I Never Need To Rent Another DVD Again. Seriously.

Whew! What a crazy holiday it's been. I haven't done any claywork in what seems like ages and I feel quite guilty. My poor, poor shop. Yes...guilty is definately the word. Ugh. Could be burnout, could be exhaustion, could be both. But whatever it is, I hope I get the energy to create more soon. I've done a lot of ceramic painting lately, for what it's worth. Painted a couple neat large bowls for my "Creatures of the Deep" bowl series. God only knows how many series' I have going on right now. I think it's more than 4... But I love the bowls. I need to take some photos so you can see them too.

Christmas was great! I got to spend it with the whole family--Christmas Eve with my mom and brother (who flew up from Phoenix--I haven't seen him for a year because he's in college) and then Christmas day with my brother, Dad and Grandma. It was lovely. And my family knows me very, very well. When all was said and done, I wound up with close to 10 new dvds. Glee! Pirates of the Carribean II (the 2-disc version, of course), a special edition version of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Kill Bill volume I, Pulp Fiction, Constantine, Little Miss Sunshine, The Red Violin, Being John Malkovich, Napoleon Dynamite... Good god, I have a freaking video store in my house! 90 dvds, from when I last counted. But that's not all. I was also graciously given gift cards and cash to buy yet MORE movies. Egads. Some new cds are now also in my possesion, much to the delight of my ears and 20gb ipod.

I spent half the money on some new tops, which I really didn't NEED, but couldn't resist and had to have. The rest of the money will go towards an antique typewriter or Brownie camera and some dvds.

And now, I just watched one of my favorite flicks, Amelie, and will watch Being John Malkovich shortly to ring in the New Year. What a perfect evening! Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your holidays were also grand and that the new year brings you even more grandness...or something like that... :)

Merry Christmas!

I'm signing off for a few days for Christmas Mania! Here's to hoping you have a splendid Christmas/Holiday as well. :)

Back From The Darkness

Many of you probably already heard about the storm that plowed through the Puget Sound/ Pacific Northwest area Thursday night. It was a doosey. My power was out for a couple days, but it's back on now (woot!). My house is typically the last house to get it's power back, but for a strange and welcome stroke of luck, this time it was one of the first. But many still don't have power and they're going strong on three days now without it. And it's wickedly cold, too. Here's to hoping they get there's back on quickly.

It seems like every year we get slammed with a bad wind storm, but this was one of the worst. I live near the Hood Canal region which recorded winds up to 75 mph. I think all the bridges around here closed down (including the Tacoma Narrows--which has never closed in all of the state's history) due to the high winds and a lot of streets are still blocked with fallen trees. It's really crazy. So far, there's been a recorded four deaths due to the storm and lots of injuries and carbon monoxide poisoning (which isn't wholly unusual for bad power outages, unfortunately).

But my family and I are all okay. The pets are fine and we're warm and happy. If anything, I learned one big thing from this storm: ipods are an absolute godsend. They drown out the horrible wind noise and make living in the dark just a little more comforting.

Candy Wrappers As Art

I'm always on the lookout for neat things that inspire me to create. And when I find said objects, I hoard them like a magpie. Grocery stores are like treasure boxes filled to the brim with endless illustrations and neat packages. Whenever I go out to buy another loaf of bread, I always end up in the gourmet candy aisle, scoping out designs and cool packages that catch my eye.

This candybar caught my eye on the last trip. I love the illustration (and there's a whole series of these bars, each with a different mind-numbingly beautiful illustration) and the fact that it was a Chai Tea chocolate bar completely cinched the deal. Okay, so it was $4--big deal. Look what I got because of it! A gorgeous wrapper that's getting framed and some kick-ass chocolate. A win-win situation, folks.

Zombie Submarines

So, I may not have any new merch for the shop right this week, but look! A quickie sub drawing! Look at the cute portholes! Behold the adorableness!

I don't know why this came out, really. It just...did. I doodled it in a couple seconds while watching a zombie flick, and it wasn't until a solid 15 minutes passed when I realized that yes, I had actually drawn a cute little submarine while watching zombies gorge themselves on bloody human flesh.

Huh.

I still don't know what posessed me to do that. The creative subconsious is a mysterious abyss, I tell you...

More Movie Talk

I've felt kinda chatty about movies lately. Therefore, I haven't gotten any more new designs done for the shop. Sigh. But it's not like I haven't been busy or anything--I've been raking in the hours at work and I'm feeling pretty burned out. Yay for the holiday season...

Anyway, a friend of mine lent me "Tetsuo: The Ironman", which I watched tonight and enjoyed. Those who don't appreciate surreal/arthouse flicks should stay far, far away from it--but if you're anything like me and love to watch not only the mind-numbing entertainment flicks (...like Pirates of the Carribean...) but also films that challenge the cinematic industry and what you perceive as art/film, then you should check this one out. It's older, came out in the 80s, and it's so....crazy. I honestly don't even know what to say about it. Seen "Eraserhead" by David Lynch? Did ya like it as much as I? Cool. This movie is kinda like that. Only faster, darker, much more graphic (...it's not rated for a reason), and more mysterious. It's pretty intense, but boy could I ever appreciate how it was filmed! The camerawork (it's all in b/w, by the way) is perfect and edgy and fits right in with the futuristic man vs. machine theme of the flick. Oh, and did I mention that there's also stop-motion involved? My absolute favorite form of animation. So, overall a really neat flick. Worthy of another watch to absorb it all.

This year there were two magician-themed movies that came out: "The Illusionist" and "The Prestige". I'm in a bit of a conundrum. The Illusionist comes out to dvd first (apparently this week) and I'm debating which of the two I should end up buying. They both looked really good (though I wasn't able to see either in the theaters) and got decent reviews. However, I'm not entirely sure I want to own them both (from the trailers at least, they just looked a little too similar--both being period flicks about magicians). So, I either buy The Illusionist, or wait for The Prestige to come out. I was told The Prestige rocked, but none of my friends went and saw The Illusionist, so I have no way of comparing the two. Ugh. Decisions suck.

I think I'll go lock myself in my studio and try to get some artwork done instead.

Christmas List

After the constant urging of family members, I put together a little Christmas list of stuff they could get me if they felt like it. Honestly, I don't really want anything. I'm happy just to see everyone (and my brother will be home for Christmas this year--yea!), but I also don't want to be a royal pain in the ass when it comes to buying gifts. I know all too well how hard it can be to figure out the perfect gift for someone that doesn't want or need anything. So, here's my list:

Books:
* "Gregory Crewdson"--a collection of photographs and production images of his photographs from 1985-2005. Probably one of my all-time favorite photographers. He has such a wonderful surreal/dream-like/cinema look to his images and I love the amount of thought and work that goes into making them. I know that seeing them in a book pales in comparison to seeing them in real-life (you can't squish all that awesome detail down onto an 11x10" page) but it'll have to do and is head-over-heels better than drooling over a pixelated internet version.

* "Twilight: Photographs by Gregory Crewdson"--all 40 plates from the Twilight photo series by Crewdson. Love 'em all.

CDs:
* "Castaways and Cutouts" by The Decemberists--I. Love. This. Band. What I love even more is that a lot of people surprisingly still don't know who they are. I have all the other albums, but ran out of money when it came to buy this one.

* "Notes from the Underworld" by Persephone's Bees--Such a happy, sing-along, get-stuck-in-your-head cd. I'm sure everyone's heard them by know from the commercials, but there's so many other awesomely good songs on this album that haven't been hyped up yet.

Movies:
* "Pirates of the Carribean II"--doesn't everyone have this on their holiday list this year?

* "El Mariachi"--I already own Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (which I love dearly), but the first flick in the series is harder to come by. It's not in any of the stores near me.

* "Pulp Fiction"--I love this movie but don't own it yet, and it's shameful. I'm extremely embarassed.

* "The Red Violin"--for some reason, the Best Buy near me doesn't have this in stock and hasn't for the past year. It's such a great film and I'd love to own it.

Other:

* vintage black typwriter--saw my dream typwriter at a nearby antique store but, alas, it was $40 and I didn't have enough money to buy it. Seemed like a little too much to spend on one...But it's so gorgeous! I'd just want to sit it on an end table and stare at it all day.

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And so, those are the items I came up with. I'm giving almost everyone I know handpainted pottery this year. Mugs, cups and saucers, chip & dip plates... They all turned out great too! Couldn't be more thrilled.

Walkin' In A Winter Wonderland

Here ye, here ye! Holiday charms are listed in the shop and ready to go to new homes. I do have multiples available of both the Mr. Frosty charms and Lollipop Guild Charms--let me know if you're interested in buying more than one and I'll set ya up.

I'm completely and madly in love with the lolly charms. Sigh. Peppermint lollipops make me want to smile all freakin' day long. They're just so...cheerful. Unbearably so.

Anyway, the Winter Wonderland Charm Theme Pack (pictured above) is one-of-a-kind and I won't have another set available before Christmas--just so you know ahead of time.

As far as other stuff is concerned... The weather here in the Sound has been insane this past week or two. I'm no stranger to cold weather--I lived in central Washington for a few years while in college and we had some killer winters there. The Seattle area doesn't get bad winters, trust me. Usually a snow storm or two every year, but they're pretty mild (and last year I don't think we got one snowfall, oh the humanity!). But this past week we got caught in a cold snap and the temps plummitted. Then came the snow. And the ice. No one was prepared for it, which meant lots of bad, bad traffic problems. And then we all woke up one morning and the temps were 20 degrees higher. Huh. So, the snow is melting, the ice is long gone, and things are going back to normal around here. Most people around here hate the snow and complain when we get our measley 4".

I for one, love it.