Originally this was going to be the beginning of a basic Halloween playlist, but it became more witchy, and after listening to Marilyn Manson's cover of I Put A Spell On You, I instantly thought of Nancy from The Craft. Such a good movie, definitely watch to get ready for October.
A maneater playlist, loosely based on Judith and Holofernes
1.Kill Of The Night-Gin Wigmore
2.Maneater-Blue Eyed Blondes
3.I Cut Like A Buffalo-The Dead Weather
4.Serial Killer-Lana Del Rey
5.The Hunter-Kaitlyn Ni Donovan
6.Heart Killer-Gossling
7.So Far From Your Weapon-The Dead Weather
8.Biting Down-Lorde
9.Black Milk-Massive Attack
I've been wanting to make a playlist like this for a long time, and after hearing both Heart Killer and Kill of the Night, the rest just fell into place. I'm very happy with the outcome.
So...you know how I said that I want to maybe start doing recaps at the end of each month? Well, I'm going to break my own rules and tell you about my first week of August instead cause I DO WHAT I WANT. And also because I have a shit ton of music that I want to share with you. ^.^
Personal Life
I haven't had much of a life because I have a final to study for, and I work when I'm not confined to a windowless classroom, but I did manage to spend time with my family last weekend. I saw Despicable Me 2 (I haven't even seen the first one) and I can't believe how adorable it was. Actually, the minions and the youngest daughter were the most enjoyable part of the movie. I also went to a pet store with my five-year-old niece and watched as she fell in love with cats and birds.
I think I might want a little parakeet
And last night I went to a birthday dinner of my sister's best friend, Devin. The three of us used to make videos together in high school and had so many inside jokes. It was nice to be invited and to be thought of as a 'friend' and not as, like, 'friend's sister.' I went to this Mexican restaurant in San Clemente and met all of my sister's friends. It was a bit intimidating cause they were all in their twenties, but as I got talking to them I found out that the one guy who was drinking the most was eighteen too. The waiters didn't card anyone! So I decided to take a tequila shot with them, and I was really nervous about that for some reason--especially when they poured a bunch of hot sauce in my shot! It was good though, I thought I hated tequila but it went down easy.
Art
If you didn't see the picture above, I made a portrait of Devin as a gangster. Don't ask why, I myself have no idea. A part of my inspiration came from Liz Clements, who you should really check out and buy prints from if you like her art. Another part of my inspiration came from the fact that my sister and I call Devin 'Lil' D' and have an on running joke about how cute and short she is, so I thought that a gangter portrait be ironic and fitting ~at the same time~.
LizClementsIllustration.com
I haven't played around with my watercolors lately like I used to, so I decided to switch it up and paint with tea. It's pretty easy, just take 5-6 black tea bags, a small cup of water (to really concentrate the browns of the tea) and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Then take the back of a spoon and press the tea bags so that the pigment goes into the water. I like to individually squeeze the tea bags after and smear them across water color paper. After that you just replace the 'water' in watercolors with 'tea'. Of course you can have a cup of water to dilute the tea a little bit or to get a better wet-on-wet look when you're painting, but that's pretty much it. I also tried that same method once with green tea but it was a bit more difficult to get the greens on paper, so I'd suggest taking, like, twenty tea bags instead and boiling the water. Another suggestion would be to have a hair dryer. The tea looks much better when it sits on the paper, but it can take a long time for that to dry, so to speed up the process just use a hair dryer on the lowest coolest setting and it'll only take half a minute!
Another artist I found who not has traditional work influenced by tattoos, but is an unbelievable tattoo artist themselves is _eckel. I can only find their work on instagram at the moment, but if I could only ask someone to do one thing today-I WOULD ASK YOU TO CHECK THEM THE FUCK OUT. Their work is so stunning and beautiful I would fly to where this person lives and get a tattoo by them. Let me just give you a taste of the greatness so you can feel me:
So it's only been a week and I have moved on to new song obsessions, and new genre obsessions and just new artists to listen to! Earlier this week I was wanting to improve my female rappers playlist on 8tracks and I coincidentally ran into this article about 10 Queer Rappers You Should Check Out. Seriously. Every. Single. Artist. Was. Perfect. I am in love with all of them. This list is so on point and I just ughhh *flips table*. One of the songs that they suggested has been on repeat on my iPod:
Based on the comments, this song plays in the movie The Heat. Which is a movie that I have been dying to see but have had no time to go, and no one to go with.
Speaking of playlists on 8tracks, I made an 'Elvis Presley' playlist on 8tracks too! I was thinking about Pulp Fiction and that quote from Mia Wallace:
"My theory is that when it comes to important subjects, there are only two ways a person can answer. Which way they chose, tells you who that person is. For instance, there are only two kinds of people in the world, Beatles people and Elvis people. Now Beatles people can like Elvis and Elvis people can like the Beatles, but nobody likes them both equally. Somewhere you have to make a choice. And that choice, tells you who you are."
Yes, this question does run through my mind a lot. And I've come to the conclusion that I am an Elvis Presley person. Definitely. I won't change my mind again I swear! To congratulate myself I made a playlist filled with Elvis Presley, Wanda Jackson, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and a bunch more! And while I was looking around for a good Otis Redding song to put on this playlist I found this beautiful gem of a cover by Sara Bareilles:
Another obsession of mine has been with something called 'southern gothic' music. Which is basically like the dark blue-sy folk-ish music from the South that reminds me a bit of the film O Brother Where Art Thou? This all started, to be honest, with Sabrina (SHE WILL BE IN EVERY POST I MAKE MY WHEEZY), and her first playlist on 8tracks called Molasses. Its so good and so under appreciated, it makes me want to paint on a rainy day while smoking a cigarette and I don't even smoke. What really sparked my interest in southern music, though was this playlist called It's A Long Way Down. I had to contain myself and not favorite every song that came up. I usually only listen to half of a playlist and go on my merry way, but I have been playing this one non-stop. At work, before class, every time I'm in a car, when I'm doing homework, in the shower, before I go to sleep. Everywhere. My absolute favorite song is Like A Mountain by Timber Timbre. I don't know much about the band, but damn this song is so addicting.
And another song that makes me feel like a misandrist* for liking is called Man Eater by Blue Eyed Blondes. It's so dark and creepy and the ending of the story is brilliant. I also love that this song is a story. I also love everything about this song so please press play.
If you liked any of these two songs please check out the 8tracks playlist you won't regret it.
(*not a real thing or word)
If you don't know me, then you don't know the undying dedication and love that I have for CocoRosie and how much they inspire my art and my life. And I guess you're lucking cause my love for the Casady sisters in a bit overwhelming to witness. But have you heard their latest album Tales of a Grasswidow? Cause it's fucking beautiful and you should. Bianca's art and music have really intertwined lately, and you can see that just by looking at the album cover. I know that she designed all of the other albums, but this picture looks a lot like a piece from her exhibit 'Daisy Chain'.
This album was also the first ever thing that I've bought off of iTunes. I always have ripped my music off of youtube, but I wanted to buy the whole album for when I see them in October.
When they first released this back in February I went apeshit crazy and fell in love with it instantly. And, of course, I made a playlist with other artists like Blackbird Raum.
The link leads to a music video that reminds me of the Lemonade or Gallows videos. I can definitely see Sierra painting the part of her hair and fingertips red like the women did in this video.
This song reminds me of their last album Grey Oceans, not because of the sound (in fact the sound reminds me of Black Rainbow, or K-hole) but because of the theme. The whole apocalyptic feel to it. During their interviews for Grey Oceans they would talk about creatures that created and embodied called 'elementals' that would be like personifications of nature and would inherit back the Earth after the world ended. That's what this song reminds me of.
This song gives me vivid images of Anne Hathaway's version of Fantine in Les Miserables. The part of "Lovely Ladies" when she says "Don't they know that they're making love/To one already dead!" That's what Harmless Monster thinks of. Do I smell a playlist? I have a problem.
Last, but not least, is Blood On The Leaves by Kanye West. The song that he samples from is called Strange Fruit, originally sung by Billie Holiday but he takes the version by Nina Simone (goddess of music). I have noticed that the comments are filled with people being upset with Kanye's "hate of white people in the whole album". I just roll my eyes at the ignorance (like seriously it there a song about lynching white people no! because that shit doesn't happen to white people--I'm gonna stop because I am not in any position to have any say on the matter) and appreciate the music. When the beat drops, no matter what I'm doing I have to bang my head-everytime!
That's about it! Hopefully I'll more time to post on a regular basis after this math class ends. I have a lot of plans this weekend also, so I'll remember to document and post! Have fun listening to all of the music and thanks for reading!
It was about halfway through this month that I decided to compile everything I've done in the last 30 days and put it all into one post. If we're gonna be looking at an entire month of my life I gotta break this shit down into four categories: Music, Personal Life, Books, and Art. Awesome! Okay, lets get started.
Music
If you've been following me on 8tracks (shameless self promotion) then you'd see I've made a few playlists this month. One about the boys of the Ouran High School Host Club (I'll be making a post about that show in the future), one made up of my favorite female rappers called Watch The Queen Conquer, and this one about the obsession Jay Gatsby has for Daisy Buchanan that borderlines creepy and stalker-ish. Which leads me to the song I have been listening to on repeat almost everyday:
Breezeblocks by alt-j
My super artsy awesome friend, Chantal, tried to get me into alt-j when we had Painting class together last semester, but it wasn't until my other friend Sabrina was helping me with my Gatsby playlist that I really got hooked. Usually when I start listening to new bands I listen to one song constantly and then once I become tired of it, I start to expand and listen to their other works. I haven't seemed to move on from the first phase yet, cause this song is so goddamn amazing.
Next on the list of my constant repeat list is the newest song by M.I.A.
Bring The Noize by M.I.A.
A large chunk of it was taken from her amazing eight minute masterpiece Matangi Mix For Kenzo (that was on repeat in April for me). I can never get over how original and talented this woman is, how she incorporates her culture and style into her music in a way that no one else has. While we're on the subject, there's also a trailer for her documentary released on Vimeo which you should look at. It's all about her music, and her politics, and just her badassery. Just read this article that has the video attached.
Black Skinhead by Kanye West
Okay, if you haven't experienced what's happening on kanyewest.com just go, leave this post and go. (But then come back pleasethankyou).
Personal Life
The fourth of July has got to be one of my least favorite holidays, but this one wasn't too bad. I wish I had taken a picture of the Union Jack shirt I decided to wear ironically (my sister took the Canadian one). But here's a picture of my friends' selfies on my phone when I wasn't aware. We climbed up my friend Nemo's roof and watched the fireworks for a while. And one girl was hellbent on eating a hotdog and being American so got a shit ton of those. I got sort of drunk and annoying and kept saying the lines to Inglorious Bastards before they were said on the television. I think I pissed everyone off a little but I'm not sure. "That's a bingo!"
On the 11th of July I got to see my friend Elizabeth and her cousin Kabrina and we went to the Sawdust Festival, which was pretty awesome! The only downside was that I took one step on the wood chips and the shoes I got second hand from Sabrina fell apart. I'm not kidding. The entire bottom half fell off as I tripped and I had to MacGuyver that shit with scotch tape that I found at the information booth. C'est la vie! It was worth it though. I got to see amazing artwork, I got to talk to other artists, and it got me really inspired to continue on with a project that I'll tell you about in a sec.
And I was planning on going to the Getty with them the next day, but I had to get my hair done, my roots were growing out to over an inch and it was getting bad. For some reason, though, when I got to the salon, I decided I wanted to be a brunette. I went up to my hair dresser and told her and she sighed in frustration. "Seriously?" she asked. "Okay, lets see pictures." When I told her I didn't have any reference pictures, she decided to wing it, and she did a great job if I can say so myself. Though I will always feel like a blonde Luna Lovegood at heart, I think I look better with dark hair. (Ignore the outfit repeating, I just really like my polka-dot dress okay.)
Sabrina's birthday was also this month, and it still amazes me that I can have hours of fun with her even if we're doing nothing in particular. She was really sick and decided to cancel all of her birthday plans, but I kept thinking what a horrible friend I'd be if I didn't do anything for her 19th. So I bought her some last minute flowers and my mom made some chicken soup. When I dropped them off at her house, her family insisted that I should stay for pizza (how could I refuse my one true love that is pizza!). I finally got to meet her boo-thang, and I made her parents laugh at my vast knowledge of 80's music.
This month has been a real challenge for me to balance friends, school, and work, so it was always nice to know that my friends still wanted to hang out with my after I'd blow them off three times in a row for math homework. (Sadly, I can slowly feel them getting more and more pissed off, but I think I can hold that off until the summer semester ends in the beginning of August.)
Fortunately I have done a few things with them! Like I went to see Caravan Palace in Hollywood. It was seriously one of the best shows I have been to-I hope that's saying something cause I haven't been to many shows and two of them were at a library to see Harry and the Potters (one of which had the Potter Puppet Pals, I know I'm a badass it's cool). If you haven't dabbled into the music genre of electro-swing, now is the time! Caravan Palace is definitely where you should start. Each musician in the band played at least two instruments during the show. And the dancing! And the crowd! And the feels! A part of me thinks I would have had an even greater time if I had gone with another group of people, cause I didn't know most of them, but I'd rather just try to focus on the positive. And Caravan Palace was positively amazing!
A week later, I went drunk bowling with everyone! It was nice to see some faces that I hadn't seen in almost a month. It's so weird remembering when we all went to high school over a year ago and saw each other everyday and hung out every weekend. I missed them a lot and I missed doing our usual hang-out-in-the-parking-lot-til-midnight thing that we'd always do.
On the 29th, I went mini golfing at night with a few friends because it was one of the first days I've had that I didn't have homework due in the morning. I can't remember the last time I went mini golfing but I must have at some point. Of course we were all terrible and discovered that we'd get more accuracy if we squatted and grunted in a sexual manner (if we missed the hole we would say that the grunt wasn't sexy enough). There were many photobooths in the arcade on the way out of Boomers, but the biggest and shiniest was a photobooth that had a doe-eyed girl on the front, and a sign by the token slot that said 400 yen/26 tokens. Apparently the photobooth gives you extra mascara and bigger eyes, making you look super kawaii! We decided to act as cute as possible and after picked out the girliest backgrounds and poses. What a nice way to end July.
Books
I don't have much to say about these books cause I haven't gotten around to reading them, I found the first two books at goodwill.I spent a good twenty minutes eyeing every spine on those bookshelves, and I'm glad with what I found. The first book, The Death of Feminism by Phyllis Chesler, was written after 9/11 so it's a lot about the opression of women, the dwindling and changing of what feminism used to be, and the racism towards all people of the Middle East that sparked in 2001. It's a tough read for me, mostly because I rarely read anything other than fiction. I haven't read Odd Girl Out by Rachel Simmons, but I know that it's about girl-on-girl agression and where that stems from. I can't wait to read it!
Later that day I also went to a comic book store for the first time, I felt really intimidated by the entire subculture but I left with some cheap Doctor Who comics, one of which includes the Eleventh Doctor seeing the cat burglar from an earlier episode with the Tenth Doctor so that was cool.
I'm currently reading Feminism Is For Everybody by Bell Hooks, which I think will be a great introduction to feminist literature and help me get the hang of all the terminology and ideals so I don't sound like a complete ass when I'm explaining feminism to other people.
Art
I was worried that not taking any art classes this semester would ruin all the progress I've made, and that I'd be really rusty when I started taking Figure Drawing in the Fall. To my surprise, I've never been more inspired! It seems that my number one means of inspiration comes from boredom, and boy do I get bored in my math class! And at work, we aren't allowed to read books, or walk around the facility unless someone has peed or vomited (I work at a kids place, like Chuck E Cheese or a giant indoor playplace). So it's been very easy for me to get crazy ideas in my head and put them on paper.
I guess I've always been obsessed with the idea of religious figures since I took a Bible Literature class my senior year of high school. My old sketchbook is full of halos and third eyes, but I don't think I've been more obsessed until now. I've started collecting those Catholic candles with saints on them, and I've been really into interpreting The Virgin Mary and baby Jesus into different things.
God Bless Fast Food
Done on a styrofoam cup at work using Crayola Makers and a Sharpie
The one project I've been doing that has been consuming what little free time I have and has always been in the back of my head are the biker gang-styled Game of Thrones patches I decided to create. I have never really ventured into the D.I.Y. field but I was in math class doodling Sailor Jerry styled house sigils for all the families on my favorite show ever, and it just clicked. And I usually never go through with big projects but this one has made me more determined than I ever have about...anything really. Sabrina drove me to a bunch of craft stores to get fabric and iron on paper, my sister helped me pick out jackets to sew the patches on for when I take pictures and put them online (also I just want to wear my own patches cause I think they're awesome), and my mother re-taught me how to sew by hand cause my five year old machine that I've never used was broken. The patches are all I think about at school, work, and when I get home all I want to do is work on them, make new designs, sew into new jackets, and I love it so much. I guess I've developed a hobby because its more than just drawing and painting, there's even more work that I have to put into it.
I want to make these patches and open an Etsy shop. All this has to happen before Thanksgiving, that's my deadline, hopefully people will want to buy it. Even if I only sell five patches, all the work would have been worth it. All the days of sewing, all the fuck ups, all the frustration. I've come to realize how much support and money someone needs to start something like this. I keep trying to save up money to buy studs and more jackets, but it's been hard.
I've also been listening to more hip-hop then like any other genre of music this month, and that has played some part in my art too! Just a small part...just me thinking that Beyonce and Kanye West are like worthy of worship and praise and a religious following.
(I'm sorry if that doesn't look like Beyonce enough, she's just too perfect I couldn't)
Well, there's my month! I really like the idea of just doing recaps instead of updating every time something new comes along, but I don't know how August is going to play out so I'm not going to say that this is going to be a thing. Please don't take any of my pictures, enjoy the music and artwork, and see you next time!
