rediscovering jim steranko

Jim Steranko, 72, is an amazing American graphic and comic book artist, among other things (which include being a MAGICIAN! Seriously!). He is well-known for his work in the 1960s with Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and he "earned lasting acclaim for his innovations in sequential art during the Silver Age of comic books, particularly his infusion of surrealism, op art, and graphic design into the medium" (Wikipedia). (Yea, I'm citing Wikipedia. WUT?)

Seriously though, his art is awesome. Check it:








SO AWESOME.

paul madonna!!

I just found out that PAUL MADONNA is having a book release gallery event in San Francisco's awesome Electric Works Gallery on April 29th at 7pm!!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEE!!

Some background information, for those of you who are unfamiliar with him, Paul Madonna is an amazing artist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, currently living in SF. He's well known for his ink drawings in the San Francisco Chronicle of city scenes and landscapes. I love the particular attention to details, and the realistic yet quirky and somewhat whimsical style. Le sigh. People are so talented.

So yea, if you're free on April 27th and in SF, you should go to this! I'll be there for sure!

TRAVEL PLANS

So I'm not going off on foreign adventures anytime soon, and the only plane that I'll be boarding in the near future (less than 3 weeks! EEEE!!) will be headed to New York, but... I just can't get traveling out my mind lately! I have wanderlust! Well, I've always had it, but it is particularly intense nowadays.

So, the rough plan is thus:

Travel in Asia in December 2012. I'll be in the Philippines for my G'ma's birthday (90! HOLY COW! She will have 90 years worth of memories! What does that even feel like????) so I figured, I'll be in the neighborhood! I should hit up the countries I missed, right? So, I'm thinking of revisiting Chiang Mai, Thailand to say hello to the elephants, and then skip on over to Laos and Cambodia.

Then, in 2013, I want to travel in South America for at least 5 months. At least 5 if not more, because I'd ideally like to hit every country, or at least most of them. I set my travel time for 2013 to allow myself enough time to plan and save until then, which is totally possible if I set my mind to it. Just thinking about all this is making me so happy!!!!!! So, from this moment onward, my big goals are to save money to travel. LET'S DO THIS.

Oh, and in 2015 or so, I'm thinking western Europe. I am DYING to visit Cinque Terre! JUST LOOK AT IT! LOOK AT IT! I need to see it in person to know that it isn't fake, because it really looks too good to be true.

yet another theme song.

"Darling, I am tired of living my routine life. There is so much in the world that I'd like to soak up with my eyes."

Yea. Seriously. WANDERLUST.

what 18 days in ny look like.

Belated, I know, but here are some photos and captions to briefly, very briefly, recap my visit in NY in February:


First: a welcome back dance party in my old apartment! A hopping, flailing, spazzing, pop-and-locking dance party. :)

Spending the afternoon eating and catching up with my best lovelies, friends since freshman year. Regrettably, Katie is missing from the photo. Along with Margaux. WOMP.

Spent the day with this redhead wandering & being silly in Central Park & the Museum of Natural History. We stomped through snow slush & made voices/sounds/noises for skeletons, ending the day at Shake Shack. Woo!

My lovely hosts! We all made Valentine's dinner: bruschetta chicken by Alex, sauteed vegetables by Bobby, and funfetti cookies by me! My dish was easily the best...

The blue skies & snow of the Bronx.

Homemade dinner with high school besties! Menu: Tilapia fillets cooked in a lemon, butter, caper sauce; cauliflower sauteed in sugar & butter; home baked bread; french l'onion soup; baked potatoes; chocolate tarts with freshly whipped cream & raspberries. AWESOME.

When the weather was gorgeous, Alex and I went on city adventures!


A visit to Webster Hall for dancing!


Lovely people, lovely times. & an ADORABLE dog.

Bananagrams: the ultimate game of letters, addiction and procrastination. I lost count of how many games I played during my stay... It is likely an ungodly number. BUT SO MUCH FUN.

Hidden messages in the Strand & a mural of clowns in SoHo.

Last night in the Bronx: a concert at my old college haunt Rodrigue's Coffee House, featuring Penrose and TJ Kong & the Atomic Bomb! Followed by an after party of dancing & Das Ding!

Ended my trip in beautiful Astoria, Queens, staying with Andrew & my best pal Steve. A robot wandering the sidewalk wished me safe travels.
And after all that, I decided to move back to New York. It's funny, because during my last months as a senior, and even a few months post-grad, I was so strongly opposed to the idea of living there after college, wishing to discover a new niche for myself in the world. But I've missed NY more that I thought I would during our year of separation. So I'm moving back. Not permanently, because I still want to live in so many different cities (Chiang Mai, Thailand, Austin, TX, etc.) but for now, NY, I have my eyes set on you. And I'll see you in May.

summer/sunshine/awesome weather mixtape.

I actually did try to make a mixed tape to play in my car, but the tape deck from my old boom box (or ghetto blaster, as they were called at my middle school when I got it) wasn't working, which makes sense as it's more than 10 years old. Le sigh. Well, here's the playlist, if you were interested! And here's a link to listen to it (well, most of it, the unavailable tracks are linked to youtube): YESMUSIC(thatyouhopefullywon'thate).

Download HERE!

1. King of Carrot Flowers Part 1. - Neutral Milk Hotel
2. Lust for Life - Girls
3. You - Gold Panda
4. Temecula Sunrise - Dirty Projectors
5. I Could Be Dreaming - Belle and Sebastian
6. Take Me Over - Cut Copy
7. The Sun Goes Down and the World Goes Dancing - The Magnetic Fields
8. SUNLIGHT - tUnE-YaRdS
9. Sun Was High (So Was I) - Best Coast
10. When the Sun Grows on Your Tongue - Black Moth Super Rainbow
11. So Begins Our Alabee - Of Montreal
12. Song for No One - Miike Snow
13. Midnight Lover - Kisses
14. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
15. Soft Shock - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
16. Ceremony - New Order
17. Windstorm - School of Seven Bells
18. Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem

I'M MOVING BACK TO NY

on May 3rd. It's official. YAY FOREVER! :)