Wednesday, January 27, 2010

these two shirts are for sale

Show your olympic spirit with this unique take on the rings.















All sizes are available, except for XX's (XXL or XXS, or SXSW)

This shirt was inspired by the feeling of being uncomfortably stoned and performing an extreme maneuver at night time.

The true spirit of Vancouver 2010.







Size
Color





To view more pictures click here

TESTIMONIAL

The Vancouver 2010 shirt is sublime. Whether its eating a huge pile of steaming flapjacks with tons of melted butter and maple syrup, or cutting up the slopes on my board, this T shirt, with its Gildan® fine mesh cotton provides comfort and style.
Nick S: Snowboarder, Treeplanter - Waterloo Ontario

Captures the true spirit of the Vancouver 'Games'... I will be wearing it much more often over the next several weeks.
Chad Buchholz, "Eighty Thousand Times The Word “Fuck”" - Vancouver, BC

Monday, January 25, 2010

rainy day at work

the only people I see on the street are women walking their dogs, and they are struggling with the wind and their umbrellas; on my way to the train I wrapped one of those cheap umbrellas they sell on the street around a telephone pole after it fell apart on me. half of it went flying into a nearby minivan, which was parked, thankfully, and then I slam dunked the remaining part, the bottom half, into a garbage can; it was pretty stupid

Sunday, January 17, 2010

John Steinbeck

Lauren's dad gave me a box set of Steinbeck books for Christmas and I've read almost all of them now. Overall, Steinbeck seems very orthodox in a way that I find comforting. Here are my thoughts on the books in the order of when I read them.

Cannery Row (1945) - Reading this book first was key to my sustained interest in Steinbeck over the past two weeks or so. It is about Ed Ricketts, and Steinbeck's scene around Monterrey California. Ricketts was a marine biologist and seems like a very good person - I think Steinbeck really loved him. There were a bunch of fuck up types in the book; they lived in a flophouse and worked just enough to get by, seemingly doomed to always fuck everything up and be lazy and irresponsible, and Steinbeck and Ricketts viewed them as kind of holy. The Pearl (1947) - If I had read this first I probably would not have read the other books; the tone was always 'profound' or mythological. The dialogue was stylized in the manner of 'simple wise people'. A retelling of a Mexican folk tale, which seemed to have nothing at all to do with Steinbeck's life. Grapes of Wrath (1939) - But I guess I will allow myself to be interested in 'fictions' or 'contrivance', and will use my time to consume this kind of material so long as I agree with or empathize with the person responsible for them. I never read GoW in school on account of being Canadian, and was surprised when I started to really get into it. The chapters alternate between straightforward third person scenes of Tom and the Joad family, and then more of a collective / historical voice. I learned a lot about soil, farming, model t fords, and the great depression. I was especially surprised with the image that ends the novel and how fucked up it was. Travels with Charley In Search of America (1962) - Here Steinbeck is old and sad. There were some parts that were good or interesting, and other parts that were not. Steinbeck is not super funny, IMO, and this kind of structure, the journey structure, which lends itself to 'riffing', doesn't really work as well without a lot of laughs, I think. He really still seems like he wants to be 'a man' here. I feel like he is kind of delusional at this point in his life. Of Mice and Men (1937) - Probably my favorite prose style in the Steinbeck ouvre. I was reminded of reading this in grade eleven. I sat beside Karen Osberg in English class, and the teacher was like, "Mice and Men is playing at the Queen E (theatre downtown vancouver), if anybody wants to go you can get extra credit". Karen and I 'went together'. I think she wore makeup; still not sure if it was a date. Now I think it was probably 'my first date', though part of me still fears Karen would disagree. East of Eden (1952) - Currently about half way through this. "Sprawling". Lots of descriptions of landscape. Lots of 'wisdom': "a servant loses his initiative", "if (the story) troubles us it must be that we find the trouble in ourselves", "I enjoy being mediocre because I understand the loneliness inherent in greatness", etc. Really good.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

from Adam Humphreys
to "inn"
date Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 11:34 AM
subject (person's name) / Tree Planting / Franz Otto Ultimate Highballer / My Wedding

12/24/09 (15 days ago)

I am a New York based writer / filmmaker who earns a living by planting trees in the summer in British Columbia Canada.

In my life I have planted over 500,000 trees by hand.

I keep a blog that is a bit of a production diary and a bit of a personal thing. Recently someone from your area called me and read about my film "Franz Otto Ultimate Highballer". He became interested in the project, and was kind enough to give me some contact information for reforestation stuff around your area.

He told me that you, Richard Gere, had recently cut some three hundred trees in a nearby wetland and that you were under pressure to replant them, and that, in his opinion, the person who would be lined up to do that kind of job in your area was going to charge you too much, and was not going to do a good job.

I am writing you, Richard Gere, to offer you my services as a reforestation expert (some would say one of the fastest planters in Canada), to help you re-plant the areas you've logged.

I will do it for free, provided you pay the costs of materials. I can plant 300 trees in around 40 minutes depending on the land.

To me, the prospect of perhaps you helping me to find proffessional help in completing my film, my desire to personally meet you (you seem like a really good guy), the novelty of planting trees in New York, and other considerations would be compensation enough.

What's more, I think my film project has intangible merit, and think you would really like it, and could maybe get wrapped up a little bit in the excitement. It concerns a Paul Bunyan like figure in Canada, a reclusive legendary folk hero guy and my search for him. In a more broad sense it is about imagination and storytelling, trying to be a good person in the world, trying to make a difference, "counter-culture", being an artist, etc.

Also, I don't know if you do weddings at the [INN OWNED BY RICHARD GERE], but I am getting married next fall and am looking for a venue. If you felt bad accepting free labor and wanted to arrange a trade for some "space time" that would suit me very well.

Damn, this email is long.

I will attach a picture of me, a picture of my fiance, and the only pre-existing public image of Franz Otto.

1. POV video of me planting trees
2. Franz Otto Ultimate Highballer on facebook


Hope this finds you well.

Adam Humphreys

347-623-1258
414 Greene Ave,
Brooklyn NY
11216