Video of the Year - Bjork's Wanderlust

just because...

it's the holidays. i'm going home from work. and rockstar degeneracy and nature make me hot. cut to 3:22 for the moment that says it all.

old people are all the rage

THIS IS AWESOME and as it should be.

more on hot oldness here.

just in time for the new year, a horoscope that truly resonates

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "My deepest emotional wound has also been the source of in exhaustible blessings." I'm not going to tell you why that statement is true for me -- it's way too personal -- but I assure you that it's one of the fundamental facts about my destiny. Could you make a similar assertion, Virgo? Is it possible to interpret your life in such a waythat you could see how a painful experience you suffered in the past has also given you tremendous insight, inspiration, and vitality? Two thousand nine will be an excellent year to make that leap of understanding. And the time around the solstice -- right now! -- is a perfect moment to get started.

da doot, da doot, da doot-doo

i'm starting piano lessons again with Larry Karush. i've got 3 or 4 jazz songs i want to start with, and by next xmas, i'm going to record another piano CD, with a completely different rhythm and blues feel from my last classical/ambient pop improvisational meld.



here's 'black coffee,' one of the first 3. yayayayay!

beating the evil phone giants with my smart-stick

here are some self-discovered saavy tips for f**ing back those that try to f you. in my case, it's att/cingular/whoever-else-from-back-in-the-day-that-was-swallowed-whole-by-these-greedy-sloths ...

#1: PRESS 1 when prompted to 'do a brief survey after the call press 1' or 'don't do a survey press 2.' i tried both, and noted a distinctly different 'doot-doot' sound in the 2 numbers pressed after your selection to direct you to a rep. It is my suspicion that they send you to their Grade A make-you-happy-no-matter-what team upon the selection of said #1, so that your high grade will allow them to fudge their customer service stats. After receiving the best service of my life, my suspicion is pretty strongly confirmed. 'Y'know, I'm going to not only reverse those charges from last month, I'm going to look into your statements since September, and just reverse all of 'em! How's that? And while we're at it, I'm just gonna toss in 1,000 extra roll-over minutes.' this actually happened.

#2: use your phone company for a year or so while refusing to pay and jacking up a giant bill, then threaten to sue them for not fulfiling their end of the contract in providing available service, and they'll drop your entire year's bill! apparently a friend of a friend just did this, and he has ATT like me, and like me, gets no service anywhere.

#3: don't feel bad for being a jerk because: when you try to click on 'view my bill' online, the 'online store' is conveniently positioned overhead with a trigger-happy rollover feature that means you get redirected to the store over and over when you try to look at your bill.

And FINALLY: vote 1 out of 10 when they finally send you to 'the survey' and throw their numbers inexplicably off, leaving them high and dry when it comes to soliciting other major corporations to advertise on their new mobile marketing campaigns that will target you in disturbing and invasive ways.

hahaha. they're so gross and smooth with their manipulations, and i don't feel bad at all for hitting 'em with my stick.

get the pepsi some prozac!

there's a side of me that loves that Pepsi went here.

of course, it was only in germany, and they had to pull it like, 5 minutes of outraged twitter posts later.

the baleful MoMo on one of his nameless neighborhood missions. my neighbor Matt, an excellent photographer, has been using his iphone to capture the very essence of MoMo; a curious but suspicious ninja who sees rooftops, trees and humans as solely existing to serve his travel and dietary needs.

Where Are All the Acorns?

Being that I subconciously continue to cling to the fanciful, psychadelics-induced conviction of my teen-years that I was a druid in a past life, I find THIS heartbreaking and disturbing.

It also makes me want to point people in the direction of the best book I've read all year, this post-apocalyptic novel of grim, poetic beauty:
NY Times: 'the road would be pure misery if not for its stunning, savage beauty' and (because it deserves it) the coming movie.

i hope Pink Mountaintops tour in LA soon

flaming lips do fritz lang's 1927 metropolis.

king of the loft

this is the child i inadvertently introduced into my life a few months ago, under the naive impression he would enrich it. little did i know the creature known as MoMo would, in fact, assume the same thing of me. and so far, he's still in charge.

some of the things my parents used to say to me i now find bubbling out of my mouth at MoMo:

-what, do you think i'm here to serve you?

-you except me to sacrifice everything, EVERYTHING! and what do i get? this!

-where were you tonight? let me smell your breath.

Secret Garden - Dreamcatcher

all is full of love

you'll be given love

you'll be taken care of

you'll be given love

you have to trust it

maybe not from the sources

you have poured yours

maybe not from the directions

you are staring at

trust your head around

it's all around you

all is full of love

all around you

thanksgiving is almost here!

my friend sent me a pumpkin pie link and that was all it took to unleash a surge of repressed actions. i feel ready to dash through topanga on harvest-arrangement-collecting hike, string up some popcorn, link some paper chains, and stir some whiskey into a bubbling vat of spiced cider.

i love holidays when i have a reason to! that's something stupendous to look forward to: a future where family and a home want me to help make things special again.

that was my role from about the age of 6 to 16.

California Conversation

EXT. VENICE BEACH. SUNSET.
Dude: Shit, I meant to get some weed.
Chick: What, is the store closed?
END SCENE.

man, he's just f-ing hot

i couldn't find a spot for this pic in the keith urban sponsorship deck i'm creating at work, and i just couldn't let it go to waste.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.

Now theres a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.

Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.

Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper,You prisoner, and shine!

because, why not?

here's what the adage article had to say:

This cover is baffling in so many delightful ways, from the family's dedication to fried chicken in the land of tacos to the Colonel's menacing grin and brandished cane at an awkward distance, and let's not even get into the music within. No, seriously, don't get into it.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Nick Cave is something else. Here's a quote from a critic: "With the Bad Seeds, Cave continues to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America, and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock, and arty post-punk." The show was electric. He is one bad motherfucker, seriously. He's also an actor, screenwriter, novelist, and who knows what else.

Watching the show was like seeing a different time era from a different country transported to Hollywood. His presence carries a torch to some other darker, more magical epic time.
He's fucking rad.

I am inspired to go, 100%, for who I am and what my creative passions are, because this guy is proof that uncompromising self-honesty can take you places people will want to visit with you.

Too bad my sister literally laid down in the bench and closed her eyes, opening them only once, when Cave took an experimental leap into a hiphop beat. It's funny how blood ties can make you hang out with the most inappropriate company possible.

it's my birthday!!

and i'm going to wear a hat exactly like that one while i eat chocolate bonbons tonight and listen to nick cave and the bad seeds (cat power!) at the hollywood bowl. mmmm.

Cardinali

Such a gorgeous designer.

such is my doom

A girl who wills the interesting, she becomes the snare in which she herself is caught. A girl who does not want the interesting, she believes in Repetition. Honour to the one who was originally like that, honour to the one who became so through Time." -Kierkegaard

Russia Sees New Realm of Concern: Black Sea

Russian commanders said they were growing alarmed at the number of NATO warships sailing into the Black Sea.

there's something frightfully magical about that NY Times blurb. makes me want to write a dark sci-fi fairy tale with political tinges.

she's cute

i'm inspired to get my bangs trimmed and summon up my most wistful expression immediately.

she's in stockholm, and from the background i can tell it's the old-world downtown area. LOVED it there.

Protest Against the Rising Tide of Conformity

too awesome. my friend micha posted this pic on her blog and i had to steal it.

because.... i have this exact poster (smaller version but authentic) on the wall in my house! my sister abigail found it for me at a thrift store. such a better present than the bright red too-small wife-beater T with the words 'mrs. johnny depp' in gothic font across the chest she gave me for my bday. huh?! ;)

anyway, here are dylan and joan baez in all their high-falutin, bohemian glory.

bluegrass, steinbeck and the dust bowl

don't those three words do something to you? that harder, rougher, wholly human time, and where are we today? softer, tamer, connected but not to the earth, not to each other. a species that held survival in their dirty hands instead of in overfull heads.

***
I'm blowin' down this old dusty road,I'm a-blowin' down this old dusty road,I'm a-blowin' down this old dusty road, Lord, Lord,An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this a-way.

I'm a-goin' where the water taste like wine,I'm a-goin' where the water taste like wine,I'm a-goin' where the water taste like wine, Lord,An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this way.

I'm a-goin' where the dust storms never blow,I'm a-goin' where them dust storms never blow,I'm a-goin' where them dust storms never blow, blow, blow,An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this way.
***

coulda shoulda woulda

Sweet, juicy, overripe and moldy, a peach left too long. You try to salvage it, preserve it – jam, tempenade, chutney? - but it falls apart in your hands, running down your forearms, onto the floor. Nothing but sliding drips, the core no longer securing the meat.
And all that’s left is that core. Still hard and strong, with no remaining use. Bore a hole through it, a necklace memento? Paint it put it on a windowsill? Child’s play. Nothing for it but the trash.

Nikola Tessla's Great Love

"I have harnessed the cosmic rays and caused them to operate a motive device." Now that's a statement I'd like to leave behind!

Of course, because he was a tortured genius, he also fell in love with a pigeon whom he called his wife and commissioned portraits for after her death, declaring he'd lost his ability to invent.

How come if you're an amazing visionary you're usually crazy, too?

In the Beginning...

Things are so exciting.

And every moment is a new Beginning.

But don't forget your shovel, to bury that inevitable End.

For some reason, this is my 13 yr. old brother's favorite song

Oh, come on, come on, come on, come on!

Didn't I make you feel like you were the only man -yeah!Didn't I give you nearly everything that a woman possibly can ?Honey, you know I did!And each time I tell myself that I, well I think I've had enough,But I'm gonna show you, baby, that a woman can be tough.

I want you to come on, come on, come on, come on and take it,Take it!Take another little piece of my heart now, baby!Oh, oh, break it!Break another little bit of my heart now, darling, yeah, yeah, yeah.Oh, oh, have a!Have another little piece of my heart now, baby,You know you got it if it makes you feel good,Oh, yes indeed.

You're out on the streets looking good,And baby deep down in your heart I guess you know that it ain't right,Never, never, never, never, never, never hear me when I cry at night,Babe, I cry all the time!And each time I tell myself that I, well I can't stand the pain,But when you hold me in your arms, I'll sing it once again.

Redefining, rebuilding, rediscovering

InBetween is a beautiful land

i'm going out tonight...

...and i have a hankering for a hat. Since I'm out of headresses...

Yeah. I think i have something at home between the first and last one.


quiz: can you guess which is the woman in the first pic ??

just one more little treat...

totally ripped off of...

moldy doily but what can i say? i'm obsessed. and anyway, she got it from the italian vogue. HOT post-glam in my mouth.

PS ok, ok, i made up the word (post-glam) and know less-than-nothing of what i'm talking about. but that's a required skill set in the world of marketing. and since i'm at work right now...

once upon a time in a faraway land...

A&F manager arrested for risque ad

a delicious helping of ultra-conservatives from virginia talking shit about this abercrombie ad.

a few tasty samplings:

"This is the 21st Century, right? Common decency is so 17th Century, right? We should just let people walk around in the nude and have sex in public, right? Hey, they do all that in San Francisco already, so why not everywhere else?"

"I'm soooo tired of you athiest leftist commies trying to force your Romanesque hedonistic immorality down my bible-thumping, right wing throat.
If you don't like what the V.B. police did (in response to public complaints), then move to Amsterdam. You get a lot more bang for your buck in the red-light district store-front windows there anyhoo."

"Unfortunately those individuals who support allowing Abercrombie to place these adds in their windows do not have a bare assed leg to stand on. Abercrombie panders to the lowest common denominator in society like liberals and hollywood."

hahahaha!

Rolling Stone said it best

'Britney Spears is the perfect celebrity for America in decline: Like President Bush, she just doesn't give a fuck, but at least we won't have to clean up after her mess for the rest of our lives.'

levitating lightbulb

that's art!

poor broccoli.

that last one says, 'why don't you love me?' i do love you! i do!

do a good deed

overheard while on the phone with my boyfriend dominique who picked it up when some guy threw his bag of mcdonald's out the window of his parked car.

dom: that's okay man, i'll get it for you.
angry dude: stupid.
dom: excuse me?
dude: what are you, some kind of environmentalist? are you a cop?
dom: no man, i'm a human, just like you.
dude: ok dude, cool. lookin out.

i have a feeling that guy will think twice before throwing trash on the ground next time.

supercheesy celebrity sighting story

...so the day of the california primaries i'm wearing a 'i voted' sticker while ordering a vodka tonic at a dead meadow show. this guy brushes up on me saying, 'so who'd you vote for?'
'none of your business,' i snapped.
this prompted a long, funny discussion where i tried to make up for being a bitch and he tried to talk me into sharing my secret (obama, duh).
after a long pull on my drink i peer more closely at him followed by that drunken finger point with, 'you know who you look like? the guy from superbad.'
'that guy?' he says. 'i heard that guy's a douche-bag.'
I realized immediately it was him.
So a week later i'm helping dom work his new clothing line at the Fairfax swap meet, and who should wander in, but superbad dude!
'Hey, i'm the girl that told you none of your business, remember?!'
'Oh yeah! that was a good show!'
and off he skedaddled after i said, 'oh, this is my boyfriend.'
wonder when i'll see him next.

thins 'r gittin' shady

while leveraging our squeaky old Schwinn bikes down the Venice boardwalk this morn dom and i were stopped abruptly and asked to walk instead of roll through a crime scene. yellow caution tape, forensics specialists, white sheet and all, there was a murder a block from my house.
apparently bum-dude got jumped and beat to death.
all while the bright blue ocean rolled in the background and the sunny palms rustled as always.
venice has been getting shadier lately. i've had to wrap my hands in plastic bags and carry bums' beds from my backyard to the dumpster too many times in the last few months.

Quote of the Day

"We are actually making a robot. I don’t know when he’ll be available for public appearances. I know he’ll be touring, we can definitely talk about when we can work you into his schedule."

-marketing director at Disney in conf. call regarding new movie and corp. partnerships.

Updates

Currently listening: Creole jazz radio station. Sounds like Appalacian swing meets Irish jigging with a touch of Midwestern hoe-down. I have no idea how that gets labeled as jazz.

Eating: roasted and salted almonds from Whole Foods and a strange 'replenish-cleanse' Aquafina Alive Wellness Water' schtick of a bottle flavored with 'berry.'

Where I got it: in a very exciting meeting with some development execs in a high-rise on Ave of the Stars in Beverly Hills this morning. May well lead to meetings with Showtime and HBO in the next weeks. Bride of Christ, baby!

After meeting: headed back to new job as acct. coordinator at a marketing/consulting think-tank. So far, it rules. I have a shiny corporatized view of fountains, palms, and bridged pools.

Currently reading: The Alchemist

Currently learning: everything AdAge, MediaWeek and Brandweek newsletters have to say about the changing digital arena, face of technology, future of marketing, etc. I've been way behind on things, so this is awesome to have new knowledge forced on me as a job.