Not every idea I have is a good one. I accept that. I wallow in my bad ideas. For instance, just because the subculture of grungy weird at Slack Plaza and the bus terminal appeals to me doesn’t mean it’s good for the blog — at least it’s not my magic bullet. It’s not good for every project. Today is a good example of that. The powers that be want audio. They want video. They want me to channel the dead and get them to do watercolor pictures.

So, today, I stopped by with microphone in hand and some harmless questions. It turned out, not so well. The audio sucked. The wind distorted it and the participants weren’t all that interesting. Too much work editing it for too little, I figure. So, here are the high points. (more…)

I hate fruitcake. I really, really hate the stuff. Now, I didn’t come to that easily. I’m a fan of food. I like cake. I like fruit, but I’m not a fan of the combination of the two. I’ve given it a noble try. From the oily, slightly butane-flavor of the store bought brick varieties (some of which will literally build walls inside your large intestine), to the alcohol-soaked homemade varieties (most of which are usually good wastes of booze), I’ve chewed my way through a metric ton of soggy or solid baked goods wrapped in plastic, foil or paper that were better not swallowed.

Oh, how I’ve tried…

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This one is for the Batman fans. Now, you may believe you’ve seen the pictures of Heath Ledger as the Joker. I know what I’ve seen and I’m not entirely convinced the leaked images are all that’s in store. Given how little fanfare the spread of those images recieved, I tend to think there’s a lot more on the way. I have a hard time imagining a major studio giving away the biggest draw to a summer blockbuster for free. Whatever, really. It’s just a movie.

However, if you’re maybe a little curious, here’s a way to see how the Joker is shaping up. The cards are supposedly going to be removed slowly over time, so you have to check back every now and again to see his face. It’s a gift that keeps on giving and something to look forward to a little.

Meanwhile, in keeping with the holiday spirit, here’s a Christmas favorite from virtually everyone’s childhood.

One of my favorite parts of the holiday is the drive-by gifting process at the office. Admittedly, not every office participates in some kind of gift exchange. Occasionally, very occasionally, I’ve worked for people who gave bonuses to their employees and thus eliminated the sad need for employees to prop up each other through the holidays.

Often however, I’ve worked for companies that gave things like staff shirts and stationary. Nothing quite says ‘ha-ha-holidays’ like giving your workers clothing and office products with your company’s logo slapped on it. Seriously, cash is fine. No need to think so hard. (more…)

It’s that time of year again. 

Before I even get into what I’m up to, let me go ahead and mention I have a long and tortured history when it come to Christmas as an adult. Those of you who have followed my other blog, know that I frequently complain about holidays. Christmas gets the worst of my whining. Since my mid-twenties, the holiday has mostly been one kind of letdown or another. This was before I realized the only way to get through was to make the the holiday my own. When did I realize this, you might ask? I realized this 10 minutes ago.

But rather than just go all bah-humbug and because I need something to write about for the blog, over the next month I’ll be blogging rather heavily about having yourself a strange little Christmas. In a town where the animals in a live nativity scene are not safe, that may not be too difficult. So, stop by for fantastically cheap, tacky and/or inappropriate gift ideas, holiday recipes and other general mayhem.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving. People are watching the clock and dreaming about kicking the sides out of a couple of the seven popular sins. It’s a day for turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie, football and wandering around the house in your underwear until almost noon, embarrassing your mother-in-law.

Nope. Nothing is getting accomplished today and I’m not helping. Have a groovy Thanksgiving. Hope they let you sit at the big people’s table.

Rebecca Spencer writes an art blog called Carpe You Some Diem! She teaches an art class at a school in Charleston and blogs about art as an artist, art fan and art teacher in West Virginia. Posts with her vary from art projects from her class to her own art to art she’s paying attention to. She also throws in the occasional announcement that you may have missed about events at a local gallery.

It’s cool stuff and good for your artistic soul.

Dave Gustafson has left the building. Dave (among his duties as one of the first Gazette web editors) was one of the team (a legion, really) who watches over my blog and makes sure little ol’ me doesn’t do anything incredibly stupid that might result in a lawsuit. Honestly, I’ve never quite understand the fuss. I’m harmless. “Blog in My Soup,” for instance, is far more controversial. I think they used the word booger in one of their posts. I’ve never done that — well, not until this post. You can look it up.

Anyway, Dave’s been great. According to what I hear, he’s accepted a position in DC helping with the Animatronics for some PBS show. Possibly, he will be the guy responsible for making Charlie Rose lift his coffee mug. (That might be Larry King.) Whichever one of them is the puppet. [Ed. note: Actually, he took a job as one of the editors of the online website of the PBS show ‘The News Hour with Jim Lehrer]

So, best of luck to Dave for the new job, the new city and the new life. Here’s hoping he finds many strange places. But it’s Washington. What are the odds of that?

When it comes to Charleston’s blogging community, few get the traffic or attention that Hippie Killer gets with The Fifth Column. Comparisons are hard to make, but he’s a commentator, fire-breather and muckraker. He’s often profane, sometimes completely wrong, but always engaging and thought-provoking. He frequently throws in his thoughts about everything from Mountain Stage’s lineup and local blogzilla Don Surber to the ongoing weirdness of state government.

He gives little quarter and is usually critical of all the above things.

The sheer number of people I know who read him is startling. Some of the Mountain Stage crew read him. He gets read here in the newsroom and over at WVPBS. He’s watched by lawyers and business people. There are rumors he’s read all the way up to the actual halls of power in this state. Pretty heady stuff, I imagine, though I have a hard time imagining the guv reading a blog… any blog. He doesn’t strike me as being particularly interested in that kind of technology since it doesn’t involve turning coal into a tasty breakfast drink or some other substance that’s sold for over three dollars a gallon.

I read the Fifth Column every day. I envy his hit count, and my only complaint is his undying man-love for The Boss. We’ll never agree on that.

The boss is off this week to hang out with the whole Create West Virginia thing. It’s not a bad thing. Based on the principles outlined, the idea is to attract creative types with dough to invest or start up businesses. They do this and it injects money into your economy, fills state coffers and life improves much like the end of a Disney film. You do this by having smart and creative people for these creative business types to hire, by having a lot of technological innovation (gadgets or services to power their gadgets) and by being tolerant of whatever lifestyle these people happen to practice. It also helps if the place you’re trying to attract the creative people to isn’t some post-apocalyptic wasteland inhabited by mutant cannibals -unless you’re into that kind of thing.

Unless you count those pesky mountaintop removal places, West Virginia has the scenery — lots of places to mountain bike, rock climb and potentially be crippled in a recreation-related accident. So we’ve got one of the four — maybe two if we say we’re smart and can do things, too. I can’t attend with my ideas to attract wealthy creative types, so I thought I’d post my suggestions here. (more…)