It looks like I’ve been selected to show the LE prints as a part of the Chicago Loop Alliance’s Pop-Up Art Loop program! That’s cool. Basically, they take empty storefronts in downtown Chicago and let artists install their work in the windows. I’m not sure if it was started as a response to the shaky economy and its effect on businesses (putting them out of it) or what, but I think it’s a great program for property owners to be involved in, and for artists to get excited about.

Regarding getting excited, the E-Waste comment boards have been awfully quiet this summer. I’ve decided to try and reanimate the intelligent discussion my readers and I are used to around here with a contest:

Why does downtown Chicago have so many empty storefronts?

The “best” answer (as judged by me for humor, creativity, accuracy, inaccuracy, most cute animals involved in answer) will receive a free set of prints! Contest open to all Chicago residents. Entries from outside Chicagoland are eligible for victory but will be required to remit a $12 packing and shipping “victory tax.” Contest ends this Friday (the 13th!!). When posting your answer, be sure to use a valid email address in case you win. I’m looking at you, “notjohn@boredinthelibrary.com”

I am stripping all the vinyl and paint from my car. I am also stripping all the plastic adornments. I will be re-painting the car with primer and then melting down the plastic pieces and molding them into the shape of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which I will then place on the hood of my car. Then I will be driving the car to Detroit and taking photographs and recordings. Those will then be used to produce a book about dinosaurs, which will be available in audio format and premiered through the tape deck of my car stereo upon return to Chicago.

Also I’ve started a publication called APATHETIC Today, a one-page zine that comes out approximately every day (Tue.-Fri.). If you want to subscribe, let me know. I’ll start posting the images here, and I might even re-design E-WASTE in the coming days, so prepare to say farewell to your favorite masthead on the internet.

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