Talking About Making Art: Success & Fail

Months ago,  I concluded other people have better tools to make some art I’ve been thinking about.   So, I started to hunt for a local laser cutting company.  Laser cutting = geeky high tech awesomeness.  Googling came up with Texas Laser Creations based in Houston.

From their website:

“Texas Laser is a Houston area based laser cutting /laser marking job shop, specializing in plastics, wood and textiles.”

What the website should have said was…

“Thank you for visiting our out-of-date website.  Texas Laser was a laser cutting company that moved out of our first former crappy shop which still bears our name (and now looks like a set for a serial-killer movie), and after moving a second location, went out of business.  If you had called our number (or checked out our two bad online reviews) you could have saved yourself a trip.”

The first place, seriously weird vibe.  After driving rural industrial roads, I pull into a busted up commercial space: parking lot with scrapped cars, locked office, and three garage doors.  Last one open.  Out of it rides a little kid on a bike.  I knock at the open garage door, asking a question that’s pretty obvious, “Is this still the laser place?”  The sketchy guy watching loud TV says, “No sir.”

However, it was a nice drive.  Houston always surprises me with it continual business/residential mix.  And in that part of town, lots of modest horse properties with old trees.

So, not as much art making as desired, but always nice getting introduced to strange new parts of town.

Houston Might Become Better/Weirder By Addition of Single Person

He won’t be attending the downtown campus (where a particularity fantastic professor teaches), but  actor/writer/bong smoker James Franco was accepted for the the University of Houston’s writing program Fall of 2012.

I look forward to the addition of his “unusually high metabolism for productivity …the opposite of ADHD: a superhuman ability to focus that allows him to shuttle quickly between projects and to read happily in the midst of chaos.” *

The breathless internet tweeting, blogging and facebooking of his every move if he comes to town should make for fun reading.

"Socialist Preach Failure & Abortion" – Civics and Grammar Lessons From A Willowbend Neighbor

A new sign went up in the neighborhood, to replace a previous message.

It was unclear if the message is a patriotic one, the flag should clear up any doubts, which was missing from the first one.

Wednesday Night Photo Post: Urb-Ex in the HOU

Adventures in eyesores.

I don’t have any urban exploration cred, but I do have every copy of Infiltration. Fortunately, others live a life I only read about. See the below pix for this week’s adventures in Houston, and for sight-seeing in Europe visit sleepycity.


Small Spiral, originally uploaded by Band!to.

1st Floor, originally uploaded by Secret5468.

Fishermen’s Supplies, originally uploaded by Band!to.

Diversity , originally uploaded by Band!to.

Conspiracies in the New Neighborhood: My Kind of People

This odd sign is the only thing in the neighborhood like it.  Outside the Loop isn’t known as a hotbed for conspiratorial thought, but I’m sure Glenn Beck is on a lot of the TV’s here.  Being a fan of conspiracy theories, I’m pretty well versed in most of the major players.   The “R.D. Oligarchy”is a total mystery to me, though.  It doesn’t ring any bells and Google shows nothing.

Guess I’m leaving a note the next time I walk that way.

Wednesday Night Photo Post: Super Chicken

It was overcast and yet the sun was in front of me. Made for a less-than-ideal photo op, but this is the shot. I love the chicken and was happy to see it on a random drive.

Wednesday Night Photo Post: Masonic Aztek Mural, Galaxy Auto Upholstery – Houston, TX