Fixpert

This weekend’s PaperMag event was my first real public outing after getting my tonsils out two weeks ago. In case you don’t know what tonsils are, here they are:

Yes, I realize it’s an operation usually performed on children. It’s just my sad way of denying that I’m actually 29 now (as of a few days ago) and clinging to what little pieces of childhood remain — however painful.

Um, Wasn’t this a Post About the PaperMag Show?

Right! Here we go:

This weekend I helped out my friends TJ and Jim from Orange 20 Bikes at Paper Magazine’s 24-hour Shopping Marathon in LA. What the hell was it? Well, I’ll let Paper try and explain:

IS IT ART OR IS IT COMMERCE? PAPER’s 24-hour Department Store…PAPER will be opening a high concept “24 Hour department store,” an indoor market with 25 participating brands, artists and shops that PAPER adores. Unique/limited brands will be on display …this will be the best store on earth and will only be open for 24 hours then it will disappear.

Does that help clear it up? No? Well, here’s some photos of the event on Flickr.

My job was to stand around at the booth, sell Knogs, draw pictures of Unihorns, dance a little bit, and offer hand lotion to passers-by. I was also delegated the task of being completely unaware of any and all celebrities that might walk by — which I did with great success. Now, if cartoons were real, it would be a whole ‘nother story!

I met a lot of different people over the course of the 16+ hours that I spent at the event — strangers, artists, fashionistas, whinos, dinosaur-rapists, druggies, high school kids, fartfags, douche bags, haircuts, and journalists. I learned that the key to “pulling it off” in LA is: (1) being cold and indifferent to everything, (2) being stunningly attractive but dress yourself up in an unflattering ironic pirate costume, (3) dress as though you were back in 6th grade and it’s 1990 again (gaudy fluorescent Nike windbreakers, etc), or (4) if none of that works, well screw it, just walk around in a bra and you should be all-good.

And in case you need help putting together your Artsy-Eccentric Weekend look, here’s some ideas:

PaperMag 24 Hour event photos from Cobra Snake

PaperMag 24 Hour event photos from Fuct

Oh, and everyone is still scratching their heads at the public indignities that Kyle committed against this inflatable dinosaur. I think it’s a Common Law Marraige now Kyle, congrats.

It’s Blue Beanie Day. Let someone else explain what that means:

“Monday, November 26, 2007 is the day thousands of Standardistas (people who support web standards) will wear a Blue Beanie to show their support for accessible, semantic web content. … Don a Blue Beanie and snap a photo. Then on November 26, switch your profile picture in Facebook and post your photo to the Blue Beanie Day group at Flickr.”

…this is my half-assed Blue Beanie thang (sorry I’m really busy today, I know it’s weak). Which brings me to…

Fixpert is Starting to Bum Me Out

Sigh…this site really needs some work. I know, I know. I have lists upon lists of things I’ve been wanting to do for the last year, it’s starting to bum me out, I need to set some time aside to devote to improving and updating the site. Perhaps that will be my Christmas-break project.

I used the Wayback Machine to track the progression of Fixpert since its inception in 2004. In the early days, I saw incremental design improvements month-by-month. But, in 2007 effort in this area basically froze. I continued to post, but no significant site enhancements.

Fixpert, What ARE You??!

What is this site even about? When I naturally post about what I’m interested or involved in, I really tend to write about bikes. What does this site have to offer to my colleagues in the Web industry? Um…unless they ride bikes, I’m not really sure. Should I even worry about that? I feel that the Cycling community is in more need of content online than the Web Professional community, so I feel I can be more useful if I write about bikes.

Also, I’m just getting tired of the same design. I think it was reflective of the type of work I was producing several years ago, but I need to re-define my own personal style online. Offline, my style uses a LOT more illustration, both traditional (hand-drawn) and digital. I feel my drawing style isn’t really reflected in the design of this site. So, I’m rambling…thinking outloud…screaming into the chasm. We’ll see what happens.