Art Car Fest 08 Video - at "How Berkeley Can You Be" Parade

Art Car Fest is this weekend September 25-27th going on all over the SF bay area, and this video I shot from the inside of my mercedes pens art car during the last years event at the Berkeley Parade. I was a lot of fun as it is every year during this time and I believe this weekend will be a ton of fun as usual. Some of the cars in this video are: Glass Quilt, Golden Mean, Radio Flyer, The Lorax and the Mercedes Pens.If you can make it out to see us here is the schedule of events:

Friday, September 25
noon - 5pm Amoeba Music Caravan!
Keep your eyes open for our ArtCar caravan through San Francisco. We'll be touring such favorite sites as North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, The Castro, The Embarcadero, Golden Gate Park, and Ocean Beach. You can catch up with us at 3:30PM at Sports Basement at Crissy Field (in the Presidio.)

Saturday, September 26
Noon - 8pm Salsa Festival!
ArtCar Fest will dip into the sauce as we exhibit at the Redwood City Salsa Festival! Three stages of live music, great food, lots of family-friendly activities, and now ArtCars!

Sunday, September 27
11am - 7pm Berkeley's LAST SUNDAYS FEST
We'll hang all day with our friends at Amoeba Music on Telegraph in Berkeley at the new Last Sundays Festival.

Caulk It Art Van by Nod Nal-Teews at Art Car Fest

Photos by Bagel!

Nod D’Nal-Teews from Fort Worth, has been driving his "Caulk-It" van cross country for over 20 years now. His van is a 1979 Dodge Maxivan and matching trailer, dubbed the "Art Ark" with rooftop solar collectors that power appliances within the van, while a trailer serves as his studio. Most people use caulk to seal up cracks in their homes but he used about 300 tubes of the stuff to cover his art car spread with his fingers then painted over. He has also encompassed a variety of items in his design, from broom handles to rain gutters to pie tins. Nod will be at Art Car Fest weekend.

Danger Car By Reverend Charles Linville at Art Car Car Fest

Art Car Fest 09 could be a dangerous event but this year the good Reverend Charles Linville in his Danger Car will be attending to make sure that nobody gets hurt. The purpose of Danger car is to serve as a warning to all of things that are potentially dangerous and worrisome;hence the outer coating of reflective stripes, twisted metal, broken mirrors, ripples, warning lights and police sirens. The interior is festooned with matchbook covers, warning tape and bullet casings. Cant wait to meet the Reverend, its should be a lot safer this year with the Danger Car up front.

"Aqua Mobile" by Don Ehlen - Art Car Fest

photo by Bagel!

The AQUA MOBILE is the creation of Don Ehlen, a Seattle-based entomologist and educator. The car is a great example of a simple concept art car, basically just a great paint job, although 3-D features have begun to creep in: a fully inflated plastic blowfish atop the radio antenna, a crab creeping out over the rear license plate, and a red plastic lobster at the front. Also at this years Art Car Fest.via

Photo Boof Art Car Captures Moment at Art Car Fest

via Burncast

The Photo Boof art car is a mobile photobooth built by Wrybread onto the back of an Cushman parking patrol auto rickshaw. The Photo Boof has been to all kinds of events and is even available to rent and it will be appearing at this years Art Car Fest so come by and get your photo taken with your BFF. In the video Justin Credible is the spokesperson for Photo Boof giving us the story behind this really cool art. I got about nine days until Art Car Fest 09 starts and I need to get my Mercedes Pens art car ready and feature as many attending art cars on ACC as possible.

Battle Wagon Art Car - Another one for the Apocalypse

Battle Wagon Art Car

Haz-Mat Hatch Art Car

Battle Wagon and Haz-Mat Hatch is another couple of those futuristic apocalypse mad-max art cars created by Todd up in there in Washington State. They might look ugly but they got it were it counts, two high-octane hi-carb Subaru wagons that hall out in a hurry when the mutants come chasing the day after. Todd said "this is the extent of my mid life crises" and "everyday is a parade in this car". Nice work Todd.

Patriotic Art Car

via Never Forget 9/11

When Driving Becomes Writing - The Making of iQ Font

Ever use a car to create a font using fancy schmancy software like a bunch of dudes that are totally into fonts? These dudes did it and you need to watch this video if you are a font nerd like myself.

Ginormous Cork Truck Big Hit at Barcelona Wedding

Photo by Emily
This ginormous antique Cork Truck photo was taken by Emily during her Barcelona visit last October where she attended Felipe and Silva's Wedding. Probably too much information but I do wish the young couple my best. Anyways Emilys trip was well worth it here at ACC because she brought back with her a little bit of art car history. Thanks Emily.

Gonzo Mutant Vehicle

via
And just for fun, for the those of you who just got back from burning man this year, I bring you Gonzo the Mutant Vehicle. And for those of you who have not gone to Burning Man and never will because everyone and their mother has gone to Burning Man, I suggest you check out a nice alternative event at the same location called Burning Toast Man.

Camper Bike – Pedal-Powered RV For One

Photo via

This three wheeled pedal powered camper RV was designed by Boston-based artist Kevin Cyr, that is both a fully functioning RV and the subject of a number of Cyr’s amazing paintings.
The pedal powered camper was constructed in April 2008 and is built for one. Attached to a heavy duty tricycle frame made to haul goods, the cab-over easily sits on the back platform. Like a turtle shell this camper goes anywhere the owner can bike it. The camper’s interior features small and efficient appliances as well as a place to sleep and storage.

Kinetosis Kar by Glenn Garces

Kinetosis Kar is a 2006 Suzuki Aerio SX created by Glenn Garces. Currently, Kinetosis is predominately influenced by the De Stijl art movement. Glenn’s plans for Kinetosis include incorporating design elements from the Art Deco and Art Nouveau periods. Glenn was born in New York City , and attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan , where he graduated with his B.F.A. in photography. His personality is deeply influenced by the megalopolis known as the Northeastern Seaboard. Kinetosis is an extension of Glenn’s other art mediums of printmaking, photography and theater arts. Glenn is currently living in Santa Rosa, Ca. with his fiancée, two dogs, and four cats. Glen will be attending Art Car Fest this month

Top 10 McGyver Wannabe Car Modifications

These Top 10 McGyver Wannabe Car Modifications were brought to you by a great website I just found called "There, I fixed it". This post is dedicated to all the McGyver wannabes out there who got the job DONE, but didn't quite manage to get the job done RIGHT.The creativity and good intentions were there but the delivery and execution was anything but.

1) Armor Plated Soccer Mom Van Mod

2) Skate or Die Mod

3) CSI Car Mod

4) Smaller Carbon Foot Print Car Mod

5) Trailer Park Car Mod

6) Global Warming Car Mod

7) Bi-Polar Car/Bike Mod

8) Ambient Air Car Mod

9) Night Rider Car Mod

10) Bank Job Getaway Car Mod

The Man in a Van Project by - Art Car Covered in Recession stories

The Man in a Van Project - Needing a new water pump

Participant writing her recession story on the art van

Heartbreaking Recession Story

photos by maninavan's photostream

Aaron Heideman is an artist competing at art prize in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the largest art prize competition in the world. His art car piece is called The Man in a Van Project, and is traveling the country collecting stories from people whose lives have been affected by the recession. Most stories are written by participants on a large roll of Tyvek paper, and the best will written on the art van itself. He is currently on the road planning to visit 37 cities in 20 states, and finish in Grand Rapids on September 15, 2009. There is a section on his web site for support help Aaron complete his project and bring the stories to light. Good luck.

Obama and The Outraged American

Can't help notice the boss has been criticized lately for being too slow to respond to outraged citizens.

First it was Health Care Town Hall Pitchfork Folk, and this week it's the "You're not letting that Muslim Negro Socialist Speak to My Children" People, who are treating a speech from the president of the United States to U.S. school children like a school assembly featuring David Duke (where the first 500 through the gymnasium doors get free white hoodies).

Pundits are scratching their heads, wondering why the man who effectively shut down the political opposition's smear machine during the election, forcing those poor folks into the increasingly-snowballing Hail Mary that is Sarah Palin, has been caught flat-footed.

I know! I know!

(As a vicarious blogging insider to the Obama Administration, I just know ... kay?).

See, when your primary goal is winning an election, it's easy enough to focus all of your efforts on the path to victory and your best guesses at the ambushes and land mines along the way. But once you're in office and you have a job to do ... say, executing the duties of the office of the president of the United States ... you're very much at risk of being too busy to anticipate every nutty accusation that blossoms into a full-fledged national mania overnight.

Every U.S, president has had to deal with wacko malcontents, but it turns out the same everywhere-all-the-time media that President O. used to help take the Oval Office can be used for any kind of mania, from convincing paranoid old boogers that The Beast from the Book of Revelation is fixing to put them out of their misery early to making a couple of guys who spend their spare time filming fat people shopping at Wal-Mart instant international celebrities.

Shutting down the mass hysteria of Obama-bashing among this nation's self-absorbed, self-defined "Real Americans" is as easy as shutting down the mass hysteria of U.S.-bashing among Al Qaida's self-absorbed, self-defined "Martyrs for Allah."

You can't.

(Someday I'll treat the issue of how changing the minds of zealots is like getting dogs to stop sniffing other dogs' butts).

So your Unhumble Car Czar, being the O. Administration's unapproved utility infielder, has the fix for both the Al Qaida-fueled Outrage Against Islam propaganda and conservative talk show host-fueled Outrage Against The American Way propaganda that's been bothering the world lately:

1. We keep disrupting Al Qaida with Predator strikes until Al Qaida repurposes itself as nothing more than a fraternal secret-handshake society that connects members with high-paying jobs.
   
2. We keep making fun of "Real Americans" until all "Real Americans" run down to Texas, which is the Alec Baldwin of whiny conservative states: a state always ready to bolt from the republic at the first hint of a guy who doesn't own a pickup truck getting the keys to the Oval Office. We let those "Real Americans" secede from the Union so as to enjoy self-indulgent bigotry among like-minded folk; let them try to hold their former nation hostage over oil prices, and then let them find out how tough and self-sufficient they really are when they've got nothing but a bunch of oil fields and the protection of a rinky-dink military in their vast expanse of dirt.
   

(I apologize for being so hard on Texans. I know most of you folks are good people – not the mouthy, "Hey Everybody! I'm a Cowboy" posers who keep showing up on radio, TV, and the internet ... oh ... and in Washington for two recent presidential terms. I really admire Lance Armstrong).

If that doesn't work, and it won't, we're going to wait until President Obama has graciously served his two terms in office in the face of a non-stop barrage of ever-more-audacious sore-loser claptrap.

Then we will simply give the pathetic wretches who have sold their own souls out to vainglorious self-deception the chance to atone for themselves when we do ... like we nearly always do ... elect an entirely NEW president and the country isn't in shambles after all.

Of course, most older birther/beast accusers will be dead at the hands of the president's elite health care death panels by then, but the younger ignoramuses, many of whom have spent years documenting their mean-spirited simple-mindedness on the internet, will be left hanging out to dry, ideological pants down around their ankles and stumbling through the parking lot at Gander Mountain.

Will they act like nothing happened, just like the buttoned-down money-grubbing yuppies of the 80s who spent the 60s getting laid at groovy share-and-share-alike communes did?

Will they spiral ever-deeper into denial?

Or will they take a hard, painful look at themselves and self-administer a scathing turn-of-the-millennium "Whoops! My bad ..."?

None of the above.

They will live on to fight another day in the battle to wipe out Mesothelioma in our lifetime.

(I can get away with this ending because I'm convinced these folks are all ADD. They've completely forgotten that the economy went down the crapper under their guy, and haven't retained other important information, like that one-third of this administration's massive government spending pays for the War-on-No-Terror-in-Iraq tab run up by their guy over the past six years; one-third is to clean up the economic mess left by a decade of Cheap Mortgages for Everybody, and only the last third is socialist spending that will surely doom our nation. The word, "Mesothelioma" has magical, transcendental qualities to it. Saying "Mesothelioma" cleanses the neural palate of the ADD-afflicted reading this blog just as it does when those asbestos attorneys use it while fishing for business between Outraged America segments on Fox News. A.C.O.R.N. started the housing meltdown. Mesothelioma. Will Barack Obama's Hitler's Youth answer the call to service? Mesothelioma. See? The real answer to the above non-rhetoricals is, "They will spiral ever-deeper into denial but feel exceedingly good about the progress their church missionary outreach is making in Namibia, Africa." There is no sense telling these people these hard truths, nor any good to come of them reading the prognosis here).

Mesothelioma. Ask your doctor if a prescription is right for you.

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Tartanmobile Art Car by Megan Kilian

Tartanmobile Art Car by Megan Kilian



The Tartanmobile art car a 86 Toyota Camry was just sent in by Megan Kilian who painted her car based on a family tartan. Here is what Megan had to say.

I had been thinking of painting a car plaid for several years, and had the opportunity when I moved back to San Francisco after several car-less years in Hong Kong and NYC. After studying all kinds of cool patterns, I chose this particular design because it is a Thompson family tartan, and I liked the idea of the pattern referring to my heritage instead of just being chosen randomly.

It began as a solid grey 1986 Toyota Camry that I purchased last October. At the time I bought it, the car had been owned for its entire life by one elderly Ukrainian man in San Francisco ’s Richmond district, who had put only 155,000 miles on it in 22 years, and had taken very good care of it. I’ve had a few minor issues: replaced the radiator and the water pump, but for the most part it has taken good care of me this year. I love that it was built while I was in junior high, and that the tape player still works, so I can play all my cassettes from high school while getting where I need to go.

I teach theatre classes in elementary schools around the Bay Area, and it has been fun to watch my students react to its progress as each layer of plaid was added. Kids love it—I’d like to think I’m triggering something in their brains that tells them they can express themselves creatively and uniquely. I finished the paint job over this summer and can’t wait to see their reactions once I begin teaching again this month!

Cheers, Megan Kilian