I’ve been seeing some pretty sexy booze commercials on TV lately. I’m sure it’s because the holidays are here and everybody’s celebrating OR maybe they’re anticipating the end of days and want to go out with a bang. Either way, here are a few that have caught my eye recently…
Baileys + a million beautiful women + music by: Blondie
Absolut Greyhound + music by: Swedish House Mafia (this one’s more like a mini movie)
Rémy Martin + Robin Thicke + music by: The Elkcloner
Dewar’s Scotch + Claire Forlani + music by: unknown
S’up, kids. July 4th has come and gone. Summer heat is raging on but retailers are slowly starting to phase out Summer merch in exchange for Autumnal/Halloween merch. I don’t mind because, as some of you may know, Halloween prep is well underway in my neck of the woods. I feel it is my duty to get you all in the mood as well, so let’s talk about a couple of fun, spooky things, shall we?
The Lady ParaNorma is a short film that actually came out in 2011, flying way under the radar with only a limited number of showings at a few film festivals. The only taste we’ve gotten are the handful of teasers on youtube. It’s beautifully animated and it happens to be narrated by none other than Peter Murphy. He also lends his voice to the project’s score, providing a vocal soundscape that is described as “a beautiful, monstrous, sonic ribbon”. Click here to view a short clip of his raw vocals being cut in the editing room. Definitely chill-inducing (and how lucky is that editor?!?) For now, my search for a full length version of this film continues…
And then there’s ParaNorman. A full length feature film, due out on August 17, 2012, about a boy who has the ability to communicate with the dead but really it’s a zombie movie for kids. I personally love a good dose of kid-friendly horror. It’s from the directors of Coraline so you’ll recognize the same stop-motion animation techniques, which are pretty amazing.
One of the most interesting things about ParaNorman is the viral marketing campaign: “For the release of ParaNorman, some amazing artists have created a set of limited edition posters. The posters are up on walls all across the US, and they’re waiting for you to find them. If you do spot one in the wild, take a picture of it and tag it #WEIRDWINS.”
Posters are stacked on top of each other with removable sticky dots so you can just pull your copy away from the stack.
I must say, this “take-home art” approach is pretty genius, especially since the artwork is so frame-worthy and, well, who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt?? Below are a couple of my favorite versions:
So great. This reminds of the severely underrated Monster House. Did any of you see that? If you haven’t, YA SHOULD. It’s a good way to whet your appetite until ParaNorman comes out. ;)
-D
P.S. If you’re ever wondered how stop motion characters are constructed, check out this fun time-lapse video of Norman being “born”.
Please, slow your roll, 2012! My gawd, this year is flying right by. Once again, Instagram makes it possible for me to remember what I’ve been up to since I can’t remember what I did 10 minutes ago without a visual reminder. Starting from the top:
1. In April I finally got to witness the amazing Garbage, live! As you may recall, I nearly lost my mind with excitement when Garbage announced their new album. All of the L.A. shows sold out in a matter of seconds, so the bestie and I drove up to Vegas to see them. TOTALLY WORTH IT. They were everything I had hoped for and Shirley is sexy as ever. Here’s a clip I recorded of them performing #1 Crush – and why do I always forget to turn my phone sideways? http://www.twitvid.com/embed.php?guid=SKENT&autoplay=0
2. Some friends and I went to check out the Transmission L.A. exhibit curated by Mike D of the Beasty Boys. Sadly, this was right around when MCA passed away, so the mood was a bit somber. We did get to experience lot of impressive, animated installations like the one above. All of those wheels were turning but my phone didn’t really capture any if the motion. Bummed that we missed the Kogi pop-up restaurant at MOCA, though.
3. One of the things I love about L.A. is simply having access. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in the presence of cinematic greatness simply because I’m local. I was lucky enough to score a couple of free tickets to a live Q&A with Danny Elfman at Warner Brothers studios to promote the new Dark Shadows movie a few weeks ago. DANNY freakin ELFMAN! He shared an interesting little story about how Johnny Depp recently confessed to him that he stole some guitar picks at an Oingo Boingo concert when he was a young lad, never thinking they would cross paths. Cute <;3
4. I accidentally stumbled upon the iconic, gargantuan donut that sits atop Randy's Donuts! One of those places I had always seen on TV but had never driven by, even though I've lived in L.A. my whole life. Something about seeing a giant donut that just makes you smile.
5. Ah yes, Halloween prep. So it begins. "But it's only May" you say. Puhlease. We normally start decorating/planning effects/building/crafting during the Summer and we STILL never have enough time. This year, one of the new effects we plan on adding is a ghost maid who will appear and disappear through one of the windows facing the street in front of our house. We filmed my friend Leslie in front of a green screen and below is a sneak peek at the end result:
Pretty fancy, aye? Yeah. We ain't messing around when it comes to Halloween ;p
Congratulations for getting to the end of this lengthy and way overdue post!
xoxo
-D
Thanks to Netflix I was able to catch up on all seasons of Mad Men a couple of months ago, just in time to start the current season (which has been a total snoozefest, I’m sad to say). Anyway, I was recently in search of Man Men-inspired cocktail recipes and stumbled upon these illustrations/groupings via Pinterest. LOVE!
Too bad this art is the only good thing about Season 5 so far. Well, maybe not the only thing:
Hopefully things will start to heat up soon. Am I the only one who hopes Pete and Peggy hook-up again? I love them together.
Yep, we’re 1 week away from Thanksgiving and I am JUST NOW blogging about our Halloween party. Basically, everything turned out awesome, our guests were great and the costumes pretty much ruled. At one point in the night I had to stop running around like a crazed hostess and just take it all in. T’was a lovely sight! I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.
A few of the costumes:
•The black swan and her white opposite
•Hellboy (who was amazingly a girl)
•David Bowie’s Labyrinth character
•Giant robot detective
•A barrel of monkeys (who made the most hilarious entrance when they ape-walked their way into the party linked arm to arm)
•Teen Wolf
•The plug and socket (my personal favorite when it comes to funny costumes)
•Creepy dead babies
In case you’re wondering who won the costume contest, Teen Wolf got 1st place and Hell Boy got 2nd (both pictured above, 5 rows from the top)
Nothing more annoying than seeing a great movie and having to wait ages for the DVD to come out. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to wait very long for this one! Today’s craving is Scott Pilgrim (on Blu-Ray please). Released on DVD today and easily the best movie I’ve seen in 2010 (so far). The year isn’t over yet, though. TRON:Legacy and the newest Harry Potter are next on my list…
P.S. I have to thank one of my fellow blooggers, Dark Penguin, for the DVD tip. Check out his blog: http://darkpenguin.tumblr.com/
Today marks the opening of another awesome bar in L.A. Villains Tavern will be offering cocktails made with fresh “squeezed to order” juices like the Poison Apple, made with green apple juice, vodka, and bitters over shaved ice. Once you’ve gotten your drink-ON, sop up the booze with comfort food that has a “‘villainous twist” like a Cherry Bacon Marmalade Burger or the Grilled Cheese with cave-aged cheddar and tamarind chili (WHAT?). Oh, and the interior… (Click on images to enlarge)
The bar is framed by a giant gothic mirror
Antique jewel-tone bottles (that glow at night) line the windows
A place to wash the blood off your hands
The upstairs level where you can hide out and plot.
What you don’t see is the 1,600-square-foot open-air patio complete with bar, church pew seating, and shuffleboard — all illuminated by candles and Edison bulbs (fave!). Looks like these bar owners have been reading my diary.
Let me begin this post by saying that I am one lucky girl.
About a week ago I won VIP tickets for the True Blood Ultimate Fan Experience in Burbank. With True Blood’s season 3 premier just days away, HBO has been promoting the show with minisodes, teaser trailers and events like this one. There’s even a twitter hashtag (#WaitingSucks) being used by “trubies” all over the world who have been waiting impatiently for the new season to start.
Photo by: HBO staff
The night of the event we only waited in line for a few minutes before my bestie and I were scurrying into the theater. We checked-in to get our VIP wrist bands, then received complimentary soda & popcorn – now that’s what I call service. We were led to a red carpet area where HBO was photographing guests before entering the screening room. Once we took our seats, we were treated to a bunch of exclusive interviews, clips and sneak peeks of new characters. We also got to watch the season 2 finalé.
The Q&A panel at the end of the night was a real treat. Creator, Allan Ball, and the rest of the cast answered questions and tweets from trubies across all 50 states, LIVE! Here’s a short video clip of one of my favorite Q&A moments from last night. The host was asking about the nature of Sookie’s attraction to Vampire Eric. Excuse the amazingly bad video quality:
As we left the screening room, there was another surprise waiting for us; goodie bags loaded with bottles of TruBlood, the TB soundtrack, the original books by Charlaine Harris, posters and lots of great print material. SCORE.
Photo by: Agent D
HBO really took care of us and I can’t thank them enough for putting on such a great event.Oh, and click here to watch the Season 3 extended trailer, which was revealed at the event. Season 3 promises to be full of screams, surprises, sex and scandal – just the way we like it.
Planning a True Blood season premier party of your own? Aside from stocking-up on bottles of TruBlood for your guests, you can print-out this FREE pdf containing special “Hello my name is” badges for the fangbanger, vamp or shapeshifter at your party.