Wednesday, May 28, 2008

talk about ferris wheels!

talk about get the ball rolling...i went into a bar last night determined to get a job and walked out with one. proof that if you set your mind to something you can do it. its only part-time but its enough to get started :) i also made an obnoxious necklace. i found a bag filled with thousands of beads that apparently didnt make the awesome color cut back in my younger days. being the pack rat that i am, i saved them all and this was one of those liberating moments when i, the pack rat, can say 'i told you so'. ill probably never wear it....and never throw it away since ill MAYBE have some use for it when im 65. see following...

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yesterday i slept til 3 which oddly left me a bit rattled since ive been on the run so much lately. i decided to stay up all night and day today to fix my schedule so i can get to bed earlier tonight. today i want to:

walk down to the pool and jump in fully clothed just because im feeling bananarific.
work on todds hunter s thompson painting since its still not done and his birthday was a couple months ago. woops. heres what i got so far...
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answer at least ONE of those 800 numbers that keeps calling me.
feed the snakes.
make an epic playlist and reconfigure my shuffle.
finish resizing jamaica photos and videos.
take a picture of a stranger.
bake some cookies.
try to stay awake.

early this morning i had a conversation with someone very close and it made me realize that i truly am a lunatic. when in rome....shhhhh it made sense to me.

which reminds me...how is YOUR banana bonanza going? check out this crafty little piece of joy...

http://www.neatorama.com/2008/05/16/nana-saver/

another thing...theres this guy andrew curtis who made a pretty awesome video.


Cinco De Mayo Carnival from Andrew Curtis on Vimeo.

here are a few of the details if youre interested:
Shooting 1 second exposures every 2 seconds. A total of 2683 images in this video, played back at 12fps. Shot on 2 consecutive nights. First night was the panning tripod. While we were shooting, a guy called me back about an ad on craigslist for his Peleng 8mm fisheye. We went and picked it up at midnight and brought it along the 2nd night, when we did all the still shots.

i will never stop being inspired by barry mcgee. ever.
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this is also fucking amazing...


sorry this is really entertaining to me...


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have a good day and eat ya nanners!

<3 jes

Monday, May 26, 2008

ya mon!!

oh jesus. where to begin....
coachella was a lot of fun but wayyyyy too hot. ryan and i nearly drove one another insane but in the long run it was totally worth it. i got to spend some time with a few of my favorite ladies and met eugene, a walking piece of art, from SF. pool parties galore and lots of walking around in the desert heat. its all kind of a blur.

the jvc video premiered on the biggest screen ive ever seen at the motley crue press convention and we massive amounts of fun. a few weeks later, the video was finally done being edited and was premiered online on the following sites:
http://www.heavy.com/video/47843
http://www.streetfire.net/
http://www.spin.com/
http://www.motley.com/
http://www.buckcherry.com/
http://www.paparoach.com/
http://www.therockvine.com/
http://www.mobile.jvc.com/

somehow through all of this, i ended up on a billboard in times square which is absolutely insane to me. the video reached over 300,000 views in the first week and is now already over half a million :)

i set sail to jamaica for five days to see my cousin get hitched and i fell in love with yet ANOTHER place in this world. i had a six hour flight to north carolina on which i met an awesome flight buddy named zach. we had a rediculous human squashed between us nearly the entire time who was oddly a dentist with a pill popping and drinking problem. both of which we had the privilege to experience in such close quarters on a long flight. mid-flight, a lady had a seizure and we had to make an emergency landing in arizona which meant that all the drinks the three of us ordered had to be sadly confiscated for landing. once we popped back up into the sky, the steward (are they even called that anymore or am i living up to my elderly nickname?) felt bad for so abruptly disconnecting us from our baby bottles of liquor that he felt the need to get us wasted for free. wow. drunk at that elevation was an experience ill never forget....or maybe i would have if zach and i hadnt DOCUMENTED our entire flight in my sketchbook!!! we traded ipods and computers only to find that we love all the same music so we synchronized our favorite songs to play at the same time through our head phones and rocked out all night while we wrote it all down so we could remember it later. im not exaggerating when i say our row was the ONLY row in the entire plane awake and fully wasted. we took FULL advantage. best. flight. ever. after we landed, we hung out during our layovers in north carolina and ventured outside to climb on a water fountain and mini bomb it with stickers. we met a random in chilis who i convinced to write in our flight journal...six pages later, we made a new friend and had a couple drinks in the bar at 8am in a state ive never visited. rediculous. see following...





we said our goodbyes and parted ways.

from north carolina, i flew solo to jamaica only to be greeted by a two hour long immigration line which totally blew because i was stuck in line with someone who kept farting...but leave it to jamaica to redeem itself because when i made it to the main terminal, i was greeted with frosty red stripe which i fully took part in. i had two hour long bus ride from the airport to the resort during which i saw tons of hotels and houses that looked like enormous pastel dollhouses, houses smaller than my room made out of scraps literally next door to these castles and also convinced the driver to sing the ever so stereotypical 'day-o'. see following...



when i arrived at the resort my family and i had a few houses on a hill all painted the colors of fruit loops, each complete with its own backyard pool and a fridge filled to the brim with liquor and about a lifetime supply of red stripe. i swear they drink it like water. at this point i was peeing pure alcohol so when nighttime rolled around, my vision was a bit depleted. i stubbed my toe so hard that i dislocated, and fractured it. ha ha. it hurt like a bitch and kept me out of the next days events which allowed me to spend some time video chatting by the pool with one of my best friends danny all day.

day three was the wedding and im just making a guesstimate here, but my grandma abducted the microphone about 5 times to sing for all of us. it was painfully entertaining and i got plenty of videos of her being a diva. go grandma! the day progressed in tons of pool jollification, pool volleyball with a bunch of strange people from all over the world and plenty of vodka pineapples to make it even more amusing than it already was. i actually shredded volleyball and since id never played before i was super happy about the whole thing.

day four, i woke up bright and early to go on a sketchy glassbottom boat complete with two jamaican comedians. i saw a ton of nude beaches, a giant coral reef, out of this world resorts and private beaches complete with local families taking full advantage of the turquoise water. from there, i escaped to the pool and convinced my grandma who has never learned how to swim to come romp around with me. she held onto a float and appeared to be having a blast. go me! from there we went to ride horses for a few hours through jamaica and ended up in the ocean. our horses went so deep in the ocean that only their heads stuck out of the water and it was one of the most unbeatable experiences ive ever had. talk about being in the moment. we learned all about jamaicas history and hung out with some locals on the beach.

we got back to the resort and went down to the beach and hung out with a jamaican photographer who was the first person working there to not be a super creep. he had tattoos and liked decent music so we all hung out for a bit and made plans to meet up later and go to a beach party. we then went into town on a shopping trip and got to take in even more sights and sounds of the jamaican culture. some jeweler made me try on a $7,000 watch and i pretended for a moment that it was actually mine while im pretty sure the jeweler pretended for a moment i was his. it was fun then he offered me weed. off we went back to the resort and we ate yet another amazing meal accompanied by even more red stripe and went to the strangest mothers day celebration ever. some guy was making creepy music on a keyboard and the resort conjured up the idea to line up a bunch of moms so we could all awkwardly watch them stand there...see following and dont forget to enjoy the music...



i got ready to meet our jamaican photographer friend. it sounds super sketchy but i suppose some of the most memorable and exciting things usually do. it was totally worth it. we drank red stripe in the ocean all night and listened to live music with his friends and talked about the differences in our countries for a few hours. jamaicans dont have 'problems' they call them situations. ya mon! did i mention his name was damaly rose? pffff uhhhmazing.

day five, i limped down to the buffet one last time and filled up with even more fresh fruit and french toast. it was time for me to venture on back to california and everyone was crying. did i mention i havent seen that side of my family in over twelve years? i took in the two hour long bus ride back to the airport like id never be back and then arrived at the airport. i was genuinely bummed when i got on the plane to fly back home and i was even more bummed when i found out i had the exit seat right next to two microscopic unbearable children whose parents were nowhere to be found. i imagined having to throw them out the plane onto the blow-up slide in case we crashed and it made me laugh. no flight will ever beat the flight with my flying buddy zach.

so ive been back in california for a week or so trying to get back into the ring of things and not doing such a great job. theres too much amazing stuff going on. im waiting for this grand finale to end but it just doesnt seem to be happening so i came home today and im going to make myself get back on track. i moved to this shit town for a reason and now im going to get the ball rolling....but first i have to upload 1098723049720491 pictures.

<3 jes

Saturday, April 12, 2008

hubcap diamond star halo

i spent the past few days shooting the JVC campaign in LA. i met so many awesome and talented people and got to hang out on a roof of a rad studio with one of the sexiest chevelles ive ever seen...i think the highlight of the shoot was rocking out in the car filled to the brim with people...or maybe being covered in soap suds straddling the tire. no but really though...i had no idea how big of a production it was going to be and i am about to pee my pants with excitement to see the final product. tuesday motley crue is showing some of the footage at their press conference/show and i get to go with all the awesome folks who worked on the campaign. ive never been so excited about seeing polka dots :) so as if i wasnt already in an awesome mood, one of the stylists for the shoot wants to get me to model for junker and my friend ryan just invited me to go vip to all three days of coachella. i am a damn happy lady right now. someone pinch me please.

<3 jes

Monday, April 7, 2008

pickle predicaments and banana bonanzas

i woke up after only an hour of sleep today to go to the post office and get a new passport. my mom and i got into a bit of a tiff in the middle of the post office. it went kind of like this...

passport lady- so can you take those piercings out?
me- no
mom- SHE GOT THEM SOLDERED INTO HER FACE
me- uhhh no what are you even talking about?
mom- well didnt you?
me- no. youre insane.
mom- jessica ann, youre never going to get anywhere in life with metal hanging out of your face!

you get the idea.

it all escalated from that point. the entire ride home was a mess and i was trying so hard not to laugh. ive been so god damned happy and calm lately that the whole thing seemed a bit ludicrous. shes so convinced that i am someone who i am not. she judges everyone by their outward appearance needless to say, she hates mine. i got home and listened to some happy music and ate a banana. i cant stop with the bananas now. i hated them two weeks ago. operation banana was a success!

i took a nap and woke up refreshed. i got to talk to one of my old friends taylor who i get to see soon. woooo!!!! i went jogging in the dark and found out that there arent too many street lights where i live so it was a bit sketchy. i ran to the park and discovered a swingset. i started swinging and "dramamine" by modest mouse came on and i totally had a moment with myself. you know. like one of those ethereal 'i dont want to be anywhere else in the entire world right now' moments. the moon looked awesome.

dave mckean is fantastic.
from mirrormask...


the week before (roughly about the week before god created the world, he was procrastinating and fishing)


reason 9/11



<3 jes

Sunday, April 6, 2008

one huge and useless roar

"I wonder why the wind keeps blowing you through my mind"

i am happy. really happy. i went on another bikeride today and did some yoga. i feel good. im pretty broke but i bought an ipod shuffle so i can have some good tunes while im floating around in jamaica and bike riding around stinktown :)

i just spent entirely way too much time making a playlist that was only supposed to be 10 songs long. took a reaaaally long time. i could have been doing something a lot more productive but ill just blame it on temecula. after looking over the final result of it, i have come to the realization that i should either be on heroin or be living in another time period. or both. neither of those are going to happen. unless oscar builds me a time machine out of kitty litter. for some reason a bunch of the tracks wont play on blogger but they will on my myspace page. no idea. i wish i was in san francisco right now.

here it is. the weird thing is, i wish i could add so much more to it but i cant really figure out why because i have all this music in my itunes and i know no one else is going to listen to the whole thing anyways. technological addiction?




if youre bored...
toddhido.com ... i really love this guys photography
http://wiredpope.com/sticks.html ... entertainment for the coordinated

no matter how many years pass, these words are still just as amazing as when i first heard them...

You turn on a spindle.
You are so much looser now
but you're not explaining how you gained such new repose.
I touch the clasp of your locket,
with its picture held,
some secret you wouldn't tell but let it choke your neck.
So we imagine a darkness where all shapes divide,
solids changing into light, with a burst of heat so bright.
Well fine, don't you do what I want you to.
Don't degrade yourself the way I do because
you don't depend on all the shit
that I use to make my moods improve.
Near a sea of pianos, there were waves of chords
that crashed against the shore
in one huge and useless roar.
And there were girls bringing water,
like a dream they came to cure the fever of my brain,
and soothe my burning throat.
And they made me a necklace,
hanging beads of sweat on a string of my regrets,
and placed it round my neck and they were singing,
Don't you do what you've wanted to.
Yeah, don't destroy yourself like those cowards do
and maybe the sun keeps coming up
because it has gotten used to you
and your constant need for proof.

ps this video



<3 jes

Friday, April 4, 2008

sidewalking

today i rode my bike around temecula and went jogging. i ended up finding a big field filled with flowers. i ate an apple and sat in the field for a while. i wish i had my camera but it was a happy little experience :)

about a week ago trevor and jane invited me to do a motley crue video with them in downtown la. we got to hang out all day and act like idiots...a very good time if i do say so myself. ive been getting a lot of work done on both sides of my ribs so i can have as much done by the time i go to jamaica at the beginning of may. i am REALLY excited. my cousin is getting married and my family got me a plane ticket ALL expenses paid. woooohooo!! im going to take a bajillion pictures and soak in some new ocean time. when i was a little girl, my biggest dream in life was to play the steel drums haha. im going to rage on one when i get the chance :) when i get back i have a little roadtrip to SF planned with jess. i am really excited to see taylor because i havent seen him in a long time. home brewed beer and veggie picnic in the park with a few good cameras. makes me smile to think about it. ill hopefully be able to meet up with matty for a spot of tea as well.

i got a new diana F+ camera in the mail yesterday. i am very excited to start taking some photos with it. the thrift store hooked me up with an old polaroid camera and a ninoka nk-700 for a grand total of 3 dollars so im pretty stoked about that as well. ive been experimenting with some different types of film in different cameras as well as mixing up the development processes. im pretty excited about some of the results. i really think that riding my bike around to take photos is my favorite thing to do now.

i had an audition the other day and brought ambre along with me in the hopes that at least one of us could get the job. the guy throwing the audition was a really rad person i met at the motley crue shoot. too bad it was the most obnoxious thing ever!! i had to pretend that a white swivel chair was a car and i was washing it....while trying to look super hot. they had music blaring and about 10 people were all watching. :) yeah. good times. they invited us to hang out after and watch more of the auditions so we hung out for a bit and then left. i just got a call and i got the job! wooo! this should be interesting...i got to hang out with brittany and ambre the night before that and then after the audition a few of us all went out to a cancer benefit show. i had SO much fun and got to spend some time with ryan who i havent seen for a while. good times. f

i need to finish the hunter s thompson painting and move on to something new. ive got some ideas rolling around.

here are a few photos i got developed the other day. they arent edited. larger versions are available on my myspace.

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this video blew my fucking mind. its amazing.


this is an interesting elliot smith documentary that i really enjoyed watching...


this made me laugh. i want to have a root beer kegger and fuck with the po po :)


and last but not least...this made me smile.


ps...for those of you who havent seen robert and shana parkeharrison's work, go check it out. the premise for their photos is awesome. out of this world you might say ;) har har

<3 jes

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

wrinkly brain

let me just say this is kind of a pointless post except for the videos at the end of it. so unless you actually care to hear about the monotonous continuation of 'me' i suggest you do a bit of scrolling...

:)

things. where do i even begin. that deserves a question mark but to be quite honest, right now im not really in the mood. ive been 'living' at my moms for about a month now, give or take a few screams, and it been kind of terrible. i knew it would be, but this is a bit out of control. ive been warned that moving back in with parents can be a tough thing to sort out but weve been fighting nonstop ever since i arrived. my room isnt clean enough. i havent unpacked fast enough. i dont eat meat. im too pale. i wear black too much. my sleeping schedule resembles one of vampires and satanic cults. my car isnt clean enough. thats just a little gander into the life that i now lead. in attempts to escape my sad existence in temecula hell, i have been gallivanting back and forth between LA, orange county, and back again. conveniently, i have met someone who has become very dear to me...who lives in none other than...LA. the god damned place i just moved from.

ive been getting a bit lost; mentally. i have the bigger picture in full view at all times, though i think my glasses are a bit dusty. i need to clean em off and get back to marching toward my goal. a big reason i moved back home for a little bit is because i am getting lasik done on my pitiful eyes. think 20/800 vision. im blind as a bat. how much more goth can i really get eh? so anyways, i need a couple weeks beforehand to hobble around my house with glasses on before i get the surgery. its too hard to get a job and then have to take that time off work so soon so i am waiting until that whole mess is over with to worry about it; it wont be very long...i hope.

ive been a bit busy lately. here are a few of the things ive submerged myself in...
a few art shows here and there. canvas LA has made its way into my life a few times in the past month. its a really nice little art space and retail clothing store on fairfax devoted entirely to tattoo artists artwork. nate had a group show there last week and we had a delightful night with everyone. the jones has now become a pretty typical place to end up at the end of the night...their margherita pizza is remarkable and they play some pretty good tunes. the edison is now my favorite place in all of LA. think super classy vampire bar with old black and white silent films playing on huge screens everywhere. jazz music for the appreciative and even vintage cartoons. its built in an old shut down independent power plant hidden in the bowels of downtown. soaked in candles and draped with rich fabrics and expensive vintage furniture. id love to have my birthday there.

ive been bike riding a bit and unpacking. ive also been unpackratting which is a first. i have been re-bonding with the love of my life, oscar the poopiss, and he is actually sleeping on my leg right now which makes me a very happy lady. this past weekend i was at musink all weekend where nate was supposed to be tattooing. kat had a meet and greet at their booth and it turned into a circus so he couldnt get much tattooing done. i guess it turned out for the better because he got tattooed by one of his friends jack who is an amazing artist. shawn barber did a painting of our friend henry and then got it tattooed on his leg by one of the best tattoo artists ever, nikko. one of my best friends, jess, came to hang out with all of us. i got to hold the tiniest puddle of monkey love the world has ever known. i was so happy i was shaking. i saw 3 people puke, one including the huge tatbro in the hyatt lobby. priceless. i dropped my phone in the toilet, got a new one, and missed out on a lot of much-needed rest but it was all worth it :)

monday night leanne came to pick me up and we went to the ours and manson show in san diego. upon arrival, we ended up getting passes for after the show and hung out for a bit. we met some really cool new friends. my favorite was the ex hippie bed wetter :) har har harrrr. the next day i slept a total of about 18 hours. my body hates me right now. my health has been taking a turn for the worst lately which has been affecting my mood.

today i woke up at 5am and went on a bike ride. i made french toast and drank some tea on the patio. i drew for a few hours and wrote for about one. i filled up a camera with some old slide film i plan on getting cross-processed and drove out into the temecula wilderness. i actually got a little lost and ended up trespassing on a few private properties. i even found an old car crash that got partially swallowed by brambles and rocks. i took some photos and found my way back into town. stopped at the thrift store to drop off a few bags of clothes and took a peek inside. i got a cute old hat my grandpa probably would have worn, two pairs of granny shoes i would like to paint on, and a few really soft mens collared shirts (annaliese inspired). i love lounging in them, wearing them to the beach, actually anything. fabrics can make you feel so good sometimes. got home, had dinner and chatted for a bit, and then watched my friend from high school on his reptile show on animal planet! today was really nice. im smiling.

minigolf, beach, exploring, wineries, old town wandering tomorrow. not sure yet. and in case you were wondering, if you havent heard from me in a while dont feel avoided. ive just decided to disappear for a while. i need to get my mind back in order.

here are a bunch of things that tickle my fancy...

this alllllways makes me happy


awesome old mgm cartoon


this rules


awesome artwork


'terminus' by trevor cawood. brilliant short.


a surprisingly touching french short about a maggot becoming a fly


a gorgeous short about war


wong kar wai (2046) made a stunning short


really cool time era design/typography video...its 3D if you have 3D glasses :)


dope typography short


for those of you whole love typography as much as i do heres a clip from the helvetica movie


eerie animated short


<3 jes