Universal Traveler.

I'll be making a regular post soon, but I just purchased my domain name for my stand alone web site this morning :) Excited!

There's so much work that goes into site design, but it's one of those necessary evils... I can just think of my upcoming trip as a reward for my hard work :)

Need to get a new camera ASAP because my current one is shit..

About to leave in a moment to pick up some more supplies... still recovering from the Hard Rock last night.. How the hell do I do this?

Might be wearing the top you see above... The purse however is up for grabs.

Toodle-Loo Loves,

M.

Rocket Queen.

Today before my workout I decided to watch It Should Happen To You. I dig old movies and it was short; I figured I'd watch something light-hearted before a grueling yoga session. First and foremost, I have to say that the title character made my skin crawl. It wasn't her looks, but her personality. Gladys Glover (Judy Holliday, pictured above) is some strange bird from upstate New York who wants to be famous. Her angle? absolutely nothing. She just wants her name known. The scene above is when she meets the love interest, Pete Shepherd (Jack Lemmon) in Central Park.

After their chance meeting, she sees a blank billboard in Columbus Circle and gets the fabulous idea to advertise herself there. The sign is simple; there's nothing on it but her name (business acumen: +1, though adding a ph# or contact info would've been more effective) Problem? a soap company wants the space and they're willing to do just about anything to get it.

After a few rounds of negotiation, she gives up the space in exchange for six signs across town (business acumen +2) and one is electric (+3). All of a sudden she's the buzz of the city.. "Just who is Gladys Glover?" She goes from being Jane Doe from Podunk, U.S.A to being the spokesmodel for the very soap company that bought her out.

This of course leads to other deals, like for the diet pill she's plugging above.

This scene is not part of the movie, I just thought the picture was cool.

What initially started out as a light Sunday morning movie turned into so much more. Immediately I thought of the slew of other people that exist in this world that are famous, and got famous, for absolutely nothing:

Angelyne (who flat out took this idea and ran with it)

Tila Tequila

The White House Crashers

EVERYONE on a reality TV show

The Balloon Boy Family... the list could go on and on.

What is it about fame? What is it in your life that's missing? Are you really so unique and cool that you think the world needs to know you? What kind of impact do you have on the world, and what impact will you leave when you die? I just don't get it.

It almost seems hypocritical for me to write about this given that I have a public blog, but I value my anonymity. You guys might never see a picture of me. I haven't decided if I want to reveal myself just yet.. if ever.

I won't lie though, I think it'd be an interesting experiment to test this out and rent a spot in the city with my name. Maybe I'll call some places. I know some prime locations that are blank right now...

In the movie, Gladys loses Pete because of her quest for fame. He's not so much against her being famous, he's against the fact that it's for nothing. I am too. If you want your name known, do something worthy of attention. I know plenty of people that act the way these reality show kids do that don't have the benefit of a film crew capturing it all... and are possibly the better for it.

Speaking of which, the dad of the "Balloon Boy" kid just got out of jail today.

It's nice how everything wraps up in a neat package.

Il Secundo Giorno (Instrumental)

Aside from my random arts & crafts, another one of my hobbies is collecting old cartoon memorabilia.

After a frightening mix-up in the mail (it took over a month to get to me), I finally got my Kewpie pens. The one pictured above is Magical Angel Creamy Mami. With the exception of one, all the pens I got were from series I'd never heard of before. Because I have a disturbing affinity for office supplies, each pen will probably get its own entry in due time...

Long story short, Mami is about a 10 year old girl that transforms into a 16 year old pop star with the help of a magic wand given to her by cat aliens... Um yeah. Here's some more info on the series if you're interested. It's kinda like Big meets Jem.

I just thought it was cool that my pen would have a magic wand on it. Almost every writing utensil I own has a character on top :)

I got up kind of early and decided to watch the first episode online. I was expecting it to be so saccharine I'd have to turn it off after a few minutes, but it was surprisingly interesting. It evoked a feeling of natsukashii* (see bottom) ... the good old days of watching Voltron, Urusei Yatsura, and Project A-Ko. It almost felt like I should be watching it in footie pajamas and holding a bowl of multi-colored milk with rapidly deteriorating Froot Loops inside.

It's not all for fun and games. Anime plays a huge part in helping me stay current in my Japanese (I was really proud of myself for being able to translate the original title, 魔法の天使クリィミーマミ, without help)

Three months and counting... I can't wait!

BONUS! - Here's a YouTube clip of the transformation sequence. (I still geek out over these after all these years...)

* nostalgia

The Look of Love, Part One.

What a difference a day can make.

Something popped up yesterday so I ended up having to spend most of the day at home. Here's what my hat looks like now:

Bells, doves, and organza roses.... and I'm still not done :)

Can't finish it today. Have to paint something on a housewarming gift and run mucho errands. I'm all for adding an 8th day to the week...

Pop in, pop out. No sleep for the wicked, right?

I WILL MAKE LIBERACE CRY.

Dreams on Fire.

I've been a pretty busy bee lately, but I decided to check in really quick and give you guys a glimpse of the hat I kept talking about....

My camera's pretty shitty at getting detail, but this little blue beauty will be spectacular when I'm done. I wasn't expecting it to be so labor intensive, but my imagination knows no bounds.

Each rhinestone is handset, and this is just the base; it's nowhere near completed. It'll easily be another month or so before I'm done.

Anyway, back to work. Have to go by the suite to change the title (I think I'll nix the "esquire" bit), got more listings to do....

Like this one....And this one...

さようなら! (Sayonara!)

Kumquat.

Been super productive lately... put a lot on my plate. Got a suite address, thinking of adding a title next to my name for flair (is there a female version of "esquire"?)

Gotta have one more talk before I decide concretely to have a stand-alone site... Page design can be fun but tiring.

Hell, there were many revisions to this page before I found it suitable for viewing... and it's still pretty basic. That's probably my only hurdle right now.

Mannequins, hat completion, jewelry, and the market.

Lord, just let me have a nap.

Whip It.

Tired of the same ol' same ol', I decided to be exotic and try something new: stuffed bell peppers. Here's the recipe I used for any interested parties. I'd never had them before and figured now is as good a time as any. Most of the stuff I make is more on the vegan side, hence there isn't much cooking involved. This was a new foray for me. My kitchen looks like a can of refried beans exploded in it. Made a few observations:

1) Not all rules are made to be broken; "guesstimates" don't always cut it. Those little suggestions called "measurements"? Yeah, they're kinda important.

2) That said, there is a HUGE difference between dry weight and cooked weight (Though I still don't understand how in the world I ended up with 1.5 lbs LEFTOVER of cracked bulgar wheat. ??)

3) Coring bell peppers is a bitch (and my right ring finger will thoroughly agree)

4) Pay attention to what parts need to be cooked first so you don't have 3 pots going (two at twice the temperature) trying to play catch up

Got some blood in the bell peppers, but that's okay. They're red anyway, I'm a universal donor, and I don't have cooties. Sharing is caring :)

While I was cooking the guts (the part you're supposed to stuff), I kept spilling stuff under the grill plate on my oven. This of course set off the smoke alarm. I opened the door to let the smoke out and found my neighbor knocking to make sure I was okay (thanks, Nick) Put them in the oven for about 25 minutes per the instructions.

While they were baking, I started washing dishes furiously (I HATE a messy kitchen) and I was splashing water everywhere. My poor cat was hollering like a banshee because her food dish is by the sink and she was getting wet while she was trying to eat. I expect some retribution later this evening. I've already hidden my top hat.

(**Speaking of which, I had to halt production on it for a while. I got a little too zealous with the super glue & rhinestones and ended up gluing my tweezers together. I've got some Detachol so it'll all work out...)

Despite the hell I went through to make them they turned out pretty good. Once I was done I put on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I needed something to lighten the mood because the state of my kitchen made me want to cry (it may have to be cleaned in shifts) and now all is right in the world...

that is if I only had some ether... ;)