Georges Le Soq makes le b**bies

Georges Le Soq is visiting us STILL and he is a bit of a gourmand and he is teaching me:
"mon ami, we need zee, how you say, STICKY RICE" and I am like
"can you buy sticky rice at the store? I thought you had to go out for it?" and he is like
"NO! Ees easy, we find zome" and we do and today he is rattling around the house, bored, and he sez
"mon ami, I make zee dinner tonight" which is always a welcome idea so I am like
"fantastic! What's cookin' Georges?" and later he is making a MESS for me to clean up but he shows me this and is like
"mmmmmmeowr, now zees, zees is a dish you want to gobble up, eh mon ami?"

the last day of January thank GOD

January 31 has been a profoundly wonderful day for us. At least twice. Being the old softie and sentimental fool that I am , it marks 18 years since me and the missus started to date. We had known each other since 1989 and been very good friends, but being the slow poke that I am (plus involvement with other people on both our sides) it wasn't until I hosted a party January 31, 1992 and she offered to help with it that, well, you know :) We got married 11 months later on Christmas.
THEN again, 4 years ago, we got the offer on our old house. We had lived in a pretty little house in the New Hampshire woods for over ten years, but what with the drug dealers who had moved in up the street and the fact that our property tax bill rose to 8 thousand a year, we decided to sell December 2005. We had many potential buyers (twas the HEIGHT of the New England housing bubble, as it turns out, and real estate was frenzied) and we got a good offer after only a few weeks on the market, January 31, and best of all, they wanted to close 4 weeks later, no messing around, which we did and moved to Ithaca March 1, 2006.
And January 31 is wonderful too because you have just about had it with this winter sh!t (10 below zero out there on our thermometer) and January is a long one....
Check this teapot out, another in a series of small teapot experiments--turned out super well, I liked it so much I made another like it right away.

(teapot by Gary Rith)
AND you absolutely love the best Motown tunes, and maybe this is one of the best of Motown's best

Georges Le Soq, famous actor and super model: THE MOVIE

Thought I'd make a wee little video of making a Georges Le Soq sock monkey mug. Mind blowingly good!

wouldn't you like to wake up next to this????

Our high temps today will be about 15, outside now its below zero. Our kitchen was feeling like below zero, before the heat got busy and did its thing, and naturally the wife grabs the ever present camera and is like
"I GOTTA GET THIS PIC" and she did.
I dreamt last night that I had a special ring that helped me levitate. I found myself in a mall, and I didn't need the escalator, just zzzzip! Up I went to the 5the level where I got all teary eyed because me and the missus were shopping for a perfect wedding ring (we never went to the mall to shop for rings, as we have nice family rings, but then again, I don't have a special levitation ring either).


I was working on whacking some big bowls into ovals and adding handles. These pics don't do them justice, they are rather groovy.


And yesterday Goofy Kim comes over and is giving that beagle some lovin' and I am like
"I know her tricks, I am not putting down your muffins and tea Kim until that wily creature is back on the floor...."


Dig the tremendous awesomeness of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club....

"glad I am not your neighbor"

I heard once that beagles are named for bugles. My Penny can be pretty LOUD from time to time, but she is adorable.
Kasey last week is like "you should make a video of Penny howling" and usually when people see my videos of Penny they always say "glad I am not your neighbor" although my real neighbors love her and we are VERY polite and try to keep her quiet. Here are a few seconds of howling:)


and last year

Wednesday = business time, Thursday = recycle day

I was getting the recycling together and you know how cats are, Emily has to shred stuff and toss it around then take a nap in the bag then she wanders off later and Spike has to shred stuff and toss it around then fall asleep in the bag then later Spike is on the couch whispering sweet nothings into Penny's ear....

WELL ANYWAY the other day I am poking through my drawer and at the bottom of the piles are some race tee shirts of mine, from when I ran the 1990 and 1992 Chicago marathons and my buddies Steve and Steve both still run marathons and SO maybe that is why I dreamt that me and Penny the beagle were running across America, 20 miles a day.....MAN!





The original studio video of this yeah Yeah Yeahs tune is rather disturbing, so dig the live version.

tater tot enchiladas with Georges Le Soq...

You will remember 2 weeks ago Georges and I made tater tot pizaa and last week tater tot burritos which were UNBELIEVABLE and as I say below, Georges had something in mind and asked to come with me to the store today. What he had in mind was superb, let's hear his thoughts:
" mon amis, zee tater tots, dey are most delicious, as you know. They are good on pizza, oui. Zey are better in burritos, again, OUI. But I was thinking about that which is both, how you say, spicier and yet saucier. Zo we make ze tater tot enchiladas. First we saute zee veggies and soy and beans and use that to fill zee tortillas. Zen we add some tots. And here is when I get a little, how you say, WILD, mebbe: I top zee tortillas with zee sauce, zee cheese, zee beans, and believe eet or no, more tater tots, zen I bake dis. Oh, so good! Dis time I have with cow beer"

Georges Le Soq and me, we're like THIS

Georges has been staying with us for awhile. This morning he is like
"mon ami, we go to zee store, no?"
"why yes Georges, grocery day!" and Georges is like
"I come with. Mebbe we get more tater tots, mebbe we do more, how you say, kitchen experiments, tonight?"
and so we go to the store and he is like
"mon ami, zee tortillas, zee tomatoes vis hot peppers, zee enchilada sauce, zee TATER TOTS. Zeese tings we must have. We make magic vis dem" and he uses my credit card and we get 'er done....

Yesterday, of course, Georges was super excited because I had painted mugs to look LIKE HIM.
Georges is like
"mon ami, dese mugs, dey, how you say, ROCK IT"


(sock monkey mugs by Gary Rith)

and PLEASE, dig the Yeah yeah yeahs, A + GOOD MUSIC

FARRAH and me

I have more important things to blog about later (starring Georges Le Soq in more ZANY adventures with sock puppets!) but get this dream, nay, get this NIGHTMARE:
(keep in mind I am a childless, married, anarcho-punk potter, OK?)
--for some reason, in the dream, I wake up one day to find that I have a five year old kid and I am full of wonderment at that, thinking there is some kind of amnesia or something because you think I would know I have a kid, but nobody believes I can't remember having a kid, but then it gets STRANGER because I live in California and worse yet, I am a lawyer, everybody in my family is a lawyer, but even STRANGER is that I work for Farrah Fawcett's firm and we are in trial together, and let's just say, she is a very good lawyer, but as you see in the clip below, she never really seemed to wear, um, underwear.....

my heart is not in it....

Had a message from a shop today, could I do some heart stuff for a February Valentine's exhibit?
I have done alot of heart stuff and it is cute, but I am not in the mood at all...and if you know me well, you know that I can be moody and prickly about what I am making. In 2010 I am making what I feel like. Maybe in the summer I'll make some heart things...or maybe not....
Frankly, I work best when I am excited about something, and don't want to make a half-hearted effort.
SO, high on the satisfaction list is what I am making today--including corduroy teapot and these different elephant cups----with the trunk going up, instead of my usual down...and they are lookin' good...


One of the most awesome tunes EVAH even if the ending is not as satisfying as it could be.....

probably everyone would think this is boring SO....

I fired up a glaze firing yesterday, kinda has a lot of experiments in it, sort of. Potters will know what this is like: then you wake up at 2:20 and wonder and hope it turned out OK! Then you fall asleep and have a bizarre dream where your neighbor rents out your attic and it pisses you off so you sue them. Anyway, here is the before and after of this firing, and it looks good but needs to cool some more, and then I added a few pics for all the non-potters to look at so you won't be bored with me....


THE KING---I love early Elvis but my shiny gold jacket is better ....

I loved junky Godzilla movies from Japan when I was little--remember the ones where the English is dubbed over Japanese...dubbed very badly? And unicorns are always a good conversation starter and...


She looks very cheerful doesn't she?


and speaking of the King when he was younger....

can you make it six inches in less than 2 and a half minutes?

Ribbed too? Thought I would make a video of throwing a 6 inch tall ribbed mug like the 2 yellow piggy mugs pictured in the post below.....

PENNY LANE

(pair of yellow piggy mugs by Gary Rith)
Its funny, here is my brilliant movie of our beagle Penny running around our backyard with Buster, and on youtube all these OTHER beagles named Penny pop up on the right :)

go NINJA all over Spike's azz...

Yeah right. As if you could ever sneak up on Spike.
Basically, as you may know, I do very little, but I blog it all. Yesterday? Well, yesterday was pretty active, and there were the geese (see post below) and yesterday evening I was invited to a party at a fancy Thai restaurant for all the ceramics art instructors at the Cornell University pot shop (all the pictures sucked except Georges Le Soq sucking down the monkey wine, below). I reread the email before setting out, assuming I would be buying my dinner, and it looked like the university was treating. SO, we all sit down and enjoy this feast and I ask Andy the director, so um, is this on Cornell??? And it was :) Makes you kinda glad you ordered 2 appetizers and the lime soda....my best pal Norah was there and she was gonna go home and make bagels (holy cats! that's tricky!) and I hope she blogs it, and then, of course, I dreamt I was kidnapped by bank robbers and it was a stressful ldream but at least I didn't get shot.






and dig this French music video my SIL suggested, so explicitly erot!c, I am told, it was banned from French radio (40 years ago, but you know...I don't know any French, so I wonder what the dude is singing? "I want you over the couch, I want you in the back of this boat, I am gonna have you right here in the park....") it is rather cute and sweet

scaring the crapola outta a bunch o' geese...

We went on up to Jacci's gallery in Aurora and I gave her a little zebra cork to put into her zebra teapot's spout which she had bought from me--she likes to do that to keep things hot, and aren't her photos phab?
Then we were on the beach on Cayuga lake and I was getting pics of all the geese and holy cats! Look down at my video!!!!

le beagles.....

(beagle mug by Gary Rith)
Dig some cute beagle videos!

Georges poses NEWD

Just like that horrible new republican senator in Massachusetts who posed NEWD when he was younger (warning! nekkid and hairy republican pictures! not safe for democrats!)
Georges posed for me so I could draw him. Today I am like
"Georges, I want to paint you onto cups" and he is like
"OUI, of course you do" and I am like
"well then HOLD STILL!" and he finally stops monkeying around and then later looks at my work and tells me
"eez not bad, work on zee smile a little, this makes me look like I have a, how you say, SMIRK" and later when I am loading the kiln and Georges is watching me put his cups in
"mon ami, you forgot zee tail! How can you forget zee tail!" and I have to admit he is right, but before I glaze I will be coloring his drawings and will try to remember to add a tail too :)

smokin' hawt

Let's just say there are 2 facts about moving your friends' furniture and boxes into their new house:
1) it makes you feel OLD and creeky and
2) you sleep like the dead

Here is a terrible frog joke:

One day this frog was bored, so he decided to call the psychic hotline.
The psychic asked the frog "what do you want to know"
"Tell me something about my love life" said the frog.
"In the very near future you are going to meet a very beautiful young woman" said the psychic.
"Cool, where? at a disco or a party?" said the frog.
"No"
The psychic replied,



"Next month in her biology class!"


Here is a smokin' hawt video, must see :)

pints with Benji and Georges....

The missus is like "I have a dentist appointment" and you can see the lightbulb pop over my head
"I can pick you up" and she is like
"great! done at 5"
and I am like "hey, lets meet at the Chapterhouse! Georges Le Soq and Benji wanted to meet me there for some beers at happy hour!"

Multitasking: picking up the wife from the dentist and having some beers (well, she ended up driving)

Benji and Georges, I have to admit, had some small disagreements, which were settled, I am happy to say, without any bloodshed.

no internets???????????????

If you see an elephant in your car, what time is it?


Time to get a new car.

What's the difference between eating an elephant or peanut butter?


Elephant doesn't stick to the roof of your mouth.

OK, no internets here all morning, finally got things rolling again here, and I need to run out the door soon and help Maggie and Katie move and then reward meself later with beers and buddies at the Chapterhouse....
rock on everybody :)

(cups and saucers by Gary Rith)

This is so good even if I have posted it before :)

tater tots + tortillas = tater tot burritos!

Holy cats did I discover something AMAZING. The tater tot pizza the other day was good, tater tot burritos are better than SOCKS.
Georges, our Franglish sock monkey house guest is like
"tonight, mon ami, zee wife, she is out?"
"true, Georges, we can watch the rest of The Office, season # whatever"
"zat is TRUE mon ami Gary, but there is more: we can make a, how you say, experiment in zee kitchen"
"oh?"
"oui--Gary, we make zomething nobody has eaten: zee tater tot burrito, I am guessing, mon ami, will be GOOD"
and so we take the tots and the tortillas and the salsa, onions, tomatos and beans and spread and mix and heat and then just before serving Georges is like
"mon ami, zees is spicy hot dish, yes?" and I am like
"sure it is! Tabasco and all" and Georges is like
"mon ami, we enjoy with BOURBON shots, is good, is extra fiery, extra spicy, NO?"

And folks, I can tell you first hand, whatever way you have eaten tater tots, forget it--don't waste them, put them into tortillas! Golly that was the best.