Lady in Red

I wish I had red hair.

The ladies at ban.do drive me bananas (in a good way). Check out their ridiculously good-looking Black Label collection. INCREDIBLE. I can't stop looking! This is may-jah couture for your head.

Greater Than, Lesser Than

My grandma used to tell me that it's best to be with someone who loves you more than you love them. "You'll be happier that way," she said. Yes, well, I ask le cub this question all the time. "Between the two of us, who loves the other person more?" Le cub always tells me that he loves me more. But I know the truth... you just have to look into my nauseatingly adoring eyes to know who wears the pants. AAAAAARGH! Feeeeeelings!!! NOOOOOOOO!

P-P-P-P-Polaroid I

Remember how I mentioned that I was going to design my own wedding invite? A "love story" of sorts for le cub and cougar... Whaaah? You don't? Well, now you do. In between set building and animating, I've been toying around with some simple doodles and designs, and now I'm seriously considering a love story composed of "polaroids" with descriptions. For example, under this particular polaroid, one might read:

The Proposal.

Josh asked Debra to marry him while climbing
the Sydney Harbour Bridge at sunset.

He presented Debra with a Blue Raspberry Ring Pop -
an offer he knew she could not refuse.

Debra said “Yes!”

Thoughts on this polaroid idea? I'm still brainstorming...

Oooooooooh...

G-L-A-M...

O-R-O-U-S...

Yeah right. I haven't showered today. And until I do (shower, that is), nothing is going to make me feel glam. Giovanna Battaglia (the fashion editor of L'Uomo Vogue and also my ultimate fashion idol - woah, she has a Facebook page?!?) once uttered the following, "The lower I feel, the higher the heel!” But not even the most fabulous of heels (THIS pair) are going to cure me of today. I've been beaten by an ugly stick, and I just have to accept it. T'is okay. "The sun'll come out... tomorrow..."

Plus, who's going to see me animating in my stuffy garage anyway? Other than Ethel, that is. Working on some lip-sync bits above. As you can see, she's matching up with the animatic (displayed in its Final Cut glory) quite well... YAY!

Banksy

Someone want to watch this with me? My bff, Hammy already saw it.

I think I'd make an awesome street artist. When I was in high-school, my dad would tell his friends that my work was most comporable to graffiti. I was totally not offended and actually excited by the label. (I'd like to think that beneath my girly boho exterior is a ghetto fabulous street-cred-filled gangsta. But seriously? I'm teeny-tiny (which makes for easy hiding) and dude, I think the respiratory-mask look is totally me. (See above.)

What's Not to Love?

I've posted about this photograph before, and I'll do it again. "Here Comes The Sun" photograph of the Beatles - captured by photographer and then Beatles tour manager, Bob Bonis in August of 1964. I want this piece hanging on my wall so badly...

China

Not registering for any, but if I were, I'd totally ask for this set by Royal Copenhagen.

I Dream of...

Cotton-candy pink monsters dancing amidst sand dunes. (source: Ffffound!)

A cream-colored blazer by 3.1 Philip Lim in lieu of a shawl/cardi over my wedding gown. Tres chic!

Sculptures by Shobu Gakuen. (Shobu Gakuen is a facility for people with autisum located in the southern part of Japan, Kagoshima. There are workshops of ceramic art, embroidery, wood work and dying fabric.) Darling, no?

Ready For a Close Up

Starting to shoot Ethel's grieving scenes. You might as well start addressing her as Meryl as she's just that good. Check out her tweaked brows and sad "muzzle". Aww...

Fur-riday

Disclaimer: This is a laser hair removal update, so if discussions about body-hair make you uneasy, skip this entry!!! But for the rest of you... WOO-HOO! My lil' legs are still fur-free - as are my pits! Unfortunately, the hoo-hah has found the strength to refuzz itself. Damn hoo-hah! Yes, well, I was told this would happen. The explains why the package I purchased offers 6 treatment sessions... Bew-bew!

Image source: Ffffound!

One-of-a-Kind

Earlier this morning, I toured hotels in Santa Monica in an effort to book wedding weekend accommodations for my parents and le cub's parents. We managed to narrow our choices down to Shutters on the Beach and Casa del Mar. Although I preferred the decor of Shutters, we ultimately opted for Casa del Mar for its larger rooms and kinder prices.

Took a stroll along Abbot Kinney before heading back to my "studio" aka steaming-hot garage. I couldn't resist stepping into Japanese goods shop, Tortoise and gosh, look what I found! (See photo above.) Yes. Those are doggy buttocks. And yes, that is a strand of plush poop. The decorative item was labeled "One-of-a-Kind $550". Hahaha... one-of-a-kind indeed!

Flower Power

Crazy-sexy-cool Holly of Holly Flora has gotten back to us about our wedding flowers! The following are snippets from her proposal for le cub and cougar wedding: "loose, garden-inspired designs and hints of retro whimsy in a palette of mustard, butter, green, and possibly ivory and white"... "slightly different tablescape with groupings of brass containers, etched vintage glass, silver, and apothecary glass"... "craspedia, marigold, garden roses, fever few, scabiosa, peonies, wildflowers..." Holy-moly. Are you turned on?! Because I totally am...

Pictured: Photos of some of Holly's masterpieces. Photos plucked from StyleMePretty

Good Grief

"For some moments in life there are no words."
David Seltzer. Uncredited screenplay writer for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Test shot from the opening scene. It's taking FOREVER to light and frame...

Picture Book For Grown-Ups

Ordered Maira Kalman's illustrated memoir, "The Principles of Uncertainty" a while back and just recently began reading, er, admiring it. She's a mad genius, that Maira. Experience life through her strange-in-a-really-good-way psyche HERE. She paints, photographs and writes, and I can't help but lap her wildly-original goodness up. Yes, like a dog. Gosh, I bet she'd be fun to hang out and devour a cheeseburger with. A deluxe one, no less.

Slow News Day

Learn more HERE.

Golden Girl

Ethel's room is nearly finished. Here she is, showing it (and Mortimer) off. Everything's handmade with the exception of the lamp (it actually works when plugged in) and night stand. The miniature picture frames are made out of thrifted brooches - deconstructed. The artwork? Also thrifted. I kid you... I whipped up all three under five minutes. I'm afraid you can tell...

If Loving You is Wrong

I don't want to be right. Beans' smile makes my heart hurt.

Next!

Going to give my leading-lady, Ethel, a break. Next up: opening and closing scenes featuring Mortimer, the empathetic Hungarian sheep dog...

Good Boy

My bff, Pam of Hammy Days found an Intelligence ranking of different dog breeds on the interbutts. Click HERE. Beans, a labrador retriever, ranks rather high. Based on a test of their understanding of New Commands (less than 5 repetitions) and ability to obey on first command (95% of the time or better), the lab ranked 7. Aww... to think that all this time, le cub and I thought Beans was "special". (He's quite the space cadet). I owe my lil' genius a cookie. Nom nom nom...

Found

This vintage oil portrait from the 1950s was too good to pass up. I may not have won THIS auction, but I won this one! The colors are gorgeous, no?!

Get Low, Get Low

Get Philip Low.

Loving Philip Low's color blocked acrylic/lucite prisms for the same reason I do geodes. *shpaaarkles!*I get giddy when I see the effect of light hitting and bouncing off prisms. The unpredictable rainbow goodness that results coats my innards with JOY, and I can't help but smile. Strung Edison bulbs have a very similar effect on me. As do strands of white Christmas lights. I suppose I'm easily pleased? *twinkle-twinkle-sparkle-sparkle* Anyhow, I'm told that the talented Philip sells his prism table pieces for $950 a pop. *Ouch* Why don't you just slap me in the face? Luckily he offers his admirers the option to purchase limited edition prints/posters for a more feasible $45. See more of his work HERE. And his prints? They're available HERE. Puuuurty. I want one. Framed. And hung above my bed. Chhhhyeah!

I Must

Craig & Walter (2005) from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

learn to animate like THIS.

go to Griffith Observatory to photograph THIS.

learn to dance like THIS.

try to make THIS.

So Fresh and So Clean

Inspired by photos like the one above (plucked from emmas design blog), I have been casually collecting old frames, photographs and artwork from thrift shops and flea markets for months. A couple images more, and we (le cub and I) will be able to start hammering away... Can't wait to share the results.

And omigosh, my dream home HERE. It's already been sold, so it's a no-go. But isn't it just incredible?

I Want Candy

It's all so delicious.

Cutler and Gross Humble-Potato glasses HERE
Anthropologie Transverse Bikini HERE
Tabitha Simmons Blossom Polka-Dot slingbacks HERE

These Crazy Bananas Are For You!

Gawd, I heart Tina Fey. My role model! Thank you, Jo for posting THIS. I don't know how I missed it!

P.S. One can never have too many LBDs. The adorable Miu Miu number that Tina Fey wore on Letterman is available at net-a-porter...

Animal, Dance!!!

If I have time (which I surely will not), I will animate a walking elephant in the background. But as I just pointed out, I won't have time. So please, imagine an uber-cute ginormous elephant... stomping in the background. This scene would be that much better...

And just in case anyone's curious, my "ingredient" list:
1) Cages. I wanted the zoo to look more "Madeleine" and less "San Diego". Bought inexpensive bird cages from Michaels. They were originally painted an antique-white (which I actually liked), but I ultimately spray-painted the heck out of them. Lined the cages with actual dirt.
2) Bushes. Composed of clumps of "Clump-Foliage" that model-train connoisseurs utilize. Love the stuff.
3) Cage at back. I glued aluminum bars onto cut pieces of textured paper (originally a shopping bag from Cusp).
4) Sam (the toucan) and Seymour (the chimp) are composed of floral wire, tape, and Sculpy.

Shoot Me

Trying to keep up with my production schedule. T minus 6 weeks...

Hope y'all are having a happy weekend. Beans and I attempted to go running earlier today. You know, in my hot pink sneaks? FAIL. We were both panting after 8 minutes of movement. Pathetic! Well, whatever. 8 minutes today, 16 minutes tomorrow... :)

Place For Hugs

Loads left to animate. *worried* I think I need a hug.

Note: "Place For Hugs" is my friend, Kevin's idea. And the doodle? I'm working on sketches for le cub and cougar wedding invite. Am planning to write and illustrate a mini love story, and the illustration above shows us "going steady". Do tweens nowadays still "go steady"? Sometimes I feel so old...

I'm Not Pregnant, I'm Just Fat

It's that time of the month, and I'm feeling like a chunk. Two weekends worth of binge eating alongside le cub did it to me. (He's a work-out fiend, and I'm, well, sedentary. Not proud of it, but I barely have time to sleep...) Must derive some sort of game plan to tackle my unwelcome ripples. I look like I've permanently swallowed a burrito. BOOoOOoOoOOoo.

Mr. Lion

Get a look at this shweeeet lion. I can feel the sunshine radiating from his mane from here! (Here is Los Angeles.) This lovely print is by uhohdeer on etsy. Looks like my engagement ring!!! (Which looks like the mascot for Mister Donut!!!)

I Can't Heeear You

Because my lame-o iPhone buds have died. They were crushed in my book bag. Really loving these WESC Bongo Blue headphones, but I'll need to conduct more research before committing. Any other recommendations?

Goody-Goody

Am motivated to animate because I spent much of my afternoon watching "How to Train Your Dragon" in IMAX 3D. To my surprise, the movie was amazing. LOVED it. $17 well-spent! The dragon, "Toothless" reminded me of Beans. (They're both black.) So cute. I now want a pet dragon...

Above. A test shot of Ethel on her stroll. (Rough animatic HERE.) Ignore her robotic legs. I will address them in the final shot...

note the cardboard buildings, the floral wire tree, and the clay hydrant. they've all been featured here before... it's all coming together! *whew*

White Dog

Unlike most dogs, Beans knows that he's a dog. That said, I think Beans thinks that le cub is also a dog. A white dog. He gets jealous when I spend more time with "white dog" than I do with him. And when the white dog and I sit next to each other on our couch, Beans gets nervous and insists on being the sandwich stuffing. Hehe.

P.S. For those of you who aren't following, "le cub" is my fiance. He's a tad bit younger than me - which makes me his cougar :) RAWR!

Girl Crush

On the annoying chic from "The Hills". I believe her name is Olivia. (Is it sad that I didn't even have to look that up?) Whatever. She looks fantastic in this photo taken by fashion blogger Tommy Ton for Style.com. Oh, how I wish I could look even half as hot as her. Love-love-love the mismatched outfit. The assorted textures, colors... omigosh... is that a leopard print Mulberry? I think my heart just skipped a beat, and I didn't even have coffee today. PATHETIC, much?

Secret Admirer

Urpo & Turpo inspire me.

Play Time

Staging my next scene. It's looking a bit like Sesame Street. Totally unintentional.

Wanted

Mulberry's Alexa... *le sigh*

photo by jak and jill

Saved

With the help of my advisor, the brilliant (and helpful) Ashley Hoffman, I've learned that I can key out the blue (er, purple) screen! Here's a still from the zoo gate scene with a temp background. Amazing, no?

Whew. I was afraid I was going to have reshoot the scene due to my improperly-lit blue screen. Thank you so much, Ashley, for salvaging an otherwise failed-shoot. I promise to pay more attention to lighting in shoots to follow!

Special Needs

After Effects, why do you hate me so? Trying to figure out how to best remove and replace my blue screen with something fabulous. Struggling. *le sigh*

Move It, Move It

My ass is getting huge. Chubby brides are frowned-upon. So I hear. Bought new sneakers a week ago. (My first new pair in 8 years!) These florescent pink beauties are cub-approved.

Must. Start. Running. Beans, you're coming with me.

Taxes are Taxing

But... I'M DONE!!!

Home Sweet Home

Seymour is a homebody.