Jacob Edward Shirley

Oct 22: Happy Halloween

With our super almost broken camera it might be hard to tell but it's Christopher Walken. Trust me, it's awesome in person.

Oct 09: Tribute to Our Bond

Good news / Bad news

The Good News

Last night we went to see Inglorious Basterds. We had the large plate of Nachos. Delicious, entertaining.

The Bad News

On the way home, another car accidentally turned into our lane, head on in front of us. I slammed on the brakes (of our 2008 Stella Scooter) but not soon enough. We hit the car front to front and I got the opportunity to fully learn the expression 'flew over the hood of the car.' Jeni didn't get the full experience. She only landed on top of the hood, and missed the 'on the hood, off the hood, onto the pavement' experience. She does not feel left out though.

Immediately after impact my knee was in incredible pain, 'incredible' being the operative word. Suddenly those days as a kid falling off a bike and scraping my knee seemed so trivial. Shortly after the human emotion of 'shock' came to visit and the knee momentarily calmed down. Why does shock make you shiver? It's not even cold!

After getting up I examined the scooter and discovered why my knee hurt so bad. Originally I assumed I rammed my knee into the hood of the Trail Blazer. Assumptions can be incorrect. What actually happened was my knee managed to completely fold the glove box in on itself. The front fender looks like a crumpled up wad of aluminum foil. The front wind shield is bent out of shape. The Trail Blazer has a scratch.

Kind of ironic that I have a grudge with SUV's and this one tried to run me down. Assassination? Probably not. It was an accident and I know the other driver didn't mean to kill our beloved scooter which we named 'Bond.' It wasn't named after the secret agent. It was paid for by a bond that we cashed in.

To sum it up, Jeni is fine and I'll be hobbling on a bruised knee for a bit. Don't worry about us. Hopefully I'll get a really exciting and colorful bruise that I post pictures of. What is the fun of barely escaping death if you don't have a few cuts and scrapes to show for it?

Coming Dec 18th: Funny Money Art Exhibit

December 18th to Januay 13th.

A showcase of artwork by internatial artist Jacob Edward Shirley. (the web site you are visiting) I'm not even going to go into long description of this event. I think I'm going to let the flyer speak for itself.

Sept 5th 09: Mark's Ark

For a long time I've been familiar with Mark's Ark pet shop. It's regularly covered in graffiti murals. After calling up an old partner in crime, Shea, I was invited to meet the owner and contribute to the famous wall. Thanks Chew.


My two characters and a guy described as 'from LA'	The banker	The bank vault	Ajer	Chew

Sept 11th 2009: Sand Tunez

Once again Solid Underground hosts the desert party of the year, Sand Tunes, including Utahs best local talent.

This year come to Sand Tunes for the Jake Edward's live Aerosol Side Show. Join in the action with the party burner wall. With over 12 years of experience under my belt I have no doubt my live painting will impress. This isn't just your average boring graffiti.

Aug 09: Burning Man Trailer

JLuvv of Gravity Events is heading out to burning man next week and he wanted a little flare to his camper van. I did the honorable thing and helped him out.

JLuvv's burning man camper van.

June 5: Kern's Elementary Spray Paint Class

Miss Hollister invited me out to Kern Elementary to teach her students about spray painting. The kids were rad. Need I say more?

May 17 09: Swine Flu

Recently my 'bed ridden by sickness' average is annually higher than I would prefer. Jeni, my wife, has been very helpful and she took me to the doctors the other day. While waiting at check in there were very clear and legible signs that said 'if you have fever, cough or rash please ask for a face mask.' As I looked around the room not a single coughing person was wearing a mask. The coughing elderly man with his wife whom were next in line seemed on the brink of the plague, but no mask. I figured if the office asks of it, and hell they do it in Japan, I should sport the mask. What ever has infected me had previously restricted me to bed for 2 weeks just a couple months earlier. I'd hate to bourdon someone else with the same misery.

As I sit down and put on my mask the elderly plagued man's wife leans towards me and says 'You can't be too careful with the swine flu. I don't blame you for being too cautious with all these sick people around.' At this point her husband coughs up a lung with no regard to covering his mouth. I was at a disadvantage in this conversation. My raspy weak voice can only be audible at around 8 feet in my current state and she was sitting a good 10 feet away, barricaded by the booming sound of Tom Hanks voice giving solid political advice on the tv. I attempt to say to her 'The swine flu is nothing to be afraid of. I'm just wearing the mask to be polite.' but what came out may have sounded like the gurgle of a coffee pot. She laughed. At first I assumed it was at my pitiful nature but then she continued to tell me how serious and dangerous of a threat the swine flu had become. At this point the tv on the other side of the room, put on mute to give Mr. Hanks his spot light, was boasting the potential dangers of H1N1.

People tend to get swept up with what ever the media tells them they should be swept up with. The swine flu obviously is NOT the most dangerous threat to the American people but it sure gets high ratings. Lets look at the numbers. According to Seattle Times May 17th there have been 4,714 cases of H1N1 in the US resulting in 5 deaths. When broken down that means that as an US American you have a 1 : 64,913* chances of getting swine flu and 1 : 61,200,000* chance of death from swine flu. How do those numbers stack up with other possible deaths? Lets take a look at some numbers from the National Safety Council.

1 : 261 - chances you'll die from an automobile accident.
1 : 194 - chances you'll die as result of a fall.
1 : 13,909 - chances you'll accidentally strangle yourself.
1 : 309 - chances you'll be shot and killed.
1 : 11,549 - chances you'll die from 'legal intervention involving firearm discharge.'

My point being to just calm the f*** down people. You should be just as paranoid about death from H1N1 as you should be about winning the lottery.

Or just as silly, you should be just as paranoid about getting shot by a police officer as becoming infected with H1N1. At least with the H1N1 infection you still stand a 99.89% chance of survival.

* numbers based on a 306,000,000 US population

Feb - May 09: Home Projects

Prices at the local second hand stores have gone up making it harder to live frugal. However, the best products can still be found as a diamond in the rough.

1 D.I. side table + 1 can of primer + 2 cans of spray paint + 1 scrap piece of 3form from a mate = my kind of side table.

8 Feb 09

To expand on this post, I also repainted a table that our friend Austin donated to our house. Originally it looked to average so I needed to spice it up a bit. Unfortunately I can't take quality photos so it looks like dump on the image. I also built a planter box & pirate treasure chest but don't have photos of them yet.

17 May 09