Film To Watch: Synecdoche, NY

*Warning: ONLY watch this film if you are the sort of person who doesn't need to ask a lot of questions when you watch movies!*

Synecdoche, NY  [sih-NECK-doh-kee] ( 2008) is one of the most confusing and complex films I've seen in a lot time. The plot takes a ridiculous series of twists and turns and leaves the viewer a whole lot lost in the time and space of the characters' lives. Problem is, there's seemingly NO rational order to any aspect of this film. 

Despite all this not knowing...I really liked it! "What the heck is going on" is merely part of the whole experience in my mind. The casting was remarkable, with Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Samantha Morton (Mister Lonely), Michelle Williams, and Catherine Keener (The Ballad of Jack and Rose). I think it's in their voices....you just want to listen to them speak. 

I could go on and on about this movie really, but I think that the trailer really embodies the essence of the film, as in you don't know what it's about at the end exactly. OH and check out the soundtrack highlight "Little Person" by Jon Brion (the song in the trailer) sooooo good. 

Our Delicious Raspberry Centered Galaxy

"Astronomers searching for the building blocks of life in a giant dust cloud at the heart of the Milky Way have concluded that it tastes vaguely of raspberries."

Check out this article from the Guardian for more information. Exciting isn't it??

Another Collage Artist: Alexis MacKenzie

Who do you know? Immediately after coming across the artist in the below post, I find Alexis MacKenzie's fantastical clip art/book art collages! I could look at her Flickr account forever. It's wonderfully full of pieces like these and it's honestly hard to look away. I just want to take in every little detail, all those pieces of the past scrambled into something completely modern. Thank you Alexis! 

Clip Art by Eleganterie

I'm a big fan of clip art. I'm not talking about blecky computer clip art....I'm talking about those books you randomly come across in used book stores that are entirely made up of pages literally stuffed with images of pocket watches, classical nudes, and men in top hats. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Anyways...here's an artist by the name of Martin Schmidt from Germany He's got a pretty vast range of art works from Steampunky clip art collages to old polaroids, to ink and acrylic illustrations on old paper. All of them I might add brilliant in their own unique way. 

Found via Not Paper

The Mystery Is Solved!

Hurray! Keli commented below with the answer to who this wonderful artist is! So now I'm able to pay tribute to this wonderful artist Yoko Furusho!

Japanese Cat Torture & A Kitty Sanctuary

I feel like I just might do too many posts about cats on this blog...I haven't had a lot of time lately to blog as you might have noticed and it becomes all too easy to be lazy and just post videos. And of course most of the ones worth sharing are about kittens so....here's to me being a lazy ass blogger...

Rosie O'Donnell's Etsy Shop???

What the...??? Did you all know that Rosie O'Donnell has an Etsy shop? Cause I just found out...and I'm kind of REALLY weirded out by it. Especially since in all her product photos she's lurking in the background super creepy. 

Her crafts are definitely not typical of what I would expect from her but some are kinda neat and the profits do go to her charity...but still Rosie, don't pretend you're some indie craft artist who's in her 20's and spells "you" as "u" and uses no punctuation. Please? It's off putting. 

And that's the end of my rant of the day...thank you!

Women In Art

The Perfect New Desktop Background

Check this out on Kitsune Noir !

DIY: Cord Crafts

Tired of looking at the same old heap of cords that comes with basically everything electronic? Frustrated with how similar they all look? Here's some great suggestions for creating your own decorative phone chargers and electrical cords! So pretty! Plus although seemingly time consuming it looks like the steps for creating your own would be relatively simple. 

Leafy charger cord

Big beaded cord

Via Free People

Caspar Freidrich's Desolate Graves

In my modern art history class today we had a presentation on Romantic landscape painters. When a painting by Caspar Freidrich (1774-1840) came up I was immediately in love. Freidrich painted several images of dark, spooky grave sites that are just so wonderfully haunting that it's easy to get lost inside them wondering around in the stuff of nightmares. 

The Abbey in the Oakwood (1809-10)

Monastery Graveyard in the Snow (1819)

The Cemetery Entrance (1825)

Monument to Goethe (1835)

Winter (1808)

Ruins of Eldena (1824-25) - not of a graveyard but ruins are the next best thing

The Dreamer (1820-40) - again not a graveyard but I just couldn't leave it out

A Little Sleepy Cuteness For Your Day

Organized Collection

So...there is this Flickr group called "Organized Collection" where people post the most wonderful photos of their collections all jumbled together to create a world of fascinating oddities. Here follows some of my favorites from the group pool. You can find all of the below and other photos from these artists here. 

Symbolism

Symbolism was a late-nineteenth century art movement that was "largely a reaction against Naturalism and Realism, anti-idealistic movements which attempted to capture reality in its gritty particularity, and to elevate the humble and the ordinary over the ideal...Symbolism in art represents an outgrowth of the darker, gothic, side of Romanticism; but where Romanticism was impetuous and rebellious, Symbolist art was static and hieratic." -Wikipedia

Gustave Moreau

Arnold Bocklin

Felicien Rops

Carlos Schwabe

Missing In Action

Hey all! Sorry about being absent from the blogging life lately. I'm starting up my last quarter before I graduate and I'm released into the real world. I also enjoyed a wonderful Spring Break last week oh so wonderful. My boyfriend and I were brave enough to go camping in March at the Dungenous Spit in Sequim, WA. Ughhh so freezing! But it was really a beautiful area and near a wildlife refuge so late at night we could hear the wolves howling us to sleep. 

After that, my roommate and I ventured to Portland to just relax and visit some friendly little sites. The best part of the whole trip was the Velveteria. I'm pretty sure it's the must obscure museum ever with it's huge collection of velvet paintings including a black light room, naked ladies collection, and my favorite of course...the unicorn collection. Here's a view of what you've been missing if you haven't visited yet...GO NOW!