birthday boys are the new awesome

Sometimes if you're very special and if you and your roommate are the male equivalents of Rebecca and I except in Los Angeles instead of San Francisco, you get your very own happy birthday blog post.

Mix Cd Contests are the new awesome

My friend brigham and i have been making mix cds for eachother since before there were even cds to make mixes on and we had to use those old fashioned tape things. it has become quite a tradition over the years.

After brigham's recent visit to San Francisco, we decided to step our mix-making abilites up a notch, and have a mix-making contest created and judged by none other than the lovely Betsy.

We were given a theme and a deadline:

Songs that rocked your world...until you played them 10,000 times too many

and these are the mixes that were created and exchanged:

i used to love you but its all over now
by brigham barnes

Kiss Me - Sixpence None the Richer
Pacman - Sifl and Olly
The Percolator - Casjmere
Daft Punk is Playing at My House - LCD Soundsystem
Girl Don't Tell Me - Beach Boys
Magical Mr. Mistoffelees - Cats
Seven - Prince
Block Rockin' Beats - Chemical Brothers
Can I Have It Like That - Pharrel ft. Gwen Stefani
Apply Some Pressure - Maximo Park
Just - Mark Ronson's version of the Radiohead song
I Luv U - Dizzee Rascal
Rock DJ - Robbie Williams
The Arrested Development Theme
Baby Baby - Amy Grant

my ears are bleeding
by rebecca gholdston


(since birth)* Fun, Fun, Fun - the Beach Boys
(1991) * Straight Up - Paula Abdul
(1992) * To Be With You - Mr. Big
(1993) * Laid - James
(1994) * Basket Case - Green Day
(1995) * Corduroy - Pearl Jam
(1996) * He Wants Me Back - Dance Hall Crashers
(1997) * Jolene - Spring Heeled Jack
(1998) * Traffic Tickets - the Gadjits
(1999) * The Story of Nothing - the Aquabats
(2000) * Não Tô Entendendo - P.O.Box
(2001) * New Slang - the Shins
(2002) * King of Carrot Flowers - Neutral Milk Hotel
(2003) * Going to Marrakesh - Extra Glenns (Mountain Goats)
(2004) * Epitaph For My Heart - the Magnetic Fields
(2005) * Romulus - Sufjan Stevens
(2006) * Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games - Of Montreal


I made mine a sort of anthology of the music of my life, unabashedly documenting my brief dip into monster ballads and my serious ska/punk years. I think Brigham's cd was very effective, because it has made me start listening to the Beach Boys' "Girl Don't Tell Me" over and over and over.

Betsy still has to judge the cds, but you are welcome to download them here and rock out til your own ears bleed:
(available for download for a very short time ...)

i used to love you but its all over now

my ears are bleeding

Being Famous is the new awesome

One great way to get famous:

1) start a film fest that tours the country

2) book an interview on a local news show

3) eat a gallon of Blues Clues icecream right before going on the air, and then after saying your brief bit about the film festival, throw up all over the news desk

4) sit back and enjoy the fame as the video of you puking gets featured on sites all over the internet, people discuss whether or not they think you did it on purpose or not on various discussion boards, and make it onto some really respected shows like VH1's Web Junk and sites like boingboing.



click here to see our friend tyrone's video over and over and over and over...

Monster Rally art is the new awesome

on friday i headed over to Southern Exposure for the 6th annual Monster Drawing Rally, a fundraising event where hundreds of local artists cram into the gallery and get an hour to produce some on-the-fly art, which is then hung on the walls and sold at $50 bucks a pop to the whoever can buy it first.



They tell you that it is an "action-packed spectacle that you won't want to miss," but the spectacle is mostly in the people-watching (if you are interested in looking at lots of people that are hipper, better dressed and probably more artistic than you.)

Lots of San Francisco's favorite local artists come out for the show, and this year none other than Casey Smith was a participant.

Casey got the 8pm-9pm time period. I asked him before he started if he had an idea of what he was going to draw, and he said "temples on fire, and probably clouds." (if you know Casey and his art at all, you know that I didn't even need to ask the quesiton, because OF COURSE he was going to draw temples on fire and clouds.)

Here is Casey, being all officially artistic:





And this is a better shot of the whole show from the balcony:


If you notice in the lower right hand side of that shot, there is a guy in a red sweatshirt shaking people's hands. Most people have conventional ways of producing their art (ie at the table provided to them) but this guy had rigged a machine to hang around his neck so that every time he shook someone's hand, a pencil made a mark on the paper.


I saw some art hanging upstairs that I can only assume was more of his:


art, art art everywhere you look


so, yeah. there was lots of good art there, but let's be honest - i am still not sure if any of it was better than the glowing meat stick art at our favorite taqueria, El Farolito, after the show

Competition is the new awesome

The Olympic bug has bitten many of us here in San Francisco. Rebecca and I included. Favorite sport thus far? This:

This picture was taken on Monday night right after the Italian guy ice dancer dropped the Italian girl ice dancer. Ouch!


Anyway...the Olympics has spawned some friendly competition between Rebecca and I here around our apartment including
1) Fastest shower (includes shaving your legs and washing your hair)
2) Most accurate mascara application sans mirror
3) Best rendition of When in Rome's The Promise with 4 peanut butter cookies in your mouth

Tonight's competition was who can make the best dinner!
Rebecca made this:

I made this:

I win!

As important as the winner's glory, is the loser's punishment and humiliation. Here's a few of the best worst punishments:
1) Drinking milk through hair
2) Licking bugs off a car bumper
3) Eating a booger sandwich

Top that.

Copycats are the new awesome

It turns out, when you live with someone for a few years, it is hard to not dress alike, listen to the same music, and buy all the same stuff.

So of course, i didn't even blink when betsy came home one day sporting a new razor phone, just like mine.


And i didn't say anything when i noticed that she even started copying me when i was being a girl. no big deal, right?


granted, it might have gone a little too far when betsy came back from christmas vacation sporting a new hairstyle....

(before christmas vacation):


(after christmas vacation):


but now I don't even feel bad that I am going to buy a new camera that looks just like hers this week.

Coincidences are the new awesome

FACT: There are well over 3000 restaurants in the city of San Francisco

FACT*: Betsy and I have only visited 3% of those restaurants

FACT: There are approximately 16,634.4 persons per square mile in San Francisco

FACT: Despite those overwhelming odds, Betsy and I both went out with separate groups of people on Saturday night, and ended up in the same restaurant that we had both never been to, or even heard of.

COINCIDENCE (duh duh duh)?

well, actually yes, it was quite a coincidence.



* not as much a fact as an educated guess

Crushes are the new awesome

Guys...let's talk about love.

Take this guy for instance, one minute he's all up on my roommate's trash


then 30 seconds later he wants a piece of this hot action.


Seriously. You guys. Love.

Blogging is the new awesome

Someone had to take the documentation of all the awesome going down in San Francisco into their own hands. Prepare yourselves - betsy and i are about to tell you more about it than you probably want to know.