The great race.

Cousin Jason vs Nate. It started before the last softball game. Somehow, perhaps the two less speedy guys on the field decided that they weren't the slowest on the team. It became a me vs you scenario.



Both tip the scales hefty. Jason was once a defensive lineman in football and sports 21 inch calves. They do look like watermelons down there.

Nate is a large man as well. From Carson. Although, he didn't play football, he's been talking a great big game. The race is on tonight. I'll update who the winner is tonite.

The race was to be a 40 yard dash like in football, until they realized that 40 yards is pretty long for them. Imagine pros run 40 yards in 4.2-4.5 seconds. That's fast. A slow guy, perhaps 6 seconds. So basically these guys have to run for 6 seconds, but in the end, they decided it was too far! So now it's down to 20 yards. 3-4 seconds! We'll see. Two slow men enter, one man leaves the slowest.

Obon highlights in WLA. From the second floor of the temple, you get a nice view of the La Grange street. This year was the pleasant return of "obon odori" to the street. Even though Obon happens every year, and most everyone has no idea what it's all about, it's still cool. I heard that because this year has five weeks in July, there's one extra weekend for Obon and that explains the increase in crowds.



The chicken is always good, if you know Jason, then you might get twice as much. The salad part is sort of half way there. Mac salad kids.



The shave ice is amazing as usual. Strawberry is the best. If you're game, get strawberry with red beans. If you're picky, get into the left line, the machine's blades shave cleaner.





Bonsai rule. If you can take care of a real bonsai plant, then you're the "man" or woman. I've seen these same trees every year. They don't change much, but it's nice to see them. Like art in a museum, it's like visiting an old friend.











Dough Ball. See the middle? Those little round holes with the colors? You bet on a color, and then the monitor rolls a basketball and then it's yelling by the kids all around - as if the basketball has ears. Bet on black! That's something like 20-1.





As it got later, the crowds thinned a bit. The Dough Ball game kept on going. I walked home and finished my shave ice.

Cousin Jason at the Chicken booth. BBQ'd right on the spot.

West LA Obon! Tonight 5-10 and tomorrow 5-9! This year the Obon dance part will take place on the street (La Grange). It's been a long time since it's been that way, and hope it works out. When I was a little kid, that's how it used to be. Now with the additional space there should be more vendors, food and fun. We'll see soon. Every year, something gets in the way, and today, it looks like nothing, unless I take off and go check out the Kramer's Ergot event at the Hammer.

Go Claudine Ko!

DIY Number 17. Family.
Maybe I'll try to continue this DIY bidness thing. One thing everyone needs is a trustable and reliable helper who'll be reliable with the money. I remember whenever I'd visit FTC, or SFO, I'd see a Japanese American woman who'll greet you with a smile, and in the end, she's the one who takes care of the money. I'm sure some might think it's odd, but in the end, it's the best help you can have.



1) Many parents really want to help their kids without any ulterior motives. They just want to help. Maybe they're used to being a domestic houseperson, and now that you're older and doing your own thing, there's less for them to do.
2) Parents are curious as to what their kids do for a living. Right? I'd be curious as to what new shit's going on in the world. If I were hanging around skateboarders, decks, wheels, and cool graphics, that's all cool.
3) Parents can't really get fired nor can they really quit! If things go wrong, imagine how screwed up Thanksgiving or Christmas would be.

I've heard it across the board... "it sure would be nice if we had bookeeping help." That's where parents can come in. This isn't for everyone, but when you're not sure, parents are actually a great place to turn to for help like this.

A few images from imprint life event on wednesday. That was a long full day.



The winners of the Qee contest. The frog won! Raymond Choy and I walked around and around the 47 entries and came up with a list that we kept pairing down further and further. The winner turned out to be a kid named, Brandon Hahn (I think that's the name) from Ohio. He turned the body backwards, used the hand and the feet creatively to actually turn the Qee into something entirely different. He innovated big time. Raymond plans to turn this into a real Qee. Execution was on point, the innovation was on point too.

In the middle was the Qee by Dawn States from Oregon. Awesome work. She just did a great paint job. This was the honorable mention.

On the left was the people's choice. And it was by Brandon Hahn's brother! A talented family. I thought the execution was great, but it was Elvis, but the people who gave this the popular vote pick, thought it was fine.



Me, David Horvath, Sun-min Kim, and Raymond Toy2r.



The dreamteam of sneakerville: YuMing from freshnessmag.com, James Arizumi Nike SB, Tristan from Proper, and Woody Sneaker Freaker. They talked sneakers.



My panel that I moderated. Susie Ghahremani, Bobby Hundreds, and David Horvath.



The moderator of the sneaker panel was Josh Rubin from Coolhunting.

Tomorrow is Imprint-Life. I think I had a small hand in part of this event. I'm moderating a panel on DIY, and getting shit done that way with David Horvath of Uglydoll, Susie Ghahremani, and Bobby Kim from The Hundreds. A Qee contest which I judged, and a talk by Raymond from Toy2R. Ah! And Sulu, George Takei will open the event up. Should be fun.

Pete fowler signing at gr2 tomorrow! Tuesday. 6:30-8:30pm Come down. gr.net

Wed-Sun, we'll be at Comicon in SD. Booth is at 1729 so follow the signs. We'll be across from Top Shelf comics and probably next to Heavy Metal. Come and say hi, we have a double space booth and will have signings with Jeff Soto, kozyndan, a bunch of folks from Watcha Mean it's a Zine, and more.

Still on deadline then Comicon is coming up and I feel behind. But don't forget to give thanks to The Air Up There. He did a 720 dunk. I doubt that's ever been done before.

Big time lag is posting, but it'll get rolling along. The hammer talk with Jenny Shimizu worked out decent. The only prep I did we re-read the gr10 interview, which was frightening. I'm not sure what the heck was in my head with that interview but out of it, I'm still friends with Jenny and that's a good thing.

A highlight of the talk was the thigh harness. I guess I'm supposed to get an audio file of the talk, and maybe I can edit that up and put it online, but in the end, the thigh harness is Jenny's invention. It's basically a dildo that gets strapped on the thigh, so you do knee kicks instead of hip thrusts. She said she wears the thigh harness.

Space Invader podcast. Just made this one and it's not up on the front page yet.

Today, I'm off to Chicago, the Ben Gordon city. I'll be there for just a bit, but it'll be a nice place to visit. I'll say hi to Chicago for you all.

LA Times Calendar Live! They almost said 2 sentences!

It looks like I'll be talking to Jenny Shimizu pretty soon! Jenny Shimizu was on the cover of GR issue 10!



It's been years since we've talked and it'll be fun to see how she's changed. Or not!

Portapotty is over! It's there in the backyard, and I think I'm gonna take the lock off and let anyone in the neighborhood take a free shit in it. The community toilet is on my lot. Nice. The plumbing is fixed, thanks to my dad who was the foreperson and oversaw the work done. Now, my yard is overturned, the grass is dead, and there's dirt everywhere, but I get to take a shit at home now. No more morning drives to the store, only to see my employees look at me funny since I was in, go straight to the toilet, then I leave saying stuff like, "don't go back there." under my breath.

1) So toilet is fixed. The best thing about this is now I feel connected to the city. Plumbing does that. We all share with each other, this includes public space, but none of us thinks about the plumbing aspect of it. I send a virtual handshake and hug to all of you through my turds. Feel the filth and fury!



2) Adding to the turds, is Beard Papa who opened on Sawtelle Blvd, and now shares a space with Mousse Fantasy. MF is just that, mutha fuckas. But Beard Papa, they rule. Straight up, cream shoots into the baked puff and there you have it for $1.50. Yesterday was day one, and I was there. It's a new era for Sawtelle. There was once a PREGR era, and now it's the POSTBP opening era.



3) Redd Kross. This has nothing to do with turds, except after all of these years? They're still the shit. Easy bad pun, but the band isn't easy or bad, they picked up the pieces in their first show in 9 years. Jeff McDonald sounded great, as did Steve, Robert Hecker, and Roy McDonald. Will they find their time? Redd Kross was always in a time warp. They were either too far ahead, or too far behind. Maybe the times are just right, and they'll get the arena rock headlining tour they should be on.