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By Neil, January 22, 2012 9:21 pm

1 month plan for a better life – tomorrow: 1st Buy nothing, 2nd Watch nothing, 3rd Eat vegan & 4th Do art

Maybe it’s because school starts on Monday after nearly a month and a half break where I did practically nothing productive. Or, maybe it’s because I’m feeling a little stagnant in life. Ether way, I want to experiment with some life-style changes over the next few months to see if they improve my life at all. So, what I propose is to take 1 week over the next few months to try and do something (or not do something) for the entire week and see if I notice any differences from the attempted behavior changes and determine if it warrants continued practices. Once I find something that drastically improvises my life experience, than I will myopically focus on that one thing and preach to and berate other for not doing the one thing that I’ve found that makes me feel so much better – j/k. However, it will give me something to blog about.

The Plan

This 1st week I plan to remove my self from money based economy by not spending any more the entire week. Over this break I have felt like I’ve been a little to consumeristic and I want to see if eliminating shopping will help me feel less attached to personal belongings and free up time to do other things.

Week 2, I plan to onbstain from watching any tv. During finals last semester my tv watching increased to astounding levels as I avoided doing my school work and it hasnt’s seemed to decrease any during winter break. I want to seek if not watching any tv, not even a clip, will help me sleep better at night and free up more time for me to read books.

During week 3, I plan to eat an entirely vegan diet – no eggs, no cheese, not ice-cream, not bacon-wrapped-turducken burgers, no honey – to see if eliminating animal protein (in addition to general crappy eating) will help me feel healthier. Now this particular experiment probable warrants a longer trail, since diet changes often require a few weeks before noticeable differences are observed, however, for the sake of my experiment I will commit to only 1 week. If I feel healthier at the end of the week, I may continue.

Finally, week 4, I plan to take time out of each day to do an art project or learn a new crafting skill. I love making or doing art, yet I rarely spend time doing it, so I want to see if a concerted effort to be creative on a daily basis will make me happier.

The plan is to post an assessment of the experiment at the end of each week to see if any of these changes are having a positive impact. Additionally, if I can see this experiment through the entire month, I plan to do it again with 4 new weeks of projects.

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By Neil, October 8, 2011 2:56 pm

I made the following image for a poster I designed for the Hip-Hop Law Conference earlier this year. It was another one of those famous “can you do me a small favor?” Kate always seems to ask. While I was glad to help (like I always am ) I never imagined it would end up in a publication. So that is awesome.

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By Neil, January 23, 2011 2:03 pm

But somehow I am glad they did.

Link

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By Neil, July 8, 2010 9:52 am

BIG BANG BIG BOOM – the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

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By kate, July 3, 2008 10:10 am

A brilliant woman has created the most amazing dollhouse ever for her daughter. This excellent creativity almost makes me want a little girl so I can make insane craft projects for her to play with. (Emphasis on the “almost.”)

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By Neil, July 1, 2008 8:35 pm

Kate and I went to the SLC Art’s Festival with some friends. By far the best part of the festival was 3 sweet sweet pounds of deep fried glory. I’m so glad potatoes are vegetables. Well we went into the festival thinking it would be more of an art show then an art shopping mall, alas after the French-fries we didn’t have enough money to support any of the artisan vendors. Actually, there was some great art for sale and Kate even ran into two artisans from her home town of Hood River, OR. The only problem with the entire ordeal was the crowd…lets just say it was a giant termite mound the day before matting season. There were so many people it became impossible to actually stop and look at any of the art for fear of being trampled to death. Luckily we survived the crowd and the fries.

The French-fry man making Kate’s patch of fries. Our friends Jen and Jeremy enjoying the other white vegetable.

A scene on our way out of this year’s SLC Arts Festival.

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By Neil, December 16, 2007 12:37 am

It seems that every time Kate and I go into a movie rental store we end up with the strangest of DVD titles. For example we went to Hollywood Video last night to rent an Indian Jones flick because the Salt Lake City Library’s copy was checked out. We found a copy of the Temple of Doom and Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of which I had in my hand as I walked toward the register. Yet again, I let my eyes wander. Wander right to a shelf with a copy of Ten Canoes peacefully waiting for someone to pick it up. Well I did, decided it looked interesting, swapped it with Indian Jones, and rented it.

In only tell you this story because it happens every time Kate and I rent a movie. We never get what we intended to rent and always end up renting an ultra strange or ultra depressing movie either about naked aborigines or street kids in Romania. I don’t think to date we have ever taken home the intended film we went to the store to rent.

Last night’s film, Ten Canoes, was fun. I liked it a lot. But it was strange and included more than enough aboriginal nudity to satisfy even the most demanding of connoisseurs. Let’s just say it’s a film any anthologist would love (and if you are taking antho 101 you will probably see it soon). I think Kate and I are going to sign up for Netflix that way we won’t ever have to walk through another wall of screaming DVDs that all seem to say “rent me!”

BEFORE YOU WATCH THIS TRAILER I JUST WANTED TO WARN YOU EVERYONE IS NAKED 100% OF THE FILM.

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By Neil, August 2, 2007 9:31 am

[Show as slideshow]

San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico has a long history of political graffiti. In 1994 the Zapatista Army of National Liberation used San Cristobal as a starting city for their revolution. From the jungle they released their six “Declarations of the Lacandon Jungle” calling Mexicans to take up arms against the government, then peaceful civic protests, and eventually to do anything by any means (The Third Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle). 10 years later all that is left is a large military presence (much smaller than a few years ago), political graffiti on every wall, and Zapatista dolls, shirts, and trinkets for sale to tourists. The Zapatistas, as some have recollected, used their graffiti to spread their message of dissent. Since then San Cristobal has never seen a clean wall.

After lunch at a friends house in town whose outside walls are covered in grafitti and peeling, he told me “I should paint my walls, I haven’t in years, but what is the point they will just get graffitied as soon as I’m done.”

An account of a Free Trade protest during San Cristobal’s celebrations of Mexican Independence in 2006 said “As the demonstration passes down the street, a few of the youths lag behind, ski masks covering their faces, and spray paint a trail of political graffiti. Once they are done it reads, “No to the Free Trade Agreement,” on every wall.”

Today, I am told, poor Mexicans living in outlying villages come into San Cristobal to protest their poverty and lack of government assistance by spray painting walls. The two major types of graffiti in town are stenciled graffiti and political slogans or symbols done in free hand. The stenciled graffiti seems to be less political and more art. As you can see from my photos of stenciled graffiti most are pop culture icons, animals, or Japanese cartoons. Those that are political are about Bush or the Iraq War. At least on the surface I fail to see how these stenciled images are more than art, teenage rebellion, or pop hatred against American politics. Yet there seems to be something deeper. Something this Spanishless gringo will never find out.

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By Neil, July 30, 2007 1:55 pm

So I was asked to make this luchador mask for a friend working at a teen camp for the teen’s activity this evening. This is the second one I have made and so I am putting it here for all to enjoy and so I don’t lose it again (my first one is on a hard drive in my in-laws’ basement). I hope you will enjoy coloring the mask and then wresting the first person you see. Send me a photo of you in the mask and I will add it to this article.

Instructions: Download the two parts. Cut them out. Glue the top piece (Part 2) to the top of the mask (part 1).

Luchador Coloring Mask Part 1
Luchador Coloring Mask Part 2

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By Neil, July 23, 2007 11:28 am

I had a photo selected for www.schmpa.com’s Portland information page. Click on the following link and then click on the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) section for addition information. The information will load in the right and there will be two arrows you can use to scroll through the pictures. My photo is an orange/yellow cut of a pregnant woman’s tummy. Anyway thats all I wanted to say.