Thanksgiving is almost here. Wednesday is Bentley's Thanksgiving, which is hands down my FAVORITE MEAL of the year. I have been salivating thinking about it since Halloween ended. Becky and I are gonna make some delicious dishes together, I have been wanting to do Yams from scratch, and hopefully I will be able to find an interesting recipe. yummmmm. CAN NOT WAIT.

this week is very weird. I am house sitting at my Dad's which is in the North West part of town. I hate this part of town, and being deserted there really affects my mood and overall state of health. I eat crap food, watch cable, get nothing done and sleep horribly. The dogs are cute and make up for all this, but Charlie, the puppy pisses on EVERYTHING and despite my greater efforts to clean it all, the house is STINKY, adding to my demise.

I have only been able to be at my place for an hour or two everyday. Poor poor Gustav. He is currently planted in my lap and sprawled out across my wrists as I type this. He truly is a mama's boy.

lack of money and work woes have gotten me down right now. I came home wanting to get my homework for tuesday done, but I am so down in the dumps that I am just gonna get a burrito and watch freaks and geeks...

anyways, I try to live my life by the golden rule, keep my complaints to minimum and count my blessings daily, but, every now and then I am reminded that I am not immune to being an asshole. I hate realizing I have hurt someones feelings, which is why I spend most of my time painstakingly trying to avoid it at all costs. but i am human, and i mess up sometimes. i feel like shit...

I wish I could say the feast of Wednesday will be a cure all for my grief. Only time will tell.

~Manders

Lazy Sunday

oh ya know, just bloggin' about another lazy day.

Gustav and I had a very romantic night.

-rolled outta bed around 2
-pancakes? yes.
-cleaned the house. beer everywhere.
-bath time!
-errands
-breakfast for dinner? yes. tofu, veggie sausage and sweet potato home fries (pics later)
-face mask & hot coco
-t.v. time with the meow meow

entirely un-productive...

hung out in my yard (that I am in love with) for a bit

been listening to A LOT of Die Antwoord, and rockin' out.

gustav enjoys watching my madness

was liking the lighting outside, and my "i need to do laundry" outfit

the coldish weather led to this impromptu legwarmer/sandals combo, which i kinda liked...

Gustav has been a total fart monster tonight (more like, EVERY night) and this delightful photo was taken about 3 seconds before he planted to most gruesome SBD...

goodnight my loves,

MANDERZ

lazy thursday

getting the day off for federal holidays will never, not be THE BEST.

played an intense game of Pictionary last night with the gang, and was able to SLEEP IN today!!! It was glorious! I put a blanket over my window to keep allllll light out (which I am usually scared to do because I am worried I will never wake up).

woke up around noon and met up with Becky for lunch. Old friends catching up over pho and Vietnamese sandwiches... It was just lovely.

Afterwords I got a bunch of stuff together and headed to Bookman's where I was actually offered quite a bit for a change. about 150 in credit, but unfortunately that only meant 43 in cash (which is what I had gone for...) So I used a bit of the credit to snatch some magazines, books and records and took the rest of the scraps in cash.

I also had time to finally do a little project in my yard!

The rest of my one day vacation has included a yummy meal, a face mask and kitten cuddles...

back to the real world tomorrow...

but, Things to Look Forward To:
-Israel this summer
-east coast tour 2010 (???)
-pumpkin pie
-flanel sheets
-scarves, wool socks and pea coats
-thanksgiving on the Ranch
-getting a desk
-secret santas!
-Bentley's Thanksgiving (the best meal of the year...)

obligatory meow meow pics

got this about 2 weeks too late... who is up for halloween in December??!!??

my little yard project

tonights meal was a taco salad with grilled yellow and mexican grey squash, but this is a photo from another nights amazing meal...

Kanye West; Runaway

I have never been a closeted Kanye fan. Sure, he is prick. A talented one. I still think seeing him live was one of the greatest shows I have ever been to. Many of you might disagree with me, but I think if anything Kanye's artistic intuition and exquisite taste is worth noting. I especially appreciative that he, unlike MANY OTHERS give credit when credit is due. His blog, which I have followed for many years is basically him paying homage to all the artists (decorative, literature, high art, musicians, and otherwise) who inspire him.

Runaway his highly anticipated music video/short film does not fall short of my personal artistic expectations for Mr. West. To put it simply, it is beautiful.

A bit contrived, a bit too much rehashed imagery, a bit too much male gaze, a bit too much dialogue (in my opinion, it needs none, the music and imagery is enough). It may be a bit of all these things, but it is a WHOLE lotta beautiful. So I am letting all that go.

I see this as Kanye attempting to evoke his inner Barney. To me the comparisons between Runaway and Cremaster Cycle were undeniable. Hybrid creatures, birds eye sweeping shots, off kilter imagery and/or props, cuts to unrelated scenes, awkward moments of frozen interaction, and more indescribable similarities. This may be completely coincidental, but hardly ignorable.

While there may be many reasons to hate or discredit Kanye, hopefully this is one reason to reconsider. (I mean, come on, he wrote a song admitting his douchebag-ness)

Please watch it, and PLEASE tell me what you think.














on a side note, my girl Nicki Minaj narrates the opening scene!!! LUV HER!

EXCITING NEWS

I am not sure if I have mentioned this on my blog before but my momma is a MAJOR måJø® BEATLES fan... Like insane fanatic status. Growing up, our living room was basically a living shrine/museum. Dolls, albums, posters, tapestries, prints, collectors plates, etc...

It wasn't until we sold our house and moved about 2 years ago that she found her long lost "Beatles Box" (which she had assumed was lost in the move nearly 16 years earlier). This box includes hundreds of posters, magazines, newspaper clippings, photos, collector cards AND her concert ticket from the 1966 Shea Stadium concert!

Of course, she was more than thrilled to have finally found this box, but more importantly she was able to really share it with me for the first time.

I recently asked her to let me borrow the box. I have been planning on archiving the material and organizing it for her for a long time, and this year I am doing so for her birthday.

Little did I know... this is going to take forever!!! And in addition to making everything archivably safe, I am planning on photographing and/or scanning a great deal of it. Most of this stuff I have never seen and I imagine is very hard to find online. Thus... I will be starting a NEW TUMBLR just for the purpose of sharing all this material.

It is going to be a lot of work, but believe me, it is gonna be worth it. There is some really amazing stuff in that box, including photos or things from a few other artists.

note: my mom's "married"/ "not married" captions on these photos, in her little 12 year old handwriting...

i love this! it is hard to see, but one of the "errors" in the bottom one is mama cass' missing double chin...

ART BOMB #4 ERIKA SOMOGYI

OH MY LORDY! it is an ART BOMB!!!!

(I know it has been a long long time, but I have an exam tomorrow, and thus I am using blogger and this post as a distraction from my studies)

ERIKA SOMOGYI American, 1977

I remember first seeing her work in an issue of TOKION (i think) years back and the impression that one painting left with me has forever stuck. I was blown away by her immaculate sense of serenity blended with the romantic chaos that is, the universe. I find myself attempting to copy her color palette every time I am working on something of my own, but damn, is it impossible. Her work is also what has motivated me to experiment with water colors. She captures so beautifully the experience of one coming to terms with the insanity that is nature, possibly an experience aided by some (heavy) hallucinogens, but nonetheless, mind blowing.

I need to go camping more often...

here is her website (I won't stop anybody from buying me the Divine Light print for sale, if they feel so obliged)

world, meet gustav