Hello, S&D fans!

It has been too long since I posted, mostly because I was trying to cram science and algebra knowledge into the heads of uninterested 6th and 7th graders. I’ve learned (or re-learned, I should say) more about gravity and friction and point-slope formulas and intercepts than I ever really wanted to. ANYWAY. It’s June now, and SCHOOL IS OUT FOR SUMMER! While this is bad for my wallet it is excellent for my sketchbook, because it is SKETCHCRAWL TIME, PEOPLE!

Something about this reminds me of Harold and the Purple Crayon

You’ve heard of PubCrawls/BarCrawls, where one travels from place to place getting progressively drunker. SketchCrawls have the same concept, but replacing drunkenness with crippling hand pains. Or, you know, adding it onto the drunkenness. You can go it alone (which is sad to do with a PubBarCrawl) or in a group, visiting places you frequent or areas previously unknown. Enrico Casarosa, the founder of the SketchCrawl, puts it like this:

The basic idea: to record nonstop everything I could around me with my pencil and watercolors. A drawn journal filled with details ranging from the all the coffee I drank to the different buses I took. After a whole day of drawing and walking around the city the name seemed quite fitting: ‘SketchCrawl’ – a drawing marathon.

Bicycles and puppies; two of my favorite things!

Drawings can be super fancy or quick thumbnails, black and white or full-blown Technicolor Marvels done in fancy fancy sketchbooks or on napkins you steal from each location you visit. Enrico Casarosa, the founder of the SketchCrawl, has compiled a list of suggested materials in this here fancy drawing:

Click to embiggen

For more information visit the Official SketchCrawl Site. The next planned worldwide SC is on July 31st, 2010, so you can visit the forums to meet up with other Crawlers or just go for it now!

There’s even an official t-shirt! That is crazy!

<3 Ambrrr

PS – Check out this Flickr stream of photos tagged “SketchCrawl.” They’re outstanding!

PPS – Here’s one more for the road:

This is simply bananas. BANANAS!

All photos from the official SketchCrawl website.

This fall, I will be awakening my dormant brain and returning to school.  Although there are several outstanding matters regarding this move (How will I transport my heavy cookbooks? How will I get all my dresses to Baltimore? What if I don’t make any friends? What if I never end up meeting anyone from Charm City Cakes while in Baltimore? What if I don’t get the opportunity to ask Victoria Legrand what kind of shampoo she uses for her long Beach-House-y locks?), a pestering concern is how I will handle the feeling of schlepping books in East Baltimore.  It’s not like my current job demands me to carry a lot of scholarly materials full of scholarly things that will allow me to save lives “millions at a time.”

Oddly enough, Lily from JetPens must have been able to hear this reverberating concern in my mind, because a month ago she graciously sent me one of JetPens’ newest products to test: the Nomadic CB-01 Wise Walker Multi Compartment Day Pack.  Nomadic is a popular brand of bags in Japan, and has built its reputation based on its high level of functionality in the urban environment (have you seen how crowded a Japanese subway can get?  Or, more selfishly, have you seen how crowded the El gets during rush hour?) and durability.  JetPens is one of the few domestic retailers of Nomadic bags.  As someone who prefers a messenger bag (but hates the disproportionate shoulder pain), I was really excited to see if this bag could convert me into a backpack user.  My main complaints with backpacks:

• They are too heavy and overwhelming for someone who is relatively short and small.
• They make me feel like I’m in elementary school (this is also connected to the cries of disproportion stated in point one).
• You’d think I could solve the first two points by simply getting a smaller backpack.  HOWEVER, this course of action leads to a) me having to hold too many things in my tiny hands (they are exceptionally small) because there aren’t enough pockets and b) me feeling like I’ve suddenly time traveled to the 90s and I’m Blossom with a tiny backpack ready to be filled with sunflowers.

I was initially struck with how lightweight and small the bag is.  It’s made out of parachute material, which makes the bag featherly and easy to clean.  I told my coworker that it’s so small and cute that I’d want to pinch its cheeks.  It has no cheeks.  But if it is so petite, how will I fit everything I need to carry around?

Deceivingly small (40 cm (H) X 24 cm (W) X 19 cm (D)), the Nomadic Wise-Walker Day Pack is filled with pockets.  And they are huge (I kept thinking of a Harry Potter tent).  The above picture is of the front pocket…

…and this is the middle pocket.  I’ve been told that these middle pockets are great for iPads and Kindles.  Since I have neither, I can also attest to the fact that they’re good for storing books that you don’t want crumpled or dog-eared.  “But, Tricia. Can you actually fit anything in the bag?!”

Look!  Even Snuggle Pup fits at the bottom of the third pocket!  Yes, this bag will not carry my laptop, but my laptop is a mammoth.  This won’t be a problem, however, since I don’t think I will want to carry my laptop around classes.  The bag does fit binders and notebooks (I checked), and there are plenty spaces for pens.

There are an overwhelming number of pockets in the bag!  The first day of use, I failed to pack my bag the night before, and it was too disorienting (I lost my cell phone that morning)!  LESSON: There is a reason that Nomadic includes a pocket map to their bag: DON’T UNDERESTIMATE POCKET ORIENTATION.

I do not understand Japanese (although I think suggested pocket 7 is for a minidisc player?), but the map did help me plot my own personal pocket usage.  Since I haven’t started school yet, I use my bag for the gym.  In pocket 9 (is that a bento box in the picture? I hope so…), I store my sneakers.  I suppose if you have gargantuan feet, this might not be feasible.  Should this be an issue, pocket 1 will fit your sneakers.  I use pocket 1 to hold my gym clothes.  In terms of favorite pockets, that award goes to pocket 12, which I LITERALLY JUST DISCOVERED A SECOND AGO, while staring more closely at the pocket map.  This is a great discovery, because during my month of backpack time, I have been complaining how there was no easily accessible place for my cell phone or wallet.  Well thank you, magical backpack.

Beyond the pockets, I really enjoy the slimness of the bag.  I’ve found that I can stuff it to the brim, but the bag won’t expand to an annoyingly large degree.  It  therefore allows me to squeeze onto the train without knocking someone out.  As the occasional victim of bag knockouts, this bag is a glorious gift to my fellow public transportation riders.

To conclude, below is my best geeky recreation of a similar picture of me on the first day of school (6-years old).  (No, in reality this is the product of my coworker taking a picture of me as quickly as he could before an attorney emerged from an office.  As Patrick put it, “I think I caught you pre-smile.” Apologies for the unsightly look of disgust.)  I really enjoy my Nomadic pack, and I’m excited to use it in Baltimore.  Whether or not it will replace my messenger bag is questionable (especially if I need to bring my laptop to school), but given that this is the best backpack I’ve ever owned, there is a high chance that my messenger bag might be replaced.

Hi, friends.  Like a terrible editor, I got sucked into a hole of moving, traveling, and singing “Just Like Heaven” more times than you can imagine.  ABOVE IS AN ALMOST-COMPLETELY-ENCOMPASSING-AGGLOMERATION OF WHAT I HAVE DONE DURING OUR SEPARATION.

1.  When we last met, I confessed a profound desire to throw a Johnny Weir party.  My adoration has not dissipated, and has unquestionably intensified. Especially since I discovered that we get Sundance channel at home!  Therefore, I can watch as much Be Good Johnny Weir as I want (until a certain roommate wants to watch Say Yes to the Dress).  The show chronicles Johnny’s skating adventures leading up to the Winter Olympics, and will provoke you to shed tears of sorrow over not being best friends with Johnny Weir.  Prancing around in fur hats?! Bubble baths with wigs?!  If I haven’t convinced you yet, below is a teaser:

Oh, and PS.  I am currently watching Pop Star on Ice, an hour and a half documentary on Johnny Weir, AND, I’m going to see him perform Bad Romance live this week.  WIN-WIN.

2. Titus Andronicus recently released an epic second album, The Monitor, a cohesive collection of jangly, danceable punk songs with clever references and battle cries.  I love battle cries, and the album makes me wish I was from Jersey. Furthermore, I have the attention span of a chipmunk.  Despite this, I gleefully consume The Monitor (whose songs mostly exceed 5 minutes).  They’re really nice guys who deserve all the album praise they’ve been getting (an unrelated fact that acknowledges I am biased).  ANOTHER VIDEO:
A More Perfect Union

Titus Andronicus | MySpace Music Videos

3. While in NYC, I ate the most delicious cookie I had ever eaten.  I’ve ingested many cookies, but all of them are now inferior to the magical Levain cookies.  Various fortuitous events led to my introduction to Levain.  My sister and brother in law saw Rocco DiSpirito mention his love for Levain on the Food Network + I was a block away from the bakery.  The cookies are perfection: they are warm and gooey inside, but slightly crispy on the outside.  It’s unfortunate that I don’t live in NYC, and cannot afford to have them FedEx’d to Chicago.  This copycat recipe for the chocolate chocolate peanut butter chip cookies, however, is pretty good.

4. Have you ever eaten a sour patch kid, and thought, “self. I wish this was a vitamin.”  I have trouble remembering to eat my vitamins, but not when I have One-A-Day VitaCraves Sour Gummies.

5.  A couple of weeks ago, She & Him released Volume 2, a breezy follow-up to Volume 1.  I have mostly positive feelings towards She & Him.  Zooey always wears nice frocks, a fact that should have no influence on whether I like She & Him, but…it is a factor.  Beyond the frocks, my greatest criticism regarding Volume 1 is Zooey’s chalkboard screeching voice pings.  Example: the high notes in “Sentimental Heart.”  Not cute Joanna Newsom screeches.  Volume 2 is much stronger, and a great way to herald the arrival of Spring (sort of…it’s still cold in Chicago).  I especially enjoy their cover of “Gonna Get Along Without You Now.”ALSO THERE IS THIS CUTE VIDEO, WHICH MAKES ME EXTRA EXCITED FOR MY FUTURE BALTIMORE BAND AND DANCE NUMBERS:

6. I’ve been watching a few excellent TV dramas, oddly all related to drug trafficking.  Whereas watching The Wire is partly educational for my future move to Baltimore, Breaking Bad satisfies my curiosity regarding what it would be like if an accomplished science teacher cooked meth.  This curiosity stems from college organic chemistry lab, where the teacher schooled us in lab technique, and our fate depended on purity and yield.  Breaking Bad is amazingly engaging and well-written.  It’s intriguing to witness the character progression of Walt, the science teacher who cooks meth (and has lung cancer…and has a son with cerebal paulsy…and he’s poor because he’s a middle school teacher).  His thirst for power consumes his initial apprehension, and meth cooking grants him courage that he had never been bold enough to exercise prior to cooking meth.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had a special relationship with the marvelous world of Wonderland. I might be a bit obssessed actually, because years ago I started to collect editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Pop-up books, fac-simile of the first edition, comics… Anything you can think of. I even own a never worn Alice costume (but I’m still positive it was a good purchase, the day I’ll wear it, beware !).

Whether it’s the colorful characters, the perfect text work, the crazyness of the situations, Lewis Carrol’s masterpiece has touched generations after generations. I’m not so excited by the upcoming Tim Burton movie, because frankly it looks a bit too hideous for my liking, but I should thank him anyways, because this moving has spawn a whole new market for Wonderland fans. Only two or three years ago I had to really scrap the bottom of the internet to find some decent Alice goodies, but now it’s EVERYWHERE. Just this month, there’s has been a pop-up store in Selfrigdes, special collections at Le Printemps, an exhibit of drawing at Gallerie Arludik, and a fantastic retrospective of old Alice movies at the ICA.

So, for your delight, some hand-picked marvels from wonderland :

1. Can you find something more kawaii than this Cheshire Cat Plush Toy ?
2. This amazing pop-up book is a must-have. Not only is it wonderful to look at, there’s also soft fur on some characters, celluloïd paper and glittering objects throughout the pages. I bought a copy a couple of years ago and still spend lots of time just looking at it and drooling.
3. Cute charm bracelet with all the Alice artifacts : watch, drink-me-bottle, teacups… This one has already been sold, but it’s good inspiration for you crafty people !
4. Ok, not a real Alice product, but come on, a white rabbit lamp in your living room ? It would be just like wonderland !
5. In sync with the movie release, OPI has issued a Alice-themed collection. While the nail polish colors are a bit dull, the presentation box is über-cute. You can purchase a mini-set on amazon.
6. If you can’t get a Cheshire cat, get a Chesire Grin Tee !
7. Paul and Joe are also coming up with Alice-themed products. With vintage illustrations from the old Disney cartoon, it’s almost to pretty to be used.
8. Sometimes less is more. While a complete Alice costume might be a bit too showy, these keyhole earrings are the connaisseur touch.
9. Urban Decay is also joining the mad tea party ! While these aren’t new colors, this Alice make-up box features eye-shadows re-named Mushroom, Drink Me, Eat Me, Jabberwocky or Curiouser, plus a pop-up mirror artwork. Hiiiii !
10. Maybe you’ve heard of Japanese brand Baby The Star Shine Bright. Just in case you haven’t, they sell gothic-lolita and sweet-lolitas dresses and accessories. They also have some Alice theme products. I saw a dress with an illustrated pattern taken form Tenniel’s illustrations a long time ago. This bag feature the original illustrations from the book. There’s also a version of the bag in a cream color with the drawings in black.
11. ‘we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.’. Wear your Cheshire Cat quote for the whole world to see !

If you have other Alice goodies and products, please post them in the comments !

I’m sorry for the lack of updates.  I’M ALIVE-I MOVED-I DON’T HAVE INTERNET!  Here’s a little something to appease your worried little souls.

My coworker, Patrick, gave the above creation to his girlfriend for Christmas.  His official title for it is “Zen Rock Garden/Tatooine Playset.”  I had heard about his plans to make the playset, but last week was the first time I saw it with my own over-sized eyes.  The basin for his playset is a tray (like the type of tray that someone would bring you breakfast in bed with).  Ingeniously, he cut a roll of tape in half, and glued them at the handles.  Therefore, the playset is both PORTABLE and the SAND CANNOT ESCAPE!  On the subject of Star Wars, HAVE YOU SEEN THESE STAR WARS LEGO SCENES?  They’re great. (via frites & fries).

Thank goodness February is short!  Rabbit, Rabbit!

Due to various circumstances (like an overpowering desire to discuss aspects of the perfect Johnny Weir party), this post is incredibly delayed.  And for that, I APOLOGIZE.  While I sit here, arrested in my mundane office life, exactly a week ago, I was at Bryant Park enjoying the Tracy Reese Fall 2010 show.  My friend, Tiffany Rogers, Assistant Designer to Tracy Reese, invited me to the show.  Past Tracy Reese collections have proven that Tracy Reese likes cute and feminine.  AND has a certain obsession with florals.  Going into the show, I did not know what to expect.  I knew that fur and florals were somehow intertwined in her fall collection: both assumptions and intel that I had gathered from Tiffany gchat status (“fur in mouth!”).  As I waited for the show to begin (my first fashion week show ever, mind you), I stared at the pretty flowery backdrop, and longed for spring.  Which is an inappropriate longing considering I was about to witness a FALL show.

Soon after, however, my lust for warmer days transformed into a crave for crisp fall (and a desire to meet Julia Stiles, who was also at the show, and the teenager in me, of course, flipped out).  While still maintaining her dainty aesthetic (my goodness there was a lot of lace), the Fall 2010 show was surprisingly grittier than past Tracy Reese collections.

Leopard prints, suede, and fur seamlessly unite to create a mesmerizing collection.

Oh!  And the loopy scarves!  How I wish I had one to hide behind!

I WAS NOT JOKING.  The above is a close up of the scarf from backstage (taken by Tiffany).

Afterward, we ate a lot of meat at The Breslin (which is PERFECT INSIDE, and I WISH-I-LIVED-IN-NYC-SO-I-COULD-BE-ONE-OF-THE READERS-IN-THE-COFFEE-BAR-LOBBY-OF-THE-ACE-HOTEL), and took tiny naps before the after party at Gold Bar.

…Which, as the name implies, is filled with gold (like gold skulls, as Tiffany is demonstrating above) and wonderfully creepy paintings.  Delightful.

I have to admit, I’m a big fan of TV series. It all started with Friends, which was a big part of my teenage years, and it got out of control this last few years with That’s 70s Show, Absolutly Fabulous, Spaced, The IT Crowd, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Mad Men… The one think I really love about TV shows is that it’s like a almost never ending movie. You get to really know the characters, and they become part of your everyday life. The first time I went to NYC, I kept looking around, half-expecting to spot Phoebe playing guitar somewhere.
So, new year, new series.

Bored to Death is a quite young TV show, seeing that it started last September. There’s 8 episodes as of now, and it has been renewed by HBO for a second season. The pitch is pretty simple : Jonathan Ames is a writer struggling with his second novel who just got dumped by his girlfriend because he drinks too much white wine and smokes too many funny cigarettes. Now alone in his Brooklyn appartement, bored, he posts an ad on Craiglist proposing his services as a non-licensed private detective. The series then follows his cases, along with his pursuit of his ex, his relations with his editor boss and his comics illustrator friend.
Although the dialogues are really good, the characters interesting and the whole show very funny, the thing I like the most about it is it’s incredible inspiring effect on my own creativity. Proof:

1. The intro
The intro is VERY nice. It’s basically text in a book taking life and becoming characters. A picture is worth a thousand words, but this opening sequence is worth WAY more. Enjoy :

After seeing that, I just wanted to get a book and animate it. It reminded me of thoses fantasticboot cuts I saw a while back :

You can see many more inspirating boot cuts on Su Blackwell’s website. There’s also a TON of idead on this OffBeat Earth post.  What was once nearly a sin (cutting a book) is now a very artistic activity. Go cut your books !

2. Comic book fun
In the show, Jonathan’s friend Ray is a comic book artist. He does various stories, mostly about his own life, but in a superhero way. The style is very Marvelish, but it’s so funny to see how Ray interprets his own life to turn it into comics.

After seeing Ray’s drawing, you can’t help but grab a notebook and try to sketch your friends comics-style. I did a drawing of myself actually, clicke HERE to see it. Haha ! You can see more drawings (all by Dean Haspiel) at HBO’s website.

3. Jason Schwartzman !
Jonathan is played by Jason Schwartzman. This is a good opportunity to look back on his carreer. This guy has been around for quite a while. I first saw him in Wes Anderson’s “Rushmore“. He then reappeared in Sofia Coppola’s “Marie-Antoinette” and again in Wes Anderson’s “Darjeeling Limited“.

This three movies are very different, but all are interesting and visually inspiring.
And, as if Jason couldn’t get any cooler, he’s also a musician, with a solo project named Coconut Records. He’s the one who wrote and performed on the opening song of the series. Is that cool, or what ? Go play that video again.

4. Brooklyn and NYC
To finish this post, a quick word on the settings of the show. Most of it is in Brooklyn, and HBO has put up an interactive map of the locations shown on the series (scroll down and click on the map). With every new episode, new places are added on the map. That way, next time you wander around Brooklyn, you can check out Bored To Death’s settings !

So, I hope you’ll check Bored To Death and use it to fuel your creativity !

Yesterday, while delaying the completion of my FINAL grad school application, I noticed the following gem in my friend, Megan Keely’s, gmail status.

A chicken banjolele!  Had I known that a chicken banjolele existed, I would have included it on my Christmas wishlist instead of the Gold Tone banjolele.  Oh, but wait my friends.  THE FUN DOESN’T STOP THERE…

A MOUSTACHE UKULELE!!!  I think my favorite might be the “Sad Cowboy.”  Or maybe the “Shirley Temple.”  Anyways, this discovery (xylocopa, moustache ukuleles, etc.) is very timely, because I recently noticed mini cracks in my ukulele.  Chicago is too dry for my little ukulele.  Anyways, the above creations are all by Xylocopa, a design studio in Tuscon, Arizona.  I recommend  that you wade through their site.  The Mad Scientists Alphabet Blocks are especially glorious.

A good year. Some favorites…

1. Favorite short story: “My First Fee” by Isaac Babel
Links: The Complete Works of Isaac Babel on amazon.com ($30)
Text of Isaac Babel’s (great) short story “Guy de Maupassant”

2. Favorite album: Up From Below by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Links: Up From Below on amazon.com ($10)
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros on MySpace
Song “40 Day Dream” Live (youtube)
Official Video for “Home” (youtube)

3. Second favorite short story: “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff
Links: T. Coraghessan Boyle reads “Bullet in the Brain” on the New Yorker Fiction podcast
Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories by Tobias Wolff, amazon.com ($11)

4. Favorite gift: Aerial 7 Matador headphones
Link: Aerial 7 Matador Headphones, amazon.com ($50)

5. Favorite novel: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Links: Lolita by Nabokov, amazon.com ($11)
Great Review of the Novel from The Second Pass

6. Second favorite novel: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Link: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, amazon.com ($10)

7. Favorite TV Show: In Treatment
Links: In Treatment Season 1 Trailer (youtube)
HBO’s Offical In Treatment Site
In Treatment: The Complete First Season, amazon.com ($55)
In Treatment- The Complete Second Season, amazon.com (for pre-order, $55)

8. Favorite actor: James Dean
Link: S&D Guide to becoming A Rebel, Without a Cause (including trailer, etc)

9. Favorite song: Skinny Love by Bon Iver
Links: Bon Iver playing Skinny Love live (youtube)
For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver, amazon.com ($13)

10. Favorite historical figure: Napoleon (thanks, PBS)
Link: Empires: Napoleon DVD, PBS Documentary w/David McCullough, amazon.com ($17)

11. Favorite (newish) movie: Rachel Getting Married
Links: Rachel Getting Married Trailer (youtube)
Rachel Getting Married DVD, amazon.com $17