The Emotive Tommy Kha

These are illustrations from an assignment last semester that I stupidly matted before scanning and then never took pictures of, but the matt is now ruined and I'm putting them in a student exhibition at school, so I carefully scraped them up with a wal-mart gift card and ran to the mac lab to take care of business before I glued them to something else too large for the scanner bed. Simple assignment, four emotions. The model was one of my favorite asians, Tommy Kha. (You can view his awesome photography if you click his name.)









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Be a Host

I know that some people may disagree, but I can think of few things ruder than having a group of people over, and then starting a video game. I really only think video games at gatherings are acceptable if it's something like Super Smash Bros., where a majority of the group is engaged, and controllers are passed between people every ten minutes or so. But two people starting an intense, serial, two-player game, turned up to full volume, while "entertaining" five other people in the room? HOW RUDE! I've done that video game spectator thing too many times, and it's really all a sham. No one likes watching other people play video games. WHEN WILL THEY ALL REALIZE?

Preview of Black & White, Issue 2 of SP09 Semester

To the Edge and Back to School
Lauren Rae Holtermann, BFA 2010

Have you ever been in the middle of a long evening in the darkroom or the sculpture studio, or maybe stooping over a paper cutter, or squinting with burning eyes at a mac, and realized suddenly that whatever you were in the middle of was going to take quite a bit longer than you had originally anticipated? More often than not, our good intentions of a stable, healthy sleep schedule are obliterated, sometimes by one unforeseen night. But regardless of how angry our burning eyes or calloused fingertips are, we’ve all had to push through the night by whatever means necessary. Who knew that that perfect late night pick-me-up was only a few blocks away?

The Edge is a coffeehouse at the corner of Overton Park and North Watkins; about six blocks west of MCA and just across the street from Five In One Art Space (VINI), which you may have visited for the recent ceramics department’s Flocculent Femmes exhibition or for Tommy Kha’s Shambhala show. Like any good coffeehouse, The Edge has free WIFI, a shelf of well worn boardgames and paperback novels, and a hot pot of strong black coffee always on. What makes the Edge different are the details.

Aside from being open from 8AM until 1AM, the Edge has pool tables, a furnished patio, and jukebox, making it into a cozy hangout for decompression at any hour. On Friday nights, they host live music, ranging from old blues singers to techno DJs. Sunday nights are Songwriters nights, Mondays are pool tournaments, Wednesdays are Karaoke, and Thursdays are open mic Memphis Comedy. There is generally something happening down the street every night of the week that ensures even if you aren’t interested, stopping in will be interesting (they have 2 for 1 drink specials for bikers on Wednesdays!).

Perhaps the most addictive reason to visit the Edge is the beverage for which they identify themselves: the Avalanche. The Avalanche is two shots of espresso blended into a milkshake, topped with whipped cream and served in a frozen beer mug. At $4.25 apiece, they rival Starbucks in pocket change, but this drink is way better than that bitter swill, and worth every penny. My personal favorite, however, is the Landslide, a chocolate-blended cousin of the Avalanche, with chocolate syrup drizzled on top for only fifty cents extra.

The best thing and worst thing about the Edge, in my opinion, is its versatility. Not as easily categorized as quiet coffee shop or roaring venue, the Edge finds a happy medium somewhere in between the two, with the charm of the bar regulars from Cheers. I’ll admit, sometimes it isn’t the best location for a strenuous group study session, as there is frequently loud music, boisterous regulars, limited seating, or any combination thereof. However, in the balmier months of the year, all those obstacles are easily overcome by choosing one of the larger tables on the front deck.

Unfortunately, the cold weather and sinking economy has taken their toll on The Edge. Pressed with financial troubles, Rozelle Artists Guild has decided to host a fundraiser to benefit our favorite coffeehouse: Damn the Man! Support the Edge. Come out to the Edge on Friday, February 6th at 6PM for live music by Travis Cantrell, Valerie June, and Grace Askew. There is no admission, but we’d appreciate if you bought a cup of coffee or donated a couple bucks, and art from members of the Rozelle Artists Guild and others will be for sale. If you’re interested in helping or are able to donate art, please contact me at rag@rozelleartistsguild.org.

Either way, next time you’re settling in for a long night of work, remember that the Edge is just down the street, and open 8AM – 1AM, 7 days a week. For a full menu and events calendar, visit them online at theedgecoffeehouse.com or add them on myspace at myspace.com/theedgecoffeehouse.

In the past thirty days, I have seen all of these works of art in person:

I voted for Obama, too.

Older citizens gathered at the inauguration ceremony were asked if Obama’s swearing in was a more historic event than Martin Luther King’s assassination, or the landing of the first man on the moon. The answers were unanimously yes. While I can’t make an accurate comparison because I was not alive to witness either of the aforementioned events, I can say that today is a day I will remember for the rest of my life, no matter how President Obama’s term goes.

Memphis, albeit a majorally black city, is still a Southern town nestled in a die hard red state, and while sentiments may have been more colorblind in cosmopolitan metropolises up the coast, the atmosphere was the same as ever in the Mid-South. Intertwined with crying black reverends praising God for such luck, uncharacteristically optimistic blues singers, and old Civil Rights advocates celebrating a new nation, were news reports of young white hicks in Arkansas arrested for plotting assassination attempts on Obama’s life, and my grandparents who still believe that our new President is a muslim extremist closely connected with Al Queda. It seems that no matter how different and changed and open-minded CNN tells me America is becoming, the same stagnated sentiments of our ancestors and Southern culture can’t help but ooze out.

Regardless, it is really cool to think that we have a president that people in other countries actually respect.




Click to see some amazing photos of the day from boston.com.

Classes resume on Tuesday.

You wanna go to sleep, you wanna get up, you wanna go out again tomorrow, right? Wherever you are in life, it's my feeling: you gotta go.

-Jerry Seinfeld



I need to dry out and take some time to clear my mind.
But before you know it here I am again, fucking 2 o'clock in the morning,
standing in a bar, with a drink in hand.
How low can you go before you can't turn around?

-Against Me!

Lyrical Therapy

It has only happened a handful of times in my life that in the wake of a traumatic event, I'm driving, and a song comes on that I know by heart, yet never really attached any meaning to until that moment. It happened last night.

They make bad, bad jokes, it's okay not to laugh.
For every push forward, you get the same fucking push back.
You had, you had nowhere to go,
so you, so you found someplace,
You had, you had nothing to say
you start lying...

What the fuck were you thinking?
I'm not sorry.
I'd do it all again.
All the lines between hate, love, and revenge,
it's just dead, it's dead, it's dead, they're just dead feelings.

Against Me!, "Unsubstantiated Rumors Are Good Enough For Me (To Base My Life Upon)"

P&H Mural Night 01

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Derrick Dent & I's collaboration, with some visual contribution from KP.
Will post some decent daylight photos soon.

New lead courtesy Brad Postlethwaite M.D. (almost)

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis is a type of autoimmune thyroid disease in which the immune system attacks and destroys the thyroid gland. The thyroid helps set the rate of metabolism, which is the rate at which the body uses energy. Hashimoto’s stops the gland from making enough thyroid hormones for the body to work the way it should. It is the most common thyroid disease in the U.S.

Some patients with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis may have no symptoms. However, the common symptoms are fatigue, depression, sensitivity to cold, weight gain, forgetfulness, muscle weakness, puffy face, dry skin and hair, constipation, muscle cramps, and increased menstrual flow. Some patients have major swelling of the thyroid gland in the front of the neck, called

goiter.

CHRISTMAS 2008

CHRISTMAS WISH LIST

Mod Cloth's Hat Scarf


Converse All-Black Knee High Chucks


Urban Outfitters Lace Tights


Urban Outfitters Sweater Dress


A Billy Welch Original



House Seasons 1-4 on DVD

I'm pretty sure I'm a workaholic because it's the only thing I've found yet that I can be addicted to that doesn't slow down my productivity.

103108

I had a Happy Halloween.

Past Due

These are some of my portrait panels from the Merge Again show in July.



James Carey


Jonathan Dodge


Andy Breig


Opie


Self-Portrait


Taylor Martin


Tommy Kha

To Any Potential Friends:

-If you are the type of person who cannot stay home alone and be okay with that, we probably won't along.
-If you are the type of person who needs company to run errands, we probably won't along.
-If you are the type of person who needs others to constantly validate and supplement your self-esteem, we probably won't along.
-If you are the type of person who puts the responsibility of keeping you entertained or happy on others, we probably won't along.
-If you are the type of person whose daily routine is comprised primarily around a substance, we probably won't get along.
-If you are the type of person who dwells on petty drama between your friends, boyfriend, ex-boyfriends, friends' boyfriends, friends of ex-boyfriends, and/or ex-boyfriends of friends, we probably won't along.

However,
-if you are the type of person who can call, ask to hang out, receive a no, and be okay with that, then we may just get along.
-if you are the type of person who likes talking about illustration, or movie directors, or websites with particularly good design, or zombie lore, or graphic novels, or any other interesting topic displaced from the mundane gossip of small college living, we may just get along.
-if you are the type of person who is too busy with all of the extra projects you keep taking on to even have friends, we probably will get along.