NOTE: the recipient of this Email shall remain unnamed(at least for now) but for frame of reference, he is a Colts fan……but he’s not from Indy so…yknow. Hahaa!!! The burn has already begun!

OKay here’s the Email, cut and paste, warts and all:

Hoo boy! Pullin off the snap pants, poppin off the bench like Steve Scheffler. Okay…let’s roll…or let’s roll…or I can just roll it to you:

Start with the Jets. Hot sticky mess, Schotty’s out thank god although I cringe for Sam Bradford that he’s likely heading to STL(why? Based on his robust body of work in Jersey?). I’ll get to the Chargers in a bit, and they’re worthy of a shitload of scrutiny but I will say in hindsight I have to give AJ Smith credit in saying “fuck no” to nepotism years ago as he put his foot down with Marty when he wanted to move his kid up the food chain.

I guess if they get creative they could make something work with Peyton’s handicap, I mean his BRAIN is really his greatest assett!

Here we have the long overdue Drew Millward interview. A nice guy and a great talent, I figure most people reading this are poster and or design nerds so I’m gonna spare any big intro.

But I will say if you’re following me on twitter you should definitely be following Drew. We tend to trade snarky jabs from time to time. People always say “Shameless plug” when they plug themselves like this, why? It’s shameful, that was a shameful plug. I feel shame…anyway, Drew Millward. ENJOY:

Jon: So where are you from, Leeds?

Drew: Yup, well, I’m not exactly from Leeds. I’m from a lot of places (kind of like The Highlander). I was born in Coventry, when I was about 4, my mum and I moved to Bolton, which is just outside Manchester. I lived there until I was about 18… so I guess I’m from there. That said, I’ve lived in Leeds now for about eleven years, so it’s as good a place as any to call home. I moved here for University, met my now wife, and just stayed…. more through laziness and circumstance, than design.

Jon: In my time working at D&L I saw your work plenty and I’ve seen it evolve. You’re obviously a natural doodler, are you self taught or did you go to art school??

Drew: Bit of both, I guess. I studied art through high school, college and did my degree in Fine Art, but I didn’t really draw throughout that time. I always enjoyed it, but I wasn’t good enough to actually pursue that angle at degree level. It was only after finishing University and working an office job for a few years that I really started drawing. That must have been around 2004/5. I started making some posters for shows we were putting on in Leeds, and it sort of snowballed from there. I’m pretty sure that without that imputes I would have likely just carried on in an office job, but I didn’t really enjoy it, so when someone offered me some money to draw them a poster, it just set the ball rolling. It was around that time that I met Jay Ryan at a show opening in Manchester. Spending some time with Jay, and talking to him about work, really lead me to think about pursuing it seriously…. so it’s all his fault really.

Jon: Another thing, I assume you have no idea what GEICO is. It’s just this insurance company here in the states, but their mascot is this generic British(or perhaps a poofy Aussie) animated gecko. It’s the worst shit ever:

It’s always a hack move to attach a British accent to something for no reason just to come off as smarter or classier….not that it doesn’t work, but it’s a strange phenomenon.

Drew: What the fuck is that?! What is the trend with animating animals to look like they are talking? it’s bullshit. Why they would see fit to have a gecko with a voice similar to Danny Dyer, to advertise insurance is a fucking mystery. I’m not sure what the connotations of that voice over there are, but over here, that voice sounds more like one that would accompany a sales pitch for pirated DVD’s (and possibly a knife attack), rather than insurance.

That said, we have Iggy Pop advertising car insurance over here, so it’s probably a little less heartbreaking than that.

NOTE: This is the point in the interview where I realized I had a million little British thing I needed to ask about, so it’s going to be like The Chris Farley Show for a while.

Jon: Jason Statham. Over here he’s the poster boy for meathead, assembly line, mindless action movies. Is it the same over there? I liked him in Snatch, didn’t expect him to ‘roid out and be a watered down Jean-Claude Van Damme.

BTW, the guy who plays Tommy in Snatch is pretty good as Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire. He pulls it off, I swear.

Drew: Aw man, I’m saving Boardwalk Empire until I can sit down the the whole box set. Really looking forward to getting stuck into that.

As for Statham, he knows what he’s doing. If he took himself too seriously (something that Van Damme, Lundgren et al were guilty of), there is no way he would have made ‘Crank’. That film alone saves his habitual career missteping. It’s like watching a fucking headache, or being crammed into the mind of a teenage boy with ADD. I’d challenge you to find anything that looks like it, or is as downright preposterous. It’s almost quite experimental, but you get the feeling that it’s by accident instead of design.

To be honest with you, Jason Statham probably makes a lot more films than anyone sees. Since the start of this year, he has been in 4 films, with another 4 in production. Over the period of about 12 months, how many Jason Statham movies would you want to watch? I can’t imagine even his biggest fans will watch everything he appears in. In fairness, I’ve not even heard of most of the films he’s been in. Hi mum might watch them.

I dunno, he seems to be fully aware that he’s not creating high art. He’s carved out a little niche for himself, and he’s feathering is nest while he can. Probably a good idea when you look at the likes of Van Damme and Seagal. These things seldom come with a pension plan.

If you want low budget hardmen, you can look no further than Danny Dyer.

Jon: Guy Ritchie. Wanker? Is it all Madonna’s fault?

Drew: I’m unsure. I’ve not met him, but frankly, anyone that divorces Madonna is OK in my book. If I did meet him we have some common ground straight away, because I wouldn’t want to be fucking married to Madonna either. We could probably while an hour or so away in a boozer. In fact, I’d happily go for a pint with him, as long as he buys the nuts.

I think if you look at his body of work, he has a pretty unique style, a bit of visual flair (admittedly, he’s inconsistent, but, y’know, we all have our off days).

Jon: The Long Good Friday. I just watched this(on recommendation from Chris from The Flood Gallery). It’s good man, the theme is the shit.

So the ending, Hoskins gives his last gasp/fuck off and die speech to the Americans before facing the music. Here’s my take on it, the ugly American perspective:

Hoskins character is the embodiment of “the old days” and he wants to put England back on top but he knows in the back of his head that it’s a futile effort. He presses on regardless which is where the charm lies. He’d rather die on his feet than live on his knees, as James Brown might say. He truly does live his life like a candle in the wind(I couldn’t resist).

He talks about the Dunkirk spirit, says the Americans don’t have the balls(he’s looking tough to this point, even though the Americans are clearly leaving his sinking ship and would be crazy to stay in the deal) but then says he’s gonna get in bed with THE GERMANS…..hello. The fucking Jerries?!?! This man is obviously desperate. He knows he’s screwed but he’s gonna go out guns a blazing even if he reveals himself to be insane.

I found it perfect to cast a dude the size of Bob Hoskins to play this kind of character. He is so Napoleonic.

It’s a great movie, left me wanting more. I don’t really know what my question is, you like it right? I guess it’s the “best british gangster movie ever”, agree??? I still need to check out Get Carter and all that.

Drew: You know what? I don’t think I have ever seen it.

Jon: WHAAAAAT???? YOU JUST SUNK THE WHOLE FUCKING INTERVIEW! THIS IS THE PART WHERE I LOOK COOL FOR KNOWING ABOUT NON-OBVIOUS BRITISH SHIT…The Long Good Friday was my ace in the hole…BLIMEY!

Drew: HA!

Jon: What’s a “Budgie”??? There’s that Clash song, “Vacuum cleaner sucks up Budgie”…I’ve heard it other places.

Drew: It’s a bird. Like a little parrot. It was not one of The Clash’s finest hours. I did once meet Joe Strummer, he was nice.

Jon: DUDE!….meeting Joe Strummer, nice to know your life’s complete at an early age.

Next up: James Blake. Don’t tell me you like this guy.

Drew: No, can’t say I do. I listened to the album, as it was recommended to me by a few people, but i didn’t get it. There are some elements of the overall sound I quite liked, but the tunes were lacking. Who knows? He may make a great album at some point, but this isn’t it, as much as the music press would have you believe.

Jon: Oasis, Blur, Supergrass. Rank ‘em!

Supergrass, Blur and then, an awful long way behind would be Oasis. In fairness, when that was all kicking off, I was much more into American music. The whole ‘Brit-Pop’ thing sort of passed me by. My early/mid teens were spent listening to stuff like The Pixies, SDRE, Nirvana, Green Day, Offspring, Afghan Whigs, Soundgarden, Guns and Roses, and my brothers tape collection of 80’s/90’s metal… that sort of thing. The first show I ever went to was Silverchair and Everclear, which i think was the day before my 15th birthday. That alone probably gives you an indication as to my sadly misguided ways. Having said that, I listened to Everclear’s first album again recently, and I really quite enjoyed it. The production on it is pretty fucking raw.

Jon: Radiohead. I love Kid A, everything before then seems pretty good(obviously) but haven’t been interested since Kid A. Whatsayou?

Drew: Radiohead are another band I simply don’t get. Not saying they are bad, but the way people talk about them, you would be forgiven for mistaking Thom Yorke for the second coming of Christ. I really try not to get into conversations about them, because i know how people feel about them, and me just sitting there going “well I don’t like them”, usually ends up in hurt feelings and raised voices.

They are nowhere near as groundbreaking and interesting, to my ear, anyway, as people would like to think.

Jon: Ricky Gervais. The snarky comedy nerd community over here has pulled a 180 on him recently. Years ago it was “the British office is the best comedy ever, I can’t believe you watch the US version” now it’s “His podcast is lame, he just makes fun of that retarded guy and The Office is only 12 episodes”.

For the record I have enjoyed his podcasts, all that Karl Pilkington shit is good and I liked Extras. Thought his jokes on the Golden Globes were good but I wasn’t into him on Curb this season and his bit as the doctor in Louie gets old real fast.

Drew: Is that even a question?

I’m in the same boat as you. If he sticks to working with Steve Merchant and put out stuff of the quality of The Office and Extras, then it’s all good. I’ve watched some of the films he has been in, and i’ve not really enjoyed them at all. But, y’know, we all have bills to pay.

Jon: The class system, what up with that? Do people in top hats and manacles spit on you if you’re wearing jeans.

Drew: Can’t say it’s something that has ever happened to me. Rumour has it, that we live in a classless society, but that’s just a load of bollocks.

It’s pretty tricky to discuss class systems, especially in the form of an interview, without coming across as either a wooly liberal or verging on the right. It’s probably best avoided.

All I can say is that I have seen some poor people, through the tinted window of my gold plated Rolls Royce.

Jon: Beer. I like Boddingtons, Samuel Smith and Newcastle. Have you tried this John Smith Ale? Recommend something for the yanks to try and track down at the local imported beer store.

Drew: Now we are talking. Most of the stuff you listed is the mass market filth that you will find in any chain pub. There has been a massive resurgence in brewing in the UK over the past few years. In Leeds and surrounding areas alone there are some really awesome breweries making bloody delicious ale.

http://www.leedsbrewery.co.uk/

http://www.kirkstallbrewerycompany.com/

http://www.saltairebrewery.co.uk/

I’m just thinking locally, but frankly, if you go anywhere in the country you will find a lot of different beers, all of which are different and unique.

Jon: Can you elaborate on this Danny Dyer character??

Drew: He’s a bit of a tit. He makes more films than anyone else i am aware of, even though I’m sure only about 12 people will ever see them. He always plays a lippy cockney geezer, and is generally fairly unlikeable. As well as his film work he also make TV shows about real life ‘hard men’, which are shit. Personally, i’m convinced that some day he will make a genuinely great film.

Jon: Bands. You’re always talking up these bands I know nothing about on twitter. Gimme the 2-3 best UK bands right now.

Drew: Fucking hell, that’s too much pressure! How can I just choose 3?!

Ah, fuck it. Well, again, I’m going local on this, and it should be stated that I do know all three, to varying degrees, but I’m very lucky to know some very talented people, who play in some great bands…

1. Humanfly – Heavy, fast, slow, heavy, progressive – http://humanfly.bandcamp.com/

2. Himself – Talky, Heavy, Fast, Slow, Beautiful, Terrifying – http://himself.bandcamp.com/

3. That Fucking Tank – Groovy, sludgy, fast, heavy, danceable – http://www.thatfuckingtank.com/

4. David Thomas Broughton – He’s a bloody genius – http://www.davidthomasbroughton.co.uk/

There should also be notable mentions to Hawk Eyes, Blacklisters, KONG, Mob Rules, Palehorse, Broken Arm and Hookworms. Infact, just go and listen to all those bands I just mentioned.

Jon: Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd is still a stoner rite of passage over here, high school and college kids get into pot and mushrooms and go through all the Floyd albums…well actually most of them probably only listen to Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall(Meddle is best, you idiots!) but the question is, is it the same over there or is Floyd old hat?

Drew: My wife is a big Pink Floyd fan. Until I met her, i’d paid them practically no attention whatsoever. Not sure it’s as much of a rite of passage over here.

I much prefer King Crimson.

Jon: Soccer….you into that shit, hooligan?

Drew: Absolutely not.

Jon: What’s a crumpet?

Drew: Umm, i’m not sure what it is really, It’s kind of a round bit of really doughy bread, with holes in it. They freak me out a bit. The texture and the way they look gives me the creeps.

Jon: Riots. Weren’t there some riots or something over there recently, people still rebelling against the whig party???

Drew: It was localised pockets of disenfranchised kids, wanting some new trainers. Fucking scumbag thieves. The sad thing is, is that there were plenty of reasons to riot. The fact that these events took place in parts of London where the government is spending millions to host the Olympics, while down the road they can’t keep open basic provisions within these communities. That’s a pretty good reason to riot, not to get a new pair of Air Max.

Jon: They still make Air Max? American sitcoms. I was in London and Brighton for a week a couple years ago and I noticed whatever the comedy channel is over there, was just getting King of Queens and I think Two and a Half Men, and the ad campaign was in full swing. It was really gross.

I would apologize as an American but, we still haven’t cleaned up the oil spill that is Simon Cowell over here. So eat a bowl of dicks!

Drew: Your sitcom’s are horrible, and we get a lot of them. We export our most odious cunts (Piers Morgan, Simon Cowell etc.) to your shores. Fair deal.

Jon: Reckon. I like how you guys say “reckon”, I reckon this, I reckon that….It’s a very useful word that has been denigrated in the states as it is most commonly associated with and incorporated in the vernacular of the country bumpkin, ignorant hillbilly, and white trash types…, like Pikeys in England. It is a useful word, I try to use it when applicable.

Drew: I use reckon a lot. It is very useful indeed.

Jon: I saw on twitter you sold your old drums or something, so you used to be in bands? The cliche, failed musician poster artist?

Drew: Not really, I was never that good. I played in bands when I was younger, and then started playing drums again a few years ago, when some friends and I started a band. It was never something we took seriously, and never thought we would really bother playing live, but we did. People seemed to enjoy it, but we were all to lazy and busy to actually do anything. I’m not really one for travelling and sleeping on floors, so the idea of touring didn’t appeal to me that much. I never really wanted to be in a band, but I do enjoy playing music. It’s just reached that point where I’m playing less and less, and lugging a drum kit around is a total nightmare, so, in a way, I’m glad to see the back of it.

I think sitting at home and drawing posters for bands, is much more enjoyable than actually playing in bands.

Jon: So you got this new Bon Iver poster, you tweet about this new album like it’s Blonde On Blonde or something. Is it that good, I got it, haven’t listened yet. I like “Skinny Love” and I like what Kanye did with “Woods”, I was gonna listen now but I started watching Bucktown…

Drew: Personally, I think it’s phenomenal. I loved ‘For Emma…’, and I liked his work with Kanye, but this sounds like such a leap forward in terms of song writing, production, lyrics… everything. I think Justin is a pretty incredible talent, and they don’t come along that often, so it’s nice to see.

I’ve always loved a wide range of music, but this year I seem to have been struck by three albums in particular, and they all seem to come from a similar hushed place. Obviously ‘Bon Iver’ has been a favourite, but I’ve been equally enthralled by ‘Last of The Country Gentlemen’ by Josh T. Pearson, and ‘Everything’s Getting Older’ by Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat. All three came out this year, and all are difficult to fault, in my eyes. It’s been a while since I connected so much with an album, and then to get three in one year, is a bit of a treat.

Jon: Let’s wrap it up! Go ahead and plug whatever you have coming up, or what’s happening right now.

Drew: I have no idea. The future is uncertain, anything could happen. I’m sure if you visit www.drewmillward.com then you will be able to find what is going down.

As well as all the usually drawing malarkie, there are plans for my creative brotherhood The Dead Sea Mob to set sail to the US next year, as well as a lot more shows in the UK and Europe. We are now five members strong (Myself, Godmachine, Tom J. Newell, Twistedloaf and Dan Mumford), with some new members and affiliates ariving all the time. It’s exciting. It’s like being in a band, but without the sound checks.

Jon: OH YEAH, a drawring question. For all the kids at home, what does a Drew Millward draw with? Brush pens, nibs, bic, pencil? And do you lean more towards photoshop or illustrator?

Drew: Anything I can get my hands on. Pencils, Rotring Isograph pens, dip pens and ink and posca, generally. I use Photoshop to clean up and get stuff print ready, and I have never used Illustrator.

There you have it! THE GREATEST DREW MILLWARD INTERVIEW EVER!!…are there other Drew Millward interviews? Probably, but I wouldn’t know. The greatest thing I gleaned is that generationally growing up at the same time in the UK and America is pretty similar as far as the media and music you’re exposed to, I suppose cable TV and the internet pretty much close the gap. The part about being into Silverchair and Everclear at 15 painted the picture of Junior High for me.

Good stuff, I enjoyed it, hope you did too, thanks again to Drew for indulging my onslaught of random inquiries.

First of all the website as you can see has just been revamped! I still need to fill out the Portfolio section and tweak a lot of little things but it looks a lot better and will be up to 100% soon.

NEW STUFF AT THE NAKATOMI STORE:

My new prints based on Pulp Fiction for Spoke Art’s “Quentin vs. Coen” show are now available!!!

AND Nakatomi is also releasing a T-Shirt featuring the art from my “A Wiser Fella…” print from the first round of “Quentin vs. Coen”. I don’t do a lot of shirts and this is my first shirt with Nakatomi so I’m excited about it, be the first on your block to own a shirt showcasing Sam Elliot and a severed and split open bear head!!!

In other news I have a poster for Weezer coming up soon, a movie poster, more art prints are definitely in the pipeline and of course Flatstock Seattle is just a few weeks away.

Alrighty, here’s the rundown on my second batch of prints for the Spoke Art Quentin vs. Coen show.

This was the natural progression from the first round of prints I contributed on the theme of The Big Lebowski in the Ralph Steadman aesthetic.

When I started brainstorming concepts on the colossal theme of “Quentin vs. Coen” I naturally had a million ideas but I wanted to do something I figured no one else had thought of because you never know what everyone else is bringing to the table in these kinds of shows. Somehow the idea of Walter and The Dude driving around in a piece of shit car overlapped in my head with Hunter S. and Dr. Gonzo flying around in that convertible in Fear and Loathing. It’s apples and oranges in a lot of ways but the similarities are two guys in a car on an insane adventure, the protagonist is on a mission while his sidekick means well but mostly just complicates things.

I started playing around, doing my best Steadman impression and it worked out. But in the middle of the process before I landed on what became the pieces on Walter/The Dude, The Stranger and Donny, I was trying the same aesthetic on other movie elements under the Quentin vs. Coen umbrella to see what fit. The illustration of Marsellus Wallace in the basement with Butch was actually one of the first things I started working up but set it aside when the Lebowski stuff started coming together. I knew I liked the illo of Wallace but didn’t know where it was going.

So when I found out there would be a second wave of Q vs. C I figured I should finish what I started with Butch and Mr. Wallace. Thing was, the Lebowski prints were specifically, intentionally a Fear and Loathing/Steadman homage. That tongue in cheek angle wasn’t necessary for a three piece art print arch on the character of Butch Coolidge BUT I had already started it in the Steadman style so I figured I’d keep the illustration style rough, gritty and insanely sloppy but I din’t feel the need to go out of my way to do a tight impression of another style. I wanted it to fit  with the approach of the Lebowski set but still be it’s own thing.

But anyway, let’s talk about Bruce Willis. I really think the character of Butch Coolidge(Bruce Willis) in Pulp Fiction has the most underrated storyline in that movie. Butch is for lack of a better term the “hero” out of the entire ensemble. He overcomes great obstacles to earn his freedom(kills a guy in a boxing match, nearly gets raped and or murdered in order to go back and get that fucking watch! Kills Vince etc.) and makes a clean getaway in the end, no strings attached.

Now you could argue Jules makes a clean getaway, and he pretty much does but his story doesn’t make him a “hero”. Jules is more of a bad guy who took a while to realize he was a bad guy and decided to make a change once he figured it out…but back to Butch. The thing that makes him the hero of Pulp Fiction is the way you pull for him throughout the film, he’s a guy doing what he has to do to get out of a tight spot at all times, he has a love interest and a strong sense of honor and moral compass. There are more reasons to care about what happens to butch than any other character.

He has to go back and get his fathers watch. He has to go back and save Marsellus Wallace, a man who wants to kill him. That’s the fucking definition of a good guy if there ever was one, Butch’s problems are solved if he leaves Wallace to Zed and the boys.

With Wallace dead Butch would be completely free, but he turns around, does the right thing. This is the kind of character that Willis has perfected over his career, from Die Hard to the Last Boy Scout he always adds a level of believability to these action heroes. He doesn’t make it look easy, there’s an everyman quality there. He smokes, he’s hungover half the time, he’s not excited to be in a position where his life is constantly in danger, he gets the shit beat out of him and he looks and acts like a guy who’s pushing his mangled body through these adventures on pure adrenaline because he has no other choice where Schwarzenegger or Stallone come off as robotic or wooden in comparison.

Sorry I got all James Lipton on you at the end there, internet. Sorry. Anyway here’s the official skinny on the new prints: signed and numbered edition of 80 regular prints on Mohawk cream paper and  20 variants. 5 colors, signed and numbered by moi. Get them for now at Spoke Art, I’ll have my copies available later.

In other news I’m looking to have a major website upgrade soon(if I can manage not to fuck it up) and a top secret big time interview coming up…stay tuned!

Look alive out there Internet !

Pitchers and catchers have reported, Spring Training is in full swing, a fresh baseball season is right around the corner, hope spring eternal and all that. Being in a baseball mood again and realizing I’m going to be in Texas for Flatstock and SXSW it seemed as good a time as any to pull the trigger on a limited wood edition of the long sold out Don’t Mess With The Bull(Young Man) print.

Printing on wood is not easy, we just make it look that way:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhBijvO7ZUc?rel=0&w=480&h=390]

Here’s the skinny(less jokes, more facts cuz I have to get to work). The wood was pre-coated by my small hands with acrylic white paint mixed with PINE TAR. It really just adds more of a wood smell to it. In the video I squirt pine tar on one of the pieces pretty good but in actuality only a handful of pieces in the run got hit with pine tar after printing like that and it was subtle squirt not as deliberate as that. So y’know, when you get one it’s not going to be all sticky and shit with pine tar all over it. Don’t worry!

The edition size is 34 pieces(good number right Ranger fans?!). There is a slightly more limited edition of 10, the “SXSW Edition” which will be available with my posters at the Nakatomi booth at Flatstock 29. I get in to Austin tomorrow night and will sign and number them Thursday in time for the second day of Flatstock, hope to see you there!!!

Other specs: 18″x24″ on 1/4″ Birch Veneer(good wood). They turned out awesome…..here’s the link if you missed the first 2 times, AVAILABLE NOW CLICK HERE.

Doodled to look like ME, not Jesus Christ in case you're confused. Although Jesus came back too, one time....

My fellow internets,

Jon Smith is officially getting back on the wagon with the Association. This is the first of many steps toward reconciliation. My statement to the NBA is thus: “You don’t have to sleep on the couch anymore. …Let’s stay together for the kids.” So I’m not going out of my way to watch NBA basketball but I’ll treat it like anything else on TV or the internet, I will pay as much attention to it as any other sports fan without an NBA franchise would(to those who don’t know me, I am a Seattleite. Born and raised Sonics fan, pretty bitter).

Nothing has changed between myself and the likes of David Stern and Howard Schultz. Those creeps can eat a truckload of dicks in Hell, I really hope I never see Howard Schultz around town…don’t know what I’d do. Slim chance of that though, as I have no life and rarely go downtown. So you’re lucky Howie!

So as I slowly re-acclimate myself with Napoleon’s traveling circus, I will need to lean once again upon Todd Slater: the nerd prince of basketball, to help navigate these murky waters. 

The following is an Email conversation between Todd and I:

ME: It cannot be denied that due to officiating or this generation of players, this league is soft. Not nearly as aggressive, not nearly as tough to score especially in the paint as it was in the glory days of Jordan/Magic/Bird BUT It’s nice to see one young man taking advantage of this generations soft defense: BLAKE GRIFFIN. How’s that for a segue?? This kid is the closest thing to Shawn Kemp we’ve seen since….Shawn Kemp. Not quite as powerful but just as electrifying and unstoppable, more athletic.
Is this the usual cock tease fans get from the Clippers every 3-4 years or do you think Blake can break through and make the Clip show a contender?

Todd: Well, they haven’t had a tease this big in a long while.  I have to say I’d exercise *some* caution regarding Blake and here’s why:  I’m weary of freak athletes because when the hops fade they fade fast.  If your game revolves around jumping over everyone in the gym you’re going to deal with alot of wear and tear on the treads.  Your chances of getting injured exponentially increase if you play the way he does year after year.  Remember how different Vince Carter’s game was when he came into the league versus now?  To Vince’s credit he’s still a useful player, but Air Canada doesn’t fly nearly as high as it used to.  Blake’s doing the right thing, he’s the best athlete on the court and he uses it to his advantage every possession.  In the offseason, he needs to develop a better mid-range game and continue to build his fundamentals so that he’s ready to evolve into something else in 6-7 years or maybe sooner should an injury occur.  I’d trade great fundamentals for athleticism every time tho… see Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki.

ME: Wanted to start with Blake because that’s kind of the catalyst for my getting back into NBA fandom. What else is there to be excited about, what’s Todd Slater excited about? Specific players or teams getting hot? Is there a dark horse you like to win this year? Seems like the Celtics and Lakers are old and vulnerable.

The Lakers will turn it on when they need to like always.  Jerry West had an interesting quote about their defense this week: “If there’s a loose ball now, how often do they get it? The reason you ‘can’t play defense’ is because you can’t! …I don’t think the Lakers will be good for much longer. You can keep a car running for a long time by changing the tires, etc. You can’t change a player’s tires.”

I think it’s Celts and Spurs in the finals.  Spurs win it all.

Todd: This guy in Cali runs it, I’ll make sure you get in next year if you want.

ME: How are your Mav’s doing?

Todd: Kinda just trucking along.  I think they make a splash at the trade deadline.  I’m confident Cuban will always put out a quality product.

ME: Hey is Cuban involved in the UFL?? That’s his league right? I think it kinda has a chance, and will benefit from a lockout in the NFL.

Todd: Well, he’s suing them right now for 5 million for an unpaid loan so I dunno where he stands.  UFL fantasy football?  That would be hilarious… gotta get our fix somehow.

ME: Shit, I got dibs on Maurice Clarett!

Given you did a GaGa poster, thought you’d like to know I’m doing a Ke$ha poster….

So I’m watching this Mavs/Celtics game tonight, who is this small foreign looking Guard you have?…I’m not talking about Jason Kidd, Ha!

Todd: That my friend is Jose Juan Barea, better known as the Puerto Rican AI (Allen Iverson), he goes by JJ for short.

This isn’t exactly “the decision” or any kind of revolutionary defection from the status quo, it’s just a man making his life easier whilst servicing his customers efficiently. Outsourcing, if you will.
What am I talking about?? I’m moving my online store to NAKATOMI, which means when you order a print of mine you will receive it in 2-5 days as you should instead of waiting for my dumb ass to have time to tube it up and drag it to the post office which can often take a month to arrive as many of you reading this likely know from experience. That and I often times send the wrong poster(s), all that shit is over now. My posters are in capable hands.

This is the first wave, I will be slowly transitioning the back catalog of posters to Nakatomi and eventually close out my big cartel store and Nakatomi will be the main location to find Jon Smith posters online. So bookmark that shit yo.

Bottomline it’s a win/win, you get what you want when you buy a poster quick and easy and I get more time to spend designing…or catching up on old SEGA games, whatevs!

All posters will still be signed and numbered by me moving forward as per usual unless it’s an art print that gets printed in-house at Nakatomi down the road in which case will just be numbered and not signed. Overall I’d say 80-90% of the time my prints will still be signed by me.

CLOSE UP/DETAIL IMAGE: Built To Spill, Showbox. November, 2010. Seattle, WA.

Aaaaaaand to help kick off the new store I’ve finally got my Built To Spill poster from November available. There are 2 versions of the poster, regular edition of 100 and an edition of 50 with a subtle nod to the memory of a once proud, now deceased sports franchise….championship ghosts….

Also, while moving posters around, organizing and such I found a few more copies of the Black Keys Columbus poster I could spare so a few of those are in the store as well but there are only a few and that’s it forever!!!

Goodnight internet, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of each other throughout the school year…I uh, peeked at your schedule and went to the office and got myself transferred into  a couple of the classes you’re taking this quarter…

I’ve been meaning to hop back on the blog since I got back from Renegade Austin in May and here it is the week after Renegade San Francisco. Doing two out of town shows in one summer has been a bigger pain than I anticipated and I don’t mind saying I came up short on both occasions. I think I covered my expenses(travel etc.) in Austin but I got my head handed to me in San Francisco. Came in guns a blazin’ and got creamed, you remember the end of Butch and Sundance right? Like that.

I’m over it but I bitched up a storm about it of course you know all about that if you follow me on twitter or facebook. As per usual all my caterwauling is all in good fun, I use my twitter account as free therapy, dumb joke depository, shit talking sounding board amongst friends and lastly a venue to dispense news on new prints/design and such. It’s synced straight to my facebook, I rarely check in on facebook itself.

If I wasn’t counting on making my rent money in San Fran it wouldn’t have been as big a deal to me, I don’t want anyone who came out to Renegade San Francisco or anyone involved with Renegade to feel slighted by anything I said….well, except the DJ. The DJ was spinning a mix tailor made for Kindergarten nap time, I mean you go to a Grocery Store and they at least play something with a consistent tempo. Keeps people engaged on what they came to do, introspective Neil Young or sad bastard Leonard Cohen slow jams are counterproductive to say the least. That DJ was not helping the atmosphere….though I like Wings as much as the next guy.

Jesus, speaking of bringing the mood down…to the bright side we go! I hung out with Tyler and Michelle Madsen of Love Nail Tree in San Fran, after meeting them initially in Austin. We’re going to try and collab on some shirts in the future, excited about that but god knows when that will see the light of day, fall probably. Anyway we saw Dinner for Schmucks the night before I flew back, fun times.

Also in San Fran were the usual poster suspects but I’m not going to list all the Two Rabbits, Kevin Tongs and Nate Duval‘s of the world, they’re all overrated anyway. ZING! LOLZORZ but working my booth myself I didn’t get out and mingle at all really, I think Regan Smith Clarke the shirt designer from Boston is the only non-poster new person I met. His buddy helping him at his booth looks like a young Seth Romatelli from the Uhh Yeah Dude podcast…anyway Regan Smith Clarke, solid guy. Traded him a print for a nice Tank Top. Oh shit, I also met the dudes from Fuzzy Ink, they make shirts too. Nice guys, met them while drunk(..ish) with Mike from Two Rabbits in lower Haight.

Leading up to San Francisco I needed to finish a design for Spoon and get it approved, the time crunch due to finishing new wood prints(more info down the road) and boxing up 100 lbs of my wares and display paraphernalia forced me to spend most of my Friday once I landed in my hotel room slaving over a hot laptop finishing up the design. The design ended up being rad and it was approved:

The print however did not go quite as I had hoped, more on that later. Flukey weird shit, hardly ever happens but…like I said I’ll address that later.

Moving right along, printing this week will be a 3 color poster for The Black Keys(strangely playing the same venue as Spoon in the above poster)  this Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

To recap my trip to Austin in May, it was a great time. Austin always is. I stayed with Tim Doyle (of Nakatomi inc. fame), his wife Angie and darling son Rocko! I’m bad with baby ages but he’s a little guy, got a lot of bam bam in him. Also met Nick Derrington(awesome illustrator) and his wife, if I had 5 minutes to concentrate on it I’m sure I could remember her name but she made this amazing Peach Cobbler. One of the greatest foodstuffs I have ever partaken in. Anyway Tim lives right down the street from where they shoot a portion of my favorite guilty pleasure, Friday Night Lights. Driving through the neighborhood I always felt like I was in the opening montage.

Also hung out with Clint Wilson, yeah he’s a Wilson from Austin I’m sure he’s related to Luke and Owen Wilson…and the other brother, future man whatever is name is. Didn’t hit too many places other than fine eateries which meant I had to stop by Geof Peveto‘s joint: FRANK. It’s Peveto’s world, we’re just living in it…hats off to you sir.
This is getting long already, I’ll just keep blogging throughout this and next week. There’s new stuff up in the store plus the aforementioned Black Keys poster will be available soon and there’s a whole wave of new art prints I can’t even get into right now which will be going up in my etsy store as soon as I can get to it. But designwise right now Ghostland Observatory is on the front burner, need to get some shirt designs and a tour poster done pronto! Before Flatstock at Bumbershoot of course. I’ll be back in a couple days, thanks for stopping by.

Greetings and salutations internet,

Typing fast hope I’m making sense, Nate Duval and I ended our blood feud and set aside our petty differences to create a fine poster for my favorite band:

Kidding about the blood feud of course…although we have joked before about staging an Andy Kaufmanesque fake fight for shits and giggles. Anyway these posters will be available at the show in Richmond, VA on Wednesday. We will make our copies available shorty after, stay tuned.

I’ve been mentioning an interview with Micah Smith, it’s been half done for quite a while I’ve just been slammed lately and Micah was down at SXSW last week so hopefully we can catch up and wrap the interview up this week.

I often ramble out of talk of new posters and into sports talk on this blog but at this juncture those two worlds have finally collided beautifully. I created a print for Gallery 1988‘s massive Greatest Moments in Sports Show.

Believe me, picking one concept was hard but I think I came up with something good. 4 colors on cream paper(Mohawk, the same stuff we use for  TSTOUT kiddos!), limited edition of only 55. The copies of this print at the gallery sold out quickly, my copies are available in the store now, grab ‘em while they last.

Now that I’m on the topic of sports I’m going to riff on PNW specific sports stuff so you can stop reading now if you’re just here for the poster blabbery:

Holy shit the Dawgs are on fire, after dragging ass through two thirds of the Pac-10 season they have won 8 straight and exploded into the Sweet 16. They’re playing West Virginia, going to be tough but it’s nice to be at a respectable depth in the tournament. I’m proud of these kids, finally getting their shit together and playing an exciting brand of basketball. We’re finally seeing the team that was ranked in the top 20 to start the season. BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON!!!

And of course there’s Charlie Whitehurst. Perhaps a future “savior” has come to the Jet City…

Jesus just left Chicago SanDiego and he’s bound for New Orleans Seattle.

A lot of people are bellyaching about this move, the phrase “hasn’t thrown a pass in a regular season game” has been used as much in reference to Whitehurst as “flip-flopper” has been with John Kerry. It’s a lazy way to look at things. Philips Rivers hasn’t missed a game in 4 years and Billy Volek is the best backup QB in the league so there would hardly be any instance in Whitehurt’s time in San Diego where he had a sniff of the regular season. In his 4 regular season snaps he handed off 3 times and then scrambled 14 yards for a touchdown.

The bottom line is, the Hawks looked at Charlie Whitehurst as a draft pick. They liked him more than any QB in this draft outside of Sam Bradford(who they aren’t going to have a chance at) so they traded up in the second round and gave up their third round pick next year to get him. I will say this ’til I’m (Seahawk)blue in the face, no matter what this move is better than taking a chance on Jimmy Clausen in the first round in 2010. Whitehurst is bigger, stronger, faster, has been in the NFL for 4 years and obviously cheaper.

Outside of all that, look at this guys hair! I have so many nicknames floating through my head, Serpico Jesus, Hot Tub Jesus, Rambo Jesus, Tim McGraw Jesus, Comic Book Jesus, Soap Opera Jesus, Aragorn Jesus, Dukes of Hazzard Jesus…