Somebody give me an award!

A few weeks back, I got a last minute call from an incredible director named Trevor McMahan. He needed help editing an entry for a Mofilm contest, which could win us a trip to the Cannes advertising festival in France (oo la la!). Oh yeah, and we had about 36 hours to create the spot, since the deadline was rapidly approaching.

We were finalists in the contest, but ultimately did not win the prize. Nevertheless, I'm really proud of this spot, and I have decided to award it with the first ever Karte Blanche Blue Ribbon! I'd like to extend a special thanks and congratulations to our incredible actor, Blaine Kneece, who really deserves to be recognized for his hard work on an unbearably hot and humid day of outdoor shooting in NYC. All Karte Blanche Blue Ribbon winners will receive a can of Pabsts Blue Ribbon beer. Congrats to all involved. View the winning spot by clicking on the image below...

UPDATE: We actually did get an award from Mofilm. We were runners up in the contest and won a Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera. I guess you can tally that as 2 awards! Congratulations us!

Flying trapeze- Half Time Legs Catch

This is my first legs catch ever! Caught at TSNY's outdoor rig in NYC.

Portland Last Thursday, or freak-show on Alberta

I had heard about Last Thursdays in Portland, before. It is an open-air market along Alberta street in Northeast Portland on the last Thursday of summer months. It sounded like a great place to check out local, hand-made crafts, and perhaps sample some street food. After experiencing this street fair for myself, however, I would describe it much less as an opportunity for shopping and much more as an endless display of the human imagination coupled with desperate pleas for attention.

The evening started off innocently enough. Brent & I were enjoying some dinner at the adorable Parisian-inspired bakery Petite Provence, when a caveman dressed only in a loin cloth and a spattering of mud, set up shop in the middle of Alberta street, right near our table. He took out a bow and started making fire in the middle of the street. Closer inspection proved that he was selling a book called "Be Wild or Die." This was already shaping up to be an interesting evening...

As we wandered east on Alberta, we came across a red double-decker bus belonging to Rose city Vaudeville.

Then we came upon a secret alleyway which promised wonders, should we travel down it's dusty path. Of course, we had to see what was happening, so we followed the path to see the wonders ahead. What we found was this...

3 hipsters playing light switches like musical instruments (they were making obnoxious squelching sounds while 2 men-in-black style hipster body guards sprayed fake smoke around the garage). Needless to say, this secret alley excursion didn't live up to the magical expectations I had in my head.

After we returned the Alberta, we saw the infamous March 4th marching band parading down the street towards the Hollywood theater, where they were performing later that evening.


March Fourth also made an appearance in the music video i edited for Ramona Falls "Russia"




Once it got dark, the REAL freaks came out to play, including this raver chicken man I came across...


The final freakish straw in the evening was when we came across a DJ with a spinning hubcap obscuring his face.


He was selling T-shirts...


Finally, I'll leave you with this mysterious video of Brent's water glass at Petite Provence. I think our table might have been situated over a mystery spot.

Bad Pun of the Day

Thank you to Johnnie & Emily for this adorable bad-pun-adorned mug.

Enchanted Garden Suites

This weekend, I had the chance to visit a beautiful B&B in the winding hills of northwest Portland, OR. It is called the Enchanted Garden Suites. Although I didn't spend the night, Margaret and Dave were kind enough to give us a tour of their amazing grounds.

The gardens stretch across 1.5 acres, but the variety of little nooks, and pathways makes it feel much bigger. Above is the charming birch path, that is studded with flowers along the way.


Margaret is a knowledgable plant expert, and has a tremendous garden. Guests are allowed to pick berries and lettuces to enjoy during lunch. The kale looked especially delicious.



This tea house is a work in progress. Eventually it will have a pond in front of it, and will be sheltered on the sides by a bamboo forest. Guests will be allowed to sleep under the stars in the antique daybed, if they wish, or simply enjoy afternoon tea in the shade. I can't wait to come back and try this out!

We called these Pineapple flowers because we had never seen anything like them before. Brent pointed out the fractal nature of the blossoms. Very lovely!

Bad Joke of the Day

A girl walks into a salon, and tells her hairdresser "Just give me a Ricki Martin."

"Ricki Martin?!" Asks the hairdresser, confused.

"Yes, I want She Bangs"

Thanks to Brent for making up this amazingly bad joke!

Slow News Day

Are you sick of im-ing the word "cool", but can't think of a better way to express that sentiment? My roommate, Alex, showed me a great alternative. Here it is...

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She also gave me crabs...


Thanks to Alex for this slow news day filler!

I'm in The Room with Tommy Wiseau or I'm in the Wise-zone!

I know what you are thinking... "Where is there a life-sized wax sculpture of Tommy Wiseau that I can have my photo taken with?" Well, I'm sorry to tell you that no such statue exists (unless you are willing to settle for a Bobble head). No, that is, in fact, the REAL Tommy Wiseau, who made an appearance at a screening of his infamous cult atrocity The Room last night at Portland, Oregon's Cinema 21 theater. Brent and I, along with many friends, got to meet the man himself, who was much shorter & waxier in person than he appears in the film.


The night began with a Q&A from Tommy Wiseau. He answered questions ranging from "What inspired you to write The Room?" to "How many belts are you wearing right now?" (the answer was 5. He said he is the new fashion). He refused to answer the question "Where are you from?", but did verify that he funded The Room partially by selling Korean Leather jackets. Here are some short clips of his Q&A...

A woman in a shiny spoon costume distributed plastic spoons and fake roses to everyone in the audience. In the film, there is a framed photograph of a spoon in Johnny & Lisa's house, and whenever it appears on screen, the audience yells out "SPOON!" and throws the utensils wildly at the screen. Each time I threw my spoon at the screen, I would also be pelted with spoons from the people in rows behind me, so there was no shortage of spoons to throw (even though the spoon appears at least 20x throughout the film).

Other highlights included:

•the chant of "Go! Go! Go! Go!" as the viewer is subjected to 1.5 minute long pans of the Golden Gate bridge.

•a laser pointer circling the crazy thing that Lisa's neck does when she is talking to Michelle on the couch.

•Audience members throwing the football around with Tommy himself!

•Audience members singing along with all of the slow jams during the sex scenes.

•an audience member running up to the screen and waving his arms wildly while yelling "Johnny! Hey! Hey! Look over here! Hey Johnny!" Then Johnny's eyes on screen drifted {inexplicably} down to the exact spot where the audience member was standing. This was amazing!

I will say that Tommy was very nice, and seemed to be a part of the fun (rather than the butt of a joke). He posed for pictures, signed autographs, and chit chatted with anyone who wanted to meet him. He also answered all of the questions during Q&A. Overall, I'm still in shock over the whole experience. I'm not sure if I will ever top this particular viewing of The Room. Look for it on Blu Ray this winter!

Brent visits NYC!

BK + KB are together again in Brooklyn! Welcome back from Europe, Brent! Here is Brent doing a set Hocks Off at TSNY's beautiful outdoor rig. Zack is catching, Evan is pulling lines, and Zane is working the board. Great job, Brent!

Artjail brings BP oil spill to NYC

Graham Holly, Louisiana native & co-owner of Artjail in New York City, was tired of the lack of information surrounding the BP oil spill.  "I thought, I'll just go down to Louisiana and bring some of the oil back here {to New York City} so people can see it," said Graham at last night's gallery opening for his show.  The exhibition effectively displays the devastation the spill is already causing along the Louisiana coast.  Haunting cubes of oil-infested water are the centerpieces of the exhibit.  They are surrounded by disturbing photographs of oil-soaked animals, beaches, and trash.   Graham's exhibit makes the horrors of the spill real and tangible to the viewer.  There was also a petition to sign at the exhibit which urges BP to take financial responsibility for the clean up efforts.

Rings on the wall represent different estimates of how far the oil will spread.

Menomena Mines available for pre-order + bonuses!

Menomena's forthcoming record Mines is now available for pre-order on CD and LP via Barsuk in the US, and City Slang in Europe. If you pre-order the record, you will get the chance to purchase a limited edition double 7 inch with B sides "Copius" and "Let Me Know". You will also have the opportunity to purchase a limited edition Glow-in-the-dark poster by Tyler Stout (the same artist that designed the Menomena Beatlejuice, Ghostbusters, & Never Ending Story posters). The above poster, which features the stereoscopic image from the album cover is also on sale, along with a nifty Menomena T-shirt. On top of all that, Barsuk is offering 5 special deluxe packages which include original artwork by drummer Danny Seim.


update: all of the deluxe packages have sold out



Tyler Stout's limited edition poster depicts a sinister scene where meth addicts vandalize and and steal the beautiful statue that sits outside of Menomena's practice space in the scenic western hills of Portland, OR. As legend goes, the statue was stolen and cut apart to be sold for scrap by a roaming gang of tweakers. The police notified local metal shops to be on the look out for the statue, and when she was eventually brought in by the notorious thieves (minus her arms, and legs, which were never recovered), it was returned to it's original place outside of Menomena's practice space. She is now immortalized in her mangled form as a stereoscopic (3d image) on the cover of Menomena's 4th full length album, Mines, and in this hauntingly beautiful poster.

For those of you who still purchase music, Mines is definitely an album worth owning. Since I have a personal relationship with the band, I was able to hear the progression of these songs as they morphed from improved ideas to highly polished songs. The amount of labor (both creative and emotional) that went into crafting this album is more than most could imagine. Please support this amazingly original band by buying their album! As a side note, "Let Me Know" is a really great song, so it is worth doing the pre-order just to get a copy of that limited edition double 7 inch. I was actually surprised that it didn't make it on the full length album.

Renegade Craft Fair!

The Renegade Craft Fair came to McCarren Park in Williamsburg last weekend, and I made out like a bandit making out with another bandit!!! There were so many talented and adorable designs to choose from. I went a bit buck wild. Here are some of the wonderful items I picked up at the fair...



Above is a porcelain squirrel in a dome, made by KG + AB. It fits in quite nicely in my bedroom "nature center".



The lovely women of Milwaukee, WI-based, Madam Chino, made this dress (called the Angelwood) from recycled T-Shirts. They designed the wood grain print, hand screened the material, and made the dress by hand. Each design in their booth was one-of-a-kind, and adorned with wonderfully unique details, like the "sockets" (pockets made out of recycled socks). These ladies are seriously talented, and seriously nice. I was very happy to support them.


Above is the Fickle Fancy top by Post Laps Aria. I got it in gray, black and silver. Very cute with high-waisted shorts!



I got an adorable refurbished cardigan from Portland, OR -based Bossa Nova Baby. It is no secret that I have a deep love for things from Portland, so even though it was 90º at the fair, I wanted to support this highly creative company. I don't have a picture of the actual caridgan I bought, but it is white with screen printed birds that have embroidered ribbons in their mouths. Above is another cardigan that shows off their aesthetic.



I got this card to send to a friend of mine from McBitterson's. It made me giggle.


Although I didn't see them at the craft fair this year, I had to include my favorite Renegade Craft Fair purchase from a few years back. Happy and Sad toasts by My Paper Crane.

Happy & Sad also make an appearance in a music video I edited for the Kinetic Stereokids "Have A Nice Day". Check it out by clicking the image below.



Flying Trapeze- forward over catch and return

Here is my newest fancy flying trapeze trick. It is called an uprise forward over. I just barely returned it, but it counts. Caught by Breton at TSNY. Jeff is on lines, Caitlin on board.

I'm so bored that I made a blog/ Ramona Falls - Russia

Welcome to Karte Blanche, my blank check to talk about what I'm working on right now, and whatever interests me. There will be a lot of shameless self promotion, so prepare yourself for a parade of video projects, flying trapeze tricks, and posts about Ramona Falls/Menomena! For my first post I'd like to combine 2 of these focuses by directing your attention to a little music video that I edited & post supervised for Ramona Falls. It is for the song "Russia" from the debut album Intuit. Check it out by clicking on the image below....

For those of you who don't know, Ramona Falls is an unbelievably beautiful, original, and quirky solo project from Brent Knopf, who is also a member of the experimental indie rock band, Menomena. His music is a complex and unorthodox layering of sounds, that takes the listener on an emotional journey through Knopf's infinitely imaginative mind. His songs skip seamlessly between loud and quiet, rocking and reflective, conceptual and accessible. Ramona Falls' debut album, Intuit, was my #1 album of 2009. It is definitely worth checking out.