Friday Favorites #10

Batgirl art!

By Nathanael Lark

Wonder Woman kitchenaid, too perfect.

Via The Laughing Squid

Cute little outfits and cute little hair to match.

"Evening Shade In The Lonely Hour" blog post by The Clothes Horse

This photo reminds me of the fact that I learned while living in Florence, that no matter where you are in Florence, if you can see the Duomo, you can never get lost.

Via Tumblr

Oh how I love organization!

Via Tumblr

Cat and mouse artwork that seems fitting this week for all the MetaMaus I've been reading.

"We Can Work It Out" by Skinny Ships (Richard Perez) on Flickr

Music I've been listening to this week.

The Black Keys "Attack and Release" via Amazon

And today this came out! I've already got my copy and ready to curl up and have a slightly teared watch.

Via Amazon

Also, hearing about the recent floods in Toscana and Liguria greatly sadden me, so I thought I'd share a few links with you. Here is an article by The Florentine (the English magazine published in Florence) about the flooding, and here is an article about the floods on November 4th, 1966, and here is a site that gives information about donating. You can also donate money direction to The Florentine, found in the second link about the floods from 1966, which is an easier way to donate than the directions listed on the Croce Rossa Italiana (Red Cross Italy) website. 

Music Suggestion: Liam Finn - "I'll Be Lightning"

Liam Finn:

Website | Facebook | Myspace | Wikipedia | Last.fm

This song, "I'll Be Lightning," is off of his album fist album "I'll Be Lightning" (2007). 

Los Angeles Highlights Part 2 - Wacko's Soap Plant / La Luz De Jesus Gallery

• Los Angeles Highlights Part 1 - Venice Beach Boardwalk

Like in my first LA highlights post, there is no better town for me to share knowledge about than my hometown Los Angeles, CA (maybe Florence, Italy and some surrounding cities in Italy, but that's another series all together, possibly...), so I thought my second edition of Los Angeles Highlights would be about one of my favorite shops in LA, a shop that I always take people to if they're from out of town or have never heard of it, so hence this post.

PART TWO - WACKO'S SOAP PLANT / LA LUZ DE JESUS GALLERY

Via: soapplant.com

"Wacko" by hburrussiii on Flickr

Wacko's Soap Plant / La Luz De Jesus Gallery

4633 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90027

Wacko's is unlike any other store I've ever entered before. Sure there are shops out there that sell knick-knacks and what-nots, but I think Wacko's is in a different gene pool because of the sheer size and the overwhelming amount of things everywhere. Every square inch of this place is packed with tons of interesting items from rows and rows of books, to posters of obscure movies (some pornos), felted skulls, incense, lighters, postcards, vinyl records, candy, t-shirts, toys, figurines, bags, bones, reptile skins, dolls, clocks, soaps, etc. etc. All in all Wacko's is your one stop shop of odds and ends and everything in between. 

Another wonderful thing about Wacko's is that it isn't just a store, but a gallery of local artists as well. The gallery is constantly having openings and have a back row of previous artists work always available for purchase. Their blog tells more. 

What Wacko's is really about and it's true history is something I'm unsure about, but what I am sure about is the fact that no matter what kind of person you are I assure you out of the millions of things they sell at this huge store, you are bound to find something that sparks you're interest. 

"WAKO - SOAP PLANT" by wilbura59 on Flickr

"SOAP PLANT - WAKO" by wilbura59 on Flickr

"Wacko" by mimmyg on Flickr

"Wacko/Soap Plant" by Patrick - msigarmy.com on Flickr

"Wacko" by dogwelder on Flickr

"Bibus "Cat Head Under Glass 2010"" by Snap Spontaneo on Flickr

"Sarina Brewer "Franken-Pussy"" by Snap Spontaneo on Flickr

"Sarina Brewer "Pimped Peep"" by Snap Spontaneo on Flickr

There are a lot more photos on Flickr that I found, but the owner did not allow downloading rights, so check them out for yourself here.
Next door to Wacko's is Ozzie Dots, an awesome costume/clothing store that also has odds and ends for one and all. 

Also, their website has a small shop section that has some stuff available for purchase, but nothing near as much as they have in stock in the shop. 

Awesome thing: Google maps does an inside street view of the store! 

Top 5 Reasons Why I Wish I Was Best Friends With Edgar Allan Poe

For a long time I've been a very big fan of Edgar Allan Poe and his spooky writings. My most favorite probably, besides the classic and most well known "The Raven," of all his writings has got to be "Annabel Lee." I originally thought about writing my Top 5 Reasons about Mr. Poe for Halloween, but decided instead to show pictures of my Halloween costumes from years past, so even though this is a somewhat "Halloween-ish" type of Top 5 Reasons, I thought it could still be done. Edgar Allan Poe does not only apply to Halloween, obviously. So here is my Top 5 Reasons for why I think it would be totally gnarly (and completely beneficial for him) for me to be best friends with Edgar Allan Poe.

EAP and Me

1. ORPHANED YOUNG: Edgar Allan Poe's history and past are not exactly bright and happy (surprise, surprise!) and his troubles began when he was young. His mother died not long after his father abandoned the both of them, leaving him to be taken care of by the John and Frances Allan, who never officially adopted him. If I was friends with him at the time I would of said, "Hey there, don't be so sad, lets go hang out with the Allans, and everything will be a-okay. Who needs that crappy father of your's? Not you! You're better off without that old idiot, lets go read some books and shit!" Instant cheer-er up-er, that's me! 
2. VIRGINIA CLEMM: Now, obviously things were not looking up once again for dear old Poe, because he married his 13 year old cousin. Little weird right? Well there are many sides to this story. First off, the age gap. She was only 13 and he was 27, again, weird. Then there is the suspicion that their relationship was more like brother and sister, and that the marriage was never even consummated, but there is also the fact that her death seriously effected dear old Edgar. After her death at 24 he became a heavy alcoholic and wrote often of young women dying, and where would Edgar Allan Poe be without stories of death? He wouldn't be Edgar Allan Poe, one of the most famous American poets, would he now!? So if I were his friend at the time I may have to step out and let him wallow in his own sorrow for a while, for the good of the art, that is. I could pat him on the back now and then and say, "Hey, cheer up, you're gonna be famous one day!," and he would say, "What does 'gonna' mean?! Were you ever educated!?," and I would say, "Hey! I'm from the future, relax a bit!," and he would go on crying and drinking and writing some real dark stuff, as things should be. 
3. TAMERLANE AND OTHER POEMS: This time in Poe's life would have been perfect for a girl like me, because even though after his first publication of poems ("Tamerlane and Other Poems," 1827) was basically ignored until his publication of "The Raven" was made popular, he still felt like he could make a career out of writing. Add me to that situation and I'm like the sideline cheerleader, yelling things like, "Don't worry! Original copies of 'Tamerlane and Other Poems' will be worth more than you will ever make in your lifetime in the future! Woo! Keep writing!" 
4. DEATH: In this hypothetical land of Edgar Allan Poe and Victoria being the bestest of best friends, his death would of been something of great sadness to me. I could of been there during one of the many suspicious stories of his death. (1) Beaten to death: I could of stood up for my main man, EAP, and helped the poor dying man walk to the hospital instead of being found in a gutter. It's the little things that count obviously. (2) Cooping: Other theories suggest that he was the pawn in a political agenda of forcing and drugging people to vote for a certain person in an election and was left for dead. Admittedly, I am not that strong of a person, so if this was the cause of his death and I was somehow near, I doubt I could prevent it, but you can't prevent what is supposed to happen in time, right? (Did Back to the Future teach us nothing!?) (3) Rabies: If this was the cause of death, I would of sat by his side and said reassuring things like, "You will live on forever in the minds of all who study American literature!," which leads me to...
5. LEGACY: Obviously Edgar Allan Poe is now a household name, but how would he have ever known that? From the loss of family, horrible hardships, the death of his wife, the failure of writing, I'm guessing that he never would of contemplated that his poems would live forever, his homes would eventually be turned into museums, that he would influence countless of future writers, artists, musicians, etc. So at the end of the day, being best friends with someone so famous would be a complete honor... although at the end of the day, what did you really accomplish? Nothing really. You were just riding on the coat tails of someone down in the dumps would would eventually be something grand. Totally lame. So maybe this post should be entitled "Top 5 Reasons Why I Wish I WAS Edgar Allan Poe," which I did contemplate naming and writing about originally, but then I thought the whole marrying a cousin and dying of some unknown cause and living horribly my whole life is not something anyone would ever want to emulate. But there is one thing we can all agree on, Edgar Allan Poe was one awesome individual who's history lives on year and years after his existence, and that is totally gnarly.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Edgar Allan Poe links:
   Death | Museum in Richmond, Virginia | Poems and stories | The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore | Quotes | Books available on Amazon | Books available on Half.com
   
   Mondays are "Top 5 Reasons" days, so stay tuned for more!
   
   P.S. "The Raven" movie that is supposed to come out next year seems to be lacking everything Edgar Allan Poe's work was about (they seemed to have turned it into a Halloween cliché type of movie, and I'm not into it), so I doubt I'll be going to see it.

Knitting Inspiration: Mittens

Lately I've become obsessed with intarsia mittens from Norway, Sweden, and anywhere else. I haven't been able to learn all that much about the history and the background behind all the amazing designs I've seen, but I hope to in the future (the local libraries I went to yesterday were lacking some serious... everything, weakest libraries I've ever been to for sure). Besides the history, the images I've found and the patterns (free mostly too!) have made me feel completely inspired to try my own. I have tons of ideas for these mittens I hope to accomplish (I've started my own simple pair out of the one decent book about Norwegian mittens I was able to find at a local library). So I thought I'd share with you some of the amazing mittens I found while prowling around the internet, hope you get just as inspired as me! 

"36x 36 mitten Building Chart" by Jessica Tromp on Ravelry

"Egyptian Mittens" by Tuulia Salmela on Ravelry

"Cuckoo Mittens" by Odessa Reichel on Knitty.com

"Norwegian mittens" by strikkepinnerogandrepinner on Flickr

"A bird in the hand mittens #1" by Jorid Linvik on Ravelry

"Andene's Norwegian Mittens" by cheeprent6696 on Flickr

"Barnvante från Lövsjön"  by Doris Oskarsson on Ravelry

"Norwegian Totoro Mittens" by brella on Ravelry

"Mystery + Manners" by SpillyJane on Ravelry

"Magpie Mittens" by yarnjungle on Ravelry

"Dala Selbu Hybrid (Dala-Selbuvotter)" by Wenche Roald on Ravelry

"Lots 'a mittens" by cheeprent6696 on Flickr

"selbu mittens" by chuckchum on Flickr

"Selbu mittens and finger mittens" by Strikkelise on Flickr

"kauni+selbu" by hegchen2009 on Flickr

If you are interested in more patterns (free too, the best kind of patterns) then check out this site, it has so many amazing patterns and a blank template for you to create your own, plus millions of other knitting patterns for a hundred other things, really an amazing site. 

Also, this book "Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition" has been referenced all over the sites I've been looking at, and I'm thinking of getting myself a copy, looks pretty amazing.

5th of November

I may not live in England, but I am one half English thanks to my grandmother, so I thought today would be a good day to read up a little on the 5h of November, and it's meanings in the UK. I also thought this post would be appropriate since a few months ago I read "V for Vendetta," amazing by the way.

So... Happy Guy Fawkes Night! 

Wikipedia has this to say about the celebration:

Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in England. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and months later the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure.Within a few decades Gunpowder Treason Day, as it was known, became the predominant English state commemoration, but as it carried strong religious overtones it also became a focus for anti-Catholic sentiment. Puritansdelivered sermons regarding the perceived dangers of popery, while during increasingly raucous celebrations common folk burnt effigies of popular hate-figures, such as the pope. Towards the end of the 18th century reports appear of children begging for money with effigies of Guy Fawkes and 5 November gradually became known as Guy Fawkes Day. Towns such as Lewes and Guildford were in the 19th century scenes of increasingly violent class-based confrontations, fostering traditions those towns celebrate still, albeit peaceably. In the 1850s changing attitudes eventually resulted in the toning down of much of the day's anti-Catholic rhetoric, and in 1859 the original 1606 legislation was repealed. Eventually, the violence was dealt with, and by the 20th century Guy Fawkes Day had become an enjoyable social commemoration, although lacking much of its original focus. The present-day Guy Fawkes Night is usually celebrated at large organised events, centred around a bonfire and extravagant firework displays.Settlers exported Guy Fawkes Night to overseas colonies, including some in North America, where it was known as Pope Day. Those festivities died out with the onset of the American Revolution, although celebrations continue in some Commonwealth nations. Claims that Guy Fawkes Night was a Protestant replacement for older customs like Samhain are disputed, although another old celebration, Halloween, has lately increased in popularity, and according to some writers, may threaten the continued observance of 5 November.

                                                                                             -"Guy Fawkes Night," Wikipedia

I find it to be a very interesting holiday/celebration, and equally interesting that Halloween has now become so popular in England that the 5th of November may eventually be forgotten.

Anyway, if you are celebrating this occasion I hope you have a wonderful day and be safe.

"Revellers in Lewes, 5 November 2010" on Wikipedia

Oh you can also celebrate with this pillow from me. 

Friday Favorites #9

(Sorry for the no show yesterday, this week has been kinda hectic and I've been a little under the weather.) 

Reading artwork, I always love it.

"Reading by Lamplight" etching by James Abbott McNeil Whistler, 1858

Fashion being totally fashionable. 

Via The Glamourai 

Did you have a good Halloween? Skulls are always a classic Halloween go to and the great photos you can find of people dressed up as calaveras.

"Dia de Los Muertos" by Jirrupin on Flickr

LOVE this Missoni inspired scarf I found on Ravelry. It's a free download for the pattern as well, thinking about giving it a try. 

"Keeping Rosita Warm" by Nadia Severns on Ravelry

Batgirl shirt! Gimme gimme gimme!

"Batgirl Crisis" t-shirt on ThomBrown

Catwoman and Wonder Woman shoes? Ughhhh I need them!

"Andre's Footwear Collection Features Wonder Woman and Catwoman" via Comics Alliance

You can always find awesome artwork on DeviantArt.

"False Memory" by GatoCasero on DeviantArt

Eee! This sweater is too cute.

By Evssic on Flickr

October In Photos

To go along with my October in Review post from the day before yesterday, here's photos I took with my phone throughout the month.