happy holidays

::embroidering has just begun on this side::
and here's another example of my gifting sensibilities this year. by now, I'm sure you're thinking, what's up with all this white? this is going against my color grain... but at the same time fits completely with my first rule of any artistic pursuit — follow that gut instinct. and in this case, that white fabric and I fell in love. and now I'm about to send it across the country on its merry way.

I've really jumped into the making stuff kick this year... hilarious because the amount of space we occupy now is a postage stamp compared to our digs in Nashvegas. And even if I did want to sew with a pattern, there would be no room to lay it out. I have just enough room to haul out my sewing machine between meals and marie's projects in the "kitchen" to sew my small-ish stuff. and yet, I have to say, I love it. (although. a crafting room would be great. just saying).

Angry Chicken has some hilarious gift tags to print out... if you know they're going to the kind of person who has a sense of humor. (and, of course, I do know those kinds of people!)

hand made holiday

from pillows to purses, hopefully I'm getting it all in.
these photos are ridiculous, since there's basically no light here on the east coast after about 3 p.m. but I figured they'd never been seen if i didn't post now, since they're heading under a christmas tree soon. I usually get the pre-gift jitters about now... wondering if the present will be well received, or if it'll end up hidden away and unloved. hopefully, I'll hit the next stage in the gifting process... it doesn't matter as long as I tried my best, made something I'd love to get, and made it to the best of my ability. whew. hope i get to that place soon.

p.s. the lining of this bag, which I didn't photograph, is vintage fabric with cute, wise sayings... the most apropos right now? a stitch in time saves nine (or seven hundred in my case).

*snow daze*

oh the holidays... nothing motivates me like the thought of a snowed-in Sunday, when it's not impossible to get out of the house but pretty undesirable! so, here's the sewn, and still unstuffed pillow I'm probably going to give to a lucky recipient this Christmas... probably one of those people on my list who I never know what to get for them (read: me mum). This same person deserves an all-expense paid trip to Italy for a month, but since I can't quite afford that, a handmaid pillow is the next best thing...

hope you're having a great weekend, and aren't covered in slushyness!

pregnancy pregnancy jiggety jig!

::Michael Cera and Ellen Page at the Toronto premier of JUNO::

It seems like the topic on everyone's lips these days, from celebrity baby bumps to the hottest indie flicks— pregnancy. Marie and I went to the latest offspring offshoot screening, Juno, last week. Awesome soundtrack, great story and the acting — cutthroat zingers delivered effortlessly by Ellen Page, and my favorite person in the whole movie, Allison Janney. Jason Bateman and Michael Cera never actually interact in the movie, but do seem to fit in a vehicle together, post their "Arrested Development" hijinks.

I do have to say, however, that I found the parental reaction to Juno's pregnancy to be a bit unrealistic... maybe it's just me, but I don't think most parents I knew in high school would take it as calmly if their daughter walked in preggers. but I'm sure that's just my midwestern upbringing talking. Another thing that bothered us was the insert of a Gibson guitar plug, not because we're guitar-hating neo revolutionaries, but because of Gibson's conservative stance on pregnancy, homosexuality, etc. and if we let it, the whole plot was being influenced by the Gibson agenda in our brains. I had no problem with Juno's eventual decision, but I had a sour taste in my mouth after the whole promo. Thoughts? Please.

BUT that doesn't mean you should have any sour/bitter tastes, because this flick is worth seeing (especially after the Love in the Time of Cholera drivel we sat through. shudder).

by any other name?

Poverty Jet Set: (page 6)

A group of people given to chronic traveling at the expense of long-term job stability or a permanent residence. Tend to have doomed and extremely expensive phone call relationships with people names Serge or Ilyana. Tend to discuss frequent-flyer programs at parties.


—Douglas Coupland's Generation X

Even though I'm not technically in the realm of generation x-ers, I think this is still pretty pertinent... thought I'd share the meaning behind my choice of url. AND because today is my friend Natalie's birthday and she read this awesome tome with me in college during our even awesome post-apocalyptic literature course. Where we also watched, coincidentally, Red Dawn.

laisse tombe les filles

some sixties vibes from France Gall to get you over humpday...

p.s. don't let the Munster-like intro turn you off... on the other hand, if you're as big of a fan of the Munsters as I am, go ahead, compare away!

record(ed)

apparently awards season has started down in the land of indie. here's a delight from Craig Zobel's candid study of the recording industry: "Great World of Sound."

advertising+art

::Trend:: by Matt Siber, from the series “Compare to…,” 2006/2007. Digital C-print, 25 x 20 inches.

because I'm on a roll... the Photographic Resource Center has this awesome paradoxical show up right now, AD/AGENCY, featuring photographers who manipulate advertising images, or use and abuse commercial photography to comment on consumerism. The best part is that the curator, Leslie Brown is showing it now! During the holiday blitz! Art humor.

one more reason...

::Lucy In the Field With Flowers::
Oil on canvas by Unknown
24" x 30"
Acquired from trash in Boston

...to love Boston. MOBA — the Museum of Bad Art. This place is on my wish list of visitations here in the greater beantown area. And the whole idea of the museum reminds me of a documentary we saw a month ago — My Kid Could Paint That — about the debacle surrounding 4-year-old Marla Olmsted. The doc not only addressed whether or not Marla could actually paint the works displayed under her name, but if what she was said to have created was actually ART. love it. love it. Personally, I'm not here to judge Marla (she's got enough to worry about) or art (plenty of awesome books/magazines/critics to do that). But it is interesting to jump into the whole debate and throw some opinions around.

For example, I recently got into a heated debate about when someone can be defined as an 'artist.' We had to actually call up a third party to ask their thoughts. This third party put in her two cents on putting it at, 'when a person creates art, they are an artist.' This same third party just told me two weekends ago that (and I quote), "Painting is dead." Which leads me to believe getting your MFA in New York is potentially hazardous to your health. Proceed with caution.
(*disclaimer: I've also known several others to get their mfa's in new york who've turned out fairly normal... of course it took a moment or two for them to snap out of their pretentious fog... it happens, I guess).

bronx=up, battery=down

once when I was a baby (don't worry, I don't actually remember this... it's been retold to me so many times it's become family folklore), I was having a pissed off moment. You know the type of moment -- the kind where my parents tried everything. Fed me. Changed me. Walked me. Nothing worked. So my dad started singing a song from On the Town (the Broadway version as you'll obviously notice)... "New York New York It's a helluva town/ The Bronx is up and the Battery's down/The people ride in a hole in the ground/ New York New York! It's a helluva town!" and then Gene Kelley proceeds to do several amazing dance moves...

ANYway, he sang it approximately 56 times in a row. I can't be certain as to whether I kept crying because he was singing, or stopped because he'd hit that magical number of 56...

But anyway, I've been humming that song all day, because we're heading to la grande pomme tonight and I can't wait! So here's to you, dad. and gene kelly, of course.