Brooklyn Craft Fair
leti, james and i had breakfast at egg and then sauntered over to the maccaren pool for the renegade craft fair. it was no surprise there were a dozen silk screened t-shirt and poster booths, hand-stitched twee animals, necklaces made with wood or featuring icons like the octopus or keys.
what was surprising was that icons that are so played out at this point (the finch, the cupcake, the mustache, the deer) are still going strong. seriously? haven’t we reached a saturation point where things i found “cute” in 2003 and 2004 are finally dead? moveon.org people.
what would have been cooler: tie dye, string art, moroccan tiles, ancient egyptian necklaces, friendship bracelets, doll houses. actually, no, because then i’d be sick of them.
Hot Dog Man
perhaps i should illustrate these? i have been holding onto them in my joke reference folder for years.
Vans was about to book me flights and hotels to SF, LA, and Seattle, but I asked if I could do it myself and invoice them. I have all these jet blue points and wanna rack up free flights. Now I have to figure out which boutique hotels are options in each city.
James said he’d like to come with me, so I’m going to meet his parents and unleash him upon mine. Maybe take a drive to Mexico and stock up on some summer dresses and sandals once we have his parent’s car.
Maison 140 (Beverly Hills):
Ace hotel (Seattle):
(I think) I want to stay in the Ace Hotel and Kelly Wearstler’s designed Maison 140. Since I grew up in the Bay Area I’ve never stayed in a hotel there, nor do I know any that are cute.
Any suggestions?
Current Ebay Obsessions
I am planning on moving when my lease is up July first. it feels like bad timing in a way. Just as I leave, Stuyvesant Town has added hundreds of new trees and cute street lights lining the walkways. Despite the buildings looking like sterile boxy projects, all the green has made it rather charming. Babies outnumber the elderly (actually, this makes it way too Park Slope creepy). My roommate is also really nice and never home, and my rent is what I paid in 2001.
However, I am obsessed with moving to a place with architectural details. Something where a crazy velvet couch and deco wallpaper will not feel out of place.
Current Ebay obsessions:
anything hand beaded
rompers with tie-dye and watercolor prints
rose gold and signet rings
hand-tooled leather
flapper dresses and clothing with neo-deco details
1920′s ancient egyptian inspired jewelry
liberty prints and grunge-era florals
moroccon (specifically berber) coin necklaces
heimstone, jerome dreyfus, lyell, vena cava, sigerson morrison,
Won:
Want:
New Imac
i found a nearly new (bought in december) imac on ebay and bought it. saved over a grand too. it arrived two days ago and my friend just gave me the whole adobe creative suite (still trying to get lightroom, which beats iphoto hands down) and word.
oh. my. god. i love this computer so much! i keep squealing in delight. designing and making illustrations on a 24″ screen is such a pleasure. bye bye art making on a small laptop hello fancy time computer, i love you.
ps the photo is this guys
Macy’s Gift Card
rebecca is at present, making a gigantic joint. of drugs. well, she’s sewing one.
our studio neighbor, eric elms, is creating a permanent installation for the d.c. stussy store, opening this week. he needed her to sew this huge joint that will lay alongside a pencil and switchblade, on a mousetrap. you know, “traps” in life. the whole thing is very Oldenburg. and by that i mean, awesome.
of course, i will take took a picture of myself holding it and it will end up on comically large.
speaking of oversize things, you remember this guy?
Beatrice Inn = Ridiculous Nite
rebecca, leti, and i began our sunday evening at sway for their smiths night. it was a ridiculous tangled mess of kids dancing and spilling drinks and we held camp in the back because it was too too crowded since it was the day before a holiday. i stumbled upon a freshly vacated table replete with bottle service and happily began making us cocktails with the bottle of belvedere. after a bit, sarvia decided we should all follow aron to beatrice inn, so we hurried, screaming at the cold, and quickly piled into two cabs, while rebecca nearly got run over as it peeled away with her body half inside.
we arrived at beatrice, finally get inside after some string-pulling, and head to the back where the kids are happily dancing to 90′s hip hop. i sit down to avoid the gaggle of drunk chain-smokers. shortly, a homely hip-hop kid sits down and introduces himself. i’m clearly not interested. so he tries (unsuccessfully but hilariously) to impress me.
hip-hop dude: hi, i’m j. mello
me: ….hi
j: do you ever watch mtv? do you ever watch fuse?
me: sometimes… why?
j: well, next time you watch mtv, you should vote for the j.mello video with dave navarro
me: huh? what’s your name?
j: j. mello
me: oh
j: have you ever heard the song “celebrate good times come on”?
me: yeah
j: that’s my dad
me: oh… that’s cool….
then he proceeded to tell me he’s flying to dallas in the morning to do some promo with paris hilton. i slinked off after entertaining him a bit and went up to some familiar kid and asked him if he had gone to nyu back in the day (he used to put up stickers in the hallways that were of him holding a 40oz and smoking). we chatted but he was not very friendly. leti then came up and asked me why i was talking to mary kate olsen’s boyfriend and i was just so confused at the way the night was turning out.
rebecca, leti and i went back to my place and had a big slumber party complete with dancing around in my underwear to the velvet underground as if it was a scene in charlie’s angels.
Groovy Groupies
i’ve been reading pamela des barres’ i’m with the band recently. it followed my attempt at reading the marianne faithful biography, which i never quite completed, because she turns into a total junkie and it just became depressing.
pamela’s makes me cringe, but the descriptions of outfits or rooms and activities she participates in i find intiguing. what’s the i ching? there was a burgundy velvet couch? what did gram parsons look like in 1968? but her endless talk about lusting after certain boys and frequent bouts of total crying, vapid observations, and constant obsessiveness frustrates me.
i may be boy crazy, but god, thankfully never to this degree. and for the most part, she sounds completely stupid. but perhaps it’s because she didn’t have this book co-written like marianne faithful did. by contrast, in hers she appears well-read and with impeccable taste. plus, her delivery is often so deadpan and frank it’s refreshing.
not sure if this will be the final version but i am starting on the booklet of song lyrics today. haven’t used indesign in a while and playing the role of graphic designer is always a challenge, but i want to get better at it. maybe by the end of the summer i’ll have it under wraps.
Donuts!
i’ve been joking around that “donuts are the new cupcake” for a couple of months, demanding that friends bring me one or asking if they know of good nearby donut shops almost daily. and today i discovered the best donut of all time within walking distance of my house!!
it’s an organic shop called doughnut plant in the lower east side, where i picked up a coconut glazed and vanilla bean donut for rebecca and i to eat. it’s right around the corner from the sweet life where i snagged my other obsession: dried guava. deliciousness.
oh, and i want this new eugenia kim book called “saturday night hat” and make myself some fancy plaid and brown wool berets for winter.
Jane Magazine Feature
i never posted this because a) i look bad and, i think, unlike myself. they also styled me (although i did make the outfit more “me” by putting on my pin and vest and my boots over their shirt and pants. boring.) i usually wear skirts and dresses and weird crazy sixties coats not stripey shirts under black velvet vests.
nearly all the clothing they brought to the shoot seemed like something i’d have worn in high school. except not vintage. i don’t really wear red with white and black anymore. nor did i ever wear diesel. i was hoping to sport a cute late sixties mod dress and kneehighs. i acutally had an outfit i wanted to wear, complete with this rad 40s telephone cord purse, and white wood stacked heels, but i guess they have to appease advertisers.
plus they gave me “smokey eyes” which i think shrinks mine. i only ever wear liquid eyeliner. maybe it’s my facial expressions.
i’m just not photogenic! period.
and b) i sound obnoxious. when your conversation is cut apart and collaged together things just sound so… unnatural. all the inflection and laugher is gone and you’re left with an airhead twatwaffle obsessed with ebay. but perhaps it reveals who i acutally am!
i shouldn’t whine. i am stoked i was featured and everyone was super nice and it was nice exposure. surely most people in print feel highly critical of these things. i get bummed when the colors of my editorial illustrations are off, so i guess it’s no different.
luckily, when it’s this small you can’t really see nor read me. now can ya?
it’s snowing big thick flakes outside our williamsburg windows. rebecca and i are debating buying fingerless gloves because it’s so cold in our studio. that or velvet curtains to keep the heat in. or a space heater. but that might cause all my oil paints and resin to some day go up in flames…
i asked nathan if he would get an apartment with me and move to berlin in april and he said yes. he and i are fucking nuts. i keep joking to rebecca that someday we’ll get married against all the odds. we’ve had such a fucking rocky past, the fact we still sleep together seems like a sign from god.
curtis’s barcelona trip has him headed to the baltic region for nine days afterwards. he wants me to come with him although i’d rather travel some place warm. although, not alone. it’d be cheap since it’s winter and will likely be freezing. however, this will put a kink in my driving / buying a car / doing music video / art for pop levi / work for solo show plan. whoops.
haven’t bought a ticket yet of course. i’m torn in all sorts of directions and just want to be spontaneous. but i can’t really do when i have work to do!
Crush
i have a crush of the sort where i go about making him mixes and blushing. he’s so nice and cute but younger than me. i guess that’s the norm though. oddly, he is the second boy i’ve hung out with who’s an elle girl “total boy.” i think his feature is coming out this month. weird
i remember half of new years. i was so drunk that i woke up the next morning and, in total surprise, discovered not only had i totally cut myself (presumably on broken glass) but i had bleed alllll over my party dress.
teany went out of business today. rebecca and i are holding a vigil in honor of our beloved unturkey clubs and chicken salad sandwiches. god, i loved that place.
Blood is the New Black
the totally revamped blood is the new black site is now online! lots of totes + cap + puff sleeve t-shirts and nancy + sara wearing my accessories + clothing to boot. yay!
New Bitnb Website
sooo we’re redoing the bloodisthenewblack website and i’m giving mine a total overhaul. thing is, for a bio, i have no idea what to write. is it bad to put my age and where i go to school? some of my friends think it’s good to remain more of a mystery and that people might not hire me if they see i’m still in school. i don’t know what to do.
the internet is killing my game.
i met a boy (read: dragged him to the dance floor and forced him to talk with me) at royal oak on saturday. and later gave him my number. but i didn’t get his because he was being hit on by two girls and i am drama-free. anyway. instead of calling, yesterday he adds me on myspace with no message. who does that? why bother searching someone and adding them only to say nothing? what. the. fuck.
a funny story:
the other nite the most coked up creep ever tried to give me drugs and i declined. but my friend “x” did not and they ended up at the bathroom of b-side with a crazy girl + a friend. every one keeps drinking and “x” turns a bit aggro. he starts picking a fight with jacob, who has a tattoo of his dog on his arm, about training dogs. some how “x” says something about slapping puppies and the other boy stands up and starts puffing up his chest trying to fight him. over slapping puppies! had to hold back all 6’6 of him. calm down calm down. you’ll regret this in the morning, nerds.
tonight and i are seeing the lukas moodysson film, lilya 4 ever, during the swedish film series at lincoln center.
[note: it was the WORST movie EVER. god, so painful in a bad way.]
Promotions, Todos
in the next few days i’m redesigning my website, creating a postcard, business card, new wheat paste series, and making catalogs for blood is the new black and the lil line of my own called troublemakers. all the kids who gave me their addresses will soon be getting loads and loads of goodies.
anyone know of good (cheap) offset printers?
also, who is going to south by southwest? because… i am!
Web designer, anyone?
bloodisthenewblack needs a webdesigner.
anyone know anyone (who is available) and talented?
we can discuss the specifications and the pay via email.
keren.richter(at)gmail.com
Columbia Begins
my first day of class began by entering into my huge (200+ people) science lecture to the tune of cat power’s “free” playing on the teacher’s overhead speaker. which later transitioned into belle and sebastian’s “stars of track and field.” and the professor is by no means young. it was totally bizarre in a very Garden State sort of way
Calling on the Burgerphone
i have my first day of spring semester tomorrow and i still haven’t registered for anything. i’ve been praying it will just disappear because i am not ready to go back. i’m going to wake up early and sneak into classes and pray there is room. this is so bad. i have never procrastinated this hardcore before. it might just be a record!
i just won this phone and now it can sit side by side with my burger phone. true love!
Canada + Art Making + Me
i think i’m gonna go to montreal and chicago as soon as this animation is done (about 10 days). i need to get out of the city, i need an adventure, and there are all sorts of people i wanna see. i forsee lots of art making (seripop) and lots of gossip.
Urban Outfitters, I Love You
um, hi. urban outfitters wants to buy 4,000 blood is the new black tee shirts. we’re going to throw a juxtapoz sponsored party at rothko to launch the brand.
i think i just aced my midterm and i’m likely doing another music video.
fuck yes i’m celebrating tonight.
National Lampoons European Vacation
i love the vibrant colors of cross processing!!!
i get the rolls from paris back on tuesday. for now stockholm, prague, and a bit of london.
rachel: you look awesome
72341
library. 2 am. saturday night. i am officially a loser. i don’t know if i can keep this up for two more weeks. i’m so very tired. and all i drink is coffee. did i ever mention how during my midterms i drank so much coffee that i ended up throwing up a lot and then blacking out? yeah. i’m really really great to my body, let me tell you. at least i’m not a coke addict! i will be thankful for the small things.
i get out of school on may 13 and then my birthday is the next day. i wanna throw a big party, not because 23 is a special year, but because i will be sooo relieved to be done with my finals and the million pages of reading and memorization that come along with the territory.
i have read, i think, every text ever written about alice neel and watched two documentary films about her as well. i really admire the woman and at this point i feel completely inside her head. it makes me want to get a studio and set up shop doing only really big oil paintings. i wonder if rebecca westcott came to this same conclusion.
my lease is up in october but i hate my apartment these days. no oven, no light, jackhammering still going on since september. i don’t know who in their right mind would sublet my hell-hole but i really need to leave as soon as school ends. i am torn between staying in manhattan and flying to coop to brooklyn. i feel like nobody is here any more besides alyssa. maybe i’ll move to harlem. i just want lots of space and at this point a social life seems antithetical to college life so maybe i shouldn’t care where i am as long as it’s cheap.
i need a bike. a cruiser preferably in red or bright blue with a basket and really big handles. i picture myself riding it all summer long with pigtails and shortshorts and sneakers. i think i may ditch the skirts and dresses and just become a total 8 year old boy circa 1969. yellow and stripes are good for that.
Academia Anxiety
i am totally exhausted. i woke up at 7:00am after three or four hours of sleep (my fault, my drinking, my friend coming over and keeping me up), and only got home a few minutes ago from orientation and errands. a day full of fake smiles, superficial conversation, and pounds and pounds of paperwork is exhausting. i really don’t feel like talking to any of my classmates, but all these boys keep going up to me and asking “where is walnut creek?” after peering at my little sticker of information on my chest. after the seventh time, i want to disappear. maybe if they were cute boys to distract me…. actually there was one but i avoid eye contact with cute ones because i am shy when sober.
i am not used to school. at all. especially not liberal arts school. although, i’m sure it’s far harder for the 35 year olds to adjust than for me. i feel really out of place, young, unqualified, and very “weird” by comparison to the mass amounts of flat ironed hair and j.crew. columbia’s curriculum seems totally overwhelming and i’m really nervous i’m not going to be able to juggle painting and classes like statistics and two years of language that i can’t pass out of. they accepted 53 out of 60 possible credits and i think you have to have 140 to graduate. i am going to be here a long long time. at least the buildings and facilities are fucking amazing and beautiful with some of the most ornate detailing ever. i want to draw all of it. everything has so much history and feels so cinematic. hour commutes to class are not fun. i wanna move to morningside heights and join dorm-land or something, but i know that is not an option. if i leave the east village i will wither away and die.
on a different note, i want a tattoo again, but i can’t tell if i like the images i want because they are ‘trendy’ (diamonds, nurse, banners etc) or if i will like them for years to come. i mean, past ideas i had when i was 16 or 17 i now cringe at the thought of (stars on my wrist, typewriter, robot) but i would still probably like an andy ward drawing (he does the smell’s show posters + lots of 31g/gravity art) or an anchor. i currently have none.
also, i have an illustration in the february issue of YM (that is currently on newsstands). i don’t like how they cropped it. they said it was going to be 3/4 of a page and it’s only 1/2. they cropped out my rainbows and birdie and boombox! bastards. oh, and there is glare all over the acrylic. SAD. i don’t like how it looks. shoot me.
5 Things
i am swearing off purchasing anything with stripes for a long long time.
looking into my suitcase of my favorite items of clothing i realized i’m sick sick sick and reached a strange place that is beyond obsession. ceci and i sometimes joke about alyssa’s closet being divided into sections of only black/white/stripes. i am so far worse. if i had closet big enough it’d only have room for one section. gross.
coming home from traveling to find mail that contains 1. judge judy invite 2. a present/painting from deth sun 3. a dime bag for jordin isip’s next show 4. getting into american illustraton and 5. a postcard from a stranger RULES
i brought home a dozen noah’s bagels and got to go to the beach this week. i miss ca already.
looks like i may be djing at lit later this month. and due to NO SMOKING in nyc i may actually be able to breathe while playing. huzzah x a million!
i just discovered that my mom regularly reads my livejournal. luckily i’m a goody two shoes.
sunburnt to the maxxx
i am in vienna. this city is pretty cool although what the hell is up with stores all across europe deciding to shut their doors come about 5 o’ clock? it makes nap happy sleep-deprived little boys and girls have a hard time seeing the sites, or rather, spending cash on useless things.
anyway, i’d also like to point out that buying necessities in europe has proven to be quite impossible. possibly because europe would like me to HAVE BABIES? which of course i’m not into. oh, and ryan’s passport got stolen in paris, but we got another one. we ended up staying an extra day there and went to the eiffel tower at midnight, went underground into the catacombs, and saw 230483483 skulls and bones of people from hundreds of years ago. i got my fix of museums and collette too.
it’s very hottt here and venice, which i expected to be rad, was in fact an adult version of disneyland with enough obnoxious tourists to make me cringe at the fact that i’m sadly one. but switzerland was really beautiful. we stayed in lucerne and took a trek up this gigantic mountain that was about a mile and a half up in the air and had a perfect view of the alps.
i am excited because tomorrow ryan and i get to see art by two of my favorite artists (klimpt and shiele) and i’m going to see where my parents lived and other fun things. blahblahblah. goodbye!
holy shit the food in england BLOWS
ryan and i are taking the eurostar to paris today at 4 so miss cerys and mister ricky i will call you when ryan and i get done with touring about. calling and checking my email is super difficult right now because of the cost / janky phones / having an email addie that uses secure pop.
anyway, when we return i wanna cause trouble, ok?
as of now we’re going to paris, geneva, venice, vienna, and berlin. it runs about 3 or 4 days per city which feels very abbreviated, but if i went to any more cities i’d just be a joke. how the hell do i find out cool shit to do in cities where i don’t speak the language? is there timeout in every country? if there is, i bet i can’t read it!
i guess i’ll see if my four years of french pay off. i’m sure i can’t remember a damn thing.
ryan makes me feel depressed.
[ music | radiohead ]
so i am seriously wondering if i should go get checked out about ocd. i swear i must have it or maybe just add or something. i can’t concentrate, can’t do my homework, i can’t start anything until i check obsessively my email, my hits, my altpick page, all this totally useless stuff. and even after i have i have to check them again.
something’s got to be wrong with me. i feel bad and like something is wrong and just a bit… off. nothing is perfect, not like it should be, but i feel like i should be happy and feel proud, smart, good about myself and instead i just… don’t. i know i’ve become co-dependent. i wrote about how i was feeling today and ryan deleted my post. not that i realy mind. it was really only for me, but the fact he edited / deleted it made me feel odd. like i didn’t have any right to write things that i actually feel on my livejournal.
all i can think about tonight is begging ryan to come over and sleep at my place and make me feel good, give me a backrub, and tell me that he loves me. i know it’s too much to ask and he’s so mad at me. everything seems wrong until he isn’t mad at me. something feels like it’s missing because the one boy who i actually care about is mad. yes, i’m definitely co dependent. i think i honestly want to marry that boy. this scares me.
yes, today was a bad day. i tried to buy the little prince and failed. i didn’t go to one of my classes and then the class i did go to i didn’t have the assignment and gave a lie as an excuse. i suck. i think this is the 3rd class this week i’ve cut. i’m getting back into my old habits. i want spring break to start now. i want to go to paris but i’m too scared and i don’t think i’d want to go if ryan didn’t come with me.
i wish i was more obsessive about being clean, doing homework, making art.. anything. but instead this totally trivial stuff just sort of prevents me from accomplishing things that are honestly very important.
i feel like a big bad mess.
ryan now lives with me in the land of east village hipsters. the place is roughly in order and i reside about 40 feet from the other people who frequently look into our curtain-less apartment. school starts tomorrow and i’m going to try to weasel my way into an mtv internship tonight and see how that goes. speaking of weaseling, it turns out my comic is going to be in gurl.com’s new magazine with a circulation of 700,000. hells yeah i’m excited.
last night i saw manhattan, the old woody alan film, and blank generation. we now have free movie rentals for 5 months so i’m on a steady diet of nothing for as long as my friend is on “hiatus” from kims video and parceling out her free rentals to us. yay!
any suggestions for what to watch next?
i seem to have seen anything exploiting punk rock, girl gangs, and delinquincy. my nyu film class this summer got me so excited about movies i don’t want that feeling to wear off!
i’m becoming a total mush ball and i hate myself for it. Lately all i do is fall apart. i’m so concerned with the fact everything in my life is so temporary that i start scaring myself when little things go wrong. i think, “this is it! now it’s all over!” after a small fight and find myself crying at the drop of a hat at the mere mention of his dissatisfaction with some of my actions or flaws. i realize how i’ve become totally isolated from my other “friends” and how it’s probably very unhealthy to only spend time with him. He’s developed this dual role and replaced all my old friends which becomes a problem when i’m frustrated since i don’t feel comfortable talking to anyone these days. I hate that i’ve become some stereotypical cosmo-reading girl who finds herself with the need to eat ice cream, rent sappy movies, and cry a lot. i thought i was better than highlights, spandex, and totally cheesy relationship drama. now i feel like because i’m so fragile and emotional that i’m now one of… them. where are my days when i was tough? i want them back.
today i am in a list-making mood. i think perhaps because i have a paper to do and class to go to in a very very short while. i watched the movie for the class atleast. it wasn’t very good (possibly because i hate any movies with tons of violence. i’m a total wuss).
it’s beautiful outside but all i’ve really done to take advantage of it is go outside and buy groceries. ryan’s at ikea and i opted not to go because i was there only two days ago just to look. all i can think of is moving moving moving since barbie and i split so soon and susan and matt are moving into the l.e.s. today.
every so often i get super bored of basically everything. i get frustrated with who i am, what i do with my free time, what i look like, who my friends are…everything. sometimes i go on roadtrips and meet new kids to combat it and get inspired all over again. i feel like some new changes are in order and even though i’m only moving across town, i’m sure just the thoughout of something changing is bringing on this feeling that i need to do something new!
i need new music and friends. maybe it’s time to throw a theme party.
things i like today: making new clothing, rit dye, spraypainting skateboards, ice pops, nurse pins, cranberries in my cereal, trackstar sneakers, new friends, watching GHOST WORLD on the big screen, clothing that’s too small and totally geeky, red paint, sailors and stewardeses (is that spelled totally wrong?) and my newly restored 70′s nikes.
more later i’m sure.
i hate muggy weather. i’m too much of a california girl for this sticky sweaty summer. i hate shorts. i hate that my glorious black “straight” hair turns curly and frizzy. ugh.
i wonder if ryan will punch me in the face if i continue avoiding his jersey city apartment because it feels like a sauna. maybe i should just go. i’d like to meet the second mystery roommate he just got (that i have “known” longer than i’ve known him) and he does have this nice fire escape and roof. i’m filled with stupid visions of sunbathing on an obnoxiously loud beach towel up there. i’ll make long island ice teas, we’ll get drunk on his roof, and then fall off! hot huh?
two weeks ago i started interning (and illustrating) at gurl.com. today we moved from my view overlooking the statue of liberty in battery park to times square. advertisements 50 times the size of me surround the office. the office feels so professional and supposedly “seventeen” magazine is going to be in the same room.
rather than barf i’m going to scheme my way into getting illustrations into it. if you can’t beat em, take advantage.
mtv’s building is just around the corner. maybe tamaryn and i will finally dress up like groupies for (insert : secret band) and confuse people. we’ll be modern day beatlemaniacs. maybe first i should concentrate on turning my joke band i created with ceci- “the dirty nurses”- into something real. how hard it can be when we’ve got some boy in creme blush with a grove box and keyboards willing to help? we’re practicing tonight. speak and spells, commodore 64, bleep blop, and circus sounds in tow.
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