anyone wanna make me a new icon. i don't know how too. id like something nifty.

Washington Post, 11/26/09: Public Enemy reaches out to homeless youth in D.C.

Public Enemy has earned notoriety with more than 20 years of politically charged music about fighting the power, challenging racism and declaring that 911 was a joke. The group has joined forces with Virgin Mobile USA to combat youth homelessness as part of National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week.


Washington Post, 12/3/09: correction

"A Nov. 26 article in the District edition of Local Living incorrectly said a Public Enemy song declared 9/11 a joke. The song refers to 911, the emergency phone number."

You know... a cursory search on "The Google" yielded this as the top result on "The YouTube":

Would think THIS is the way to advertise a phone?

Verizon tonight cut deep by launching a new ad (seen below) for the Motorola Droid. The new spot directly attacks the iPhone and calls Apple's handset a "digitally clueless pageant queen," making fun of its focus on style and even mocking the glass case Apple used to display the phone at its launch in 2007. It meanwhile thrives on the Droid's powerful, masculine image and, among other things, suggests that the smartphone is "racehorse duct-taped to a Scud missile fast."

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/12/03/new.droid.ad.airs.bogo.deal.tomorrow/

I don't even know where to begin with this...

HTML Giant just put out fifth (and final! thankfully!) part of my five-part interview with the great Roxane Gay. She asked me the dreaded question: Why don't more slam poets submit their work to lit mags? ULP! Check out the interview here:

http://htmlgiant.com/?p=19873

And it's got links to the other four parts too! Including Part Three where I wax pretty swee on Shappy – and includes links to poetry I've written about us. Awww. And also, WHEW that the usually snark-filled HTML Giant commentors have been kind. For real!

And speaking of Roxane Gay, she's got a timely blog entry up at the PANK blog where she talks about how "the more submissions [she] reads, the more quirks [she] develops" so definitely check it out if you are in or just beginning the submitting game. It's pretty funny stuff & super humanizing (for those of you who picture lit journal editors with cloven hooves & John Waters moustaches):

http://www.pankmagazine.com/pankblog/?p=2609

Speaking o' lit mags, I have to join just_jeff in praising this latest issue of RATTLE, which features works by pals such like Jeff, Emily Kagan-Trenchard, Marie-Elizabeth Mali and a motherfucking CROWN of sonnets by our own Ms. Patricia Smith. For those of you who read on the subway like me, please know that that crown of sonnets is good for at least two trips up the entire length of Manhattan. They are so good, you just sink in 'em!

AND if you subscribe to RATTLE before the end of the year, you'll get a FREE copy of the best-selling "slam" issue, with Anis on the cover? That's awesome! Check the deal out here:

http://www.rattle.com/promo.htm

And speaking of deals, did you know that Write Bloody is offering FREE SHIPPING until Dec 18th?



That means you could fill in the holes of your collection AND pick up that Write Bloody hoodie you've been eyeballing for a year, and say F-U to shipping costs. And – coughcough— apparently Write Bloody is making some 2010 releases available early and on the DL for savvy holiday buyers. So check out their store to what’s new to buy!

http://writebloody.com/

Congrats as well to Write Bloody's 2009 Pushcart Prize nominees:
1. Andrea Gibson for "Crab Apple Pirates" in The Good Things about America
2. Robbie Q. Telfer for "Clowns" in Spiking the Sucker Punch
3. Steve Abee for "Hail Invisible Things" in Great balls of Flowers
4. Derrick Brown for "Grocery List" in Scandalabra
5. Sarah Morgan for "Death as Language" in Animal Ballistics
6. Matty Byloos for "Letter to My Ex-Wife" in Don’t Smell The Floss

And lastly, speaking of the holidays, if you are looking for books to give to your parents to help make them start loving poetry as much as you do, I humble suggest either of these two books:



First off, they are filled with REALLY good poems. Like "Hey, I really like this poem..." poems. Secondly, the majority of the poems are one page or less, and organized into really smartly themed sections, which makes gobbling them up pretty damn easy. And lastly, Hal Sirowitz appears in BOTH of them, so you can give 'em to your parents, and ask them to see if they can figure out who the slam poet is. The bio won't help 'em at ALL neither! Ha!

Today, I got my very first tattoo. I've been wanting this for about three years and finally got to it. I was absolutely not nervous and it didn't even hurt (it was kind of an annoying feeling but definitely not painful)! The result was also very satisfying, so all in all I'm incredibly happy with my first and brand new tattoo!

I believe in God, and I tend to forget Him in my usual business. I go to church very enthousiastically every Sunday, but when I go to school on Monday, I tend to focus completely on that and forget I need His help to do everything. So, it wasn't very surprising I chose my faith as the subject of my very first tattoo.

For the design, I chose a Hebrew name for God, usually referred to as JHWH, meaning something as ''I am who I am'', emphasizing the fact that God is everywhere, always, absolutely. It's something that helps me through the tough stuff.
I chose to put it on the inside of my right wrist, the right hand being the symbol of trust. And the inside of your wrist is something you only show people when you like and trust them, so it's got a lot symbolic power :)

Well, without further ado, picture time! Please bear in mind it's only been hours since I got it so it's a little red and puffy :')

( Pictures! )

Full credit goes to Tattoo Inky in Zwolle, the Netherlands.

Anyone willing to share any Bible-themed tattoos? :)

Literally, that the best poets in phoenix can be heard here...

SOUND EFFECTS.

start your weekend with the
friday night poetry open mic at:

Mama Java's Coffeehouse.
3619 East Indian School Road.
Phoenix, AZ 85018.

602.840.JAVA.
7:00 to 9:00 pm.

hosted by a man named bill

tonight's theme: flossing between poems.

SOUND EFFECTS.

start your weekend with the
friday night poetry open mic at:

Mama Java's Coffeehouse.
3619 East Indian School Road.
Phoenix, AZ 85018.

602.840.JAVA.
7:00 to 9:00 pm.

hosted by a man named bill

tonight's theme: flossing between poems.

soooo when i left for tour i left a rent check made out to one of the roomies and this was accidentally sent to the renting managment. this isnt the problem. nor is that the management company cashed that check. the problem is WHY THE EFF IS A BANK CASHING A CHECK BROUGHT IN BY A BUSINESS THAT IS NOT NAMED RIC?
and what the eff is this management company doing not realizing that there was an extra 425 bones in the envelope?

1) Tracy Tells A Joke

(it is a lot funnier if you know her and the dynamic of our non-relationship)

"I heard Tiger Woods is changing his name!"

"To what Mom?"

"Cheetah!!!"

sometimes i love that woman

2) Karen Finneyfrock is SERIOUS

Karen just signed on for a 2 book deal with The Viking Press-Penguin Group.
She deserves this more than anyone I personally know.
Keep an eye out for the upcoming "Celia, the Dark and Weird."

Wait THREE things

3) My heart is so full for Megan
and so should yours
and so should yours


OK OK FOUR

I'm still really sick. Last night I had to be rushed to the ER because of severe heart palpitations and trouble breathing. The hospital was not much help to me. They pretty much said "you're not dead so see ya!" So after you've loved Megan wholly, loved her like the dream where you are with that person and the light is pinging through the little hairs on the back of their neck and you sense reunion you sense a forever that happened before, once you've loved her like that, well... send some my way, I'm in Florida and I'll wade through what-fucking-ever to get to it.

p.s.
i like this quote

"ghosts always want to talk about death"

p.p.s
i like the man who wrote it

hey guys, can i get your thoughts on something?
( help! )

they did do it, or rather will be doing it, come 2010.
mentioned here: http://www.anthemmagazine.com/story/1664

realized here:
http://www.the-impossible-project.com/

hater tots dawg. hater tots

GRAND AVE LIVE, Ernesto Moncada brings the beloved downtown live talk show back! for a new season!
Special guests include Jonathan & Jessica Standifird, who are preparing to vacate PHX for the sunnier climate of Cali.

at the trunk space 8pm

I'll admit it. I'm hard to shop for. Near impossible. I'm a big nerd who is fascinated by decorating. I like to cook, and I love Star Trek and Firefly. I have very specific tastes, and I like things that don't look like you grabbed them off a rack at Target. I feel I'm not alone in this, so I'm taking time out of my busy school and work schedule to put this out into the ether. Forward it to your husband. Forward it to your friend's husbands. Forward it to your husband's friends! Forward it to your coworkers, your dad, your brother, and any other poor clueless boy who needs to find you and yours the perfect girl gifts!

I have put a great deal of procrastinating time into making this lovely list just for you! Need a gift for someone difficult, nay, impossible to shop for? A gift that makes up for last year's disastrous holiday and the fight you had last week? Need a gift that says "I love you" and also "I'm sorry my cat threw up in your shoes."?

You've come to the right place!

( Read more... )

I think my 4 days of varying degrees of headache pain have brain damaged me.For the first time I can ever remember, I woke up at 5am with head pain.Sinus & barometric pressures are at fault, most certainly.It was migrainey.I popped a bunch of pills and sank back to sleep.
Concentration and productivity are low.Really low.Hibernation & want of staying indoors with fires and books and warm beverages is
not what my schedule has in store for me, but it's what I crave.Not what I carve---that was last week.
I am looking forward to the slam tomorrow.I actually want to slam myself, but the headachey stuff has to dissolve by tomorrow night if that's going to happen.Nothing like trying to do an agry poem when your head already feels like there's an anyeurism in it.
JBradley is going to deliver something totally different than what we're used to, so I'm looking forward tot hat as well.

I'll have to schedule some me-time anyway because it's card writing season, too.Okay, planet, dont' ask me to do anything on Tuesday.Tuesday is mine.

If I don't have your snail address, or you've moved, please pass it along.I'll screen below.
I already owe a couple of mixed cds, which I'll probably throw into the cards.

OKAY, Free Astro:


When Carolee Schneeman was a kid, her extravagant adoration of nature earned her the nickname "mad pantheist." Later, during her career as a visual artist, she described her relationship with the world this way: "I assume the senses crave sources of maximum information, that the eye benefits by exercise, stretch, and expansion towards materials of complexity and substance." I hope that you're attracted to that perspective right now, Aries. To be in most productive alignment with the cosmic rhythms, you should be in a state of nearly ecstatic openness, hungry to be stretched -- like a mad pantheist.

http://www.breitbart.tv/teach-a-donkey-to-fish-new-children%E2%80%99s-book-teaches-conservatism/

excellence.

I got my ampersand about 6 months ago and I'm currently plotting my second. I know for sure I want a semicolon behind my right ear but I want something Poe themed too.

What i'm thinking is a very simple raven on my shoulder blade to kind of cover all my Poe bases.

I haven't been able to settle on a picture. Any ideas/pictures/suggestions?