Sunday, November 30, 2008

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

wall street tombstones! jesus

Tombstones
by Lizzie Widdicombe November 10, 2008


Of all the sad Wall Street scenes—Lehman employees shuffling out of their offices in shorts, “reduction in force” victims commiserating over drinks on Stone Street—one of the saddest might be the headquarters of Icon Recognition, a company that makes deal toys, the desktop trophies (sometimes called “deal gifts” or “tombstones”) collected by a lot of finance types to commemorate deals. On an afternoon not long ago, a conference room there had a day-after-Christmas feeling: boxes everywhere, rows of lonely Lucite toys (a cube with 3-D shoes etched inside, a fake bottle of suntan lotion).* “This is definitely a tough time,” Stephen Sokoler, the president of the company, said. He’d been up early working the phones: “You call and ask, ‘Is there anyone who’s announced a deal recently or closed a deal? Anyone you’ve heard of?’ ” He added, “It feels like we’re a ship in the middle of a storm. Not only are you in the storm but there’s no visibility as to whether the storm’s gonna clear.”
Sokoler, who is twenty-nine, came to the company in 2002, and he recalled, with some wistfulness, the go-go days of the business, when, for example, he made a faux emerald-and-ruby crown to celebrate a deal for Merrill Lynch, and J. P. Morgan ordered up a batch of ten-by-fifteen-inch Lucite blocks with dinosaur heads inside (three hundred dollars each)—a “Jurassic Park” reference—to celebrate a deal involving Universal. “That was just a monstrous piece,” Sokoler said.
The most recent era of toys—the one that just ended—had been exuberant, too: a gold-plated replica of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, in Las Vegas, commissioned by Merrill Lynch; a Lucite banana split, commemorating Sun Capital Partners’ acquisition of Friendly’s; a snow globe made for Northoil (“Inside the snow globe we have placed a pewter casting of an oil rig,” the ad material says). Sokoler pointed to a catalogue picture of a little banjo, commemorating a deal that Merrill did for G.E. called Project Bluegrass. “Isn’t that cool?” he said. “You can actually play it.”
He was joined by Kathryn Kerns, a salesperson, who had just come back from a trip to the cubicles at Goldman Sachs. (Deal toys are usually commissioned by junior analysts.) It was not long after the news broke that Goldman might lay off ten per cent of its staff, but the scene, Kerns reported, had been eerily calm. “I get the impression that people are either very busy now or they’re getting a lot more downtime,” she said. Goldman recently sent an e-mail to employees announcing that they would have to start paying for their own deal toys, but Sokoler thinks that such mandates will eventually be relaxed. “Every once in a while, you see rules like that,” he said. Somehow, people have continued to fill their windowsills with souvenir footballs, detachable trucks, and bobblehead C.E.O.s mounted on Lucite pedestals.


This spring came what Kern called “the tiny-globe craze.” Sokoler rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t start with that,” he said. “You know those things you see in Sharper Image, where there’s a base and a little globe just floats over it?” (They work by means of magnets.) Somebody at Merrill decided to order a hundred of them to celebrate an M. & A. deal, and all of a sudden everybody had to have one. “It was a real pain in the ass,” Sokoler said. “People were calling my cell phone in the middle of the night, saying, ‘It’s not floating!’ And you’d have to, like, walk them through it. You’d say, ‘Yes, it is floating—you just have to hold it in the right place.’ ”
There will always be deal toys of some kind, Sokoler predicted (Icon Recognition is already coming up with a pitch to commemorate Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill), but, lately, more traditional designs have resurfaced—the simple tombstone, for example, with the name of the lead firm on the left. “It’s more in keeping with the mood,” Kerns said. Sokoler wandered over to a miniature statue of the god Apollo, commissioned to celebrate a private-equity deal for Apollo Capital. Apollo was bare-chested, and his foot was planted on the torso of a writhing grizzly bear, which he seemed about to shoot in the face with a tiny bow and arrow. “This was sketched by a banker,” Sokoler said—an analyst at J. P. Morgan. Sokoler pointed out Apollo’s rippling muscles, and the bear’s ears and teeth. “To be honest, I don’t think any other company could make this,” he said. He shrugged. “I think the bear won.” ♦

Sunday, November 23, 2008

amanda sure can capture an image


i'm saving my friend shout out to amanda for when i have the right image of her and the perfect thing to say. so we'll call this a pre-shout out to her and also to the subjects.

i was snooping through amanda's blog and then her flicker thingy and i found this. manda...you couldn't have possibly taken a better picture to sum tara and johnny up then this.

i love you and i love these guys!!!!!!

my landlords...

...are actors. i am listening to muffled sounds of what sounds like a retard yelling and repeating herself.
i LOOVE when they get parts and start practicing their lines.

uncle duffy


friend shout out # 4

i'm glad you're back for a while now buddy! can you say tequila in the afternoon?
cause i can.

oh movies

this is my favourite of all time... ps.




















Friday, November 21, 2008

a brilliant talent











the only piece of art i've ever bought that wasn't from a thrift store and under 10$ was by this guy. i met his brother's while in mexico and saw his stuff in a local cantina they were working at. he is amazing and i recomend you check him out!

blood meridian

WHEN YOU HAVE INSOMNIA YOU STUMBLE UPON JEMS YOU FORGOT ABOUT. CHEERS BLOOD MERIDIAN. I LOVED THIS VIDEO...IT MAKES ME SAD AND HAPPY ALL AT ONCE.

no more men


apparently the world has run out of decent looking men.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

dear new york: i love you.


new york is amazing. all the senses get a dose of awesome. it showed me how small vancouver is and reminded me that there's a lot more people in this world i'd like to meet and a hell of a lot more things i'd like to see.it also reminded me of all the wonderful people vancouver has lost to new york and how much i miss them.


















toby!!!!








thank you jenni and jeff for being such wonderful host's and putting up with me for so many days. you have always made me feel loved and you always make me laugh. i miss you both so much.













speaking of marcie... (friend shout out#3)











...there are no words to describe how much this women means to me. she is my rock.

TECHNOLOGY IS WAISTED ON LITTLE SHITS.

this is fucking hilarious. louis ck is wonderful. thanks for the ticket marcie, i had so much fun and i laughed..a guess a little.

e.e.cummings

anyone lived in a pretty how town by E. E. Cummings
anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

Monday, November 17, 2008

Total Babe






I think i have to go kill myself now...Fuck!

Chad VanGaalan you blow my fucking mind into mini little pieces!!!

Chad VanGaalen - Molten Light



thank you Andre for showing this to me. This animation and song is spine chilling.

My Favourite illustrator!

















CHARLES VAN SANDWYK
(b. 1966)Emigrated from South Africa (1977) to Vancouver, Canada. Joyce Williams began selling his original etchings when he was 16 years old. The National Library of Canada has maintained an archive of his work since 1986. His Book WEE FOLK, won the Juror's Choice Award at the Seattle Book Fair. He illustrated, at their invitation, Andrew Lang's BLUE FAIRY BOOK for the Folio Society in London in 2002, followed by Kenneth Grahame's WIND IN THE WILLOWS in 2005. Charles' own books (25) are designed, written and illustrated by himself, and he oversees every step of their publication for his own company, The Fairy Press.















Sunday, November 16, 2008

Friend shout out #2 also pictures i have taken of her that i like





























Eve-Valerie Nathalie Georgette Bechade Has been one of my best friends for a very long time. We have been through soo much together it's unexplainable. I moved to Vancouver here with her and she was my first roomate. Both being raised in messy and chaotic environments, we kept that house with pride and she taught me more about myself then i even knew. We both will do just about anything if it's free and we love mushrooms, blades, jd, wine and dressing up and taking pictures.
when she calls, she makes my day.














MIND FUCKS

If you know what's good for you, you'll go smoke a joint and watch these. oh hell you don't even HAVE to be stoned to have your mind fucked by these!!






Charles Bukowski

SHE SAID from: War All the Time

what are you doing
with all those paper napkins in your car?
we dont have napkins like that

how come your car radio
is always turned to some rock and roll station?
do you drive around withsome young thing?

you're dripping tangerine juice
on the floor.

whenever you go into the kitchen
this towel gets wet and dirty,
why is that?

when you let my bathwater run
you never clean the tub first.

why don't you put
your tooth brush
backin the rack?

you should always dry
your razor

sometimes I think you
hate my cat.

Martha says you were downstairs
sitting with her
and youhad your pants off.

you shouldn't wear those
$100 shoes
in the garden

and you don't keep track of
what you plant out there
that's dumb

you must always set
the cat's bowl back
in the same place.

don't bake fish
in a frying pan...

I never saw anybody
harder on the brakes
of their car than you.

let's goto a movie.

listen what's wrong with you?
you act depressed.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

opps i forgot one

Shit i wish i was shoving a whole BUNCH of these in my mouth RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!

pictures i took in mexico











Boca De Tamatlan. Mexico










Never have i felt so at home, more at piece and as comfertable in my own skin as i do here in Bocca.

Friend shout out #1


Dear Jake Goodman

You are my best friend times infinity. You've been there for me through EVERYTHING, i love you, and i always feel safe when you're around. you are more funny then me and i love getting stoned and watching snl or other comedy things with you!

for realzies. You are such a good friend to me that i can look past things like you dutch pillowing me....twice


actually i can't look past that

you are also a little shit.


STARTING OVER... GOD DAMNIT!




fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!
Its a long story and i feel stupid enough as it is so i won't go into details but..i deleted my blog. I was fresh into this so i do remember most of what was on here so here it goes, shouldn't take me too many days.
sigh