My Spine.

"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of man, even those who hang themselves" - Blaise Pascal

Yep, the binomial coefficient guy (surely you have just as fond a memory of geometry as I do). Somehow philosophy is easier to understand from a mathematician. (***Ed. note: Now that I've actually read one of his books in its entiriety, I won't advertise it here. I was disgusted. I like the quote above though, so I'll leave it - M. 07/28/10)


Full entry to come soon.

It's finals week and I've been slammed. I'm packing, selling, shipping, giving away, painting, gluing, origami-ing... trying to make it through the day, just like you guys. Send me your well wishes and I will do the same for you :)

Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.

<3 M

Kansai Airport in Osaka. On my way home...

  

Riots.

Greetings & salutations, all.

This has been a very tumultuous week. Finally all my business purchases arrived (Thank God), but I lost some co-workers to the recession and a friend was lost to jail.

I'm not familiar with the detention system, but only people on the visitors log can come, and only at certain times, depending on what cell block the inmate is in. Images of "OZ" flashed through my mind. I wondered if I was gonna get shanked in the hallways. I'm posting now so all is well.

Below is one of my screen print projects. I've had this blank canvas bag forever and finally decided on an image I want to tote around. It's reminiscent of early woodblock prints. At first I thought it was a female puppeteer, and I wanted to make the puppet a man. My freehand skills are lacking (and drawing in permanent marker doesn't leave much room for error) so I left it as is. Once the print is made I'll paint in the features.

I like my men on a string :)

I drew a quick sketch of this while watching "Alice in Acidland" Lately I've been obsessed with Something Weird videos. They make those 60s propaganda films and light snuff stuff. Click the link and watch the trailer. I was surprised that Bettie Page was on their roster. "The Wizard of Gore" scream at the 1:48 mark makes me laugh every time :)

I also watched the season 4 ender for Miami Vice. I didn't see that coming, but I'll know once season 5 comes in if they jumped the shark or not. Say it ain't so, Crockett!

Given that bail money had to be available no new projects were started in the last week, but I had the screen print stuff lying around so I went for it... I HATE being idle.

Finished a book, started another. Began a workout regimen I'll comment on later as it progresses. Learned a very important lesson....

"Love is the pursuit of shadows"

Is it a bad idea to pick someone up while on the clock? Who cares.. hopefully I don't go chickenshit...

Venus.

Promises, Promises.

I'm breaking one of my own rules: I decided to show you all my 1/2 finished works. Website preparation has been a bitch; sometimes I wish I wasn't so scatterbrained. I'm doing this in the hopes that I can choose ONE of these to focus on and finish. My goal is to have a completed work on my site before my trip to Japan, so when I hand out my business card there's something on my site other than a whole bunch of bullshit.

This is my little origami squad. I recently started making these to zone out, yet still keep my mind active. I was surprised at how peaceful the whole process is.

This is my first mask project in at least 4 years. I'm thinking a bit of a Carnivale vibe. Not quite sure where I want to go with it yet. Needs more paint and sealant before I start working on it again.

This is my "Miami Vice" Florida meets Grandma's-Worst-Nightmare tropical shirt. I have to drop by the suite to pick up the rest of the finishings. Not sure if I want to bring it with me and wear it on my trip, or save it for my site. These are the hard decisions I'm forced to make these days.

And last but not least is my wall art.

I did the background yesterday and added everything else today. Took a picture of it as the hot glue was still drying; it's fresh off the presses. I wanted to add a poem by José Martí because this poem really struck me and would've been perfect for the piece, but the notebook it's scrawled in is missing. Kinda bummed about that.

Anyway, just doing a quick check in so that you guys know that I'm still on my grind and I'm not full of shit ;)

M.

Happiness Trigger.

Goodbye, Christ

"Listen, Christ, you did alright in your day, I reckon ... But that day's gone now.

They ghosted you up a swell story, too, Called it Bible-- But it's dead now.

The popes and the preachers've made too much money from it.

They've sold you to too many.

Kings, generals, robbers, and killers -- Even to the Cossacks,

Even to Rockefeller's Church,

Even to THE SATURDAY EVENING POST.

You ain't no good no more.

They've pawned you till you've done wore out.

Goodbye, Christ Jesus Lord God Jehova,

Beat it on away from here now.

Make way for a new guy with no religion at all --

A real guy names Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME --

I said, ME!

Go ahead on now, you're getting in the way of things, Lord.

And please take Saint Ghandi with you when you go,

And Saint Pope Pius,

And Saint Aimee McPherson,

And big black Saint Becton Of the Consecrated Dime.

And step on the gas, Christ! Move!

Don't be so slow about movin'! The world is mine from now on--

And nobody's gonna sell ME to a king, or a general, or a millionaire."

Sing it, Langston. Expensive day today.

Went to Sak's 5th to look for a bag for my trip. My mom got a gift card there from an auction and gave it to me. I always feel weird at those über pretentious high-end stores.

I walked up and the door was opened by two guys in suits looking like off-duty CIA agents (sort of like multi-cultural James Bonds). I looked around and saw chicks toting Chanels & LVs, but thank God for consignment stores. I was in YSL; I wasn't about to be shown up.

"I know a good 60% of the people in here flaunting all that garbage are fronting for mass debt, but I won't call them on it if they leave me alone" I thought.

I ended up buying a bracelet I probably could've got on eBay for $25 and split. Everyone there was really nice, but I still felt like I was in a Venus Flytrap.

Went to the art store and got some screen-printing stencils and markers, working on a mask inspired by Björk. Still waiting for the studs for shirt completion.

Doing big things, chickadees.

Don't do tomorrow what you can do today.

Speechless.

Was thinking of modifying this dress by shortening it and making it a mod dress. Started out business casual; seeing it as Laugh-In or the Mod Squad. I could so see someone rocking this with a mini hem and tall fringed mocassins. I don't have the time to do it with all my other projects. Take a chance, see what YOU can do.

I know I missed my usual cutoff, but it's been a busy week.

Put tons of mileage on my mini bus driving across town. Had to get my taxes done twice: once for personal, once for business. Forgot one paper and it became a nightmare. Audit, schmuadit.

My (awesome, awesome) mom got me what any respectable business would want and need: a phone line :) Haven't set it up yet and I haven't been by the suite in a while... too much to do, so little of me. I need a clone.

Just purchased a new wireless service and have been messing with the router configurations since last night. Just barely finished it and am typing from my laptop as we speak :)

Can't drive for shit and totally banged up a co-worker's car (no one saw it but me and I could've bailed, but I wouldn't do that to her) Got up early and made her a care package for taking pity on me.

More random scrawling done in the night. See if you can interpret this:

* Fig jam (well, that's pretty self explanatory)

* 2 vices (just 2? That'd be a record for me)

* The Green Lantern (not much of a comic book afficionado, but I know who he is)

* Something that looks like "Heroic Love Rat Theseus".... umm, yeah

Movie screening in LA in 10 days, Tae-Bo in a few hours, and lunch is once again deferred.

Where's a Mimosa when you need one?

Solid Gold.

Had a few revelations this week...

As far as my crafts, I've been all over the place. I have a string of pearls leading across my bedroom floor... can't figure out what to do with them.

My current project requires silk (back to the fabric store!) Picked up a roller yesterday to finish up a screen printing project... if only I could focus on just one.

I'm finding pencils and random scraps of paper all over my house with mad scrawlings done in the middle of the night.. The engine is always running, but I only have two hands.

Waiting for some items to come in the mail so I can finish my shirt project. That one seems to be the closest one to completion. Thank God.

Projects aside, I had something like a series of epiphanies this week... Who do I live for if not myself? I think I might finally be at peace with moving away from my family. I can now accept that there's nothing wrong with not wanting a conventional life and the nuclear family with white picket fences, a dog, and 2.5 children.

Otherwise, all is well. Going out sporadically, breaking hearts along the way... :)

Won't Take That Talk.

Hard partying will catch up to you... I'm sick as a dog.

Bowling, house parties (pretending to like your friend of a friend's shitty band), midnight trips to the gas station... I can't even talk. Throat feels like sandpaper, ears & nose clogged, and I'm hacking up green stuff like Linda Blair from The Exorcist.

The picture is apropos; it's exactly how I feel.

What I would give for nirvana... I have a feeling stress contributed to this. Not stress from my crafts & website, those things are joys to me. I'm talking about stress from my 9-5. I'm convinced that I work with a blood relative (pun?) of Nosferatu & someone with absolutely no brains. Favoritism occurs everywhere, but usually not so blatantly.

Still beading my top, have made a lot of progress since last week. Should be completed within 3 weeks. I'm not a fan of posting 1/2 finished works, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Been invited to a lot of ritzy zip codes lately... saw a HUGE Noh Mask in a bathroom and now I want one for myself.

I like creepy stuff :)

Inspirations this week: Breakin', Persepolis, Ikiru, & the color raspberry.

Hopefully I'll be better by next week's post.... Ciao.

It's gotta be a sin.

Just checking in on all my lovely visitors cross the globe... How are you guys doing?

This week has been pretty insane. I spent most of today building my website from the ground up. Rest assured that I'll link you guys over to it when it's done :) It's not published yet so if I give you the link now it'll be nothing but advertisements...

My 2nd hat project has been more of a pain that my first one. Changed the color scheme, but I'm having a problem with the color staying. I would hate for someone to be wearing one of my works and see it fade right before their very eyes... not acceptable.

Let me make one thing known: I hardly ever watch television. I'm not home often, but when I am it's not parked in front of the TV. That said, I've been watching the 1st season of Miami Vice on DVD. I never saw it during its original run. One word: AWESOME. There are cameos in it I never would've guessed... a Thai ninja was one of the bad guys. They even had an original cast member from Scarface! (that first Columbian dealer Tony dealt with; the one that got Angel in that gruesome shower scene) Tubbs and Crockett have stolen my heart.

I guess you can see from the clothes I chose below that the show was an influence...

There is absolutely nothing wrong with tropical prints.

I like loud colors. My clothes and hats are for someone that doesn't mind being a centerpiece. These are just the before pictures.

Wait until you see the afters :)

These are just 2 of the 20 pieces of vintage I picked up today and plan to rework.

That's enough entry for now. I ran out of champagne and I'm kinda bitter about it. I can't believe it!

Here I am in the midst of one of the worst depressions ever, spent a ridiculous amount of money on one bottle of champagne and now it's all gone!

I suppose I can make it through through next few days. Send me your prayers.

Eff me pumps.

I'm having entirely too much fun right now. My floor is covered with newspapers for fear that I'll get blue paint everywhere.

Books, beads, bells, whistles, super glue, scissors, paints, pearls, yarn, wire, glitter, tape...

My top hat project is turning out to be an even bigger animal than I originally planned. I can't wait to see the finished project. I'll probably post a pic of my progress next week :)

**Edit - Speaking of "eff me" pumps, I just put some on sale :)