Spider-Man 3… BLACK SUIT. (Please be the start of a Venom storyline, please be the start of a Venom storyline, please be the start…)

skinnyCorp, the makers of such fine websites like Threadless and ExtraTasty, are hiring a small team of developers and designers in NYC to work on 15 Megs Of Fame. If you’ve got the skills, they might pay your bills.

While the BMW/Josh Davis collaboration has been getting a lot of press (even though that site loads as slow as Christmas for no discernable reason), this Mazda/Quiksilver collab is more my style. I’ve always had a soft spot for Quiksilver from an art direction standpoint, and this time the artists used acrylics, enamels, spray paint, oil bars, house paint, and everything in between to create some custom themed paint jobs for these MAZDA5s. (The site itself and especially the sound design are kind of annoying… but I dig the car treatments.)

Tonight begins the Whiskerino Throwdown which is a fancy way of saying that something like 80 bearded fellas (and their beard-appreciating family/friends) will be converging on Nashville for fun, frivolity, picture-taking, dedicated fun-having, food and drink, and other like-minded activities. While I am fully aware that such a massive gathering of bearded men will look quite odd to the outside world, I look forward to it immensely.

I’m playing a bit of music tonight at the Throwdown (along with lowercase collective, Belize, and Codaphonic) and I haven’t played a show in something like 8 MONTHS. Should be interesting. I have some new songs. I have some old songs. I have a guitar. I’M A STAR.

After much trash talking about how much I hate it, how much it sucks, blah, blah, blah, I may have finally come around (sold my soul to the devil) and embraced this MySpace craze. Granted, it took finding a long lost friend from the early college days to make me think “Hm… this site may have merit after all,” but nonetheless… i’m in. And if i’m going to be in, you can bet I at least spent some time last night making myself at home. I’m not going to ask you to be my friends, because I admittedly deny friend requests from people I don’t know. For now. I think everyone caves in eventually.

I have some paintings up online at www.joshuablankenship.com/painting for your perusal. I have more that I need to either photograph or finish, so it’ll start getting more content soon. Speaking of painting…

I’ll have 5 paintings in a gallery show on March 18th. You can see more information on the show here. It’s a benefit show and all the proceeds will go towards the rehab of Elizabeth Michelle Mitchell, who was involved in a life-threatening vehicle accident and is still in recovery. Michelle is a friend of a friend and her medical bills are going to be pretty extreme, so… benefit show. Check the site for more info and if you’re an artist, please consider donating something to the show. Thanks!

I have way too much to accomplish between now and when i’m supposed to leave for Nashville. Ain’t that the way it always goes?

A faux Spider-Man stole $7500 worth of rare comics from a store in California. He used a hammer and escaped on foot and I have to say, anyone who steals Amazing Fantasy #15 should know that is SO TOTALLY NOT IN CHARACTER.

Kid Beyond, beatboxer/looper extraordinaire. Loopers aren’t all that fascinating or musically impressive to me in general, but he does what he does well, and creates some fantastic atmosphere. (More info at his lavender website.)

Zeppelin?

Apparently Hummer can’t get indie musicians to let them use their songs, even for upwards of $50,000 a pop.

YouTube has quickly become the source for the most amazingly odd things ever caught on tape. Like, for instance, Husker Du performing on the Joan Rivers Show. Husker Du was alternative back when we called it “college radio” and Joan is, well, Joan. Weirdness x 1000.

Pocketfuzz lets you upload any MP3 you already own and convert it to a ringtone. For musiscians, this is an easy way to make your own songs into ringtones and sell them for cold hard cash. (Sort of inevitable, i’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.)

I dig the illustration style and characters on Honbatz, which is sort of comical considering it’s a Burger King ad campaign targeting kids. Hey kids! This is advertising! Crispin Porter + Bogusky continues to get it done for the BK Lounge.

Using Google Earth to find famous movie locations like the cliff Bud Cort drove his car off at the end of Harold and Maude and the original site of Lou’s Tavern from Fight Club.

I’ve been playing around with Democracy a little today. It’s a free open-source video player that lets you download and watch internet shows and videos, complete with RSS feeds (including podcasts, video blogs, and BitTorrent feeds) and fullscreen capabilities. Potentially very useful.

1300 cereal boxes. I mean, I LOVE cereal and all… but that’s just ridangdiculous.

HOLY FREAKING OH MY DANG, the new Prince single Black Sweat is just about the funkiest, nastiest, most wonderful thing i’ve heard all day. Pick it on on iTunes. Now. Goooooooo. It’s goooooooooood. (thanks for the tip, Lee)

Apparently some foreign Toyota models will parallel park for you. Let’s see… learn to drive… pay $2G for the parking assistant… such a difficult call, really. I’ve owned WHOLE VEHICLES that cost less than that feature.

This Shirt is what’s for awesome.

I want to go take some classes at the International Center of Photography in NYC this summer/fall. Taking a few weekend courses in studio lighting or portraiture would be WONDERFUL. Time to save my pennies/dollars/children’s birthrights/etc.

Blade: The TV Series, STRARRING DAVE CHAPPELLE. (link and joke shamelessly stolen from Lloyd)

China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television bans films that mix live action characters with animated characters. Hm. Of course, this is the same government that banned Babe because “animals can’t talk and some viewers would be confused.”

Jason Kottke responds to the one year anniversary of blogging fulltime. Kottke’s “micropatrons” basically paid his salary for a year so he could solely focus on blogging.