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What a great day.

I’ve been a big fan of animation shorts since I was a kid. My mom would grab my brother and I and head to the local university’s student center, which showed many animation festivals in between the standard artsy and independent film fare. The animation shorts at that time came heavily from Canada (whose film board seems to do a better than average job of funding animation) but were varied, of several different languages and styles, and certainly not all rated G. I was lucky (as I now see it) to have parents who shared lots of art and media with me, with a focus on figuring out what was neat about each piece.

I have hungered for good animation shorts ever since, and will join the hipster-ish cry for more independent pieces, things that reflect individual creators and concepts, instead of a future marketing plan. A short is a lovely way to explore a new art medium like animation and requires good storytelling for it to make it out into the world at large.

Lately, I’ve come across two animation bits that I really like. One old, one new – and both using stop-motion techniques, one of my favorite kinds of animation.

Cheburashka is an adorable “creature unknown to mankind” whose name comes from his tendency to “topple” over. Produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a handful of shorts starring him and his crocodile friend Gena, they get into adventures together that bring out the strange and adorable in Soviet Russia. It is surreal to watch Gena fix a corporation’s big oil leak into a river and Cheburashka pine for the opportunity to be a Pioneer (very similar to American Cub Scouts).

This youtube user has been kind enough to subtitle most of the episodes in English here.

The newer animation short is from a Canadian (yep, lots of animators up there it seems) who has been playing with his toys for a long time. This short in particular makes the anthropomorphization of a popular 1980s toy seamless. The music works well too – I look forward to other non-Transformers shorts from him.

It’s so nice to discover new animation bits. Post more in the comments if you’ve seen some neat ones lately.

On Wednesday of last week, a former grad student was in touch with some friends from Russia. Their summer job lined up in the U.S. had fallen through, but they had received a call from a guy who told them to take a bus from D.C. to New York – to meet him at a club at midnight to get jobs as hostesses.

Any alarms going off yet? Luckily for these two Russian girls, their friend did suspect something fishy – and even from a road trip through Wyoming, he called upon help at Metafilter to work on preventing what sounded like a textbook case of human trafficking.

The full thread of what happened is here. It’s pretty long, but a breathless read if you have the time. There’s a good summary from Mother Jones magazine, and it may still be unfolding as the authorities did get involved.

It blows my mind that even rational people in reach of good technology, transportation and friends can be lured into this trap. Slavery is more rampant now than it was 300 years ago, it is just couched in more convoluted terms of owing money for room and board, or being “taken care of” instead of being a burden to the family. From wikipedia,

“The organization Anti-Slavery International defines slavery as “forced labour.” By this definition there are approximately 27 million slaves in the world today, more than at any point in history and more than twice as many as all African slaves who survived being taken to the Americas in the Atlantic slave trade.”

It is relieving to see how in this case how many strangers worked together so quickly (over a 24 hour period, practically) to keep these girls from falling into a bad, bad situation. And knowing both what this looks like (job offers fall through, then once the targets arrive in the U.S., a meeting is set for a job that doesn’t seem like something that would need to recruit employees from abroad); and who are some helpful sources (Polaris Project is recommended here) is information I’m glad to pass along.

Looking good, Jana!

Tuesday I got to see one of my favorite bands live: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Unfortunately, it was not a full show – just about 7 songs and discussion for a taping of a radio show, but the band lit up the stage, and Ms. Jones shimmied her way through the power packed songs. If you haven’t checked them out yet, there are snippets to listen to at Daptone Records, and they have a new album out next month. Turns out, after leaving town, they headed to Austin, where a music critic more eloquent than I says:

“Fifty-something Jones was a session soul singer turned Riker’s Island Corrections Officer, until new vintage act the Dap Kings reanimated her career in 2001. With her latest LP of new material, I Learned the Hard Way, just weeks from releasing to what will be very positive reviews, the nine-piece was on fire at SXSW, playing triple and quadruple the number of events of any other band. The 1 a.m. performance was Jones’ third of the day, and she still went at it with more tenacity than any rested indie band. Title track “I Learned the Hard Way” is pure dynamite live, an original, daringly structured track that feels as if it was beamed directly out of the late Sixties. The structure is so tricky the band flubbed one of the transitions — likely a consequence of exhaustion — but recovered gracefully. Up-close, it’s apparent that the Dap-Kings have an entire grammar of eye contact at their disposal. They are the pinnacle of the profession and they simply could not be frazzled as Jones shimmied, cajoled, and howled her way deeper into a late-career renaissance defined by winning over new fans one stunned soul at a time.”

From David Downs review

BTW – “I Learned the Hard Way” was first performed live at the show I was at Tuesday. Go Dap Kings!

Last late summer, I was in the market for a new bed. I have been sleeping on a very thick and sturdy futon that I have owned for the last 12 years. Before that, it had a long life as a bed for a friend who was coming out in San Francisco. (Who is now wanting to become a Catholic monk, but that’s another story). So, even if it is suitably thick, firm, and good for another decade, I think it’s time for a new bed.

The problem arose when in the maze that is Ikea in Utah; I was overwhelmed with choices, all of which I didn’t like. I could find a mattress I liked, a slat set I liked, box springs I liked, but all the beds were…well, if you’ve been there you’ve seen the homage to Swedish design that left me with lots of light or black wood designs that were all very low to the ground. I am ready for a grown-up bed, preferably one as high as a fancy hotel bed, with high thread count sheets to match. Luckily, my frustration was met with a suggestion from Sam: “Well, we could make our own bed.” I hadn’t considered this. I assumed it took knowledge only a carpenter with a pencil permanently mounted behind the ear could do. But turns out, beds can be made by people with an eye for measurement and knowledge of where to get high quality fasteners. (check and check).

Of course, after purchasing the slats and mattress, strapping them to the top of our solar trailer and bringing it back through the winds of Wyoming to home; the proposed September/October project is still in design phase. But here is what has been done so far:

• Picked out a baltic birch plywood that has “a large number of thin, void-free plys”
• Picked out and tested a dark stain
• Drawn up some preliminary designs, inspired by this box:
• Determined a bed height desired of 28-29 inches
• Used Sketch-Up and Illustrator to determine the cut pattern for the different pieces of the bed
• Tested these preliminary designs on the CNC Router “Findy“, to ensure a depth that allows the light wood to show through the stain but doesn’t weaken the wood

We’re not done, obviously, but we need to finish determining the pattern and putting it into software, since the order of assembly goes: stain, cut pattern, cut pieces, sand, polish, and assemble. But hopefully it is finished in next month or two, and I get my new bed. Project time…

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been seeking out specifically themed films and shorts to create programs to show to friends. The first, an informal animation collection, required a lot more time than I expected, but was completely worth the result. More than a dozen shorts, demonstrating a variety of styles and stories. (No exchange of monies here, just what I paid to own the pieces).

Since then, I am helping to plan the warehouse’s blowout NYE bash. Our theme is that of a Speakeasy, leaving lots of creative options for decoration, costumes, activities, and drinks. It roughly parallels our journey from a start-up art cooperative to a more and more organized non-profit entity – an exciting process, of course. However, living out tales of prohibition and gangsters is more exciting, at least on a temporary basis. For the event, it was requested we have some visuals – something reminiscent of the 1920s. A friend who has experience both with lots of films and going non-profit warned me extensively about showing only materials that would not violate copyright with our private party status. Luckily, he also recommended archive.org, a website full of public domain films and music, complete with thumbnails to preview images and user reviews. Within a couple hours, I had tracked down old Betty Boop cartoons where Betty mimics both FDR and Herbert Hoover, and has visions of a mug of beer (not too subtle for the time). I found newsreels proclaiming the end of Prohibition, with footage of raids with men destroying barrels of whiskey with axes in the street. There were films both silent and talking covering scenes in nightclubs and speakeasies, with plenty of gangster and gambling action, and Felix the Cat cartoons where Felix learns about moonshine and quite enjoys it. A few days later, I have close to six hours of public domain and creative commons media (open copyright) ready to go for our gig. It’s pleasing to be able to find films like these and know they can be shown at an event to create atmosphere without running afoul of legal rights, even in creating a party specifically about law breakers 90 years ago.

It’s bizarre to reflect on what life was like for a country banning liquor production. December 31st, 1919 saw lots of private, undisclosed-location parties where people boozed up as much as possible before the January 16th, 1920 start of Prohibition. And yet, when Prohibition was headed for repeal, liquor prices countrywide dropped a full year before becoming legal again, just due to the change in expected market. I can imagine citizens easing off their stockpiles with legal alcohol on the horizon. It’s interesting to think whether this would happen with any other currently illegal drug – though nothing quite compares in terms of widespead legality the world around like alcohol.

Hopefully, tomorrow night will go something like this:

On January 16, 1920, Prohibition began. Only four days after, the 50-50 Club opened in New York City, becoming the first of some 30,000-100,000 speakeasies to operate in that city alone during the “Great Experiment.” The protocol was simple: Knock on a friendly (anonymous) door, give a pre-arranged password, and be permitted to enter. To order, one would “speak easily” (that is, in a quiet tone), and then be served a teacup of gin or whiskey that would either be the “real McCoy” or had just been mixed in someone’s bathtub, depending on the connection and the reliability of the bar owner.”

from “Joe Sent Me” by Dave Sikula

I for one, will be glad to break into a bottle of champagne tomorrow night – and have a sober driver cart me home eventually. And I won’t even have to hide my bubbly in a teacup.

NO! Sam’s grandmother is doing fine, you sick person. We are saying goodbye to the Biobenz – the mercedes on the left. It’s been a great car, treated us well on roadtrips, and we in return coddled its diesel engine through cold winters. And there’s nothing like the sound of an old diesel to tell you when someone’s just gotten home. However, it sits lonely in the parking lot most days now, and is better served at a new home in Tennessee. This week we’ll be looking for a different kind of trailer-puller – a Toyota pickup: it should hold up better in the winter, and be more useful for the trips to pick up big items as well as the road trips. Farewell, bio-benz – have a safe journey to Tennessee.

Next on tap for the non-alky spot in the warehouse’s kegerator? Hibiscus soda!

I love root beer, but the ingredients are expensive, and I’m still on the fence about adding caramel color to make it more appealing to the masses. So what other sodas can be kegged? Numerous ones – though I’m not a straight-up cola fan, and am generally not into fruit sodas either. However, our other brewer on the premises suggested a hibiscus soda – not unlike a common Mexican summer drink, oaxaca or sweet waters – made with jamaica (hibiscus), lime, cucumber, strawberries, or other summery ingredients. After checking out several recipes, I opted for the simplest: dried hibiscus blossoms, sugar and water. The test batch, completed Tuesday night came out with great color and flavor – even working with a recipe that listed “sugar: amount to taste”. I already liked hibiscus in herbal tea – this just brings it to an evening drink with the carbonation. It also competes with the trendy pomegranate drinks, since hibiscus is also high in Vitamin C.

The keg is carbonating for several days with 4 gallons of water – on Monday, I’ll make up what is essentially the hibiscus soda syrup in one gallon of water to be added to the keg and carbonated for an additional 3-4 days. That makes it ready to go for 4th of July weekend – and the following weekend’s art show. Here’s the basic recipe in case you feel like trying it – the non-keg, quick’n'dirty way to carbonate is to make it with half the water and top up with club soda:

Hibiscus Soda

2 quarts water

1 cup dried hibiscus blossoms (at groceries stores in the West, or in Mexican markets)

1/2 cup sugar

Boil the hibiscus blossoms in the water for ~4 minutes. Let steep another 10-15 minutes and strain. Add the sugar and mix thoroughly. Carbonate and pour over ice. Makes 2 quarts (duh).

The warehouse project is going pretty well, with a good group of people, lots of project activity, and almost at the black line for finances. Our next big question is, do we go non-profit? In an ideal world, our LLC could go to classes on how to do this, ask questions about what we need to do to be in line with all the laws and regulations from an experienced teacher, and hand in a single application packet with a small fee once ready.

I am told this is not how it works.

We are lucky that one member has done some background research on what we need to do, what laws are really important to research, and what benefits and difficulties we can expect. But it will take calling different offices to ask questions, probably some legal counsel, some changes in how finances are handled, and probably more work for me as we change our spreadsheets and procedures. The benefits would be helpful however, and so we’re slowly moving forward. In the meantime, if there are any experts out there on moving to non-profit status in the Centennial State, let me know.

I could talk about the blizzard right now, in which there should be 8-19 inches of snow on the ground by 6am tomorrow, but it’s so overdone. What is under the snow is more interesting, and is greatly aided by the snow: the brand new, 200 sq ft (but looks more like 300 sq ft by eyeballing the dimensions) SUNNY garden plot!

After cajoling and flattering as much as possible, I was told that there was zero chance of moving to a sunnier plot within the idyllic community garden where I spent the last year. In fact, five of the twenty members had requested the same thing, and yet no one was willing to move from the slightly sunny plots. If 25% of the garden is dissatisfied with the amount of light, that should be a sign: cut down the damn southern trees.

Lucky for the trees, I chose the rational option: I switched gardens. The garden director took pity on me and found me a spot in the next nearest garden, a sunny plot that was recently vacated by a gardener who took very good care of the plot. That last point was repeated to me by every gardener in the vicinity that I have met so far – it’s hard to know whether this is to reassure me that I am getting a good bed, or to reinforce that there are expectations of anyone inheriting such a high quality cache of soil.

So, goodbye to the pretty crocuses, the wrought iron fence that the peas climbed up all spring, the raised beds and pretty memorial roses. I did leave the plot better than I left it: with sturdy rows of onions to harvest later, and a cover crop of winter wheat to add organic material to the soil. My new garden, which really is only farther from home by maybe 0.2 miles, still definitely reachable by bike; is different in the extreme. All plots, which are considered 400 sq. ft. in size (I signed up for a 1/2 plot, twice the size of my old raised bed), are in full sun. There are probably 400 of them and they are in ground, not raised – giving the appearance of having stumbled upon a vagrant’s camp. There are always bits of fabric or plastic to cover early plants, hay bales scattered to create a buffer zone between plots, fences made from random sticks, tattered Tibetan prayer flags and lots of friendly dogs around. But a busy garden is a better garden – gardeners answer questions, they admire crops, and they look out for attacks from wildlife, insects, and (apparently the big problem in this area) drunk teenagers and greedy lazy organic food lovers.

Already I’ve met several of my neighbors, and they’re all quite friendly. There are new options for fancy drip irrigation systems, all heavily subsidized by rebates from the city. I have more than double the space I had before, and it’s ALL IN SUN. That last item alone makes me thrilled to join the new garden tent-city, with visions of fields of basil dancing in my head.

The increasing snow outside, however, makes it difficult to tackle the new list of to-dos: build a fence that might delay deer, double-dig the soil, and plant the first sugar snaps and greens for the early spring. Research drip irrigation systems (they can’t even be used until late May – freezes happen past Mother’s Day here), keep an ear open for getting some free well decomposed manure, and pick up a wonderful donation of several Walls-of-Water or similar item from a friend’s mom who knows her stuff and is just that kind. I am so ready for garden time – even if it’s done in between snow storms for now.

Over the weekend, I both gave and received strange gifts. Both were appreciated more than any gift certificate, and neither will stick around long. It wouldn’t surprise me if more gifts ended up this way this year since most of us will not be receiving any contract bonuses that represent more than the average yearly salary of a schoolteacher.

On Friday, the warehouse was the site of our first art show. It was gratifying to have a reasonable turnout of maybe 80 people, 12 artists showing work, and a pretty successful donation bar. It continues to blow me away how well the warehouse group gets things done – and without ego getting in the way of everything. This will be a monthly event, so it simply needs some positive word-of-mouth & continuing energy to clean up the warehouse each time, and we’ll be set.

At the art show, I had the opportunity to present Mike (winner of the prize for “why does this dog look like my friend”) with his prize: 1 quart of my latest batch of homemade root beer. I have to applaud Mike for accepting this prize, since it was the most adventurous recipe yet – a 50/50 blend of white sugar and light amber maltose for the sugar source. While I expected that the yeast would fall in love with the maltose, I underestimated how deeply the two would fall, and it had by far the biggest head of foam of any batch. It also was far less sweet than previous batches – with a scent of yeast as opposed to sarsaparilla, vanilla, or any other ingredients I put in. Despite all this, Mike was pleased to try something so different, and I now have a better idea of what sugar mix to use for the next, 5 gallon batch. There’s some friendly pressure from our resident homebrewer, who wants to ramp up the root beer production for our next event. All I need is an extremely cheap source of honey….know any non-commercial or liquidating (pun intended) beekeepers along the Front Range?

The gift I received was even stranger. On Saturday evening, relaxing with one of my favorite root beers and friends, I got a call from an unknown number. I didn’t pick up, since sitting at a dinner table with others hardly seems like the time to pick up one’s phone, but I did listen to the voicemail at the next opportunity. A gentleman with a penchant for beards had left me a message apologizing for Sam’s state of relative facial-hair-less-ness, and described the scrappy bits that exist on his chin in exquisite, albeit unappealing detail. Turning to Sam with the most puzzled look on my face I’ve had in months, I asked him why my favorite cartoonist would possibly be calling me to apologize for how “the downy blades on his chin remind you of leftover spaghetti stuck to the pot”. Turns out, David Malki has offered to call his fans as a surprise to find out what they are like, and Sam had orchestrated just such an event. This also just happens to coincide with my frequent remarks to those who know me that he would be perfect for a conference I work for that happens to need more funny people. So, at my friends’ insistence, I went outside to call him back. We had a slightly awkward conversation about spaces and warehouses for artists, the facial hair spectrum, and thoughts on our relative cities. After casually mentioning the conference I work on that Mr. Malki would be perfect for, he said he’s been trying to work on his public speaking skills and so would consider it for the future. (Hooray!) We ended our conversation: me back to friends with strange ideas for gifts, and he to looking at a potential new artist studio. And we both had more interesting weekends for it.

Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter are back together again!! Back when Conan first signed the contract for taking over The Tonight Show, I argued to anyone who would listen that given the jump in salary and budget for Conan, he should beg/plead/kidnap Andy to come back. Unfortunately or fortunately, Andy Richter’s work since leaving Late Night has been a little too subtle to last very long, leaving him otherwise unemployed. But put the two together in a staring contest and you have pure comedy. Others may have scoffed that either wanted to work together again, but money (or a better time slot) talks, and this will be good news for late night. YEAH!

A friend of mine posted a link to an adoption page for a dog from a shelter. It’s not that she wants the dog, as far as I can tell, I think she just found it appealing. When I looked at it, however, I immediately noticed a similarity to a friend of mine from STL. Sam agrees, after examining the photo that the likeness is uncanny. I have a feeling if you know this friend you would agree immediately, but that’s not what I’m curious about. I want to know WHY THE HELL A RANDOM DOG CAN LOOK LIKE SOMEONE I KNOW. I can’t pick out a particular feature that nails it for me, but if you do figure it out, post in the comments below, and I’ll try to get a prize of some kind to you. And, importantly, there is no insult intended – I think it’s a nice looking dog, for its breed combination, and the friend isn’t bad looking either. It’s just weird.

See that? That is the new Big Project. Despite whatever we did or did not learn from running a fire performance LLC, we decided to take on the larger project of organizing a group of people who want “project space”, and making that space possible. What you see to the left is the original bare bones set-up. While it looks a lot more like a workshop this week, it still has a long way to go: we have to balance our budget, we have to get rid of five pallets of cardboard, five exterior doors (old tenants love to leave behind junk), build a loft, and solve issues about what is expected of everyone so there is a strong culture of respect. Luckily, so far we have a truly excellent group of people. I was starting to give up on this city having people who are this high quality, but I’m glad to be proven wrong. Now if only we could find a taker for all those doors…in the meantime, I’ll try to post updates as the space comes together. The Big Project will hopefully allow me to brew root beer for incorporation into the multi-tap kegerator, do tie-dye without risking other people’s floors, and Sam and me to build our other Big Project: a paper incinerator that is also an art piece that is also easy to use and transport, that also meets particulate matter standards, etc. Hmm.