In 1995, my family moved to Acme, Pennsylvania.  While there, I saw three intense examples of pollution that were amazing lessons.  I lost confidence that corporate & government leaders would do much to solve problems of pollution (or whatever we want to call it – it’s “climate change” now, right?) 

In 1890, the trees and coal of the western ridges of the Appalachian Mountains were being harvested.  “Harvest” is a word that barely describes the devastation done by the lumber and mine companies as they stole the natural resources and beauty of the land.  I was surprised to learn of the disregard the firms had for each other.  Railroads, with their steam locomotives made of steel (probably from Pittsburgh), were used to move the loot down the mountains.  The water to fill their tanks was taken from local streams & lakes – water being so badly polluted by the mining companies that it rusted the trains.  (The water had a bad color (& smell); we saw it 100 years later.)  The lumber and railroad companies sued the mining companies to recover the losses to their machines.  There was no mention of damages to the land or people and such notions were not considered in the courts.  They settled the law suits, establishing that mines needed to ruin the water and that (as long as people didn’t die immediately) further studies were needed.  The solution the courts and companies made was that the filthy water would be diverted from where trains were taking water.  Huge aqua ducts were built using lumber purchased by the coal companies.  The unbelievable part to me was that the water, known to rot metal, was sent down the mountains into the rivers upstream from the city of Pittsburgh. 

In 1940, the air in the city of Pittsburgh was bad.  It was so dirty and unhealthy that it was not good to live or even visit there.  Everyone knew the causes of the soot and smell and almost everyone thought it was ok … worth it … a point of pride.  People’s eyes would water, headaches were common, and various lung diseases were being discovered.  (If you never went to Pittsburgh, you might think I’m exaggerating but I’m not.  In 1953, my family spent a weekend there and vowed never to visit again.)  As steel mills and shipping firms grew in the early 1900’s, so did smog and pollution.  The population also grew, as workers migrated from farms and wars demanded weapons.  There was a group of corporate workers who did not live in the city, choosing instead to build homes far away from downtown.  Leaders of banks, corporations and government moved their families into the beautiful western ridges of the Appalachians, including Acme and Ligonier, building world-class houses, parks and schools.  Special train and auto roads were constructed to facilitate their commutes.  Owners of stores and factories in downtown Pittsburgh hired famous architects to build castles in the Chestnut Ridge – some of the sites were determined so that they could actually see the haze of the city that was creating their wealth.  Fifty years later, these homes stood like monuments to the wealth of their owners and like memorials for the people who were consumed by those factories. 

In 1990, the economy of Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas was falling apart.  As Free-Trade Agreements and World Trade Organizations made global changes in the economy, steel production and most manufacturing was moving overseas.  (I can imagine what some areas of China smell like today by remembering what was happening in Acme during the past century.)  As factories closed in Pennsylvania (NOT because Americans were demanding clear air but because leaders were exploiting new workers and resources), Pittsburgh teetered on the edge of ruin.  The world class schools and banks that had served the corporate needs of the twentieth century realized they could commute to Mexico just as easily as to Acme … they liked having clean air and cheap property down town … they could use tax dollars (let’s call it urban renewal) to change the demographics of the city to create a whole new economy.  What a beautiful city Pittsburgh has become, as the dirty air and working class jobs were sucked away to “the third world”.  By understanding what and who caused this “decline and re-birth”, we would see much about why the world-wide conference to fix pollution won’t succeed.

In these examples, I find no demonstration that corporate and government leaders care about or for the earth and citizens.  In fact, it seems that exploiting workers and ruining nature (perhaps I should use the term harvest) were minor concerns for most citizens.  How common is it for people to compromise on these issues!  I was in Pittsburgh in 1975 with a professional colleague when the topic of smog came up – I expressed concern for the health of the people and he explained emphatically that “no, that is the smell of progress and opportunity for them”.

We must appreciate the lessons of history.  We cannot afford to get involved with changes in the semantics or processes when the issues are so blatant.  The destruction of the forests and the disregard for the health of people are continuing – maybe even becoming more prevalent.  If you look out your window and don’t see that, it is probably because the consequences are being sent downstream. 

–

All the awesome late night filming sessions with Shane that ended in Horror.

Watching Chris Ebling rip that park everyday he had the chance.

The microwave burgers from Sam’s Club.

Everyone misses the BOWL!

Punching Romine in the balls everyday.

Crazy lock ins!

Dodgeball!

Selling skateboards all day and night!

I miss the wrist bands.

Picking up beer cans all AM.

The weird curving skateboard assembly counter.

Kick flips.

Mark Janni

Working everyday with the home boys!

Demos.

Lakai showing up out of nowhere.

The Lounge Area.

Skate Camps.

Telling Kids they had to wear their helmets and watching sadness enter their lives.

Red Bull Girls!

Never having to worry about the rain!

Late night after hour sessions.

Mental break downs while trying to film.

Sparky!

The Havik Promo Video.

Goofy Versus Regular!

Watching people eat crap from my office window!

Dillon Forgy!!!

Havik was one heck of a great time. All these things bring back some super sweet memories. Looking back on Havik it all seems like a dream. But I know it wasn’t cause most of my dreams are weird and awkward. Havik was just about as perfect as it could have been. I only wish we were still there today skating, dreaming, selling, assembling, sweeping, punching, and living the dream. I want to thank all the people that helped make Havik as great as it was. Every kid that came to skate camp, every person that came to the lock ins, every employee that worked hard, everyone who filmed and skated, everyone who paid, every single person that loved that place as much as me. Feel free to add the things that you miss about Havik! I want to hear all your stories and good time fun time banging! Havik lives on in my memories and in every person that shared in one heck of an awesome place!

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Daniel Buren: Rainbow in the Sky (***) Subtle, floating w/ the breeze, constantly changing fluttering flashes of white stripes w/ multi-hues
1:47 PM Nov 13th from txt

Ingres’s Comtesse @NortonSimon (*****) The smooth softness of her face and skin counters her coy, knowing expression.
2:31 PM Nov 13th from txt

Comtesse: The milky cream of her skin contrasts yet harmonizes w/ the crisp, shiny lushness of the red hair ribbon & blue satin dress.
2:37 PM Nov 13th from txt

Scot Heywood @ Frank Lloyd (****) Warm with siennas, yellows and reds to foil the black and white. One shifted panel in each spices it up.
2:58 PM Nov 14th from txt

.@KielJohnson: Publish or Perish @MMooreGallery (****) I like the DYI spirit and deadpan humor. #artLA
3:32 PM Nov 14th from txt

Jeanne Silverthorne @ Shoshana Wayne (****) Things that are a bit off are what makes it work-the impossibly heavy water drop or moth circling light
4:02 PM Nov 14th from txt

Alejandro Gehry @ Robert Berman (**) Bad imitation of Sue Williams slapped over a bad imitation of Hans Hoffmann just equals bad painting.
4:08 PM Nov 14th from txt

Sarah Perry @ Lora Schlesinger (***) Drawings of lunar surface scratched onto chalkboards were lovely, but the dead animals were creepy.
4:18 PM Nov 14th from txt

Ned Evans: Inside the Prism @ William Turner (****) Best Evans paintings I’ve seen in awhile-bleeding acrylics slashed with crisp diagonals.
4:38 PM Nov 14th from txt

Jennifer Steinkamp @ ACME (****) The videos make me feel like I’m spinning and floating underwater along with leaves and petals.
5:07 PM Nov 14th from txt

Kellesimone Waits: Power Plays @ Frank Pictures (**) Rather than subverting gender roles, it just reinforces them. #artLA
6:22 PM Nov 14th from web

Brendan Monroe @ Richard Heller (***) Ambivalent about the paintings but liked the warped atomic-age style suspended sculpture. #artLA
6:25 PM Nov 14th from web

Pagel says Koons’ pntgs seem to suffocate under preposterously long list of sources. 2 bad he gets dazzled by the artisans http://tr.im/FkP2
6:13 PM Nov 19th from tr.im

Jeff Koons @Gagosian (**) Stick to sculpture, Jeff. I haven’t seen a decent painting since the Celebration series. #artLA
2:27 PM Nov 21st from txt

Don’t think that I hate Koons all together, just not this body of work.
2:43 PM Nov 21st from txt

Koons: I don’t mind the factory, artisans, excess, etc. The problem is that the craftsmanship alone is not enough.
2:46 PM Nov 21st from txt

The ideas and composition have to be good too and Koons has failed here.
2:47 PM Nov 21st from txt

Koons: Though the sexuality is more veiled it’s still tasteless. The Courbet cunt shot scribbles were kinda offensive.
2:51 PM Nov 21st from txt

Koons: The references to Twombly doodles and Lichtenstein fake brush strokes and benday dots were hollow winks to the cognoscenti.
2:56 PM Nov 21st from txt

Koons: The only thing I found interesting was an optical illusion of the surface undulating if you got very close to the dots.
2:59 PM Nov 21st from txt

Koons: David Pagel seemed to feel that the perfectly executed artisan work was enough to save the paintings from boredom, but I didn’t.
3:02 PM Nov 21st from txt

Lorser Feitelson: Late paintings @ Louis Stern (*****) So sexy. Hard 2 believe they were painted late 60s early 70s. Love the curves. #artLA
3:19 PM Nov 21st from txt

Groupings @ Manny Silverman (***) Standout–Maxwell Hendler’s Love’s Attire. I want 2 take it home & add it 2 my collex of pink paintings.
3:28 PM Nov 21st from txt

Marilyn Minter @RegenProjects (****) Interesting play between repulsiveness/goo & attractiveness/sparkles within the context of female objectification.
4:00 PM Nov 21st from txt

John M. Miller @ Margo Levin (****) Plays tricks on your eyes. Move & you feel dizzy. Think you see 1 color then it changes as you go by.
4:20 PM Nov 21st from txt

Roy Dowell @ Margo Levin (***) Nice but…besides using mostly hand painted scraps, how is this advancing early Modernist collage? #artLA
4:24 PM Nov 21st from txt

.@livingroomart I am interested in Koons’ take on excess and banality, but I feel he expresses it much better in his sculpture.
5:55 PM Nov 21st from TweetDeck

Koons just can’t seem to get sex right. First he stumbled with the blatant Cicciolina stuff.
5:58 PM Nov 21st from TweetDeck

Koons: Then he missed the mark mingling it with cartoons. Now he tries soft focus and dowsing it w/ art historical references.
6:02 PM Nov 21st from TweetDeck

Koons: No matter how he approaches sexuality, it just comes off as sleazy.
6:03 PM Nov 21st from TweetDeck

.@klightbox I DO like most of Koons’ work. Balloon Dog, Puppy, Basketballs & Hoovers, Rabbit, Jim Beam trains. Just not THESE paintings.
2:01 PM Nov 22nd from TweetDeck

.@klightbox Tracey Emin uses similar imagery but it comes off as personal emotion/desire to be loved. Koons never gets beyond the male gaze.
2:52 PM Nov 22nd from TweetDeck

I can’t believe Chris Miles thinks Koons’ new paintings are “surprisingly fresh.” Check out my comment @LAWeekly: http://tr.im/G9kL
7:06 PM Nov 29th from tr.im

Random Bob Jones University Memories…

Judging from the feedback I’ve received, on and off the web, both positive and negative, there seems to be some interest in life at Bob Jones University – more specifically, my life at Bob Jones University.

Occasionally, and usually without warning, random BJU “flashbacks” will snap me out of the here-and-now and for a moment…I’m back walking the well-worn covered sidewalks of the Fortress of Faith.

Some recent forgotten BJU moments:

A group of master debaters -- Sam is far right.

1) The time I received 25 demerits for calling Sam Lamerson “The Master Debater” because Sam was a member of the University Debate Association. Someone more spiritual than I overheard me say “Master Debater” and “turned me in” to the proper BJ authorities.

2) Since you brought up masturbation, the memory of Mr. Tony Miller’s “Masturbation Lectures” still haunts me. At a “Men’s Dorm Meeting”, Mr. Miller would stand on a chair and preach to the assembled dorm occupants about the evils of masturbation. Some of his more disturbing quotes:

“Men, there are those here who will continue this and prefer it to sexual intercourse with their wives.”

“When you fantasize about a woman while masturbating, you not only harm your spirit, you sully hers.”

Mr. "M"

Hard to believe the wizards-of-smart at BJU later promoted this moron to Dean of Men where I believe he continued his “Big M” lectures via the on-campus radio station WBJU AM 620.

3) Listening to Dr. Katherine Stenholm go off on Tina Turner’s song, What’s Love Got to Do with It. Dr. Stenholm believed that art (whether a song, painting, photograph or motion picture) was immoral if it did not punish or condemn immorality. She spent an entire class hour explaining to us why Ms. Turner’s song was immoral.

4) As BJU Cinema students, we were required to plan our budget for our student film projects – the thing is we had to figure in another 15 to 20% to cover what we film students called “The Pachter Factor”. Fredrick J. Pachter was the cinema faculty member that processed our black & white 16mm motion picture film – and he had a habit of ruining a good bit of it. So, when we students would be shooting, we always shot more footage than we needed to cover “The Pachter Factor.”

5) Watching a film about the Holocaust during Cinema Lab, the supervising cinema instructor, Mr. Bruce Polhamus, covered the lens of the film projector during the scenes showing dead, naked, female bodies. Did Mr. Polhamus think those scenes were sexy?

6) Cinema faculty member, Mr. Ray Gahagen, a small be-speckled, Woody Allen look-a-like who spent an enormous amount of time trying to computerize our manually controlled ACME animation camera and stand. Mr. Gahagen spent weeks cooped up in a small, lime-green room in the Animation Department writing in machine code and BASIC. We’d ask him, “How’s it going, Mr. Gahagen?” His reply was always the same: “Still working the bugs out.”

Mr. Gahagen was later “let go” for reasons – well – let me just say he and Woody Allen had a lot more than looks in common…

We never did get that ACME stand computerized.

7) Spring time, in the back of the Concert Center (now called Stratton Hall), when I caught my speech teacher, Mr. Don Ryerson and his fiancé, Miss Rosa Miles “making out” – BJU style. All I said was, “Hi, Mr. Ryerson!” in a very cheery voice. He and Miss Miles could’ve been severely disciplined or fired, but I never said a word. My speech grades did improve, however.

Speaking of the Concert Center, I pooped on the roof in the spring of 1980. Some other time – it’s a long story.

9) Someone was smoking pot on first floor of Johnson (Dormitory) during the summer of 1981. Never found out who – dammit.

10) If you were a really good looking girl and you took Mr. Wade K. Ramsey’s Photography 101 class, you would get an “A”.

11) October 1984 – Dr. Bob Jones III convenes the first ever (and only) BJU “Ghost Busters Chapel.” Seems a student, James E. Witt, worked part-time for a taxidermist and managed to snag a set of bear paws and bear feet and brought them back to campus. Apparently, bear paws and feet, when stripped of their fur (pelt? skin?) look very similar to human hands and feet. Mr. Witt had the bright idea of leaving these human remain look-a-likes on the keyboard and pedals of a student piano located in the University’s “Practice Shacks”. Someone actually did think they were human and called the Greenville (South Carolina) police AND Dr. Bob III at approximately 2:00 AM. Later that same day, Dr. Bob III called a campus assembly and proclaimed any Halloween pranks or ghost stories “off-limits”. In other words – expulsion. Hence, the “Ghost Busters” Chapel.

12) Grady Stone from Wilson, North Carolina predicted the MP3 player, February 1980.

13) It was I, Ektachrome, who invented the first “Walkman” long before Sony ever did. Back in the late fall of 1978, I took my RCA 9-volt transistor radio and spliced together two sets of audio ear-plugs so I could listen to WFBC-AM after lights out (11:00 PM). Everything – the radio and the ear-plugs – could be hidden safely inside the stuffing of my pillow. Unlike the Sony Walkman, my radio wasn’t stereo, but at least I kept up with the Top-40 of the late 70’s.

Dr. G. Salter

14) Bob Jones University – the only place where I have met two people who actually met and shook hands with Adolf Hitler – and later came to work on faculty at BJU – Dr. Guenter Salter and Ms. Edith Long. Unusual, indeed.

15) The day in Child Psychology Dr. Walter Fremont walked from his desk to where I was sitting and rubbed his hands through my curly hair and said, “There’s a ni**er in the woodpile!”

To this day I have no idea what that had to do with class.

He, Dr. Fremont, was also the guy that declared it was “okay” to make fun of fat people because “they can help it.”

16) I experienced repeated episodes of “counseling” by various dormitory supervisors. First there was Mr. Craig Olsen, Dorm Supervisor of Reveal Dormitory – Mr. Olsen was fat, soft, effeminate and a total prick. Second, there was Mr. Doug Sprunger, a total creep. This guy played a major role in finally getting me “shipped” (expelled).

There is an addendum to Doug Sprunger – he later became pastor at a small church near the Ektachrome Family Compound in Illinois. My only hope is that Illinois treats him as well as he treated me.

17) I hate to admit it – the rice & gravy at the Dining Commons was divine.

18) 1981 – my roommate and I snuck off to see Raiders of the Lost Ark. Twice.

19) I got in trouble in Biological Science Survey for laughing at Mark Dutton and Dave Doran drawing “smiley faces” on pictures of male genitalia in our biology textbook. (The seating was alphabetical – Doran, Dutton, Ektachrome, etc.) I was fine until Dutton tilted the book in my direction and said, “Oh look! He’s happy!”

20) And last, a salute to the BJU Vintage (yearbook) Staff of 1981, who, when faced with a spacing problem on page 285, invented a student to fill the space – Cecil H. Sandersen of Zephryhills, Florida.

This event took place in the days long before Photoshop – they cut the head off of an underclassman and pasted it onto the body of an upperclassman. Brilliant.

Only problem was, “Cecil’s” face was the real face of a real student named Doug Haughton, Jr. (on page 297) – and friends of Doug’s pointed out the fact that he was also “Cecil H. Sandersen” – well, the jig was up. Dr. Bob Jones III came down hard on the 1981 Vintage Staff.

I’m sure they’re still suffering…

1981 BJU "Vintage" Staff

 Twenty Flashbacks – that’s enough for now.

Kittens there are few things in life that are more perfect than sitting down to with the mighty Crudely Interupted lap top with a strong black coffee and The Manic Street Preachers blistering through my headphones.

It’s during these peaceful moments that as the good lady Missus quite astutely pointed out this past weekend while we were talking about the usual criticism this blog receives for tea bagging the establishments that not only does it have a symbiotic relationship with the media and it’s detractors of Crudely Interupted, but mostly that I am Sam the Sheepdog.

(Notice the strong physical resemblance)

You see Kittens, Sam the Sheepdog and I have a lot on common. We both wake up, have a cup of coffee and then go to work protecting the grazing oblivious sheep from the sneaky plotting treacherous wolf. You know…Whitey.

(Boink)

Sam and I punch the clock every day and calmly do our our gig. We don’t miss anything through our messy tussled mops and are always ready to smack the wolf around when he miss behaves, which he always does because he is a wolf. Again, this is the symbiotic relationship.

Sam the Sheepdog and Ralph the Wolf both have jobs to do while the sheep are just happy being sheep. Mindlessly wandering around content not to bump into too many things while acting and looking just like each other.

This is also pretty much how it works with Crudely Interupted.

Since the mainstream media have become gutless punks who can’t be bothered to ask any questions anymore when they report a story and are now content just to report on whatever Jon and Kate are up to as front page news while burying real news stories deep in the back pages about how badly you are getting fucked but not telling you why or how, yet still have the balls to actually charge for their ass wipe rags and cable news channels people turn to blog like Crudely Interupted for opinions. You remember those don’t you Kittens? Places where a news story turns up, research is done on both sides of a story and just like in newspapers and on television an opinion is put forth after the facts are laid out.

The media have become the sheepole that they used to inform and then wonder why in the age of information fewer people are turning to them for the information that they no longer provide anyways. Just like Sam and Ralph, there is always going to be a wolf or two looking to feast on a nice plump hapless sheep and there will always need to be a sheepdog to keep an eye on him and stop the fucker. Thankfully one of the few vestiges of mankind is that we are at least partially self regulating in the form of the fifth estate, the angry mob.

Celebrities and gossip magazines have an oddly symbiotic withstanding relationship that has all but disappeared from mainstream media.

Celebrities wouldn’t be celebrities without the gossip media. They would just be what they are. Some people who enjoy dressing up in somebody elses clothes who are rather good at remembering words written on bits of paper. Without somebody to talk about her, Jennifer Aniston would just go away. This by the way Kittens is partially a point and partially a plea. Somebody please make her go away.

Gossip columnists also wouldn’t have a job without some people to gossip about. They wouldn’t have jobs without celebrities to pester, judge and point their fingers at when celebrities go bat shit and make sex tapes of themselves so they would have to resume their lives as cackling vacant post teenage bimbos and screaming queens. The two being mostly hard to differentiate.

At least the gossip columnists do serve one purpose which the mainstream media doesn’t bother with anymore. They actually ask questions and when a celebrity does something painfully horrifying like kidnap a new shiny African kid, they are the first one to say “what the fuck you gnarled old lady?”

Thankfully the critics of this blog have some time on their hands…..to hate it. Good for them. Bring it on. It is part of the never ending cycle of who is watching the watcher watching the watchmen. Opinions are a bit like physics. For every opinion there is usually an opposite opinion. Normally this is a good thing unless you are talking about genocide.

Thankfully as fearless leader of a small army chronically masturbating of self entitled zygote minion sycophantic kleptomaniac arsonists I can leave the heavy lifting and lost causes to them. At the very least it gives them character and them a few well deserved pistol whippings.

It’s only a day gig where the Sheepdog and the Wolf co-exist.

When you write a daily column like they used to in the newspapers frequently you are asked “what about writers block?” “What happens if there is nothing happening in the world?”

Bullshit…you pussies.

There is always something to writ about because there is always some pie wagon prick doing something horrible. The Wolf never took a day off and it was his job to fuck somebody else over. That’s what they do. Sam the Sheepdog punched his clock every day and his job was to punch the shit out of Ralph, with comedic effect.

Day in and day out at the Acme Factory which is the Crudey Interupted blog it is the same thing. Over and over, the daily battle for a cup of black coffee, the clock is punched and the swinging begins. Then, at the end of the day the clock is punched again it is time to go home to the family.

The Missus was right. She frequently is.

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Kittens there are few things in life that are more perfect than sitting down to with the mighty Keep Your Coins, I Want Change lap top with a strong black coffee and The Manic Street Preachers blistering through my headphones.

It’s during these peaceful moments that somebody quite astutely pointed out this past weekend while we were talking about the usual criticism this blog receives for tea bagging the establishments that not only does it have a symbiotic relationship with the media and it’s detractors of Keep Your Coins, but mostly that I am Sam the Sheepdog.

(Notice the strong physical resemblance)

You see Kittens, Sam the Sheepdog and I have a lot on common. We both wake up, have a cup of coffee and then go to work protecting the grazing oblivious sheep from the sneaky plotting treacherous wolf. You know…Whitey.

(Boink)

Sam and I punch the clock every day and calmly do our our gig. We don’t miss anything through our messy tussled mops and are always ready to smack the wolf around when he miss behaves, which he always does because he is a wolf. Again, this is the symbiotic relationship.

Sam the Sheepdog and Ralph the Wolf both have jobs to do while the sheep are just happy being sheep. Mindlessly wandering around content not to bump into too many things while acting and looking just like each other.

This is also pretty much how it works with Keep Your Coins.

Since the mainstream media have become gutless punks who can’t be bothered to ask any questions anymore when they report a story and are now content just to report on whatever Jon and Kate are up to as front page news while burying real news stories deep in the back pages about how badly you are getting fucked but not telling you why or how, yet still have the balls to actually charge for their ass wipe rags and cable news channels people turn to blog like Keep Your Coins for opinions. You remember those don’t you Kittens? Places where a news story turns up, research is done on both sides of a story and just like in newspapers and on television an opinion is put forth after the facts are laid out.

The media have become the sheepole that they used to inform and then wonder why in the age of information fewer people are turning to them for the information that they no longer provide anyways. Just like Sam and Ralph, there is always going to be a wolf or two looking to feast on a nice plump hapless sheep and there will always need to be a sheepdog to keep an eye on him and stop the fucker. Thankfully one of the few vestiges of mankind is that we are at least partially self regulating in the form of the fifth estate, the angry mob.

Celebrities and gossip magazines have an oddly symbiotic withstanding relationship that has all but disappeared from mainstream media.

Celebrities wouldn’t be celebrities without the gossip media. They would just be what they are. Some people who enjoy dressing up in somebody elses clothes who are rather good at remembering words written on bits of paper. Without somebody to talk about her, Jennifer Aniston would just go away. This by the way Kittens is partially a point and partially a plea. Somebody please make her go away.

Gossip columnists also wouldn’t have a job without some people to gossip about. They wouldn’t have jobs without celebrities to pester, judge and point their fingers at when celebrities go bat shit and make sex tapes of themselves so they would have to resume their lives as cackling vacant post teenage bimbos and screaming queens. The two being mostly hard to differentiate.

At least the gossip columnists do serve one purpose which the mainstream media doesn’t bother with anymore. They actually ask questions and when a celebrity does something painfully horrifying like kidnap a new shiny African kid, they are the first one to say “what the fuck you gnarled old lady?”

Thankfully the critics of this blog have some time on their hands…..to hate it. Good for them. Bring it on. It is part of the never ending cycle of who is watching the watcher watching the watchmen. Opinions are a bit like physics. For every opinion there is usually an opposite opinion. Normally this is a good thing unless you are talking about genocide.

Thankfully as fearless leader of a small army chronically masturbating of self entitled zygote minion sycophantic kleptomaniac arsonists I can leave the heavy lifting and lost causes to them. At the very least it gives them character and them a few well deserved pistol whippings.

It’s only a day gig where the Sheepdog and the Wolf co-exist.

When you write a daily column like they used to in the newspapers frequently you are asked “what about writers block?” “What happens if there is nothing happening in the world?”

Bullshit…you pussies.

There is always something to writ about because there is always some pie wagon prick doing something horrible. The Wolf never took a day off and it was his job to fuck somebody else over. That’s what they do. Sam the Sheepdog punched his clock every day and his job was to punch the shit out of Ralph, with comedic effect.

Day in and day out at the Acme Factory which is the Keep Your Coins blog it is the same thing. Over and over, the daily battle for a cup of black coffee, the clock is punched and the swinging begins. Then, at the end of the day the clock is punched again it is time to go home.

Bookmark this on Delicious

I have very fond memories of the Looney Toons.  Ben and I used to watch the two hour chunk on Sunday mornings, comparing the quality of the Toons’ jokes to those of the other shows for kids, touting the writing in the 1940’s like a couple of bitter seventy year olds.

Our favorites were Wile E. Coyote (Predatorius-Craftilus) and the Road Runner (Delicius-Delicius).  We would talk about the genius of using umbrella corporation ACME as commentary on consumerism, then burst into noisy laughter (commentary forgotten) as poor Wile E.’s rocket scooter stopped just short of the other end of the cliff and he plummets into the canyon.  “How about ending this cartoon before I hit?” he asks sadly, via a sign with writing on it.  The cartoon-makers oblige, and the screen begins to fade to black.

I could say a lot about Looney Toons, and I probably will at some point.  The way it treats life and death as absolutes to be casually accepted, the way that the conflicts stem from basic instincts (the desire to eat, to hunt, to survive), the way that women are only present as nagging wives, tired or overindulgent mothers, or sexual objects, but you know what?  I just watched like three cartoons starring Daffy Duck, and I really just want to talk about how totally awesome Daffy Duck is.

Daffy was originally created as a screwball protagonist, screwball meaning completely uninhibited and nonsensical.  This is the era where he coined his typical, “WOO-HOO!  WOO-HOO!  WOO-HOO!” while jumping madly around a confused foe.  As time went on, though, the creators blessed Daffy with a little more savvy.  His zaniness was replaced with a quick-talking irritability and sense of entitlement, and eventually he hit on his famous catchphrase, “Yoooou’re despicable!”

Now, the thing about Daffy is that he is never quite good enough.  He is always one step behind his self-imposed rival, Bugs, and can never really seem to come out on top.  He constantly senses that he is being somehow jilted, and it’s true, but this never stops him from trying.  Daffy is always trying to get ahead, and in his fervor to be important, he often steps on the straight man.

I don’t know about you, but I can never help but love the underdog.  Or, uh, underduck, as it were.  Daffy just wants to win, just once, and he never seems to, so he loses his temper and gets frustrated and vitriolic and spouts the fowl language he’s famous for.

See what I did there?

A character who always wins is far less interesting than a character who never does, and I feel I have far more in common with poor Daffy than slick Bugs.

What do you think?  Do you have a favorite Looney Toon?  And if you say Tweetie Bird so help me god I will find where you live and slap you in the mouth.  I have had enough cutesy imitations of ‘I tawt I taw a puddy tat!’ to last me several lifetimes.

Read more about my work here -

http://www.merseysideacme.com/external/featuredbusiness.asp?business=51

http://www.merseysideacme.com/displaynews.asp?item=1960

Acme Rocket Factory
Acme Rocket Factory

Acme Rocket Factory Game
Acme Rocket Factory Game Description : Help Wilie Coyote pack rockets for Acme.
How to Play Acme Rocket Factory Game? Use Mouse to interact.

When I came across this junaio pic, it reminded me immediately of the good old portable ACME hole, which made Mr. Bugs Bunny uncatchable and Duffy Duck look quite dumb, every time falling on or into Bugs` trick. It is such a typical scenario for context sensitive content, which makes fun, when you are at the right place. So, enjoy this brandnew and already classic scene, taken in the Munich Metro. Step back!

Well, for now, that´s all folks!

I visited the dermatologist the other day (to get the stitches out from my operation to remove a skin cancer). While I was in the waiting room, I picked up a brochure on acne. There were some funny cartoons on it depicting animals worrying about their acne. It had some good information on it about the skin condition and then towards the end of the brochure it mentioned a drug which is used for acne is all else fails and if the acne is severe.

I was impressed that it mentioned possible harm to: unborn babies. They actually used those words, not the word: fetus, so the doctors writing the brochure acknowledged that the unborn are real people. The brochure was spoiled by the last bit of information. It said that the dermatologist should counsel the patient who was going to be prescribed the ‘acne’ drug to take suitable contraception! Doctors have no right to tell patients to do this. Contraception is an intrinsic evil and in some case it is even an abortifacient i.e. causes an abortion.

It is acceptable to tell the patient that a drug will harm an unborn baby, but it is not acceptable to tell a patient to take contraception.

Mikel Rouse, the Saint Louis-born composer who lives and works in NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen,  probably is best-known for his multi-media operas, particularly his trilogy of Failing Kansas (1995), Dennis Cleveland (1996) and The End of Cinematics (2005). So it was a bit of a surprise to get a first peek at the songs for his latest show Gravity Radio, in a stripped-down concert format at Galapagos Art Space in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn on Oct. 23. (Sorry it took so long to post this!) It was a special CD release party that turned into a well-mannered, deeply affecting chamber-rock concert.

Mikel Rouse

The CD is officially released this Tuesday, while the full-blown Gravity Radio show will go on tour starting in January, hitting New York at a yet-undetermined date.

The material has a topical feel, like all of Mikel’s work that I’m familiar with. But each number is shaped more conventionally like a song — which creates a different feel, more of a song cycle than a through-composed work.

Gravity Radio is crammed full of memorable tunes, the most memorable of which is “Wait for Me,” a jaunty tune that on the surface is a devilish seduction song. The CD is chock full of tunes that the audience could easily leave the room humming. That’s marked contrast to the songs from Mikel’s ambitious operas, which although I loved them, were not nearly a full of discrete songs, but were more through-composed pieces. That’s not to say that Gravity Radio won’t take on a different aspect once it’s fully staged, but the songs themselves are essentially in their final form.

Mikel presented the new material in an intimate setting, with members of his band and string players from ACME seated in a line onstage, with no set decoration or videos. When the piece is fully staged next year, you can rest assured that it will involve many more people (in the pit and onstage) and will include videos and other multimedia features.

“Perhaps it is an attempt to recapture or update my first memory of radio in the late 1960s – Motown and British rock fading in from a faraway Chicago station as the local news faded out on my transistor radio, which I put between my head and the pillow late at night,” Mikel says of  Gravity Radio’s concept.

For more information about Mikel and tour dates and locations for Gravity Radio, visit his web site by clicking here.

ACME Comedy Theatre

LOS ANGELES – (Friday, October 30, 2009) – Jai Rodriguez of  “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and “Rent” will host the popular online comedy show “ACME Saturday Night” at ACME Comedy Theatre in Hollywood on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.

This appearance will mark Rodriguez’ s return to ACME Comedy Theatre as he previously hosted ACME’s original celebrity sketch show “ACME This Week.”  On Saturday, November 7, “ACME Saturday Night” will feature Rodriguez in several sketches with cast members Jen Parker, Kirk Diedrich, Claudia Dolph, Rich Keith, Joseph Limbaugh and Kevin Small.  The musical guest is yOya – featuring singer / song-writer Alex Pfender.

Tickets are $10.00 if purchased online at www.acmecomedy.com and $15.00 at the door the night of the show.  “ACME Saturday Night” will also stream live [free of charge] at 8:00 p.m. PT at www.acmecomedy.com.

Celebrities who have hosted at ACME previously include:  Rick Fox, Thomas Calabro, Lea Thompson, Tichina Arnold, Michael Steger, Matthew Lillard, Brian Krause, Kevin Richardson, Debra Skelton, Tatyana Ali, Kato Kaelin, Kelly Packard, ANT, Elaine Hendrix, Jonathan Bennett, Mircea Monroe, Maria Quiban and Judy Tenuta.

ACME Comedy Theatre is located at 135 N. La Brea Avenue and celebrates its 20^th Anniversary this year.  Dan Kane is the executive producer of “ACME Saturday Night” and the owner of ACME Comedy Theatre.  Please visit www.acmecomedy.com for additional information on the theatre and Rodriguez’ s November 7^th appearance on “ACME Saturday Night.”

MEDIA CONTACT: riley@charlesrileypr.com

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ACME SATURDAY NIGHT ON INSIDE DISH WITH ROSS MATHEWS

JAI RODRIGUEZ INTERVIEW ON BLOG TALK RADIO / FRUIT SALAD

Jai Rodriguez, Leif Gantvoort "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Jai Rodriguez, Debra Skelton "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Claudia Dolph, Kevin Small, Jen Parker "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Jai Rodriguez, Jonathan Bennett "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Jai Rodriguez, Bill Kessler "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Claudia Dolph, Jen Parker "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Laura Putney, Jai Rodriguez "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Ed Ackerman, Debra Skelton "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Jai Rodriguez "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Joseph Limbaugh, Jai Rodriguez, Ed Ackerman "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Bill Kessler, Jen Parker, Joseph Limbaugh, Jai Rodriguez "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

I have an weakness for a good donut, and I’ve tried a vast majority of the donut shops around town. A good donut should be no frills, no extravagant toppings, and still be able to hold up. I went with a bakers half-dozen today to try out several varieties, and found the best to be just that…simple. The raised donuts had good toppings, but the dough was a bit tough, and the same can be said for the filled varieties.  The cake donuts are what would bring be back to Acme.  Basic glaze or dark chocolate topping that didn’t overpower the soft, lightly sweet cake. 

A bit more expensive than most shops, most donuts sell for $1.50, but a good deal on the bakers half or full dozen ($6.50 and $12, respectively).  I’m not unhappy that this will be my new neighborhood donut shop, but I’ll stick with the cake.

Acme Donuts, 2929 SE Powell Blvd

ACME Comedy Theatre

LOS ANGELES – (Thursday, October 22, 2009) – Former Los Angeles Laker-turned-actor Rick Fox will host the popular online comedy show “ACME Saturday Night” at ACME Comedy Theatre in Hollywood on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.

Fox, who recently joined the cast of “Melrose Place,” will appear in several sketches throughout the show with “ACME Saturday Night” cast members: Jen Parker, Julie Wittner, Leif Gantvoort, Kevin King, Porter Kelly, Bill Villegas and Michael Schuster.  The musical guest is Celia Chavez.

Tickets are $10.00 if purchased online at www.acmecomedy.com and $15.00 at the door the night of the show.  “ACME Saturday Night” will also stream live [free of charge] at 8:00 p.m. PT at www.acmecomedy.com.

Celebrities who have hosted at ACME previously include:  Thomas Calabro, Lea Thompson, Tichina Arnold, Michael Steger, Matthew Lillard, Brian Krause, Kevin Richardson, Debra Skelton, Tatyana Ali, Kato Kaelin, Kelly Packard, Jai Rodriguez, ANT, Elaine Hendrix, Jonathan Bennett, Mircea Monroe, Maria Quiban and Judy Tenuta.

Fox played for the Boston Celtics from 1991–1997 and for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1997–2004.  His additional television and film credits include: Tyler Perry’s “Meet the Browns,” “One Tree Hill,”  “The Game” and “Ugly Betty.”

ACME Comedy Theatre is located at 135 N. La Brea Avenue and celebrates its 20^th Anniversary this year.  Dan Kane is the executive producer of “ACME Saturday Night” and the owner of ACME Comedy Theatre.  Please visit www.acmecomedy.com for additional information on the theatre and Fox’s October 24^th appearance on “ACME Saturday Night.”

MEDIA CONTACT: riley@charlesrileypr.com

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RICK FOX BLOG TALK RADIO INTERVIEW

Rick Fox & The Funny Ladies of "ACME Saturday Night" Jen Parker, Julie Wittner, Porter Kelly, Diana Costa www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Rick Fox & The Funny Ladies of "ACME Saturday Night" Jen Parker, Julie Wittner, Porter Kelly, Diana Costa www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Rick Fox, Diana Costa "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Rick Fox "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Leif Gantvoort, Rick Fox "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Leif Gantvoort, Rick Fox, Marc Danon "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Rick Fox, Marc Danon "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Rick Fox, Jen Parker "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Thanks to researchers from IBM, Nokia, and VTT, avatars and people will come together for virtual meetings in physical spaces. The new technology will allow voices, head and hand gestures, and movements to change in concert with the behavior of participants.

With support from IBM Research and Nokia Research Center, the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland created an experimental system that enables people in multiple locations to interact and collaborate with avatars and objects in a single, virtual meeting.

Objects and avatars are located in a “virtual” space that mirrors the corresponding physical room.

Sensors, cameras and microphones located on both ends of the conversation allow voices, head and hand gestures and movements to change in concert with the behavior of participants.

This enables them to sense the vital visual cues of body language. In this proof-of-concept, participants in physical rooms wear video see-through glasses that depict three-dimensional images of their online counterparts as they stand, walk, talk or demonstrate and manipulate virtual objects shared between the spaces.

The system, called ACME (Augmented Collaboration in Mixed Environments), was assembled using an open-source viewer from Linden Lab’s Second Life virtual world, as well as from open source ARToolkit and OpenCV libraries. 

The technology aims to provide an affordable and eco-friendly alternative to physical meetings. According to IBM, it is also more interactive than telephone conferences, video conferences – and even on-screen meetings held exclusively in virtual spaces.

Prototypes of ACME will be installed at IBM Research – Austin and Nokia Research Center – Tampere/Finland for internal use and further testing and development.

You can watch ACME in action, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNB0_c-5TSk.

Yo siempre me habia preguntado si el Coyote realmente llego atrapar alguna vez al correcaminos: casi siempre adquiria trampas marca ACME para lograr su objetivo.

¿Habrá logrado atrapar al correcaminos?

ACME Comedy Theatre

LOS ANGELES – (Saturday, October 17, 2009) - Michael Steger [Navid Shirazi on “90210”] will host the popular comedy show “ACME Saturday Night” at ACME Comedy Theatre in Hollywood on Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.

Steger will appear in several sketches throughout the show with “ACME Saturday Night” cast members.  The musical guest is two-time, Emmy-nominated, daytime television actress/singer Ilene Kristen [Roxy Balsom on “One Life to Live”].

ACME Comedy Theatre

Tickets are $10.00 if purchased online at www.acmecomedy.com and $15.00 at the door the night of the show.  “ACME Saturday Night” will also stream live [free of charge] at 8:00 p.m. PT at www.acmecomedy.com.

Celebrities who have hosted at ACME previously, include:  Lea Thompson, Tichina Arnold, Matthew Lillard, Brian Krause, Kevin Richardson, Debra Skelton, Tatyana Ali, Kato Kaelin, Neil Flynn, Kelly Packard, Jai Rodriguez, ANT, Elaine Hendrix, Jonathan Bennett, Mircea Monroe, Maria Quiban, Cristina Perez, David Faustino and Thomas Calabro.

ACME Comedy Theatre is located at 135 N. La Brea Avenue and celebrates its 20^th Anniversary this year.  Dan Kane is the executive producer of “ACME Saturday Night” and the owner of ACME Comedy Theatre.  Please visit www.acmecomedy.com for additional information.

MEDIA CONTACT: Charles Riley / riley@charlesrileypr.com

Watch 90210’s Michael Steger Hosts ACME Saturday Night Interview on You Tube’s TheCWSource

Michael Steger "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Ilene Kristen with her band on "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Tony Rago, Michael Steger, Jason Gullifer, Christine Lakin "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Michael Steger, Kevin Small "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Pauline Yasuda, Laura Putney, Kimberly Huff "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Tony Rago, Michael Steger "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Michael Steger, Tony Rago, Laura Putney "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Ilene Kristen "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Ilene Kristen "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009

Ilene Kristen "ACME Saturday Night" www.acmecomedy.com © Jon McKee Photography 2009