fresh meat!

My other bike is a Cruiser.

What do you get when you combine drinking and biking and gambling? A big fat knee thats what you get. The Cruiser Bike Poker Ride of 2002 was a memorable event. The weather was perfect, the bikes were beautiful and everything almost came off without a hitch.
For those not familiar with the concept of a Poker Ride I will elaborate. I think these events started in the motorcycle or snowmobiler world. Basically you ride from bar to bar and draw a card at each stop to form a Poker hand. Best hand wins the pot at the end of the ride. Bryn Jacobsen, owner of Boreal Bike Works and I have both taken part in the CAMBA trail Poker Rides in the past and had often dreamed of having a more urban ride here in Duluth.
The first "Ace's High Cruiser Bike Poker Ride" attracted 9 hardy souls. We started the ride at Bryn's shop on 8th St. and wound our way from the hillside, through the West End, the graffiti graveyard, Canal Park, Downtown, the Lakewalk and a planned end stop at Sir Benedicts. Everything was going great. We brought our bikes in to each bar and there was much merriment. Near the end of the ride I got in to a race with the infamous Dusty Olson on the Lakewalk. As we came to the hill near Leif Erickson Park I was pulling away and pedalling my bike harder then I ever had. Thats when it happened. My chain derailed and all the momentum of the race turned toward the ground and the first thing to hit the ground was my left knee. Ouch.
We continued on to Sir Benedict's, got a big bag of ice and only then did I pull up my pants to evalute the damage. The word Grapefruit was the first thing that came to mind. Nothing was broken but to this day that knee gets achy when the barometer drops.

We had a ride again this past fall. There were some new faces, a few less bar stops and no racing. We hope to have this event on both equinoxes in the future so stay tuned.

(click on small photos for bigger ones)

Down deep we all knew it....

THE BIG DEEPS

The mighty Amity Falls.

Turns out

...the days of the Professor Party may already be over. In our wrangling over our separation, my wife and I have agreed that I should move out of that fabulous space. It's hard to get it up for parties in the face of such major bummage. But on the other hand, someday she'll move and I'll get to move back, and party.

In the meantime, I think I just scored a room in Lisa K. Rockstar's house, and if you know her, you know she likes a good party....

Your horoscope: next few weeks will see some changes.

Starfire---Dentist Appointment!

HURRY!!!!

And the winner is!

Heres the facts.

name | Haydn Allan Lunt
weight | 7lbs. 15oz.
height | 20.5"
birth time | 9:10am

Mother and baby are doing swell. My mother says he's cuter than his older brother was but then he didn't make the trip down the birth canal either so there ya have it. I hope to have pictures soon (minus the penis.)

Yee Haw!

I'm an Uncle! (again.)

My sister-in-law should be recovering nicely by now at Methodist Hospital in Rochester, MN. She had a C-Section scheduled for 7:30 this morning and so by now my 2nd nephew should have arrived in this world. His name might he Sam or Haydn and his middle name could be Scott or James or Allan.

This weekend I will trek to Austin, MN. to hold my nephew and cange a diaper or two. By the way, the picture above is not of my nephew. I will post a pic just as soon as I get one.

Oh. It's really cold out.

Let's move it along...

it's time for this week's roundup kids

and i thought i was tough check out diana jean!

Poll Results.

Donny Ness:

Machiavellian Prince of Darkness? [28 votes, 57.14%]

Supreme Sovereign of Strategy? [21 votes, 42.86%]

what ever happened to hanoi jane?

she used to be so cool

Bring it on

Finally, a big-ass snow storm.
THIS is a perfect Duluth day.

But is it art?

Cloud Cult rocked

For those of you who missed it, Cloud Cult at Luce was awesome.

I have known Craig for some time, through all his hard times of the past few years. I just gotta say, he has had more pain in his life than anyone should bear, but he is alchemically turning it into light. Craig/Cloud Cult prove that some people never lose their openness, goodness, and inner divine spark, even when by rights they should be bitter, angry, and broken. Craig is Christ-like, and that is no mere hyperbole. I love that guy. Go to www.earthology.net and buy Aurora Borealis.

Pretty Comments

Good news, everyone -- I finally got around to upgrading our comment form. After a whopping $10 investment and 15 minutes worth of tinkering, the look fuses better with the rest of the site, there are no ads or smilies, and there's a rich-text function that allows us to easily use bold, italics, hyperlinks, etc.

Try it out.

message for German Chris

i can't get into my email easily today, so i hope you get this. Look in the lost and found at the Bremen train station. I left your hat there. (I doubt i will need this Asia.) Thanks for everything. Especially the boggle at the bicycle bar. (starfire, if you ever visit Germany.... this place is for you)

But first.....

How dumb are you?

Not to criticize

I know I'm new, so I probably shouldnt criticize this blog, but I couldnt help that PDD pales in comparison to this blog. I mean really, lets try to make the same kind of quality blog that that blog has.

We are nothing...and everything.

"http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/"

Pepe.

Meet Pepe. Sweet little Pepesito spent last week at my pad whilst the Doogla was sunning in Mexico. As you can imagine being so small and relatively hairless does not agreee with our Minnesota winters. Pepe spends most of the late fall through early summer perched next to a heat vent, under the covers or basking in the radiant warmth of the sun.

He is not your best friend on first meeting. In fact it can take 2 or 3 visits before he will even tolerate your presence with out some barking and snapping. When you do make it to his inner- circle you will be rewarded with sweet sweet nose lickings and gentle coos of contentment while he sleeps inside your jacket.

I am in fact Pepe's Godfather. I was there when Dougie picked him from the litter of chihua/rat terrier mix puppies. You could tell right away that Pepe was special. He didn't run with the pack but stood unafraid and proud.

Pepe is 8 or 9 this year and is showing some grey but has not slowed down much. If you are ever travelling down East 8th St and hear the incessant barking of a small dog, thats Pepe. Say hi.

No Professor Party on Friday

Go to Cloud Cult on Saturday at Luce instead.

i thought i had bad luck..

until i read about a VICTIM HIT BY 3 VEHICLES here

Say Uncle

Two weeks ago, my sister had a baby. I want to be a good uncle, and I've been reflecting on all the wisdom and inspiration my 5 uncles passed on to me. Here are 38 years of uncle advice distilled into one blog post.

"Don't get between that cow and the barn. She'll crush you."

"That's the clutch, that's the brake, that's the gas. Steer away from the pond."

"Hold on 17, take a hit at 16. Unless the dealer's showing a 3 or something."

"Never start smoking. It's a filthy disgusting habit." Of course he was lighting up at the time.

"You can't win big money if you can't wager big money."

"Want a present? Pull my finger."

"Don't pee on your bandage again. If you do, your dad's fixing it this time."

"Carter was a good president."

"Carter was a horrible president"

"Wedding gifts -- another generation of dust collecting crap."

"Go ahead, get back on that horse. She won't throw you again."

"How 'bout that? That horse really doesn't like you."

OK so I was wrong

...about Dean winning Iowa. How embarrassing. Gosh, do you think any of those Gonzo Science columns could have been wrong too?!?

Let me just say, for you Dean watchers, that it is only Iowa; it would have been really great to win it and would have put us in a stronger position to beat Bush later, but whatever. Dean could even lose New Hampshire and still clean up on Super Tuesday. He has strong organizations in all those states and is still the most successful fundraising machine the Democratic Party has ever seen.

Remember too that neither Reagan nor Clinton won Iowa.

I know I am going to continue to send Dean as much money as I can. He is still the best candidate IMHO.

Nothing Makes Me Laugh More NOW and Cry Less LATER than These Quizzes

Are you damned?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

You're coming back! And if you are a Hindu you are going to have very specific characteristics:

"The slayer of a woman and the destroyer of embryos becomes a savage full of diseases; who commits illicit intercourse, a eunuch; who goes with his teacher’s wife, disease-skinned. The eater of flesh becomes very red; the drinker of intoxicants, one with discolored teeth...." (Garuda Purana)

What Kind of Drunk Are You?

i'm in heaven

i just got this little beauty in the mail. the dvd, not the poster

Poll Results.

What is your favorite January activity?

Hibernation [10 votes, 8.5%]
Nordic Skiing [3 votes, 2.65%]
Binge Drinking [18 votes, 15.93%]
Pot-lucking [8 votes, 7.08%]
Movie Marathons [11 votes, 9.73%]
Overeating [4 votes, 3.54%]
Alpine skiing [0 votes, 0.00%]
Ice fishing [3 votes, 2.65%]
Planning your garden [3 votes, 2.65%]
Insanity [53 votes, 46.90%]

I emailed Bob Mould.

You know Bob right? Husker Du, Sugar, Brasilia Crossed with Trenton? Well like everyone now he has a Blog.

I sorta missed out on Husker Du. I was a scared early adolescent when they were playing a lot. It wasn't till the Urban Guerillas that I started going out to see music. I missed seeing the Replacements too and all those other great 80's Mpls bands.

I did see Bob play solo recently while out on tour with Low. I had just injured my knee in a Cruiser Bike Poker Ride accident (damn Dusty Olson) and I was unable to stand without intense pain. I was a bit dissaponted in his show. His acoustic guitar sounded awful to me, maybe it was the sound guys fault but between that and my knee I was dissapointed.

Well I emailed Bob about his lack of a comment section and to invite him to play in Duluth sometime. He actually responded right away. He said his Blog would get out of control with comments and I spose it would.

Ice Crystal Rainbow Effect Over Lake Superior This Morning

good times.

Obligatory Post Party Post

I just want to give a quick shout out to all you chooch-town rockers, cybernetic webloggers, Ripsaw intelligentsia, art-scene tweakers, Co-op all-stars, and assorted other losers, freaks, and dopers who made the magic happen last night. Thank you.

what the

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

Come to my Friday night open house Crackbrained Comix party

Friday 6-12+, wine and cheese+, hanging action figure dioramas+, comic art everywhere. On the hillside, email for directions. Kid friendly (except for some sex and drug references) until about 9:30, then you should put them to bed.

he likes it in duluth.

i had to post this picture. because the one starfire posted scares me-- it looks like ELO's Jeff Lynne in disguise as Dylan.

and because this one looks like it was taken in Duluth (but it's actually Brooklyn).

you got to have civic pride

i for one am proud to say that we have a better selection of these in our fair city.

Hula Hoop Bowling Farewell

Come hoop it up @ the Incline Wed. night. Say goodbye to Laura & her fancy bowling dance before she leaves Duluth behind & flies off on an epic adventure across SE Asia one more time.

Welcome home Bobby!

Mr Dylan was spotted downtown Duluth today buying T-shirts with his likeness. Actually his woman friend made the purchase while Bob maintained a low profile. Anyone else see him?

p.s. The picture above is not Bob, I know.

professor's open house art party sneak peek

The silver surfer catching major air in my living room, where the theme is space toys.

Open house/Crackbrained Comix cartoon art party 6PM-12+, this Friday, the hillside, email for directions. Wine and cheese will be served. BYOB too. More photos to follow.

...define "Kooch"... and then Sign me Up.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Wow. Must have been quite a sight.

I was watching Sunday's National Football League playoff game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Kansas City Chiefs when I heard Dan Dierdorf, a commentator, say something that disturbed me.

"Payton Manning is literally shredding the Kansas City Cheifs defense," he said.

Jeez. And I missed it? How did he do it, with a machete or a big cheese grater?

I'm Really Sorry About This

I blame the fact that I read all three volumes of The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who said that the best ones died early. And I blame Crystal from whom I got this link.




More irritating than even that kid who you took a dislike to at school, you'll live on as one of the many reasons you'll never want to go back to being a child. The annoying laugh, that needling competitiveness with everything you do, the desire to be better, meaner, first, first, first, first, first ...

Remember when you taped his buttocks together, hung him from a tree and then swung from his gonads, chanting "I am the monkey king"? Even a full scale nuclear apocalypse won't shake off the little bastard, apparently.



Which Survivor of the Impending Nuclear Apocalypse Are You?
A Rum and Monkey joint.

Artist's Open House at Professor's this Friday

Prof Here. Come to my artist's open house/party this Friday 6PM-midnite+. Refreshments will be served but if you show up after 8 the wine will probably be gone so BYOB. (If you don't already know where I live just email me.) I will have a sizable collection of my favorite cartoons from the past five years covering the walls. And in addition to the hundreds of action figures some of you have already seen, there will be dozens of new toys suspended from the cieling for complete sensory overload. I will post tantalizing photos throughout the week to tease you. Below is a detail of the hanging hallway diarama "Black Hawk Down," in which a helicopter, being shot down by jets, lurches its human cargo violently into space.

relevance?

talk amongst yerselves

for no other reason.

Love Somebody

I saw a great movie last night called "Love Somebody." It stars Jon Lovitz and Rick Springfield. Lovitz plays a middle-aged gay man named Jake who has been obsessed for decades with Rick Springfield. Springfield plays himself.

Jake spends a lot of time at the hospital visiting his mother, who is dying of cancer. Soon, he meets Rick Springfield -- his hero and object of all desires. Springfield is visiting an old friend who has Lou Gehrig's disease.

Jake convinces Springfield to play a concert at a local club while he's in town. It's a fundraiser for Jake's mother and Rick's friend. Jake helps promote the event, but does a terrible job and only about 50 people show up. Still, the concerts kicks ass.

Throughout the process, Jake learns that Rick is not the ideal man he built him up to be over the years, and is also uncompromisingly heterosexual. Still, the two become good friends and Rick ends up playing cupid, introducing Jake to his gay road manager, Mike, played by David Schwimmer.

Jake's mother dies at the end, and Rick's friend turns out to be a gaybasher. But Jake and Mike's wedding is beautiful and Rick's performance of the song "Love Somebody" at the reception is stellar.

In all, the film is full of joy, sorrow and Rick Springfield music. I highly recommend it.

Yet another shooting.

Whew. All the Rock Stars are getting it. Cris Kirkwood, ex-bass player for the Meat Puppets was shot around X-mas time in Arizona. His was a much less honorable event than Mr. Davies of the Kinks. You can read more here. Seems like Mr. Kirkwood could use some anger management classes which me might just get in prison.

Ray Rules!

Ray Davies of the Kinks is Super-tuff! In case you have not heard Ray was shot in New Orleans while chasing a robber who stole a purse from his woman friend. I don't know about you but if someone has a gun I think I would run the other way. So kudos to you Ray! I am glad you were only shot in the leg.


Maybe his recent royal honors have gone to his head. I for one would vote for him to be Knighted. Can you vote for such a thing or is it all up to the Queen? I do know that tonight at the Starfire Lounge is Kinks night. All your faves and more. See you there.

A word from the good professor

Uh, sorry no party this weekend. But in a week or two it will be back bigger and better - you'll see. Rock on with your bad selves.

What the F%#@ is this? Wanna go?

Every once in a while something so weird comes to town that you just have to go. This might be it.



Lazer Vaudeville combines high-tech laser magic with the traditional arts of vaudeville to create an original theatrical production. Complete with superlative juggling, black light illusion, acrobatics, zany comedy, and audience participation, Lazer Vaudeville offers clean, classy fun for the entire family. A cast of fantastical characters leads the audience on a journey through the imagination as a wizard creates magical illusions with laser beams, a neon cowboy kicks up a luminescent rope-spinning display, and an audience member escapes from a straitjacket. The master of ceremonies is a seven-foot tall, fluorescent, fire-breathing dragon named Alfonzo.




Clean, classy fun? Sounds like PDD needs to come down on their ass with some good ol dirty fun.

Founded in 1987, the touring company fulfills Carter Brown's dream of bringing a contemporary vaudeville show back to the American stage. Internationally acclaimed as a master of his craft, Brown demonstrates the endangered art of hoop rolling. In an astonishing visual display, up to ten hoops roll around the juggler's body and circle the stage as if taking on a life of their own. Some are century-old antique wooden bicycle rims. Brown and fellow performers Bee Jay Joyer and Cindy Marvell also juggle modern items such as plungers, machetes, and running chain saws.

Chain saws? Hell yeah!

I call another PDD field trip. Lundgren knows a free way in otherwise its 10 bucks, maybe cheaper with a student ID.

See ya there.

January 7th | 7pm | DECC Auditorium

Britney and Jason

I just heard on the radio that Britney Spears' short marriage was to a guy named Jason Alexander.



This guy? Wow. And I was so worried about him after he lost his job at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

belated gifts-to-self.

like any proud parent, i must show my new child off... as we all know, the best christmas presents are the ones we give ourselves, and this was mine to my own sweet self. self, you were so well behaved this year! i post this mostly for the Professor, because i know he's hep to 'ol Terence. dig it!

looks like barretts mouth.

Chuck must be stopped!

Damn those urban blogger friends. They have the greatest parties and they document so well. Hear Spacewaitress sing Walking on Sunshine here. See more fotos of Chollie and the gang here.

After looking at Chuck's New Years Eve slide show I am more convinced than ever that he should be a celebrity Geek judge at this years Geek Prom. Hell he is making a documentary, is that Geeky or what. By the way Geek Prom will be at the Great Lakes Aquarium and Freshwater Discovery Center this year. How cool is that?

Just a reminder todays field trip is at 1pm. Karpeles Manuscript Museum is located at 902 E. 1rst St. See you there.

I'm Central Hillside baby.

Central Hillside: The hood, people are frightened
of you, no really, they are. Put the gun away
now.


What part of Duluth are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

seperated at birth...

My friends "Bosvd" sent me this s.a.b. of Susan(SVD) and Elijah Woods as frodo



...it got me all photoshopish and this is what came out

Notes on the New Look

Hey everybody. I hope you are enjoying the changes to the site. I'll explain a few things because there have already been some questions.

You will notice in the near future that a few of the colored squares at the top of the page will be replaced with pictures. When this happens, any blogger will be able to change the pictures by simply uploading a jpg with a numeric name corresponding to the square. (Huh?) Example: the square with my picture in it is the 7th one from the left, so it's called 7.jpg. If you want to put a new picture there (and who wouldn't?) just upload a pic and call it 7.jpg. Make sure it's a relatively small pic, like maybe 100px by 100px, and realize that the whole thing won't show up.

But please don't abuse this. Remember to share.

Now that the main blog section is wider, you don't have to be so careful about the size of the pics you post there. Just keep them reasonable.

You can still change your picture at will in the Meet the Bloggers section. All the same rules apply. If you have a short bio you'd like to appear in your space, send it to me. Also, if you do not have a space on the Meet the Bloggers page, please send me a pic and/or a bio. People want to know who you are. In a way, that's the whole point of blogging. It doesn't strictly have to be a picture of you, but that kind is preferred. Still, it's better to have anything up there.

And please remember that everyone who has been "toasted" can still actually post. That was just a matter of removing pictures so that we didn't use up bandwidth on people who don't use the site. No one's really had their privilages revoked. Now that the pics have been taken off the front page, toasting will either slow down dramatically or stop altogether.
Finally, not many people know this, but there is a lot, and I mean a LOT of people who have memberships to PDD and are all set to go, who have never made one post. If you know any of these people, or if you know someone who hasn't posted in a while, encourage them to write something. I think this thing works a lot better if there are more people involved.

Good bye, post on, and may God have mercy on your souls.

you better watch out...

Poll results.

Spam or Ham?

Spam [17 votes, 39.53%]
Ham [26 votes, 60.47%]

Field trip!

Happy New Year and all that, it's time for a field trip. I have always wanted to go to the Karpeles Manuscript Museum by St Lukes. They have been around for years and I think it's time for a visit. Come one come all to 902 E 1rst St. around 1pm or so on Saturday January 3rd. Bring the kids and bring your bifocals if you need em.

I'll be the guy with the digital camera. See you there.

i collect art

A FILTHY DIRTY DISGUSTING DULUTH LIMERICK

Okay, I composed this limerick many years ago, have recited it (or versions of it) a number of times in the past but have never written it down. It's time to publish it (I haven't read the Perverse Verse Book yet so maybe something similar is already in there--if so, my apologies). Here goes:

There once was a man from Duluth,
Whose manners were very uncouth.
He'd sit in the grass,
And pick his dog's ass,
And scrape the shit off on his tooth.

Happy New Year!

Congratulations! You're a fuzzy navel!!


What Drink Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

This year I vow to keep this damn cat out of the sink.

Paul Lundgren's New Year's Resolution

This year I'm going to learn how to blog.

This is my second try. I think I've finally got it.