I never really wrote about attending the Emerald City Comicon, although I really should have. I always seem to pick up really interesting art instead of just comics at these things. It's a tradition. A couple of years ago I picked up Chris Malidore's The Revolution Has Begun penguin art. This has disturbed visitors to my desk ever since. He's expanded since then and created the Survivalist Penguin, and a couple of others that he doesn't appear to have on his website yet. You can pick up his art locally at Spy Comics in Federal Way.

This year I fell in love with a couple of pieces by Katy Hargrove. She grabbed my attention by wearing a massive headdress (relatively effortlessly) while she worked her table). Her portfolio included a lot of fabulous creations, but what really caught my eye were her cockatiel pieces. I quickly snapped up buttons of both, sharing the story of my own recent cockatiel loss.

Never one to shy away from controversy, before leaving the table I had to take a peek under the "18 and over" page that covered a framed piece of art. I was delighted to find a hysterical looking boob streaking across a blue background. I debated buying it then and there, but nearing the end of my set budget for the day, I decided against the purchase.

Over a delicious dinner that evening at Redfin Sushi I told my group of friends that I wished I had the space in my home for a "weird art" gallery. A place where I could place all my odd purchases and never regret them. Not that these pieces wouldn't be beautiful or excellent examples of their genre, just that they may be quirky or bought just for me. A place I could put my framed, freaked out boob; had I brought it home.

I stayed home on the second day of the 'con, while Frinklin wanted to go back with friends. While there, he saw that the boob had not yet sold and made the executive decision to purchase it and make it mine.

While I don't yet have a house large enough to have a room devoted to my own art collection, I'm sure I'll find a space for it. In the meantime, it's making me laugh every time I see it.

Posted by: Ensie at 11:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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How come Seattle has Ellen Forney doing their public art and we get...this when it comes to art?

WTF?

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In an exciting collaboration with Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue (SPDR), the Seattle Humane Society is providing FREE spay and neuter surgeries for ALL pit bulls in the Puget Sound region for a limited time!

You can view the PDF here.

Direct from the flyer:

Pit bulls account for approximately 30% of lost, stray, and abandoned animals in our community's shelters today.

TOP FIVE REASONS TO SPAY OR NEUTER YOUR DOG:

1. Your dog will live a longer, healthier life.
Spaying and neutering virtually eliminates breast and uterine cancer, testicular cancer, and prostate disease if performed before six months of age.

2. Your spayed female won't go into heat.
Females in hear vocalize, urinate, and produce a foul discharge.

3. Your male dog won't roam away from home.
Intact males are highly likely to roam, risking injury in traffic or fights with other males.

4. AND he will be much better behaved too!
Unneutered males mark their territory with urine (inside the house and out), mount your family and guests, and are more likely to develop behavior problems.

5. Spaying and neutering your pet will NOT make your dog fat or lazy.
Your pet will remain fit and trim as long as you continue to provide exercise and monitor food intake.

In addition to the FREE spay or neuter, dogs will be microchipped for FREE during surgery.

If you have an unaltered Pit bull, or know someone who does, call the Seattle Humane Society at 425-649-7560 to make an appointment.

Posted by: Ensie at 08:40 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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"Goddamn it!"

I knew exactly what pocket of my fabulous new purse I had placed the parking garage ticket in and now it was gone. Completely vanished. I swept my hand around the interior of my entire bag with no luck. My purse was even clean, having just transferred a limited number of items from my old handbag to the new one. It had to be there.

But it wasn't. I turned all the lights on inside my car in order to better search the front passenger seat better. Still nothing. I didn't have any pockets, so it wasn't hidden anywhere on my body. I hadn't moved it or touched it during my meeting at a Seattle restaurant. I had hardly done anything with my purse the entire time.

You know the parking garage rule if you lose your ticket, right? You pay the maximum amount. And this garage's maximum was $40. Not a lot by most garage standards, but more than the $12 or $16 I was expecting. And hey, I live in a one-income household now. I have to save that money for extravagant purchasing of unnecessary goods. Oh, and bills. After a good 15 minutes of searching I gave up a faced the inevitable and drove the plank.

"Hi," I started as I rolled down my window and extended my credit card, my mouth babbling frantically, "I lost my parking ticket. I know...I'm so sorry. I know it means I have to pay the maximum. I just, I don't know what happened to it. I put it in my purse and it just disappeared. I just had it! I don't know where it went! Here's my card." At that point I realized I had been talking at the attendant while he just stared at me so I shut the hell up.

I received a big sigh in return and, "What time did you get here?"

"I had a meeting at 11 so I was here at 10:45."

"OK. Write down your name and phone number on this new ticket and I'll swipe it. It will act like your ticket." He handed me a blank parking stub.

"OK?" I wasn't going to argue. I would have given him my social security number and the promise of my first born as at this point as it appeared I was going to get away with the downtown parking equivalent of murder. Or if not murder, at least a felony hit and run (I know, I know crime isn't a joke, you don't need to remind me). I passed back my contact information and he gave me a receipt for $16.

As I started the dance of thanking him profusely, he leaned over and grasped a stack of receipts and pulled one free.

"See here? This is the last person today who lost their parking ticket." A very clearly $40 charge printed dead center stared back at me. My profuse thanks went up a notch. I wondered if I should get out and hug him. Thank God a car pulled up behind me, forcing me to pull forward, leaving the parking garage and the attendant behind.

I'm not exactly sure what it was that prompted the parking garage attendant to give me the cheaper parking rate. It's true, I was having an excellent hair day yesterday as well as wearing a fabulous new outfit. But he could only see so much from behind the car door. And maybe he thought he was hitting on me? Although I was clearly wearing my wedding ring. Are things going to be awkward now? Does this mean I have park someplace else now even though this is the best parking garage in Seattle?

Sigh - weep - sob! /drama

Posted by: Ensie at 04:13 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I waited in one of the enormous lines to get into Key Arena today. Frinklin and I got there about 10:40 and the line was growing in leaps and bounds (we were standing under the Space Needle). After 11 we were practically running as we moved forward to get inside - but there were two lines and we missed getting in by just a couple of hundred people. It was about 11:15 when we were turned away. We were told they had 14,000 people in the stands and another 5,000 on the floor. We booked it out of there (yay for valet parking at the Needle!) and arrived home just in time to see the speech live on Northwest Cable News.

When we left there were hordes of people behind us in line as well as tons of people still arriving by the thousands. We let as many people as we could know that Key Arena was full, but most continued on to see if they could still get in. Most said they would be caucusing for Obama tomorrow and when it continued to be announced that the event was full people's attitude was, "That sucks that we didn't get in, but that's fantastic!"

There's been some discussion as to weather Obama has outdrawn Hillary at their Seattle events. Even with their respective venue choices, I'd say that Obama could have easily had another 7 - 10 thousand people should he have chosen a larger venue. I don't think that Hillary could have drawn that kind of numbers.

In other news - Frinklin met Janet Huckabee at the Starbucks headquarters this morning. But I'll let him tell that story later on his own blog. He's busy at opening night for his new show (How the Other Half Loves - tickets available now!) right now. It's a funny show he tells me. I'll be there a week from Saturday.

If you're a Democrat and you need information on the how to and where to caucus for (Obama) your (Obama) chosen (Obama) candidate (Obama) in Tacoma (did I mention that Obama rocks?) check out http://wa-democrats.org/. Everything goes down tomorrow at 1 PM. Be there or be square.

Also - (FINALLY!) our long backordered Obama yard sign and rally sign arrived. They went up in our yard and window to tell the world that we're in the cool crowd. Hopefully the yard sign won't blow away!

Posted by: Ensie at 06:34 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Thanks to a couple of free passes picked up at Comic Book Ink over the weekend, I was lucky enough to catch an early Seattle showing of the movie Juno I've been desperate to see. It required a pilgrimage to Seattle along with Frinklin, as well as fellow bloggers Kevin Freitas and his lovely wife Cassioposa.

There's been so much hype about this movie, about the writer Diablo Cody - she's The Next Big Thing!, how this is Ellen Page's breakthrough role, and could Jennifer Garner win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for this film...and it's all true. Juno is superbly written (if not a little too smart in places), Ellen Page is perfect in the role of Juno, and Jennifer Garner transforms from an uptight woman you think you know into a vulnerable one you genuinely care about.

This film nicely skips over all the clinches you've seen in every other film about teen pregnancy. There's the 16-year-old girl who gets pregnant and makes her own decisions about what to do with the baby. She's definitely the odd one out at school, but her best friend is the head cheerleader. The stepmother who may not be so wicked after all. The adoptive couple who has their own hidden issues to deal with.

Juno's smart mouth made me love her, but the fact that she's not quite got all the answers made her real. The moment that her stepmother explains to her that she cannot spend time alone with a married man - that moment stood out to me. Her refusal to accept her stepmother's warning leads to a painful realization, prompting Juno to ask her father for relationship advice. Seeing a smart-ass kid who still needs her parents is cool.

The trip was definitely worth it. Juno is a lot of fun to watch and I can't wait to see it again on DVD to make sure I didn't miss any good lines because the people in the audience were laughing so loud I couldn't hear them. I highly recommend you get your ass to the theater to see Juno immediately. The film hits theaters today.

Posted by: Ensie at 03:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Because Kevin eats, sleeps, and breathes computers, he blogged about this event hours after it actually happened, however, I'm just now getting to it a few days later. I had some important, uh, weekending to catch up on in the meantime.

Last Thursday evening, myself, Frinklin, Jen,and Kevin traveled to the KOMO televison studios to attend a blogger meetup for the Seattle area. After scaring the bejesus out of everyone in the car a couple of times and taking a few wrong turns we managed to arrive safe and sound.

There were a good 75 bloggers present and the mingling was excellent. I met several new folks who I may never have run across in the blogosphere otherwise, and I hope to share a cup of coffee with in real life in the future. We also ran into Derek, and had a lovely time chatting it up Tacoma-style.

I know you're going to be jealous of this - but we go to take our picture in the Northwest Afternoon studio, and then we go to play a bit at the KOMO Anchor Desk and the green screen for weather. Somewhere there are shots of Jen and I doing the green screen weather thing. I even made it into the shot on the Seattle PI Big Blog (along with 20 other people, but still!). Since I'm anonymous, you'll just have to take my word for it. Although if you look at all of Kevin's pix, you'll eventually work it out. Although you'd have to be a really obsessed fan (or really pissed off supervisor of mine) to care that much.

After the meetup, the Tacoma bloggers sans Derek had a yummy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory downtown. We had a great time getting to know one another and I'm looking forward to spending time with them again!

Posted by: Ensie at 03:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So...I got a little got a little invite in my inbox today...

KOMO-TV and its owner, Fisher Communications, has graciously agreed to serve as host for a blogger meet-up at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday August 2nd. The event will be at Fisher Plaza, 140 Fourth Avenue North in downtown Seattle. Light hors d'oeuvres and refreshments (alcoholic and otherwise) will be served and everyone who attends is promised a cool piece (or pieces) of KOMO swag. That's right; we're digging deep for this.

This is a social event, so come prepared to meet and make new friends. If you know of a local blogger who's not on the list here, please let me know or feel free to invite them, too. We'd like to meet everybody.

If you don't already know me, I'm Chris Pirillo - coffee addict, Seattlite, and a regular ol' blogger who also has a YouTube channel. If you have any questions about this event, feel free to contact Leanne Dillon from KOMO-TV at (206) 404-6055.

KOMO-TV is interested in getting to know bloggers in the area, and what better way to do that than with a little party? Again, this is a social event; there's no agenda for the station other than helping facilitate this meet-up. Fisher Communications recognizes the significance of the personal media revolution, and they want to listen and pay attention to what you're saying. I think this is a good way to start.

KOMO-TV news anchors will be there, so don't forget to bring your camera! You'll also be able to take pictures of yourself (and your co-anchors) at the anchor desk.

Please use the RSVP function of this Evite to let us know if you're coming. We want to make sure we have enough food for everybody.

We should all use "komomeetup" as the tag for photos, videos, blog posts, etc.

Anyone planning on attending?

Posted by: Ensie at 02:54 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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In my in-box today I received an invitation to the Beautiful Angle Artist's Reception at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle.

Details for the event taken directly from the eVite:

Host: Beautiful Angle
Location: The Gallery that happens to be at the School of Visual Concepts
500 Aurora Avenue North, Seattle, WA
When: Friday, April 27, 7:00pm

Join Beautiful Angle on Friday, April 27 in the unwashed lands of Seattle, WA. For the first time, we'll be showing a complete retrospective of our work outside of our own holy city. We'd love to see a strong contingent of Tacoma folks come up for the reception.

There'll be some free food, a cool crowd, and posters on the wall. It's at one of our favorite non-Tacoma places, Seattle's School of Visual Concepts. SVC and their wonderful letterpress program has long been a supporter of our project.

We'll be giving away a free commemorative poster on the spot. In regards to the displayed work, it's the same old posters, but we've got to say: the messages seem transformed when displayed in a foreign land. You just may look at them with a new perspective.

We hope to see you soon.

Lance Kagey, Tom Llewellyn, and the rest of the Beautiful Angle family

--------------------

Come out and show your support for local Tacoma art!

Posted by: Ensie at 04:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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