Greg Esser claims he doesn't fit easily under the label "artist," yet he continuously struggles to find anything more appropriate other than "other" to describe himself through the available on-line drop-down menus. He undertakes relentlessly optimistic endeavors in the name of Art.His favorite quote about his chosen profession is from Andy Warhol: "Most people think Art is a man's first name." List five things on your Inspiration Wall (real or imagined). I'm inspired by invention and creativity in any form, whether art, science, literature, enhanced service delivery, energy savings or figuring out what to do with the paper wrapper that drinking straws come wrapped in... On the studio wall today: a letter from New Mexico author John Nichols who participated in one of my exhibitions, my Diné name as given by Andrea Hanley's father - "Koeí eil eeine" which means "fire maker," a watercolor postcard painted by Cindy Dach, a signed CD from Kristin Hersh which was gift after one of her shows at Modified Arts, one of her favorite venues in the country

, and a black and white photograph of Mt. Rushmore taken by my grandfather in 1930 that shows the mountain with only George Washington partially complete...It's my reminder that time is another canvas...What's your last big project? I've spent the last five years painstakingly restoring a Territorial home in downtown Phoenix that Cindy Dach and I saved from the wrecking ball in 2004. Maine Coon Cat Breeders In MontanaThe interior detailing is still an on-going work in progress. Miller Bobcat 250 Efi ReviewsThe Dr. George M. Brockway house, named for the pioneer that built it in 1909, represents an important part of Arizona history before statehood. Kittens For Sale In CypressThe renovation work was supported in part through the City of Phoenix Historic Preservation Office and was recognized this year with a Preservation Award from Governor Jan Brewer.What's your next big project?

How much do you hate being asked what your next big project is?I have zero tolerance for zero tolerance and I hate questions about what I hate...What's something you want Phoenix to know about you? I've rescued, fixed and socialized more than 100 feral cats over the past few years, each one of which now lives happily in domestic environments among our kind. I have the deepest understanding of the old colloquialism, "herding cats." My next business card will read simply: Cat Herder (Ret.)And, if you're game, what's something you really don't want Phoenix to know about you?I can't remember jokes to save my life. I also couldn't tell you the first thing about car repair. To riff on Marco Rosichelli, Christopher Moore saved my life.The Creatives, so far: 100. Mary Shindell88: Gabriel Utasi87: Tiffany Egbert86. Zach Galifianakis to January Jones: 'Get over yourself' "Mad Men" star January Jones has at least one fellow actor who isn't mad about her. Comic Zach Galifianakis claims he once told the blonde beauty—who has boasted that she was hated in high school because she is pretty—to get over herself.

In a new Q&A with ShortList magazine, Galifianakis is told that Jones refers to him as one of the most naturally funny men she has ever met. "That's really funny because, if I remember correctly, she and I were very rude to each other. It was crazy," "The Hangover Part II" star replies. "I was at a party — I'd never met her — and she was like, 'Come sit down.' So I sit at her table and talk for 10 minutes, and she goes, 'I think it's time for you to leave now.'"Galifianakis continues, "So I say, 'January, you are an actress in a show and everybody's going to forget about you in a few years, so f--- be nice,' and I got up and left. And she thinks that's funny?" As for whether he'd do a love scene with Jones if they were cast in a movie together? "I wouldn't want to," he says. Our daily cheat-sheet for breaking celebrity news, Hollywood buzz and your pop-culture obsessions.Xenophon team sinks plebisciteKara Vickery and AAP THE Turnbull government’s plan for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage looks set to fail with Derryn Hinch and the Nick Xenophon Team deciding to block it.

Trump, Clinton Target Undecided Voters Challenge to stop Adani mine dismissed Prince Harry reunites with orphan pen pal Mutsu Potsane THE 15-year-old first met the royal a decade ago when Harry was visiting Africa on his gap year. The exchange sparked a longstanding friendship, corresponding regularly ever since. 2016 Sony World Photography Awards Got a great pic? Why not enter it into the Sony World Photography Awards? Check out the competition from these amazing entries.Xenophon team sinks plebiscite ’Narcissistic cowboys’ almost destroyed CLP: Carney THE CLP has had “a whole lot of narcissistic cowboys in it” who have gone very close to destroying the party over the past four years, a former leader says. Fury as Bagot plunged into week of darkness The Bagot Community had every one of its street lights switched off without warning after the Power and Water Corporation disconnected its meter box – leaving the 400 residents in the dark for almost a week

Just ducking out one final time THE Duck is dead. After eight years bobbing through the harbour and cruising the Top End streets the Duckabout tours have shut up shop in Darwin Emergency nurses are the bestWANT to make sure your next party is a roaring success? Invite an emergency department nurse. New research shows they are a cut above the rest of us. Schoolgirl porn ring site back onlineTHE disgusting pornography ring targeting Australian schools and universities has re-emerged online just 10 days after police managed to have it taken down. Army dentists fill gap in remote areaAN Australian Army dental team is slugging it out in remote Cape York, helping to repair teeth that, in some cases, haven’t seen medical attention in years. Bastketball icon accused of sex crimesA HIGH-PROFILE Townsville basketball personality has been accused of committing historic sex crimes while he was a sports coach in the 1980s.The two halves of tonight’s Louie aren’t as well-united as last week’s little duo, but by the end of the hour, there’s a strong sense of history running through the series, as well as a sense that even when people try to do nice things, they’re mostly just thinking about themselves.

Tonight, there’s really nothing in the way of “story,” as Louie goes to IKEA with Dolores (the woman from last year’s fantastic “Blueberries” segment), aborts a piano lesson, and apologizes to an old friend for the second time. But in the first segment in particular, there are lots of great laughs. This might be the funniest episode of the season, even if it doesn’t always hang together. (I say “might be” because I seem to be the only person on Earth who was wildly amused by the idea of a small boy who regularly eats bowls of raw meat in last week’s episode.) Both segments touch on the way that time sort of slips away from you, until it’s a year after you hooked up with that woman you know through your kids’ school or 10 years since you last spoke to the guy who was your best friend at one time. In one lengthy scene, Louie, on the phone with Sarah Silverman, watches footage of himself, then Sarah, then Marc Maron, when they were all working as stand-ups in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

(The announcer says it’s a show featuring footage from the ’80s, but Maron’s set seems to have come from 1990. It’s weird to see all of these people as younger versions of themselves—particularly C.K., who looks agreeably baby-faced in the old footage—but it’s also strange to think of them as the “establishment,” and the kinds of people they were trying to join back when those jokes were first recorded. In addition, this is the only stand-up footage in the whole episode. We don’t cut to Louie at the comedy club at any point, for commentary on what’s happened in the episode so far. Instead, we just have these old, flickering images from the past, offered up almost as commentary on who these people were and who they became. Tellingly, Louie never once laughs at the jokes the younger version of himself tells. Indeed, he occasionally seems a little depressed by them. He only starts to laugh when Silverman takes the stage, but when he gives her a call to tell her to watch the footage of herself, she mostly makes fun of how predictable her joke structure was in those days.

It’s only when Maron takes the stage that the segment starts to reveal some of what it’s going for. Marc and Louie, see, were best friends back in the day, and then they had a falling out. The falling out isn’t detailed, but what’s important is that Louie has finally realized he was the one at fault. At Silverman’s urging, he gets in touch with Marc to iron things out. This puts this episode roughly in the same category as last year’s Dane Cook affair, when Louie needed a favor from the immensely popular comedian, who was none too pleased about the way Louie had portrayed him as a joke thief. Though the Louie in Louie is meant to be a fictionalized version of Louis C.K., it’s not hard to entertain the notion that in some episodes, he’s just barely fictionalized. This is another instance of that, as if you listened to the episode of WTF featuring Maron interviewing C.K., you’ll remember that they actually did have a falling out and were mad at each other for some time.

(I can’t recall if it was as serious a situation as the show depicts, however.) The Dane Cook story rose above its roots in reality because it told a fairly straight-forward story about two comedians clearing the air between themselves after a serious dispute in which both had legitimate grievances. You didn’t need to know the backstory to appreciate it, in other words. I’m not sure that’s the case here, even if it’s fun to see Maron pop up toward the episode’s end. Watching Louie stumble his way through his apology—particularly without really knowing what he’s apologizing for—isn’t the most thrilling scene the show’s ever come up with, and the final twist (that Louie actually went through this entire routine about five years ago) is fine, as these things go, but doesn’t put much of a cap on the story. The Dane Cook storyline was so compelling because Cook’s point-of-view was understandable, even if you didn’t sympathize with it. Maron mostly just sits and listens, then says, “Hey, why do you keep apologizing?”

Or maybe that’s more realistic. It’s clear at this point that one of the real reasons Louie’s approaching Marc is because he feels like asking for forgiveness will clear the water between them, will help him feel better about himself, rather than actually trying to repair the friendship. Marc, for his part, points out that maybe the two former friends should just go get coffee or something. That might be a better way to handle this whole situation. But there’s still a sort of restrained hostility there, an animosity that suggests that Marc isn’t too happy to be a prop in the Louie forgiveness tour. It’s an interesting take on this particular story, but it’s not especially funny or dramatic, just kind of fun to think about. And that leaves the mind to wander and wonder about the grievances between Maron and C.K. and how much of that made it onto screen. The other segment—which I enjoyed more than the latter one—also deals with the ways that our attempts to help other people can often be self-serving, as Louie finds himself spending an awful weekend day at an IKEA in New Jersey with Dolores, who’s still seemingly on the edge of completely falling apart.

There have been complaints from some this season that the show falls back into the “women are crazy!” trope a little too easily (though I would say the presence of the “Daddy’s Girlfriend” two-parter would give the lie to this idea), and I suppose I could see where this would be the ultimate expression of that. Yet it’s also clear at all times that the joke is on Louie, that he’s a guy who gets into these situations because he wants a little action (even if he’s gentlemanly enough to turn it down when first offered), even though he’s well in over his head. The bit where just the trip to IKEA seemingly turns the two into a bitter, old married couple develops suddenly, but it’s hysterical all the same, and I loved the younger couple, promising to never turn into that somewhere down the line. It’s inevitable when you’re in IKEA.) Louie, just like the real-life Louis C.K., I’d imagine, and just like any other human being on this planet, has a tendency to get so wrapped up in his own stuff that he misses the forest for the trees.