love; 10 things I love this week

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1. This video. Yes I know it's an oldy but how good does it make you feel?!?! It's definitely a reminder to share the love! LOVE!!!!

far-shanghai.net

2. Ai Wei Wei. He is an amazing artist doing amazing things. There is a feature film being made about him and the website dedicated to the film has some great videos attached of his work and his impact on the Chinese people and government. Check them out here. He currently has a show in the Turbine Hall at the Tate if anyone is planning a visit to London before May 2nd. Don't you love this photo of him?!?!?! LOVE!!!!!

bunnylicious.org

3. I was reminded of my love for David Lynch this week through a friend on F.B who I introduced my work to. She linked me to this video which of course is WONDERFUL!!!! Check it out and enjoy the ride!!!!! BTW, before coming here to L.A I decided I wanted to meet David and make him a raw strawberry cheesecake. I am yet to make the cheesecake! LOVE!!!

realpoor.com

3. Speaking of rabbits...This pic of a giant bunny?!?!?! I'm working on a video at the moment that has a bunny (am I trying to be a female Lynchy or what?!?!?) and I think I might be falling in love with bunnies!!! I do love this pic! Initially, I thought it was photoshoped and didn't want to know details as details can ruin the imagination, but it is real! Check this link out!!!! JUSHIKA! Find out where he lives so we can meet him!!!! LOVE!!!!

city-data.com

4. Maine Coons!!!!! Speaking of giant domestic pets!!!! I discovered these cats just last year. Marie Antoinette apparently had her cats shipped over to Maine on the East coast of the U.S, planning to follow them, but she was beheaded before she could escape. The people on Maine thought they were a cat bred with a raccoon, thus their name. Check out this video, they are MASSIVE cats!!!! LOVE!!!

5. Now I really have gone crazy on giant fluffy domestic pets!!! How cool is this photo and this dog! I do love it when dogs think they're humans. Shows the love their owners have for them. LOVE!!!!

6. These nails!!!! Those of you that know me well, know my alter ego is a Nail Technician from the outer 'burbs of Melbourne, so you would expect me to LOVE this!!! You can find the instructions on how to create your own here, but it is in French. Words printed backwards on your fingertips?!?! LOVE!!!!

7. Following my Number 6 this week, I used Google Translator to translate the instructions for how to create the newspaper nails. I LOVE GOOGLE TRANSLATOR!!!! I've been playing around with really dirty talk and listening to it in different languages. Soooo many hours of fun!!! LOVE!!!!

8. These plates!!!! How cool are they?!?!? My housemate recently bought them and they are like those little love candies that are around for the upcoming V day. I do LOVE these plates and rumor has it, I may be receiving some soon! Can't wait to serve some raw love on them for my friends! LOVE!!!!

fashionsaccess.blogspot.com

9. Homemade face masks! Tomorrow night for V Day, the single ladies are gathering at our house and I'm making fresh face masks for everyone! I do love putting what I eat onto my face! Something kinda strange yet satisfying about it! LOVE!!!!

capecodawesome.blogspot.com

10. Vodka and Cranberry! Last night I went out and drank this all night and today I have NO hangover! I'm convinced it's because the cranberry has Vitamin C that helps the body to recover (well, that's what I'm sticking with!).  LOVE!!!!!

eat; raw curry pumpkin soup

commons.wikimedia.org

Day 2 of my raw week was this raw Curry Pumpkin soup. I used the left over bits from the pumpkin pappardelle pasta I made and the other half of the pumpkin. Nuts are a huge part of raw 'cooking' and this recipe calls for raw cashews. They are always soaked before using them as it brings out the enzymes that aid in digestion.

Serves 4

What you need;
2 cups peeled and chopped butternut pumpkin
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cups cashew milk
1/2 cup  fresh orange juice
1 granny smith apple, chopped
1/4 cup chopped shallots
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, chopped
1 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
finely chopped fresh corriander (cilantro) and paprika to garnish
Cashew milk
1 cup raw cashews
2 cups filtered water

To start, soak raw cashews in filtered water for 2-4 hours. Drain and place in a food processor with 2 cups of filtered water. Whiz away until smooth. Strain through a sieve into an awaiting bowl.

In a blender add all the ingredients except garnish ingredients and blend until smooth. Add more filtered water if the consistency is too thick. You may need to do it in batches so have a big bowl waiting.

Once smooth, pour into individual servings and sprinkle with a little paprika and top with chopped fresh coriander.

Buon Appetito!

pink; casting call

e-flux.com

Charlie White is a Los Angeles based artist who created a one day performance at LAX Art last year in September. Casting Call was a prelude performance to find a 'typical' Californian girl; blonde hair, blue eyes, for an upcoming Billboard project, organised through LAX Art. You can check out the images of the performance here.

What I find interesting about White is his fascination with the American pop culture that is projected out onto the world, especially his interest in teen girl culture as a 30 something male.  He makes us aware of the cliche images of American society that is created by the media and throws those images back at us with irony. The truth is that the typical Californian girl has dark hair, dark eyes and olive complexion often coming from a Hispanic background. But this is not the image that has been projected onto the world of the typical Californian girl. We almost resist this idea as being true as we have been subjected, for a very long time, that blonde hair and blue eyed babes are Californian. Even movie stars of the 1950's and 1960's were advised to pull out the bottle of peroxide if they wanted work in Hollywood.

There is definitely a weirdness that happens when teenage girls are involved in any form of projection into the media. For some reason, we (including males) can all connect with the 'crossover' they are about to experience between childhood and adulthood. Of course it has everything to do with sex and we, both male and female, seem to relive our own experiences through an image of a teenage girl. But is our own experience of the 'crossover' really as bad as we think or is it societies prescribed story that it is a loss of some sort that we carry with us? And why is it that when we do see an image of a teenage girl we think about sex almost straight away? I certainly don't know but I am jolted a little and can't seem to find out why I am when I do see images of young teenage girls in their swimwear or presented in such a way as White has done here. It urkes me too, that these images do that as I feel I am somehow being seduced into a way of thinking that may not even be my own.

This strange feeling of not really knowing how I feel, or how I should react, came upon me when I checked out Whites Casting Call performance. I wasn't at the performance unfortunately, but judging by the images and the little that has been written about it, it seems the audience were not sure how to react either. Here they were, within a gallery space in the dark, invited to sit back and watch through a dividing glass wall, a room lit up with teenage girls and the casting process of viewing 100 girls. The audience could only watch what was going on as there were no speakers to eavesdrop on the verbal process. This forced the audience to create their own dialogue with what they were seeing. As we watch these teenage girls being judged by their physical features, we are listening to ourselves judging them being judged, judging the judges doing the judging and judging ourselves for judging everything! Confusing? Yes! I can only imagine the cliched dialogues the audience were creating, as I suspect this was Whites intention by shutting off the audience from the verbal communication. The audiences internal dialogue about the event would have come from many places, mainly from what they had been told to feel about such an experience through the media. I suspect this is exactly what White wanted to create as an experience for the audience. The process and the environment makes us aware of our own thinking and where that thinking may be coming from.

Below is the final image that was chosen to appear on the Billboard. The gridded background is reminiscent of the mug shots these girls would have for agencies to judge the proportions of their features. The girl stares at us staring at her with an expression that may ask why are we judging her. No text is needed as the simple image says everything as a billboard. 

http://www.laxart.org/events/view/charlie-white-casting-call/#images

In 2006, White created the video below as part of Adidas:Adicolor campaign. He uses pink in alot of his works when commenting on the American teenage girl culture and this video, titled Pink, is no exception. It has a very melancholic feel to it as if how sad (?!?!?!) it is that the girl has transitioned, through the act of sex, to become a woman. It appears to reflect our (societies) projections of what the transition is to be for a girl from adolescence to adulthood. How sad indeed that this is how we are 'told' the transition will be like; a loss of some sort.

love; 10 things I love this week

apartmenttherapy.com

1. This website! My friend Julishka from Berlin sent me the link and I love it! He is a French designer and his site reminds me of my favourite book covers as a kid...remember the ones with a hologram on the cover?!?!?! I used to put them up close to my face and get lost in their 3D worlds. LOVE!

2. Speaking of websites...my friend Kiera got me onto this one last year but I have just rediscovered it this week after talking about it with another friend. Alannah Hill is an Australian fashion designer and her website is definitely a reflection of her style. LOVE!!!

roadsideamerica.com

3. Jackalope. It is a mythical animal of North American folklore, being described as a cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope I love this sooooo much! Last night we came across two of them (well kinda) taxidermy on the walls of the places we visited. I love the idea of creating hybrid animals that don't exist (well in photoshop of course!). LOVE!!!

schultkl.blogspot.com

4. Cheshire Moon. Am I like the ONLY person in the world that has never heard of the moon being referred to as the Cheshire Moon?!?!?! Have I been hiding under a rock or what! I always called it a sickle (which is awful!). My friend Greg referred to the moon as the Cheshire cat moon a month ago and now, every time I see it like this, I give the moon a big huge grin back. LOVE!!!!

5. This bag my friend Katya gave me for Christmas. She was in the gay district in Chicago and happen to stumble across this bag in a drag queen shop and thought of me....ummm....YES!!!!! I took it with me to Vegas and everyone commented on it!  Any which way you look at it, it has a face with a big smile on it! LOVE!

6. My souvenir from Vegas. I'm not much of a trinket person but I do love to bring back something for myself that is not your average souvenir. I found this in the gutter in Vegas and it is perfect! It seems to be a pipe of some sort that has been flattened by a car (or few!). LOVE!!!!

7. Talking about souvenirs...this is mine from Los Angeles. It is road kill! Well, doll road kill! I imagine some girl throwing a tanty at her parents and in retaliation, throwing out her doll from the car window. Looks like the doll had a few lives under its belt even if she don't look to good right now. LOVE!!!!

8. And San Francisco is this headless, armless tin toy. I found it in a recycling place and couldn't leave him behind! He is even wearing his price tag on his chest; 10 cents! LOVE!!!!

9. Palms restaurant here in L.A. It is a Thai restaurant in Thai town and they have a Thai Elvis impersonator who is very pleased with himself. It is super cheesy and really fun to watch! Oh and the food is really good too! LOVE!!!

http://www.lebarcito.com/

10. Mexican Gay Bar. Last night as we were heading to get something to eat at 1.30 am after starting our night early downing the drinks, I dragged everyone into a bar we were passing and it turned out to be a Mexican gay bar!!!!! Something soooo hot about seeing two Latino men pashing on the dance floor! LOVE!!!!

eat; raw carrot cake topped with vanilla cashew icing

tinyfarmblog.com

On day 1 of my raw week, I made this little slice of heaven to overcome any cravings for sugar I may experience during the first few days. It really is a slice of heaven! The vanilla cashew icing is sooooo divine that I couldn't believe how good it tasted. I interrupted my housemate Natalie while she was working so she could enjoy the fabulous flavours with me! This recipe is from Russell James and makes 12 servings, as the serving sizes are small. The cake is dense so make sure to cut the pieces small. Halve the recipe if you don't see yourself eating raw carrot cake for days or don't have extra mouths to feed.

The cake will keep well for up to four days, refrigerated.

What you need;

3 cups carrot, finely grated

2 cups pecans

1/4 cup raisins, roughly chopped
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground corriander

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp orange zest
1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup fresh dates

1/2 cup orange juice

Vanilla Cashew Icing

1 1/2 cups cashews
1/2 cup water
2 Tbs raw honey or agave
3 Tbs coconut oil or canola oil
1 Tbs vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Start by soaking the cashews and pecan nuts in separate bowls with filtered water for between two to four hours. Once the time is up, drain and rinse and place the separate nuts onto separate kitchen towels and roll to dry a little. This stage can be done the day before, just put the nuts into separate containers in the fridge.

In a food processor, add dates and orange juice and blend until a smooth paste is formed. Set aside.

Making sure your food processor is dry, add the pecans and whiz until crumbed.

Peel and grate the carrots finely as in the picture above and place in a bowl. Except for the icing ingredients, add everything, including 'date paste' and chopped pecans, in with the grated carrots.

I used my hands to mix as I found it easier than with a spoon. Whatever works for you is fine.

 

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and spread the mixture to about 1 1/2cm in thickness. My tray was too big so I ended the mixture with a clean edge, 1/4 of the way in from the side of the pan (see image above). Press the mixture evenly with the back of a spoon. Alternatively, you can shape them individually as balls or circular cakes but remember to make them small! Cover with cling wrap and chill for a few hours.

To make the vanilla cashew icing, simply blend all the 'icing' ingredients until really creamy and smooth. Place in a container and refrigerate for a few hours to thicken up. 

Just before serving, cut into individual squares (about 8x8cm as it is very rich!) using a really sharp knife and either spread or dollop the icing on each individual serving. You want to keep the icing and cake separate until serving.

And voila, an amazing little sweet treat that is actually good for you!!!!
 

Buon Appetito!

pink; true potential

http://alexagerrity.com/artwork/1665403_True_Potential_Installation_View.html

Yesterday I attended the Art Los Angeles Contemporary featuring contemporary galleries within Los Angeles, the U.S.A and a few from other parts of the world. I dread these art fairs most of the time as they are usually loaded with commercial galleries showing their crappy commercial art for an audience that is  mainly interested in buying something for their wall to match the sofa. But this art fair completely thrilled me! Lots of non-profits and a great quality of commercial galleries within a small setting of an airplane hanger and only in it's second year running. I may be biased, as you all know I heart L.A, but I have been to many of these fairs around the world and have never been so excited!

So of course I scouted around to find a pink work to include in my blog and came across this artist. The Company is a gallery in Chinatown, Los Angeles that represents Alexa Gerrity, a recent MFA graduate of Cal Arts. The work below caught my eye, not only because it was printed on pink paper but because it captures the 'self-help' vibe that Southern California is famous for. Many 'self-help' gurus come to L.A or get their lucky break here. Maybe it is something in the water, or maybe the weird fact L.A is on the famous fault line and could potentially fall into the ocean at any given moment, creating a sense of 'being in the now' attitude amongst those both that come here and live here. For crying out loud, even I have entered this world reading books such as Flow by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and Louise Hays' You Can Heal Your Life during my time here so far!

http://alexagerrity.com/artwork/1665404_True_Potential_Posters.html

The main picture above was a site specific work at The Company last year, in the gallery's bathroom. Gerrity created a small and intimate, yet public, space for the viewer to enter into a personal conversation with oneself. I was told by a person who attended the show that the bathroom had fake candles all along it's edges, vanilla fragrance wafting through the space and a pink globe spreading the love. The affirmations on the mirror invite the viewer to participate in repetitive thought which is believed to potentially change ones old thought patterns and beliefs about themselves. Louise Hays is a huge advocate for this type of therapy. The participants are encouraged to take a poster which acts as a reminder, to put on ones wall on their return home, to keep up this affirmation process.

The question needs to asked, is Gerrity being facetious about what happens here in Southern California or is she somehow advocating this type of therapy? She is not native to L.A and my feeling is that she too, may have been caught up in the 'self-help' world that exists here when she first arrived and is now working out how it fits into her life through her work as an artist. Whatever her reason is for creating this installation, I found this work to be intriguing, very L.A with it's 'self-help'ness, covered in pink and sparkles. Gotta love L.A!!!!!

love; 10 things I love about Vegas

I just returned from my first trip to Vegas and decided to write about 10 things I loved about Sin City. 'twas interesting indeed! Unfortunately I left my camera battery charging at home, so no photos (well apart from me posing for Michael's shots!!!)

http://en.wikipedia.org

1. The famous 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign. It was created in 1959 and is a great example of graphic design of the time. The sign conjures up images of what Vegas would have been like in the '50's with the likes of The Rat Pack performing, Frank Sinatra and the Mafia doing their thing, while debauchery was happening everywhere! The sign has now become a logo for Vegas and is slapped onto all sorts of souvenirs. LOVE!

thefashionpolice.net

2. Ladies dressed in sequins. Every second woman was dressed in some sort of something, in sequins; from scarves to dresses to shoes. I LOVED it! Even for breakfast, ladies were out with their sparklys simply because they could. LOVE!!!!

photo; Michael Dewhurst

3. The Venetian!!! Maybe it's just my desire to go and live in Venice that attracted me to this amazing hotel, or maybe it's just because it's f@#%ing FABULOUS! It has the canals running through the inside of the hotel and cheesy gondolier paddlers singing along under a blue cloudy sky painted on the ceiling! LOVE!!!! (that's me posing in seventh heaven with my mickey sequined ears!!!!!)

the-weddingvendors.com

4. The drive through Chapels!!!! Michael and I played the game of acting like we were in search of a place to get married and went into a few chapels and were given the royal treatment. Soooooo funny!!!!!  You can even get your picture taken at one of the chapels with a full life-size glistening plastic white horse pulling along Cinderellas carriage!!!! A must if you go to Vegas with a friend of the opposite sex! LOVE!!!!!

tkdtutor.com

5. Urban legends of Las Vegas. This website is really funny and dispells some myths that you may have heard along the way of stories about Vegas. Check it out. LOVE!

top5photos.wordpress.com

6. "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." Yep, that's what everyone says to you as you're heading towards Sin City! The quote was created by Jeff Candido and Jason Hoff written as an advertising slogan for the Las Vegas Conventition and Visitors Authority in 2002. It is a spin off from previous interpretations relating to 'boys weekends away'. Vegas has soooo many quotes attached to it and I love that. Check this out!

uniquetravelsblog.blogspot.com

7. Downtown Vegas. Yes it is a very sad area, with those that are not invited to The Strip party being shoved into a small street called Fremont St. They have tried to bring in the tourists by creating a ridiculous $70 million light canopy that has a show on the hour, every hour. It is sooooo lame! But the bit I enjoyed most about downtown Las Vegas was walking into a bar that was off the tourist track with Michael and having a beer with some locals. There was only 10 people in this bar on a Friday night and the bar staff were singing into a microphone with the piano player in the corner, while serving drinks!!!! Talk about multi-tasking!!!! LOVE!!!!

inoldlasvegas.com

8. This four story high red stiletto in the downtown area!!! It had soooo many lights and slowly spun around! I was in awe!!!! I WANT SHOES LIKE THIS!!!! Here is a link to the Neon Museum where you can check out other historic signs. Check out this Yelp page for more photos too! LOVE!!!!

9. China Poblano restaurant. YUUUUUUMMMMMMMMM!!!! Thats all I need to say! Check out the link! LOVE!

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10. The Stratosphere Hotel. Michael and I went up there just before sunset and it was amazing to see how crazy the city really is! There is nothing beyond the tall hotel buildings along The Strip, except for sprawling suburbia. The Stratosphere has three rides on top at 108 stories high! One of the rides hangs over the edge, twirling you around while another pushes you out over it!!! Check out these images. Oh and you can jump off the building if you want, too! Michael and I enjoyed two for one Chocolate Martinis on our way down. YUM!!!