CAGE E.P. Exclusive Cover Preview

So, as I am heavily crunching away on the new CAGE "Depart From Me..." album art (going to be like 12 pages of all new illustrations and will be released on DEFJUX June 29th) I thought it would be relevant to share an additional part of Cage's universe with you.
As you may know, or may NOT know, Cage is releasing a download-only E.P. with about 8 new songs before "Depart From Me..." is released! I'm not sure when this E.P. will be officially released, but if you pay attention to CAGE'S MYSPACE PAGE , you can probably find out soon.

Anyway, the 2 albums will tie in both sonically and visually, even though the art styles will be completely different (The "Depart From Me.." art is going to be NUTS), but I thought you might want to take a peek at the cover for the "...I Never Knew You" E.P. So here it is....






And Cage just wrapped his new video for the single, "I Never Knew You" which will be featured both on the E.P. and on "Depart From Me..." which Shia LaBeouf directed and Dan Byrd (the kid from one of my favorite movies, the Hills Have Eyes remake) stars in. If you havent seen the little preview of the making of the video, video, check it out, courtesy of Grassyslope's Vimeo page:



coming.... from grassyslope on Vimeo.




And here is an interview with Shia & Cage about the album and video. check it out below, courtesy of MTV.

MTV Shows

This is just another project in my life that makes me feel so goddamned happy that I have worked hard and suffered for years trying to turn my art into a career. I have been a huge Cage fan for years and it's things like this that make all of the struggle of being self-employed worth it.
Continuing the grind....

Cage and I noticing a bird just shit in one of the crewmen's coffee cup while on set of the video.

For every action....TGIF!

So you know that old phrase, "For every action theres, like, a different action that doesn't really have much to do with the first one, but is rad anyway."?
Well, that fits today perfectly, because amongst the chaos of me being called a cheater and liar, on the OPPOSITE spectrum, something really cool has happened. Thank GOD its FRIDAY:







YouTube is an amazing company, even after the whole "corporate thing" went down and its harder to use licensed music and stuff. The other day, YouTube contacted me and wanted to "Spotlight" the URKEL TIMELAPSE video that I put up a couple weeks ago. However, instead of just saying "YOU USED THE THEME SONG THATS ILLEGAL SHIT WE HATE YOU", they actually kindly just asked if I was willing to change the music and re-upload it so they COULD feature it. Now, granted, the new version isn't as powerful, but the fact that they were willing to work with me to MY BENEFIT, is insane and cool. No way I'm changing the Shia LaBeouf video tho, The New Kids on the Block song is too close to home.

So yah, my Urkel Video is the "Spotlight" on the front page of "FILM AND ANIMATION" . That's a huge deal to me.
Thanks, YouTube.
Here's the video in case you missed it:
(note, new, royalty free music is used now. oh well;)

What "REALLY" Happened with the Jon Incident...

So, I was notified by my brave friend, ANONYMOUS, via the un-scary communication form of blogging, that I should "actually tell the truth" about what happened, so i will let my buddy ANONYMOUS do it for me, with my quick response afterward:
Take it away, hippy!

Anonymous said:

"Alex, 

How about you actually tell the truth about what happened? You posted online promoting Jon's idea which is great. You then went on to tell people to register with fake email addresses and vote for him multiple times. This is a contest that is giving away $50,000 and a lot of people have put an incredible amount of time and effort into this because they believe in their dream assignment. 

We as "admins" as you call us, did not call Jon a cheater, the only cheater was YOU Alex. We told Jon that we were going to go through all his votes over the last 48 hours and if we found people who voted more than once, those votes would be removed. 

We would love Jon to stay in the contest because like you, we also agree that his idea is a good one along with a lot of other great ideas by other people.

Whether Jon stays in the contest is totally up to him. 

Dream Assignment Team"

@ Dream Assignment Team. I see you REMOVED my post attacking you on your awesome site, yet you then came right over here to post "what really happened" and attack me on mine. You're so cute.
And in response, I never criticized the fact that everyone is putting in "an incredible amount of time". I KNOW they did. I know JON did. But I didn't happen to be FRIENDS with any of the other contestants and none of the other contestants asked me for my support. And MY friends are JON'S friends. It just so happens I have a lot of friends. And the front page of the site says "get your friends to vote!" So i did. If some of them voted twice, then dont count those. But you should apply that to all of the other entries because I bet there's some other "complete liars" who might have had their spouses vote twice. Geez, What assholes those contestants are, supporting their family and all by sneaking in an extra little vote! And when you run a CONTEST based on GENERAL PUBLIC VOTES, you should probably think of a better way of conducting it other than leaving it up to the CONTESTANTS to use their RESOURCES to bring people to YOUR site, especially if you expect it to be such a "fair" contest. Do you not understand the internet after all these years?
And speaking of registering under fake names, I highly doubt your real name is "Dream Assignment Team". But then again, maybe it is, hippy.

Thanks for your time.
Alex Pardee (real name)

"Hello, and goodnight. Oh, and fuck you, too."

Hello Everyone.
I just wanted to offer a HUGE thank you from both myself and Jon Dragonette, who's contest i posted about yesterday.

Unfortunately, my intentions were misconstrued and tarnished Jon's image within the admin department of that website as I was accused of helping Jon cheat because there is "no possible way Jon could have got that many votes without cheating". Jon bowed out of the contest after numerous attacks from the admin department and from other contestants pointing the admin department to ME. Jon feels strongly enough about the situation in Laos and his project that he would rather not have that VISION tarnished, regardless if he won, by people accusing him of cheating to get to pursue his dream. Jon can actually say it better than me, so here is Jon:

"This is where I bow out. This competition was never about me, but the idea I really wanted the world to recognize. It seems that this has turned into more of a popularity contest, and less of an outlet for people to pursue their dreams. I don’t need the help of a big corporation to pursue this project, although I saw this contest as an opportunity that would help me to get a head start on a project that I believe in. I really appreciate the positive feed back and help from all my friends and family who voted for me. However, I feel that it is best for me to bow out of the competition as I just cant have this idea dragged through the gutter because people are angry. I don't want my dream assignment to be attached to anything less sincere than was originally intended. I am still going to continue to work hard to support this cause and make it to Laos eventually.

Thank you again to everyone for your support and especially my wife who I know will continue to pursue this assignment with me. I know that even though I did not complete this competition, I hope that I have at the very least opened your eyes towards the situation in Laos.

Best of luck to everyone out there who aims to make a change in the lives of those who are in need.

_-Jon Dragonette"

There are things I understand about the outrage of the other competitors/admins and things I don't.
First off, Jon had NOTHING to do with me campaigning for him. I simply got his email saying that he was a part of it and asking his friends for support. I read about his project, and i thought "Holy shit, this is amazing, I want to try to help as much as i can." I had no idea the positive (but ultimately negative) effect that my campaigning would have.
I agree, when I phrased my excited encouragement in my blog post as "already voted yesterday? re-register with a different email and re-vote! i DID!" i was naively encouraging spam. However, Jon got an UNCANNY amount of votes yesterday, and yes, i would imagine that there were a COUPLE of re-casted votes, but in every one of these "vote for me" contests, the CONTESTANTS' sole purpose is to USE their RESOURCES to GET FUCKING VOTES. So let's take a look at what I (only ONE of Jon's resources) DID TO HELP POINT PEOPLE TO THE WEBSITE:

I posted it on my numerous blogs, including my website, my MySpace (30,000 friends), Twitter, Facebook, Upper Playground's blog, DeviantArt (3500 subscribers), my clothing company's newsletter (2900 subscribers), my personal email list, and the front page of one of the most popular web-comic sites, Snafu-Comics. On top of that, I encouraged everyone I sent it to to also post it on their blogs, etc. I did all of this in ONE DAY. Hell, Snafu-Comics ALONE is ranked 14,091 on ALEXA (the leading web "ranking site which means out of the millions of websites there are, only 14,000 of them are more popular than Snafu) versus the contest's shitty website being ranked down at 111,358.
So, to all you whiners who think there was "something shady going on" when Jon's votes skyrocketed in one day, here is something to think about:
MAYBE the fact that in ONE day, a few hundred thousand people were simply NOTIFIED about Jon's cause, AND this shitty website, and a few HUNDRED of them actually AGREED that Jon's cause was worthwhile enough to vote for??
Jon's "dream" project of going and photographing and helping the villagers in Laos because the United States dropped 2 million tons of mines in the Vietnam war is so fucking amazing, do you honestly think that out of the hundreds of thousands of people that saw this post, that no one would think this is cool enough to vote for??? That's INSULTING both to Jon and to the integrity of the project!
OF COURSE his votes are going to go up! Even if i didn't encourage anyone to vote for him and simply put a link up, his votes STILL would have increased rapidly simply because of statistics.

With that being said, the sole purpose of running a website that is based on USER-GENERATED content and advertisements is to USE their registered users to GET NEW PEOPLE TO THE SITE. These kind of sites, like threadless, or cafe press, etc would not exist if the users DID NOT CREATE CONTENT AND THEN TELL PEOPLE TO GO THERE. That's why these kind of sites can't afford to SHIT on the people, like Jon, that are actively using their site and BRINGING NEW USERS ON BOARD! When you have to register to vote on these sites, and with Jon's votes increasing by 1000, that means that THAT WEBSITE GOT 1,000 NEW REGISTERED USERS in ONE DAY! Nowadays when there is so much oversaturation on the internet, 1,000 new registered users is probably worth 50 grand by itself, so here's Ray Liotta to say something to you: "FUCK YOU, PAY ME.". And I'll pay Jon and send him to Laos, and together we will propose a new "dream" project that will LOWER AWARENESS of this website and the people who fucking whined about him getting votes.

I hate you.

I think it's noble of Jon to bow out, and I understand why he did it, but I think that you fuckers who contributed to his guilt and his withdrawl should learn how to use the internet for things other than complaining. Amazon's got a sale on cribs. Buy one, cry-babies.

Jon is still going to be working on this project regardless, so go check out http://www.dragonettephotography.com/ to both check out his work and to further support his dream project.

Sincerely,
Jon's Friend
Alex Pardee
zerofriends.com

Potpourri, with IN FLAMES, Shia, KidRobot, and Cake Face...

A few random things to update about, and my follow up commentary to the Home Invasion video, which seems to be a hit according to your comments.
So let's talk about that first.






We all had a shitload of fun making that video, and even more fun reading some of your insane comments. Stephen Reedy directed and edited it, and my homies the New Kids on the Block sang backup. Now, granted, Shia is a retardedly talented actor who pretty much carries most of the movies he's in, including stealing most of the scenes away from the CGI stars in Transformers thanks to the robots having zero personality but tons of ethnicity. And yah, that dude can switch into acting mode faster than Carrie's demeanor can change if she's draped in pigs blood. With that being said, it was hilarious reading some of the comments asking if this was "real", because we honestly didn't think anyone would assume it was real at all, so we weren't even trying to hide anything, such as Shia being in the timelapse, but that just means that once again, Shia carried this movie and made it believable. But what was funnier than those "is this real" questions, was the NUMEROUS responses that pointed out all of the evidence that it was staged, such as:

"no, you can see Shia at 1:18, totally staged."
"fake, shia is even wearing one of alex's shirts."
"alex already knew shia, from Cage, and also there's a picture of him with the transformers"
and even the real investigators got on board:
"alex NEVER told Shia that he was from San Francisco. FAKE!!"

So OK, you caught us, but why the fuck didn't ANY ONE OF YOU prove it's falseness by saying "OF COURSE ITS FAKE THERE IS A DEAD MEXICAN BEING USED FOR COMEDY REASONS!!!" Not one person pointed out that if this was real, it would not only be an admittance of MURDER, but close to the first actual proof of a snuff film via the internet. You guys are weird;)

But yah, I had a blast. I have known Shia for a few years now as he has been developing a feature film based on the early life of Cage, and it has been really cool watching him both blow up AND mature as an actor. Dude is talented as fuck.

If you missed the video, here it is again (click that HQ button if you like your eyes):





and here are a few pics from behind the scenes. Photos by Steve Reedy and Todd Westphal.


























Over the last couple of weeks, I have done a couple of quick little things for IN FLAMES as their album "A Sense Of Purpose" continues to do better and better. Here are a couple of single covers and an updated version of their tour poster for their new UK/IRELAND tour.










And lastly, I ripped the face off of this tiny little 4-inch tall KidRobot Munny for Nichole "ToyBaroness" East from Kid Robot for her 30th birthday. Happy early birthday, Nichole.




I will have a cool announcement about CAGE thursday or Friday, so keep your eyes peeled like an uncomfortable banana.
Good night.

Jon Dragonette is awesome, and he needs your love.

Today is a day full of favorites, i guess.
First the Hi-Fructose thing, and now a little something about my favorite photographer, Jon Dragonette.
I met Jon when he photographed me for my Juxtapoz article a couple of years ago, and we instantly hit it off because he was down to break into abandon warehouses with me and play dress up and pretend we were shooting a hollywood movie when the cops came.
And to top it off, his photos turned out amazing.
He and I have since done a few other projects together, like the Treeple project, the first Sparks tour, some UP ads, etc. and we have become good friends.





Anyway, Jon has been working for years helping to raise the awareness of the neglect of forgotten landmine victims in Laos in preparation to go photograph some of the surviving victims and the Laotian people who still go and retrieve these active mines to help out their villages, and in return showcase his work around the world and donate the profits to the surviving victims. This is Jon's dream photography assignment and has been for years, and I think it's amazing. Well, an opportunity came up where he has a chance to win $50,000 towards this dream project, and he asked me to help get him some votes from YOU GUYS to help him complete his dream project. So I am asking you to kindly take 2 minutes out of your day (if you agree with the cause) to register and vote for Jon. I did it and it seriously is just registering, confirming your email, and clicking vote. It took me 2 minutes and it has the potential to give Jon his DREAM. is that too much to ask????
anyway, check out this message from Jon, and see some of his photos below.
And I thank you very much for taking the time to read this and vote for him. He deserves it.

"Hey! Jon here!

I need a little help from my friends... I have submitted a proposal for my dream photography assignment and I need YOUR VOTES in order to have a chance at winning the opportunity to pursue my project. It only takes a few seconds to register and vote for my project. All I ask is that you register and vote and pass it along to all your friends and family to help support my goal.

"My dream assignment is to use my skills as a photographer to help raise awareness and donate funds to organizations that provide relief to human suffering of the forgotten landmine victims in Laos.  I would like to photograph the victims of these dormant deathtraps as well as the brave men who detect and dispose of these munitions.  My goal is to exhibit the body of work in at least four major cities around the world and donate the proceeds to The Lao National Unexploded Ordnance Program (UXO) and The Coffeelands Landmine Victims Trust...."


ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS:
Click, PIC IT on the left top corner. Fill out the short form, and cast your vote. Its that easy.
http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/Dragonette/laos-landmine-victims-the-war-is-over-but-their-suffering-continues-/


The prize is $50,000 to complete your dream assignment. I found out about the plight of the landmine victims a few months ago and have been trying to develop some interest in my project to help raise awareness and support.  My wife and I have been researching the subject and we managed to find this competition and hoped that it might help.  If I win, the prize and all proceeds from subsequent exhibits and publications will be contributed to this project and the relevant charities.

Unfortunately I found out about this competition late in the game and only have until APRIL 3, 2009 to get all my votes in!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP! GET VOTING!!!!



Jon Dragonette
Dragonette Photography
www.dragonettephotography.com"

And here are some examples of Jon's work, some of my favorite photos he's taken.
















Thank you,
Alex
zerofriends.com

Hi-Fructose Show preview image and info.

Hi-Fructose is not just one of my favorite art magazines out there, but it's one of my favorite magazines of all time. even better than Ranger Rick, Highlights, and Foreskin Quarterly put together. That last one, FQ, tho, is quite an odd piece of collected trees that is dedicated to the beauty of the "uncut" man that I would have never discovered had I not had a job handling international magazine returns for Tower Records back in the day. And yes, Hi-Fructose is better than that one;)

Attaboy, Annie, and the rest of the Hi-Fructose crew have assembled a ridiculously amazing roster of artists together for a showcase at the COPRONASON gallery in Los Angeles next week which i am proud (and really humbled seeing a lot of the preview images) to be a part of. I think I should be there in person as part of a signing of the new hardcover collected HI-FRUCTOSE BOOK, too which is a STEAL at 25 bucks on amazon, go there and get it

Anyway, here is the info and flyer for the show, my piece that i did is shown above and below is a detailed shot.
Hope you enjoy and hope to see you there.
That will probably then be my 9th trip to LA in 2 months. Rad.

Hi-Fructose Presents:
"OVERDOSE"
@ CoproGallery
2525 Michigan Ave
Santa Monica, CA
copronason.com

Shia LaBeouf Home Invasion...with ME!

The What-The-Fuck Files are getting filled to the brim.....

I present to you.......me.
and make sure to click that HQ button in the youtube window. it will make you happier.

The Messy Birth Of A Black Nerd

I will go ahead and file this in the whatthefuck files for you....
;)

Prints selling out fast. Heed my warning...

I'm a firm believer in "Taking hints".
If I am heading out on a long drive, and there is a homeless man at the intersection who turns his sign around to read "Beware of the long drive. You are doomed," at first I laugh and say, "What a silly little bum." and I continue driving.
But then, lets say, I see a burnt hitchiker a few miles later with a sign saying "Sometimes dead is NOT better, Alex." Well, that doesnt matter usually either and I toss whats left of my Iced Chai out the window and scream "Sometimes PEETS is better! Than Starbucks!" And i laugh and continue to drive. But then if i stop at a truck stop and a ghostly jogger named Pascual walks up with a head injury and moans "Don't go, Alex, Dont do ittttttttt." Then i thank him, take a hint, cancel my plans and turn around.

Where am I going with this?
Well, I don't really remember now that the whole spinal meningitis scene from Pet Sematary is flashing in my brain. Oh yah, hints!
Well, here is a pretty blatant hint that I would like for you to take, free of hint-charge. (if you are a child of the 8-bit NES Nintendo Power Hotline era, then you know that hints, especially Metroid hints, are charged by the minute and your parents hate paying for hints).

ZEROFRIENDS (zerofriends.com) would like to let you know that the following limited edition giclee prints designed by me are getting close to being completely sold out. This is just a hint. So with it as you must.

Mainly, i am giving you a HUGE hint with the "VOMIT IS LOVE" print (pictured below), as there are less than 5 of them left out of an edition of 200.
Click on the pic or just go to ZEROFRIENDS to pic one up before it joins the other retired webkinz.





And while we are on the subject of one of my favorite images, "VOMIT IS LOVE", and now that the print is almost sold out, I can finally reveal my inspiration for the piece. In a rather embarrassing, but endearing moment at my uncle Randy's wedding, upon their first "married" dance, they nervously looked into each other's eyes and the rage of their previous night's alcohol and salmon shot forth towards each other, but like some sort of disgusting fairy tale, the vomit clashed and morphed into a flock of beautiful butterflies. My friend, Jon Dragonette was there to capture the moment. And that moment has always touched me.





On that note, here are a couple of other prints that are going rather quickly, so get your mitts on them shits like you're cleaning up after your dog.



CLICK HERE OR ON THE PRINTS TO PURCHASE;)














Thank you all for your continued support.
We love you.

Quadruple Update, including the PREDATOR!

Just a couple of things to start off the week....
Yes, I know its Friday. But fuck it, my weeks are different. Because, unlike every Kate Hudson movie, i'm ORIGINAL.

First, YES, i have seen WATCHMEN. Thanks to Jeben Berg, I was able to sneak into a press screening last week and see it. I am going to see it again tomorrow to make sure it all seeps in correctly before scream about it. I would love to review it in depth, but my time may not allow me to. But in short, with the exception of the CGI Lynx-cat and Malin Ackerman's acting on MARS, i LOVED LOVED LOVED it. Period.

Secondly, I would like to both thank and apologize to everyone who came out to WONDERCON last week to visit the Zerofriends Booth and to say hi to me. I was ridiculously sick that weekend so I tried my best to come hang at the booth and meet people, but because so many people were asking to make out with me and my amazing phlegm-filled mouth, I kept having to leave to lay down. On Sunday I was barely even there....
And to the people that I DID manage to hang out and make out with and draw things for, I am very sorry if i seemed out of it or drew you something shitty or not at all. I will make it up to you soon. Hopefully.
My mother and father came by tho, and it's always nice to get their support...
Here is a photo of my father and me at the con. Yah, he and his light-bending suit managed to escape the jungle to come hang at the con.




Thirdly, check out this promo image and get ready to witness me finally being cool enough to join the ranks of the Vinyl Toy world.....Coming soooooon from Upper PLayground and The Loyal Subjects. (Note: a bunch of other promo pics of the toy have been leaked through various websites, but this is a new never before seen drawing that I did for the toy;) Hope you like.....
Oh, and If you are wondering if this little-guy-riding-this-bigger-guy-in-a-vengeful-way-rather-than-a-homosexual-way has a little back story to him, you are in luck. because he DOES! and here it is:

THE WALRUS RIDER:
"Born with legs of a golden tint,
He'd walk, he'd run, he'd jump and sprint,
There's nothing much he COULDN'T do,
With legs of gold and wooden shoes,
The girls all loved his limbs and knees,
For no one else had legs like these,
But jealousy arose with some,
Cause' HE was having all the fun!
So late one night upon his slumber,
Darkness drenched with rain and thunder.
There he slept and dreamt of blondes,
But when he woke HIS LEGS WERE GONE!
Who would do this tragic thing?
What good is a bee if a bee cannot sting?
And what good is HE without legs at all?
Now he cannot move and he's not that tall!
So he hopped on the back of his bestest friend,
And together they ride as he seeks his REVENGE!"





ANd lastly, THIS Darth Vader Helmet that I designed and built last year along with my good friends Sean Pierce and Adam Peterson is now proudly being displayed at the ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM!!!! Insane, i say.