Dickie's Quickies

Someone's coming today to take away the Burning Bush I dug out last week! Hurray! Someone's coming tomorrow to dig out and take the Vine Maple we have next to the garage away...now we have to find a plant to take it's place.

Once again, it's cost the PUD a lot of time and money, but I am proud of the work they've done to beat back the Enron crooks in court.

In the music scene, check out this video for M.I.A. Check out her website (requires flash) for more info and music samples. I've heard a few songs played on the radio by her. The sound is electronic mixed with processed samples from a wide range of sources, many rhythms culled from world music sources. Her vocals are a mix of African chants, call and response, reggae, and rap - sung in English. Her family's roots are in Sri Lanka, but she grew up in the UK. Her debut album is due out soon (March 22nd, is the current date), though rumors have it that a delay has happened due to sampling rights. It is due out any time on Beggar's USA. Quite simply, it is one of the most exciting, fresh sounding artists I've heard in hip hop in a while. She'll be at Chop Suey in Seattle on March 15th.

Some graphics/illustration fun links:

dice tsutsumi creates some fantastic work that is worth a quick peak. Check out the personal section.

The doze green site is a little annoying in it's navigation, but it's well worth the time. Several artistic themes and styles are explored in these illustrations of the grotesque and familiar.

Considerably more down to earth, Deborah Orgel works from more organic themes both in style and inspiration. Let her homepage load for some panels from her work or go to the news section for poking around. She puts a smile on my face with her social commentary.

Strukt Visual Network offers many interesting images in a variety of styles. I liked Street Art, Abstracts, Inside the Butterfly, Lomography, and I-Wolf Money-Money. Strukt's mission is to produce free, non commercial, experimental graphics design work.

For the comics crowd, check out the Many Faces of Batman, drawn by fans of the series. Some of them are quite interesting.

A more serious art site with a fun edge, Monster Fetish also features a couple of takes on Batman as well as some amusing Tiki prints. Too expensive for my blood, but very amusing.