EXTRA EXTRA CREDIT

The Truth

2008-09-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

Did you know, that you do not have to be anyone's friend to write in their Myspace Truth Box?

On the Truth Box home page, it shows a random list of people who own truth boxes. You can write whatever you want. I wrote stuff like "Let's have another pajama party, this time without the pajamas." and "I want your baby seeds. Give them to me or I will take them by force."

Go and do it. And in the meantime, write in my truth box. I love that fucked up shit.

http://www.myspace.com/justanotherblog

Zoo Eggs Adventure

2008-06-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

An easy way to make your life more exciting is to visit the zoo. It's costly, but worth it. Last time I went was about an hour before closing. Plenty of time. I carried a dummy head around with me and took pictures of myself next to the animals. I got some VERY strange looks, and pissed of an antelope, but it was worth it. Unfortunately, all those pictures were accidentally deleted. Too bad though.

Fortunately, I found some random eggs on the ground. I think they were peacock eggs, cause peahens were the only birds I could see out of their cages. I easily snuck the eggs home and feeling inspired by Drew, I decided to cook them up.

Just like real eggs, they cooked quickly. But whatever they were, they tasted bland so I fed them to my dog. They didn't make me sick or anything, like some people said they would do.

So if you're bored, go to the zoo. Cause some chaos. Take home some food.

Hope you learned something.
-M. Tekel

- - - x
Click here for more photos of this event:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/menetekel/sets/72157604724895058/

SHOE and POINSETTIA

2008-05-25T01:13:00.000-07:00

If you ever need a helping hint making modern art, just add paint and a dying poinsettia to a public toilet. This is by me and Shoe.
Click here for a before shot.
Hope you learned something.
-M. Tekel

EXEXCRED'S Guide to an MRE

2008-05-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

When my friend Kyle and I went dumpster diving, we found a MRE nestled between some empty pizza boxes. MRE stands for Meal Ready-to-Eat, which is basically a portable lunch box that cooks itself. The military has some awesome stuff sometimes. Who knows why someone would ditch it. It was perfectly fine.
Since I've never eaten one before, and I suspect you haven't either, I decided to document what it was like eating food that cooks itself. We did this at four in the morning, right before a final and threw the wrappers out the sixth story window. Why not?
My first reaction, was how did all this fit in there? A general rundown includes beefsteak with mushroom sauce, wild cooked beans, dehydrated coffee, a dehydrated milkshake, crackers and jam, candy and a package of condiments.
I ate the crackers first. They were unsalted, bland but not bad. The blackberry jam was pretty sick tho.
I opened the candy and found tootsie rolls. I didn't expect that.
The dairyshake was pretty easy to make, just add water, but I didn't do it exactly right with the shaking. It tasted alright, but not sweet. The random chunks were gross in texture.
The coffee tasted authentic, but I ended up throwing it out the window after a sip. Why not?
According to Kyle, the beans were amazing. I did not try them as they looked like cockroach puree.
There was some gum, which was like normal gum. I also spat it out the window when it lost its flavor.
Finally, there was the steak. It was not bad. The flavor was weird, unlike any beefsteak I've ever had, and the texture was rancid. It was interesting tho, and I think if I was in the middle of Afghanistan I would not complain so much. But I am not. I am in a college dorm, littering out the window.

Hope you learned something.
M. Tekel

---x
Click here for more pictures of this event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/menetekel/sets/72157604930053806/

Adventures in College Dumpster Diving

2008-05-11T00:34:00.000-07:00

Adventures in College Dumpster Diving

Here is a secret.
Any good diver knows that college campuses are the best place to scavenge, especially during the beginning and end of semesters. This is because college students throw away EVERYTHING. Here is what my friend Kyle and I found at the end of this semester:

On our first night, we came back with literally a dorm room worth of stuff. Never mind that dorm rooms are small. We found two half-full bottles of laundry detergent, a floor-lamp that matches ours, a laundry basket, an intact copy of Dookie by Greenday, a Fight Club poster, two ironing boards, several computer games, a stapler, a few textbooks and a several stacks of magazines. We also found a backpack full of clothes that were in perfect condition.

We took some things to a used bookstore for credit; anything they couldn't buy we took to a thrift store and donated.

They say you can learn a lot about what people throw away, and so I did, but does anyone really care? The Christian journal that was empty, the dozens of empty Vodka bottles, the bent photographs, the smashed piano.

The next night we found an entire garbage bag of illustration board, some cheap paints and even a drawing board. It's sad because some students will take an art class, probably for fun, and then throw away all their materials. I mean, I don't let art confine me to a classroom or a semester or anything. Art should be created as often as inspiration allows. These types of people just gave up on it. But on second thought, after looking through their sketchbooks, maybe that's a good thing.

The third night, we brought along a friend who found a laundry bag full of expensive jeans and some empty beer bottles. I don't know what is more odd that someone would throw away half a dozen $80 pairs of pants or that the Corona Light bottles that were wrapped in them. We accidentally smashed one and a police officer heard us. He asked what we were doing, so we told him, recycling by dumpster diving. That's right, I played the environmental card. He told us to not make a mess and left us alone. For once, a cop wasn't a dick to us.

Next, we found an entire library of old vinyl records. Some were missing discs, but most were intact and inside, some even unopened. We uncovered some fans, a few boxes of incense, some tea, baskets and several photos. We also found a Meal Ready to Eat and three large rugs. We found a stamp that has Kenny from South Park on it and a couple highlighters and two ties.

We ran into three other people who were also dumpster diving. Their hands were empty and we were trying to juggle a laundry basket crammed with a hair straightener, some notebooks, a VCR, and a golf bag. They claimed we were way more thorough. Well, duh.

We told them, the thing about dumpster diving is you can't really just look on the surface. Often you have to get your hands dirty and jump inside. That's how we found the NAU backpacks, then the pillowcase inside and the crackpipe and bong inside that. Lift a few trashbags and you'll find someone's stash of prescription pills or a case of beer. Students throw this out because their parents are coming to pick them up and they can't afford to keep it. The rest is thrown out because they're wasteful little children.

The group we talked to didn't seem that interested in jumping inside, but then again they left with nothing.

Kyle plans on having a yardsale this summer and splitting the profits with me. I'll post the results as soon as I get them. In the meantime, I hope you can use this brief example as a guide for enhancing your college experience.

Hope you learned something.
M. Tekel

Car Tray Trick

2008-04-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

After my friend Ultra got in a nasty car wreck that totaled his Gran Prix, he had this shitty Kia Rental. A friend of a friend told him that since the car has only front-wheel drive, he could slip restaurant trays (you know, for carrying your food) underneath the back tires. Then if he put on the parking brake and accelerated, the car would spin around like crazy.

So we did. It worked, to my surprise. We were screaming with excitement, much better than a roller coaster, because we coulda flipped over and died. Eventually, the trays melted and flew out, as seen in the video.

Not sure how illegal this is, but it sure wasn't good for the tires or brakes. It wasn't exactly safe, especially since I refused to wear my seatbelt. The trays were from a cheap Hispanic restaurant and were easy to obtain. Worth the effort, this was really fun.

Hope you learned something.
-M. Tekel

Schizophotography

2008-04-19T23:38:00.000-07:00

I invented a new type of photography. Kinda. I'm not sure if this counts to you, or even to me. Not as an "invention". I coined the word at least.

I call it "SCHIZOPHOTOGRAPHY", which is:

"A portmanteau of schizophrenia and photography, schizophotography is deliberate disassociation with reality through photographic expression. Redefining "point and shoot", "snapshot". If the aim of photography is to remember then the aim of schizophotography is to remember what no one remembers. Mindless self-indulged photos. Beyond candid. Never posed, never using a tripod or straight angle. Forget focus, apertures, rule of thirds."

I wrote the entry on Urban Dictionary.com. Before that, I searched Google for many variations of the word, no results came up, period.

I don't know if you think this is original or crazy or stupid or not. But it's just something I've been working on in my spare time. It's better than nothing. I experimented when I was in Catalina Island and took 478 photos.
I will delete/hide the album soon. Then I will go through and actually edit the photos. This is mostly an experiment.
Some of the photos don't fit the definition. Oh well. I don't expect you to browse through them all. Or like most of them. Or understand why I did this. I'm not concerned.

I don't think schizophotography is original because many people take horrible photos of nothing (though not on purpose). I've been doing it all my life. I just coined the term, when I was going through old photos I've taken in my life and found some of my curtains. I have to admit, that picture said so much more about my childhood and personality at the age of eight than any stupid portraits I had or even most candids. I have an entire shoebox of similar pictures. Nothing and everything. And I treasure them.

I think that's the point. To explore my environment over myself.

---x

You can view my results here. Nothing is edited:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=24277312&albumId=1669556

Urban Dictionary entry:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=schizophotography

Introduction

2008-04-19T23:33:00.001-07:00

Hello, I'm Mene Tekel and welcome to Extra Extra Credit (or ExExCred).
This is a new blog, created by me and a couple friends, devoted to making your life more interesting, easy-going and meaningful. Some of the information provided here will be dangerous or illegal but it's all in good fun. That said, not all of this should be taken seriously, especially the illegal bits. This will never be a complete blog, because there is so much information available to make your life better. Therefore, I apologize in advance that we can not include every page of some self-improvement book or everything awesome you may already know.

Some of the material on this blog will also be art related, especially new and experimental art. Sometimes there are great ideas to make new forms of art that fail and some that succeed. ExExCred can be a place for progressive artists to collaborate ideas with one another and make new art more focused.

Feel free to submit your own ideas and work to us. In fact, we'd love it.

Some quick posting guidelines:
1. Do no submit anything directly violent. Manufacturing harmless explosives is one thing, manufacturing nitroglycerin is another.
2. Be patient for a response.
3. Be detailed in your description. Let us know if you've tried it and if it worked. If it didn't work, that's still OK! Just let us know what went wrong.
4. Nothing common knowledge.

Again, welcome to ExExCred.
Hope you learn something.

Love,
Mene Tekel