COM TRUISE EATS YR SOUL

Com Truise - "Brokendate" from stereogum on Vimeo.

teh illest shit.

#jaaaahahahahhaijustshit

let's each get tatts of one of these bros and then when we stand together it will form the union of NATIVEAMERICANXTIANITY/OPPRESSOR&OPPRESSED/THINGSTHATRDUMB&THINGSTHATRAWESOME ETCETCETC

Louis CK explains it all!

A post about waxing mustaches

I'm not even a little Italian and every six weeks or so I look in the mirror and see a 13 year old Hispanic boy. Before he morphs into Tom Selleck, I reach for the wax and nip things in the bud. I used to go to my local Vietnamese nail place, but once they had me in the chair they would all but force themselves upon my eyebrows too, which I am in no hurry to give up.
So now I do it in the peace of my own home, with a fabulous natural kit by Parissa, a French-Canadian company. (I once tried to do my armpits too, and it was the most painful thing I've ever inflicted upon myself, so I recommend against that).
While we're on the topic of mustaches, my dad's, along with Mr. Selleck's, may be the only non-ironic ones left in the Western hemisphere.

Bowing at the altar of Laurie Anderson

FW: You’ve produced an amazing amount of work. What keeps you going?

Anderson: I don’t mean to sound shallow, but it’s the best way to have fun, you know? For me it’s just sort of goofing around. It really is – it’s like “Oh I think I’ll make a cartoon today. No, I think I’ll make a song.”

You know, so when you call yourself this amorphous mutlimedia artist thing, you just do whatever you feel like and people go “oh that’s your work, ok fine,” and that’s how it is.

FW: One last question. As someone who’s been incredibly successful with their work, do you have any advice for those of us living here, holding down three jobs just to pay the rent and trying to find the time to make art?

Anderson: You know when I started being an artist I had this friend who said really irritating things to me. I would say “Look Richie, you don’t understand. I really wanna do my work, but, I’ve gotta pay my rent.

And he would just kept saying “Just do your work.”

And I’d say “No no, Richie, come on, it’s just not practical, I mean I have my rent is due in like a week, I have to be practical.”

And he would just keep saying “Do your work.”

And it made me so mad, but I finally realized what he was saying. He was talking about priorities. What do you really want? What do you put first? If you do your work, and you put all of your best energy into that, everything else will fall into place. And, you know, if you make paying your rent your very first priority, well then it will be harder to do your work. If you want this amazing apartment that looks like an artists loft or whatever, you’ll get that, but you might not be able to do any work because you’ll be putting all your energy into getting that place.

I found that at times very hard to take, but it’s really true. Because you know, it’s trusting yourself. That you have something good to say, and that it’s worth saying. That’s what you have to do as an artist. Nobody else’s really going to do it, everything comes from you.

[free williamsburg]

just chillin with my monk bros

Ever wonder...

why "we're" all functional alcholics who don't give a shit?

IT'S IN THE NEW YORK TIMES!

Read this and stop feeling guilty about devoting your life to hedonistic nihilism: it's the only thing left to do!

Although I can't help but laugh at the thought of this mainstreamer bro being sad about not getting a "corprate job on the bottom rung of the ladder."

GIMME SOME LONE STAR.

Also, loved the last two posts. Mothersbro inspired in me some optimism. He "gets" it.

We just need to re-define what being human is.

Do you think my generation has a reason to be inspired to be artists?

I think there’s a lot of reasons to be inspired to be an artist and to have a viewpoint about life. Even after 20-some years of grunge music and rap that makes people feel like they have no purpose and that what they think doesn’t matter, I think there’s still plenty of things to be hopeful about and plenty of reasons to want to create change and to want to be part of a positive future.

Fuck the epidemic thing, let’s try something else–maybe we just need to re-define what being human is. I know we’ve just talked about everything negative and the direction the planet’s going in, but at the same time I think now might be a really great time to be an artist and to be a kid.

When I was young I looked at bands and thought, “How do you record an album? How do you get a record deal? What are those things?” And now kids can record music on their phones–it’s a pretty exciting time to be alive.

--- Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo to Vice Blog on our generations chances for experiencin' sumthin real.

i'm on the other side of the world

so I'm in Thailand. have been here for about a week although the first five days don't really count because i spent them with 14 other Americans in one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at, in Bangkok. Of course right outside the hotel were slums and the like, which I spose is the standard experience of Americans/Europeans abroad. Also there's a 7-11 on just about every corner here where me and the chill bros I met would go every night to get four packs of Chang ("thailand's finest") for about 2 bucks-- sort of tastes like natty light.
Also learned that we're not allowed to be loud, drunk or messy which may mean I'm in for a very long five months. Now that I'm in my host community I likely won't see another Chang before I hit the Bangkok airport on my way out. Also, my host mom literally handed me a hairbrush. Was kind of planning on a chill time in Thailand and then I found myself shopping for business casual clothes in the mall because I have to dress up for school. what the fuck, sort of.

Anyway, it's 98 and humid. I started school today which was pretty fun and hilarious. I was facing about 40 thai tweens and repeating "my name is Emily. how are you?" about 20 times and definitely wondered how the hell I got here. Planning on inundating these kids with some scandalous music at least, just to keep myself entertained. Hoping to meet up with other american bros ASAP but apparently it's rude to travel from your host family or something. I knew the host family would be a tad difficult since in America we demand independence from age 15, but here you pretty much life with your parents forever here if you're not married, and even if you are. Thai culture is ingrained with all sorts of non-verbal signs that I obviously have no idea how to read. Did I mention no one speaks English? Hoping to become proficient in Thai, just for a fun party trick.

It's still new and exciting at the very least-- the market is pretty cool and has all sorts of crazy stuff-- definitely noticed a 14-inch wooden penis carving with stuff written all over it-- made me wish I had a digital camera and that I wasn't with my host mom and her sister. Everyone here rides motorbikes which seem totally badass and I totally want to get one when I'm back in the states.

You should send me your number because I got a hella cheep phone deal going on and i'll give you a call. Wanna meet in LA in late Oct and travel up the coast for a while?

Thursday Night: A play in three acts

ACT ONE

Scene: 2 am, the bar. MERE, ELSA and ANDREW are ordering their last beers.

MERE: Ah Nick hasn't texted me back.

ELSA: [ahem] oh, [ahem] what?

MERE: I'd texted him earlier and haven't heard from him.

ELSA finds NICK in her phone and texts him: "what. the fuck. don't play me with a friend." and deletes his number.

MERE: K, lets go back to our house or find a party or something.

ELSA: fuck yes. i have to drop my roommates' car off though, I'll drive you to yours and you wanna follow me home and then take me to your house?

MERE: Sure, let's go.

ANDREW: I'll meet you guys there.

MERE, ELSA and ANDREW pound their beers.

MERE AND ELSA go to ELSA'S car. ELSA turns Grizzly Bear up all the way. MERE lights a cigarette.

MERE: I fucking love this album. Actually the last guy I boned before Nick was the one who played it for me.

ELSA: Mmmm, yeah, it's pretty amazing.

MERE: So what about you and Andrew? You guys gonna make out again?

ELSA: uh, no. that was a one-time thing.

MERE: Well he's been talking about you all week. I'm glad you finally came out so he can shut up.

ELSA and MERE arrive at MERE'S house. MERE goes to get her car. ELSA sits in the car listening to Grizzly Bear.

ANDREW swings open the passenger side door, leans over and starts making out with ELSA.

ANDREW: Is this Grizzly Bear?

ELSA: duh.

ANDREW stumbles backward against the door.

ELSA: Wait, where are you going?

ANDREW: Matt's house. you guys should come afterwards.

MERE walks up to the car and hands ELSA three PBRs.

MERE: You left these here last time.

ELSA: Sick.

MERE: Ok, let's go. See ya, Andrew.

ANDREW: Matt's. After.

MERE: Yeah, we get it. We'll be there.

MERE follows ELSA to her parent's house to drop of the car. ELSA goes inside to get some more beer. ELSA gets into MERES car and cracks open a PBR.

ELSA: So, what was going on with you and Nick?

MERE: Eh, we dated a long time ago. Then I was wasted last weekend and called him. He came over, we boned. I was laughing the whole time though, and I think he was pissed.

ELSA: ha. oh. he seems like he has the biggest napolean complex ever.

MERE: UH, yeah. Also that guy has never heard of foreplay.

ELSA: mmm for some reason I can see that.

MERE: Yeah, I was just kind of bored, that's why I even called him in the first place.

ELSA looks at her phone and has 2 missed calls from Andrew. ELSA and MERE arrive at MERE's house. ANDREW and the TWO MATTS are standing in the back parking lot behind the house.

ELSA: you guys want beer?

MERE: it's gross and totally skunked.

ELSA: Yeah right, it's delicious.

TWO MATTS: yeah, sure.

ELSA: Here, you guys can split one.

THE TWO MATTS share a beer.

ANDREW: what the fuck are we doing? is there a party or not?

MATT: the one on orchard got busted, and the one on bayview is just like 4 people sitting around.

ANDREW: fuck this, I'm ordering pizza.

ANDREW orders a pizza.

Idle conversation ensues.

MERE: Ok, what are we doing? Let's at least go inside. It's not even warm out.

ELSA to ANDREW: Are you going to get that pizza?

ANDREW: Yeah, you wanna come?

ELSA: Yeah.

ANDREW: Ok guys, we're going to get the pizza. See you guys in a bit.

ELSA and ANDREW get into Andrews car. ELSA drinks a beer.

ANDREW: I'm like the best drunk driver ever. Like, better than most sober people.

ELSA doesn't really care and mumbles in response. ANDREW is going about 70 on the highway. They arrive at the pizza place and ANDREW runs in to get the pizza.

ANDREW: This is the best pizza in town. You want a piece?

ELSA: I don't eat pizza, I'm vegan.

ANDREW: Fuck you. Do you eat popcorn? I make the best popcorn ever.

ELSA: Yeah, that sounds sick.

ANDREW: Fuck the party. Let's go back to my house, I'll make you popcorn and we can watch the Ricky Gervais show.

ELSA: That sounds good.

ANDREW turns the car around and starts speeding in the opposite direction.

these seem relevant

I'm sending that one to Liz.

Copy this and send it to all parents and relatives

cause the NYT sez it's ok to fuck around for YEARS after schoolin:


After graduation, I spent five years wandering around doing nothing — or getting as close to it as I could manage. I was a cab driver, an obsessed moviegoer, a wanderer in the mountains of Colorado, a teacher at a crazy grand hippie school in Vermont, the manager of a movie house (who didn’t do much managing), a crewman on a ship and a doorman at a disco.


Thanks, NYT!

PUNK!

Southy recap.

Tryna play ketchup:

These are the l337est pixs I snapped during the 10 day drunkin haze that was Southy By Losin My Mind West. I think their complete lack of composition or technical photographic skillz render them more 'real' than bl0ggers pixz of Southy. These prove we experienced sumthin real during those daze. We'll look back on that week and know.

Reminds me of sumthin my pal HS Thompson said to me on an acid and ether filled road trip through the desert:

History is hard to know...but even without being sure of "history" it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time—and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happens...You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave...

I'm pretty sure he was talking about our week during Southy.

&

i'm obviously going to send this to you anyway. But it does prove that Gauguin= 150 yrs ahead of the curve.

have I shown you this experimental side project post-blogspot core blog yet?

World To People:

"MONEY IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS!"

I made the mistake of reading this, then puked.

Where's the chart of professions of "people who are fucking awesome", drink PBR at 10 am on a Tuesday and lie to their grandparents/bosses/parents' friends about their life goals/career plans/relationship status?

Cause THOSE people are winning at life.

RE: lost generationz

defeated? resigned? no fuckin way, broad.

"Mothers, don’t let your children grow up to be hipsters. We are a lost generation, desperately clinging to anything that feels real, but too afraid to become it ourselves. We are a defeated generation, resigned to the hypocrisy of those before us, who once sang songs of rebellion and now sell them back to us. We are the last generation, a culmination of all previous things, destroyed by the vapidity that surrounds us. The hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new."


I used to believe this, that our world was over and we were nothing but vultures picking at its rotting corpse... but I really don't anymore. The things that have formed our culture might be dead and dying-- sincerity, huge record labels, hypercapitalism, etc, but there are new, better things popping up in their stead. Self-awareness, self-distribution and small, community oriented projects are growing out of the ashes of those bloated tenets of our modern era.

I don't really know what hipster means in 2010, but in 1959 it meant someone who listened to jazz, liked drugs and wrote/read things that used the word "fuck." I have a feeling that when we say hipster we mean people who listen to noise/folk/punk/jazz, like drugs and read/write things that use the word "fuck." In much of the discourse that labels itself "concerned with American ideals", you'll come across phrases like "standing for something", "hard work" and talk of "freedom" "bravery" and "prosperity." Simultaneously, you'll notice that our armed forces kill civilians around the world with a frequency that suggests they enjoy it, while our elected officials have left a fifth of the children in their own country to live in poverty. And this is largely thanks to that "peace and love" generation who later built corporate America over former farms and forests and parked their SUVs in the driveway.

So if we are defeated, it's because we recognize the gross mismanagement of funds and passion by the people who call themselves leaders of the free world, and if we are destroyed it's because we don't know how to change that. Instead, we throw pebbles into the void, listen to noise/folk/punk/jazz, like drugs and read/write things that use the word "fuck." The more people who opt out of our modern corporate nightmare, the fewer bombs dropped in its name. "Hipsters" might not "stand for anything," but they've got my vote.

s00000 ghey for these bros

[when i was younger, i wanted to have 5 kids and name them for each member of the strokes. nick and nicolai could get confusing.]

Re: Crash and Burn

So what's a TOTALLY creative, complete renaissance girl Reagan's kid to do?

Well, you already answered your own question with that one. Go out and get laid anyway!

As your sister in living rent free/jobless/just tryna experience something real, grrrrl have I been there.

When criticism from the world at large (parents, other family members, clueless friends, etc) arises, I like to do two things: 1) look at their lives, and ask myself if that's something I aspire to, and 2) reach into my arsenal of humans who I do think lived badassedly ie the way I wish to live in general, and ask myself what they would think. More often than not, I think that they would be like, "fuck yeah. I never had a real job or a mortgage either!" If Allen Ginsberg ever walked up to me and was like, "what the hell are you doing? stop it!" I sure as shit would. Until then, I'm gonna keep believing that what I'm doing (or not doing) is ok because I'm ok with it.

Kinda just think that the world is full of people who just don't "get it" (as illustrated by the fact that the world is falling the fuck apart), so I'm not too quick to get down on one who decides to say "f that shit" and avoid the trappings of modern life at all costs.

Personally, I think your response of the creative realm being different is completely valid. The problem is that our dumb world places value on monies more that anything else so it's hard for people normalized by this culture to see the other things you've "earned" this year: an awesome portfolio, great experience and lots of contacts.

Maybe just in the interest of preserving your rent-free way of life for the time being, it would be worth having a sit down with the roommates and telling them your plans and your reasons for your life choices, internship, etc. All parents really want is their kids to have some idea of what they want to do, and surprisingly think that their kids are totally clueless. I've had SO many convos with my madre re: this topic, while I am FREAKING out because I can't do what I want to do and stress about "the future" ALL the time, while she's asking me if I ever think about "the future."

So yeah. You just gotta like do what you wanna do, while attempting to keep the roommates happy. Sucks that they don't understand the world, so you gotta do your best as a liason. Also, if you are interested in earning dollars, is there any after-school art program or something you could work at? Maybe not with li'ls, but high school kids could be fun.

(just read Dan Savage and am feeling all advice columny, apparently.)

Welp, I'm about to go to an interview for a barrista job! Hopefully my future co-workers will be 19 and hot.

This is Tommy Collins...

I'm listening to KOOP radio, the community run radio station here in Austin. Its country hour. But not like Miley Cyrus tevs busho country, real good ole boy- I live in the country type music. It makes me want to pick up an acoustic geetar or fiddle and make sing some toones about what I learned "Out Behind the Barn." Those people didn't know it but they were livin, experiencing something real. (haha the dj old timer just said "theres too many words in them letterz")

Which I've been thinking about alot. Yesterday I got up and came to work, worked the whole time, went to Hobby Lobby, went home and immediately starting crankin' out wedding hair pieces, then cranked out some design for my cuz, played about 30 minutes of disastrous Donkey Kong then passed out about 1:30am. Felt so good to like be productive. Put something into this world. Even menial. And I still had two beerz while I was making hair pieces, and still got to hang with some friends during my short but exciting venture into the world of video games. I guess what I'm realizing is I can still do those things I like and want to do (drink/hard sittin') but can be productive as well - and being productive always makes me feel like I'm experiencin something real. Because what else can you do except make shit that either you'll be remembered for makin' it, or will get left behind after you off yourself on the eve of your 30th birthday so people have to remember you? Its giving me some drive to make shit happen - if for no other reason than its the only way I know how to recreate the
feeling of that ole Tommy Collins song "You Oughta See Pickles Now" (Check it out!)

Also. I forgot to add into my schedule last night - I drove by my friend Liz's to give her the "I want beard burn" magnet. Did you scan that? I might have to get it back and scan it just because its sooo great. She really wants to make stickers of it, so I was thinking of scanning it anyway to get pirnt it as stickers. I think you can get sticker paper and pirnt it on my laser pirnter that I finally got workin' since Portland. If you ever see cheap stacks of label paper at Scrap let me know. Man I gotta find a Scrap equivalent here in Austin. There's bound to be one. If not, I'm starting it! Oh man that would go over so well. They probably don't make bank but I bet they make some dollars. Everyone is volunteers and all that shit is donated. That could be a really fun venture.

Also. I gotta get you a digi because I really want to try to get a pic of that painting at the bye and bye. I can't find this Juan character on the netz and my bro (literally) really wants a GIANT painting for his new condo and will pay. BIG. Like the painting will be at least 6ft by something tall. I may have to get you to help me. I'm trying to work out sketches now.

OK GOTTA GO! WORRRK