The Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama Collection

So I can't help but notice that Yayoi Kusama's been getting more and more attention for the last decade or so. It's probably because she's getting up there in years after having been active for so many. I also can't help but notice that the launch of this collaboration was announced at the end of May, but hey, I don't need to repeat myself about having neglected this blog off and on since I started it. I've got several backed-up posts I'm going to try to churn out before I move to Korea.

Of course I'm glad about said collaboration, and LV is no stranger to Japanese pop art, as their signature monogram logo print was famously redesigned by Takashi Murakami ten years ago to great commercial success, but I'm still pissed off because I'll never be able to afford any of it, haha. 

This also seems to coincide with the reemergence of oh-so-many retro trends. I get how the 50's and 60's really came back largely as a result of how sexy Mad Men is, but it's like all the decades of the 20th century have been caught in a big inescapable Dyson fashion vortex for a while now, repeating and combining and being reinvented slightly. I know I've mentioned this before, but one does not simply ignore how massively 60's Yayoi Kusama is. 

This post pretty much covers all the awesomest items, but of course, more pictures are required. Aside from the collar necklace and signature yellow and black dot sunglasses, I'd say these are my other favourites:

Sorry LV fans, I've never cared for trendy handbags. There's a least one really cute all-over polka dot watch, too. And check out how awesome this concept store in Singapore is:

And finally, the best outfits I've found so far:

Also, Lady Gaga conveniently shared this while I was making this post:

Coincidence? I think not.

Gluten-Free, Vegetarian Recipe: Amazing Oatmeal Cookies

I've been meaning to post this for like 7 months. Christmas probably would've been the best time, but whatever. I got the recipe here, but have modified it. They're also dairy and soy free, so they're not only quite healthy, but at least two of the batches I've made have easily been better than sex. My ingredients are as follows, and you can of course replace the egg with a flax (since we're already about to use some anyway) or tapioca starch one to make these vegan:

3 cups oats
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup Earth Balance natural spread
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp flaxseed meal

and in this case, Craisins, crushed candied walnuts and a combination of semisweet and unsweetened Baker's chocolate (plus a little vegetable shortening) to taste.
I've tried crushing the walnuts into pieces both standard size and fine. I find that crushing them into powder changes the flavour of the cookies and that just having little bits for variance in texture is preferable.

First, preheat the oven to 350. Mix together the oats, flours, flaxseed meal, baking soda, walnuts and Craisins. In a separate bowl, cream together the eggs, sugars, Earth Balance, and vanilla with a mixer.

Something important to mention here is that you should not by any means allow the Earth Balance to sit and become room temperature, as it is just vegetable oil at that point. If you do, you'll have melty cookies that you end up having to scrape off the sheet and use as granola, so it isn't all bad:

Since I never time anything and just stop when it looks done, I'm guessing these bake for 10-12 minutes. Just keep an eye on them. When they start browning ever so slightly on the edges and on top, whip them out unless they still look completely raw. You want them to be just done so that they're soft and chewy.

Now then, to get a double boiler going on top of the stove. Maybe you're rich and have a fondue pot or something, but if not, then get a glass bowl that fits comfortably inside a saucepan about half-filled with water that you want to keep at a low (not rolling) boil. Make sure it doesn't float too freely; if you splash water into your chocolate, it'll be at least slightly ruined.
I'd recommend breaking two bricks of unsweetened and three bricks of semisweet Baker's chocolate and putting about a teaspoon of vegetable shortening into the bowl for this number of cookies. If you make them all even and not very big, you should end up with about 30-36 cookies.

When the cookies are done, be very careful as they break apart at the drop of a hat. Place them all as close together as you can on some wax paper. When the chocolate is completely melted and pourable, start drizzling. The vegetable shortening makes it more viscous, which I learned when I worked at Edible Arrangements. It should pour beautifully.

Craft(y) Project: Mixed Media Neckpiece

I'm trying to go through absolutely everything I own and finish all of the projects I've started and left to collect dust or just straight up forgotten about as well as made gifts and more things to sell before I jet to Korea.

Currently I'm working on a dress, 6 bags, 5 pairs of embellished gloves, 4 hand-painted shirts, 5 scrap pillows/cushions, two plush toys, a small series of felt goodies, a trinket box with a portrait painted on it, two other paintings, a collage that I hope will also become a painting, a bunch of deco'd accessories and things, 7 pairs of earrings, 2 rings, 2 hair accessories, 7 necklaces, and some other stuff.

Yeah, I think I'll probably run out of time, too. "Too broad in scope and subject matter to possibly execute well or completely" describes every aspect of my life up until this point.

Anyway, here's one of the things I made for myself out of two appliques, a pendant Angelique gave me, silver chain and broken jewelry findings:

Cute Shit: Googling Nature

I noticed that I tend to overthink my posts a bit, or only try to post only the best stuff I can possibly come up with. I'm starting a new segment (e.g. Giftage, Craft(y) Project) to encourage more frequent, easier, shorter posts, kind of like the few art ones I've done. Even these shouldn't be mediocre, though, so I'm going to bookmark the most unique cute shit I find.

Today it's puffball flowers and the heterohyrax brucei, which is easily distinguished from the homohyrax by its conspicuous lack of brand name accessories and the fact that it doesn't complain about its hair nearly as much.

I've always loved the puffball flowers on the acacia trees we have in Arizona; there used to be one outside my window and I wasn't even super allergic to it, believe it or not.

These are button bush flowers, also known as honeyballs or honey bells. Apparently they've got a lot of them in Florida and they smell just like honey. 

I was thinking about getting some seeds and then I was like, "Oh yeah, I'm going to be leaving the country". By now I know myself well enough to accept that I'd forget about planting them even if I did get them.

But wait, they come in purple, too!

Now for the heterohyrax, which sounds like something that died out in the last ice age. It's kind of like a lemming or a pika, but African and more smug. In a good way.

Look at this photogenic little bastard! Aww.

Don't you just wanna squeeze it? ლ(◉◞౪◟◉‵ლ)

よわよわカメラウーマン日記

How awesome is this? I just wish she was still posting them..

http://yowayowacamera.com/

Giftage

In an effort to celebrate my friendships and use up my stockpile of art supplies and findings before I move, I've been making stuff left and right. It's so nice to finally be done with school (and the massive stress associated with it) forever and have my creativity back, though it'd be nice if it were my full time job. Hopefully I'll get to that point one day.

First there's the "Obamegoma" keychain I made for Carl as a get well present. I just copied pics I found online, but they're hand-drawn and painted either way, so, still counts.

This Tweety brooch is obviously based off an image as well, though I only used it for the silhouette and ended up making the proportions completely different anyway. Maybe I'll make some more and sell them?

Angelique gave me an awesome octopus ring after I commented on the one she was wearing, and I got the idea to make these ostrich and goose feather earrings for her in return. They were going to be hair accessories, but that didn't turn out too well, and they achieve something like 90% camouflage in her hair.

And finally, I did say that I'd post the first painting I've completed in 5 years, so here it is. The more I look at it, though, the more I regret not spending enough time on her face and want to add shoulder blades and detail to the bikini top and tail.. 

I've also been doing a lot of cooking and baking. A couple of other random things I've made include this little scrap Totoro pin (while working) and this collage (while watching Firefly), from which I'd like to do a painting.

Obscure 80's/90's Antiheroine and Crush

I've been neglecting this blog horribly (which I noticed is how I started my last post) since I started working full-time, but at least now my HubPages is getting equal treatment. 

This time the actors I'm featuring aren't very obscure, either, but recently it's come to my attention that a lot of people around my age don't know who they are. As it turns out, my mom had watched My So-Called Life when it was on in the mid-90's, but I didn't find out about it until a few months ago. I wish I'd been able to watch it when I was in middle school, alongside Malcolm in the Middle, The Osbournes, etc.

The antiheroine this time around is more of a foil and she's a fairly popular style icon, but whatever. It's A.J. Langer as Rayanne Graff.

She's your typical troubled friend from the wrong side of the tracks, a drug-addled drama machine with a heart of gold you can't help but love and pity at the same time. 

You know, the one who acts like she doesn't give a shit about what everyone thinks but who's secretly fragile and insecure and desperate for attention. Oddly enough, she's (Langer, not her character) married to an English lord now and her title is Lady Courtenay. 

Duchess Random Girl Trolls-a-lot, maybe...

My crush is definitely not obscure, but he has pretty much fallen off the radar as of late. 

It's James Spader.

As always, it's not really the straight-up eye candy I go for so much as the personality. It has to be the kind of weird/dark, brooding, intelligent guy with the intense eyes. Which is why I haven't dated in nearly two years; those guys keep turning out to be crazy. Interesting, intelligent, emotionally stable... Pick two. Apparently all three can't exist in the same male body. :(

Spader is really unforgivably sexy in Secretary, and is very reminiscent of my professor crush in Stargate, which is what finally prompted this post. I realised how predictable my attractions are when all of that coalesced in my mind. And then, of course, if you didn't know his name before, you'll most likely recognise him from his Pretty in Pink days:

Or maybe from other completely forgotten kitschy 80's non-classics such as Starcrossed, a.k.a Earth Girls Are Easy (oops), and Tuff Turf, which also features baby RDJ:

Unf.

Well, I'm glad I started posting again. I've actually been getting really crafty lately trying to use up all of my remaining art supplies and finish all of my intended/planned/half-finished projects before leaving the country, and it's going quite well. I'm working on a couple of collages and several pieces of jewelry, and I finished my first painting in about five years, which is a pretty big deal for me. It'll be in my next post. :D