artsy fartsy friday with bil donovan

I name these things using the day of the week (it is Friday, right?) like it will become a regular thing. Bil Donovan does fashion and design stuff, and it's all delightful and colorful, but what I really like is his portraits of classic movie stars.

For more, including Marlene, Grace Kelly, and Katherine Hepburn. . . Continue reading!

Check out his website for others like Sophia Loren and Mae West, as well as his other work.

Jesus Hates Zombies feat Abraham Lincoln Hates Werewolves?

Came across this picture on Ben Templesmith's blog. He is illustrating the cover for the comic called Jesus Hates Zombies by Stephen Lindsay. Which sounds like the best thing ever. Templesmith used on old Russian-style icon, very cool, and it's a picture of Jesus hatin on zombies. Look at the shit. Look at that nail through the bat. Shit.

Unfortunately I've been drinking and it's making research hard. Yes, it's noon. Yes, this is an auspicious start to the day and the weekend.

And yes, even with minimal research, it is easy to find out how awesome Jesus Hates Zombies sounds. From the Amazon.com description:

The zombie plague has swept across the Earth, and Jesus has been sent down to take care of it. Along with Laz, (his loyal zombie sidekick) Jesus must unite the remaining humans to stand up and defeat the zombie menace. A werewolf-slaying Abe Lincoln makes his debut here, fighting in the 19th century while Jesus saves the world in the 21st century. Will these two historical heroes finally cross paths? You'll have to read to find out!

You think you're cooler than that? You think you are? Cos you're not.

fuck you new york, and thanks for the bedbugs.

slings & arrows of outrageous fortune

My roommate showed up last night, drunk, and threw a book down on the table. "This is for you. Hi, dollar table." What was it?

The PRIMA WindWaker guide. Yeah. . . And the rest of the story goes. And B picked it up and started flipping through it and that was it. She needs more Zelda. And then it turns out new roommate starting 10/01/09 (COUNTDOWN) HAS a GC and HAS WindWaker and HAS a TV screen?!

Shiiit. WW is the only of the games that I have played that I have played once. (That makes sense in there, somehow.) But I was just on the ZeldaWiki (shut up) and looked up the upcoming Wii game. Ok. So look at the concept art. Really, you're not excited?

But on the other hand. . . "He indicated that he would like to have a whole new control system for the game, and that it was possible that one-to-one swordplay (first person perspective sword combat) could be implemented." I dunno. I'm all for innovation but I don't even like FPSs. (They make me motion sick. I'm lame.) But we'll see. Having never used a Wii, maybe it makes sense, and I'm sure people will sound off. Til then. . .

to take arms against a sea of troubles
I don't got a Wii.

and by opposing them, end them
So the thing on the other end of the equal sign of this equation is. . . I need more local geeky friends. Who have Wiis. Hi. Can I borrow that?

Dorian Gray Trailer

I've been keeping the upcoming film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's gothic classic The Picture of Dorian Gray in my peripheral vision and so I just came across the trailer that was posted earlier this summer. In terms of one in a spate of upcoming vaguely-Victorian imagery'd films, it looks like it will take advantage of the same requisite boho/filthy rich imagery, cast in a gunmetal/steel-blue palette (and idiotic font choices) to remind us that this isn't The Importance of Being Earnest.

But in the interest of full disclosure, I haven't actually read Dorian Gray all the way through. All I have is a beat-up copy of some Wilde plays, many of them funny except that melodrama Salome (John the Baptist is often, when painted as a wee baby-child chillaxing with JC, shown with a plate-- COS HIS HEAD'S GOING ON IT.) Harper has a fantastic complete Wilde on the bookstore shelves that looks lovely and that I covet for my own edification and because I like the picture on the spine (can't find an image. . . sorry kids.) What, you say? "It's in the public domain?" Is that what you say? I know-- and I am, as I should have mentioned before, suitably embarrassed. But not as embarrassed as Colin Firth should be of that facial get-up he has in the trailer. (Ha!)

New Best Thing Ever: Los Hooligans' "Despeinada"

The Los Hooligans, as far as I can tell, were a Mexican group in the 60s. It's hard to find information on them (with just a basic google search) but you can tell from this vid that their dance moves made them the coolest kids on the block. (The very hip to it audience seems to think so too.)

I'm trying to dig up an mp3 so I'll keep you posted :)

Orientalism Yeah!

This is the illustration "Demonism" by Vania Zouravliov, a positively amazing artist--spooky, precise, detailed, strong, exotic, erotic--I just incidently discovered. I'm hoping to put a post together with more art in the next week so you can see what he has to offer, so here's a preview.

Fantasy Shopping for the Purposes of Auto-Housewarming

So I'll be moving apartments by the end of the month (or we better be-- either that or stuck in Maison Shithole with Wop Slumlord for another month. I'm not kidding. Our building is sagging and the windows are not lined up.)

Been wistfully looking at house decor that I (still) can't afford; but it's warranted to some degree. We'll finally be moving into a real apartment (we aren't squatting, because we're paying a rent, but we're zoning squatting in that we're living in a commercial/light industry space. . . as is the child-beating fortune-teller downstairs.) So in this new fantasy apartment we actually have a stove, a kitchen sink, all mod cons. Like real people. With real stuff.

I'm looking for something that crosses a faux camp boudoir or rococo-ish (lamps, couches) aesthetic with clean modern lines (in cabinetry and bath and curtains especially) and a little whimsy. So I want all those punk rock flyers and posters we've got in nice frames. I want to look like adults live in this new place. Of course, I'm talking like this is going to happen tomorrow-- it's not; we're dealing with the snakiest of snakes: Manhattan brokers on what was originally listed as a NO FEE apartment. But it is just too nice to pass on: French doors, a kitchen, nice building, good neighborhood near the bars (and near the Joe Strummer mural.)

So now that those brokers are about to break the bank, let's talk fantasy purchases because that's as far as we'll get after we're done funding their Jets tickets and fashionable coke habit. Of the products I've found this is my favorite. Useless, sure. But cute. Why do I need a cream caddy? Because real people have cream caddies. (Which aren't called cream pitchers or jugs or cream thingies.)

Cute though is a problem. My roommates are an ex-Marine and a guy who was in Subincision. . . so I guess the bedroom will keep looking like this: Continue reading!

(Which like I said, I love. But I want FRAMES dammit.) Because it looks pretty swell when it happens. Check out our NWA poster (we also have a Bad Brains in a frame-- all found on the street when FIT kids-- urkkk-- evacuated for the summer, from what I remember):

Pure class, eh.

Here are some other favorites:

OUTRAGEOUSLY priced sofa from Urban Outfitters. (not pictured because UO is a dick, not news) . . toothbrush holder in the shape of Bambi's absentee father. . . TOAST CLOCK. Shiiiit. . . This Sweet Throw Pillow.

YEAH PS Urban Outfitters (besides PS- thanks for letting every Douchebag Mackelroy go around wearing Fred Perrys that I still can't afford- or fit, since you're not carrying girls. . . ) This looks like it's supposed to be used for something else. I don't know what. But something.

Mindless Drug Hoover: "Fuck Off." From Jim's sweet SFRP mix :)

Amanda Blank? More like Amanda Blah!

Oh, I am clever. (Also grumpy. Sorry.) Two things prompted me to post this. One is that you all know how I'm on the cutting edge of music ("the Offspring are still around? Durr.") Second is that I was sitting around waiting to do something very important with my future roommate (it's apartment hunting time aka getting fucked up the ass by Manhattan brokers time.) He was showing me some songs he likes (Fleet Foxes-- ok cool; Matt & Kim-- ugh) and when he would describe ones he didn't like, or an album that the song came from he didn't like, he'd say "it just didn't work for me." Which on one hand seems like a nice way (and he's a nice guy) to say fuck it, it was shit, but on the other hand actually is a good descriptor for some things. Things that are uninteresting so that you become disinterested. (See what I did there?)

So going back to the cutting-edge part of this blog. Amanda Blank is I guess a newish big thing-- foul mouthed female MC from Philly, not hard on the eyes-- marketable, easily packaged for the hipster crowd (cute and white, how convenient.)

She generously has a lot of tracks available on her Myspace so it's easy to get a sampling of her music, but I can't figure out what the difference between her tritely explicit lyrics and the Pussycat Dolls & co-- sure she can talk fast. But if you want some fast talking, go listen to this-- yeah, even this is more interesting. If you want some snarly female spunk that is smart and dirty at the same time (and SAX), go listen to "Never Say Never," referenced in Blank's "I Might Like You Better." Amanda Blank seems like the Lady Gaga of the female MC crowd-- intriguing for about ten seconds, and since this is mostly through the hype, actually hearing the music is like coming up against a brick wall. It isn't that it's terrible; it's that it's neither here nor there. It just doesn't work for me.

On the other hand, she is part of Diplo's interesting remix of Santogold's "I'm a Lady" with sample + cover of LL Cool J's "I Need Love," which is found on the pretty darn good Top Rankin Mixtape. I really hate the way the Skreemr embed thing looks, so click on the links below.

• "I'm a Lady" Santogold (Diplo remix feat. Amanda Blank)
  
• "Never Say Never" by Romeo Void
• "I Need Love" LL Cool J

Thursday cute overload. Or ladybugs eat aphids?

detail of The Aphid and the Ladybird by *JenZee on deviantART. This image has been cropped and displayed for commentary/reporting purposes and is [c] 07/05/09 by the artist.

hair hair everywhere

I just got a haircut a few weeks ago-- a chelseahawk! (And just in time for the weather to get. . . cold?-- it's been chilly in the city.) And yeah, haircuts do carry a lot of cultural baggage, but it's important to remember that it defines for and affects those who are so concerned about pigeon-holing that they're backing themselves into a culturally dead corner.

In a slideshow over at TIME, "Michelle Obama's Hair," the commentator notes that "Michelle switched up her usual straight strands for a White House event celebrating musician Stevie Wonder. Having a black First Lady who is widely praised as sophisticated and stylish has done little to calm the debate about whether black women should straighten their hair or wear it naturally curly."

Here's a thought. There is no "should." (This is a comment on the existence of the debate rather than the commentary for the photos.) People should wear their hair however they fucking want. Except shitlocks. And long hair on guys. But you get what I'm sayin. (Of course, I'm not black. Maybe it's a black thing. Oh wait. All human beings have hair.)

Anyway, what was your favorite haircut, dear reader, ever? I think this new one is my top one just because it's a nice big change and now I like to touch myself (where the hair is shaved, hahaha, funny huh.) Second fave was the Bettie Page one our uber-overstayed-his-welcome houseguest last fall gave me, though I never got the courage/motivation/hair products to put it up in victory rolls. . .