Some Tom Waits for a Friday night

no explanation necessary for this one. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Finnegan!

Today is Finnegan's bitrthday! To celebrate we put a silly party hat on him and took some pictures.

He sat still for a while and we got some pretty cute pics...


...but then he decided that he was just going to eat the hat.

Of course once he got it in his mouth he had to take off running...

...and it wasn't long before he couldn't see where he was going anymore. This was really funny to watch.

He then found his way back into the living room where he began to devour his silly party hat.

Better than cake!

Happy Birthday little buddy.

Someday...

When it comes to fashion for mens facial hair, the Germans have it all over us, as these contestants from the the International German Beard Championships in Schoemberg, Germany can attest to. MAybe someday I'll join their ranks. ;)

Van of the Week: Vanvida!

This week's van is one of my personal favorites (again. ;) what did you expect? It's my blog afterall...) I'm guessing a lot of people who see this have never seen a van with a chopped top before. This is a highly difficult body mod to do, and requires a good deal of time, skill, and a parts vehicle or two.
One of the best examples of a choped van is this one... Vanvida. The owner, Israel Perez of Witchita, Kansas tells me that this 1978 Ford Econoline has had 8 inches cut from the body, which in the state of Kansas makes it just barely legal to drive. :D The mural on the back depicts several of the other vans he and his wife have owned over the years, and the covers on his lake pipes were fabricated by his daughter. Israel is a long time vanner, and the name of his van means 'van life'. The interior, which sadly I have no pictures of, is tatefully decorated in a manner which also shows off his heritage. Enjoy the pics.



Here is a picture of Israel taken at a lowrider show with one of the models. It really shows just how low this van is. Way too cool!

Finally here is the vantoon I did for him last fall.

Springtime in Maine

I walked out this morning, and although it was cold (about 25 degrees) I went over to see if any of our crocuses had appeared. Last year they appeared on the first day f spring, so I looked, and....



Happy Spring everyone. In a week from now there will be many more than this. :D

A Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead

I am a huge fan of all things zombie, and I find this particularly amusing.

1976 nationals part 2

Part 2. There is also a part 3, but I'm not gonna post it as it is pretty much just a big ad for BFGoodrich and a video for the band that played the Nats that year.

On a side note, the BFGoodrich sponsored van "Future Shock" is now privately owned and sitting in a garage in Chicago quietly awaiting restoration. I hope to see it in person someday as it was one of the biggest showvans of the era.

1976 Nationals part 1

Wow. Check out this vintage promo video put out by BFGoodrich. It's a mini-documentary from 1976 covering the Nationals (which were held in Bowling Green, KY that year and were the 4th annual. This year is the 35th National Truck-in, and will be in Cortland, OH.) Vanning has changed a lot since then, and this shows it at it's height. Back then there were commercial sponsors and attendance to truck-ins numbered in the thousands. Many vanners then objected to the commercialism that was begining to take place and the "2%" movement took place. I'll explain that more another time. The crowds my be smaller now, but the atmosphere hasn't changed. The guy who explains it in part 2 nails it on the head. Seeing this really makes me want to get the van out of the garage and go to a truck-in. Enjoy. (yes the music is a little hard to take in the video, but what the hell. It was 30 years ago for God's sake, what do you want???)

Album Covers: Car Over the Lake Album

I don't know what it is about this album cover by The Ozark Mountain Daredevils that I have always found to be so incredibly funny, but here it is.
This was the third album by the OMD. Humorous titles however were the norm with them. Other albums in their discography include "Don't Look Down", "Men From Earth" and "It's Alive!!!"

It almost seems to me like maybe they came up with the name at the last minute?? Either way, I find it amusing, and as we will see in the next album I spotlight, that can be a selling point for me.

Finally! A tricorder for the masses!!

How many times have we watched Mr. Spock take a tricorder reading and furrow his brow? The handheld analytical device has stepped over the boundary between fantasy and reality thanks to researchers at Purdue University.

Their invention is a combination of two devices: one that sprays an object with ionized water vapor, and a miniaturized mass spectrometer, which detects substances. "The detection is done in an ion trap — an RF device that traps ions, then lets them out on the basis of their masses, enabling you to be exactly sure what compound you are sensing," says R. Graham Cooks, a professor at Purdue's College of Science. Because the 20-pound device performs the ionization step in the air or on surfaces, it is much easier to use than the 300-pound spectrometers used in airports. It has an onboard Windows-based PC that stores the results on its hard drive.

Potential earthbound uses for the real-life tricorder include detecting salmonella in food, disease markers in urine, and cocaine on a rolled-up bill. Two Indiana startups will market it. The original Star Trek tricorder prop was designed by Wah Ming Chang, who also sculpted the phaser. Gene Roddenberry went out of his way to allow any company designing a working tricorder to use the name. — Al Boline

Via EE Times

Tom and Jerry - The Cat Concerto (1946)

Not too much today. I just wanted to leave off with this classic piece of Tom and Jerry. Have a great weekend!

For the Ides of March...

...a day synonymous with death, I present some creepy ass Victorian Era post-mortem portraits.

The Wilhelm Scream

Here's a compilation video to one of my favorite movie sound effects of all time..."the Wilhelm Scream". Enjoy.

Van of the week: Wizard's Revenge

Trying to get back on track here...
This week's van is called "Wizard's Revenge". Unfortunately I have no other info aside form that.
I know it hails from somewhere in Ontario. It is a mid-Dodge (71-78) like mine, and sports a custom grille, flares, visor, and spoiler. It also appears to have wooden running boards (which is also in my long range goals)
It's beautifully airbrushed in earth tones depicting fantasy images, and no doubt has a full custom interior. One of my favirite things about this particular van is it is a long wheelbase model, which I prefer. Sure the shorties look cooler, and are more sought after, but for a trick interior you just can't beat the extra room. This is definitely one van I hope to see in person at a truck-in someday.
I culled these pics from vannin.com... my home away from home(page) where I am an active member with almost 5000 posts on the forums so far.

Wow...Deja Vu!

I got my copy of Sci Fi magazine yesterday. (Yes I really subscribe to it) As I was looking over the cover this morning whilst trying to awaken, I had the funniest feeling I had seen the image somewhere before. It then dawned on me....


May 1987 issue #1 of The Justice League! I then dug thru my back issues to see how close they were, and as you can see...
This is a pretty cool tribute in my opinion.I mean obviously the cut Drs. Light, and Fate out, and Oberon too (the three on the most left) but the composition for the core group is the same in both pics. The Giffen era League was my favorite version. Heroes however I have actually not gotten a chance to watch yet, so I can't say on that yet. I hear good things though.

Album Covers: Siren

The cover to the Roxy Music album Siren is, in my opinion, just about as close to perfection as an album cover can come.
The colors and tone are reminiscent of a Maxfield Parish piece, but the subject matter is...well, more like something I would paint.
The model is supermodel Jerry Hall, who was in a relationship with Roxy Music member Brian Ferry at the time of the albums release, and later went on to be the future wife of Mick Jagger. All that aside, I just really love this piece. It is one of the albums I have bought strictly for the cover, and it was well worth it.

Demolition: Part 2.5- Update

I found out some interesting info on the artifact I uncovered. I contacted my friend Jesse Red Horse, who has extensive knowlege in Native artifacts, bead work and loom work, and is also a Naitive musician (and a vanner to boot), and here is what he told me.

"If all the edges were hemmed I would have said it was a face piece for a knife sheath, but I ruled that out by the pattern line up.

Now to the pattern, I will copy the pic and bring it to my draw station and over lay the lines so I can show you the design we call "Lodge reflection" also known as "Two lodges", normally we see this as Eastern Woodlands bead work and this is the first time I've seen it woven so it threw me."

This made sense to me, as the builder of our house was the son of the owner of the house behind me (which I currently caretake for) back in the late 1800's.

He then said the following :
" The two designs are normally not found together on anything with the exception of a medicine pouch, the two lodges and the Two Coyotes are not normally together.
I have bead works of both but they are separate works.

I'm not 100% sure but at the very end (the non-hemmed side)it looks like the craftswomen was doing or had done a snake design before it was ripped, if indeed it was a snake then you could be looking at a top coat for a medicine bag."

I asked if it was possible that the piece was put there for protection reasons, and if I should return it to under the floor. he answered
" If it were placed there for protection it would have been wrapped in red trade wool, since you found none it was probably a gift to the house itself.

When we would put up a new lodge or tee Pee we would give the Tee Pee a gift that would stay with it for its life time.
I see no problem framing it, but I would suggest that you hang the frame artifact above the door.

I have my medicine arrow mounted above my entry door this tells everyone that enters that they enter with good intentions only.


Now I asked my wife since she is of the Eastern Woodlands Tribes and she had a different impression all together.
When the coyote and lodges show up she thinks it was done by the woman of the house in order to bring peace between the two house holds, there just might be another piece of this under the threshold of the other house in question."

He even sent me the following file...



*click to enlarge and read the fine print*

My most sincere thanks to Jesse Red Horse for his researching this for me, and educating me on it. I just hope someday to be able to find the other half of it....

Jesus Will Survive

This has got to be one of the funniest damn things I have seen in a while.