The Cannibal Flower Art Show

My good friend in Los Angeles, (where I am currently visiting family), Jorge Martinez, who worked with me in the very first classroom that I taught in a bunch of years ago, is an amazing visual artist, and goes by the name TYME.
Last November, one of his pieces was in a very cool art show here in Los Angeles known as Cannibal Flower.
Here is his piece:

Jorge escorted me and my good friend/sister Danika (who will hence forth be referred to as my sister since the she is a family member and helps my parents every day) to the latest installment of Cannibal Flower on January 26.
(On another note, my friend Martie would be so proud of me for my concious and proper use of the word me as opposed to I in the preceeding sentence. Ha Martie! I is learning my me's.)
We braved the pouring rain (notice the frizzy hair?) and foot-soaking puddles and boy am I glad we did!

What an amazing, unique, thought-provoking, and uncencored collection of somewhat twisted eye-candy.

The whole, "I am a serious Artiste" bravado aside, the work was just fun and honest.
Much of it seemed to have been done whilest on some sort of tweeking stimulant, as was apparant during my encounters with some of the artists themselves. But I don't give a shite.

It was a room full of worthwhile character studies who were just being themselves and not trying too hard...an actress and people watcher's dream!

Crazy dope art without pretention.
Fan-freakin'-tastic!

Here is just a taste of some of the pieces which were on display and for sale, along with some pix of us:
(My apologies to the artists for the quality of the photos, as they were taken with a phone.)

In addition to all of the amazing art work, there was a performance group of breakdancers who really had some insane core body strength.
Danika didn't video any of the really good stuff, but she did get some:







Thank you Jorge, my friend, Pedro Pecsado, for a truly chill night.
You better submit something for the next show!

I highly suggest checking out this show if you are ever in the LA area.
www.cannibalflower.com/
www.myspace.com/cannibalflower

For more of Jorge/TYME's work, check him out at:
www.tyme75.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/tyme75

As TYME would say, PEACE.

Empty Apartment Goosebumps & SpeakEasy The Bird PART II will have to wait

The title says it all.
I have other things to write about right now.
The end.

Lamp Berger Post Script

In regards to my previous blog,

Empty Apartment Goosebumps & SpeakEasy The Bird PART I,

I have decided to post a cheesy little video that I found on YouTube which fully describes what Effusion Lamps are...(Lamp Berger is a brand name).
So sit back, relax, and enjoy the soothing sounds of some random woman's voice as she enlightens us all about the wonders that are...EFFUSION LAMPS.
*(In addition to smelling absolutely delightful, they also make little white dogs very, very happy, as is apparent in this video.)

Empty Apartment Goosebumps & SpeakEasy The Bird PART I

MY FRIEND MARTIE

So the other day, my friend Martie came over during the day and asked for a glass of wine.
I poured Martie her glass, and we proceeded outside to a little café table on the side of my townhouse.
Just as Martie sat down to drink her wine, Joe, the maintenance man, who sometimes wears his teeth & sometimes does not (none the less he's a very nice man with or without teeth...who wasn't wearing any teeth on this particular occasion), called me over and asked me tell him if I thought the townhouse next door to me smelled any better. -- The place next door smelled liked vomit and the fridge-full of maggots that the previous tenants had left behind & it has been a bitch and a half for Joe and his associates to get the freakin' smell out.
Since I have some strange fascination with stepping inside empty apartments and getting some weird rush that tingles through me causing goosebumps on my arm, I told him, "Heck yeah I'll give it a sniff!".
So I enlisted Martie's help, and we wandered through the place sniffing every corner we could get our schnozes into.
We identified numerous cleaning solutions, water-based paint, freshly laid carpets, ... and vomit/maggots.
The smell was still there.
Not wanting to give up on my goosebumps that quickly, I thought it best if Martie and I head upstairs and do some investi-sniffing there.
Oh yeah!
Well after our ascension, we were both quite sure that the smell was most definitely wafting from from the upstairs lavatory.
Now that my goosebumps had reached their peak in the darkened walk-in closet, I thought that I had struck gold.
Lying on a wire shelf in the closet was what appeared to be a baby crib liner, bag, or changing pad.
"Ooooh, I bet that's what it is!", I told Martie.
So she grabbed it and shoved her nose in it, smelling away.
"Nope.", she said confidently, "It's comin' from tha' bathroom. He needs to keep tha' drain closed."
Alright.
We went downstairs and Martie told Joe all about Lamp Bergers, and how they actually absorb odor from the environment without leaving any smoke, that they would only take 20 minutes to suck all the odors out, and that he needed to keep the drain closed.
Joe smiled a toothless smile, and my goosebumps subsided.
I walked outside, leaving Martie and Joe talking Lamp Bergers, drains, and maggot-filled fridges.
I have a feeling that what happened next has triggered a new obsession that I could definitely live without.

STAY TUNED FOR PART II OF:
Empty Apartment Goosebumps & SpeakEasy The Bird

Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

OPENING CREDITS

Last night, Diego and I had the pleasure of spending an evening with two friends, Philip & Sarah.
First, dinner at Harry's, and then the movies.

I have to say, I loved this movie.
Yes, I'm a huge Tim Burton fan, and yes, I love Musical Theatre, but this film stands on it's own.
Johnny Depp was focused and driven, and I was pleasantly surprised with Sacha Baron Cohen's Performance---they completely stuffed his groin---he was convincingly oily and conniving.
Vocally, I think that Helena Bonham Carter did the best with what she has (it's a tough act to follow the likes of Angela Lansbury & Patti Lupone). What she did have going for her that the previous two didn't, was a sense of vulnerability. I'm not quite sure if that's a good thing in this role, but it added another dimension to the character that I hadn't seen before.

As for Tim Burton, he is an amazing director.
I knew that I would love the movie after the opening number which finds the camera sweeping down the streets of London in a sort of time lapse, all from the point of view of Sweeney Todd himself. Great shot.
I also appreciated Burton's use of color, or lack there of to emphasize the significance of moments where color was used..red of blood, blue of skies, yellow of hair, and combinations in dream sequences.

This film has been described as graphic and gory, but I just found it to be bloody. Really bloody .
I don't mind that.
People being dropped on their heads seemed funny to me...I mean, they were already dead, so it's not like it hurt them.
Just Kidding.

I have to admit though, that my favorite moment of the film was not actually a part of the film itself.
Without revealing too much, it came when Todd pulls someone from a trunk and threatens them with his "Friend".
At that moment, all I could hear was Sarah next to me saying, "Oh no.....no, no, no.......oh no, no, no.......oh, oh, no! No. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.", the whole scene.
She was genuinely concerned.
It was great.
That made me happy.

But really, I am thankful to Philip & Sarah for, as the not so proper British would say, a bloody fun evening.