art art art: Blake Loosli

Don't you love this tattered portrait of Paris?

Another great portrait that he has created:

Arrested Development. One of the best comedy shows on tv, ever.

No, I cannot speak.

www.blakeloosli.com

Animation: RIP Joseph Barbera

Comment: Why I love/hate Madison Square Garden

The first time I visited Madison Square Garden and the surrounding Penn Station area, I was 15. It was my first in-person look at this insane city and , trust me, I did NOT like it AT ALL. I found New York filthy, repulsive and far too confusing to understand. I couldn't believe that people operated in such shocking squallor. Magnifying this contrast was the fact that I had just flown in from sunny synthetic Orlando that morning.

Needless to say, in my 15 year old Colorado teen mind: I was not impressed.

Cut to today, I LIVE in this neighborhood.. the neighborhood that I first saw and thought so ugly. I've never really loved being near Penn Station because it's more like living in a bus terminal than an actual residential neighborhood. There is little sunlight on my street, too much vehicle exhaust and since I began living here, I dress more and more like the neighborhood transients. And the air is AWFUL on my skin.

However, I shouldn't be so quick to criticize...K-Town, H& M, and D'aiuto's bakery are all just steps away.

Another reason I love the neighborhood today:

Scissor Sisters will be headlining at the legendary Madison Square Garden, two blocks away.


2 blocks from my place. Yummy. No fuss. Who else could say "hey, after the show at madison square, let's just pop by my place and unwind. I'm only two blocks away."








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Films: Brilliant, Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins will never be the same for me again.

Comment: To Thine Own Self Be True

"Yet here, Laertes! Aboard, aboard for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for.
There ... my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel but, being in,
Bear't that th' opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!"

-- William Shakespeare

Now, this is great advice.

Art art art: Sara Van der Meulen

The part of me that loves Tim Burton, Alice in Wonderland and the Ed Gorey illustrations is in love with her work.

I don't really know a thing about her except that she is from Belgium!

Her online portfolio is here: here

Retro: The Bugaloos!

This show used to leave me feeling queasy and uncomfortable. They still disturb me, but I find that I like them... I think it's the bright colors..

Animation: Maleficent!

Just because...

Animation: Michael Dudok de Wit

It's too cold to go outside anyway. French animation. GORGEOUS. "The Monk and the Fish" was the first film I saw by Michael Dudok de Wit. Here is another, "The Aroma of Tea"

Le Sigh: Audrey Hepburn

Interesting article from the BBC....

"She's again topped a 'most beautiful' poll. Yet many fans weren't even born when she started making movies. What's the enduring appeal of the original waif?

Audrey Hepburn. Lovely, wasn't she? And her old-school glamour has beaten off modern day pin-ups - she's been voted the most beautiful woman of all time in a poll for New Woman magazine. But why is she so popular, among film fans and fashionistas alike? "

Read the rest here

Comment: Double Whammy

NOOOO!

Cate Blanchett AND Jennifer Connelly made the list??? Nooooooooooooooooo! This is a cruel world.

Comment: Monday

prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......................................