More stuff i have been working on...

today, as a matter of fact.

Some art i have been working on

So some of these are a little older, but this is the stuff i have been working on. or am about to restart working on.





More to come!

Music I am listening to...

This week, i am listening to...

Teenage Dream, sung by Darren Criss, from Glee. i can't help myself, i love this song. The original, by the always amusing Katy Perry, kind of fell below my radar, but i love the gender bending in this version, and the (sort of dreamy in a non-pervy way) Darren Criss has a ridiculously pure voice. i am more then interested to see what they have him sing next.

The Mad Men Theme Song, with a twist. Not sure if there is a single on this one, but the video is a fun watch, and the singer, Allison Williams, is the daughter of Brian Williams, the news anchor. It is two songs mashed up, "A Beautiful Mine" by RJD2 and "Nature Boy", an old standard. According to the video information, this was filmed in one take, no cuts, no lip-syncing or auto-tuning. very impressive.

"All I Want" by Ahn Trio, sung by Susie Suh. I don't know too much about these ladies, other then the musicians are sisters. This song is haunting to me.

I am also currently obsessed with Better Off as 2 and 3 Little Words by Frankmusik, a british electropop musician. Very Pet Shop boys, eighties europop sensibilities.

Ruby Tuesday, Sympathy for the Devil and Gimme Shelter, all by the Rolling Stones. I have been in a Stones mood lately. Weird, right? Especially since I have been listening to Glee songs. Oh well. Anyway, within the last few years I have been getting into some older stuff, and the Stones have quickly become a favorite of mine. I also think that they use some of "Ruby Tuesday" in glee, for sad background piano music. I might be nutty though.

catching up, again, again and photo stuff

yeah, so clearly need to work on being on top of the blog.

want to start up picture of the day, but need to decide if i want to start now or january. but to get the ball rolling (and to maybe give some other shutterbugs some ideas) i am going to post the list of topics my photo friends from the advisory board and myself came up with for our (sadly) never got off the ground photo contest. We wrote down random words, song titles, books and the like and placed them in a bag to be pulled out and used for a theme in a photograph. here is the bag:

Some of these i did already, but new start and all! Feel free to join in!

(in no order)

Stop coming to my house
False alarm
Breathe me
Crowds

Typography

Texture

"Ratts [sic] of the Capital" (song by Mogwai, i believe)

"Love is in Need of Love Today" Stevie Wonder

"Funny Time of Year" Beth Gibbons

Kicking and Screaming

Single color, full picture

Depression

Closing in

Work/Life balance

Rain

Sound

"Sympathy for the Devil" The Rolling Stones

i wanna be a pie-maker.

no, really. i think i may have it slightly romanticized due to my love of "Pushing Daisies", but still, i like making pies.

this, like most things i want to do, is a relatively new desire. but i made an apple pie the other day, and had fun doing it. people have asked me why i don't want to be a chef, and it is mostly because i really don't want to HAVE to make food that other people tell me to make.

but a pie-maker has free reign! i also feel like pies are the fun member of the dessert family, you have the freedom to do more experimenting then you would with cakes. the filling is where it is at, my friends!

anyway, one apple pie down, and tomorrow i am making two, maybe three more. i need to get some pie tins.

a picture of my recent pie-venture:



it has stars. like the stars in my eyes and on Wonder Woman's bracelets.

sigh.

Music I am listening to...

Florence + The Machine, especially the songs "Cosmic Love" and "Kiss With a Fist". Cosmic Love has been in rotation for me since it was used on "So You Think You Can Dance" earlier this year, with it's strong drum beats and Flo's amazingly complex voice. This band (which is actually Florence and a rotation group of musicians, picked for their appropriateness song by song) has been getting a lot of attention lately, primarily because of their song being featured in the commercial (and maybe the movie?) for "Eat, Pray, Love", which you should, by no means, hold against them.

"Dream On" by Robyn: Robyn is someone who has seen a lot of success overseas, but kind of fell flat over here in the states after her first few singles in the 90s. This is a great Europop song, good beat, good lyrics, good singing. Also in this category is "You've Changed" by Sia, the same lady who sang the song for the most amazing tv finale ever, "Breathe Me" for "Six Feet Under" (and about 100 other shows trying to convey some sort of life changing huge event). "You've Changed" is also pure europop, kind of makes you want to get up and boogie a little, if you are into that sort of thing.

I would be lying to you and myself if I didn't include at least one Kelly Clarkson song, so this time it is "All I Ever Wanted" from her latest album. I love Kelly. LOVE KELLY. And am not even remotely ashamed of it. This song has such a catchy hook (is it a hook? I think it is a hook) and just showcases her gritty vocals. Best Idol Winner Ever.

I also have a huge amount of love for Tori Amos, and "Cooling" is a pretty amazing song. This is the live version (I am always a huge fan of live versions of songs) but there is a studio version out there also. I want to learn how to play this on the piano. Shouldn't take long at all, right?

The Kings of Leon's new song "Radioactive" is pretty great, I anxiously waited for it to be released after i saw the video for it a few weeks ago. Love this dude's voice. Also, another catchy hook. I think I need to look up what a hook is.

My "Oldie But Goodie" for this post is Carly Simon's "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be". I have loved Ms. Simon ever since I was a kid, she lived on the cape (Martha's Vineyard), I went to school with her kids, and that voice is amazing. During one of my recent "listen to every song on my iPod" periods, I heard this song and was taken by how beautiful it was. Pretty haunting singing, and I think the thing that I love about the song is the writing. I always listen to lyrics the same way I read poetry, and there are just lines upon lines of great writing in this song.

More will be posted!

Back again!

Back from the wedding/beach world tour! The wedding of my two good friends was PHENOMENAL, and the reception was by far one of the best times i have had in a while. loved every minute of it! The beach, as always, was a blast, good friends, good food, tons of beach reading. it can all be summed up by the following picture:

His name is Puff and he liked to smoke.

vacation

heading to a wedding in PA then the Outer Banks, so will post when i can (see, this is why i avoided an announcement) and will finish my tv stuff when i am back! will probably have some pics to post!

FALL TV! part 1

Fall is one of those equally exciting AND distressing times for me, as there is an influx of new television shows and old returning favorites. I am a person who loves my teevee, and don't feel even slightly guilty about how much effort i put into watching it. With the invention of the DVR my "workload" has significantly improved, although there are still a few messy weeks at the beginning of the season, when i start the arduous task of narrowing down my "must watch" list.

so i thought i would put out there what shows i am watching this year, which new shows i am watching and which shows i may have to give up on...although not any have made that part of the list yet. i also usually relegate some shows to "computer watching" and some of those get bumped to the regular "big teevee" now and then.

So far this season:

Sundays (sort of a full day)

9:00 Rubicon. Bryan and i are totally digging this nerdy sort of spy/intelligence/mystery. I have heard some complaints that it is moving too slow, but so far, the pacing seems right for a steady build up of the overarching mystery. solid acting, great character development.

10:30 The Big C. i LOVE Laura Linney. Always have, always will. and although this has a serious subject matter, i have found each episode to be extremely uplifting so far.

10:00 Weeds. i like the new direction, although was a little surprised it got renewed already for next year. but sticking with it. i need to see how it ends for the Botwins.

coming soon:

9:00 Dexter. i have NO idea how they are going to top last season, but i say that every season, and each one is better then the last. although i can't imagine another season ender like the last one...


Mondays

9:00 The Event. while nothing could ever take the place of "Lost", this show gave me a few tingles here and there this week. I already know some of what is going on, i think, but am still enjoying the direction the first episode went in. and who knew i missed Carrie Weaver as much as i did! Laura Innes has always been sort of an underrated actress in my mind, so i am excited to see her in something regular.

10:00 Hawaii Five-0. so i DVR'ed this without any expectations and LOVED it when i finally got to it today. While i initially tuned in to see Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, i enjoyed the rest of the cast (Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan, who i am more familiar with from the "Ocean's" movies) and especially loved seeing Jean Smart. May get bumped up from DVR status.

10:00 Chase. this one was off my radar but finally, one of the commercials made me think it might be good. it may be my love of kick-ass lady leads (thank you, Lynda Carter) but i watched this live on monday and must say i am interested enough to watch it again. i think i will end up switching this with "H5-0" in the rotation, and catch it the next day or during a dead time during the week. but i found the acting to be decent and loved seeing my favorite "Prison Break" dude in a new show (Sucre, Amaury Nolasco)


Tuesdays

8:00 Glee. whatever. i love this cheesy ass show. all of it. every single little piece of cheddar. love it. and this season, MORE BRITNEY!

9:00 Raising Hope. this one started out not being on the list, but last night made me laugh for some reason, so i will watch a few more times to see how i feel. the big bonus for me? Cloris Leachman. i mean, what what? she was Betty White before Betty White. and i mean that with no disrespect to Betty.

9:30 Running Wilde. another show i am keeping low expectations for, since "Arrested Development" can never be replaced. the first episode had some moments, i will keep watching to see how things turn out, but i worry about the future of this show already (first ep. was retooled and rewritten after the original didn't go over too well, so i would have hoped for more steady laughs). I am hoping to see more funny stuff in the background, which was a big reason i loved "AD". I saw a few things last night. cautiously optimistic.

coming soon:

No Ordinary Family. Seems like a Disney version of "Heroes", but i am a comic geek, so i might like it!

ok, more to come, off to watch Modern Family!

ok, hopefully for reals this time...

so i am ready to blog again! not sure what i am going to blog about, but a lot of things floating through my head, art, tv, things i hate, things i love and yes, food (most of which i love, just so we are clear). not really going to advertise that this little blog thing has started up again, but hopefully i will start having a good stream of stuff soon, and my peeps can start reading this thing regularly. i MIGHT be looking for another place to put some art pics up, since that was one of the things i was really debating about on this site, but until then, i will probably keep putting some pics up here. let this also serve as a "kick in the ass" to start working on some art.

anyway, here goes, hopefully i stick with it as well as i did the first year!