Meditation2

Dov Charney talks back

In the October issue of Jane magazine Claudine Ko revisits Dov Charney, CEO of American Apparel, to straightening some things out about her very controversial interview with him last year which included him masturbating in front of Claudine. In the new interview Dov says, "I'm not some Terry Richardson guy who's there for shock value." Oops. Sorry, Dov. I couldn't tell... you seemed like Terry Richardson lite to me. I still love your company and its products.

The games we play... I'm a sore loser

Interview with Neil Strauss, author of The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists.
Hmmm... a book about picking up women? I think I'm gonna have to pick up a copy of his book so I can stay ahead of the game too.

Gravenstein Apple

Apparently this is an Italian variety of apple grown locally in California. The aroma is amazing-- smells faintly of a nectarine. Texture is similar to a Gala. Beautiful, isn't it?

Fake BART Station

Movie set made for the new Will Smith movie, Pursuit of Happiness.

In other news. I am god damn m'f'ing pissed off at my brother for many things I can't even get myself to write about it. Ugh.

Back to work for me.

Oh, how often I feel like him

Davi wrote this on his blog:

Yesterday I discovered that I am nobody. I have and give nothing. I am pathetic, whiny, immature and needy, and I expect everything in return. I have no hobbies. I never do the one thing I claim I'm passionate about. Well, I do, but the one I give all my time to doesn't have time for it. Can't make time for it. Doesn't care. Here is a pattern in my life. Why do I need people to care? Because I don't do it for myself. Because I am communicating and communication requires more than one party. Because I am human and I need validation, require validation from the one person I'm allowed to require it of. Do I give it in return? I give it in heaps and droves, I dole it out like mashed potatoes at a church dinner for the homeless, I positively scoop the shit out. Do I know how to ask for it? No, I don't. I know how to pout and expect it, but when it comes to spelling out my desires, my intentions, the reasons for my depression and pathetic feelings -- I can't without digging myself in deeper, feeling even lower, lower to the dirt. So I'll just lie down on your bed and expect the world from you as I fall asleep.

september sapphire

take this day
shape me like you
that last night
twisted in your sheets
entangled in this unraveling mess
did you see me tuck love away?

between the broken clouds
let the breeze carry me away
september sapphire aging in a wedding ring
you'll never see me throw out these blues
i only tuck them away

autumn lashes

counting your eye lashes
he loves me, he loves me not
each with a little upward bend in brown
each falls out
he loves me, he loves me not
each grows back
he loves me, he loves me not
each lays on his pink cheek
and I brush them away
he loves me, he loves me not
(2005 july 10)

Spanglish Sandwich

I caught the second half of the movie Spanglish with Adam Sandler, Paz Vega, and Tea Leoni. It was actually really well-written and well-acted.

Anyhow, in the movie Adam Sandler makes the World's Best Sandwich. My brother and I decided to make them for dinner. I subbed in Boca's veggie bacon. It's actually really excellent. I should taken a picture. Oh well. Here's the recipe from the DVD's extras:

3-4 slices of bacon
2 slices of Monterey Jack cheese
2 slices of toasted rustic country loaf (pain de campagne)
1 tbsp of mayo
4 tomato slices
2 leaves of butter lettuce
1 teaspoon butter
1 egg

Preparation:

1. Cook the bacon until crisp, drain on paper towels
2. Place slices of cheese on one side of bread. Place in toaster oven to melt.
3. Spread mayo on other slice of bread top with bacon, sliced tomato, and lettuce
4. On non-stick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Fry the egg over easy, turning over briefly when the bottom is set (keep yolk runny)
5. Slide cooked egg on top of lettuce, top with other slice of bread
6. Place sandwich on plate and slice in half, letting yolk run down sandwich

*recipe was developed by world-famous chef Thomas Keller who opened French Laundry and Per Se.

Bak two skool

To keep track of my own progress in Thesis I started a Thesis blog. Feel free to laugh at how lame my project is. Better yet, help me out. :) It'll be totally boring but maybe you like how and what I'm working on.

Dream: Floating in a black ocean

I had this dream about a year ago.

I dreamt that I was a small child floating in a black ocean at night with no shore in sight. I was scared and tired of swimming. I didn’t even know which direction was getting me further away from shore or closer so I just floated. Then I saw my brother, who was also a child, swim towards me. He didn’t say anything but we both saw a huge black cup floating in the distance. He swam towards it and brought it back to me. We both got in and floated in it. By dawn we had arrived at the shore and an old man with a beard waved at us.
I woke up feeling lonely and cold.

Dream: I don't like clowns

I had yet another totally vivid dream last night. Again, it was disturbing and I woke up feeling completely exhausted. I'm not digging these dreams.

This makes no sense.

This time in the dream I was hanging out with some girls at a picnic table at a street fair. We were taking about makeup removers and I suggested that the girls try using cold cream to wipe away eye makeup. For some reason the girls said, "We black girls don't like to use cold cream-- it's racist." Huh? They seemed weird so left when a group of my guy friends showed up.

I had a large backpack with me that contained something rather important, but I don't know what it was. After walking around the fair with my friends for a while carrying the pack was getting pretty tough. My friend suggested that I put it in his car that was parked on the side of a hill with lots of trees. So he and I treked up the hill and I threw my bag into the seat of the car.

On our way back down these thugs ran past us in a furry. There was some commotion and suddenly I needed to get my bag back. I was feeling scared about the situation and I asked my friend to go with me to get my bag but he said he had to deal with whatever was going on with the thugs. I went back up the hill to the car to get my bag. When I approached the car this large red figure started chasing after me. She looked kind of like a clown in her bright red, flowing, costume and painted white face. She had this thing that looked like a really large slide whistle and she kept blowing the high pitched whistle. She was so scary and the whistle's sound was painfu. I ran up the hill when she started chasing me. I went over the top of the hill and back down to my friends.

I told my friends that was very scared but really needed to get my backpack. I kept trying to explain to my friend that I needed him to help get the bag back because the woman in the red costumes was trying to get me. He refused because he said he watch out for the thugs. He told me to go alone. I kept pleading with him but he refuses to help me so I went alone. I ran up the hill again and the woman was there again, chasing after me.

I wish I knew what was in the bag.

That's when I woke up.

Dream: Looking for my dad

Ever since I got back from class yesterday I've felt completely exhausted. I took a nap this afternoon and woke up from a horrible dream.

1. I'm living in a swanky SoMA-type concrete loft that's oddly very brightly lit. The only way to get to the stairs is by climbing a latter, like a bunk bed. Actually, when I climbed the ladder to get to the top the whole floor was a bed. There were many artistic/yuppie/hippe types lounging around drinking and looking good. It felt kinda Morrocan like that scene in Zoolander.

2. I'm feeling really anxious and looking for my dad for some reason. I must be the one throwing the party because it's my loft but I'm sure not having any fun with everyone else. None of these people seem like my friends.

3. I go downstairs to look for my dad again. There's only one person downstairs despite that the upstairs is packed with people. He looks likes like an Ivy League professor from movies-- older, thin, wearing a tweed suit and wire-framed glasses.

4. He calls over to me and he says things that I feel like he shouldn't know about me. I'm taken aback so I ignore him and keep hunting for my dad but he pulls my arm. He grabs my wrist hard and tugs it behind me; he does the same thing to my other arm. With one hand on my wrists he wraps his arm around my neck choking me. I try to wriggle out but I can't and I can't seem to make any sounds when I scream for help.

That's it. That's when I woke up in a sweat.

Brushed Metal cries

It's time for some alpha-nerd humor!

The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal User Interface Theme

Brushed Metal: No? iTunes 5 is still on? Then why the fuck am I not there?

Brushed Metal: How can you say this is not a big deal? It’s fucking iTunes! The most popular app in the world. It runs on Windows. Windows! Fuckfuckfuck!

I can't wait to see them live

We're just a million little gods causing rain storms
turning every good thing to rust.

--Arcade Fire "Wake Up'

Mark Fiore animatation

"Here's To Whoopsi Gras!
The carnival of ineptitude. Warning: Contains painful reality. Mark Fiore. (Flash)"

The way our government as handled Katrina is just completely unacceptable. When I used to see what happened in other countries when natural disasters struck, it felt so far away as if it was fiction. Now see I see that the American goverment can do no better than anymore else. I take that back, we're worse because we actually have a lot of money. Our government is not doing their job to support the people who need it most.

It makes me feel completely helpless and just plain depressed.

Designers respond to t-shirts

Buy this $10 t-shirt and Threadless will give $20 to the Katrina Hurricane Relief Fund. That kicks ass! It's a really cool t-shirt too. I just bought mine. At least from a superficial fashion standpoint this disaster is spawning cool tshirts...

UPDATE: Threadless raised $50,000 in less than 48-hours and they're continuing to raise money. $10 for every shirt sold.

iPod Nano

Oooohhhh, shiny black new iPod Nano. Color screen, click wheel, solid state flash memory, so tiny...

About Me

Stats
Name: Monica
Location: San Francisco, California
Age: 23
Occupation: student working towards a BFA in Graphic Design at CCA and USF
Shoe size: 7
Ring size: 7
Myers Briggs personality type: ENFJ
Okcupid.com personality type: The Nymph

Music
Air, Ambulance LTD, Arcade Fire, Autolux, Beach Boys, Beck (Sea Change album), Blonde Redhead, Bloc Party, Built to Spill, Camille, Cocteau Twins, old David Bowie, Deftones, Dresden Dolls, Elliot Smith, Elton John, Gang of Four, Green Day, Gwen Stefani, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Interpol, Jack Johnson, Joy Division, Kings of Convenience, Lamb, Le Tigre, Lovemakers, Massive Attack, Modest Mouse, My Bloody Valentine, New Order, New York Dolls, Peaches, Pharcyde, Polysics, Postal Service, Radio 4, Rilo Kiley, Saloon, Tegan and Sara, The Sounds, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Movies
Lost in Translation, Willy Wonka, Fight Club, Royal Tenenbaums, Ferris Buller's Day Off, Office Space, Breakfast Club, Blue, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Napoleon Dynamite, In the Mood for Love, All About My Mother. I also love documentaries.

I love food, a lot
Ice Cream: Ben and Jerry's CoffeeCoffee BuzzBuzzBuzz and Haagen Daz's Vanilla Bean
Dessert: Creme brulee
Sushi roll: Kappa
Breakfast food: Eggs Florentine or any variation of it sans ham
Leafy Greens: baby spinach and kale
Fruits: Watermelon, avocado, cantaloup, clementine orange, strawberry, mango
Favorite burrito in the Mission: El Farolito
Favorite burrito not in the Mission: Gordo

What would I do without coffee?

"Americans are not idlers and layabouts and feather merchants, we're strivers and pluggers and we welcome adversity, so long as we have coffee. Its bitterness is sweet to us." -- Garrison Keillor

capricorn (Dec. 22nd-Jan. 20th)

Don't deny the world the fabulousness of you this week. Get out. Have fun. Don't drink too many dirty martinis. --Em and Lo

Sounds good to me, ladies.

Save me from myself

I'm just fucking up left and right with guys. All the shit I've gotten recently from guys, I deserve it. I deserve all of it.

George Bush doesn't care about black people

Holy crap, I just watched the video clip from the Red Cross fundraiser for Katrina hurricane relief with Kanye West going off. Whoa. That was ballsy and I'm glad he said something instead of letting the opportunity to speak his mind to a wide audience passed.

Here's the clip if you haven't seen it.

Don't think about the way I treat you

If you're having a good time with someone but know that they will ultimately hurt you, do you still go out with them?

I say yes, but I'm a fool.

Conundrum

New neighbors have moved in next door. They have not introduced themselves but I gather they must be college kids from their loud music late at night and their chainsmoking on the balcony. As long the music doesn't blast past 1 or so in the morning, I can deal with it. The one thing I cannot deal with is the cigarette smoke wafting through the ventilation system and into my bedroom. If you know me, you know what a sensitive sense of smell I have and also how opposed to smoking I am. This is just not cool, not at all. But what can I do? Ask them to smoke inside? Can I do that? Advice, anyone?

Can't find the right words to write

I just don't what to say about the hurricane.

I alway get so depressed about these things. I went to New Orleans not that long ago. I had such a good time there. Everyone I met, especially Jed's friends and family, were so friendly. We went to so many fantastic places and I felt like I really started to understand Jed by going to New Orleans. It had shaped him so much. Now the city and surrounding areas are destroyed and there's just chaos everywhere. The poorest people of New Orleans have been displaced and left with nothing. It just makes me so depressed and when I'm not depressed about it, I'm angry. It's not fair. Everyone knew those levees were shit and that New Orleans was just a disaster waiting to happen... it's too late to think that stuff now though.

I'm just gonna pack an earthquake kit now for my brother and me.

Ooooh, pretty butcher block

Awesome butcher block for the natural meets modern kitchen.

How to Screen Print a Poster

DIY screen printing complete with photographs because we're visual people. The same techniques apply to printing a tshirt.

Threadless Interview

Interview with the guys who started Threadless.com, where you vote on the best tshirts designs and the winners get printed.

Everything closes at 9? No, it's 7!

A funny and very sarcastic article by Lance Arthur on which city is better to live in, San Francisco or New York?