It's Been Ages, I Know.

But I Can't Get No Satisfaction Because Boris The Spider is Paying the Price of Love and the House of the Rising Sun, She Said "Take the Long Way Home and Paint it Black." That's All.

17 Year Cicada

Okay, so it is 17 year cicada, not 14. Here's a picture of a bunch on the forest ground after they've been reduced by predators.

Planet Earth

This is a picture of the mating ritual for the superb bird of paradise. He puffs up like that and jumps around making a weird clicking noise (the video describes this as "a never before seen (they like that term a LOT) cross between ballet and boogie") to attract a mate. It's from Planet Earth. We watched the video series in Honors Earth Science class last week and the week before that. There was one about the 17-year cicada (I'm not sure if it's 17, could be 14 but even that's not positive), which is a cicada that stays underground for 17 or 14 or whatever years, and then all of the cicadas come out on one day, and the entire forest floor and the trunks of all the trees are plastered with them. It's disgusting, and I am a person who loves bugs. Then all of the animals feast on them for a couple days until they are stuffed and the hordes that are left die. Of course during the excitement they all lay their eggs, so then the forest is covered with bug eggs.

He's Watching You.

In today's series of random and meaningless posts, we are focusing on ridiculously excessive body piercing. Here is a picture of a the winner of that particular category.

He must have a really hard time getting through security at the airport.

We've Narrowed Down the Polls.

We've narrowed down the polls to the two words that got the most votes, Wangledaddy and Boogle. They both got three votes. This time you may only vote for one word, and the winning word will get a special post dedicated to it (and if I have a ridiculous amount of free time, the entire blog layout).

My New New New Favorite Song!

My new new new favorite song is now Too Late the Hero by John Entwisle (The bassist for the Who, currently deceased (I say currently because scientists hundreds of years from now could dig up his bones and use his DNA to bring him back to life)). Go to iTunes or wherever you get your music from and take a listen.

So Guess What I Did Today?

That's right, you guessed it. Absolutely nothing. Which means I have nothing interesting to tell my horde of imaginary screaming fans, so I will end the day with a picture of a rather odd bed.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

I just figured out how to put a video on my blog. The clip I have added is from the movie Master of Disguise and it is the absolute most beautiful thing in the world. Scroll down to the post "Would you vote for someone if they did this?" and watch the movie. You won't be disappointed.

Yeah, that's right. I changed my blog.

I was looking at my blog and I thought, "Wow, this is boring." I had been staring at it for hours, but that is not the point. The point is, it desperately needed a change, and I desperately needed to publicize the close-up I took of a seagull. They were made for each other. Also, check out my new poll and make sure to vote for at least five words that you like (It'll make it look like more people visit my blog).

Speaking of blog changes, head on over to Stealth Pigeon's blog- It's changed again!

By the way, pogonotrophy is a fancy word for cultivating a beard. So you can go up to a guy that has a beard and say, "Hey, I see you're undergoing pogonotrophy."

Who Would Vote For Someone if They Did This?

That's right, you've got to vote for a president who can dance like there's no tomorrow.

Stealth Pigeon's New Favorite Thing

Stealth Pigeon sent me an overjoyed e-mail today, saying that she wanted this saxophone (maybe not this exact one, but a purple one). It excited me too, so this is my Ultimate Goal #2: Make sure she gets a purple saxophone. Just though I'd let you know.

Tommy Time.

So last year I was working on a graphic novel version of the Who's rock opera Tommy. I stopped drawing it because of -cough- certain distractions, and when I went to look at it a few days ago, I was horrified by the quality of the drawings. So now, I am redrawing it. So that's what I'm doing now. But first I feel the need to update my Bee Gees blog and possibly my art blog.

Just 'Cause I'm Special Like That...

To celebrate me being back from my extended punishment (no, I'd rather not share the details) in which my computer was confiscated, I added a whole slew of things to my blog. Okay, just four. First there's three virtual animals: a cat, a tree frog, and a stingray. The stingray just swims around, if you click in the tree frog's enclosure you'll release a fly that it can eat, and the cat follows your mouse, meows, and sometimes bats at it. Next is a poll thingy, because I was jealous of Stealth Pigeon. And under that is still all my quotes, which I will continue to update. So keep reading them, even though they're not right at the top any more. Scrolling down will be worth the tremendous effort, trust me.

So I'm Writing Now.

I am writing a book now. I've started many books and finished none of them, but I'm really into this one, so who knows- it just might get done! It's about a band that is constantly fighting, and an old lady appears and gives them a warning. Soon mystical things begin happening involving a jade compass and a mysterious new band member, and the band learns the importance of friendship. I can't post it because it's too big, but if I'm determined to get it out to the public and manage to find a willing publishing company, I will let you all know. Not that there are more than five people (and that's optimistic) that read this blog, but who cares. I'll let the five or four of three or two or one of you know.

Back to School Spotlight: School Buses

In my opinion the school buses we have are excessively bland and uninteresting. Therefore, since it's back to school for me tomorrow, I took the liberty to research interesting school buses. So today's post is going to be pictures of school buses I would be proud to ride in. My favorites are the painted one, the vintage one, and the upside-down siamese twin one.

You Win Again

I have made a new blog. I know, I just made one, what a waste of the endless internet space, but this one is a blog about my passion for the Bee Gees. So take a look, firstly because I worked about three hours messing with the HTML to make it look awesome, secondly because I just want people to see it. So here's the link:

http://youwinagain.blogspot.com

PLEASE look at it, and enjoy!

Spray Paint Madness

Alright, I admit it. I've become a spray paint addict. I'm going to regular therapy sessions and this is really hard on my family and friends, so I appreciate your support through these difficult times. However, the fact of the matter is, it's just so FUN! I want to live, breathe, eat and drink spray paint (Actually, not really, because that would be bad for my lungs and taste really bad). But I'm in love with spray paint! Sorry, mom and dad, no college for me. This is spray paint, and I'm eloping with it!

So how did this come about? Well, a friend came over and we decided to spray paint my dad's observatory. The observatory is a metal shack about the size of the handicapped port-a-potties (Never seen one? Neither did I until a month or two ago. They're about bigger by half than normal port-a-potties). Inside is a gigantic telescope and about three million spiders. SO we went over to the local hardware store, bought seven cans of spray paint (silver, gold, orange, yellow, red, green, and purple) and went crazy. On one side is a huge peace sign with a squiggly pattern going out from it, another side is a huge yin-yang sign with a stripe pattern going out from it, on another side is a checkered-ish plaid pattern with a Sanskrit Om sign in the middle. On the door side, there is a stripe pattern with zigzags on both sides of the doors. The doors themselves are a solid purple with silver stars and moons on them. The door frames are gold.

After that, we went into a frenzy finding things to paint. I have a clubhouse in my backyard which I have promised another friend he could paint. I am begging my dad to let me paint the garage door, so I'll let you know how that turns out.

Spray paint addicts (people who like painting, not inhaling the fumes) unite!

Guess How Much My Body is Worth!

CadaverForSale.com - How much is your cadaver worth?

Big, Huge, Gigantic, Ginormungous Goliath-ish News!

I am making another blog. That's right. This blog will still be kept up and running, however.

So what's the new blog for, you ask with baited breath?

Well, my friends, I am making an art blog. The time has come where I need to start considering my future, and I need to put my drawings out there for the world to see so I can get some commissioned pieces and possibly a job. 

Or maybe I just want to do it for fun.

Either way, I shall scan my drawings in and post them up on the new blog. The URL will be http://irufn.blogspot.com/

Post-Ben Harper

Oh, My, God. SO awesome. SO SO awesome. Ben Harper was great!! He did a bunch of his hits, like Diamonds on the Inside. No Excuse Me Mr. -sob-, but that would probably have been too mellow for the crowd anyway. I drew him, as usual. A bunch of drunk guys kept trying to grope me, but being a seasoned concert veteran I escaped with me and my drawings intact. So he was really, really really good and I had a blast. It was like a reincarnation of Targhee!

That Reminds Me...

That dream reminded me of the accordion book dream, where I was in a library where the books were accordions. I'll update this post to tell you later, because I don't feel like it at the moment.

So I had a dream last night.

... And I don't feel like getting up out of bed and writing it down, so I'll just type it here before I forget it. DISCLAIMER: Maurice Gibb is right up there with George Harrison as far as I'm concerned, which means he's one of my two second favorite people in the world. So if you have a problem with a little personal interaction, fish you. At least it's nothing like the rocket ship explosion/thong dream (You know what I mean, Stealth Pigeon).

I'm at the scene of one of my recurring dreams, the slope with the frozen lake. However, this time the frozen lake has become a thawed brown river. We are bushwhacking along the side of this river (When I say we, I mean me, a friend named Leif, someone that could be either Stealth Pigeon or another friend, and an eighth grade History teacher named Mr. Yazzolino). Mr. Yazzolino has a red accordion that for some reason I know for a fact is Leif's.

We keep bushwhacking until we find a path. We all go along it except for Mr. Yazz, who veers off and enters the river. We act like he didn't just do that and keep walking. Eventually we get to the hill I mentioned earlier. We look down the river and see Mr. Yazz approaching in the center of a flotilla of rafts, perched on top of a silver cataraft. He gets off next to a pavilion that is very similar to the one the band plays on in the first scene of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie and comes up to us. 

I ask to learn to play the accordion, and he hands it to me. He shows me how to put the leg straps on (DON'T ASK), a thick one on the left leg and a thinner one on the right. There is a strap going up the outer side of each leg to attach to a waistband that is tied to the accordion. The accordion seems to have turned black and leathery while I wasn't looking. Then he leaves with Leif and the other girl, drifting down toward the pavilion where an old style band has suddenly gathered. 

The straps are bound together at my knees, so I am forced to sit down, being unable to walk. I examine the buttons on the side of the accordion, which are orange-yellow. I press one and pull out the accordion. It makes a terrible noise, and the band in the pavilion turns to look up at me. I try another key and it makes an even worse noise. All of a sudden Barry Gibb -Barry Gibb!- comes out from the back of the pavilion dressed in a long black and white glittering robe. He blows a long, loud, clear note on his trumpet. I answer back with the accordion, and suddenly the music is beautiful.

I pick out three notes, press the first, draw the accordion out a bit, press the second, draw it out a bit more, and press the third and pull it out the rest of the way. It sounds heavenly, and everyone hushes to listen. A figure comes out from behind a garden in front of me that I hadn't noticed before. I play the accordion two more times the same way, choosing different notes. 

Maurice Gibb walks from the garden up toward me, also clad in a sparkling black and white robe. "That's beautiful," he sighs, coming to sit down next to me. He reaches around me and takes hold of the accordion. His arm rests on my back. He shows me how to play an even more beautiful melody, and the band slowly picks it up and takes over. Maurice, the accordion, and I get up and walk slowly toward the pavilion, my hand in his.

My New NEW Favorite Songs!

Guess what! I have two new NEW favorite songs. They are called For Whom The Bell Tolls and You Win Again, both by the Bee Gees. Here are the links.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

And

You Win Again

Watch them or I'll eat you.

Good Night.

Okay, one last post with a picture of Pennywise the clown from Stephen King's the IT. And now I'm really signing off. -points to the picture- Sweet dreams, everybody.

Pre-Ben Harper

This is Ben Harper. He is awesome. He also does the song "Excuse Me Mr." which is one of my favorite songs of all time. So the news? I'm going to one of his concerts -insert vaguely fangirl-like scream here- on Sunday. So I'll tell you how it was and possibly post a video depending on if I can figure out how to put a video on here. Stealth Pigeon succeeded, so I guess I'll ask her. And now, goodnight.

Things I've Considered Doing With My Life.

The title says it all. Here's the list.

1. Instrument maker
2. Professional musician
3. Artist
4. Entomologist
5. Street musician
6. Writer
7. Graphic novelist
8. Guitar design
9. Backstage crew
10. Comedienne
    

Sitars and Dulcimers!

The first image is of a sitar, and the second of several dulcimers. These are now the things I want to learn to play really, really bad. Sitars are cooler than dulcimers because George played them, but dulcimers are awesome too. I was at the art fair today and saw a dulcimer booth and asked the guy all these questions and watched him make them. It was really cool. I just finished building a ukulele for a friend, and that definitely renews my respect for his craft. Maybe that's what I'll do when I'm older. I think I'll make a list of things I want to do. But anyway, gotta save up for these awesome instruments.

Moustaches.

And now, for a lack of something to do, I give you a bunch of interesting moustaches to observe.

My New Favorite Song!

Everyone needs to watch this, because it is my new favorite song. I don't care if you hate it, just watch it and tell me what you think. *points downward to comment link*

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB6kVfytsQ0

Oh My Fishin' God.

As I was finishing up my last post, my dad called to me from Grandma's basement. He said he had some things I would be interested in. So I went down and he showed me two Beatles 45 records, one with the songs I'll Get You and She Loves You and the other with I Should Have Known Better and A Hard Day's Night. There was also a Meet The Beatles record in playable shape. I AM SO HAPPY!!! THIS IS UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!

My Dream Came True.

I've always wanted a VW Bus, one of the models from '66 or '67. We were leaving Trick Dog to go to the back parking lot. A man and his girlfriend were just leaving, about to get into the VW Bus. My mom stopped them, saying, "My daughter always wanted one of those. What model is that?"
He said, "1967," and my heart skipped a beat. Then he said, grinning and pushing his forehead bandana up and shaking his long hair out of his face to peer at me, "If you want to get a VW Bus, you have to have this." He got out and dug around in the back of his car, then pulled out a large and obscenely beat-up book. Cover falling off, pages sticking out at every imaginable angle, bent pages, ripped pages, faded pages, stained pages; this book was in bad shape.

We stared a second, and my mom commented, "Looks like you use it a lot."

"Yeah," he grinned, setting it down in the dirt and paging through it. "How to keep your Volkswagen alive for idiots," he announced jovially, showing us page after page of the book, a manual I had never seen the likes of before. It had cartoons and illustrations!

"This book is for the complete idot," he proclaimed with a grin. "If there's something you need to pull your hair back for, it will literally tell you, 'Pull your hair back for this project.' It's by John Muir."

I immediately pulled out a paper and pencil and wrote it down.

"Thank you," my mom said.

The man squatted, gathering up the pages and cover of the book in a haphazard pile. "You're welcome, it's nothing," he said, waving it away.

And that was the end of the matter, and I am going to buy that book if I have to search the bottom of the ocean to find it. Or eBay.

Trick Dog

This is Trick Dog. It is one of the most awesome places I've been. You can tell a couple of reasons just by looking at the picture: Bright colors, crazy decor, relaxed atmosphere... But there are other reasons:

1. The Store. You can buy trailer-shaped bird houses, paper mechanics (Where you put it together in a certain way so that the 3D cutouts will do things when you crank the handle), something I can't expose because I got one as a secret present to a friend, t-shirts, bags, and other such novelties.
2. The Food. They have excellent and decadent pastries of all sorts, but the smoothies are what I like the best. For anyone that goes there, either get the mango or the mocha smoothie. It is heaven in a cup.
3. The Outside of the Store. There are wooden figures everywhere. The fence is made in such a way that the pieces of wood make animals doing things. There are wooden sculptures, chairs that look like people that you can sit on, things on the fence... it is the picture of awesomeness.
4. The Street It's On. The street it's on is one that is out of the way. It's the street you use to exit the town. It's name? Bye Street. I'd post a picture but I'm on my Grandma's computer right now and I can't access it.
5. The People You See There. They're interesting, and that is all.

First Stop: Michigan

The scenery above should give you a good idea of the Lake Michigan coastline that lies not 100 feet from my Grandma's back door. Every morning the routine is the same; get up, put on bathing suit, get out of the house before mom heaps tons of chores and sunscreen on you, run down to the beach, play. Unlike most routines, I am pretty good at sticking to this one.

It's Been Ages.

I haven't been able to post for a while, because I was so busy overseeing the building of a spaceship to Mars, writing a 3,00-page graphic novel, winning the nobel peace prize, becoming a world famous guitarist, and hiring assasins to "take care of" Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers.

No, actually I forgot, although I'm still working on the assasin situation.

What I've been doing is going on the Great Grandparent Tour. First we go to my Grandma's cottage in Michigan on the beach, then to my Grandparents' house in Boston.

Where have all the flowers gone?

I will restrain myself from singing that song, but seriously, where have all the flowers gone? Summer's going so slow, but the flowers are going too fast. It's only mid-July and everything is wilting. 

I went on a canoe trip with family friends yesterday, String and Leigh lakes. We checked the huckleberries hopefully, but they were just turning green. Oh well, that means they'll be ripe after we get back from the Great Grandparent Tour.

Happy Birthday, Ringo!

Today, July 7th, is Ringo Starr's birthday! For all you poor, unfortunate people who don't know who he is, Ringo is the ex-drummer for the Beatles, the best band on the face of the Earth.
It's his birthday, so we all have to celebrate.

Songs Ringo wrote and/or sang:

Yellow Submarine

Boys

Don't Pass Me By

With A Little Help From My Friends

Act Naturally

...And several others I don't remember! Happy Birthday, Ringo!

Insert misery here.

This is how I feel. Why? I just got two more teeth pulled. That means in total I'll have had ten teeth pulled. Argh, it feels so weird! I feel like a bloated toad today.

Hmmm, Bloated Toad. That would be a good name for a band.

My favorite bands and artists of all time.

Just because I know you are dying to know my favorite bands and artists, I shall give them to you. In no particular order, because I don't have an absolute favorite.

1. The Beatles

2. The Bee Gees

3. Supertramp

4. Grateful Dead

5. Deep Purple

6. The Subdudes

7. Santana

8. Aerosmith

9. The Police

10. Jimi Hendrix

11. Eric Clapton

12. Jethro Tull

13. America

14. The Animals

15. Queen

16. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (Now Crosby, Stills and Nash)

17. Joan Armatrading

18. The Eagles

19. The Who

20. The Rolling Stones

21. Death Cab for Cutie

22. Weezer

Something that makes me happy.

You know what really makes me happy? Kung-fu hamsters, that's what. You sqeeze their paw and they sing the kung-fu fighting song and twirl their nunchucks around. I used to have a kung-fu hamster, and you know what? I associate it with the most blissful parts of my childhood. But I lost it or gave it away or sold it or broke it (pick a fate, any fate) and so now I don't have one. Which makes me sad. All I have now is a picture of them (above). But I still REALLY REALLY WANT ONE! So if you see one in a store, think of me.

Welcome to Leopardfly Definitive.

Leopardfly is my name, and definitive means absolutely, positively, definitely, and that's the end of the matter. As well as on blogger, you can find me here. I am on the computer a lot, but I'm also a traveling person, so my blogs will be irregular.
I enjoy playing guitar and piano, and lament the fact that I was born forty years too late. I would have liked to have grown up in the 60's; the Summer of Love and psychedelic music and movies can't really be properly relived now. Oh well, life goes on (within you and without you).