ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Up until about a week ago, I'd never set a single foot in Colorado. I've driven through a few times while on tour, but we were never able to book a show and I didn't really have any other reason to head east.

I just got home from spending almost a week there (over the course of two trips) and it was pretty great. I had no idea what to expect, but I loved the city. If it didn't snow just as much, if not more, than Salt Lake City in the winter, it would be on the list of cities that I would actually consider moving to (but probably never actually will).

The first leg of the trip, I drove out in a rental car with my friends Casey and Oz. For the second half, I flew, but met up with Casey, who drove out again with Paddy and Justin.

I covered most of the trip here and here, but I've got a bunch of other pictures, too. Some of them showed up on Instagram, some showed up on Twitter (my own and The Fucking Reserves), but there were a lot more and I didn't want to clog everyone's feed.

If you're interested, head over to check them out at my Flickr account. There's a bunch of other stuff for you to root around in, too. You can lurk my life all the way back to 2004 if your little heart desires. I don't mind.

TWO PEAS IN A POD

Remember that episode of THE SIMPSON'S where Lisa feels so bad that Ralph didn't get a Valentine at school? She took one out of her own box, erased the "To" and "From" and gave it to Ralph. He instantly fell in love with her and she ended up breaking his heart on national TV.

It was a quality episode in one of the show's best seasons (4th) and the "I Choo-Choo-Choose You" card is still a popular one to this day.

But anyway, I felt a little bit like Ralph Wiggum when I got to work on Friday and the HR department passed out Valentine's for everyone. He and I are like two peas in a pod.

And if there's ever a Valentine's Day card that so perfectly sums up my social life, this is it.

SOCHI PROBLEMS

The 2014 Winter Olympics start tomorrow in Sochi, Russia. Things aren't going so well over there.

Construction on most of the arenas and stadiums is finished and the Olympic Park looks glorious apparently, but the Russians seem to have forgotten one minor detail: there are A LOT of people coming, too.

From everything I've read, all the facilities that will be featured on TV look fantastic - because they'll be featured prominently on TV. Everything else is a different story. I've been reading up on a bunch of things this morning and it sounds like everything from where the athletes are staying to the press hotels to the visitors hotels are a mess.

These are a few of my favorites.

From Stacy St. Clair of the Chicago Tribune

My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, "do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous." #Sochi2014
— Stacy St. Clair (@StacyStClair) February 4, 2014

Then later...

Water restored, sorta. On the bright side, I now know what very dangerous face water looks like. #Sochi #unfiltered pic.twitter.com/sQWM0vYtyz
— Stacy St. Clair (@StacyStClair) February 4, 2014

From Dan Wetzel of Yahoo!

To anyone in Sochi: I am now in possession of three light bulbs. Will trade for a door handle. This offer is real: pic.twitter.com/7AeesqDi8Y
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) February 4, 2014

From pro snowboarder Sebastien Toutant

Well that's interesting... Sochi rules in the bathrooms!! #haha #olympics pic.twitter.com/xacSVimwXY
— Sebastien Toutant (@SebToots) February 1, 2014

From Euro News:

#Sochiproblems: baffled Olympic journalists tweet surprising, gross finds http://t.co/ZILTaJfPxJ pic.twitter.com/7f7z2upNLK
— euronews (@euronews) February 5, 2014

From Ilya Yashin, who finds the dual toilets just as ridiculous as everyone else:

Прибывающие на олимпийские игры иностранные спортсмены с удовольствием позируют в диковинных туалетах города Сочи pic.twitter.com/NFzUmybHar
— Илья Яшин (@IlyaYashin) February 3, 2014

From Stephen Whyno on the men's Canadian Hockey team rooms:

Crosby could have to sleep in one of these beds. No frills for Canada men's hockey: http://t.co/ismTHD9s6h pic.twitter.com/5e7sWrYSSK
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) February 4, 2014

From Jo-Ann Barnas of the Detroit Free Press

Watch your step @Sochi2014 -- I've noticed on walkway and on sidewalks that not all man holes are always covered. pic.twitter.com/a5Nv4wu5iA
— Jo-Ann Barnas (@JoAnnBarnas) February 1, 2014

I'm sure there will be more to come. After all, the games haven't even started yet.

MAIN STREET - SALT LAKE CITY

I love pictures of old Utah. I'm pretty sure this is Main Street around 200 South. No idea how long ago this was taken though.

NOIR

Someday I'll make a movie just so I can get the chance to do a "film noir" style credit sequence.

And maybe, if I'm lucky and creative enough, I can give the TOUCH OF EVIL opening a run for its money. It's one of my favorite opening sequences of all time. Watch it if you haven't before.

POOR PLANNING

You'd think they might be a little more careful with the placement of these two posters.

Poor Abe just can't catch a break.

FILLER

I'm way behind on this stuff.

Craft Lake City came and went and I had a lot of fun. I wish I'd had more stuff to sell and a more coherent table, but since I didn't have any of the comics done, I kind of had to make some stuff up as I went along.

The mini-comics were a pretty good idea and we probably gave away a hundred or so. Hopefully people liked what they saw enough to check out this site (which I've neglected to update and therefor probably missed a pretty good opportunity, but oh well).

After CLC was over, I had 4 weddings over the next 5 weeks and the Salt Lake City Film Festival right after, so each one of my days off was dedicated to all that. Now that it's finally all over, everything from the last month and a half caught up with me, I got sick and pretty much been stuck to the couch for the past three days. Though I did have a chance to re-watch John Carpenter's THE THING, so it hasn't been all bad.

Anyway, here's a little bit about FILLER.

I've always loved zines. I have a little collection of the old HC and art zines I used to pick up back when they were popular and always wanted to make my own. I kind of did that with Grudge City Activities for a while, but that was the Internet and not quite as fun. I wanted to make something you could hold in your hands, throw on your coffee table and look at again and again.

Now, getting content that people wanted to look at again and again proved to be a little trickier than I'd thought.

Since I'd spent so much time on GCA writing about music, I kind of wanted to avoid that subject all together for FILLER. That, and I'm a little bit out of touch with the music scene around SLC right now, so that's kind of the way it had to be. I recruited a few of my talented friends and we put something together that, while it's not a game-changer by any means, I'm still really proud of.

I got my friend Makena to write a quick little piece about his journey to South America. and my friend Mikey contributed a section of the novel he's writing. I did a little interview with Andy from Pangea Speed and a really talented photographer named Candace Christensen. I even threw in a little poem I wrote a few years back. That's probably the thing that scared me the most, strangely.

I tried really hard to keep the content original. I toyed with the idea of taking some of the stuff I wrote on here and putting it in, but ultimately decided that it would be a lot cooler if it everything was created just for the zine.

It ended up being about 20 pages and I'm actually really happy with the way it turned out.

There were a few more pieces that never quite came together, so hopefully I can use them for issue 2. And there definitely will be an issue 2. I'm thinking December-ish and then try and keep to a schedule of one every 4 months. April, August and December sounds pretty good. The December issue might be a little easier to put together since I won't have a job after next month (more on that later).

I'm keeping my eyes open for more stuff from people I know, so hopefully issue 2 will be even better, but for now, here's a look inside the first issue. If you want a copy, just head over to my Big Cartel store and pick one up.

Hopefully you like what you see. There's more where it came from.

Mike Farfel's drawing

Candace Christensen

TRUE AT FIRST LIGHT

A lot of times I'll tell people about all the fun stuff I do with my friends—all of whom are in their late 20s or early 30s—and I'm met with blank stares. They think about it for a few seconds and say something like, "Aren't you guys a little old to be doing stuff like that?"

This is what I always say to them.

MR. ROGERS HAS SOMETHING TO SAY TO YOU

This is probably 100% out of context, but it doesn't matter.

INSTAGRAM

My favorite way to waste time in lines and at stoplights. Isn't that what it's for? Let's do this.

@trevorhale

Even Jon Bon Jovi Jr. needs financial assistance every so often.

I actually think you're an asshole.

Karl Malone

Surveillance Cam Parties.

You're required to Instagram any and all sporting events you attend.

50

Ian Mackaye has been punk as fuck for half a century and counting.

ONE DAY AS A LION

My mom used to know a guy that kept a lion as a pet. He lived up in the Midway/Heber/Park City area and he used to put it in the back of his pick-up truck and take it with him to the grocery store. I would have loved to see that.

He also had a huge farm with lots of hired hands helping him maintain it. Then something happened, he went crazy, started killing the workers and burying them on his land. I think he's still in prison. I can't remember his name or what happened to the lion. I watched a 20/20 special about him that my uncle had taped (VHS style), but I don't remember the details.

That's what I think about when I see these photos.

But this isn't him or his family. It's someone else that kept a lion as a pet, which would be amazing but completely and utterly stressful.

The rest of the photoset is here.

MIXED

My friends have been on a Land Rover kick lately, buying up old ones for the winter while their motorcycles hibernate until the days it's nice enough to haul them out (which has been kind of a lot this "winter").

Brook's has a tape deck in it, so he asked if I had any old cassettes sitting around that he could borrow. Of course I did, because for some reason I can't seem to get rid of shit like that. Though they were all sitting in parents basement, that way I could still have them but not actually have to deal with them. Sorry Mom and Dad.

Anyway, I went up there a few weeks ago and grabbed the box that I could find. I know there's another one somewhere up there, because it's the box that has the original Rhythm and Rhymes (a story for another day) recordings. I just didn't have time to look for it.

I did find these gems though. There's a nice mixture of all the ones I made in high school when I'd take my Walkman to school, run the headphones up the back of my shirt and sit with my long hair over my ears to conceal the earbuds. That way I could listen to "The FAT Mix" (FAT WRECK CHORDS bands), Nirvana, Pearl Jam and AFI while we learned about geography. There are also the ones I made right after I got into buying records (none of which I have anymore) and actually wanted to listen to them without owning a record player. Luckily my parents had a humungous stereo with a turntable and dual cassette deck that made things a lot easier.

I used to be great at making mix tapes. I still am, but they lose a lot of their luster when they're done digitally. But since tapes are making a comeback (like all things that died for a reason), maybe I'll get back in to it. I've still got a closet full of CD's and stereo with a working tape player somewhere.

CRAWL

This was pulled out of the creek next to my work a few weeks ago. The atmosphere only added to it.

APOLLO

Of course I made Brandon take my picture next to an Apollo spacesuit at the Planetarium.

TODAY'S LESSON

THE TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGIN'

Engaged, Pre-engaged (don't ask) and Engaged/Expecting Father. Time flies when you're having fun.

KING OF THE WORLD

Weird that I've never been to the top of the Library until today.

COMMUNITY

I love this show. For many more reasons than just these two, but these are two pretty great reasons.

THIS DAY SO HALLOWED

You know what made this year's Halloween different from like the last 6?

I actually dressed up this year. Twice.

Okay, maybe 'dressed up' is a little too strong a word (or two). Usually I'm at work all day on Halloween, and dressing up while serving tables is awkward and not very fun. Also, I usually don't do anything on Halloween weekend because I have to be up at 6:30 in the morning. Mostly though, I think of an awesome costume idea sometime on Saturday and spend 2 hours in the evening trying to put that specific costume together and give up when it's not working.

Last time I actually dressed up was somewhere around 2005. It was a hell of a costume though, as you can see.

Pretty good, right? And that hair ain't too bad either, if I do say so myself.

This year, even though I didn't really have any plans for Halloween, I wanted to make a costume that would be easy to carry around—one that I could just leave in my car and put on if something came up. And I decided on the perfect one—Kuato from TOTAL RECALL. The thing about this costume was that anyone that knew who I was would be really excited, but anyone that didn't would just stare at me blankly. That's what a good costume does. It was pretty easy to make, mostly because it was horribly shoddy.

I did have to tear apart three dolls to make it work, but those cost me a grand total of $1.50 from the thrift store, the chest piece was a whopping $13 and the rubber cement was two bucks. Perfect price for not having anything planned.

Work was a different story. I thought I might get better tips if people saw that I was in the spirit of the holiday, but that wasn't quite the case. I couldn't wear Kuato to work because it was uncomfortable and not very appropriate, so I had to come up with something else. I settled on wearing a jersey and shorts and being an NBA player forced to get a new job. Unfortunately no one got it and most just thought I wore pajamas to work. And tipped like shit because of it.

Oh well. I was proud of myself. Even went to a couple of Hallween parties to celebrate by standing around, silently judging everyone else's costumes. 

It was weird not seeing an overkill of one specific costume like in years past—a la Heath Ledger's Joker. I think the one costume I saw the most of was a Black Swan. But even then, I only saw maybe three (and one White Swan).

Am I wrong? Was there another pop culture costume that people just drove into the ground (discounting zombies)?

All in all, I felt it was a successful weekend and some pretty good costumes on my part.

This was an amazing piece to read, wasn't it.