Spoiled Spongecake

Jewelry Lust

I'm not big on jewelry.  Never have been never will.  I don't understand the lure of the diamond that causes semi-normal women to lose their faculties and start acting like slobbering animals.  Diamonds are really just rocks that are polished up to shine and are something humans put a value on.  "Look a pretty shiny rock!  Let's have tens of thousands of people be tortured and die trying to find them!"  I don't get it.  I like rubies, I like sapphires, emeralds.  I don't own any and probably never will.  I like black pearls and own one small one but I'm too afraid to wear it because I'm always afraid I'll lose it.  I really don't wear any jewelery at all anymore so it was just as big a shock to me when I spotted this brooch on eBay and now I must have it:

It's an otter paw brooch from 1931 by Asprey.  Granted, it's a bit different from a diamond ring but I am so taken with that fat little paw.  Maybe it's because it reminds me of my beloved ferret's little paw.  I don't know.  And true, I probably want it more for the paw than the fact that it's a brooch but that does make it slightly endearing and cool.  I want this freaking brooch.  And I totally get the hypocrisy of me saying people die to find diamonds and then wanting a paw that was chopped off a poor defenseless otter back in 1931.  But if it makes you feel any better the otter would have been dead by now anyway.  A lame argument but it's all I got!

I have no idea how high the bidding will go but this piece feels slightly rare, and it's by Asprey, so I will most likely not get it as it will get bid up into the stratosphere.  Also, the seller won't ship to the US so I'd have to have it sent to someone in England to hold onto it for me and then I would have to smuggle it back into the country in my luggage or something.  If I win it I'm willing to go that extra mile for the fat little otter who so bravely gave their life for this nice piece of taxidermy jewelry.  How nice and considerate of me, right?

Real Estate Porn: The Dream House

I have been meaning to post this for a while but it always makes me sad.  Yes, I am talking about a house.  The house that should be mine.  I found this house, of all places, on craigslist a few months ago.  I completely stumbled upon it by accident through Google while I was searching for something else. I guess the keywords I used the seller used in his ad.  So of course I completely feel that it's meant to be that someday I own this house...since I wasn't even looking for it but it came to me.  Google brought us together.

Look at how freaking adorable this house is:

I don't think I could love this house more if I designed it myself.  It is so me.  I just want to hug it.  Doesn't this house look huggable?  It's like a little dollhouse or gingerbread house.  Look at this woodwork on the outside:

People who know me well may even think I hate the pink color but I don't.  It is so adorable.  This house was built in 1890.  It is the perfect size for me.  I love Victorian houses but their massive sizes scare me.  Once again, Bill Kurtis has made it near impossible for me to even imagine living in a huge house by myself.  But this one, it is small and perfect.  So what's the problem?  The price?  Uh, no.  This house, this amazing stunning Victorian house, is priced at $129,000.  Insanity.  Well, maybe it's the inside.  Maybe it's gutted.  Uh, no.  Everything inside besides the kitchen is original Eastlake wood.  Take a look:

The wood ceiling


The fireplace


fireplace detail


staircase


built-in bench on the staircase


living room window wood trim

Okay, so now that I have salivated once again over the amazing interior what's wrong with this house?  Why haven't I bought it and moved my stuff in already?  Because it's in Oswego, NY.  What the hell would I do in Oswego, NY?  I have wracked my brain over this for months, seriously.  Trying to find some sort of way or reason for me to move to Oswego, NY so I can buy this house.  I can't come up with anything.  I've even thought about moving the house but then I see all those power lines in front of it, the narrow street it's on, and I see not only tens of thousands of dollar signs but the city saying: "No way."

I have to tell you that I have found out the hard way that it is horrible finding your dream house and not being able to get it because of location, not price.  You always think with location you can compromise but you can't.  There is nothing I can do in Oswego.  And it breaks my heart that this house, my house, sits there, waiting for me to love it and I can't think of how to make a living where it is.  Sigh.

Snack Time!

Recently I kind of became all giddy over 1950's snack sets. Snack sets have been made forever but got really popular in the 50's because of patio entertaining, cocktail parties, and I'm assuming the advent of TV. Snack sets are small little plates with indents for miniature size cups. The sets would come with 8 pieces: four plates with four cups. Snack sets made it possible for you to hold a snack and drink on your lap or perhaps fill the little cup with dip of some sort so no multiple trips to the food table. Yes, I'm full of good ideas.

Anyway, I used to see these little sets in antique stores all the time but mainly the clear glass ones. Lately I stumbled upon the more colorful sets and the milk glass ones with designs straight out of 1955. The other cool thing about these sets is that about 90% of them still have their original boxes! I know I've mentioned it before but I am nothing if not a sucker for good packaging. The worn boxes with titles such as: 'Hostess Delight!' and 'Patio Snacks' has won me over. I have bought a few sets off eBay in the last few weeks...now all I need is a patio.

If you search "snack set" on eBay a ton will come up. Share in the hostessing, won't you?

The Insect Lab

I happened upon the most amazing artist this past week!  His name is Mike Libby and he created The Insect Lab.  He uses old watch parts and electronic components and turns previously deceased insects into one-of-a-kind art.  I know this sounds odd put the pieces are beautiful and stunning...they remind me of a Guillermo del Toro movie!  I love the steampunk Victorian feeling of them.  The combining of entomology and technology looks amazing.  I am definitely saving my pennies as I would love to own one, especially a Buprestidae beetle (the iridescent green one).

{http://www.insectlabstudio.com/}
all photo's from the artist's website

The Dark Knight On A Golden Day

Yes, I often refer to my birthday as "The Golden Day".  Because it indeed is the day that light truly, brightly, and heaven-like, shined on the earth way back on this day in 1975 as I emerged.  Okay, gross imagery just popped into my head.  So I will move on.

My birthday today was uneventful yet relaxing.  It was a million degrees outside and there is nothing much to do so of course I was off to see The Dark Knight at the movies. 

It was excellent; very dark {like the graphic novels}, exciting, a good story, but waaaaaaaaay too long.  The movie clocks in at 2 hours 32 minutes.  Again, waaaaaaaaay too long.  You feel it too.  It starts to get boring in places and the script just keeps throwing more at you...I found it a little difficult to keep up at some parts because there are additions to the story one right after the other.  All in all though I thought it was a great movie, a worthy sequel to the great Batman Begins.  Yes, Heath Ledger does a phenomenal job playing The Joker.  And that isn't just the posthumous hype talking, he did an amazing job.  He played The Joker how he always should have been played: insane with no purpose but violence and chaos.  Yes, I am a huge nerd and have read the actual graphic novels and also of course Arkham Asylum which was great.  I've always been a huge Joker fan and thought that Tim Burton's horrid Batman depicted him as pure cartoon dreck.  It was yet again just Jack Nicholson playing Jack Nicholson as The Joker.  Yawn.

But finally The Joker gets portrayed properly...and very creepily well.  I don't know about all the "most amazing performance of the year and possibly of all time {yes, I'm exaggerating the posthumous love, sue me}" comments by some oversensitive {to Heath Ledger's death} reviewers/bloggers but he did do a fantastic job.  Christian Bale was also amazing, as always, and it's sad he's kind of getting overshadowed because of Heath's death.  I always find Christian Bale to be a totally generous actor and always right-on with his performances.  It's odd to me that he is always kind of forgotten and overlooked when people talk about great actors of our time and at awards season.  Whatever the reason he is great in this movie as he is in most of his roles {and Gloria Steinem was his stepmother so that kind of bumps him into beyond cool for me}.

So, that was my day.  Now I am going to go watch about 20 TIVO'd Judge Judy episodes from when I was gone the last week.  Yes, that is considered really fun to me.  Sad but true.  And I'm going to eat a piece of this {yum}:

Think Of It As Just Another Day...

I just sat on a train for three days from Los Angeles to New Orleans to Atlanta then drove to North Carolina.  My feet hurt, my back hurts, my side hurts right around the area of my kidney, my right ankle throbs when I put weight on it (I have no idea why), I'm really really tired, my roots are showing but I'm too lazy to dye my hair, the dog downstairs WILL NOT STOP BARKING, it's hot, I have no money in the bank, I have to find a lawyer to sue Fed-Ex (I'm sure that won't cost anything), I'm bloated, my eyesight has gotten worse and now I have to go have my eyes checked, I want to buy everything amazing I've found lately but can't (see previous "I have no money in the bank"), I want to go see The Dark Knight tomorrow but I don't want anyone else in the theater because people annoy me (I like my theater roomy.  And quiet.), and tomorrow is my birthday. 

I've done nothing I said I would do when my birthday rolled around again.  I don't weigh what I'm supposed too.  I haven't paid off even one of my credit cards.  I'm not dating a hot cop/detective/guy-in-some-sort-of- uniform/guy-with-at-least-a-job-and-a-car. 

But with all that I have to say one thing that life has taught me: it can always get worse.  So shut my trap and stop complaining. 

Maybe I'll do everything I said I would do for next year's birthday.  Those are the other things life has taught me: procrastination, rationalization, having some sort of twisted optimism/hope.   Now I am off to try and find the biggest most fattening birthday cake possible and eat the whole thing myself.

Dress Lamp Tree

I am so in love with this photograph by Tim Walker:

He has a show opening July 11th at the Design Museum in London.  Wish I could go!  They're selling a poster of the Dress Lamp Tree image but I wish there was more image than white border.  Bah!

I'm Sure It's Only a Matter of Time Before My Arrest

My favorite band, of course, is New Order.  Everyone who knows me should know this.  My favorite song of all time?  Temptation {uh, by New Order duh}.  BTW, I always like saying "of all time" because it's such a teenage thing to say.  Like, I love pizza, it's my favorite food of all time!  Because teenagers have lived so long and know so much.  Ha. 

I digress.

I was going through my CD's and found New Order's amazing Get Ready album {which they released in 2001 proving they are still the best band ever}.  I was reading that the band The Killers took their name from the Crystal music video off of Get Ready.  Apparently there is a fake band lip-syncing to the song Crystal in the music video and the fake band's name is The Killers.  So I thought I would check it out as I had never seen the video. 

Okay, seriously, how adorable is the kid acting like lead singer?  Is he not just frickin' kinda hot in that nerdy trying to be cool high school way?  I feel like such a perv.  The first thing that popped into my head was: "That guy {!} is hot.  I wonder how old he is?"  I feel like such a pedophile and I have to tell you, I don't care.  The kid is adorable.  Probably at the very least half my age but I can't help it.  His faux rock star moves and sweet face are just hot.  And that haircut?  And those sneakers?  Ya, I'm kind of fanning myself.  Gag.  That's so gross!  I'M so gross!  I feel like such an old lady eyeing the young kids hanging at the skate-park or something.  Parents, this is why you don't let your awkwardly cute teenagers be in the spotlight.  Because pervy old thirty-somethings will lust after them.  I feel so dirty.

I also, for a minute, hoped maybe he was one of those male model guys who is really like 21 or 22 but looks 14 or 15.  Upon close inspection {very close} I have determined this kid is most definitely not the 21 Jumpstreet kinda "kid".  He's just young.

So take a look a the video and see my boy-crush {literally}.  Plus, this song is just the shiz so how can you not want to listen to it?  Oh, and as a note, the freeze-frame showing below is just friggin' hot {ya, that's the boy-crush}.  I'm seriously going to prison aren't I?

I Heart Art {Sylvia Ji}

I'm really hoping artist Sylvia Ji makes a print of one of her new paintings that I am totally in love with:

Isn't it beautiful?  Sylvia is having a solo show right now at White Walls Gallery in San Francisco.  Naturally all her pieces sold - as they always do once I gain affinity for an artist.  I'm serious about this too.  I'll find an artist and become interested in their work and try to find old pieces that may not have sold that I can buy.  But I guarantee you that within a month of me finding them they have just, or will at their next show, explode into popularity making it impossible for me to ever afford an original piece of their art.  I think I should start charging people for this gift that I have.  I do have one print of Sylvia's of her first Catrina-esque lady:

It's lovely but I wish I could own an original.  Especially of the first painting I put a picture of.  I adore it.  Sigh.

Headstone Stolen from Ian Curtis' Grave {Joy Division}

Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat.  I'm sure I'm going to get a ton of e-mails and complaints on Etsy now telling me how evil my cemetery dirt is and how I'm probably the one who inspired some thief to take Ian Curtis' headstone.  I will admit, Ian has a kick-ass headstone.  And if I was a thief I would definitely want it.  But I'm not.  And I have respect.  And all the evil little pigs who steal things like headstones, vases, statuary, corpses, etc., from cemeteries make it really difficult for people like me who just want to enjoy themselves in such places and want to take a rock or a leaf or a spoonful of dirt.

Dearest goth child or psychotic middle-aged lonely pathetic superfan of Joy Division: return the f*cking headstone before I beat you over the head with it.  You're making my cemetery-loving dirt-digging life more difficult.

Read the article here: Stolen Headstone