So my son has been away for a full week now. I’ve been all right, for the most part. Even if it feels like a piece of me is missing. If I dwell on it too much I do get bummed out. But I’ve managed to keep from calling him constantly. It seems a little weird to be shopping for his school supplies without him, and especially odd to be going to his new school tomorrow for the “meet the teacher” open house. But I have been trying to make the most of his absence. The boy is a picky eater and that can limit our options when we’re together. So last weekend I ate particularly well. Friday night the boyfriend and I shared an amazing meal with friends at Heartland. Saturday I had the pleasure of shooting a lovely wedding, with tasty catering by Chowgirls and delicious and gorgeous cakes by Cake Eater Bakery. Sunday morning we ate brunch at Meritage, followed by the Am-Rep Records BBQ and a bitcherlorette party. Monday night I hit up the Turf Club’s Spelling BeeBBQ, where I went down in the sixth round on Promethean. And missed Lady Gaga by a night. Apparently she stopped in for a drink after her Xcel Energy Center performance. I could have and maybe would have been there but I was exhausted from driving…after our pizza farm attempt was foiled by torrential downpours. That white knuckle drive through flash flooding along Lake Pepin was something else, but we were able to make the best of it by stopping for dinner at Norton’s, in Red Wing. Today I plan to stop by the Red Stag’s happy hour, and our weekend will be spent up North.

Five good things for today:

• “Who says monsters have to be scary? These friendly beasts would love to find a home on your wall.” Other cute creatures can be found at ojingogo and cry wolf clothing.
• Cameron Stewart’s Sin Titulo completely sucked me in. Which led to crushing disappointment when I reached the most current comic. I *need* to know what happens next! Like, NOW!
• So…apparently I read Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead a couple of years ago (but I had forgotten!) - and now it’s been made into a promising looking TV series. Set to premiere on Halloween, no less.
• Suddenly I’m hearing all sorts of buzz about the Hunger Games book series, and my copy of Gail Carriger’s Blameless is on its way to me.
• Meant to post this last week…”Fever Ray’s Karin Dreijer Andersson Making Music for Swedish Play
  - It’s an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf.” I would love to jet off to Stockholm for that!

Sunday afternoon I will drive back down to the Twin Cities and retrieve my child from the airport. Provided Hurricane Earl doesn’t prevent him from flying home on time. And, if he’s feeling up to it, we will hit up the State Fair together on Monday.

A friend came over early this morning, on his day off, to mow my lawn (I have terrible luck with lawn mowers). So that’s another HUGE stressor off my list. Now to systematically attack the others in the mix. Starting with the kitchen sink. It’s been leaking more than I realized and everything in the cupboard below the sink is damp and molding away. Oh the joys of homeownership!

Thankfully it hasn’t been all suck this week. Tuesday’s happy hour with friends, at Tiger Sushi, was fun. As was last night’s book-making session at the Soap Factory. And today’s “Best Places to Work” luncheon ridiculousness. Hopefully more good times lay ahead.

How about five good things instead? I know I could use some happy happy.

• I give you The Cat Piano - a short film by The People’s Republic of Animation, narrated by Nick Cave (speaking of, Grinderman tickets are now on sale for the November show).
• Like whoa, trippy Psychedelic Animal Sculptures.
• People are oh-so-odd. Danish rabbit hopping championships? Huh.
• International Read Comics in Public Day is coming right up on August 28th.
• Tonight a friend is hosting a book-making class at The Soap Factory.

Speaking of the Soap Factory, last Saturday’s Minneapolis Indie Xpo there was a huge success, despite the weather and lack of a/c, as was Sunday’s Homegrown Experience. The entire weekend was busy with family and friends and events. Downtime was spent listening to this 60s melodic pop influenced Revolver, from France and thinking about cooking, but not actually doing it. I fully intended to make these apricot / strawberry / yogurt popsicles but haven’t had time to just yet. Now the weather has cooled off nicely (but my apricots may have gone entirely bad) so I plan to make this pasta sauce instead. And to do plenty of deep breathing, to get through the next two weeks without my son.

The Minneapolis Indie Xpo was founded in 2010 as a one-day show celebrating independent comics and Midwest cartoonists. It grew out of the local comics community’s desire to have its own venue for exhibition and was cobbled together by two veteran event coordinators who happen to be big comics fans. You can call us “MIX” and, as the name implies, expect a bake sale at the show.

Tomorrow night St. Anthony Main hosts the Precious Little Film Fest - a special screening of Scott Pilgrim vs The World along with some animated shorts. Friday night there will be kick off festivities with book signings at Big Brain Comics and music at the 501 Club. Saturday is the big day with MIX itself at The Soap Factory, with donuts (vegan and non-vegan) from The Donut Cooperative.

Five other good things for this hump day:

• Tomorrow is also the return of the mnartists.org Field Day at the Walker. Lots of fun stuff happening all afternoon/evening long.
• World’s biggest grey card: Dried-Out Lake Used as Massive White Balance for Satellites
• “After six years they’re no longer aliens. They’re residents.” MONSTERS! I’m a sucker for these sorts of movies.
• Unearthed Ship In NYC Offers Clues Of Colonial Life - cool!
• True Colors - old technique, new style. Great stop animation video.

As if our weekend wasn’t busy enough we’ve also got tickets for The Homegrown Experience on Sunday. The event will feature chef demonstrations, local restaurants, farmers, CSAs, co-ops, food producers, local vintners, brewers and more. That should be fun. After all that, though, I’ll need to buckle down and take care of business. And by business I mostly mean prepping the kid for his impending vacation and yardwork, lots and lots of yardwork.

In keeping with the nautical theme…dating isn’t smooth sailing under the best conditions. There will always be choppy waters, from time to time. But dating as a single parent? Inherently rougher seas. We’ll be zipping along, not a care in the world, when BAM. Collision course with half-hidden obstructions, calling for major maneuvering. This hasn’t sunk us yet but sometimes the effort of righting the boat is downright exhausting.

I’ll have quite a bit of grown-up time while my son is away but not much free time. Rather I will be working the day job and shooting two weddings, missing the AmRep Records 25th Anniversary Bash (but attending ancillary shows before and after it), having dinner with friends at the newly relocated Heartland, grabbing brunch with other friends from out of town, finally getting a pedicure (with an Aveda Institute Groupon), maybe going to the MN State Fair and who knows what else I can cram in there.

Five good things:

• Looks like I’ll finally be getting back to Chicago this year after all. Bit the bullet and bought tickets to see Swans at the Bottom Lounge, even though it’s on a Tuesday. But Chicago in October is really quite lovely.
• I adore these gorgeously shot Lucha Libre portraits.
• In the aftermath of Steven Slater’s extravagant departure - Leaving a Job With a Bus, Not a Slide - my favorite quote: “It’s like driving in a squirrel cage.”
• “John, the polar bear, apologises to Karen, the penguin, in the aftermath of an argument.”
• Hey, meet a baby sloth wrangler!

This weekend wound up being the calm in the middle of the storm. I skipped out on all the free music festivals and the garlic fest and the beach and the Scott Pilgrim movie and took advantage of the time to get back to basics instead - laundry, cooking, cleaning, reading, listing more items to etsy, and taking a break for a Sunday afternoon trip to the Bell Museum of Natural History (free on Sundays). Could have kept the momentum going for tonight’s Japanese Lantern Lighting Festival at Como or to get out to one of the area drive-in theaters but nah, I’m enjoying the quiet too much.

• Heat exhaustion has rendered me nearly incapable of comprehending much of anything at this point. But the awesomeness of this new Grinderman video is undeniable. Watch it! NOW.
• An amazing photo series appeared in a tab in my browser, as if by magic (wish I knew where it came from). Check out Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943
• The most awkward moments of my life so far would be a bit different from these, but these sure are entertaining.
• Sweet Soviet Printing Equipment: Ancestors of Modern Copiers Still Alive!
• Mini Cannon Firing and Destroying Targets (Among the world’s smallest guns). My favorite comment? “This guy is fucking up his house.” So true.

Buhhhhhhhh? If I’m lucky I’ll be able to read a few pages of Justin Cronin’s The Passage before bedtime. Just don’t quiz me on them.

Also on the horizon (and in the here and now):

• “China to build ginormous buses that cars can drive under” - whoa China, really? That seems like a good idea why? I’d be a-scared of getting smushed. While China seems to be thinking BIG Japan is thinking small. “Living Large In Really Tiny Houses” - doing so much more with less. Stunning.
• Speaking of BIG and small, Rebekka’s new series, Excess, showing small children with BIG BIG food items, is fabulous - “a tongue-in-cheek reflection on how those of us fortunate enough to live in privileged parts of the world have far more food (and other commodities) than we need, or can indeed consume.” And not photoshopped! “As with the first picture, nothing is faked, and a great deal of trial and error went into making the food in giant proportions.”
• Speaking of food, let’s talk popsicles - “Some Pretty Cute Food” and the next big thing? I’ve been talking them up for a while now, since Helados y Paletas La Chiquita brought their amazing popsicle flavors to my neighborhood last year like lime, tequila, horchata, mango chili, pineapple, piña colada and more.
• If/when things slow down some I have some new books to add to my reading pile. In no particular order: The Things That Keep Us Here, an apocalyptic novel about an avian influenza pandemic recommended by Mimi Smartypants; Justin Cronin’s The Passage, another epic about a virus that nearly destroys the world; Patton Oswalt’s upcoming Zombie Spaceship Wasteland; and, hailing the victorious parasol once more, Gail Carriger’s Blameless.
• Looking to the past Isabel Samaras ponders who “invented” (or defined) the concept of pornography and creates an amazing painting in the process.

David Byrne visited the Twin Cities recently for a session about Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around. I enjoyed reading his favorable report from the Heartland. Makes me think back to tooling around White Bear Lake on my brother’s hand-me-down BMX knock-off…and to long for another BMX or cruiser of my own. But my son has yet to learn how to ride a bike. If only we had the time/money/energy for that endeavor. Alas, summer camp has exhausted all three resources. And it’s already drawing to a close next week. But we have an intensely busy weekend ahead before then. He’ll be seeing his grandmother for the first time in nearly a year while I’ll be in sharyn shoots mode. Catch me if you can!

Today’s five good things:

• Inspiration can be found in the work of other photographers. I put together this flickr gallery to remind me of that.
• These facts aren’t all that amazing but they are interesting.
• Morph-osaurs: How shape-shifting dinosaurs deceived us and Triceratops Was Juvenile Form Of Another Species Of Dinosaur, Scientists Say
• “The Selvedge Yard is about all the things that interest me– a menswear product, presentation & branding guy with a passion for people, places things & ideas of enduring heritage, quality, authenticity & character. But I’m not all old school all the time– I appreciate innovation & technology in all things.”
• “Monkeys hate flying squirrels, report monkey-annoyance experts” - I like flying squirrels but am mostly just tickled that there are monkey-annoyance experts. How does one find oneself on such a career path?

Today’s escape from the heat will involve leaving my office’s central air to get into the car’s a/c to chillaxing in movie theater a/c. Finally going to see the much discussed sci-fi thriller Inception, from Chris Nolan. Maybe it will inspire some dream incubation and lucid dreaming in which I can convince myself I’m really enveloped in perfect Fall-like sweater weather. If only. All right, enough with the whining. Fyi…I made a non-whiny post to my other blog this morning.

Five good things for this fine Thursday:

• Multiple sources are claiming that The Crow remake will be written by Nick Cave. How very odd.
• Photographer Dave Mead traveled to Anchorage, Alaska last year to shoot portraits of contestants in the 2009 World Beard and Mustache Championship. Beautiful!
• Been seeing more about cameras/photographers shooting in 3-D. Panasonic has also announced the release of the “world’s first” 3-D shooting camcorder which my son would LOVE. But we may have to wait until the technology has been on the market for a while (if it isn’t just a novelty and actually catches on) and thus the prices drop dramatically while the quality improves.
• Speaking of…I’ve been struggling with my iPhone 3G, after upgrading to OS4. The performance has been brutally slow. I’d been hunting high and low for a good solution (other than chucking it and shelling out for a new iPhone 4) but all involved pretty extreme, invasive efforts. It wasn’t until this morning that I was informed of a very simple fix that has, so far, had a huge effect on my phone’s performance.
• Just a sample of how August is shaping up for me…the Loring Alley Block Party, with its fantastic line-up, is happening the same day as the Garlic Festival in Hutchinson, MN.

Tonight there are two intriguing - and FREE - events happening at the same time. Naturally. The Walker Art Center is hosting Utopia Is No Place: The Art and Politics of Impossible Futures while The Cedar Cultural Center will have the wonderful Portland Cello Project performing on their patio.

• Too much of a good thing…artist Benjamin Hammond’s one minute portraits were featured in Cool Hunting. The story was picked up by NPR and now his poor site has exceeded its bandwidth limit. Doh.
• I adore author Margaret Atwood, and am a fan of reading about dystopian, postpandemic worlds, in general. An interview with her in The Globe on “why she sees more reason than ever to fear a horrible future” Not exactly happy happy joy joy.
• Tall Ships are coming! “If you’d like to see eight magnificent vessels that harken back to the early days of maritime, set your sails for Duluth July 28-August 3.”
• The Guild Goes Bollywood - just what I needed this morning.
• How very odd. “Terry Gilliam to Direct Arcade Fire Madison Square Garden Live Webcast” Could be interesting, for sure.

Right now it’s time to scarf down the lunch contained within Mr. Bento. And to look ahead to tonight’s kid-free dinner (which means being able to choose a restaurant that my picky kid “hates”). Tanpopo Noodle Shop? I don’t like the idea of it being in peril. Or perhaps the newly relocated Heartland? Gandhi Mahal? Namaste? All options sound good to me right now. All at once. Yum.