Okay, without any ado, here are the Challenge! results...
Adam LaVey:
Haiku:
Dreams drift in the dark
Like shadows flitting about
They are always there
Memories of a lost time
It is the heart’s one true pain
Artistic Inspiration:
Up until about 1997 I was always a pretty scientific minded person. I really didn’t care for art and didn’t really understand it (at least not real art). I did grow up in Las Vegas and as such, I became a victim of a cultural vacuum (It is better now in Vegas, but not much) always exposed to the gaudiest and most horrendous examples of art, some of which were almost twenty years old! In 1997 I took a trip to New York City. Someone very dear to me took me to the Museum of Natural History, it was incredible. After we were done I felt a strange curiosity to walk across Central Park to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Seeing real works of art, up close was one of the greatest moments in my life. To see the texture of the oil on canvas, to see sculptures, up close. So many things to see and in so little time, it was a revolution inside my soul that took years to complete. As it was, we actually had to leave the museum before we were finished. It wasn’t any one specific piece that stuck with me (although I was partial to oil
paintings), but rather the experience of seeing bits of artists souls trapped within their work. I have unfinished business in New York City.
Role Model:
Well, I won’t say I haven’t had role models in my life. Admittedly, though, there are few specific people that come to mind, but rather (like my friends) it’s traits of others that appeal to me. I do have one role model, someone I used to love and then hate. Someone I believed to be real then I believed never existed. Someone, who by definition can never exist and evolves as time goes by. Regardless, I can aspire to be that man. When I was younger I had a strong idea of what kind of man I wanted to be. I thought I was that man, for a long time. I lied to myself just to think I was that man. As I grew older and the pain of my choices mounted I began to hate that man. When pride was finally lost (not all pride, but certainly foolish pride) I had a better understanding of who that man was, and what kind of man I am. I started to understand that I would need to change so that someday I could meet and be that man. I also learned that the ideal of that man would have to change also, or I would never meet him.
Karl Bakla Haiku:
Doing Haikus Suck
This Idea Is Fucking dumb
Here is My Haiku
(to be honest with you I thought Haikus were lame at first, but I had a good time writing Haikus with Adam that one day, so my mind has changed, thanks Adam!)
Artistic Inspiration:
Favorite Artistic work: Husker Du (New Day Rising) SST Records. This is tough question & I don’t know if this is my favorite piece of artist work but I know for sure it’s one of them, but since this slab o’ vinyl had such a profound affect on me, I’ll pick it. When I first heard New Day Rising was at a time after I already dove head first into my obsession with punk, but when it came to punk besides the Ramones or Sex Pistols I didn’t listen to much of the punk rock, I listened to hard core punk. I don’t know if you are familiar with 80’s hard core punk, but it’s a lot less rock ‘n roll influenced as it is influenced by sheer speed, energy, & anger, it was the perfect soundtrack for skateboarders who just wanted to skate but were fucked with for being different. After a long day of being bullied by ass holes norm types with the teachers backing them because you were weird nothing was more refreshing than hearing Fuck Authority by Wasted Youth. For most of my friends & I being fucked with was a daily thing to deal with on top of what ever shit you had to deal with at home, luckily for me it was never nearly as bad as my friends, this shit made you callused. Being hard was your only defense, from our harsh language, to our intimidating fashion, to our hard core music, any sign of softness was weakness. It got to a point that a little bit of teasing was all
we needed to enter a fist fight because you let this motherfucker fuck with you then everyone else will. If it wasn’t the ass hole gang members on the streets it was some bone head nazi skinhead gang at a hard core show jumping you, between school & the punk shows my parents didn’t know what to do with me. I’m sure my parents thought their son would one day soon die. I was to hard, stubborn, or stupid, to back down from a fight. You tell me I can’t do this or that, well then I’m gonna walk right up to you & smack you in the face to inform you I will do it. Sometime in the middle of this mind set I read several times in Maximum Rock ‘n Roll about some band called Husker Du, I saw graffiti of them on ditches, I was even told by an older punk, you like hard core you got to hear Everything Falls Apart By Husker Du. So one day I ventured to the Underground Record Shop & to my delight I saw a copy of a Husker Du cassette, no it wasn’t Everything Falls Apart, it was New Day Rising. The first thing I noticed was the art work, it was two silhouettes of dogs walking on a beach with a beautiful sunset, I thought to myself “this doesn’t look very hard core”, but I bought it any way since it was not every day I ran into a Husker Du album. It wasn’t until a few days later till I listened New Day Rising. I remember my dad was driving me to LA It was dark out side & I laid in the back of the van listening this album with my eyes shut. I thought to myself “this doesn’t sound very hard core, it sounds gay”. Even though I thought it didn’t sound very hard core, it still had that same force hard core had but it was almost melodic, it was almost music for fuck sake. This album opened my eyes that maybe there was something more to punk that just the sheer speed, & the fuck you lyrics, don’t get me wrong those are still the two best aspects of it, but just maybe you can have a little more. Today there are lots of examples of punk band’s doing things a little bit more experimental or what ever you want to call it, but I still think this is the best. In the world of punk rock mosh pits, & combat boots, these guys traded the Doc Martens for fanny packs & kicked more ass than the tough guys. A true punk classic & you are a dick for not owning a copy of this! I’d write more but like most good punk rock things I have a short attention span, you bore me!
Other musical honorable mentions
Samiam (Billy)
Ramones (Rocket To Russia)
Dillinger Four (Mid Western Songs Of The Americas)
Artist I enjoy:
Winston Smith
Tom Of Finland
Raymond Pettibon
Robert Williams
Writers I enjoy
Abbie Hoffman
Kinky Freidman
Howard Zinn
Role Model:
As for roll models: I don’t have any roll models, life in general influences me, as well as my friends & Family. Growing up as a punk rocker has made me an anti-hero. If you want something that has influenced me the whole punk rock & skateboarding culture has made me one social outcast, who doesn’t give a fuck if people like me or not, but this could go on for ever, I got to go I have to put another coat on my latest painting your gonna love.
Crasskins or The Blogging Alchemist
Haiku:
Late for the challenge
Hope Adam is not upset
Procrastination
Artistic Inspiration:
When probed about my favorite artistic work, I immediately thought of Fight Club the novel. Though this answer is somewhat stereotypical, you can’t argue that the novel wasn’t amazing. The amalgamation of so many issues was fascinating and seemed to resonate with people of
various stripes. I mean, the novel deals with alienation, anarchy, identity confusion, anti-consumerism, gender role confusion, existentialism, self-destruction, the death of God…really so much. Seriously, how could you not love that fucking book? Other notable works that I really appreciate include the Crass album Best Before 1984, Minor Threat’s Complete Discography and just about everything by Vonnegut.
Role Model:
I found the role models issue to be the most difficult. I think this is because I don’t have role models. Instead, I have something more like role attributes. I mean, to model oneself after another life is to say that you think that life or that person embodies how a life should be lived. Yet the only types of individuals that you could argue should have all their characteristics repeated in others are generally either fictitious or shrouded in mythos (Superman, Jesus). So, I pick and choose attributes from others that I find inspiring. For example, I admire Karl Bakla for his uncompromising stances on many issues. I admire the fact that he has never changed his behavior for shallow reasons. I admire Lavey for his constant and endless pursuit of some sort of intangible truth. I admire my father’s voracious
appetite of knowledge (the guy is reading books on quantum physics just for fun). I appreciate my girlfriend’s ability to avoid falling on to emotional response in debates instead opting for reason and logic only. I admire Jesus for being hung like this (drunken bar joke for those not in the know). Perhaps I don’t fully understand the term role model. However, I suppose that what I’m saying is that I don’t model my life after another’s, yet I will adopt certain behavioral patters that I deem admirable.
Kamikaze KurtSurf!
Haiku:
Cream fills her tight holes
I stab her with my small cock
Bauhaus is playing
I eat out her cunt
With my mouth and with my tongue
She squirts in my eye
Vienna sausage has
Much too much fun with his friend
The happy hotdog
Oh! Beautiful spring.
I watch a butterfly land
I smash it and laugh
Las Vegas is here
Neon lights blind me at night
There's no where to hide
Artistic Inspiration:
Art - the Hubble Deep Field image, December 1995. The original deep field image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope does show that the answer to Everything is 42. The Hubble Space Telescope took an empty part of the sky they could find and zoomed in to take an image to see what was there. What was there? In the image there are galaxies and nebulas and there are lights that appears to be stars, but in fact these are even more galaxies . This image and many that followed are truly "awesome"; in that it is "awe" inspiring, there are no words to really describe what you see. The Hubble Deep Field image of December 1995 is my affirmation as to how small and insignificant we humans are in the big picture of life, the universe, and everything.
Roll Model:
My biggest role model is myself. Clarification here: I'm not an egotistical person or self-centered in the sense that everyone despises. I have learned that no matter who you worship for their qualities, they all have flaws and the only judgment you should really trust is yourself. We are all affected/effected by the people who surround us, but most importantly it's our life experiences that define who we really (as opposed to who we think we) are as a person. Therefore my biggest role model is myself and life experiences. I take all the parts of my life, I wouldn't change one iota of my life experiences because it wouldn't make me into the whole person I am today. It takes all your experiences and no-one elses to lead to self-realization and self-actualization.
Mapeltree
Haiku:
Haiku in Verse
Answers to questions, Inspiration to live by, Makes us now unique.
Quest to be equal Remember the key: freedom. Not to be the same.
Free your divine truth Not defined by the years of Patriarchal rule
There were those before Who left the truth behind them, And taught harmony.
Royal blood of past, Rise again and led the way To truth/unity.
Artistic Inspiration:
Liszt
Lilting It reflects A yearning for contentment, The search for peace Amidst years spent In a house built On six inches of ice Covering twelve feet of lava.
Each key Rains down Rose petals from all The bushes in the Paris. A walk on a spring day With the companionship Of your own thoughts To make musical each rush of wind.
Role Model:
Anti Heroes
Isolated from society Alien in his own world, without a leash. Working from a dingy office without propriety, Never on the good side of the police.
Men made of the tougher stuff, Truly on the side of right They will call your bluff. Able to hold their own in a fight
Rarely are they sweet and gentle But are the ones that can make a girl smile. Even when they are their most mental Their women would walk many a mile
To get them to strike a match. For sensuality and a gruff way Are the secret to his heart’s latch. Fighting dirty he will live to love another day.
Swanny
Haiku:
A brilliant Red leaf
the dew dripping from it's tip
Fall has come to pass
Artistic Inspiration:
I have many favorites when it comes to art, whether it be paintings, music or books. I will
comment on an artist I discovered a while back. His name is Michael Parkes and one of his stone lithographs entitled "Fallen Angel" is my favorite. His art work is rather mystical and at times has a bit of the cartoon look to it. I must confess my admiration of his work has more to do with the sexual innuendo and the passion. The nudity is tasteful and highly erotic. The fallen angel reminds me of Leda and the swan. The angel is lying on her knees leaning forward and the swan is right behind her. I just feel the sexual tension and although the colors are not always brilliant their contrasts make me stare. The fallen angel is a piece that makes me feel that sex is in fact an act of innocence. A natural part of the angel in all of us.
Role Model:
I do not have many role models. I am not sure why. Perhaps because in my old age, I am realizing that no one is perfect and that at first glance I might see something I greatly admire in a person, they are always sure to show their imperfections; and sometimes too quickly. (smile here)
There is one man that I knew when I was a teenager whom has since passed away. I greatly admired this man. I watched how he treated his wife and his three sons. He was very affectionate without being overbearing. He always looked everyone in the eyes when he spoke and one had the impression that he was always honest; That he held no secrets from others or even himself. I saw him give a homeless person his coat once. My own father is a good man, but this man that I adored was an exceptional man. His goodness outweighed his humanity. He was easy to love.
T. Estabella
Haiku:
A fork in the road
New beginning or the end
First step is the hardest
Artistic Inspiration:
I have a painting in my house which I inherited from my parents when they moved out of my childhood home. The piece is art deco and the composition is of an abstract Pekinese dog. The artist used charcoal and oils in shaded of muted browns and tans for the body and the long ears that rest on the sides of its head. The only other color used in the painting is a pearl –white that encompasses the eyes giving them a ghostly stare. I have no idea who the artist; the painting is signed “A.Y”. I love looking at those eyes. They have an eerie calming effect over me.
Role Model:
No entry
Thanks everybody for the entries! I’ll leave my own comments on the comment page also!!!
Yes, someone once said, “Mood is a thing for lovers and cattle.” Wow, great words. I’m all out of words right now, and, apparently not in the writing mood. Or, at least I haven’t been. But, alas, I had better post something or I will be compared to Crasskins in frequency of posts. (In his defense he put up two in one week! Wow!) Anyway, I haven’t really been in an expressive mood lately. I have been doing some writing though, just not for the blog. Shhh, I’ve been doing serious writing. Seriously, though, even that has been a struggle. I don’t know if I’d call it writers block, per se. I can still write something, it just isn’t very good. I try to trudge through it and hopefully come out at the other end. Even 
typing this silly little post seems somehow awkward and labored. My wit seems dull and my mood dark (no, not self pity dark, more like mean spirited dark) Actually I feel a bit like an Ork. No, not the Tolkein Orcs from Lord of the Rings (although Orks were based from Orcs) more like the Warhammer 40k version. If you don’t know what that is, look it up, there is a lot of material on the internet. Well, I’ve probably meandered around long enough to make some kind of post, pointless, obscure and retarded but a post none the less. This whole post reminds me of 10th grade writing class, just trying to fill up the page with enough words to get a D, then I can go back to daydreaming and picking daisies.
