Frenzy Art

This awesome switchplate was a gift from Selma M.
She comments on my blogs, drinks tequila with me, makes me laugh, flings corn and mashed potatos onto my shirt, and cries when I give her the perfect photo.
Selma has more of my prints than anyone else.

Apparently she saw this in some funky shop near Dallas and knew I would love it, and man was she right.
Firstly, I've been really into skulls for the last few years, especially Mexican Day Of The Dead imagery.
When she gave it to me I had just been offered my dream job of playing bass with my favorite local musicians and what do you know?
The mohawked skeleton is playing a bass.
Plus there are stage lights (another big thing with me) and a cool coffin guitar case.
When my new band starts doing gigs I won't be wearing shorts, but who wants to bet against me having my first-ever mohawk?

I have it on the light/ceiling fan switch 6 feet to my right, so I can see it all the time.
Thanks, Selma!!!
You nailed me with this suprise gift.

"Frenzy Art is Functional Art & Diabolical Gifts Celebrating the Mexican Day of the Dead (...& every other day).
Frenzy Art comes from the mind of artist Ladislao Loera."

I don't have any contact info, but Google shouldn't have any trouble.

Enchilagna

I'm going to assume that you already know how to make enchiladas.
We took a pound of 90/10 ground beef plus all the other usual ingredients like onions, grated cheese and enchilada sauce, then made a layered casserole just like you would prepare lasagna, in a 9x9" Pyrex dish.
(I'm also assuming you have a passing aquaintance with the structure of lasagna).

Cutting the corn tortillas in half makes it easier to get their edges to cooperate with a square pan.

The main thing is that you don't have to fry the tortillas, or fill and roll them.
This cuts out a ton of prep time, so you're saying "Mmmm...oh my God...more!!!" at least half an hour sooner and the taste is pretty much the same.

Using tortillas that haven't been fried means less grease, which is good for you.

Bat Bombs

This is a little weird, taking a screenshot from my own website to provide content for one of my others.



And during WWI a batcave on Cibolo Creek was a guano mine (bat poop) because the stuff has lots of nitrogen and phosphorous.
Nowadays it's sold as fertilizer and mosquito repellent, but back then they used it to make gunpowder and grenades or something like that.

The cave I'm talking about (I've seen WWI-era photos and it's the same one) was behind our 'hood and we played there all the time.
At age 6 or seven I was sitting in the rear entrance talking to another boy, then decided to see what my little gang decided on for a password. They had started a fire with my matches and were kicking the burning sticks through a hole into the bat's part of the cave.

We heard a loud noise.

Returning to the rear entrance I saw that a boulder the size of a dorm room fridge had come loose from above and was now sitting right where I had been minutes before.
Would have flattened me, with nothing but my Levis and Keds sticking out.
I returned a dozen years later and the big rock was still there.
5 years after that it was gone--due to erosion it broke loose and rolled out the main entrance to land in the creek bed, breaking into smaller chunks.

So yeah--me and the bats go way back.

I used to collect their bones from the limestone powder on the floor of a smaller cave nearby, but never could get a complete skeleton. This other cave has been hidden for decades and I doubt today's wild boys even know it exists.

Fun With Craig'sList

If you don't poke around Craig'sList every once in a while, you're missing out.
I hate eBay and refuse to go there--arbitrary PayPal Nazi tactics are only one of the reasons.
But Craig'sList is local and personal, like the newspaper classified ads but online.
Unless you really want something from another city's listings, just cruise the local ads and if something looks good meet the seller in a Denny's parking lot and make the deal, or get stabbed for your wallet and car.


Here's an ad upon which I desire to comment:


First, we have a seller with some flair--the "min.... ol...... ta!" bit is funny.
Do you think he actually knows that over the last 6 months new Sony DSLR owners (like myslef) have driven the demand and price of used Minolta lenses through the roof? Had I bought the lens I wanted in 2008 I could have saved a bundle--now I can just forget about it. The days of cheap Minolta glass that fits the new Sony's is over.
Or is it?
This seller is throwing out a body, flash, and 3 lenses for just $200.
The big lens on the lower left I don't need, but the one upper-middle looks like something that is very popular right now, and at this price should make my wallet sweat.

But let's move on to the camera body--"The shutter button broke" is an understatement. Looks to me like the shutter button exploded and took out some nearby nuns with the shrapnel.
I'm also seeing a standard hotshoe on top of the body--just how old IS this thing?
Every Minolta (and Sony) I've seen uses something that couldn't be more different from what everyone else uses.

Let's look at some of the other photos in this ad:
Yeah, it looks like the shutter button "broke" alright.
I love his comment about how if you can find the part it will be a cheap fix.
The part(s) are no longer available anywhere except mounted correctly in other used cameras, so barring a lucky yard sale find you'll be shit out of luck.
Write this body down as 'No Sale'.

Another view of the busted shutter button, but at least we can see the quality of the included lens caps.
Awesome!

Can't make out the flash's model number/name here.

Seeing a pattern?
Despite his claim to know what all this stuff is worth (so you don't try to rip him off) this seller clearly doesn't know shit about anything.

The other two "apartment balcony over the car port" photos are just as blurry as the ones I've posted here.
If our knowledgeable seller is using a digital point and shoot camera, he doesn't know about the button with the little flower icon that tells the camera to try and focus really close-up.
If he's using a modern digital SLR, he's clueless about both the minimum focus distance for his lens and the need to "chimp" pictures you've taken to make sure they are exposed and focused correctly.

I wouldn't buy seven quarters for a dollar from this idiot.




The ads for musical gear on Craig'sList can be just as 'tarded.
I'm keeping an eye out for the gems worth posting here.


Chimping is a photographer's technical term meaning to look at the LCD screen while reviewing the shot(s) you just took, then making ape faces and sounds when the results are good.
I once spent an entire downtown street fair shooting nothing but other chimpers--it was a great series that will never be seen.

Sony's New Crap

Warning--Not Work-Safe!!
Don't click on the video below if multiple F-bombs aren't welcome.


Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

Please Don't...

...try those jeans on right there.