So, I crawled out from under my largely word-based creative existence and did some design work this week. Not that it was a major feat of Photoshop and code, but it felt good to work out the design cobwebs. My friend Eileen Smith needed to revamp her web presence, so I turned her WordPress blog from this:

…into this:

It felt especially good since I used to do this stuff as my nine-to-five, and now I pretty much only do it for myself (as well as since my major creative work these …

My good friend Sandy Carson has another show of his photographs coming up soon.

Here are the details from Sandy:
I want to formally invite you to the opening of my first group exhibition of the year Storytelling at the L. Nowlin Gallery here in Austin. This exhibit, curated by the Austin Photography Group, features 40 Austin photographers and opens next Saturday, January 15th from 6-8pm. I shall be showing a piece from my Black Friday series from 2009.
Here’s a preview of the show. See you all there!

More stretch, less tense.
More field, less fence.
More bliss, less worry.
More thank you, less sorry.
More nice, less mean.
More page, less screen.
More reading, less clicking.
More healing, less picking.
More writing, less typing.
More liking, less hyping.
More honey, less hive.
More pedal, less drive.
More wind, less window.
More in action, less in-tow.
More yess, less maybes.
More orgasms, less babies.
More hair, less cuts.
More ands, less buts.
More map, less menu.
More home, less venue.
More art, less work.
More heart, less hurt.
More meaning, less words.
More individuals, less herds.
More verbs, less nouns.
More funny, less clowns.
More dessert, less diet.
More noise, less quiet.
More courage, less fear.
More …

Our man Steve Aylett has been busy. Not only is the Lint movie set for release next year, but he has a new collection of short stories out, and an anthology of the “Accomplice” novels, as well as a new edition of The Inflatable Volunteer, all of which would make excellent Christmas presents. There’s also this nifty item right here, but here’s the news as received from the man himself:
Smithereens collects 19 Steve Aylett stories including ‘The Man Whose Head Expanded‘, ‘The Burnished Adventures of Injury Mouse’, ‘Voyage of the …

So, I gave an abbreviated version of my “How to Do Stuff and Be Happy” talk to the students in my Professional Communication Skills class at UT-Austin, and one of them recorded it for me. It’s dark and grainy and I’m cranking through it pretty fast, but maybe you can get the idea [runtime: 26:56].

How to Do Stuff and Be Happy from Roy Christopher on Vimeo.
[Special thanks to Marcus Johnston for running the camera.]

I just scribbled this little piece over on my bike site, HEADTUBE. Here’s an excerpt:
I was walking to class today, and I was almost mowed down by a guy on a fixed-gear. I was crossing a street, in the crosswalk, where I clearly had the right of way, but he rang his bell and blew by right in front of me, running the stop sign on the corner. I’d already been conceiving this post in my head and that was the last straw. Being a frequent rider of bikes on …

Hilton Head, South Carolina’s own Raise Small Business Marketing did a brief summary and write-up of my “How to Do Stuff and Be Happy” talk from Geekend 2010. Here’s the run-down:
I was excited for this session, mainly because doing stuff and being happy are two major challenges!  Roy Christopher gave a laid back presentation that basically went through some ideas on how to keep your focus and try and stay happy while actually getting things done.
Roy covers a lot of the information that was in his presentation …

With the passing of Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson today, we lost a prolifically creative soul.

Christopherson is probably best known as a pioneer of industrial music. He explored confrontation and sound with such germinal outfits as Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, and Coil. He directed commercials and music videos (including most of Rage Against the Machine’s best ones, a few for Ministry, Van Halen, and Yes‘s chart-topping “Owner of a Lonely Heart”) and was also the designer of some of the most memorable album covers in music history. Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were …

In my “How To Do Stuff and Be Happy” talk, I tell people that everyone should have one “head-clearing activity.” Let me explain that by example. My friend Ben Hiltzheimer used to ride motorcycles. When he started learning how, he said that you can’t think about anything else while you’re negotiating the streets and traffic because all you’re thinking about is not dying. I have equated this experience to learning to ride a fixed-gear bicycle.
I started rock climbing a little over ten years ago, and since there’s a wall on …

I scarcely know where to start. Geekend is the beautifully geeky brainchild of Sloane Kelly, Jacob Hodesh, and Miriam Hodesh. 2010 marks the second annual meeting of what everyone familiar hopes will be many years of the interactive conference. It has just the right balance of size and intensity.
I didn’t get to Savannah until late on Day 2, so I roamed around downtown by myself Friday night. I stepped into a raucous karaoke session and had the biggest beer I’ve ever seen. No problem not finishing it because in Savannah, …