Video Killed the Radio Star

I was amused.

the Maker Faire in Queens!

I hit up the Maker Faire in the city yesterday. I was proud of myself for navigating the subway system and figuring out directions on my own, which in my experience, has not been a strong suit in the past. We saw signs for cow eye dissections, 3D-printer demonstrations and a Coke & Mentos show

In addition, there were...
hilarious, brash greeting cards.

My favorite being: Congratulations on your baby. It looks delicious.

A fairy apothecary.

A rollercoaster made out of yarn. 

                                         Dangerous contraptions 

Peptol Bismol vans.

 

Scary saftey signs.

Bike -eating fish.

 

Girly robots.

Human -sized mousetraps.

Mice.

Construction clowns on taxis?

    

Squid cars.

and of course.... a bone conductor mechanical orchestra!

I also ran into my friend's uncle, Gerard.

Small world.

My finds? Got a really awesome old copy of Andersen's Fairytales - still binded and in great condition. She usually unbinds books, fills them with blank pages and sells the blank books with the original pages. (www.oddmanout.etsy.com)

Two headbands. (www.thetulleroom.com. I am coveting that beach boys album on the website.)

       

and two rings. (www.ragtradervintage.com)

Next open mic? A cover of Stormy Weather (starting at 1:57)

or maybe something by Laura Jansen? Ben Kweller? Paramore?



On a slightly different note: Loving this jacket. (modcloth.com)

Maybe if I get it, it will inspire to get a super cool (super expensive) bike. like this! (if only...)

Or this bike, or this one although I would ideally like white wheels. I think that would look awesome.

 or this is lovely too. The Honda Mojito. Even though the first time I tried to ride a vespa, I crashed it (my last thought was "Thank god I know how to drive.") I still really want one of these at some point in my life.

that's all folks!

ALEX PRAGER

I just discovered Alex Prager about two seconds ago and I'm already pretty obsessed.  I was watching Boogie Nights the other day, and her photos sortof remind me of the colorful outdoor shots by the pool.

They have that same bright, punchy feel, right? 

What I like even more about her stuff, though, is that it doesn't belong to any specific decade of the past; it's all over the place but it comes together to create something candy-coated and cool. 

Connect Four Championships 2010

I can proudly say I'm a connect four master - so to all of you who hold the high titles right now, watch out.

The apprentice always outdoes the master.

You may think connect four is child's play, a simple game of fit the circles in the grid.
So far from the truth. If you dust off the connect four (I assume the original in yellow?) that's been sprawled out in the garage, slowly being crushed under the box of halloween decorations, you'll see that this game requires a ton of logical skill and strategy. Connect Four is like watching Brasil play The Netherlands. You're thinking... of course Brasil's got it in the bag - five world cups versus none? There's no contest. But then the Dutch show that they've got some serious cajones.  Connect Four, although you wouldn't think so, requires serious cajones. The weak don't make it far in this game...

I don't know if that made any sense. It was my first attempt at a sports reference.

My alter ego, Amelia Katarina, will definitely be ready for the next championship. She's in intensive training until next year.

In other news...Genevieve posted another picture from our shoot over the summer, which made me really excited. I hope she doesn't kill me for posting this, but my reasoning is more people we know look at facebook than read this blog at the moment.

Isn't it beautiful? I love what she did with the colors. They are so bright, while the picture itself looks a little anxious/sad. I wondered what it would look like without such shocking colors, or different shocking colors...here's the result.

The ones that are tinted look so ethereal (I went a little crazy with the last one.) I still like Genevieve's editing job the best, but I had fun playing around.

Also, song I learned on the piano (and giant xylophone) this weekend: Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis.

Can someone teach me how to dance like that?

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

Open Mic did not go as well as I had hoped, but an encore performance with a few friends (and little Carona) made me feel better about it. Kind of reaffirmed what I'm capable of, and that my below par performance was just nerves.

I'm listening to Daniel Johnston right now. I think I'll do one his songs for the next open mic. I forgot how much I love his music, and how I need to see The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a documentary about his life, asap.

Daniel Johnston is a musician who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He was in and out of mental hospitals, and became so obsessed with the devil that it ended up being all he could talk about. He recorded in the late 70s and 80s mostly, handed out his tapes in Austin, Texas to random people and got notoriety for it! His lyrics and voice are so raw and well for the most part, brilliant, and sad. More people should listen

I'll put up a song that's been covered already. But there are so many more to hear.


and the trailer.


Enjoy!

Nothing Happening, It's All Illusion

Tomorrow is open mic night. I am both excited and completely tempted to back out. Only three people are signed up. It's the first one of the year. But I know that if I don't do it now, I never will. I think I'll sing what I've been singing all summer: She & Him's cover of You Really Got A Hold on Me (even though that song did not get me into the women's a cappella group on campus.)


Something like that. You know, without the cool harmonies and backup singing, and I slow it down a little to up the jazzy vibe. Genevieve, if she's still up for it, and I will perfect this song and perform it at a bigger open mic in LA.


You know when you have your itunes on shuffle, and the one song you clicked on will lead you down a road of songs you love? and maybe some songs you didn't even know you had or loved? It's a rare and beautiful thing. This has been this week's result of that:

1. You Send Me - Sam Cooke
2. Tired of Sex - Weezer
3. Ela Nao Gosta de Mim - Agape
4. Kidnap the Sandy Claus - Danny Elfman/The Nightmare Before Christmas
5. Sootballs - Joe Hisaishi & New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra/Spirited Away
6. Do It Again - The Beach Boys
7. Walkin' to New Orleans - Fats Domino
8. Money (That's What I Want) - The Beatles
9. The Good That Won't Come Out - Rilo Kiley
10. Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford
11. Only in Dreams - Weezer
12. Astair - Matt Costa
13. Never Before, Never Again - Daniel Johnston
14. Look At Me - John Lennon
15. Svatba (The Wedding) - Bulgarian State Radio
16. Be Gentle With Me - The Boy Least Likely To
17. O Leaozinho - Caetano Valoso
18. Green Onions - Brooker T. & the MGs
19. Wasted - The Runaways
20. Maneater - Hall & Oates
21. You Don't Send Me - Belle & Sebastian
22. You Make Me Feel So Good - The Zombies
23. Time Is On My Side - The Rolling Stones
24. Satellite - Guster
25. Hot-Blooded - Foreigner

I love how You Send Me, and You Don't Send Me both ended up on there.

Moving on from music....to fashion. I'm not good at transitions.
I've been ogling a few simple items on Modcloth lately. I figure since I just moved into a new apartment, I should wait to buy some new clothes, but here's the eye candy anyway.

\

I am also looking to buy a staple jean jacket. So if anyone has any suggestions...

And finally. I've created a monster.
It kind of looks like an ancient Egyptian god with a flat, rigid, androgynous torso, an angry owl's head and a heavy, disproportionate sea snake's tail. I like to think it's complicated past makes up for my lack of artistic talent. (I opted out on drawing hands altogether, and just kind of let the wrists fade out.)
It - I, deep down, believe it's a her - was once human. She had to make a very important decision, but for whatever reason, couldn't. For this, a punishment was in order. The gods (whatever gods you wish) gave her an owl's head and a sea snake tail so she would forever be tormented - unable to choose between the sea and the sky. And if the choice were to be made (which it couldn't) she would not be suited to either. The owl, representing wisdom and logic, also pulls her in one direction, while the sea snake, the tempter and passion-driven, pulls her in the other. The Indecisive Monster. Take it or leave it. An everyday struggle, personified! How cool is that? Pretty cool.

Well...this turned to be a I'm bored kind of blog entry. Next time I'll have entertaining themes and funny stories. and something to talk about other than... myself. Before you go, look at this flickr account. The photographs are quite stunning.