luis armando prieto muñoz.

you were very much my inspiration and influence in the kind of art i do now. actually, you are one of the biggest reasons why i fell in love with illustration, street art, & just straight up lowbrow shit. it's a damn shame the world won't get to see more of what you could've done, but i'll try my best not to make wack shit.

i miss you. 'tards 4 life. <3

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oakland.

this post is dedicated to the city of oakland. hi. i'm a big fan. i've only lived here about a month & a half & although the move across the bay bridge might not seem that lifechanging, like many of us who have lived in san francisco for a few years or longer, the east bay is a foreign land rarely visited & gets little love from sf.

stop now if your hipster eyes are rolling to the back of your head. mister uhmygawd why would you like ever leave san frandisco, this isn't for you. you're probably the biggest reason why i hate writing blogs. so go away, hypothetical person i hate with a passion.

like i was saying, oakland is seriously underrated! i had toyed with the idea of heading east for a couple of years now, & it felt natural when i returned from the far east to finally do so.

there are so many little gems here & i find myself having more & more reasons to love this place.

number one, taco trucks galore. i live in fruitvale, which is heavily latin. these trucks have amazingly good food & the price is so right. there are lots of sweet little shops all over. i had a chicken parm hero today at uncle dougie's near my school & it was damn good. not to mention uncle dougie is this skinny asian dude with a thick ny accent, who claims his sammies are the next best thing outside of nyc.

beside that, laney college, although a bit rough around the edges, is quite nice. it's a small campus, but not too terribly impacted. plus the art center is right next to a duck pond. booyah! yeah sure, there's chicks yelling at each other across the quad & the computer system crashed for four days. all in all, i 'd say it's sups dec (as in "super decent". maybe a post of a glossary of terms to follow).

well friends, just wanted to let you know life here in oakland has been sunny. the streets are rougher here & i'm still getting used to commuting on my bike (which i'm fucking loving minus the underkept roads & NO bike lanes in my neighb). people seem more at ease here & less caught up in...for lack of a better term, bullshit.

come visit me! let's hang out! don't be afraid you might like it.

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2 0 1 1 .

already?

i've been going through a lot of adjustments since i've gotten back from korea (it's already been a month, holy shit!). i haven't felt 100% about...virtually anything since my return, but i'm slowly creeping back up to normal person status. still trying to process what the hell happened in 2010.

i'm living in oakland now, but commuting about four days a week into the city for work. i've been having a bad string of luck with laney college, my new local community college. they can't seem to clear some damn hold without me coming in for a counseling session, which i personally do not want or need. classes start in a week & i still can't register. i can't blame them solely. i've had trouble motivating myself to get up in the a.m. the two attempts i've made ended in utter failure. the first time, i got there after 3 p.m. & it was packed. i went today, but nobody told me it was mlk jr. day. sorry, dr. king. tomorrow is another day & fuck all, i'm going to get shit done.

i'll have some new things posted soon. to whomever reads/looks at this thing, thxx.

<3 j q i .

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billie stage 2. almost done!

i'm not the most skilled or even passionate pencil artist, but i do enjoy being hyperfocused on one activity. not 100% happy with this, but i'd still like to put another hour or two into it. miss billie holiday deserves that!

for no reason.

here's this little guy. i like him.

getting into the spirit.

i've decided that this year, my loved ones will receive creepy xmas cards from theirs truly.

just the tip of the iceberg. i had some great ideas. will post upon completion.
UPDATE: i only ended up making one card. for my brother. on a pre-existing card with a jolly santa with a giant beard on it, i drew the remnants of an elf in sandy claws' stomach. if he still has it (which i'm sure he does, since we're both infamous packrats), i'll have him send me a photo.

thinking of leonard.

i've been thinking about famous political prisoners, leonard peltier in particular; an american indian movement freedom fighter failed by the justice system & government corruption.  after watching incident at oglala, a documentary about the events--scratch that--the masacre that took place on the pine ridge indian reservation leading to leonard's incarceration, i wasn't surprised so much as utterly disgusted. not only did the u.s. government support militant forces of "goons" grossly intent on wiping out american indian traditionalists, but it has never investigated the 60+ unsolved murder cases on the reservation. the trial was a parade of "witnesses" threatened with their lives to testify, whose accounts of the events were blatantly changed on affidavits to include impossible detail. leonard's appeals & petitions for clemency have all been denied. an innocent man remains in federal prison.

fellow political prisoner mumia abu jamal has broadcasted an essay on prison radio about leonard that deserves a listen.