We all have a tune.

Everyone has a soundtrack.

We all step to a rhythm of some sort.
A song for everyone.
It might change for us as we get older.
Some days require different tunes.
But we all have a song.
Honest.

Each morning I get up... I get out of bed... I get coffee..
Give Lesley a kiss, say "hello" to the dogs.
Flip the computer on.
Choose a song.
That first song sets me up for the day.
This has been the ritual since I was in junior high.
Sometimes it might be an older selection, bluegrass, punk,
old rock, cowbell, blues, soundtrack from an old movie, etc.
I'm big on soundtracks.

Most people can be read easily with a few simple questions.
Two kinds of people in the world...
TV folk or music folk?
Sinatra? Or Elvis?
Rolling Stones? or Beatles?
Ramones? or Sex Pistols?
Victoria Secret? or Fredericks?
Briefs? or Boxers?
Beer? or Wine?
Dog Person? or Cat Person?
Its all about your romantic view on the world.
Risk taking. Thought of adventure. Creative energy.
Self perception is a funny thing.

Do you remember the first time you recorded your voice on a tape?
Then played it back and really listened to the way you sound?

You got bored kids?... give them a tape recorder , a tape, and a microphone.
Just listen to what they do with it.
The gibberish and antics they can create .
Fantastic.
But the best is when kids... really hear themselves for the first time.
Most of us identify with the sounds and images
we all see on television and at the movies.
Certain images and music can send us back, reflect, ponder, remember.

My family and I moved so many times as a kid...
How did I deal with always being the new kid?
I would choose a role model from a movie.
I would envision how I wanted to appear to others.
Make it happen.
I would choose the soundtrack from the television show or movie.
Then play it over and over in my head.

James Bond didn't always fit in the fifth grade.
The "Fonz" would be hanging out in math class.
Ferris Bueller cut school often and did whatever he wanted.
James Dean from "Rebel Without A Cause"
would often make an appearance.
Christian Slater from "Heathers" made an appearance several times.
Started with a moped and french beret (not my best look).
Then traded up for a motorcycle and duster.


A really big "not so cool" moment...
When I first received my big black"duster" trench coat.
I wore it to high school.
I wore it while riding my moped.
At a red light.
I stopped.
Put on my ultra "cool" face.
As if a kid in a long black"Australian" duster
and a moped could look ultra cool.
I watched.. " Man from Snowy River" way too much as a kid.
Anyway.. Some girls pulled up.
I smiled.
Didn't give them much attention.
I was playing it really cool.
When the light turned green.
I cranked my throttle.
Ready to make the big departure in front of the ladies.
However...my duster got caught in my back wheel.
The more I cranked the throttle...
the more my coat got sucked into my back tire.
Causing me to choke myself.

It was a great scene to be sure...
A sixteen year old goth kid being choked
by his own trench coat in the middle of the road.
I ended up flipping the moped on top of myself.
I remember a "Jack In The Box" worker in full uniform came to my aid.
Bad day to be sure...
After that lesson...
I tried sitting on all that coat while riding my moped.
But then it looked like a speeding blur with a big black diaper.
Not the look I wanted.
I gave up the duster.

My soundtrack that day... "Staying Alive" ... Bee Gees.
Then it went deeply into romantic comedy.

Talk soon all,
-Mike

A quick class update & also a giveaway!

Playing this weekend..my new self portrait..
All last month I was playing with creating an
"Alice In Wonderland"set of digital prints. Almost done.
That was my fist attempt at a Mad Hatter / Steampunk character.
I was having trouble... less Mad Hatter... more odd.
So I took a photo of myself from last Halloween and blended it into the piece.
Not bad..
Here is a peek at one of the pieces from the "Alice" set.
Its the "March Hare" print....
Its coming along...

A giveaway of sorts...
Ok bloggers... I need help....
Getting ready for the holidays.
Every year one of the big requests I get from folks is to do some
repair and restoration with photos.
I'm now in the process of putting together some display boards for service.
I need a good challenge...

I 'm on the search for damaged photos..
So... it goes like this..
If you have a damaged photo ...
a cherished photo on the brink of hopelessness...
tears? bends? fade out? discoloration? spots ? and noise?etc...
If you send it to me via email...
I will choose the top five -that I feel need my assistance the most.
I will repair your photo....and send it back to ya via email.
In exchange for repairing your photo...
All I ask ...is that I can use it in my portfolio and display boards of work done.
Not going to resell your image, use it in my artwork, no collage cd, etc..
Just repair...... then back at ya!
If you would like to send me a photo or two...
Just scan your photo.
Send it to me as big as you can get it... 300dpi would be the best.
If you have no idea about dpi... just scan and send ... I'll work with what I can..
Send it to:
jackandcatcurio@gmail.com.
Once received I will confirm with you via email...
Give me a day or two...
I 'll fix and post it here and send back to you within a couple of days.

Here is also an upcoming class update!
Lesley and I due to busy schedules, family, and more...
will only be teaching two classes this month.
Both will be at Paper Vineyard.
The first class is this Saturday at 10:00am at Paper Vineyard.
Its our Ranger Ink Technique Class Part 1
or as some like to call it "Mini Ranger U" class.
This is one of my favorite classes.
I love nothing more than sharing all the fantastic
techniques that I learned from Tim, Claudine, and Suze.
If you have Ranger products at home,
and your not sure how to incorporate them into your work,
or get the best results from these products.
This class is for you!
This class is all about the process and the journey.
Everyone will leave with a full tag book
with detailed directions for each technique.

Here is also a quick peek at our "Pretty Paris" Beeswax Collage Class.
This class will be taught at
Paper Vineyard on Saturday , November 21st at 1:00pm. We will post more on this before Friday...
we have a few more examples coming up.
If you have any questions ... send us an email.
Talk soon,
-Mike

Happy All Soul's Day!

Happy All Soul's Day!

Picture taken this weekend at the MAC's Day of the Dead Fest!

Had a great weekend.
Good friends, great food, lots of scares.
Taking a moment to remember departed friends and family.
Music mix today has a touch of gospel blues....

Star Wars Gangsta Rap Special Edition

Below is the video link for today.
This one goes out for Lesley.
Who for several years dressed as Darth Vader
every year for Halloween.
Because it was the handy down costume from her older bro.
Plus deep down she has a dark side.

Star Wars Gangsta Rap Special Edition

Halloween Weekend....

Halloween Weekend!
As a kid you hope for it.
Long nights filled with candy, tricks, and pranks a plenty.
Halloween on a weeknight is hinky.
That's right.
I said hinky.
Going to school the next day?
No good. This always bothered me.
The only thing you liked about that as a kid...
Is before you departed your home for school
You could fill your pockets with your spoils.
Pixie sticks, taffy, various chunks of chocolate, and bubble gum.
Most of us that filled our pockets with candy for school.
Would learn the lesson of having chocolate
melt in our pockets not in our hands.
Something about taking large amounts of
candy to school made me happy.
It still does.

A Halloween weekend is like having a practice run.
You get two nights.
Plus a school day filled with an energetic buzz.
Friday night is open to various activities.
All day Saturday gives you time to prepare.
Then you get a late night Saturday.
So if you had a curfew you could really push it with your parents.


Today...
I'm preparing a haunted classroom and
disco dance for my newly acquired students.
Out the door to take advantage of any Halloween sales.
Then to the classroom to hang black lights, spider webs, disco balls,
and prepare the smoke machine.
Mix a few Halloween Dance tracks-
Jonas Brothers, Myley, a hokey pokey or two.
Maybe I can sneak some ABBA, Bee Gees,
and a touch of retro in between the Mambo No. 5.
I can hear the kids groan already...
"Mr. Mike? .... "that's old people music".... "my mom listens to that"...
The essential track to it all...
"Thriller"
The kids still go nuts for Michael Jackson.
They will play it over and over...

After the dance....haul it all home.
Set up my haunted lights outside.
Then maybe a night of spooky movies and carving pumpkins.
We might go out for a ghost walk or two......
haunted house perhaps, maybe visit a palm reader.

Perhaps we will go visit a certain friend
and arrive with a box of wine and enjoy a fire pit.

I love this time of year.

Every time I think of Halloween-I think of Ray Bradbury.
His imagery and words ring true with me.
I think of the Autumn People.
Dark carnivals...small towns... good and evil...
Adventure, thrills, and youth.

One of my favorite scenes is from the movie
"Something Wicked This Way Comes"
adapted from the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury.



We butter our plain bread with delicious pain...

The movie had a few issues as a whole.
However it captures a few moments for me perfectly.
After I saw the scene with Jonathan Pryce and Jason Robards ....
I knew I wanted to be an actor.
I wanted to speak like that...
I went and memorized lines from Macbeth.
I had an illustrated version of Macbeth that my Mom had given to me.
She had hopes of getting me to read something
more than"Choose your Own Adventure" books.
You remember those books?.... Can you say? ...
Crapolla!
However it did get thousands of kids to read....
I was such a nerd.
I remember sitting on the monkey bars
with my other nerdy friends at recess.
Reading such newly acquired literary treasures from the school book sale.
You remember those?
School book sales?
In the eighties they packed the shelves with anything at these sales.
Buy a cheap crappy book and then use your change to buy
a cheap kitty poster? Or a lucky colored rabbit's foot?
To this day ... not sure what a lucky rabbits foot has to do with a book sale? or books?
Besides making money?
(The standards on these sales have gotten much better)

I remember being so happy with my lime green colored rabbit's foot.
Until I got home.
My mom informed me that it came from a real rabbit.
In my excited frenzy to purchase the foot... that fact had escaped me.
I went from excited- to disturbed.
I was now the owner of something I no longer
wanted to have any association with.
The thing was like the damn "Monkey's Paw". You remember that story?
Somehow due to my own selfish greedy needs.
I had fallen prey to those evil book sale people.
I was now the owner of an evil talisman.
A green rabbits foot.
All I knew is that I needed to rid myself of this damn green foot.
So I devised a plan...
Next day at school.
While everyone wast out on the playground.
I snuck back into class.
I found Jason Morgan's back pack.

Let me tell you about Jason.....
Jason Morgan ( As big as "Oregon".. or so we nicknamed)
was the fifth grade bully.
His hands were colossal. They looked liked stacked sausages.
He was in fifth grade and he already had "man hands".
At one time or another all the kids of the playground
would feel the pounding of those meaty clubs.
Jason was known to have a short fuse.
His whole body was already as big as Mr. Benson the fourth grade teacher.
You could tell that his mom or who ever nurtured this "mass of mean"
had sewn extra elastic on his jeans because he was so big.
Plus he had really bad breath.
When he pinned you down on the playground for a beating.
You could smell his breath flowing down onto your face.
A smell of five day old pajamas, syrup and peanut butter.
Most kids would start to do the vomit dance or dry heave due to the smell.

Once in a weekly fight with him... he had me pinned down.
During the very public beating .. I was able to glance to my left.
I saw a pile of old dog crap.
I devised a quick plan.
If I could just muster enough energy to lift my knee.
I could roll Jason off of me and directly into the dog crap.
If I succeeded I would be the most celebrated student of the entire school.
Jason might have beat me in a fight...
but I would have defaced him to public ridicule.

However...
Jason saw me starring at the pile of dog crap.
In one very fluid movement.
Jason picked me up and solidly planted my head into the pile of crap.
The public ridicule that was to be his.... was now all mine.

So months later...
With a proud smile I zipped that evil talisman into Jason's backpack.
I could think of no one better to receive such a gift.

A week later Jason Morgan and his family moved to Kansas.

In a way that rabbit foot did give me luck.

I hope that you all have a fantastic Friday night.
Halloween gift bundles have been sent out.
Go do something unruly and unexpected.
Talk with you all soon,
-Mike

Halloween Video for Thursday Oct 29, 2009

Best costume for the day....