Not All Who Wander Are Lost
I mentioned it in the previous post, but Transient Monkey now has its own store! You can follow that link, or the link from the drop down menu above!
Currently we’re just selling some Silk-Screened T-Shirts, but we’ll be adding more unique and interesting products to the store over time.
Check it out, buy something, support Transient Monkey!
If you’ve been to the site before, you’ve likely noticed we’ve got a new banner, and a new logo!
We’d originally intended to have them be one and the same, but the best looking logo turned out a bit more square, which doesn’t really work so well as a banner. Luckily, some of the earlier designs were more amenable to a banner, so we tweaked those to create our banner, and everything else will use the official logo, which I’m posting here:
Please let me know what you think!
In addition, the site is going to be undergoing a bit of a redesign as it transitions more towards a business oriented site. Everything already here should stay here, but Transient Monkey will start to offer various services for those who are interested, so stay tuned!
As I’d mentioned in the Godzilla post, I’d been working on a trombone wall mount, and had very nearly reached completion. I’m glad to say that during the Christmas holiday I was able to complete that project, thanks in great part to the efforts of my dad. While the idea had always been mine, and 70-80% of the work was mine, I likely wouldn’t have been able to do it without his guidance. Plus he had all the tools and stuff, and the wood, and he did cut out the handles. He also applied the felt.
Here is the completed work:
If you haven’t figured it out yet, click both of those to see the larger images – speaking of which, utilizing the new plugins I mentioned below.
Somehow, while writing the previous post, I completely forgot about the most recent addition to the decorations in my condo (most recent meaning not works in progress). This would of course be Albert the Elephant, baby elephant to be more precise. He sits in the corner of my dining room, holding up a piece of round glass, but he apparently can’t hold it level. I’m gonna have to help him with that…
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “Godzilla, that’s awesome….but why is it there?” I’ll tell you why, because it is awesome. Ok, it’s a bit more than that, but before I push the image too far down I’ll move to explaining beneath the image, so scroll down!
That’s right, down here, there you go. So, awesomeness aside, why do I have this silhouette of Godzilla posted? I’ll tell you why. Because I have an empty wall that needs filling, that’s why!
Since I first moved into my condo I found myself tasked with something relatively new to me, decorating. Back when I lived with my parents my decorating was pretty much limited to my immediate room, which 90% of the time consisted of some posters and piles of junk on my desk, bureau, and pretty much everywhere else. When I was younger I did get a set of G.I. Joe wall stickers that my younger brother and I split between our rooms, plus I’d earned some fake Indian stuff at summer camp. During college it was a similar deal, limited to my dorm room, and if anything, I decorated even less then. But now, now that I actually have a place of my own, with many many plain white walls, well, I feel the need to fill them with something. Not just anything, mind you, that would be even more boring than nothing. No, I need to fill them with unique, creative, manly things!
I think the first thing I decorated my walls with was a tin filled with three of my favorite things: Booze, Smokes, and Puppies – the Trifecta, the only thing missing was women, but that’s ok, 3 out of 4 of my favorite things ain’t bad (for those of you who don’t know me…booze and smokes aren’t actually in my list of favorite things…puppies and women however….). The Yeungling brewer tin has familial attachments, plus I just think puppies drinking booze and smoking is pretty funny. Check out a picture of this artistic delicacy here. In fact, the wall you can see in the background is ultimately the one Godzilla is all about, but I’ll get to that.
After the puppies adorned the area above my dining room I got it in my head to mount my guitar. The fact that I’m still only capable of strumming a few chords is beside the point, a guitar on the wall is a sign of manliness. And so, with the help of my dad, I designed and built this. Which allowed me to mount the guitar like this. Manly, I know.
Some might consider two pieces of art/decoration enough and call it a day, but not me, no, I needed more. The longest wall in my condo is in my living room, and that in turn means it was also (and technically still is) the emptiest. Clearly, I needed to fill this space. My brother, Zareiff, who’s gallery is linked to on the right, is an artist, and so I came to him with an idea I had to fill this space. I needed a painting, a relatively large painting (when I say large I don’t mean like ‘The Last Supper’ large, just 36″x48″ or so large), and painting that will be the pinnacle of awesomeness and manliness. I don’t recall how specific my original idea was, or which portions of it were his ideas, but what I do know is that I wanted something local, with the DC landscape. I also wanted it to be personal, so I would be a central character in the painting. And, of course, it had to be manly, so it would involve violence! Ultimately the idea culminated into a chaotic version of the DC landscape in the background, while in the foreground myself and Christopher Walken (both in giant form) would tower over the monuments while engaged in mortal combat.
I know, you’re speechless, aren’t you? Could anything possible be more awesome? No, it couldn’t, but something might come close. Sadly, the painting hasn’t developed beyond the conceptual stage, and the canvas purchasing stage, but it will get done.
Now you’re definitely thinking “That’s plenty of decoration,” but you’d be wrong. No, with the painting still unpainted, I only had one piece of decoration in the living room. That wouldn’t suffice, no, so I purchased one of my brother’s earlier paintings to hang above my TV. A painting of Cobra Commander, what could be more awesome than a painting of the most infamous fictional international terrorist ever to live (in a fictional world)? Well, the aforementioned painting, clearly, but other than that, nothing, I suspect. See what I mean by taking a gander here.
All of that, but there’s more! “How could that be?” You say, “You can’t possibly make such a place more awesome.” You’re wrong though, and I’ll tell you why. Seeing just how awesome the guitar mount turned out, and considering I have a very nice trombone (that I can actually play much better than the guitar) I decided to make a trombone wall mount. Again my dad helped out here, and he admittedly probably came up with more of the design on this than I did, plus he cut out the actual “handles”, though I did almost all of the backboard for it, and he dug up some nice felt to put in the handles to prevent scratches. It’s not finished yet, but once I’m home for the holidays I think it’ll get wrapped up.
And now to the last element on my list of decorations, or planned decorations – those manly things that make a home unique and personal…and the very subject of this post….Godzilla vs King Kong!
There’s a barren wall in my dining room that gets prominent viewing to anyone walking through the condo as well as plenty of light, but I couldn’t come up with a way to fill it. I’d kept thinking pictures, except, I have no pictures to put on the wall and had no desire to go on a photography kick, especially since it’d take me forever to take any worth putting on the wall. No, I needed something else…something…manly! And then I had an epiphany. I saw Godzilla…fighting King Kong…on my wall! Yes, pure genius, but instead of being a painting, or being painted on to the wall, I wanted it more subtle, but still something I could take with me if I moved. Something thin to be placed up against the wall, a silhouette cutout, but what material? Discussing the matter with my brother I believe we settled on vinyl of some sort, but I’m not positive. And now he’s begun to craft out the designs, once of which is included at the top of this post! He also sent me a King Kong, but he had a beer belly…that’s not gonna fly…
And there you have it, the explanation, the most awesome and manly condo ever – that’s what I’m going to have.
Before I forget, if you’re reading this post while it’s still at the top of the page, how awesome does the graphic look, what with the transparency and the way the tail curls under the menu on the right? Now I want to come up with a way to fix it in place…too bad my knowledge of CSS is crap…but I’ll figure it out, eventually, maybe…..
Another day, another building in my condo complex catches fire. First, back in November, or maybe it was early December, my building caught fire. From the news articles it sounded like some dumbass started that one on the 2nd floor, and then instead of trying to call 911 or do anything smart, they tried to put it out themselves. Obviously, had they managed to do so, I’d likely have never heard about the fire as it wouldn’t have burn through several units. If I was that persons neighbor I’d be livid. And then of course there’s the water damage that hit’s undamaged units thanks to the water needed to extinguish the fire. All in all I think fourteen families were displaced, and up to 7 others had minor water damage. I luckily escaped unscathed. Nothing like ruining the new home owner high like your new home burning down.
Then last Thursday night, at 10:30PM I’m trying to get to sleep, and I hear all this commotion outside my window. I think it’s just a stupid kid or something… I want to yell at them to pipe down, but I just roll over. Five or so minutes later I hear sirens…. lots of sirens, but they all sound like they’re really far away. I turn over some more, and after another five minutes or so I finally look out the window. Flames are shooting into the night sky. Lovely. I don’t recall what finally motivated me to lookout the window, but I do know that I heard sirens in the distance for quite some time. This might seem normal, until you take into account the fact that the fire station is just up the road a quarter mile, if that. I dunno if they just sounded further away then they really were, got lost, or it was a completely unrelated fire, but it was slightly unnerving. Once I was aware of the fire, I recall seeing some fire trucks arrive, and I think I saw the ladder bucket thingy, though I don’t recall seeing any water, but they must’ve done something, since within the next 15 minutes or so it was reduced to a smolder. I did snap a few pics of it, I should post those…later. According to the news people were hanging onto their balconies and such, I guess their stairwell was on fire. Miraculously, I don’t think anyone was injured in either fire. Of course the report said another 14-20 or so families were displaced. This is made worse when you factor in that several of the families from the first fire apparently still haven’t gotten to move back in. The management company claims the county is holding up the permits, I honestly don’t know, but it’s been almost 6 months now, it’s getting ridiculous. It’ll likely be that much more disheartening to the group of families that were just displaced.
At the rate of two fires in six months it’s only a matter of time until mine burns down. Hopefully that’s just the pessimism speaking, cause I’d really prefer it not to burn down.
And unrelated to fires….. a few weeks back my brother was down here to start working on the most awesome painting of all time. If I haven’t already told you about this painting it’s likely because I fear you would die of sheer joy just in it’s anticipation. While he was down, I also bought this really sweet Cobra Commander painting.
A painting of Cobra Commander that my brother did.
I think it provides just the right touch of 80s kitsch to the living room. If, of course, paintings of Cobra Commander weren’t ridiculously rad, which they totally are. Totally.