Recording: the Ovipositor Method

People often ask me, “Colin, how do you get that crazy sound? You know, your sound – the Beatnik Dungeon Sound.” Let me show you. » Read on »

Western Medicine CD Packaging

I recently helped design CD packaging for the band, Generalissimo. » Read on »

Creekside Garden Photography

I’ve been working on redesigning the website for the Creekside Inn up in Guerneville (yes, they do need it). The Russian River Valley is gorgeous, and their piece of it doubly so, so I’m putting an emphasis on photography » Read on »

120 Oysters Feeds a Lotta Friends

For Jane and my birthdays, we went to Drake’s Bay Oyster Company and bought 10 dozen extra large oysters for the grill. » Read on »

The Great Mid-Canadian Film Festival

Outside of the confines of Manitoba, not much is known about Manitoba. » Read on »

Guitar Photography

Pics of instruments. » Read on »

Fur, Fish and Game

My wife is a very talented painter. As part of her introduction at the school she now teaches at (Diablo Valley College), she put together this exhibition called Fur, Fish and Game. » Read on »

A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter

This object is up for sale on ebay. If you win it, you have to plug it in and connect it to the internet, where it will put itself back up for sale on ebay. » Read on »

My New Aluminum Baby

Electrical Guitar #334. All aluminum, hollowbody, with alumitone pickups. » Read on »

North Vietnamese Propaganda Posters

We picked up a bunch of these posters in Saigon.

» Read on »

:55 of Thanksgiving

Here is 10:30 am to 10:30 pm, Thanksgiving day, 2009, in 55 seconds: » Read on »

First Dungeness Crab of the Season

Cancer Magister, the Dungeness Crab. Sweet and local, and now in season. » Read on »

Motivational Speaker for the Professional Hair Stylist

I found this flyer at Taylor’s Sausages, one of a stack on top of the trash can. » Read on »

The Grill Master Presents

A fine article about how the high price of gold is affecting the local grill work industry. » Read on »

I Don’t Know What It Is, But I Like Looking at It

Here we have 128 Sonda – Machina czasu. I have no idea what that means, but… just watch for a minute. » Read on »

Cartographer, Generalissimo, Ovipositor

Saturday night, bathed in the warm glow of the Hemlock Tavern. » Read on »

3 Miles of Interesting Old Objects

The Alameda Antiques Faire is one of those stellar local events that makes me love the bay area. It takes place out on one of the landing strips of the old Alameda naval base – the only open space big enough to hold the 800+ booths. » Read on »

WordPress and You

I often wax poetic about WordPress, to the extent that I make friends and clients nervous. But really – it solves a lot of problems that were absolutely crippling for my clients when I first started out. I work with a lot of small businesses, which are often on a tight budget. If maintaining the site means they have to pay me to do more work, then they’re going to be less inclined to update it. » Read on »

The Blind Shake at Thee Parkside

If you’ve run into me in the last month, you’ve heard me babbling about The Blind Shake. True to my expectations, they delivered the goods live – documentation after the jump. » Read on »

Soundcheck the Soundtrack

With some regularity, I assemble a group of musicians in my basement studio to record soundtracks for films or audio pieces (under the Nadir Novelties banner, for the most part). I usually have a rough conceptual outline of how the song should feel and what parts need to happen, which we usually discuss back and forth for a bit. Then we improvise. » Read on »

Lester Bangs Speaks My Mind

Lester Bangs always seemed like a writer who got over his writers block by becoming a rock critic. He was smart, analytical, and funny, but his writing always seemed to veer outside of the idiom like it was a cage. I understand the thought process behind that (right: here’s what I’m supposed to do, now how can I subvert it in a vaguely topical way?), but ultimately I think that way of thinking is more about insecurity than insight. » Read on »

May 25, 2009, at Thee Parkside

The bill was: The Moggs, Police Teeth, and Generalissimo. All bands were good. For various I-don’t-know-how-to-use-my-camera reasons, I didn’t get any photos of The Moggs, which is too bad. » Read on »

Just a Little Label Love

Gary Vaynerchuk visits Katie Lee Joel and totes along some Rosé

The last wine they taste is from A Donkey and Goat, and the first comment is “I like the label”. I’m glad to have produced something that is universally commented on, especially since it’s wrapped around truly great wines. My job was to get people to notice the bottle, which is hard in a crowded wine market, but much easier than getting them to remember the wine. Big Cudos to Jared and Tracey.

The Dunes of Southern Oregon

Starting just north of the California border, there is a 200 mile stretch of exotic and dramatic dunes sandwiched between highway 1 and the ocean. You might not even know they’re there from the road. » Read on »