Arrr Pirates Poised to Plunder EU - Parlay?? or Partay?

here is a manifesto of the 'pirate party' whom i have just heard about due to their winning a seat in some election in europe. here is what they're about, I am so on board 100% with their right to privacy stuff, but their main agenda is freedom of information and reform of copyright laws. I'm a little unsure of how people who create things, like music or software or novels or medicines, would be paid/funded if their creations become public domain. but this group believes pretty strongly that everything would work better that way... or maybe they all agree they like free shit? lemme know if you have any wisdom on this piracy topic. I'm inclined to supporting them since i've 'stolen' music etc, that and i like bottles of rum. But should i be concerned about the credit where credit is due? Will their radical ideas on revamping copyright laws infringe on people's rights to profit from their inventions?

Help strawberry find her way home!

do you consider classic strawberry shortcake as boho chic, a homespun fashion disaster, or a tokyo amiyumi harajuku techno punk poppet ???

hmmmmm

its like a game! what if she got amnesia and we needed to figure out where she belonged based on her alfit!

so check it out i made a lil road map, which way should strawberry go, to the right she can wear her baggy floral print dress with ruffles and pattern mixing and crocheted bag to some posh soho martini party, or she can stay home and watch tv with her grandmother who made her the patchwork smock and poofy hat by hand, or she could rock those hot colors striped socks pompom details and eyelit trimmed lace bloomers out to some hot techno rave in tokyo!

Which do you think our lil miss shortcake was going for when she got dressed this morning??

CrackBook

I have to admit i'm a computer junky, this is an image i found on my italian cousin's fb page, and it pretty much sums up how i'm feeling, absolutely chronically addicted to facbook, and coffee and my big headphones. Its such an interesting social phenomenon, all this virtual life, penpaling made so easy that its trumped actual physical interactions. i har social netwrking sites are actually out scoring porn and are the internets new primary usage - which is Huge.

i kinda miss real life socializing, but then again i can do this from anywhere and its free. I can't wait to hear people talk about this as the decade when facebook happened to the world... should make for some interesting history books, or i guess by then it'll be history blogs... :)

MoistProduction.com

I found these drawings online today and love them, I had never given adequate thought to the anatomy of mickey mouse, gummy bears, balloon animals, and lego men... thank goodness for Jason Freeny of Moist Productions - friggin brilliant.

Vegas Baby Vegas!

I went to vegas for the first time this weekend It was an interesting experience what can i say...

Vegas is pretty cool, its kinda like times square, plus a high end mall, plus Disney world, plus some kindof sculpture museum. People smoke everywhere, and there seems to be two main styles of dress, either overly manicured, like miniskirt straightened hair total hotness on the slutty side, or the exact opposite, some god awful track suit pajama kinda thing that’s I guess popular in the Midwest perhaps? There were far too few people styled in between those two extremes.

i arrived with some stereotypes in my head of what Vegas would be like, it was my first time, so going in cheap was the main image in my head. I thought it’d be all elvis impersonators and chincy crappy places full of yuck, but I was pretty wrong about that. The hotels were beautifull!! Everything was crafted with such skill and such quality materials, every detail was inspiring, mosaics and marble everywhere , reproductions of sculptures from antiquity and new sculptures as well, I was expecting it to look more motel-like but however obnoxious you may find the excessive signage and lighting, the vegas strip is pretty gorgeous and anything but cheap. When you go into the casinos there is that element with all the slot machines, like a huge arcade for adults, all blinging and flashing with loud often lame music, but there were cool clubs you could go in to avoid all that. After a while I found the slot machines pretty hypnotizing, I thought it’d be overwhelming and sometimes it was, but the odds are such that there are as many winners running around as people who are down so its hard not to fall into the hope of being one of the lucky folks who make money while they’re there. It’s a little overwhelming sometimes but taking a walk around outside reminded me of times square sortof, which made me feel at home in a way. I found also that the art all over makes the overall effect tolerable by counter acting the casino bred anxiety.

I showed up expecting amazing buffets, the stuff of legends, everyone raves about food in vegas as never ending piles of amazingness, I found them to be very good but not all that, they were a bit better than penn state commons buffets, but I was not nearly as blown away as everyone claimed I’d be, I’d rather just have one plate of food off a menu than all you can eat, generally speaking, but in the case of piles of lobster etc I thought I ‘d feel differently, but the buffets I saw were kinda regular, and buffet just isn’t my thing.
Since it’s a desert I was expecting it to be hot and dry, but it was chilly and even rained one day. I totally didn’t pack enough warm clothes, so was unprepared. Luckily I have simon’s good luck hoody with me or I would have just frozen.

There’s a rollercoaster! Its ontop of the new york newyork casino. I’ve always thought they should build a rollercoaster in manhattan, whenever there’s a crane up over a bldg I always tell people that’s what they’re making but sadly its always a joke, How cool would it be to actually have a rollercoaster high above in the tops of the skyscrapers of manhattn – brilliant! It was awesome.

They have oxygen for sale. You sit at a bar with the nose tube on you’d get in a hospital, only its in public, at a bar… They kinda filter the water bong style through aromatic waters. So the deep breathing smelled like rosemary lavendar eucalyptis etc. And while you sit there they massage you with several nifty gadgets. They were simultaneously trying to sell me lots of stuff but aside from that it felt awesome. There were a bunch of O bars all over town, I picked the one with a view of opera singing gondoliers taking tourists for rides in the indoor canal at the venetian, pretty awesome. My cousins were surprised we don’t have this in manhattan cause apparently its not that uncommon, I said new yorkers are too street smart to pay for air lol. I don’t know if breathing the oxygen did all the awesome things they were saying it would, I didn’t feel dramatically different, but they also pump it into the casinos, and I think I may have felt the effects there??? I was rather perky for the late hours and beer didn’t effect me as strongly as It normally would, may need to investigate more….

As for the whole gambling thing, I was gonna not gamble at all, but I’m apparently way less stubborn/ disciplined than I thought I was cause that plan didn’t last… it was just too tempting and I figure I’m probably not going back there much in my life so I wanted to try stuff. So first day I tried craps and roulet and slots… lost at each and quit immediately vowing to never play again. So the next day I went to the arcade with my little cousins to actually have fun while loosing my money to the flashy machines, in a significantly less expensive way. I finally played that silly dance game, which is way funner than a slot machine. Later that night I lost more inti the slots and opted to no longer let myself carry cash as I clearly can’t be trusted. I was supposed to leave the next day (yesterday) but I missed the bus (which turns out was canceled due to snow in the mountains) So I stayed another night.
I wandered around town and wound up at the “Paris” casino, I had figured out late the night before that buying drinks in vegas is silly. I was paying cash for beers, but if you sit by the gamblers drinks are free, especially if you appear to be participating. So I figured if I played slowly on a penny slot machine I would actually just be paying for my beers in a way that had the slight potential to win me lots of cash, but if I lost all my pennies it’d be just like getting the beer from the bar. I just had to keep aware of passing waitresses and play slowly on cheap machines… I am pretty good at texas hold em poker, but only the kind where you play against people not just against the cards, cause its all about reading people etc, so I met up with my cousins at treasure island and we headed to MGM and I watched poker for a while before I heard the line "No Guts No Glory" and finally caved and bought in at $40, which soon became 100, then i needed more cash but the atms were offline so I got it from the cashier who finger prints people to prove they really wanted more cash since its clearly a regrettable move. I got up to 140 in the hole, and I was down to some small amount like under 30 in chips, but then just as all seemed lost and I was kicking myself for playing at all, luck showed up. I went all in on a hand, and so did two other people, there was rubbish on the table with a king high, each of the two other people had a pocket pair of Aces, and I had a pocket pair of kings, which made three of a kind so I won. I won about $300 on that hand, it was around 6am, what a great feeling, I was so proud and Relieved. I should have run away at that moment, but instead I quickly widdled that back down to 180 and so the last day i was in vegas I broke even, everything I put into poker, plus everything I put into slots that day, came back to me. But I played for about 12 hours and drank about a dozen free beers. It was such a rush. I get it now. I really really like poker, everyone at the table was funny and friendly in a poker way, and there were a lot of laughs, like when the irish guy passed out in his seat and got escorted out by five security guards, but not before falling on his ass a few times and slurring out some hysterical irishy gibberish.. it was an Awesome time.

Driven Green

I have not read this book yet but it is now officially on my must read list, I just watched an interview on Daniel Sperling on Jon Stewart and am impressed that he doesn't believe that corn is a good alternative fuel source, which i agree with, so I'm excited to see what else he has to say about transforming the auto industry to be green.

Art Catalog

Original Artwork by me for you.

Stepbrothers

I found stepbrothers to be a beautifully inspirational family comedy. It was motivational in a very cool way, similar to 'run fat boy run' it poked fun at the loser, the down and out underacheiver and encouraged them to get it together. The Underdog anti heros are loveable and tragically flawed and just need some encouragement to be the best they could be. The movie simultaneously pokes fun at the 40 year old virgin who failed to launch, but also portrays the charaters very lovingly, the victims of classroom bullying and divorced parent post traumatical induced lazyness. Like the 'just shoot me' brother who feigned retardation to never work. Or the will ferrel bit part in wedding crashers, the 2 main characters in step brothers are an archetype of percentage of adults who could use some encouragement. This movie holds a mirror up to your fat ass and dares you to give trying a chance. Cause we can all in this world apply ourselves just a little more it is inspirational to even employed successful adults. Its an off beat comedy of dysfunctional families and my favorite is how the parent characters are so human, torn between wanting to take care of and nuture their kids and wanting to not enable nor endure their behavior anymore. And there was a few subtle hints about the benefits of going to therapy and taking meds which i thought was very subtley and tastfully thrown in there, cause to overdo that would have not been good, but a couple very subtle advocacies of psychiatric assistance for those in real need was good. Whats great about this movie is that it covers deep and relevant subject matter while remaining a comedy and an upbeat one at that. The two main characters the step brothers are hilarious and just so fun to watch. I totally laughed my ass off. Its one of those live your dream and fly your flag and try to be successful cause that would be cool kinda things.

The other funny thing is that i am friends with will ferrel's brother, who is a phd student in ny, such a nice guy (not at all like the movie character generally speaking, very much like will in humor)... Anyway he does happen to have a big booming voice that you can hear a city block away. I had never thought of it before but i bet it would be a pretty good singing voice if he were so inclined.

Zee Ink

I recently went to Jules Jazz Bistro to drink wine hear music and read a book at the bar (one of my favorite ways to spend an evening) After a while I got to talking to the guy next to me named Zee. He offered me a ink temp tattoo for a dollar, which got me so excited. In college I used to draw on people a lot and on myself a lot. I used to go to parties and decorate my friends. It brought back memories for me and made me very happy, he did very col work, which sadly i didn't photograph so i put some cool ink above to illustrate my love of body art. Though the permanence of actual tattoos is prohibative, drawing on yourself or your friends with a pen is a great way to express your inner punk for a couple days. The discussion of what sort of ink or paint to work with is a whole other story but here's a nod to Zee.

Incidentally Zee actually went to high school in Iran with the author of the novel and subject of the movie Persepolis, he's mentioned in the book as well. If you get a chance i reccomend this film, don't be fooled by the fact that its animated, this is an autobiography of a girl who grew up in Iran, its an inde film thats very informative and politically relevant, as well as entertaining.

Vorcan

One of my dearest friends ever is my little chris. He and i went to art school together, and painted this magical attic, and he taught me how draw with lit matches. And thats how i paid for forr in paris, exchanging lit match drawings for cash and edibles... well that and watercolors. Anyway Chris has formed an aliance with this dude Vort who is also pretty damn cool. The two of them collaborate on paintings, typically vort does the background and chris the foreground, though they mix it up and are experimental. Anyway they fun part is they are live artists. Which is to say they paint at music venues during the performance, their drawings are based on the music, and painted during the set. They make several a night and they are for sale, pretty affordably for original artwork. And since they accompany bands they tour from city to city as a music group would. They are living off painting this way.

Their advice is paint PAINT Paint everyday. Paint quickly and pass out cards, paint Everyday. What are you doing tomorrow?? Answer: PAINTING

Pep talk received. Thank you sir may i have another.

Kersplaaash instead of Kerbang!

Dear Pilot
I LOVE YOU!!!!

I want to thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for choosing to crsh land in hypothermia waters instead on on my apartment. I live at 47th and 9th, its a little unclear of where exactly you touched down but some people are saying 57thst on the hudson., That means that if you did land on the island it was highly likely you would have hit one of us in hells kitchen. You landed in the water right by the circle line too so the boats were esily able to swoop in and rescue everyone on board. I am so impressed and so grateful to you for saving so many lives possibly including my own.

I owe you one man.

xoxo
nancy
hells kitchen

Cardboard Furniture

Welcome one and all to the recession - its like college only we're kinda older. So just to refresh your memory if you want furniture you best use materials which are readily available instead of begging visa for overpriced nonsense. So welcome back to found materials. The its not what you got its how you use it mentality.

Y'know whats so less creepy than a preowned couch, a cardboard one. I know it sounds unsturdy but trust me if you build them right they're actually quite durable. the trick is to stack the cardboard, and to use a band saw or equivalent to create a consistent edge. You could even use a sander on these to create an almost velvety texture. I suggest covering them in a layer of cotton and fabric. You can make very intriquing shapes. Cheap recyclable materials like these can truly take the edge off the price of moving. And most of these designs you could make yourself.
Glens Miller and Frank Gehry are just a few of the designers shown here.
oh and ps wouldn't your cat just love this!

Bird Mobile

I once layed under a magnificent mobile, it was birds. I used to see my ceiling and imagine sky and even painted sky on my ceiling but years later layed under a birds mobile and felt the 3dimensionality of the ceiling space even better. Have since been searching for the right bird mobile to buy or make. material has been the biggest debate in making them, was thinking aluminim, then paper mache, then clay then plaster gauze, poster board, wood, and then back to aluminum. So i'm always interested in finding one that's already made and meets my mental image.. these are some pictures of what i like.

Protest Art

The history of art has many star moments of protesting political events. Below Picasso protests a massacre in 1937, above is some contemporary examples of this very important and passionate genre.

Party Idea: Game time - How to play "i never"

Its a drinking game and it goes like this:
- Everybody get a drink and sit relatively in a circle
- Go around the circle each person taking a turn
- When its your turn you finish the sentence "I never....."
- Anyone in the game who has done the thing that is named has to drink

for instance if the person who's turn it is says "I have never had sex" anyone who is not a virgin has to drink, this may include the person who's turn it is.

examples
I have never been to paris
I have never written a blog
I have never painted my toe nails
I have never had sex in a bed

i would have had to drink four times so far...

-----------------------------

An alternate way of playing is to mix it with strip or spin, so the person who's turn it is has the option of saying "i never...", stripping off a pieces of clothing, or spinning the bottle and kissing whoever it points to.

(Though that's a fun combination its maybe a bit too complicated an alternative as so many choices causes some chaos among the drunken- just sayin)

Bye Bye Bush!

Hey Ladies! Bliss Spa is having a Halarious sale, 20% off brazilians on inauguration weekend. I think we should all do our part to celebrate W's departure from the white house by saying goodbye to Bush :)

LOL pass it on!

Hindu God Statues

I am collecting a series of sculptures of Hindu Gods. Because they are absolutely beautiful. I enjoy hearing the stories about the various elements and themes they represent. Each deity has different interests, creation, destruction, partying, wisdom, vitality etc. They are made with such attention to detail, carved beaded bracelets, complicated clothing and head pieces, swords, multiple hands, defeated enemies, ornate pedestals etc. I hope to one day have a larger collection i could display on shelves on an exposed brick wall with candles. It'd also be neat to sculpt a reproduction of one, an exercise in extreme detail. A reverent homage to allegory and the sacred forces of nature.

wishlist me a natraz and a bigger apartment with exposed brick and candles

Wigtastic

My crush on wigs goes back to my obsession with movies. Actors get to change their look dramatically from project to project. Having grown up with that as the backdrop to my life I desire to be a shape shifter too. Its funny how your look defines you and how dressing differently for a night can be like walking in someone else's shoes for a bit. Plus I am always fantasizing about doing permanent things to my hair like cutting it short or straightening it or dying it some crazy color. So to preserve the integrety of my curly reddish locks, i have a few wigs. I wore one to a party this weekend, and find its a great accessory in the winter since its pretty warm. Its like wearing a hat kinda, only has the potential to look so much cooler. Above are some hot moments in wigs, there are so many weaves and extensions and wigs in hollywood. Totally fun.

Chocolate

While i'm making a list of my favorite things, lets get one thing straight - I friggin love chocolate!
I had a chocolate fiend moment yesterday. First i had a kitkat, which is always a good idea. But I decided i could do better. I was craving a crepe, but as it was 3am my options were limited, so I got the ingredients together and made chocolate chip pancakes and smothered them in nutella, served with oj eggs and BACON, it was Such a good time. I highly recommene, the salt from the bacon played well with the decadent pancakes. I'm surprised after the invention of chocolate that people still cook and eat other things. Chocolate mmmmmmm!

Just Sayin

The Origin of Pigment

My newest pet research project is about pigment's origin. I've always been interested in how the old masters procured colors and how much trouble it was for artists in various regions to get the different colors. Before the invention of paint companies and art stores each painter had to hunt down each color's raw material and grind, boil, burn and stew up their ingredients. For a good description of the tedious and all consuming nature of creating a palette to paint with you could check out the book Girl with Pearl Earring (skip the movie though lol)
So I bought a book on the it, 'the origin of pigment,' but was disappointed when the author meandered off topic and talked instead mostly about the anthropology of autrailian aboriginal society and their socio economic structure's reliance on the color ochre etc, Sooo now i'm compiling research on the topic from the internet etc, seeking out the book i'd supposedly already purchased, though said purchase was mislabeled.

Color is such an intriguing story, a story i'll share with you once i've gathered all the pieces.

Painting Update 2

So here's a progress report on my new piece, i worked on it last night. I discovered something very important actually, as it turns out i need a chaperone to paint land. OK I don't Need one, but I found myself much more motivated to continue when I had someone to chat with. I am going to make a habit of asking people over and providing them with art supplies and even instruction in exchange for company while I work. I'd get so much more done if I didn't feel the need to wander into the tv room to chat with peoples. Its also an inexpensive way to hang all happily. This piece is about 5 feet tall so i imagine i can use 6 - 12 more sessions with it to get the detail i'm hoping for, though we'll see, sometimes on the way from abstract to realistic i find a midway point intriguing and opt to leave it as such, so we'll see where this one goes. Times Square in too much detail is all business logos, and i know i'm not going there with it, so we'll see. For now I'm hoping to focus on the light and forms...

Mini Me

OK Put this on my wishlist - Yknow those miniature liquor bottles, it'd be so neat to have a whole collection of a variety of them on my wall in my room. The last several bottles of liquor I bought were consumed by my roomates and i only got to taste about as much as is in one of these adorable little bottles anyway, so it'd be neat to keep a variety of them on a little pretty rack to flavor coffee or whatever, if you drink them straight from the bottle it'll be like being that chick in Romancing the Stone, that was her move and it was cute :)

Happy New Year

Right after posting about feathers and masks i showed up to the new years party to find everyone wearing feather masks, and there was even one for me :) Thanks Simon!

Happy New Year!

Masquerade

Its hard to find a good mask. There's a lot of masquerade balls for new years eve and I would love to have a bad ass beautiful mask. The most popular is the venetian style, but I find that is hard to find one of those that actually look good on, and while its cute to carry one around on a stick the ones that are kept on tend to be too clunky and stifelling plus they mask too much, its hard to communicate without seeing eachother's facial expressions. So my favorite masks are light and airy. They are more pretty and flattering because they show your face while still masking you technically. To take a look at modern fashion icons rocking light masks check out Kirstin Dunst as Marie aintoinette, and that chick from gossip girl in a metalic cut paper looking lacey thing that kinda blends in with her hair in a way. Paris has on a lighter venetian half face mask that plays more like a feathery hat. I may make myself something like the gold one when i get a chance.

Feathery

Am having a fascination with feathers today am wondering what a feather costume might look like... not wings but a dress which uses feathers in order like a wing would... or perhaps a million tiny blue feathers applied to the skin like if humans came that way... it could be quite elegant if done right. i don't tend to like the way feather masks are made, i'd want something more integrated so it can be delicate, like putting on fake eyelashes... but everywhere and feathers
:)

Under the Sea

Speaking of fish out of water.. So the sailors would be at sea for years and see women so infrequently, that there became the legend of the mermaid, the beautiful women of the sea, drawn to shiny things, half woman half fish, able to breath air and yet have a fish tail and frolic in the water. The sailors also often suffered from illnesses, malnutrition, madness. But the common belief is that the stories refer to the manatees that the sailors had 'mistaken' for women. Most mermaid images tend to represent the offspring of such a crass coupling. Poor manatees...
Thanks for the myths guys but hands off the aquatic life
... i wonder why mermaids are never bald ...

Ode to my inhaler

Dearest inhaler I will never loose you again. I know i only want to see you like less than once a year, and that may make you think your not important to me, i admit i'd almost forgotten about yknow the you and me thing...i know it was me who put you in a bag inside a box at the bottom of a overfilled drawer... you certainly made your point and thanks for saving my ass anyway. If you weren't an inanimate object and i could make out with you right now i so would. I will never loose you again, I promise. xoxoxo

This Just In

I'm working on a new painting, of times square , its in progress, it will not look like this, but i've begun it and it will evolve and here's an exclusive sneak peak :) I'll update you as we make progress (with my fuzzy cell phone camera shots)

I want a fireplace

I want a fireplace.
I'd light it every night, I'd cook on it, i'd dry grapes over it and make tea, snuggle up with cocoa and watch the flames, dry off by it after a hot bath with a velvety blanket. roast marshmellows, charcoal drawings...

dear santa - i want a fireplace.

Babies for Obama!

this is a drawing of my niece Kiara

Critique

i went to a modern art museum with my father recently there in the presence of glowing greatness spectacles of the art world’s pretention i stood in front of a famous white canvas with my dad. The stories about the evolution of art and the artist’s statement, the protest of modern painters against craft and tradition, the bravery it took for that dude to sell a white canvas for thousands of dollars. From the viewpoint of the unpretentious, its pretty unimpressive. I like to take long complicated background stories that accompany paintings with a grain of salt, they are often interesting stories but if the art doesn’t strike a chord with you down deep, when you look at it, its nothing but a story. Though on the other hand, there’s those crotchety old farts from the muppet show who are pretty funny as they unsanctimoniously wreck on even the most impressive acts. Critics are another thing to take with a grain of salt.

Having Issues

This is a striking painting by Phillippe Pinel called “Releasing Lunatics from their chains at the Salpetiere Asylum in Paris. ”

Look at her eyes

We like to think that mental institutions have come so far because they are no longer called asylums and because the metal chains have been replaced with fabric straight jackets. The illnesses however have not changed and often are untreatable. This painting speaks to the heart of the matter. If this was your family your mother your sister or daughter, what would you do?

Irisistable

Have you ever had a crush on someone who is bad for you? Someone so beautiful, that they are irresistable even though to succumb to that desire is gonna cause you nothing but trouble. Drunk Dialing, seranadeing and various ways people make fools of themselves are nothing new. Odyssius happened to have a wife at home which helped him resist the sirens but the other sailors who were not as strong willed sailed toward their song and crashed upon the rocks and were destroyed. I have a fondness for images of this metaphor, its a kind of buyer beware story to warn us against going for that bad idea lover, the succulent mirage that looks so good til you get close and discover its nothing but sand. A stronger person would resist, a hero would tie himself to a tree before falling for the tempation. Hero stories are constructed to teach ideals, what kindof man should one try to be. Homer thinks that you should delete that beautiful asshole’s number.

Ophelia

I used to have a mild obsession with the character Ophelia. She’s beautifully tragic. I used to identify with her in a lot of ways.

Hamlet, her bf, started to have some family problems. His father was murdered and his throne taken by his uncle who married his mother, even though Hamlet was of age to take the throne himself, despite his mother’s remarriage and despite his uncle’s blood relation to the king, it is hamlet who was next in line though somehow skipped over by his father’s murderer. But that’s only periphery to Ophelia’s story. She is a young beautiful lady who is dating the prince. But as part of his plot to uncover real evidence of the dark truth Hamlet decides to convince everyone he’s crazy, basically so everyone involved will put down their guard and let information slip out, so with any luck they’ll hang themselves. Anyway Ophelia has this hottie bf and he goes all crazy at her, her father is an advisor to the king so he doesn’t break character for her, quite the opposite, he hams it up knowing she’ll be watched by the right eyes. So basically one day her bf goes nutty on her, tells her off, with bs ranging from sexual innuendos to emploring her to join a convent. She’s pretty upset over it. She totally loved him and was thinking she was going to be wed to him, then suddenly he’s a total ass to her, and worse than that he appears brain affected. Then the unspeakable happens, one night hamlet kills her dad and they send him off that night to england to be hung for the crime. It was an accident and he escapes execution, but Ophelia never finds that out cause unlike hamlet who’s father’s death caused him to feign madness, Ophelia’s father’s death coupled with the idea of who did it and his subsequent death, made her actually go mad. The poetic description of this madness is a large part of my love for her. She bugs out in the royal court passing out flowers to the various people there, each symbolic of what she thought of them Then she darts off to run around in the woods, singing bits of old songs while she barefooted adorns herself with vines and flowers. She climbs out onto a branch and falls into the lake, and lays on the water singing and recounting little verses, unaware of her peril, then her dress soaks up the water and drags her down to her watery grave. I often wonder why i love this character so much. I used to have a fascination with mental illness, that was before i met anyone who actually had mental problems. I used to hear the word crazy applied as a description of most of my favorite things so her mental break to me was completely romantic. Her mind after all is lost because of a broken heart. Having had my own fair share of broken hearts I sympathize completely with her inability to recover from such a mortal wound. And the way she goes wild is like a child in the woods. I am in love with nature and when i am in a forest i collect pretty leaves and flowers and put them in my hair, i love mud on my feet and climb onto high branches and swim in the lakes and rivers, and i sing. I have sense enough not to drown. But hers wasn’t a suicide, she was a casualty of love. Her passion and love for her man and for her father were so strong that when they died she could no longer function, when they died she died too.

I see her level of passion as a good thing. I want to love with every morsel of my being I want to give every piece of myself to love. I admire the kind of people who would die for passion who love completely.

BUT Lately, the past few years, i am less interested in this character, because i have come to admire people who will not die for love. Who love completely, but have the fortitude of spirit to weather the storms that life will inevitably throw your way. I admire the people who don’t have to loose their shit to spend a day out playing in the woods covered in mud. I admire the people who do that just cause they want to and don’t care what people think. I also no longer romanticise the word ‘crazy’ its too often used wrong. There is such a thing as mental illness and it should not be confused with people being original individuals. Originality is beautiful, mental illness is sad. I like the idea that she was able to make cunning observations of the roles that the various people in the court played in the unfolding tragedy, and that she said these things to their faces (people in that time period would have known the meanings of the flowers she passed to them) However these observations would have been more powerful if they were just said outright instead of masked in metaphors, and they would have been more useful if voiced before her father’s murder. When i was in love with Ophelia I was heartbroken and I saw her as a martyr of love. I saw her death heroic, she personified how i felt, almost justified my refusal to get over it and move on. But life has many heartaches along the road and many things will not go as planned, and the prince can become the villian, and your heart can be betrayed. But allowing the bad things to destroy you is not heroic, its pathetic. You can love someone intensely and passionately and it could not last or they can turn out to be not worthy, but that doesn’t make the love you felt at the time any less important relevant passionate or real. Not everything is forever. It is not a betrayal of love to let it end. And the extent of your love and the fierceness of your passion is not proved by how devastated you become in the aftermath. Love is beautiful. In a perfect world it lasts for forever, in this one you gotta cherish it when it comes your way, for as long as its around, and i try to not tarnish its joyful places in my memory, regardless of the aftermath.

>>> Fancy Soup's Itty Bitty Designs <<<

Announcing My New Store!

I am selling a new line of infantwear, apparel, gifts and more on my new website!

I plan to expand to include a wide variety of original designs so check often and spread the word!

:)

Set Design Me a Dream

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events featured images of this kindof fantasy architecture. Its victorian only more so and its focusing on the most peculiar examples, exaggerating the forms into almost surreal proportions. There is also a current of fine craftsmanship. Stone work, wood work like art nouveau cabnitry, huge fireplaces and chimneys, Towers, round windows, Gothic arches. See also harry potter, casper, adam's family, moulan rouge, lord of the rings (especially hobbiton)... if only this trend would be more prevalant in real life. Set designers get an opportunity to be much more expressive and creative with their architecture and interior designs. I would like to see more victorian charicatures in the real world. for now i'll thank hollywood for making so many of my dream spaces

note - usually in film victorian spaces are depicted as dilapidated haunted disorienting and dangerous, its all modernist propaganda, hobbiton is the best example of the glowy warm belly rub smiles one gets from stained wood, vistas, arches and windowsills

Outside the Box

Incorporating Solar panel glass into architecture as a focal point could be well expressed in geometric designs and vaulting. Traditionally architecture tried to maximize natural light flow with large vaulted public spaces and atriums. NeoGeoGothic... NeoGeoClassical... NeoGeoVictorian ... NeoGeoArtNoveau ... hey ya never know :)

(paid for by citizens against the javitz center)

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Good morning Obama generation, green people who've heard the unfortunate truth, and see in the economy potential for a green revolution, I bring you our future - eco friendly products are our new bling bling. And this guy and his peeps are bring sexy back! They are inventing solar panels which are translucent, they get the energy from a pigment not unlike leaves. And so building glass could be solar panels, and solar panels can be colored glass. I see solar glass usage as the new hot artistic and architectural medium. I see a future of glass rooftops for those who don't want to be grassy, I see the rebirth of buildings with light wells. I see more public spaces mirroring works like the apple cube or the louvre pyramid. They have solar panels shaped like roof tiles for regular houses, I see the hot christmas item being intricately designed stained glass solar panels. The aesthetic of a new emphasis on having quantities of glass, and since eco consciousness is fashionable, I'd say a slightly ostentatious presentation of the glass's usefulness, is a new element which will change the way new buildings look. The times square ticket booth is the first of many ecogreen public uses of glass. From a design perspective its exciting to think of the aesthetic possibilities and what styles may prevail.

Roof Gardening

I have this vision of New York City gone green. There are so many reasons for it. The tar roofs that the majority of buildings are sporting collect and hold heat in the summer, which makes air conditioning a necessity for most apartments to support life, especially the top floors. Covering the roofs instead with green plants would moderate the temperature while cleaning the air. It would also provide better roosting spots for birds of prey so we wouldn't have as bad of a rodent infestation, little birds also eat bugs which would be helpful. There are some roof gardens around town but they are mostly patios for the rich. I feel that a tax rebate for roof gardeners is the only way to get property owners to invest in the quality of air in the city. Not to mention the quality of life which would vastly improve if more buildings were romantically draped in ivy. Hearty low maintanence plants like beach grass or clover are also good options. There is also the idea of actually growing food which would reduce the amount of gasoline used in food delivery. Below is a view of Rome's vast array of roof gardens, the italians being a culture of gardeners have a bit of a headstart on us.

For more information on the benefits of Roof gardens and how to construct them click here Where they'll tell you all about how cool this book is:

My Undies :)

Mass Market Intimate Apparel

These are some of the images me and my department created over the last year or two at AGE Group, all rights reserved.

This is what i meant all those times i said i make cartoon panties, its licensed and generic junior intimates.