CANADA DAY

The first leg of my birthday was spent partying with the kids at Carlos Queso. This was two days prior to my bona fide b-day but because kids don't concern themselves with days of the week or particulars, for all intents and purposes it was July 1st. I engaged in all the birthday practices-pizza and tokens, presents and cake. The cake wasn't planned, again, not my real birth date but try telling that to Marco who will turn all of 4 in a couple of months. He felt gypped and someone was gonna hear about it. "What are you waiting for guys?!? Don't worry Tia Mitsy, we'll get you a birthday cake! Lets get money from Nino." So, upon Marco's thoughtfulness or sweet tooth, he and I took a trip to get my OWN cake. Things got sadder when I had to tell homeboy at BR to ice the cake with my OWN name. I paid with cash but should have used my ATM, so that he too could be in on the cruel joke that Marco put me up to. :) Also, I want it noted that my lil nephews not only blew out my candle(s) essentially stealing my birthday wish, but also got to lick the action figures clean (Venom and Spidey-thats what they were playing with) and even did the mordida. They also had a great time "helping" open MY presents. In other words, they punked me for all fun parts-watch when their birthday rolls around, watch.
Yeaaaaahhhhh presents! I got this rad Lasonic ghetto blaster ipod dock/radio. It does all kinds of things I ain't figured out yet but it has a remote and it's my new favorite thing. My brother got me some Dodger stuff, including big headed Russell Martin and Saito to add to my collection.

My favorite present arrived later that week..tickets to see the Dodgers in San Francisco. Best seats ever, right by the visitors dugout behind the commissioners box. They ended up losing that game, but snatched the series. I think I'm a jinx. Whenever I go to that ballpark, they lose. Probably cause I'm too busy eating garlic fries and forget to do the sign of the cross. LA's lack of offense made pobreZITO's pitching look good. How do we lose to the Giants cheapest pitcher and take two against their aces? Ugghh. But it was really fun and I was hexa close, close enough to determine the texture of each players hair. Yeah, I'm creepy.

Larry King was there, he's a big Dodger fan and probably the only fan alive that knew them as the Trolley dodgers. I swear to you, he is the physical manifestation of Mr. Burns. It's crazy. This is his posterior alongside Brad "Centavo" Penny.

Remember I told you my Mom was a big autograph seeker? Well, of course being just mere feet away from her favorite boys in blue, it should come as no surprise to you that she hounded the roster for their John Hancock. She was pretty successful but still has her eyes set on getting more of the infield and the pen. Personally, I don't like breaking the fourth wall- I think I'm scared of finding out people I admire will turn out to be cockholes and/or short. :) We've dubbed each player with a nickname but I had to remind my Mom those are only to be used in privacy. Here's who she got... Andre "Baby Boy" Ethier, James "Looney Tunes" Loney, Andruw "Gordo" Jones, Chad "Nalgas" Billingsley, Blake "BlackDeWhite" DeWitt, Luis "Maza, Maza que mas aplauda" Maza, Matt "Mateo" Kemp and Manny Mota. She now loves all the outfield (including Jones...she wants the fans to cut him some slack, ignore his average because he's really "simpatico" and "sonriente") any player that didn't "sign" are "sangrones." She had a cute moment with closer Takashi Saito where she called out to him while he stretched his hammies and showed him her shirt, #44, his number. He laughed.

And since then, check out what LA has done. They've come close to 2 perfect-no hitters, (Kuroda into the 8th, Lowe into the 7th) and between those two gem starts...Billingsley had a no hitter for 4 innings before he completely fell apart. :(

DEATH CHEATER

Super prolific graf artist Diar was in a very serious accident a couple of months ago, a bunch of artists have donated some work for one, of a couple scheduled benefits to aid him with medical expenses. It's a miracle he's alive, so do your good turn and contribute by purchasing some artwork from the roster shown or making a monetary donation to the address that follows.

CLOUT MAGAZINE

D. Donations
P.O. BOX 659
GILROY, CA 95021-0659

I sent in the piece below, it's small (3.5" x 5"), woodburned.

The Dodgers were NO HIT yesterday and they still won. Haha. Terrible.

<3 PUCHO, PUCHIE, DON POLLO <3

My Dad is the hardest person to shop for, only because he's set in his ways and knows what he likes so there's little wiggle room. I created this list last year, of the default Dad's day gifts and it has stood the test of time. Since I recently blogged about Ma dukes, it's only right they get equal playing time. Here it is with some edits reflecting the past years evolution.

• Anything SF Giants or 49ers (gross, I know- still his only flaw)

• Jim Carey, Mr Bean movies (now that he has DishTv, it's all about the DE PELICULA channel)

• Polo Shirts and 501's
  

• Boston baked beans (He's now all about strawberry sundaes in a cup, Coca Cola in a the glass bottle and Cajeta)

• Cruz Azul merch (probably not a good idea, it's too soon, the loss in the finals probably still stings. Maybe just the Mexican National team new fit.)

• Something for his troka (usually from a gas station/truck stop...i.e air fresheners, pewter Santo or Virgen, accessories with sports insignia)

• Aviator sunglasses (or reading glasses, I think he buys a new pair every month.)

• Mexican Comedian Polo Polo CDs or Chico Che CDs
  

• I don't think it exists but a Gift card/season pass to el yonke (also known as "Pick your part" or Pick and pull")

Everyone really likes my Dad, he has a contagious laugh where his eyes disappear and he turns red. He's an awesome mechanic and an excellent ikea furniture builder. I love watching boxing and soccer with him because he's always so animated. I miss the days we'd carpool to work together and listen to oldies. I admire the confidence in his broken English and his ability to drive 10+ hours overnight and still party with some birria once we arrive. He doesn't even get mad when we make up different nick names for him. :)

BROWN

This morning while internetting, I came across a bulletin on the space. The subject line pulled me in, "Mexican Artists in the Bay Area", so I followed the link to an article on today's front page of the SF Chronicle. I read it out of mere interest and was surprised to read this whole SENTENCE. :)

My favorite part is "San Jose based" yeeeaahhh! Ricardo says it's finally a legit write up cause people have to PAY for the Chronicle. :D I just think it's funny how I found my way to it. I would have never known about it-Thanks Francisco for the bulletin. Here's a LINK to the whole article, good read.

TOP 10 REASONS

my Mom is tops.

She loves watching Cops and Cheaters (in SAP when available) and likes the web gems segment on Baseball Tonight.

She plays Ms Pac Man ALL THE TIME (para relajarse).

Her favorite winter coat is an old San José Sharks Starter parka. She's hip to throwbacks.

She likes spray painting things gold, silver or ivory.

Loves her some rooty-tooty fresh n' fruity from the ihop (pan-cay howse as she calls it)

She always gives me the heads up on junk put out on curbs and/or helps look for junk to paint on from the segunda.

She takes measurements (quite accurate ones) with her hands.

She enjoys crucigramas (crossword puzzles) and sopa de letras (word searches) and when gets stuck on an answer asks me to look it up "en el inter-net".

My Mom is an autograph seeker-she has an autograph book even. She's very proud of her autographs and pictures of various cast members from different seasons of La Academia (Mexico's equivalent of American Idol) as well as Pepe & Don Antonio Aguilar, famous telenovela actors, Dodger's owner Frank McCourt, Tigres of the North and Blue Demon Jr. There's more and she'll feel shortchanged when I show her this and finds out I left someone off the list.

Last but not least, I love when she pretends to be the "Cha Cha" (maid) when telemarketers call for her. "Es que ahorrita no se encuentra la Señora de la casa"

She's so great and little. I love all 5ft of her.

P.S: She recently learned how to text message and is thinking all bad.

IT'S SPRING AGAIN

Baseball is only a week away!!

I can only hope the 2008 Dodgers channel an eighth of the winning spirit that the squad committed onto video8 back in ’87 (Wait- 87 was a bad year but you wouldn’t even know that from the resolve & heart in their step) Orel Hershiser gets the MVP for his considerably on-tempo body roll throughout and an honorable mention goes out to Ed Begely Jr for his cameo. Don’t let the pit stains on those satin jackets, and the jheri juice from Mariano Duncan and Pedro Guerrero’s perm be in vain. Let this footage set the tone, go Dodgers! :)

Mesmerizing right?

In theme with resplendent retro music video clinics put on by pro athletes, here’s one I hope pushes los Lakers through the last leg of this season. But I say, "Just say YES" to HGH for the Lakers injured big men- Gasol, Ariza, Mihm and Bynum. How gangster is Pat Riley in this? Watch for the chimuelo at the 2:27 mark. I can’t stand when kids go around looking like little vampires. 

Buy me the 12 inch! I’ll let you sample Kurt Rambis raps.

MANIFIESTA

The Manifesto Volume 2 show will be up for another week or so. For those that can’t or refuse to go...I came across a post on BK CIRCUS’ blog with some images and a recommendation. :) Check it below or here's the link.

Also, New Leaf Clothing put up a big batch of photos from the opening and of the artwork on their flickr, image link below. If you would like to purchase any of the work, you can do so through D Structure’s website.

P.S: Marquez was...

BRAGGART

Up next...


I'm sure you've figured out that I like harboring secrets. Like freemasonry and the reclusive Syd Barret, I'm super secretive. So with that preface, below is a sneak peek at the pieces I'll have up at the Manifesto show. Whatever, the back pretty much gives away the front anyway, so lose it.

I'm a sucker for cute packaging. I've indulged and picked up a few things from the new Fafi line at MAC. Cheers to seeing fafinettes every time I put on my face.

The end of Dodgertown nears. : ( Most of you won't get through the first video but the second is a good one to take in for Black history month.

ADVERSARIES

I partied with the kids this weekend. While doing so, discovered that my nephew Victor is the next Anthony Lister. Or maybe he'll be Alex Ross' successor. It's superheroes & villains all day.

LISTER'S

VICTOR'S

We also collaborated on a Bartman. I love his cape.

Some candids of the kids in their hip hop regalia and Marco icing.

From time to time, I get updates/follow ups from people that have purchased my work. They'll attach nice pictures of my pieces in their new home. It's kinda cool.

Until now! Eww. The photo is hilarious, and obviously a rouse. It's only funny because I know how much the Giants suck a big fat pork sword. Its my fault, I did ask that all Giant trappings not be within 10 ft of my painting. Whatever, at least the buyer- despite his obvious lack in SPORTS taste seems like a nice guy. Besides Catalina Creel roots for no one. The only thing she'd like about the San Francisco Gnats is the fact that they've collectively turned on their now unemployed superstar castaway Barry Bonds. I knew no one liked him, not even his teammates.

It's hella throwback Dodgers this spring training. Tommy Lasorda will be managing the split squad in FL for a couple of games while Joe Torre and the rest of the crew are out in China for the exhibition games against the Pads. Other throw back news, Chan Ho Park is a non roster invitee this year.

Me Gusta La GASOL-ina

Lakers get Paul Gasol AND rid themselves of blundering ham-hands Kwame Brown?!? BEST DEAL EVER!! I'll miss Crittenton-he never did get enough playing time. Who knows how good MARC Gasol will be once he comes up and giving up the first round picks, you never know what effect that'll have BUT it seems a small price to pay for Gasol's PAU-erful grizzly beard. Yeah, get used to the constant play on words, it's my new favorite thing. :) He will probably be making his debut in purple and gold later today versus the Nets. Can't wait.

P.S: NETFLIX THIS IMMEDIATELY