Heading down to LA this weekend. Goo and I push off from Portland on Friday night. Our plane lands around 10pm. “Bring your party hats.” is what Dinenna had to say. I'm gonna get tanked and have a good laugh.

We’re taking up residence in the Mondrian hotel. What a dump! Just kidding. By the looks of their website, the joint is high class. We’re gonna be down there for five nights. That’s a healthy stay, wherever the hell one might go. Los Angeles, well, for this fucker, is like doing “double time.” The place wears me out.

The traffic, the fast pace, the endless stream of ads, cars and beautiful people…whoa.

We’re going down in the name of “inspiration.” I’m gonna tell you this much: My DigiElph S400 is gonna get a good workout. I’m gonna lug the 14 incher Powerbook down too, so this way I can download the day’s digital treasures each night. We’re gonna hit all the hip stores and glitzy establishments, all in the name of getting inspired. Many folks will be in attendance from the Nixon camp. Goo and I will be representin’ CINCO, as well as the greater Northwest states, backed up by CINCO Kirk a couple days later. Should be good.

LA is full of so fuckin’ many things to see, do, feel, smell, gawk at, shake yer head at…

I’m staying positive, readying myself for the adventure. I’m gonna get off that jet plane, gonna take in a big breath of that exhilarating LA air, and then I’m gonna kick that town’s ass.

Gets Me Every Damn Time

Last night I got home from the grind and plopped my ass down on the big leather couch. Rough day in the trenches and a motherclicker like myself needs to recooperate. Melissa was on the web and said, “Aaron, turn to channel 53…trust me.” Usually, her recommendations end up in quarrels…but this time, I took a chance.

Grumpy Old Men. Oh yeah.

Totally made my night. The hokey humor, sure, a laugh here and there...but, that Minnesota winter backdrop…man, that always does it for me.

Mark my words: I will make it back there.

I will spend my winter ice fishing. I will wear a giant coat, all the time…with a giant hat. I will own an old truck. I’ll have cold ones with Ryno, PJ and Kurt down the street at the local shithole tavern. Ryno and I will suck down ‘witches tit cold’ Grainbelts while PJ and Kurt will suck down rice milks or something. We’ll be lucky enough to have honest women allowing us to take port at their sides. My parents will be down the street, in a small cozy house. Good times will be had by all.

Or, maybe I’ll get into loggin’ and make a living deep in the Oregon woods. Maybe I’ll head back north to Alaska to take a brakeman position on the Alaskan Railroad. Maybe I’ll take root in Nashville, designin’ honktonk posters. Hmmm.

Movies like “A Simple Plan”, “The Straight Story”, “Fargo”, “Beautiful Girls” and any of the “Grumpy Old Men” series always get me. Midwestern Gothic, or something.

I grew up in small town, and upon leaving found myself caught up in the neo-hillbilly wave that was overtaking the community.

I love my Portland home, damn straight. I just itch for a Midwest fall/winter combo. Miss it bad.

THE FLAMING LIPS HAVE LANDED / SUMMA TIME

Those Flaming Lips are playing downtown tonight. Melissa and I are gonna pass up the Portland show, opting for a glimpse of Oklahoma’s Finest this Saturday night at the Gorge at George. They only do an hour set at the festival, but that’ll be fine. Maybe, just right. The drawn out set don’t get me like they used to.

I do wish we had tickets for them tonight…oh well. All day long, my headphones have been paying subtle tribute to them. Maybe we’ll take a spin downtown to check out tour bus specs and such. Hmmm.

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Not too much to report. Our nights have been filled with meals, takin’ walks, battling shit out on the tennis courts, wrastlin’, DVD watching and losing large amounts of sleep. Little bits and pieces of freelance have been rearing their ugly heads here and there.

I look forward to the Memorial Day weekend. The break will be nice. Many thoughts will go out to the servicemen and servicewomen who have laid it on the line over the years for our country.

As a kid, Memorial Day meant riding my bike out to the cemetery for a solemn salute to the fallen. I remember how proud the old men looked, all done up in their respective regalia. Memorial Day was a sign that summer was on the way…those easy days as the school year winds down to an end.

I’ll never forget those final days of class. Special days, filled with hopes of big summer fun. The best part, above all: Knowing you wouldn’t have be around those turds for another three months. Good times. I remember running home…so excited to “get our summers on.” Baseball, swimming at the beach with Mom, playin’ guns in the woods with neighborhood rats, horrific family trips to all points of the globe (Disneyworld, Colorado, etc.) and hot weeks spent with the Grandmas in metro area Detroit…good times.

Plans for this summer: I plan on being hot, being grumpy, saving loot, diggin’ the cool night air, enjoying the CINCO air conditioning…

JUST IN FROM MINNEAPOLIS:

Jon Baugh (husband, father, desktop publisher, real good™) from sweet ol' Minneapolis sent in a little nugget of pixelated customizin'. Man, that guy has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Watch and learn.

Good stuff. Real good. Yet another reason why Minneapolis is it.

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The Draplindustries Design Co. swears by the Canon Elph PowerShot line of quality products.

Pixelate That, MotherElpher!

In matters photographic, digital and pixilated; the DDC factory floor has a new tool in the arsenal. After 18 months of damn near nonstop use, we retired our trusted Canon PowerShot S110 Elph digital camera. Our proud upgrade is the Canon PowerShot S400 Elph digi-beast. An amazing piece of equipment. Two words: Fuck yeah.

• Four, count ‘em, four megapixels.
• Beefed up 3X optical zoom
• Ergonomic upgrades
• State-of-the-art focusing gizmo

We located all the parts and pieces that belong to the S110, packed ‘em up in the original box and said our goodbyes. Looking back, we’ll share many a fond memory. We had a lot of good times together. Lots of good pixels were burned, many dark spots brightly lit up by his flash. Good times.

6631 shots! That’s quite a history together. But friends, we gotta say, all good things–be it electronic or otherwise–come to an end, and we had to move on.

In an odd attempt at winning Mom over, the retired Elph was sent back to her open arms. The ol’ S110 has a lot of miles left in him, and we know he’ll perform real good for mother dearest.

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Some shots from the last bunch of days…

01. "Dye to Live"
02. "Gigantic Asshole"
03. "Melissa's Frankenstein Hand" (Cat attacks...no less.)
04. "Snell & Floyd: Friends Forever"

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Of course, a small update from the grind: Yet another big week at CINCO.

Real busy, on a multitude of projects. Catalogs, magalogs, ads, logos, etc. All sorts of action in the works. Nonstop stuff. I look forward to a break…but I don’t think that’ll happen considering the momentum “enjoyed” by all in the trenches. It’s all cyclical and I’m getting a good grasp of the scheme of things. The stuff just keeps coming and coming. Don’t get me wrong, I’m VERY thankful for all the business. It’s amazing how much stuff we make. Blows my mind.

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ALL APOLOGIES

Mom, I’m sorry for the lack of updates.

In all honesty (and just a smidge of bending the truth) there hasn’t been too much to report.

Work is busy as fuck. Lots of Nixon, lots of Gravis…and so it goes. I think I’m heading down to Los Angeles for a mini “inspiration trip” with the Nixon watches crew. Goo and I will fly down–on large airliners–around the first of the month for a long weekend of checking out hip stores, looking at Hollywood-ish stuff and other “inspiring” phenomena.

I wish we were going on an inspiration trip to St. Louis or Chicago or hell, even Omaha or something. Those places just sound so much more interesting.

Los Angeles…well, in the spirit of being a “professional,” I’ll refrain from any naysayin’.

I will say this much: I don’t like Los Angeles. Hot, bright and busy…and, in the words of that parasite Steven Cojacuru (fashion consultant for People magazine), “Fabulous!” I do, however, respect the strategic benefit of checking the place out. Like it or not, many, many things emanate from Los Angeles. These things, for the most part, are not to my liking; but to a Nixon watch buyer it is a whole different story. That is why we do what we do.

So yeah, work has been busy. Real busy.

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On the homefront: Melissa–bless her heart–is still unemployed, “diligently” looking for work. She’s on the prowl, so that’s good.

The cats are like little rodeo ponies running up and down the hallway, across the hardwood floors, only to jump up on a window sill or two, clearing out whatever items may have been perched in that window sill. Little fuckers. hair is everywhere...in the air and in my mouth.

The apartment is feeling smaller each day. Should we look for a new joint? Should I buy a house? Lots of questions.

The key is too stay focused on keeping the bills paid and the bank account in the positive. Saving the loot for future endeavors, be it buying a ranch for myself or hitting the road to walk the earth. Both sound good.

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Next week we are going up to the “Gorge at George.” (The town is called George, Washington…no shit.) It’s this gargantuan gorge theater…very big, very beautiful. There’s a big music festival going down with the likes of the Flaming Lips, Coldplay, Calexico, Liz Phair and a whole pile of others. Should be fun. Stand around in the sun, pay exorbitant amounts for stupid items like water and listen to tunes emanating from a gigantic stage. Fun.

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Things are going well.

HAPPY MA'S DAY

First off, Happy Mother's Day to none other than my Mom. While we're at it, we'd like to include all the good moms out there in this dispersal of warm sentiment.

I miss my mom real bad, and that sort of hurtin' ain't no laughin' matter. Wish I lived closer to the parents (A popular woe on the DDC factory floor.).

I have been away for every Mother's and Father's day for hell, I can't remember how long. Too long. I wish I lived close enough so I could jump in the rig and cruise home for days like today.

Mom, I miss ya real bad.

WEEKEND MEMORIES

Man, we are still worn out.

Lots of action over the weekend. Rose, Chief and Bridges were in town for the RedBull Heavy Metal Rail contest. The contest went really well. So many contests that are “produced” by corporate sponsors can end up so overblown, staged and predictable…ultimately boring. Redbull and Volcom did this one right. Loose enough to have a good vibe, organized enough to be a tight production. The crowd was into it.

Lots of fuckers were in town for the event. Always nice to see all the snowboard media folks, athletes and lurkers. Good folks all and all.

One "all access" pass got the whole entourage in to the "workers/athletes only area." Ha-ha.

COLLEAUGUE WRAP-UP:

01. Rose is always a handful, full of gusto, full of shit. Everyone’s favorite Jew gave a command performance to all in tow. Be it leaving piles of yanked chest hair around the house, yelling or getting loose on the pong table. Rose made the rainy days enjoyable. A handful in all situations. Family.

An ugly ping-pong battle took place at CINCO. He beat us in the endurance department. After a handful of triumphant wins he came back and nipped the series in the bud with one last win. Fucker. Lots of sweat, lots of screaming.

Rose turned “dirty thirty” on Wednesday. Happy Birthday, little buddy.

02. Chief is a lanky, smooth talkin’, Nike wearin’ bastard. He was up here on business, checking in with magazine accounts. The guy can “put ‘em away”, if you know what I’m sayin’. Multiple times, future drinking binges were sworn off. Yeah right. He manned the leather couch for a couple nights.

03. Bridges was Chief. Mean, lean and on the some path of enlightenment, his certain brand of lewdness made us miss the old days in SoCal.

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The best. The goddamned best.

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CINCO IS SPANISH FOR "FIVE"

CINCO turned 5 on Cinco de Mayo. 5 years and going strong. Good folks, good work, good design.

CINCO is throwing a small "get together" on Friday. If you are around, swing on by. Things get going at 7pm.

OVERHEARD

Melissa and I have done a fair bit of shopping/shoplifting in the last bunch of days. I’ll get home from a hard day makin’ a honest living and she’ll have a grocery list a mile long. Relentless. My arm hurts from reaching for my goddamn wallet.

Last night we made a late stop out to the Home Depot. See, I’m on a “handheld vacuum” hunt, which has taken us all over Hell’s Half Acre looking for just the right one.

So we’re out at the Jantzen Beach shopping mecca, well, shopping. Home Depot was a bust, so we navigated towards Old Navy. I swear…it was the bright lights and bad graphics that sucked me in. Melissa was on the hunt for a plain red t-shirt or something.

We go in, find a couple options and head back to the dressing room. I’m finding myself harkening back to old tactics, involuntarily. Melissa goes into the dressing room, I find somewhere to lean on. So it goes.

She’s in there, trying stuff on. There are yells and screeches coming from the dressing room area. Pretty annoying. Melissa comes out with that, “It didn’t work/I didn’t like it” look, I offer a sympathetic, “Well, you want to look for somethin’ else?”

“Nah” she says, “But I wish someone would shut those fuckin’ kids up.”

Right after she says this, a gal walks by, gazing at us.

“You mean those kids?” she says, pointing in the direction of the little fuckers.

“They are both mine,” she adds.

Ha. Good stuff. Way to go Melissa. Loose lips sink ships.

But then again, that hag should have kept her mouth shut, and while she was at it, those little bastard rodents of hers too. What, she was proud she owned a couple of screaming banshees? Take care of yer raging children!