Trader Joe's, the musical!

Those of us in the know all love Trader Joe's. My friend Melisa sent me this fabulous video of a fake TJ's commercial. Of course they don't even need commercials!

What they (we) need (desperately) is a TJ's in Des Moines, Iowa, where I live so I don't have to drive to Minnesota or Chicago to go to one. Watch the video--it's fantasticalicious!

White Creatures and Plum Hedgehogs

I love this little plum hedgehog, created by etsy seller marjji.

I realized the other day that so much of my art collection depicts little creatures; mostly little white creatures, sometimes in ways that make them seem vulnerable. What does this mean, do you suppose?















(clockwise from left, Then You Showed Up by Cathy Nichols, Girl and The House by Katrine Kalleklev, Prickle and Ponder by Luca Tripaldi and Untitled by Kit Malo)

Glen Baxter is a very strange, talented artist, cartoonist and author. I collect postcards of his artwork. I bought my very first one, about a million years ago, at a now defunct book store in North Hollywood, California, called Dutton's.

I just love the weirdness of his work--I find it hugely funny, strangely beautiful, and a bit sad.

This is a picture I took when I first moved into my house, standing in my empty living room looking outside. Right now this image appeals to me as it seems to reflect my looking forward out of the cold and darkness, into the warmer, greener, and sunnier season of spring.

We had a lovely bout of such weather here in Des Moines, Iowa, yesterday--it was 62 degrees! Today the weather-bots predict that we may get 5-10 inches of snow on Friday. Hmmmmmm.

Holy crap! My fabulous alma mater, Humboldt State University, has the best "marching" band ever. They are the Lumberjacks, and they do the best, craziest, most joyful and energetic stuff like not really marching but what they call "scattering."

Once when I was in the dining hall they burst in and ran around the hall, playing music loudly and disrupting the meals of each person--it was awesome. They also sometimes go to the local airport when someone related to HSU shows up--when I was in school they surprised the president as he was coming back from a fundraising trip at 7 a.m.!

Here's another more intimate video of the Marching Lumberjacks!

Just in case anyone was wondering what to send me for Valentine's Day, here is an image of the best chocolate in the entire human planet!

See's dark chocolate Bordeaux. Mmmmmmmmm . . . oodles of deliciousness!

David Rees, the genius behind Get Your War On and My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable, who spent the eight torturous years of the Bush administration making me laugh so hard I thought I might piss myself, is still hilariously funny. He is a hilarion, as my brother would say. Check out his web site. He has recently posted a truly fucking great review of Taken (new fascist Liam Neeson movie).

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.
I dare you to watch this video and not be moved . . .

My dear friend Carmen sent me this picture from our 9th grade graduation day back in 1976. Damn--look at the awesome hair! I see so many people in this photo that I still remember to this day with love and fear and joy and all the emotions one has in junior high. Amazing.

Holy shit! The Passion for Christ Movement has a new campaign against masturbation. Here's a link to their site so you can read this for yourself: Passion For Christ Movement. And there's a T-Shirt!

Way to alienate humans (especially females) from their bodies! What is the matter with these people? I truly don't get it. Disturbing, ridiculous, frightening, and just plain wrong. Thanks to feministing for the heads up and the link.

Winter is almost over . . . so right now this is the fantasy image I have in my mind: Marcy, green grass, blossoming trees, a cool breeze in the warm sun.

Here's another artist I really like. I met Dolan Geiman and his partner Ali Walsh this summer at the Des Moines Art Festival. Here's one of his famous box prints: This one's called Field Guide Tennessee.

You can see his work at his Etsy shop, read his blog, or visit his website!

Sometimes I miss Humboldt County . . . this is the beautiful Arcata Plaza, very close to my undergraduate institution, Humboldt State University. The Arcata Plaza Cam is fun to watch (surveillance, anyone?) but it doesn't always work. Check it out, anyway.

I have a crush on Reza Aslan. He is the author of No God But God and also writes for The Daily Beast. He also has his own web site, of course: www.rezaaslan.com.

I like the way he thinks.

The world is becoming a very scary place for comic strip artists. Many alternative weeklies and newspapeprs are cutting comics to save money. We need to support their work by writing to the alt-weeklies. Here's one of my favorites comic artists, Red Meat by Max Cannon. (click on the strip to enlarge)

Ironic, since I'm a vegetarian, but it's not really about meat. Check out his work here: www.redmeat.com.

Can we just all say thank you for president Obama? Here he is after signing the lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration act into law. It's the first bill he has signed, it's fucking awesome, it's about time.

Just found this short film on YouTube while I was doing research for class tonight. Amazing. Heartbreaking, in a way. It made me cry.

I am slightly obsessed with abandoned seating. That is, I love the idea of couches and chairs left on the side of the road. I sometimes take pictures of them. My plan is to compile a lot of pictures to make a photo essay about abandoned seating. Here's one that is currently across the street from my house! Lovely.

The fabulous Roadside Scholar alerted me to this artist, Grant Haffner. Here is one of his paintings, entitled "Head of Pond Road." He is soon to have his first print ever, available at www.povevolving.com.

I love this stuff.

Someone asked me once why my blog is called innocent donuts. The answer is that it is a reference to a very beautiful and haunting scene in Cruddy, one of my favorite novels of all time.