Spoiled Spongecake

Caution! Zombies Ahead!

Anyone and everyone who knows me personally knows that my love of the zombie runs deep and true. So how excited was I when I saw this news article pop-up yesterday from Austin, Texas?

Zombie Road Signs Attack Austin!

>>>(Jan. 29) – The Austin, Texas, commute turned surreal this week after hackers replaced official traffic warnings on digital signs with some of their own.

"Zombies ahead! Run for your lives!" read one altered sign, according to KXAN in Austin.

The pranksters apparently cut the padlocks that guard the computers on each individual sign, the local media reported, and hacked the computer password. The new signs went up Monday morning. No zombies were actually sighted. The most obvious problem seemed to be rubber-necking drivers slowing down to photograph the fright-fest warnings.

The hackers didn't make fixes easy for officials, either. The Dallas Morning News reported that after changing the signs, they changed the passwords, too.

The city had to wait several hours until the manufacturer reset the passwords before the warnings could be changed.<<<

Ha ha ha! This brightened my day considerably. The article went on to say this was a misdemeanor crime and blah blah blah but come on, no one got hurt, no car accidents, it made people laugh. And it's not like crappy graffiti that can't be removed or breaking into people's cars and stealing their stuff {which has happened to me a few times and it is NOT fun}.

I don't know, this kinda just makes me want to go visit Austin.

I See I See Something White...A Polar Bear!

OMG It is SO flipping cold. I grew up in Utah so I'm not unfamiliar with cold but there is something much different about this arctic chill sweeping the state where I currently reside. It's frickin' arctic cold. It was 12 degrees yesterday, 14 degrees today. I may have lived in Utah but after that I moved to California for 15 years. I'm not used to this anymore! I can't even get the heater to go up high enough so I don't freeze near the windows or doors. I really don't know how people like in North Dakota or Minnesota do it...I had heard they were at below zero temps. What?! That's crazy. I can kind of take the cold {maybe not this kind of cold} but it's easier to take when there is lovely snow falling or snow lying on the ground in big soft white pillows of loveliness. But no snow. It is sunny and bright out. All another way to trick me. I go out to get the mail thinking, "Oh, the sun is out, it can't be that cold!" And then I'm smacked in the face with an arctic wall of ice air.

Now I am off to worry about if I have antifreeze in my ancient car and shoo away the polar bears from digging through the trash.

New Look

I decided it was time for a new look for the blog.  Isn't that photo in the header great?  It was taken by my dear pal JB in Paris!  I wish I was there right now...sigh...don't you too JB?

Anyway, thought I'd try to spice it up a little around here.  I also thought it may be fitting to switch to my more personal fave colors, like black and grays.  I did like that frothy aqua color I used forever {mainly because it reminded me of cupcake frosting} but it never really fit my personality, at least not for this blog. 

Hoof & Crab

Hello!  Well, I'm back from my self-imposed long-ass vacation from life.  The holidays are getting harder and harder to come back from aren't they?  Maybe it's just me.

I've been thinking about maybe shutting this blog down.  I'm one of those people who really has to feel the urge to do a blog post; I can never focus or collect my thoughts enough to just do a quick post everyday.  Besides, my life can get uber-boring and why would I want to post something everyday if it doesn't even interest me?  How could it interest anyone else if I'm falling asleep while writing it?  I also have to update my work blog so that leaves me with TWO blogs to do and it's becoming overwhelming for my small brain.  So, it's kind of up in the air if I am going to keep this blog.  We shall see I guess.  I'll give warning to the two people who read this blog before I up-end it, if that is what happens.  :)

Over the holidays I became deeply engrossed in eBay, as I am prone to do at times.  I literally get sucked in.  eBay is like quicksand...I just can't get out of it and the more I tell myself to stop, to do something else in my free time, the more it sucks me in.  Horrible.

But, I did manage to find three very interesting items in the past few weeks on eBay and eBay UK.  I didn't buy any of them, I did bid on one but got outbid, but I thought they were interesting enough to share here.

Hoof Candelabra - I had never seen such a small nicely done hoof candelabra.  It is from 1881 and I found it quite attractive {this auction still has 5 days left as of now so if you're interested...go bid!}

Crab Claw Utensil Set {Ward & Co.} - This is the item I was truly in love with and wanted terribly!  I did bid but got outbid at the last second {lord I hate eBay snipers!}  It did go a bit high in price, considering the set was not complete and a few utensils were broken, but I have to say I expected it to go much higher.  Maybe it is not as rare as I think it is?  Any info on this would be appreciated if anyone has any info.  I have never seen these before or since so I'm not sure if they are rare or I just don't know where to look to find them.

 
 

Hoof Menu Holder - I thought this to be a very unique item, but it may come off more unique because I think of using it at a table setting with the crab utensils {and the hoof candelabra in the center perhaps?}  I always wonder where these things were used, and I think that is one thing that makes me like them more.  Was this used in a restaurant?  Did a wealthy Victorian family have a huge set of them so every place setting had its own menu holder at their table?  Lovely!

 

Merry Christmas & Goodbye 2008!

I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas day! I'm going to lounge around all day and eat cupcakes {of course there's tons in here...some with frosting poinsettia's on top, some with icing snowmen, some with little Christmas trees...}

I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's as well! I will be back after New Year's Day {and I promise one of my resolutions will be to do more frequent blog posts}.

xo,

Michelle

Macarons Make for a Lovely Holiday

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! This month has been a whirlwind for me; I drove across the country once again {that's the 4th time this year} and am finally home {for the time being}. The entire family is here now and I cannot keep track of the days anymore. They are flying by. I was stunned to see I hadn't done a blog entry since December 4th. Sheesh! Though I didn't really mind keeping Nagi Noda up there as the top post for a while, I get sad every time I see her name...so much talent...I just want everyone to know about her.

In exciting news, for me, it seems I was a good girl this year because one of Santa's elves brought me this from London:Oh, Laduree, you are the best. Period. The delicious, light, flavorful macarons you provide the world with...sigh...thank you. And thanks to Santa's elf {that would be my sister} who braved the Christmas crowds at Harrod's just for me to get to Laduree. She also bought me my favorite caramel sucre spread, which is so expensive, and the evil Heathrow airport confiscated it! They said it could be considered a "liquid", though it is thicker than peanut butter. They took it and promptly dumped it in the garbage! For shame! I weep for my lost caramel sucre spread...sniff...sniff... I won't whine too much though, these macarons are seriously to die for. Sorry for the sucktastic photo's. I was too eager to start eating and couldn't frame the shot or focus.

Nagi Noda

So, I've bet you've never heard of Nagi Noda, right? It's such a shame because she was an amazing talent. One of the oddest artists/directors/filmmakers to come along in a while and the fact that she was a woman is just insanely cool.

Nagi Noda died in September, and the only info I can find on that is that she died from complications stemming from a car accident suffered a year before. She had apparently been seriously injured and endured a lot of surgeries. I believe her official cause of death was complications from surgery. She was only 35...and an insanely innovative talent that will be sorely missed, but not by the tons of people that should be missing her.

Filmmaking has always been a man's world; that is one of the most difficult things I have personally encountered in my journey through film-land. If Nagi Noda had been a man she would have been talked about as an up-and-coming film genius in the ranks of Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. But, not many people have heard of her, she was a shy, quiet Japanese girl who was very eccentric and did her own thing. I so envy for her that. Her vision is astounding and to accomplish even the few amazing and visually quirky things she did in such a short time is just enviable. It's a shame we will never get to see how far she would have gone.

Nagi was most famous for her music video for the Japanese pop singer Yuki. Her idea was so simple, but so visually stunning and original that I must have watched that music video a thousand times when it came out. It starts out slow but you'll get the gist about 1:40 into it. I can't find the video to embed here but you can visit this link HERE to see it {and it is worth it!} The idea was so cool that Coke hired her to do a commercial based on the look of the Yuki music video. Here it is:

I also loved this photo series Nagi created, turning hair into animals. Some of them are just beyond crazy but so inspiring. Here are a few of my favorites:

I think the one thing about Nagi Noda that is so inspiring to me is that a lot of the stuff she does just seems impossible. Something you wouldn't attempt without a huge budget and a crew of hundreds. But she had very small budgets, tiny crews, and she pulled it off. She was such an inspiring filmmaker and artist and I was so saddened to hear about her death. She will be truly missed not just for the quirky and odd idea's she had but for being a woman, an inspiring one-of-a-kind innovative woman, in a field that has too long been run by men. She was an original and she will be sorely missed.

Check out these films and videos by Nagi Noda as well:

Poodle Excercise With Humans Video
{had Michel Gondry done this you would have seen it everywhere}

The Dancing Eyes
{that's what I call it, I don't know the band}

Hearts on Fire Music Video
{her last video before she died}

Scissor Sisters Music Video

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Though one of my least favorite holidays, Thanksgiving is always nice because you're really expected just to eat as the main celebration. I can appreciate that. My parents and I decided to go to Vegas, where we've come for a few years in a row now, since there is absolutely nothing to do in Utah. That is true on non-holidays too but it is more glaringly obvious how bored you are there on days like Thanksgiving.

So besides all the great things in my life I'm thankful for today, I thought I'd put the the two things in Vegas I'm most thankful for:

Top Dollar Slot Machines {they are truly the bomb, especially when you hit the Top Dollar insignia}:

...and Jean-Philippe Patisserie {a little piece of French pastry heaven at the Bellagio. The pastry and crepes will literally make you weep they are so good. Take a peek at a little section of the amazing chocolate fountain outside the patisserie}:

So Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a beautiful day and your meal looks delish like this:

And in my family since we have twisted senses of humor my sister sent me this image for Thanksgiving:

Eternal Sunshine of The Life Aquatic

I am so horrible at realizing the passage of time. That's why I make an awful blogger. Because it has been two weeks since my last post and I really didn't even notice! Granted, I have been editing most of the time and getting final DVD's out to clients but still, two weeks? I think I need a more glaringly obvious calendar sitting near my workspace.

While I'm editing I usually have a movie on, either on the TV or on my computer, and because of all the time spent working lately I've been able to catch up on a lot of flicks I've missed. But of course I always find time to watch my faves and older movies I haven't watched in a while.

I had forgotten how much I loved The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou until I watched it the other night. It's not my favorite Wes Anderson film, but I love it. It's so dry, but just lovely. I find it very sad, as it is a movie that is about different kinds of loss, but it's also a good kind of sad. It's like realizing what loss can make you feel besides just the obvious. I have no idea if that makes sense. But I love this exchange in the film: Eleanor Zissou asks Steve how he's feeling toward the end of the film after the loss of Ned and he responds: "I'm right on the edge. I don't know what comes next."

I put the trailer below. How can you not love a film that uses Ceremony by New Order in its trailer I ask you? How?

After The Life Aquatic I watched another film I hadn't seen in a while, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It was also released in 2004. Was that a good year for great films or what? Eternal Sunshine is one of those great movies that just makes you reflect. It makes you think about your life and the people you've encountered, and no matter how good or bad or indifferent the experience with them, how they affected your life in so many ways. There are a few people I wish I could erase from my memory but then again doesn't everyone who is a part of your life help make you the person you are, good or bad? It's a great film to spark the brain. And it's just sweet and quirky in the right dose without going overboard.

Michel Gondry, the director, in my opinion, usually goes really overboard with the quirk and I find most of his stuff almost unwatchable {like Science of Sleep and the horrid Be Kind Rewind}. There are some great elements in those films, more so Science of Sleep, but Eternal Sunshine had an almost perfect balance. I adore the scene where Clementine and Joel are laying on the ice together. Adore it.

I put the trailer for this movie below as well and I want to point out the use of the song Mr. Blue Sky by ELO {which I previously wrote about being addicted to}. Yes, all the great movies apparently steal my amazing taste in music for their trailers! My mind is like a goldmine apparently... :)

Coraline

I stumbled on a teaser trailer for Coraline, the animated adaption of Neil Gaiman's book, while searching for something else.  Apparently I'm quite late on this as it gets released this Christmas but the teaser says "next year".  Oops!  The teaser looks amazing, though I'm always a little apprehensive about how Neil Gaiman's work is translated to film {I fell asleep during MirrorMask and begged for mercy, or just the end, of Stardust}.  Of course Neil Gaiman's Death character {from Sandman} was one of my most favorite ladies in my youth.  I loved her.  I really hope they don't ever ruin those graphic novels with a film.  Ack!  Henry Selick, the director, is also pretty hit and miss with his work {I was so bored during James & the Giant Peach but was one of the few who kinda liked Monkeybone.  And, contrary to popular belief I don't salivate whenever Nightmare Before Christmas gets mentioned, but I did like it.  Oh, and when Henry first started working in film he was in the art department on Return to Oz!  How freaking cool is that?}. 

Well, either way Coraline has the voices of French & Saunders so I guess it can't be that bad!

P.S.  I'm suffering from a horrendous cold that won't go away.  It has kept me surly and mean and I've been in hiding from blogging so as not to take my painful dry cough out on everyone.  Back soon!

and not to be left out, Death, from Sandman: