Bored Not Bored

Boredom is impossible. I've overwhelmed myself. The last thing I should be doing right now is blogging but here I am. Monday is my birthday and with no effort on my part, my week is absolutely FILLED. Tomorrow I'm going to a VHS Swap hosted by a friend, another really good friend I haven't seen in a while will be there so it's a must. I'm not really looking forward to the swap part. I don't have much I want to part with that isn't totally embarrassing. Anyone want my copy of Cruel Intentions? No? GOOD, I'm not bringing it anyway. I'll be sure to post pictures or at least the results. I have a feeling I'll be coming home with nothing but what I came with.

Monday, all kinds of stuff is going on. I have an all day outing and then having company. Which means I have to clean. I have to do that anyway because my Mom will be here in less than two weeks but I'm also on a dead line with this silent horror project. Of course, as these things go, I'm suddenly over-flowing with ideas and inspiration for various projects. Like seriously, I'm coming up with great ideas for jewelry, suddenly caught a whim to paint, my journal keeps speaking to me, all of this editing for the project makes me want to do something more personal, like a new "Tender Moments", I've been wanting to actively take pictures; meaning go out WITH photography in mind not just instagram filler. Weirdest of all I've suddenly got this itch to mess with audio in some kind of DJ-like capacity. I took music lessons for years but abandoned it in my mid-teens, it always seemed like a headache to pick it back up but I don't know, it must be because it's October, my most productive month of the year but I have ideas and it's frustrating that I can't spend time obsessing over each and every one. Amidst all of this I must CLEAN for company. AG-OH-NEE. I don't want to do that. What a waste of time. My place is a wreck. The other day I was hot so I literally plopped myself down on the floor with front door open, sat right in the doorway to make jewelry in the breeze. It was nice but of course I left all that crap there in front of the door because I suck.

All of this is going on and I keep forgetting that at some point I have to eat and then THAT becomes a big ordeal. Last night I was like "omg I want octopus rice", so I made octopus rice but I had to gut and clean them, I busted the ink sack and got it EVERYWHERE. I can't just have a sandwich I have to have Octopus because I am the Queen of Spain or some shit. Eating is a problem. SO many unfinished projects I just want to finish a THING. If I can get the kitchen and closet cleaned AND scan 2 more silent movies tonight I will be so fucking thrilled. I have watched a non-silent movie for days and I'm severely neglecting Atomic Caravan, both my movie blog and Jewelry business.


I moved some stuff around here. I don't know if it's clear to my like, one reader, whoever you are. I was sick of the old layout. Added some links to my other locations, I have an obnoxiously overstated web presence. I also added a last.fm widget so you can see what I'm listening to AS I'M LISTENING, YOU CREEP.

Well I'm going to get back to all the haaaaard work. I might open my last bottle of two buck chuck to make things more interesting, or at least a little more barfy.

Local News - Channel 8

I need new music. I've been in a musical rut for months. Art kind of  has a monopoly on the stereo. He'll let me listen to anything if I ask, but I can't really think of anything. I need to dig. I need to discover. Yesterday I was cleaning up my hard drive and I found an album I downloaded two years ago on tumblr still zipped. I opened it and played it while I washed dishes. It was so rad I played it another five times.

Local News - Channel 8

It appears to be sampled from old news shows. It's kind of mysterious like you're tuning in to frequencies from another dimension. When I discovered the album it was free download on their tumblr (which I'm still trying to locate). I found the link on bandcamp so you can listen to it streaming or "name your price" for a download. Totally worth it. I'm definitely going to buy their other album, Ghost Broadcast. Might even spring for the hard copy. I'm kind of glad I waited to listen to it. It found me at the perfect moment.

This is a great example of the kind of music I want right now. Kind of a proto-seapunk mall vibes. Aesthetics out the butt. Dream jams. The Windows 95 Soundtrack. I eagerly await your recommendations.

I love to eat bad food for me

Just kidding! I've been stuffing my face with fruits and vegetables lately and walking 2-4 miles a day. I get out of work ridiculously early now so I have like the ENTIRE day of a whole lot of nothing. I've been slacking on pretty much everything lately including decent eating habits so I decided to cut back on the flaming hot fuckin' cheetohs (which I miss like WHOA) and eat a goddamn carrot. The thing is, Pasadena is gorgeous and Florida was like a hot sweaty bunghole. I couldnt do anything outside of wanting to kill myself. Here it's nice and breezey and there are nice things and places in walking distance in every direction. Want to go to Out of the Closet? One mile. Trader Joe's? Half a mile. H&M and Sephora? 2 miles. There's also a nice walking park less than half a mile away. Why am I talking about this? I DON'T KNOW. I have nothing else to talk about cause I'm LAME.

My ipod's been getting a workout lately too. Been listening to a lot of Lucrate Milk, Palais Schaumburg, Maximum Joy, Grass Widow and of course Van Dyke Parks who I saw perform at Amoeba a few days ago FOR FREE. (still not over the whole free concerts at Amoeba thing). He was darling.

He doesn't look like this anymore but I still want to kiss him forever.

We sold a bunch of cds and  I won the drawing for a $20 gift certificate which amounted to about $300 total! I bought a stack of movies, mostly really bad ones! Mostly ones I've been craving for a long time but didn't want to make the leap on limited funds. Free-ish money makes you spend more liberally. I normally don't like to post about movies here because I feel like it'll make me post less about movies on Atomic Caravan, but I've been so neglectful of both blogs I don't think it really matters. This is the one I'm the most excited about...

Beautiful. I'll definitely make a point to share my thoughts on Atomic Caravan when I watch it.

I ate some vegetarian sausages from Trader Joe's for lunch that were delicious but gave me some serious farts.

On that note I will leave you.

Good day, Sir.

records are round

We went to the Pasadena City College Flea Market/Record Swap the day before yesterday. It was really pretty mind blowing. I started out perusing the outer area which was mostly antique collectibles. It's the kinda place you gotta be careful or you could easily spend all your money in one spot. I could have probably found stuff I wanted at any random booth but I'm glad I held off, after walking around for a while I came across a booth of Japanese antiques and ephemera. They had these amazing movie posters, they were so cool I knew I had to get one even though I had no clue what I was looking at. There were several that were under consideration, one with Toshiro Mifune, but I didn't really like the design of that one. Another was obviously a Roman Porno, I was able to get the Japanese lady who worked there to translate the title as "Sex Document". It was pink and had women in bondage on it. That was a serious contender but after much consideration and pacing back and forth, I ended up going with this one...

"Tiger Mask"...sure, I've never seen it. All I know is that it's a late 60's Toei production and that's good enough for me. Plus it goes more with what I'm trying to do with the apartment. I also went ahead and picked these up...

Lovely! Must frame!

And this for $1...

The Avon bottle, not the Egbert.

After that I moved on to the massive parking structure that housed the records. It was more than overwhelming, it was kind of a dream come true. We only focused on a few vendors and ended up with the following...

This was really the find of the day. The cd goes for about $60, I'd much rather have this $25 LP. The two issues are the the only place you can get most of these themes.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this one at first. Side A is like melodramatic opera, but side B is much more upbeat beginning with a twist song and keeping a steady rhythm throughout the rest of the record. Definitely worth it and now we own another Riz Ortolani score, Score!

Ever since hearing the "Shock" album, I've always had a fascination with the Creed Taylor Orchestra. This one is even better, it's spy jazz! My favorite. I had completely forgotten that the Nervous Beat is a song I'm already familiar with and kind of love. Kind of a lot.

Tangerine Dream keeps popping up in my life lately. First I bought that silent film L'Inferno in which TD has redone the score for contemporary release. Then a facebook friend posted a bunch of TD youtube videos, including the theme to Sorcerer, which peaked my interest in the score and the film. Because of both, TD has just been coming up in conversation more than usual lately. This was a cheapy so I decided to jump on it. Every once in a while you need some nice ethereal Tangerine Dreaminess.

This was my husband's big find of the day. He's been wanting it for a while and if you're a fan of experimental jazz, you can understand why. It was written by Bob Graettinger. Anytime you see a Stan Kenton record with Graettinger's name on the credits, it's going to be awesome. Think Ornette Coleman or even Naked City. I was very please with this one too <3

This one's a given. One of my favorite compiled soundtracks. The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Lords of the New Church, Concrete Blonde. Such a fun movie and a fun soundtrack.

I love me some Matt Helm! This is basically just any old Dean Martin record only you get to hear his rendition of the theme to the Silencers, which is awesome! One of my favorite 60's spy themes!

This was kind of an impulse buy. It was cheap and I'd never heard the Roxy cast recording...plus, can't beat that cover. Well, the truth is I'm a little embarrassed of this one. Not sure why. To top it off it's not even as good as the movie cast recording, behhhh...oh well!

Gotta go! Good morning to you Sir!

and Ma'am'zzz!

you can't fart around with love

Even this funky Weather Report album can't give me a second wind today. I usually turn to Weather Report when it's time for house cleaning, which it most definitely is. My Mom will be arriving for a visit in just 10 short days and I'm far from making this apartment presentable. Ehhhh. I'm running on little sleep because of the Demons/Demons 2 double feature I attended last night at the New Beverly (followed by work this morning), but I'll touch upon that more on Atomic Caravan when I write my review. I had an iced mocha from starbucks earlier, a drink I rarely (as in never) have. Something about it beckoned. Sweetness and coldness. I drank it insanely fast and still passed out for a nap which was what I as trying to avoid. Faehrt.

But seriously. I've been listening to Mr. Gone by Weather Report for like two days and I just can't seem to get enough. It reminds me of Rick Wakeman's score for Lisztomania mixed with like, um...Return to Forever, or Miles' On the Corner. All of which make a lot of sense. So far all I've wanted to do is eat trail mix and sit here idley, so perhaps I should stick to Heavy Traffic when it comes to domestics.

I'm thinking about starting another movie review blog for non-genre films. Like I need another blog to neglect. Ehhh, more on that later.

So Roddy Mcdowall is my latest obsession. Currently making my rounds through his filmography...slowly. After he saved the fuck out of that semi-disastrous Legend of Hill House I pretty much fell in love. That was a few years ago but I was reminded recently when I finally caught "It!", which is like Norman Bates meets the Golem, starring Mcdowall who's looking pretty handsome in his tailored suits and black turtle neck cat burgler outfit. Ahem...I'm totally in denial about his gayness. I have way too big of a crush to admit creepy-unrealistic-dead-celebrity-I'm-married-anyways defeat. Why are all of my celebrity crushes dead and gay? Someone answer me that.

Ok, well there's no food in the house and this unicorn's gotta eat! Catch ya later...

The Residents.

As if seeing Devo a few weeks wasn't life changing enough I was lucky enough to catch the Residents at the El Rey Theater a few days ago. It still hasn't fully sunk in that I saw these living lengends. I've been a fan for a few years but I still feel new to them. Their body of work is so vast and perplexing. I thought seeing them might give me some kind of insight into their whole esoteric discordian creation . I'm still delightfully confused and entranced. There's some truly grotesque wizardry at work here.

Devo and Xuxa.

I saw Devo. That's right. And it was glorious. Indescribable. Magic.

I might also add that I recently acquired a dvd of miscellaneous episodes of Xuxa. Yes, Xuxa, the vixenous children's show hostess. How I loved her. It was a pocket of my childhood I remember well. I was seven years old, it was at the peak of kid's variety shows like "What Would You Do?" and "Wild and Crazy Kids". This show is obviously a cash in on both, the success of such shows and an American vehicle for the Brazilian sensation, Xuxa. I remember colors, shoulder pads, hot pants, dancing, singing, animals, kids having fun...

Then I watched it now.

It's so terrible. Her english is so atrocious, she has no idea what's going on. The jokes aren't funny, the music's pretty lame. It's really just an awful show. Does this mean I dislike Xuxa now? Of course not. Her memory will live in my heart forever, and apart of me wonders if that's where she should have stayed. Thankfully, no matter how sucky the show might have been, there will always be this...

New Year, New City, New Life, et cetera...

Have you ever started an epic blog and gotten distracted from it? You say "I'll come back to it after work or school or whatever..." but it never seems to happen. This long blog sits unfinished in "draft" limbo before you finally realize that all it's doing is preventing you from moving forward into future blogdom.

I usually write this grand scale gift blog after Christmas. I've been doing that since the ancient days of Xanga, but this year for some reason the blog just couldn't seem to finish itself. It could be that I'm out of my comfort zone and there are endless distractions around me constantly. This could also be why my movie reviews have come to a screeching hault. I'm doing the best I can to keep myself balanced and unfortunately my blogs seem to be suffering. A pity because writing has always been a pivotal part in what keeps me well adjusted. Since it's a new year I've made a few resolutions I'd like to share here...

1. Write more often. Now that 2010 has passed I can safely say it was a good year. I married my sweetheart, my creativity levels were high and I even made a little money from it, not to mention my movie business which is still doing extremely well paid for MANY supply shopping sprees, birthday presents and even the occasional bill! One constant thing I can say about 2010 is that I kept a good journaling regiment. Whether it was my hand held journal, sketch book or one of my various blogs. Now with all of these distractions I'm going to have to make time for it. That's why I've made it a resolution. To set time aside at least once a week to put some thoughts down on paper or into blogosphere cloud.

2. To bring Endless Fall back. What's Endless Fall you ask? It's this movie marathon me my friend Tony started over 4 years ago! Watch a movie every day. It's as simple as that. Of course life comes up so I changed the rules to a movie for everyday of the month. Meaning, you can skip days, but make up for it on a free day. You'd be amazed how fulfilling it is. I always kept an Endless Fall diary where I logged every movie I'd watch along with any notes I may have. I'd usually make a list of the top 10 at the end of each month. I bought a notebook specifically for this purpose the other day. Now to just start doing it again. It will also motivate me to write reviews again, which will aid resolution #1. It's win/win across the board when Endless Fall is involved!

3. Up the ante with my jewelry making. I love making jewelry. In all reality it's the one creative thing I could see myself doing permanantly for a living. I learned alot this past year and now I'm ready to advance even more. I've just learned some basic wire wrapping techniques and I'd like to get even better at it. Not only that, I also want to start using better materials. I want to graduate from base metals to silver and gold. I want to use stones instead of glass and cheap crystals. Of course I'll still use those things, but I want "Atomic Caravan Studios" to be associated with quality not just pretty costume jewelry. I've been spending all my spare time getting an inventory back up and now I finally feel like I have enough to revive my Etsy. Also thinking about trying out Artfire, just a basic account, since I've heard so many mixed things about it. Eventually I'd like to graduate to really professional jewelry. Real fire tools and metal saws. All in due time! Stay tuned for updates on all of these things.

4. Learn to bake. Thankfully I come from a long line of amazing cooks. Not just cooks, natural chefs. Holiday events in my family are something to be revered. Being the youngest, I'm the last to start exploring this gift that we all have. Yes, I'm using the word gift, because now that I'm seeing what it's like in another family I can appreciate the fact that not everyone can make a meal happen with a magical finesse. I think for the most part I have savory dishes down. A combination of trial, error and Martha Stewart have made me a decent chef. What's standing in my way? Baked goods. Sure, I can make a simple drop cookie, but what about pastries, cakes (and icing), fancy breads, tortes, et cetera. There's this whole world of chef-ing-ton I've yet to explore. Getting a Cuisine Art food processor as a wedding gift will bring good tidings, I'm sure. So by the end of the year, watch out!

5. Explore LA. Ok, so since I've been here so far I've spent my "spare time", job hunting, then jumping right into a full time job. A shitty retail one at that. Now January is underway and I'm still working 5 days a week. I'm not complaining, the cash flow is good and in a place like LA you really need it. But I still don't feel like I've had the full LA experience. I know, that takes years, right? Even a partial LA experience. I'd at least like to put a dent in it. So to remind myself why I moved here I'm making it apart of my New Years resolution to do the following....

• Have one day a week where I venture out of my city. Living in SGV can be a little boring. Sure, I love the Asian markets but I can only buy so many herbal teas and encounter oh so many pissed off Chinese people. There is more to the area than this. There are over 200 cities in Los Angeles County and I'm going to have to make an effort to pursue these little adventures. I'll try and take pictures to commemorate these events.
• On a smaller scale, something I can do around my neighborhood to get the full experience is try a new restaurant every week. Let's face it, we eat out a lot. There are too many people in this house eating any groceries we may be bringing in to rely solely on that.  Besides, eating out is cheap here and there are a lot more healthy options (one good thing about all the Asian food) than most places. So rather than getting pigeon holed into the same greasy spoon I'm making a point to be bold and experiment with the varieties of culture I'm surrounded by.

So there you have it. Not too bad, eh? Nothing too difficult to accomplish, but small things I can do to ensure a good year. And just so I don't completely break tradition here are my top five favorite Christmas presents...

FINALLY!  Thanks to my Aunt Regina I can retire my crappy German bootleg of my FAVORITE movie! I think this calls for a revised review on Atomic Caravan!

I LOVE Finders Keepers, even more so if it's under the "B-Music" cannon. This was from my awesome hubby. The description says it all, "Imagine Melody Nelson taking a trip to La Planete Sauvage with a synth, a drum kit and some herbal french cigarettes."

Since my discovery of it a few months ago, Mystic Topaz is my very favorite stone. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that my Mother in-law got me these GORGEOUS earrings!

Through out the month of October when we were doing some serious job hunting I really just wanted to curl up into the fetal position and watch Powerpuff Girls non-stop. I'm not sure what brought that urge on but being out of my comfort zone and having to branch out into a brave new world made me want to retreat to something safe and familiar in my spare time. I made several passing comments about wanting to watching some Powerpuff, so what does my husband do? Gets me the ENTIRE series! What a sweet heart! It's even better than I remembered. Fan fo' life.

Oh, Grandma. You spoil me so. I got this awwwesome espresso machine from my Grandma. I use it every day. I suppose that technically makes it my favorite gift? BEST EVER.

<3

On that note I shall depart. I have more jewelry picture to edit and I have to go to work soon. Sucks. Until next time...

Introducing: Unicorn Wizard's Mixtape Club!!!

I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time. When I started my other blog (Atomic Caravan) a little over a year ago I had originally intended for it to be an all-purpose blog. I was still mourning the downfall of Myspace where I had been blogging since high school. I also had a separate Myspace (Endless Fall) for movie reviews. Slowly after starting Atomic Caravan it turned more and more into a replacement for Endless Fall. Before I made the conscious decision to let the movies take over, I posted several music downloads. One being Mulatu Asatke's "Mulatu of Ethiopia" , hip African jazz with a Latin flair. Another being the rare Frank Zappa album "Trick or Treat" as a Halloween special. My favorite though, was an incredible mix I made called Frankenstein Radio Controls Volume 1. I was so very proud of this mix I made for house cleaning that I combined drawings and clippings to make an awesome cover and posted it on the blog for download. I even made a bonus disc to double the fun! I enjoyed posting my mix so much more than posting regular albums. I understand people want whole albums of artists they like, but that kind of sharing isn't for me. Where's the fun in that? Besides, I think it's less illegal to share compiled music.

As time passed I wanted an everything else blog, so I started this one. There you have it! Now I can start making mixes again.

My mixes are world famous... Ok, that's not true at all. But my friends and family have always enjoyed receiving them to the point where's expected. It makes sense to start posting mixes regularly since I'm moving very soon and probably won't be handing out tangible copies to my loved ones as frequently. This way EVERYONE can get them and I can conserve my blank stash.

What to know:

Technically they aren't mixtapes at all. they're actually tailored to be mixed cds (duh) since they're around 80 minutes and I'm assuming most of you don't have a cassette adapter for your computer (we do, but it's a pain in the ass). Since I'm not handing it out in any particular format, Mixtape works, Mixtape Club it shall be. Although I guess it's also not really a "club" since it's available to everyone, but whatevs. Don't get all semantic-y on me.

I have no idea how frequently or infrequently I'm going to do this. Basically, I know nothing, so there's really not much for you to know either.

Like any person who posts something they made, I'd like to know if it was (or will be) enjoyed. Friendly comments are encouraging but I don't expect them. I've done my fair share of blogspot downloading and I know that it's not always convenient to say anything. Just throwin' it out there ;-D



To start with I'm going to post the wedding mix we made for our guests. Don't wince just yet. We're not a conventional couple and we didn't play conventional music at the wedding. Have I mentioned that my husband is a bonified music historian? I thought I had a lot of records when we met having but a measly 400 or so. Pah! He trumped my collection with a towering 20,000 records, most of those being 78's. There's music constantly playing in our house from the dawn of recorded sound to present day. You can see why we make so many mixes! Although I will admit that  the wedding comp was more challenging since there was such a large variety of personal taste to take into consideration. Everyone from my Grandparents to my weirdo friends. We did try and play it somewhat safe. We started out with some lesser known b-sides by famous classic artists we like and slowly made it a little more quirky to appease our taste. All the while sticking to "essentials" for us over the years. Shared favorites such as Chuck Miller's "Lookout Mountain", La Lupe's "Fever" (which is, in both our our opinions, the best and wildest version of that song. she sounds like a demented chipmunk) and of course Spike Jones' "Cocktails for Two" which was one of the first mutual musical loves we discovered upon meeting, and appropriately ends the disc.

Also personal favorites, Arthur has a particular obsession with Italian bad ass Adriano Celantano and his Elvis-style way of singing. Mose Allison's "Seventh Son" and LOVE's "!Que Vida!" are also among his favorites. A few of mine include Nina Simone's rendition of "Work Song", Kayoko Moriyama's "Melon No Kimochi" but more than any other George Baker Selection's "Little Green Bag" which has long been one of my all time favorite songs (way before I saw Reservoir Dogs). We weren't sure if it was appropriate to put songs about chain gangs, lost bags of marijuana, religious prophets, and being haunted by the ghost of your dead husband on your wedding mix, but sticking exclusively to a "love" theme was just lame and boring.

So without further adieu...

The Marriage of Like Minded Unicorns

1. Chuck Berry - You Never Can Tell
2. Bobby Darin - Lovin' You
3. Elvis Presley -Surrender
4. Adriano Celantano - Svalulation
5. John Barry - Beat Girl
6. George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag
7. Nina Simone - Work Song
8. Serge Gainsbourg - Chatterton
9. R. Crumb and His Keep On Truckin' Orchestra - Wisconsin Wiggles
10. Chuck Miller - Lookout Mountain
11. Sam Cooke - Good News
12. the Kinks - Everybody's Gonna Be Happy
13. Mose Allison - Seventh Son
14. LOVE - !Que Vida!
15. Gary McFarland - Fried Bananas
16. Nat King Cole - El Bodeguero
17. Kayoko Moriyama - Melon No Kimochi
18. the Troggs - With a Girl Like You
19. Os Mutantes - Hey Boy
20. France Gall - Jazz A GoGo
21. the Shirelles - Love is a Swingin' Thing
22. La Lupe - Fever
23. Rita Pavone - Viva La Pappa Col Pomodoro
24. the Newbeats - Bread and Butter
25. Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns - Don't You Just Know It
26. the Coasters - Down Home Girl
27. Dengue Fever - Clipped Wings
28. Chicha Libre - Indian Summer
29. Spike Jones - Cocktail for Two


As I was panicking less than two hours before the reception to organize our playlist, my cousin wisely told me not to worry. He said that you won't even remember what you played afterwards since everything will be so hectic. He was right! Everyone was talking and having fun, no one really noticed the music. Or if they did, I haven't heard anything about it. This is after weeks of meticulously going through 600 gigabytes of music to put together three separate playlists. An upbeat but mellow pre-dinner playlist, one specifically for dinner which would be mostly pleasant samba and jazz, then the last playlist which would be fun dance-y music for those of us who'd be drinking the night away. As it were, the playlists got scrambled leaving me a semi-nervous wreck. But it was all good music and no had any idea, so OH WELL! There were so many great songs we wanted to put on the wedding mix, but couldn't fit. 80 minutes is not enough! We easily had enough for another mix. So after the wedding when everything calmed down I went through the playlist and picked some of our other favorites to compile a ....

BONUS DISC!

1. Lawrence Welk - Bubbles in Wine
2. Frank Zappa - Why Don'tcha Do Me Right
3. Baby Huey - Messin' with the Kid
4. Mickey & Sylvia - No Good Lover
5. the John Buzon Trio - Caravan
6. Perry Como - Magic Moments
7. the Cowsills - the Rain, the Park and Other Things
8. Pizzicato Five - Nata Di Marzo
9. Wanda De Sah - So Danco Samba (Jazz 'N' Samba)
10. Van Dyke Parks - Riverboat
11. Thurston Harris - Little Bitty Pretty One
12. the Four Seasons - C'mon Marriane
13. Boney M. - Ma Baker
14. Ray Sharpe - Hey, Little Girl
15. the SG Sound - Jump the Shark
16. the Four Seasons - C'mon Marianne
17. Roger and the Gypsies - Pass the Hatches
18. Ronnie Foster - Mystic Brew
19. Ann-Margret - Someday Soon
20. Jacques Dutronc - Le Responsable
21. Oh! Penelope - Lait Au Miel
22. the Vogues - Five O'Clock World
23. Mel Torme - the Games People Play
24. Link Wray - the Swag
25. Tom Waits - Jockey Full of Burbon
26. Dick Dale - Misirlou
27. Julius La Rosa - Eh Cumpari
28. the Coasters - Brazil
29. Um...*bonus track*

There you have it folks, the first (and second I guess) entry to the Unicorn Wizard Mixtape Club. Although I love classic old stand by's, there will probably be less "safe" songs on my regular mixes.

Until next time!...

Trousseau

Today was one of the final shopping hoorahs for me and my Mom before the move. She had bought me pair of leather boots from J Crew to go with this gold and black Anthropologie cocktail dress I was going to wear to the wedding party. The dress ended up being WAY too big, twice we ordered it and both times I felt like I was wearing a burlap bag. The boots ended up being too small. It was just a big last minute disaster and the aftermath is having all of this nice stuff to return. Not that I mind having a $200 shopping spree at J Crew! I ended up with two outfits my favorite being a bright plum corduroy pencil skirt with a chartreuse cardigan. All I need is an ascot and my Cesar Romero Joker look will be complete.

ps... I also got a purple velvet jacket that would be way too matchy to wear with this outfit, but I could if I wanted. I feel a Halloween costume idea coming on.

Other than what mi Madre graciously bestowed upon me I wasn't having much luck finding anything I wanted to buy myself. We wined and dined (lunched, rather), and when I thought all hope was lost she reminded me that Belk has a MAC counter. Oh shiz. I forgot. And so the make-up buying frenzy continues...

I'm such a huge fan of MAC.  I always have been. It's built to last and just LOOK at those colors! I always wanted to buy more MAC but I couldn't afford it in high school (when bright colors are the most exciting), not to mention it's a pain in the ass getting anything out of the ordinary around here in the way of make-up. I always wanted to try their pigments. I ended up picking "neo-orange" on the top right which doesn't look nearly as vibrant in the picture. When I put it on it shocked my Mom. First she advised against buying such a garish color, but after I toned it down with some basic pink and white she agreed it was very "fun and youthful". I haven't had much of a chance to play around with it but I can tell that it could be really versatile and will last FOREVER. Can't wait to try those other colors later on! I also ended up with their pro longwear lip creme in "good to go" which is an orange-y coral. So NOT a color I would normally get. I'm trying to mix up my make-up routine. For years it was either smokey black/grey or thick liquid eyeliner with red or burgundy lipstick. I thought of those as "classic" and I can't knock the basics, but I'm soooo over that. Get it off ma' face! I also got MAC's superslick liquid eyeliner in "pure show" which is a bronzey- gold. And finally since I normally would wear intensely bright nail polish I went in the other direction with that too getting their nail lacquer "earthly harmony" which is an irridescent taupe. When I saw it next to the bright green and orange I would normally gravitate to it made me picture a sepia toned photograph of a mermaid. Naturally such imagery would lead one to the conclusion that it must be purchased at once!

I think I may have been partially inclined to invest in such out of the ordinary colors for me because I've been listening to Nina Hagen a lot lately.

I've always liked her but only in the past year have I grown a true appreciation for her music and style. Hearing her speak in interviews is great! She's hilarious! Adorable, quirky and almost alien in her demeanor. She's like a cartoon character. In Ekstasy is my favorite album of hers and the cover makes me miss having pink hair. Oh to be a teenager again! Although Nina Hagen is living proof that some people can pull off outrageous hair colors well into their 30's.

Things I Like About Today...

I'm making Indian food for dinner. It's going to be a feast of sorts with saag paneer, mataar paneer and jal frezzie with chicken, potato, carrots and whatever other vegetable I can come up with. I'm not supposed to be eating dairy, but I still have some lactaid leftover from the wedding and paneer is basically my favorite food in the world. I've been fiending for some curry since we stopped our DJing gig at the Indian restaraunt.

Along with getting the necessary ingredients from World Market and the Indo-Pak Market I did some light shopping which was fun and I didn't go too overboard. I finally found a rice paper sketch book. I've been looking for one since 2006 when I filled my last one. Rice paper is great for markers. With some cheap crayola washable markers you can make a drawing look like a water color painting. Especially if you add a few drops of water when you're finished. This one is extra awesome, it's quilted with Indian fabric on the cover. I also got some Chowards Violet mints. I always loved these. They taste so strange and lovely. I like the taste of sweet flowers.

I plan on watching The Taste of Tea tonight. I've been really excited about this one!

When I was driving today I put in and old mix and two songs by the Vanishing were on it. I haven't thought about them in a few years. They were really great. Not sure if they're still together but I know Jessie Evans does solo stuff now. I saw them with Glass Candy the summer I graduated high school. There were less than 10 people there. It was sad in a way that so many lamies didn't show but also awesome because it's like the performance was for us. I think I might have to bust out my Vanishing record on translucent purple vinyl! I always loved that record.

I found this mascara at the Vietnamese dollar store today that is in the exact same bottle as Anna Sui's "Full Mascara". Pretty black curvy tube with a rose on top. I've had it before too, there's no doubt in my mind that it's the same bottle. The brand is "Role Rose", they must be a knock off. It's even in the same purple lettering. For a buck I decided to to give it a go. Either way, the tube is totally pretty and reminds be of the 30's.

I wonder if this stuff works...

I'm really fair and lately I'm all about preserving my skin. They still make this stuff. I'm gonna have to track it down in Little India.

For the record I REEEEALLY like Dumpling/Darling Dynasty.

Music: the Formative Years

I'm sitting here drinking Turkish coffee dreading a certain visitor who'll be arriving today. I don't have to worry about him seeing this because he's way too self involved to read anyone's blogs. He's one of Arthur's "friends" from back home. I try not to be mean to him but he's a conversation hog, an attention whore and a general social retard. He seeks approval but when he gets it, he abuses it by acting out like a fool. His idea of "charm" is to be loud and flamboyant. He staggers around with no real direction flopping into total strangers. It can be pretty embarrassing to be in public with him, especially if he decides to start dancing for no reason. He claims to be interested in film and "music" but that's pretty much limited to his Tom Cruise blu-ray collection, U2 and Lady Gaga (sorry, I've got no love for her, but that's another blog), and of course the Beatles and Bob Dylan because that's like hipster 101. You can't be christened into an edgy persona before you've passed that milestone. See, I can't help but feel a little ruthless when it comes to this guy. I also feel like he's gay for Arthur and see's me as some kind of eminent threat to his "friendship". There has been more than one time he'll stick his neck in between me and Arthur if one of us is saying something to the other quietly. I can't believe he actually is coming to my territory. We're going to be back in California in a month and then I'll never be able to get rid of him. This Florida visit seems somewhat unnecessary.

ANYWAYS. That little vent should probably be under lock and key in my private journal but I just couldn't resist. These are stressful days leading up to the wedding. No, he's not staying for the wedding, he just came to distract us from everything. I told Arthur that if things get hairy I won't hesitate to leave and go shopping. He laughed and said "fair enough".

Ok, back to what's happening in Nowsville. On facebook someone tagged me in a note where they list the 15 albums that have stuck with them the most. In turn, I make a similar list with my choices. So naturally I start this epic list of all of these albums I love and have loved for years. It was hard to eliminate to a measly 15. Summing up 24 years of music listening into something like 20 hours of music. That's not even an hour for every year of my life!! It was really difficult and I felt guilty leaving some important albums off, so I decided to apply this same thing to a much more elaborate blog (or blogs, rather). Also, I think it will help get my mind off of all the stress. I'm not going to limit myself to a certain number. But I am going to break this up into eras. For this entry, I'm going to focus on everything pre-highschool. Omg, this might be a little embarrassing but here it goes in semi-chronological-order-to-when-I-discovered-it.....

This was officially the first piece of music that was "mine". I'll never forget Christmas morning when I was SIX YEARS OLD opening a big present. It turned out to be a GIANT purple Caboodle!! Remember those??? I'm pretty sure they still make them but as far as I'm concerned they belong to the 1990's. My Mom was so sneaky! She put the Roxette CASSETTE TAPE inside the Caboodle so it would be a surprise when I explored all of the compartments. And it was a wonderful surprise! One I still remember 18 years later! I really don't remember what this album sounds like at all though, I should download it!

Oooooh! How do you say Deee-lovely? Deee-vine? How do you say Deee-lite! Naturally being like 6/7 I was taken in by the amazing catchy-ness of Groove is in the Heart. I wanted the whole album but my Mom got me this Cassette single. Which was still fine! I played it until it warbled and warped. Now I've several of their albums on cd and pop them in any time I need to put on my platform shoes and go-go dance with Miss Lady Kier...which is all the time, by the way.

I believe this was my very first cd! I think I was ashamed of that for years but now looking back I'm kind of proud! En Vogue was pretty fucking hip. They got a little modernized with their late 90's albums but this one was a lot fun. Kind of Pointer Sisters-esque. I always thought they were GORGEOUS too, all of them! OMG...I need to download this or something.


...are you noticing a trend of female vocaled groups?? Make note of it.

I'm not sure where but somewhere along the line I heard "Sugar, Sugar". Maybe on the radio, maybe in a movie. I can't remember, but I thought it was the cutest song ever. I asked my Dad who it was and he said "the Archies"...I said "WHAT?? Like...my favorite comic???" I had NO idea that the Archie Digest books I'd been hoarding for years had anything to do with music. This was when I was given a brief lesson in the whole Archies sensation in the 60's. Not long after this my Dad came home with two records in hand, making this my very first LP. Isn't that cute?? I still have it :-)

Don't ask me why Dad chose this as my OTHER first record. I'd never seen this movie but I think he thought I'd enjoy the disco tunes. He was pretty much RIGHT! I LURVED this! Oh God. I'll never forget my Beegees phase. It's sort of like the Big Chill soundtrack though. The movie isn't good, you see it EVERYWHERE, you want to deny that you like it but somehow it's just a staple of it's time.

Oh, Clueless. How you changed my life. Being an impressionable FOURTH GRADER I pretty much made a conscious decision to become a character in this movie. My back to school clothes for the following year consisted of brightly colored mini skirts and knee socks. Yes, I was like 11 and dressing like Cher Horowitz. My Mom thought it was adorable, I got made fun of by the rednecks at my lame Christian school, but I didn't care. They were a bunch of "Barneys". This soundtrack made a HUGE impact on me. Discovering bands like Luscious Jackson and the Muffs lead me to riot grrl and that would of course become one of the most character defining aspects of my teenage self.

Say what you will about the Spice Girls. They're loud, obnoxious, garishly dressed and put together by a studio. It's apart of Pop Music history that most people try to forget. I remember the first time I heard "Wannabe"! I was in my room, my Mom was having a dinner party downstairs and it came on the radio! I turned it up so loud that she came and yelled at my to turn it down :-).  I was already inspired by the bold fashion statements of Miss Lady Kier and Cher Horowitz, the Spice Girls were the proverbial nail in the coffin of my day-glo freak-fest attire. And yes, "Girl Power" totally attributed to what would later become my riot grrl obsession, although I've read it was supposed to be a sell-out cash-in on the growing trend of grrrl bands. Ha! What 5th grader cares about those kind of politics though?

Did anyone out there ever read Twist magazine? It's a teen magazine from England that I bought because the Spice Girls were on it and it became my staple teen-mag for years. I was sad to see a copy the other day at Books-a-million with Justin Bieber and a bunch of other retards plastered all over it. It now looks like Tiger Beat or something. Kinda sad, I thought it was so cool! The fashion and articles were a little different from other teen-mags like Seventeen and YM since it was published in Europe.

holy shit....this is ALL really bringing me back.

omg. this album is SO good. I actually rebought it this past Christmas. She samples Donovan and a bunch of other great stuff. She has this kitschy sound that I love. The ENTIRE album is good. I farking love it!

Wow, so the Cardigans were pretty much just amazing. I'm sure I wasn't alone in totally falling into the "Lovefool" obsession. I think they may be considered one hit wonders but this WHOLE album is good! Although I don't remember the cover being this "blah".

Another one that was considered one hit wonders, again I say, this whole album is worth a look. And I had the biggest crush on the lead singer!

My first Beck cd! That's kind of a milestone! I remember being disappointed because I wanted Odelay, but naturally ended up loving this one. I don't think I could pick which one I like better!

Discovering the Monkees is an important part of a young girls life. They make the Arches look like popcorn. The Monkees defined everything I wanted from the 60's. Their music is fucking amazing, ALL OF IT, and they're ADORABLE. They would remain of my all time favorite bands FOREVER.

If Clueless gave me the itch for girl bands, Jawbreaker pushed me over the edge. It's basically Clueless
with murder so it opened up a whole new world for me. Discovering bands like Letters to Cleo, Shampoo and the-fucking-Donnas was like tapping into a goldmine!! I listened to this cd every day on my way to school on my discman :-)

Indeed, Letter to Cleo is necessary part of 1990's sanity. This has always been my favorite of their
albums.

SHIT! Where is my head?? This should have gone like 5 albums ago. Ok, so the Weezer Blue Album isn't really anything to be proud of. It's really just a staple and I'd be lying to myself if I didn't include it because there was a time I was OBSESSED with Weezer Blue, Pinkerton and Green (nothing after green though, and that wouldn't be until 9th grade)...there are worse things a pre-teen could be obsessed with? Look at what teens have to deal with now!

Oh Goodness. This looks so tacky but the music was so fun! I kind of need this again.

I remember getting this album! I was in 7th grade I think and my Grandma took me to the Commissary. I was looking for something else and then I saw THIS. I didn't know what it sounded like but it was brand new and I remembered several years earlier thinking "stupid girl" was amazing. Soooo, I begged my Grandma for it! She bought it for me and it became one of my most listened to albums of my middle school days. I need this one again too!!

This album mystified me. No one I knew had ever heard of the Eels (I live in a really shitty town), I had it special ordered at Camelot after hearing "Novocaine for the Soul" in a movie. I should really get more of Mr. E's music, it doesn't ever go out of style!

Best for last!! My last musical obsession of my middle school days was the discovery of Cibo Matto.
After hearing "Sci-Fi Wasabi" on my cousin Kat's mix I fellll innnnn looooovvvvvveeeee!!!! It's like all of my music listening had been leading up to that moment and my life would never be the same! Once Cibo Matto came in the picture I wanted to find more like it, and so my high school career became nothing less than a HUNT for the loudest, cutest, scariest, sweetest, weirdest, pop-iest, punk-iest, funn-iest, girl-iest music EVERRRR!!!!

...but that's for another blog.

Maybe not the hippest taste ever, but not bad for a kid stuck in Panama City Florida. I left out some things that I'd rather forget like Bush, Sheryl Crow, No Doubt, TLC...actually, I don't necessarily dislike those now (except Bush maybe), I just didn't want to emblazon them all over my unicorn blog!

I was only supposed to work on this until my coffee cup was empty but that was like an hour ago and I pressed on! Now I'm officially running late, but who cares? This was fun! Now I think I have to grab some middle school era music on my way out the door.

I love you, my baby-corns!!!