I suppose I should be honest about how this whole “Speed Creating” thing started.  Around November, my girlfriend of roughly 4 years and I broke up.  I’m not trying to turn this into one of the closing scenes of My So Called Life, I just want to be honest about my motivations as opposed to my usual  practice of remaining willfully ignorant of the things that make me do the things I do.

One of the chief concerns I was having as the relationship kind of fell apart was “what makes me happy?”.  A heavy set of circumstances had me feeling pretty terrible about myself and “Who I Am”.  I didn’t really have a good sense of how to make myself happy or how to express myself…I was lost and not only was it a weight on my relationship, it was obviously a huge weight on me.  When I racked my brain to find a way out of the bouts of deep depression I often found myself in, I didn’t have any answers, save for this weird hint that “What Makes Me Happy” is “Creating”.  My whole life I’ve been drawn to making things…doesn’t matter what, just making stuff.  In the moments where my head is down and ideas are flowing, I’m not thinking of anything else and I feel great.

So that is what I set myself up to do.  Chase down my tiny thread of creative DNA, wrestle it to the ground and stare at it to see if it really held what I needed.

Around the time of the breakup I saw what Dominic Wilcox had done, and it immediately clicked with me.  There was no doubt that I was going to follow the same regimented path, to turn my potential happiness into a homework assignment.  I picked January, because the winter out here kind of sucks the soul anyway, and it could double as kind of a New Years Resolution deal.

I’m happy to report that this thing has been extremely eye-opening.  You’ll have to forgive the cheesiness here, but I made a pretty big realization during this thing – that I am on this earth to create.  Apologies for the hyperbole, but as a weapon I’m only pulling it out here because I plan on using it.

Up until this point I struggled to find a box for what I love to do…am I a “writer”?  Am I a “photographer”?  I’m not very good at design, but I love doing it, so could I call myself a “designer”?  I’ve had a Flip Cam duct-taped to my hand for the last 3 years…does that make me a “videographer”?  What the hell AM I?  I always considered myself a writer, but only because I do that more than anything, and it gives me the most crisis-laden stressful high of anything I do.  But I’m not all that great at making a career out of it.

I’m straying.  My point is, I learned (in one of many moments of forehead-slappery) that I am not any of those things.  I’m just a guy who likes to “create”. “Creator”, I suppose, but that is too specific and a little weird.  So I’m more comfortable with “Guy Who Lives To Create”…funny…I just tried to type “Guy Who LIKES To Create” just now, but I slipped on the “k” and put a “v” instead….giving me “lives” instead of “likes”…ha…the K and the V are nowhere near each other on the keyboard.  Even I don’t know what I’m thinking.  Wow.

So, that being said, I LIVE to create I guess.  All of those things I listed above – writing, photography, video, music, design – flick the exact same switch.  The same light goes on and off no matter what triggers it – writing about zombies, making music with Ben, taking light painting photos, shooting in the snowy streets with my Holga, cutting and pasting like a madman in Photoshop, sketching, ironing on letters – all of that provides the same simple impulse that I’ve been chasing my whole life.

I’m not saying I found my life’s purpose.  That would be a little much.  I did find though, that I had been neglecting a massive part of what made Me “Me”, and I’m glad to be reconnected to it.

I also learned more about where my skills are.  I learned that I am pretty good at writing zombie stories, that I am able to edit videos that make me laugh, that I am not a very good musician but I love to make noise and record it, that I can almost execute an idea with a photograph, that I have a basic understanding of design and how to make something look halfway decent, and that when pressed (especially when pressed) I can create at the drop of a hat.

Like I’ve always said, none of the stuff I make has any illusions about being “good”, but that’s not the point.  It is all still an expression.  Good or bad, the switch gets flicked.

With the motivation behind this thing out in the open, I hope I can continue to do this stuff.  I want to just keep doing something every day because it really does make me happy.  Don’t worry though, I wont meticulously blog about it.  I’ll just do it because I love doing it.  I highly recommend it to everyone…whatever your talents are, use them every day, and then do some stuff you are less than talented at.

Day 1 – Optronics 4-1 with Oceans in Space  [VIDEO]

Day 2 – The Lightpainting Mini Booth

Day 3 – Allegedly Hilarious T-Shirt

Day 4 – Disposable Camera Photos

Day 5 – Photoshop Vs. Jandek

Day 6 – Photos From the MiniBooth

Day 7 – Desert Lightpaintings

Day 8 – Noise Tape Layout 1

Day 9 – Noise Tape Layout 2 + Download

Day 10 – Noise Tape Layout 3 (Black Metal?)

Day 11 – Optronics 4-2 With Oceans In Space  [VIDEO]

Day 12 – Fuckin “Art”, Brah

Day 13 – Movies That Bugged Me Out as a Kid – Body Parts

Day 14 – Brian Tumors Download

Day 15 – Zombie Fiction – “Cakewalk” Part 1

Day 16 – Recaptured:  L5D – “Advanced Ants Dance”

Day 17 – Lil B @ Highline Ballroom  [VIDEO]

Day 18 – Mirror Lightpainting

Day 19 – The Battle of the Red Dragon  [VIDEO]

Day 20 – Ke$ha Slowed by 800%

Day 21 – Anthony:  A Life (In Three Parts)  [VIDEO]

Day 22 – The Scum Noise Tape Full Download

Day 23 – Cocktail Napkin Zombie Story

Day 24 – Zombie Fiction – “Cakewalk” Part 2

Day 25 – Zombie Fiction – “Untitled” Part 5

Day 26 – Blizzard/Apocalypse Music

Day 27 – Canvas Drawing

Day 28 – Ghostbusters Firehouse Holga Photos

Day 29 – Allegedly Hilarious Lil B T-Shirt

Day 30 – More Holga Photos

Day 31 – Drew is an Art Dealer Now  [VIDEO]

This photo came across my e-desk in my office on the third floor of the internet. It came to me via my assistant, Emilio Estevez from Freejack, and it is the best thing I have ever seen.

First of all, lets hope that the little girl is OK.  OK?   She’s fine.  She went on to live a full and happy life because this woman clearly had complete control of the situation and wouldn’t let anything happen to her (probably) niece.

Second of all, lets call this what it is, but then ignore what it is so the hilarity can flow freely.  This is probably photoshopped.  Almost 80 percent sure that it is.  If it is, I don’t give a damn.  Give the photo-shoppist a bucket of my laughing tears and a gold watch as a reward, because he needs to be recognized as a god among men before he dies covered in bedsores at his computer.  This guy is the Van Gogh of the internet.  Lets not let his life end without recognition for such a work of art.

Finally, lets attack this as if it were a real life snapshot of a real life situation.  So many questions.  What was interesting that the photographer was trying to capture?  Lets watch my niece plays with our dog (fucking HELLBEAST) while my lovely wife (who is awesome with both kids and dogs) supervises?  What is the woman holding the dog thinking?  She seems to be nodding off…which makes this so much better.  One person in this picture is bored to the point of nodding off.  The other person is in full-on primal holy fuck a fucking sabretooth tiger is chasing me I’ll never sleep again mode.  That’s fear right there folks.  Look at it in the face.  Right there.

Furthermore, where are they?  Is that chicken wire around the gates of fucking hell?  Because that thing is clearly a one-headed Cerebrus.  AND WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THAT DOG?  Good god its horrifying.  Its like, hey I’m a little girl walking along in my yellow raincoat thinking that there is no way that the things from my nightmares will ever be real, well maybe there is a slight chance but my parents told me it was all good so now I’m just hanging out with my aunt and uncle on their meth ranch and I’m eating a Push Up and fucking WHAM! EVERYTHING I EVER WAS AFRAID OF EVER IS NOW REAL AND ALIVE AND TRYING TO FUCKING KILL ME.  I will never trust anyone again.

Congratulations That Picture, you have now unseated this Bill Dance Fishing Bloopers Montage as the best thing I have ever seen.

FEEL IT ALL AROUND from Northern Lights on Vimeo.

I understand mashups used to be fun. Everyone loved them because it was easy listening. You recognized all the songs, and OMG they were combined with other songs!!111!! I’m not going to lie, my mind was truly blown the first time I heard Mr. Dibbs spin “War Pigs” and “Master of Puppets” into a hip hop set … That was 8 years ago.

Now you hear Girl Talk in grocery stores, or you will soon. That guy is talented and he did some fun shit, but his last record should have been the last mashup ever recorded. Ever. Leave it to Williamsburg to not know when something’s done, because this DJ acted like he invented the fuckin’ concept, and what’s more, that people actually wanted to hear it.

He must have heard a Girl Talk album and thought “IMA DO THAT” except he fucked it up. He did nothing but take great songs and put them to “classics” like “The Safety Dance” and “Free Your Mind”. It was fucking awful, and it ruined an entire day. Beer tasted terrible, my clothes felt like poison, and I wanted to cry. I think I broke down momentarily in the port-o-potty, where I thought I was safe…but because of the architecture of the buildings around the park, it sounded like the shitty DJ was always right next to me saying, “Check it out brah, im going to mix Weezer with Journey, its going to Epic brah! Epic! …you have any blow?”, even in the port o potty. I wanted death, but death did not come. I have no mouth, and I must scream.

Just as I was about to throw in the towel, Prince Paul took the stage.

As Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” rang out, the sun finally gave up and started packing it in for the night. I felt like I had been handed a new soul. All that time wading through putrid shit in the hot sun, and I was rewarded at the end by a cool breeze and one of the greatest songs ever made. I felt new, alive. I was Andy DuFrane after he made it out of Shawshank. I danced like an asshole, and the hits kept comin…Black Sheep, M.O.P’s “Ante Up”, Dead Prez’ “Hip Hop”, Wu Tang Clan’s “Ain’t Nothin Ta Fuck With”…all the hip hop classics you could ever think of, and they didn’t need to be set to La Bouche or whatever to be palatable. I felt new.

As my emotional pendulum swung from one extreme to the other, I was able (for once) to pick up a theme in my life…at least at the moment. I’m switching. Everything is changing for me. 90% of my life will be different by September 1st.

We got a new place. Its not in Queens. Its in Brooklyn, and not even in a nice area, at all. But it’s HUGE, and amazing. I am excited for it, but if there existed a polar opposite to my ridiculously safe and clean neighborhood in Queens, its the neighborhood we’re moving to. Bed-Stuy. Biggie’s neighborhood. It’s not the ‘hood of yore, shots don’t ring out as much, but its still rough. I know we’ll be OK, but it’s going to be a change. A big change, from one extreme to the other.

Before that though, its a new job. I’m leaving my first job out of college at the company I’ve worked at for 3 years. I got an offer from some friends at another huge record company to come and do similar stuff to what I’ve been doing for the last 18 months. The only differences are important ones – more responsibility, more creativity, more room to grow, and a little bit more money.

I’ve gotten comfortable where I am. Too comfortable. An overdose on comfort is stagnation. And more than once I’ve found myself idle, uninspired and unmotivated at my current job. Same subway stop, same stairs, same shitty delis for lunch. Same dude at the reception desk, same posters on the walls. It stopped doing anything for me, which is why I started to keep my eyes open to new possibilities. I wanted a change, and I set myself up to get one. It took a little while, but my Way Out came to me through some prior connections, and I grabbed on.

So I’m jumping to another major label. One more of the “Big Four”…somehow. And yeah, HOW THE FUCK DO I STILL HAVE A JOB? In times like this when no one has a job, in a business where layoffs are common, I’ve managed to stay alive. I’m not bragging I’m just stunned. My good fortune is not lost on me. I am god damn lucky.

So my fucked up journey here has come to an end. From a perpetually hungover receptionist, to a bored as hell assistant in Advertising (how i didn’t get fired for incompetence is beyond me), to an intrigued assistant in “Interactive Marketing”, to the esoteric plateau of “Content Manager”, its been a bizarre ride. If 20 year-old-Chuck Palahniuk-reading Me could see Me now, he’d slap the shit out of me, call me a sell-out, and then ask me to hook him up with concert tickets and free CDs.

So its on to another adventure I guess. Maybe I’m puffing this up and it won’t be that different, but I think there will be some distinct “rug flying out from underneath me” moments in the very near future. It got hot and the music sucked, then Jackson Five came on. I hope this next step is as profound and renewing as that was.

See you on the way back.