In Remembrance Of Bea Arthur...

(Better late than never.) Here's Rufus Wainwright's California, where he pleads, "my new Grandma Bea Arthur, come on over." I like to believe he wrote this, because Bea was some form of electric comfort via his television set during lonely times away from NYC.



He loves to tell the story of meeting Bea and spilling out this long, wordy tale about his including her in this song. The reason being that he and his Grandma really bonded while watching Golden Girls, and Bea, of course was their favorite on the show. Ever the sass-mouth, Bea just looks at him dryly, and retorts, "I'm not your fucking grandmother!" and walks past him!

Determinator.

Sorry for my lack of attention, but-- um-- I got a job. Oops!

I have stuff to post though.

Like this!

Doing The Robot: An Android With A Familiar Face

Soon all those with social anxiety may toss away their cares. ThatsMyFace and MechRC have teamed up to provide a solution to rule out human interaction altogether: A remote control robot with a customizable photorealistic face. ThatsMyFace offers free facial analysis using two snapshot photographs, ultimately creating a statuette of the pictured face. This is then applied to MechRC's robot, which contains 17 precision servos capable of up to 180 degree movement ready to serve you. This new companion comes with 100 pre-installed motion files, and can be further programmed with drag-and-drop 3D software using a personal computer. Now Billy Idol's song can become your reality-- you can truly be dancing with yourself! The ThatsMyFace MechRC bot will be available in the Summer of '09.

Blander

Holy Schmoly! Blender magazine has bitten the dust, leaving only two, Spin and Rolling Stone, vying for the spot as mainstream music's most shameful. I can't tell you how many times I applied for a job at this rag with this no response. Oh whelp! I suppose the saddest part is that their final cover has American Idol's Kelly Clarkson on the cover.



Being the first American Idol winner, Clarkson represented that even a small town gal from where-ever-the-eff-she-was-from could be a star, and live the American Dream. With her face gracing the cover of Blender's last issue, one could go as far to say that perhaps the American Dream is dying-- or maybe just shitty over-produced music fueled by reality TV shows is dying. Let's hope it's the latter.

For all those unhappy now-jobless pups who wouldn't hire me at Blender, I recently found this really cool artist, Richard Perez who can empathize:


CHECK MORE OF HIS WORK ON HIS FLICKR

LOW-LARIOUS!

Seeking cheap lodging?

via Best Recession Ever

All The Boys And All The Girls Are Dying To

I've always loved Britney Spears. I even dressed as her my sophomore year of college along with my dormmates for Halloween. (See below. Hit Me Baby One More Time Brit, Stronger Brit, and ME! Slave 4 U Brit.) I was always rooting for her in those crazy shavin' head times, through the weight gain, the K-Fed years, the Brit Brit, and the crotch flashin' party times. I look on her lovingly as I do Drew Barrymore, Liza Minelli, Lindsay Lohan, and Corey Feldman-- Hey, Dream a Little Dream was a great film!!

Now after hearing the new single off of her latest album CIRCUS, If You Seek Amy, I know my love will never die. Britney Forever!

MAD STYLE

I don't know much about these fashion-y fashion blogs. I look at 'em, but I'm not much of a participant. They often bore the living daylights out of me, but one person that has definitely caught my attention is THIS GUY:

Arlo is the son of none other than Mad Men creator, Matt Weiner, so who can blame him for having such great style?

Check out more pics of his daily steez HERE, and maybe learn a thing or two!

And Their Eyes Were (Making) God's (Eyes)

As noted the other day by Keren Richter, this puny economy has certainly encouraged me, and many of my comrades to pinch pennies and find new more cost-conscious ways of entertaining ourselves. I've always enjoyed entertaining in my home, and recently Leti inspired me to host a craft night, which I hope will be followed with more.

How to have a CRAFT NIGHT:

1.) Make some snacks!

2.) Have everyone bring work materials/refreshments; Set up work area with materials, refreshments, and example.

3.) Get to work!

**Some people might want to make costumes. This is okay.

** And some people may want to work on other projects. This is also allowed.

4.) Show off your work in an exhibition.

5.) OPTIONAL- Go to a party afterward to celebrate your hard work!

Something to think about New Yorkers (and LA)!!

Friend of Dorothy

Today, Callie posted on the Bust blog about the TV movie version of Alice in Wonderland which, like her, I remember loving as a child-- but also being a bit freaked out by. In fact, I think the scary aspect helped heighten my intrigue. 

This reminded me of another movie in that category: RETURN TO OZ

Oh yeah. That's a little Fairuza Balk as Dorothy!

This came out in 1985 (as did Alice in Wonderland!), and is something of a sequel to the The Wizard of Oz (starring Judy Garland, of course). It's actually based on the novels "The Land of Oz" and "Ozma of Oz" which were the second and third books in the Oz series begun by L.Frank Baum. There were fourteen in all! This one has a much darker spin from the beginning in comparison to its predecessor starting with when Dorothy is taken to a mental hospital by Aunt Em to treat her insomnia and for the crazy stories she tells about the Land of Oz! The doctor in the hospital is said to work miracles with electricity AKA gives SHOCK TREATMENTS! Dorothy escapes with the help of a mysterious girl who helps her back to Oz. Unfortunately Oz has become a terrible place due to the Gnome King's rule and she must rescue all her friends, and save Oz! 

By the movies that I liked as I kid, I think I was just destined to do drugs. There was no way around it. Watch the movie in its entirety HERE, you'll see what I mean.

Stuffed Cabbage

I mean, I always  thought basil was pretty good-- but then again maybe I'm just lame?

Ashley is totally Juliette Lewis if she were a comic book character! I hope she wins!

Is That Depression In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Unhappy To See Me?

INTERNSHIPS FOR THE JOBLESS
Lois Draegin, 55, lost a six-figure editing job. She now works unpaid for a start-up website, trading her knowledge for new online skills.

Do You Have Tickets To The Gun Show?

Michelle Obama does-- and it seems like the rest of country has something to say about it. After wearing sleeveless dresses four times (GASP!) in one week, one time during the State of the Union Address, and for her Official White House Portrait, people (with too much time on their hands) were in an uproar. According to Salon.com, "The Washington Post reports that it has received hundreds of reader complaints on the subject." Wow. HUNDREDS of people have found time in their days to write and complain about arms. ARMS! What's next? Pants? Ankles? Doubtful, but come on. In The Huffington Post's coverage on the subject, the First Lady responded to the talk via Social Secretary Desiree Rogers stating, "If I want to wear no sleeves to hear my husband speak, that's what I'm going to do." HA!

My favorite comparison photo in the Salon article is the one below of Jackie Kennedy at JFK's State of the Union Address. She's surrounded by shrewd old ladies with her own arms shining! That's right, Jackie, flaunt those biceps, you dirty girl!

With that I say-- Show off those pythons Michelle! GRRRR.

Don't Dream It Be It

When I was a kid, one of my dad's favorite movies was The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This may sound odd for a Southern middle class business man, but hey-- everybody has their guilty pleasures, I suppose.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - 20th Century Fox
Uploaded by Columbia-Pictures

The cast included Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon, and Meat Loaf who all went on to very promising performing careers, but I often wondered about the rest of the cast. I knew Richard O'Brien, who played Riff Raff and wrote the musical, went on to write and perform in sequal stinker, Shock Treatment. The only returning cast members happened to be his good friend Patricia Quinn who played Magenta, and "The Lips" in the opening credits (See above), and Little Nell Campbell who played Columbia. Little Nell has proved to be the most interesting to me as I've traced her career.

After Rocky Horror, Nell tried her hand at a singing career where she had a moderately popular single in Britain called "Do the Swim", and then went back to acting. She was a groupie in Pink Floyd's The Wall (although I doubt you'd be able to spot her), and starred in several of Derek Jarman's movies-- most notably Jubilee.








From the mid-80's to 1998, she owned 3 nightclubs in New York City, most famously Nell's (oft mentioned in Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho), and known for turning away A-list celebrities for fun. You may recognize the lounge in The Notorious B.I.G.'s video "Big Poppa", because not only did he frequent the place, but he shot the video here.  After being reincarnated as A through  C list celeb hangout NA, Nell's Nightclub became The Plumm in 2006, another club trying on the exclusive vibe, but I'm pretty sure the space has has already had its hay day. 

Here's a video of Nell being totally amazing (and probably under the influence of some unmentionables.)

In 2005, she had a kid, and returned to her home country of Australia after selling her Boerum Hill house to Heath Ledger, where presumably Michelle Williams still resides.

I Slipped I Tumbled I Fell

Major confession, y'all: Until the other day, I never really understood Tumblr.com! I have a blog and I have a Flickr account, so I really couldn't figure out what need I would have for another site for posting. But this was until the other day when everything changed! I actually looked at the site at the urging of my friend, Katherine, who told me she started her own Tumblr as an organizational tool of inspirational material. I guess that is really the reason for it, and what a good idea it is! I have a terrible habit of emailing web links to myself (only to lose them in my email), saving images that I like (only to forget where I found them), and this Tumblr thing really does a good job of getting all that in order.

Once my (ex)boss sent me a random email on a day off :

Do you know who shot this??

I'm sure she had the file on her computer, ran across it, and hadn't noted the photographer or origination. Had she had it all organized virtually on Tumblr, she could have easily figured out that it was taken by Mary Ellen Mark, and possibly noted why she saved it in the first place-- Not to mention linked back to where she found it!

So um yeah-- Anyway, I started one. If you have one too, lemme know and I'll link you up!

This is mine:
http://thehistoryofmyfuture.tumblr.com/

And Katherine's is:
http://practicalfancy.tumblr.com/

Baby Baby It's A Wild World

Just realized in addition to the ones I posted about the other day, this Georgina-Chapman-of-Marchesa-as-Marchesa-Luisa-Casati spread appeared in the March issue of US Harper's Bazaar.

I went crazy trying to find animals for this shoot-- especially the cheetah. The cheetah that ended up being used was a "plush cheetah sculpture" handcrafted and painted by artists at Hansa Toys. Before finding this life-size wildcat substitute, I was put in contact with a man named Larry Wallach who lives in East Rockaway and wrangles wild cats and other exotic animals. He literally has tigers in his back yard, and had even recently rescued an albino kangaroo from a coke dealing ring who were hiding blow in its pouch!

COKE-A-ROO!

Some may remember the national news story about the man who was keeping a 500 lb Bengal tiger in his apartment, and Larry the "Tiger Man" was the one who helped rescue the cat.

Here's a news story about Larry Wallach AKA "Tiger Man" and one of the biggest characters I've ever had the pleasure to speak with.

This kind of stuff is why I loved working at a fashion mag with a decent budget for shoots! Speaking of fashion, see below for some of the inspirational shots of Marchesa Casati used for the shoot. Just like the animals she so loved, she was a dangerous creature--Sadly most of all to herself.

Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks (As seen on the cover of Marchesa's biography Infinite Variety)

At the Ball of Famous Paintings 1935 Man Ray

Paul Poiret with model

1922 Man Ray Portrait

1912 Baron de Meyer

Shoe Bee Doo Bee Doo

My friend, Catherine recently started a shoe company with her friend, Haley, and their website is finally up!

Please check it out!

MARAIS USA

Cute video alert HERE.

ME- RRROWWWW!!

In honor of Fall Fashion Week I found a bunch of funny old jeans commercials that are pretty amazing.









this is a newer one, but it's one of my favorite commercials

Hmm, now what should I wear today?

Ms. Christensen You're Trying to Seduce Me

While I was still at Harper's Bazaar, I helped coordinate this photoshoot with Chuck Bass-- I mean, Ed Westwick and Helena Christensen in the March 2009 issue. I thought it turned out pretty awesome! (In response to the much discussed SJP/Vreeland editorial and cover: The newstand cover is (and are always) a total collage made by the art department, and the photos of SJP were based on actual photos of Diana Vreeland. If your qualm is with SJP's age, well, she ain't gettin' any younger, folks!)

Now on to Bass:

Photos shot by Terry Richardson at the St. Regis hotel and Tom Ford store









Also worked on this editorial called 'Street Chic' shot by Peter Lindbergh that turned out so much better than I'd imagined! It was shot right before Halloween weekend and Catherine McNeil actually borrowed the bunny suit for her Halloween costume. Funny.



See the rest: STREET CHIC

Heart to Hand

Hopefully there will only be a few more frigid weeks to winter, but no matter the weather I always tend to constantly be wrapped in a blanket when couch-potatoing in front of the tube anyway. Rather than opting for the couch potato's BFF, the SNUGGIE (Gross!), I stick with an old quilt made by my mom's aunt. 

I've always loved old quilts and the stories they tell. Women used to make them from rags and ragged clothing to keep their family's warm when they had no other choices. They were also made from the clothes of different family members and gifted to new babies as memory items.

I have one hanging above my bed given to me by my mother, and sewn by an unknown person in my family. This one was just made as a decoration:

Recently, I ran across Julie Floersch's sculptural quilts, and found them to be really intriguing and beautiful. Her work truly makes you appreciate the art of the needle. You may experience her work for yourself and all its tessallated goodness at Jan and Aya in Greenpoint, Brooklyn until March 1st.



Remember the movie, How to Make an American Quilt starring Winona Ryder (pre-klepto days)? They were making a wedding quilt in that one.

OOOOH BONUS TRIVIA: A group of people making a quilt is called a quilter's bee!

Take Me To Bed Or Lose Me Forever

I made these delicious chocolate truffles for Mike for Vday. The flags note all the reasons why I think he's awesome.

RECIPE

Grenache (The Middle):
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 small chai tea teabags (I used orange and spice tea)
2.5 Tb unsalted butter
3 Tb alcohol or extract (I used Blue Mountain Mist, which is AMAZING, but I think you can only get it in Jamaica or online-- You can use Grand Marnier, Kahlua, Almond Extract, Peppermint Extract, etc.)

Coatings:
Cocoa Powder
Confectioners Sugar 

Place chocolate chips in a medium sized heat safe bowl. Set aside. Heat cream with tea bags to a low simmer. Remove from heat and steep tea bags for 5-6 minutes. Remove tea bags, and add butter. Heat again then bring to a boil. Immediately pour boiling cream over chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth. Add liqueur. Cover and place in refrigerator until truffle mixture is firm (This will take several hours or overnight).

Once grenache sets, place powdered coating in a bowl. I used plain cocoa powder, and a mix of cocoa and confectioner's sugar. Using a melon baller, spoon, AND YOUR HANDS, form the chocolate into roundish bite-sized balls. Immediately roll the truffle in the coating and place on tray. Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm. Makes approx. 30 small truffles.

I also think this fingerprint jewelry by Imprint on my Heart is totally adorable without being too mush-mush.

HERS?

Sterling Silver Fingerprint Vertical Tag with Initials $375

HIS?

Sterling Silver Long Vertical Tag $425, shown with rough finish

See more HERE.