Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Life”

My Friend’s Mustard

Do you like mustard? Of course you do! Everybody likes mustard!

My Friend’s Mustard is a local Greenpoint, Brooklyn company (i.e., Anna Wolf) producing two types of stupidly excellent boutique mustards. Anna was formerly our favorite brunch waitress at The Habitat (also in Greenpoint) but left there a few months ago to pursue mustard making full time. Since then I’ve seen her wares pop up in all sorts of places around Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and greater Brooklyn. If you see it in a shop, get some. You won’t be mad. And if you are mad, don’t tell me about it because we’d have to stop being friends and I don’t want that.

On the topic of vacations

I’ve recently felt a very strong urge to vacate on a solo mission. I want to just go by myself and get the fuck out of Brooklyn for a minute and see what sort of adventure I can have when I’m all by myself. I have solo missions here all the time and I quite like them, but I’d like to try doing it somewhere totally foreign to me. The only thing limiting me is my inability to speak anything but English. OOPS. So where do I go?

Reykyavik, Iceland – Seems pretty awesome and I should be able to get by. I’ve wanted to go and I think the opportunity to eat puffin and sheep’s face is pretty attractive. The country is beautiful and getting there is not difficult.

Berlin – Jesse has been harping on me to go to Berlin for about a hundred years. The model of efficiency he says. Everything’s on time he says. You can drink beer for breakfast he says. They have metal bars all over he says. These things all seem good to me and it will come with the added bonus of never having to hear him tell me I should go to Berlin ever again.

Italia – This was on the docket from late last year but I am not sure it’s going to work out. I was going to go visit someone, but it seems like there won’t be time for it which is very very disappointing and I would have a hard time wandering around trying to understand what the hell people are talking about.

Japan – I am convinced that this would be like visiting the future, and what better place for The Space Pope than the future? This is easily the most expensive of the ideas I am throwing around right now and as such probably the least likely.

Vancouver – I’ve always heard that this is the coolest city in America’s Hat and I would like to see it. I love Montreal a lot, and though they are very different, I would like to explore it and the nature surrounding it. I would watch a hockey game and sit on the beach and read with a parka on. Sounds lovely to me.

Buenos Aires – I can probably fumble through my shitty Spanish down in Argentina. I just want to eat red meat and drink red wine.

Thoughts, Black Laserites? Where should the Space Pope venture off to by his lonesome?

Have you seen my sister’s sickeningly adorable blog?

This is my sister Christina.

She works for eBay and has a blog (linked on the right) called Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. It is named that because her nickname is Kissie. Get it?

In stark and violent contrast to The Black Laser, Christina’s blog’s content is comprised mostly of random love letters, cute things, and country music videos, whereas The Black Laser is all metal, weirdness, and dirty electro beats. Here are a few headlines that I think really encapsulate what her blog is about.

Ok, so that last one isn’t really one of her posts, but you get the idea.

Even her “About Me page is adorable. I quote:

Hi!

Feb. 3, 2010

Spread love.

Jan. 6, 2010

I felt the urge to express my love for great wine, amazing beer and delicious food that goes along with it. I have a pretty good sense of the kinds of wine and beer I like, although I’m always learning. I am currently working on my taste for whiskey. Hopefully I will soon be knowledgeable on the subject because it is just so delicious.

Nov. 29, 2010

Continuing this life journey on my blog. It’s funny to see how after 315 posts and a year + a couple months my life has changed. Here is to new adventures and new stories.

March 2, 2010

A little more about me:

I have a passion for numbers and the way the mind works, but I’m not just limited to that. I have a passion for technology and innovation. I’m an early adopter. I love new gizmos and gadgets. I am quick to learn. I like to fiddle around with and read about programs until I understand and can use them.

I like to keep busy and do productive things with my time. I hope that I can make the next generation just a little bit tougher by coaching them [and making them run the floor]. I love competition. I want to be a mentor.

For me success is creating a life that will be comfortable for me and my [far] future family while being vehement for what I do and the people around me.

September 18, 2009

As I enter into this blogosphere, I realize there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of blogs out there. I’d be lucky to have more than one reader – Isa. So please enjoy!

I’m a recent graduate from the University of Oregon living back in the San Francisco area, getting my life on track! Killing time by writing things down…

There is a mixture of humor and seriousness in my blog. I hope you find the funny postings funny and the not so funny ones interesting or intriguing. Thanks for reading!

Right? Who knew that yours truly and she could come from the same gene pool?

When you’re feeling tired of the unrelenting weirdness pouring forth from The Black Laser, take a little vacation on over to Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and let your heart be warmed. The Space Pope knows we all get a little tired of The Black Laser now and then, so don’t let yourself feel bad with letting Christina help you take off the edge.

Creative Projects-January : When You Were Away

It’s February 2nd here in grand old Brooklyn which means that January has come and gone and I am responsible for a creative project. Well, I’m on it, as opposed to previous years, and have already met with my quota for the month. Good thing too, because it’s over.

So what did I do? I was in a short film for a friend. Fun! I don’t have any photos yet, but here’s something you might have seen on Facebook.

It’s not real. Well, I mean, it is real, but not really real. It’s real make-believe.

You’ll say, “Joe, you’re no actor!” (unless you’re Amy and Angela), to which I will reply, “You are correct, dear sir! Indeed I am no actor!” How did I get involved in this little project then? And, more importantly, what did it entail? Let’s jump in my DeLorean and rewind a bit, friends! 88MPH……

Last October I received an e-mail from my friend Teddy asking if I acted. He told me that he had written a script that he thought I’d be perfect for since it was inspired by a night of dancing at Public Assembly where I got up on the empty stage all by my lonesome and tore the dance floor up. Eventually, the whole stage was filled and I had strange women dancing through my legs and when everyone needed a breaky poo, I politely told them I was good and kept going. Typical night out for me.

I replied, as above, that I don’t really act, but I’d be willing to read what he’d written and let him know what I thought. He sent the script and I read it and wrote back immediately that I would be glad to act in his film. I’m not going to talk too much about the content of the film. Those of you who know me in meatspace have heard a little bit about the project, but it will stay there for now. I don’t want to ruin the surprise for when it gets posted here.

We had our first reading in December, but didn’t start rehearsals until after the new year began. Between the numerous rehearsals, learning a few semi-choreographed dance routines, and three days of shooting, I figured that this was fair game for my first of 12 projects for this year’s theme. I’m sure you’ll all agree too. And, well, if you don’t, you can go to hell.

As far as slowing my roll goes, last month was terrible. Of the 31 days in January, I think I went out like 600 of them. Here’s to focus in February!

So what does February hold?!?! Well, for one, I am definitely going to get josephdillingham.com up because I feel like not having it up is holding me back professionally, even if it probably isn’t. It’s stressing me out, ok? Deal. Second, Charles and I were talking the other night about writing an EP this month and actually putting in some effort. I think that he and I have good musical chemistry and it would be fun as hell to make some dance music. Third, I want to start planning Mandy’s music video, which probably won’t happen until March, but I want to get it going and get Rodney and Arian on board. Fourth, a couple of other fellow and I were talking about a silly little film that we wanted to do a few years ago on the set of the Firelances of the Ancient Hyper Zephyrians video. If we can get that going, it would be awesome too. Maybe I’ll slip in some writing too. It’s been a YEAR since I’ve written anything. Terrible.

Lots to do this month and lots to come. Keep your eyes on The Black Laser. My ascendancy is nigh.

Oh, HI, snow! I didn’t see you there.

If you haven’t heard, New Yorkers were supposed to get blasted with yet another massive snow storm that was going to lock down the world and destroy families and kill all children under 6 and freeze reservoirs and slaughter puppies and coat everything we know and love in a mile high sheet of ice. Except we didn’t. All we got was a couple of days of my most hated euphemism, the dread “wintry mix” which is a pleasant way of saying “freezing fucking rain and slush and huge murky poisonous puddles and ice and slipping and broken wrists.”

Where New Yorkers didn’t get completely ass fucked by mother nature, the central part of the US did. Fucked big time. There’s a cloud (seen in the photo above) covering ONE THIRD of the United States. Holy shit balls. That’s a wicked huge cloud, as they would say in the parlance of New England which is, incidentally, not covered by the cloud.

Another part of the image above that I like so much is how the state lines are clearly visible from space, as if tattooed on the landscape by some inescapable alien (or divine, perhaps Freddie Mercury) force. Who knew you could see state lines from space?! Astronauts probably, but not me. Fucking astronauts and their dehydrated food.

Get more info on the storm (you know, with like actual science) here: HuffPo: U.S. Snowstorm Seen From Space: Wild Weather Captured By NASA (PHOTOS)

Also:

“WE DON’T NEED NO MOON CHEESE BABIES!!!!”

A collection of Time Travel-themed cooking show recipes.

Charles:

  • moebius tortilla strip soups
  • Emmet Brown Gravy
  • Paradoxtail Soup
  • oyakodon (killing your grandfather)
  • Bok Choi the Future
  • 12 Monkey Lime Pie
  • Le Jetee and Cake
  • Bill and Ted’s Egg Salad Adventure
  • the butterball effect
  • Donnie Dark Meat
  • Ground Chuck Day
  • The Philadelphia Cream Cheese Experiment
  • Terminator 2: Fudgement Day
  • Freejack and Coke (cocktails!)
  • prince of persia: the naan of time

Me:

  • Morlock Burgers.
  • Flux Capacitor Carpaccio.
  • Emmet Brown Gravy and (I didn’t finish because we both wrote it at the same time)
  • H.G. Wellington.
  • Black Hole Pudding.
  • The Sound of Thunder Nachos.
  • Time Bandits & Cream.
  • Bacon to The Future.
  • Thyme Bandits
  • Bill and Ted’s Bogus Jerkey.
  • Tart Trek : Generations.

The Theme for 2011

After the unmitigated disaster that was my Theme for 2010, it’s time to reevaluate the way I intend to approach 2011. But first, let’s explore what I set out to do for 2010 and where I think everything went wrong because, without exaggeration, everything went wrong.

The thing you’ll notice first when looking over at the tally for the year in the right hand column is that I accomplished basically nothing of what I intended at this time last year. My grand plans to write something substantial every single month AND make three music videos fell right through the floor. Whose fault is that? Mine, of course. But, the other question is am I upset about it? Nope. Not at all.

Where was all the work? It was there, but not in the places I intended. 2010 was a very busy year for me professionally and with other personal projects. As it turned out, I engaged in a ton of projects through the year.

What the hell did I spend all year doing? Well, I cut a film, 6 other videos, a bunch of commercials, I took the whole summer off, I moved out of my old apartment and adjusted to life as a single man, I traveled around the country, I reconnected with old friends, I made new friends, I made music, I partied way too much, and who knows what else. The bottom line is that I was busy busy busy and I enjoyed (almost) every moment of it.

So, I didn’t get the things done I wanted to get done this year, but in the face of a major shift in my life, I was able to accomplish a number of other things. I feel good about how 2010 turned out overall and have no complaints. Sure, in retrospect I could have slowed my roll a little bit and gotten more done, but I needed to get it out of my system too. I also think that the important part about the theme is not that I make something specific, but that I make something no matter what it is. The idea is to be creatively active, engaged, making things.

The theme for 2011 will be…

The Year of 12 Projects (and Slowing My Roll)

What does this entail? Simple. For each month of the year I will do something creative that requires more than one sitting. It’s not going to be one-per-month to allow for me to do 2 at once or skip a month if needed, but as there are 12 months in the year, so will I walk into 2012 with 12 projects finished. What the scope or nature of these projects will be I cannot say. The only requirement is that they are creative. It could be anything. Right off the bat, I am thinking of redesigning The Black Laser, getting josephdillingham.com up and running, a short story set in OUTER SPACE!!!!, some music, a music video for my friend Mandy, and whatever the hell else my brain comes up with. Make make make.

The other half of the theme is to slow my roll. If you don’t understand what I mean, it can be boiled down to two words: party less. I’ve gone a little nuts this year and it’s taking its toll on me. It’s been the default mode for me this year. When I don’t have anything to do, I go out. Bad news. I need to figure out ways to entertain myself that don’t end with an empty wallet and a scarred liver. Common sense, I think. Besides, I have some trips planned for later this year and it would be nice to be able to afford them.

There it is. Look out for posts tagged “The Year of 12 Projects”. When the first one is done, I will make a new box on the right. Or I won’t. Wouldn’t you like to know?!?!