Meet Chris Oyler

I met Chris a year ago when I first started working down the hall at Slapsale.com. Chris is an all around guy, a jack of all trades, a fan of technology and, despite the photo, he is very real. Every once in a while, we will catch ourselves in the hallway having an extended conversation about portable phones or the future of home computing. It's incredibly geeky and it would make for horrible conversation on a date but we seem to enjoy it.

When I told Chris that I was writing up little stories about everyone who works here, he sent me this:

Really, a bio? You want to know who i am?

Before setting up auctions and traveling all over Texas, Chris worked in a commercial photo studio in Kansas City, MO. An avid tech junkie, food lover, and gamer, Chris is also a hobbyist PC builder. Catch Chris in your area for rambling conversations about geeky stuff, or to sell your equipment, or both!

I've asked him to send me some examples of his photography so stay tunes for more good stuff from the people at Slapsale.com. In the Spirit of Chris' love of computing and tinkering I've included this video about about a Google engineer who built a PC from scratch.

Auctioneers, Percussion, and Abstract Art

 

It's a performance using auctioneers, percussion, and abstract art- I like it!

This video is the final part of the MOCA Happening Doug Aitken's performance  "WE". The performance was composed and created by Aitken and was accompanied by sound treatment effects from Beck and Devendra Banhart. Sonic tables, designed by Aitken and used for the guests' dinner, are suddenly cleared and manned by percussionists.   The steady rhythm of the sonic tables is soon joined by the call of cattle auctioneers that emerge unexpectedly through the crowd; as their chants accelerate they merge with the haunting vocals of urban gospel choir singers. As the performance activates the entire room "WE" builds to a crescendo that's punctuated by the violent and hypnotic rhythms of a whip cracker.

See the first video here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjAjiIy3f1w&feature=related

See the second video here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX181nGxcvI&feature=related

Meet Laurent Martin

Meet Laurent Martin, that's me, the clown.   I own an independent Web and Print Design Business right down the hall, Austin Design Shop. The folks at Slapsale.com and I got along so well that they hired me to be their social networking director. In addition to helping them design promotional materials, like postcards and web banners, I write for and develop the slapsale.com social network.  So if your reading the blog, facebook, or twitter than I'm the author.
Before I started Austin Design Shop, I traveled the country as a clown, Lowrent the clown. Booking, promoting, and performing for a vaudevillian show, The 999 EYES.  In that time I developed a lot of experience with a variety of internet, artistic, business, and promotional skills, and some clown skills too. My signature act was quite spectacular.  I would come out on stage and start pumping up a large air cannon, at which point I would be joined by a lobster person and a 36" woman who would assist in loading the cannon with a hot dog.  Once all the preparations were made they would shoot the hot dog, with a burst of smoke, straight across the stage, and on the other side, I would catch it in my mouth. 

Click the name for more info on lowrent the clown or check out some of my design work by clicking the image below.