Summer of Taco (tm) kick off

Introducing The Summer of Taco from Chattarati on Vimeo.

This summer, Chattarati is setting out to do something completely unheard of in the annals of Chattanooga history. Epic in its scope, eternal in its consequences, we call it The Summer of Taco™.

Over the course of three months, we’ll dispatch hundreds of tortillas and Dos Equis, not to mention thousands of gratuitously awarded™ symbols, all in the service of a very noble cause, we think.

We want to find Chattanooga’s best taco, and we want you to help us.

video courtesy the fine folks at Chattarati.com with assistance from Donald Sayers.

yes, it is me on the the preiview image. no, I was not drugged, just euphoric from taco bliss.

Whiny little frogs

I'll be the first to admit that I am sick and tired of professional athletes 'retiring' for a year or two then returning to the sport. But the french cycling press and authorities are behaving like little children. They are singling out their favorite texan bad-ass, Lance Armstrong, not for failing a doping test but because he questioned the credentials of the tester. Imagine you get pulled over by an unmarked police vehicle and ask to see the officers badge. Lance didn't refuse, he just asked for verification before he gave this stranger his blood or urine. But because Lance has kicked so much ass in the cycling world French authorities are now threatening his eligibility to race in the upcoming Tour De France (which Lance has won 7 times.)

MIA

I would apologize for neglecting the site, but its been busy, deal. Not to much to say other than trying to come up with 'professional' banter is a heck of a lot harder than going on a tirade about what ever happens to piss you off today. That being said, maybe by being more attentive here, inspiration will strike for other projects.

Chief Cooper has finally crossed the line.
http://chattarati.com/2009/03/03/chief-cooper-tells-sergeants-not-to-communicate-with-robert-t-nash/
As a citizen I am demanding (formal letters will become soon ladies & gentleman) that the Mayor & city council investigate the accusations against the Chief. He has been accused of specific actions that are easily verified or proven false. What ever the case is, and now that Littlefield has won his re-election, I will be surprised if we don't hear of Cooper's upcoming retirement/resignation. Actually this memo answers a lot of questions concerning Det. Freeman and raises some disturbing questions in my mind concerning the case of Officer Jeannie Snyder. How is it that this memo went to apparently multiple parties back in Feb. but we are just now hearing about it in April. And only because of a pissed off radio show host. RTN, I never listen to the radio anymore so I can't say I'm a fan or anything but I hope you tear someone a new a**hole over this mess.

ARGHHH. writers block

Here it is my first opportunity to write and be read by the general public & what do I get? Writer's block. Never have had a problem before to write but now everything seems to petty or not relevant enough to work up into a piece. I keep looking for that one thing that will break the flood gates and get my verbal diarhea flowing again. I'm trying anything at this point. Here I am ready to run but no where to go. Every idea I have seems trite & over-done.

btw: my latest tattoo pic, enjoy

Newest INK

With Saturday, comes sweet sweet catharsis. Stopped by Sacred Ink which just opened last week over on Market st. Located just north of the bridge across from the horrendously expensive bridgeview condos. The place is headed by Tom DePriest, check out his site tomdepriest.com for some examples of his work. I walked in off the street and in under 5 minutes he had free-handed a bad-ass, new skool skull & cross-bones (like from a poison warning.) This thing was slick! Sadly he was booked for the rest of the evening but he passed me over to Josh. Let me say I was a little unsure, Tom has a rep., but I looked thru Josh's book and liked what I saw. I also was able to talk to him for a bit between sessions and learned he has an impressive art background. He took Tom's sketch, lined it out & made a few alterations at my request, and went to work. Any doubts I had went out the window after about 15 mins. Some of the prettiest line work I've ever seen, definitely the best on my person. He told be 45 mins to an hour at first, but it turned out to be closer to 1.5, due to the extensive shading work. I can't stop pulling up my sleeze today to look at it. I hate that I have to cover it at work. This is some great art work. As if that wasn't enough, combined with a very welcoming 'professional' service atmosphere Sacred Heart just won my business for the near future. Can't wait for this to heal up so I can go back for some larger pieces.


BTW: this place has NO flash on the walls, almost all their work is custom. They are still in the process of completeing work on the shop itself. But even after they are done, word is still no flash pages. I might have to donate some art of mine, see if they'll display it. Sort of hoping for some vicious sculptures and art. Something to inspire/scare some of the random johnnies that walk in off the street.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling now and just tell you to check it out.

Stop by,
say hi,

stay around,
sit down,

no pain,
no gain.

Lost in the numbers

Someone please explain this to me. When the school board voted to renew/extend Scales contract, I lost count of the number of times he or one of his cronies mentioned the increasing graduation rate under his watch.

'“Dr. Scales believes in providing a quality education for all children and works diligently toward that goal. Our student scores continue to improve, our dropout rate is going down and we are graduating more students,” Vice Chairman Wilson said in the memo. ' courtesy of chattanoogan.com, 'Wilson Asks New 4-Year Term For Dr. Scales posted June 4, 2008'

Now today on the chattanoogan.com, we here the judges giving a different view. Our (hamilton county) graduation rate is about 10% lower than the state average. So if our current situaiton is so dismal, what was it a year or 2 ago? Look at the chattanoogan.com opinion page for a new post from yours truly asking for an explanation.

Hump day smiles

after getting worked up way to early, I decided I needed something fun. Hope you enjoyed today's 'heroes'