Merry Christmas

Well, here it is! A year of anticipation, the shopping, decorating, planning...and now it's arrived. I will stop in here more often over the next two weeks, I promise. It's been a crazy hectic schedule lately.

In the meantime- have a warm and fuzzy holiday!

Good Success vs. Bad Success

So here's a dilemma for artists: freelance and commission work brings in the money. If you have a steady flow of work, then you have a steady flow of cash. That's good, you are then a successful working artist!

The down side- commissioned work never makes it to an art gallery wall. Too much freelance work keeps you out of the galleries. At what point is it better not to be a working artist so you can focus your energies into becoming a success??

I feel like I am spending too much time away from galleries right now, but on the other hand, how can you say no to private commissions?

Crackheads with guns

I'm back from a weekend in Sandusky, Ohio. I stayed at the Kalahari Resort. What a cool place. I don't do waterslides and waterpark stuff, but this is basically an indoor city-so I had a very nice time regardless. The frozen drinks were good, there was a nice workout room, a great coffee shop and the restaurants were surprisingly good. It's a nice getaway.

Now I am back in Pittsburgh..... I see there was another shooting yesterday. I didn't even mention the policeman that was killed last week. Many thanks to all of the asshole crackheads in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania: we are now the fourth most dangerous state in the USA for law enforcement officers. This is the fourth policeman killed in Pittsburgh this year. If a policeman shoots one of these worthless crackheads in defense, then there are parades and protests and the policeman goes to trial. If a policeman is killed, then there's a newstory and that's the end of it. Sorry folks, but that's bullshit.

Message to all of you idiot drug dealers carrying illegal guns: the next time you pull a gun on a policeman, I hope he shoots you right in the face. You deserve it.

Peace out.

Healthy Again

I am finally beginning to feel myself again- I had that fever for three days in a row. Yesterday I made it out of the house on a mission to overcome it once and for all. For starters, I went to the Good Life Market on Banksville Road. What a nice stop- the girl that runs the shop is so friendly and bubbly! So helpful, so happy. This is a must stop for all of you. I will be a regular customer for now on. Whole Foods is becoming too corporate anyway, so this was a nice find.

So after buying a homeopathic cold medicine, all natural zinc tablets, oil of oregano and a few other items, I was ready for an all natural come back. Next stop- a chiropractic adjustment and message therapy. Follow that up with more water than I could stand to drink and I was winning the battle.

I felt pretty darn good today, good enough that I went to the dojo to train tonight. It felt good, even though I got knocked around a bit by Brian-San. I'm okay with it though- I'm pretty sure he has super hero powers.

I hope everyone else is feeling good and staying healthy. It's going to be nasty cold for the next few days. Stay warm!

Murder for fun?

Winter has arrived and I'm feeling it. I'm feeling a bit under the weather and slept most of the day. When I'm fighting a cold or trying to recover from one I start drinking a ton of water, enough to make me never want to drink another bottle of water again. Then I take a super dose of vitamins. I also add chocolate in the mix, but that's just because I like it... no strategy to that decision.

So anyway, what a waste of a day. One full day that I won't get back. I was planning on going to the dojo tonight, I had other things to do..including some shopping. Maybe I can catch up tomorrow.

At one point in my day I turned on the television, I can't read with a headache, so I figured I would spend some time in front of the tv. It's amazing the premium channels charge a fee for their programming. Honestly, it's so bad. Even the On-Demand choices- hundreds of movies I have no interest in watching. One thing I really don't get: who is watching these horror/slash films? Seriously, who? They are constantly being produced, so there is apparently a demand for them. Movies about innocent people being terrorized, tormented, killed and maimed... and people like this? Don't you think these movies have an affect on people? I have to think so. I don't think these movies have a place in Hollywood. I'm sure very few people will agree with me on that, but turning death and murder into entertainment doesn't make a very good statement about us as a people, as a civilization.

Think about it.

Jeff Goldblum, superstar

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend. Mine was lazy, but enjoyable. I was tempted to go out of town for a few days, but decided to just relax and do... nothing! Sometimes those are the best plans.

I actually had time to watch tv over the last few days and finally had a chance to see Jeff Goldblum's movie "Pittsburgh". It's part documentary, part mockumentary covering his 2 week departure from Hollywood to perform the lead role in CLO's production of Music Man , right here in his hometown. It's very entertaining (in a Larry David/Curb Your Enthusiasm kind of way). I was always a Goldblum fan, so it was an easy film to watch. His personality always reminded me of a cross between Woody Allen and Jimmy Stewart, both very likeable characters!

If you're from Pittsburgh, then you will hopefully recognize what a wonderful gesture this is on behalf of Goldblum, a Hollywood superstar who put a great effort into claiming Pittsburgh as his home. From what I heard, many of our local theater people had their panties in a bunch over this whole thing. They need to get over themselves for a moment, quit being divas and realize that an international superstar simply wanted to bring attention to our fair city (despite the scripted plot). Knowing this, it does get annoying listening to the prissy director scold Goldblum over and over during the movie. I assume he forgot that he was merely a regional director, far, far beneath Broadway and also forgot that Goldblum was doing the city and the Cultural District a tremendous favor just by being here.

If you didn't know- Warhol never came back to Pittsburgh. He left for New York and never looked back. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Warhol fan. I am just very impressed with Jeff Goldblum's effort to make a return to Pittsburgh, claim the city as his home AND take a step backwards in his career to perform in our theater district. How many stars have done that? Michael Douglas (stage name Michael Keaton) did in fact maintain strong ties with Pittsburgh, but that's not the norm.

Thanks Jeff, you're a superstar. Pittsburgh is proud of you.