the slug blog

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:44:00 +0000

so. three weeks without a post and nothing wrong with our computer or internet connection. nothing wrong at all. but nothing right, either: this is life for now. everything is exactly the same. not everything, maybe. i am feeling more pessimistic than usual (is that possible?). no, i don't have any jobs leads. no, no movement on the roadents. no new prospects for moving. still can't have pets here. no success making new friends yet. still a giant, stagnant bog of life. awesome.

Taliesin West (Inspiration)

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:53:00 +0000

Last weekend we drove out to Arizona to meet up with family for a wee reunion, enjoying the delights of the Phoenix area. A seemingly random decision led us to tour Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's summer home and architecture school. The facility is still in use today as a school, in tandem with Taliesin in Wisconsin.

I generally like Frank Lloyd Wrights' designs and had a mild interest in the tour. What I didn't anticipate was the wave of inspiration I encountered there. I know very little about architecture, and it was not necessarily the buildings themselves that inspired me. Along the guided tour I learned about how he built the campus in the middle of the desert according to what he wanted, not for any client. He wanted to create a place where he could work and train his apprentices, and a place where he could try out new ideas. As a result, the construction is not necessarily finely crafted -- since his apprentices built it; and the decisions that he made were not entirely successful -- like using canvas instead of glass for all windows.

To be honest, it felt like the desert was trying to reclaim the campus bit by bit -- which I guess makes sense, as Wright's philosophy of Organic Architecture was all about preserving and working with the site, and not against it.

Yet even though it was crumbly around me -- I was thunderstruck by its fearlessness. I came away dazed at the thought of such fearless art creation -- and was giddy with the notion that perhaps I could believe in my ideas so thoroughly that I could work without fear.

plea to the universe to produce more interesting humans (to be followed by an ad for friends)

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:40:00 +0000

sometime soon i am going to need to make some friends who give a care about coming to a cool party.

it's been almost a year and a half since our last major event (which was practically pressworthy), but everything between then and now has failed miserably, thus dashing my dreams of hosting another blowout anytime soon.

i'm not sure what the problem is. the closest i can tell is that our current crowd just doesn't understand why going on a 1930s african safari for the night would be more interesting than, say, renting a movie.

it seems nobody wants to meet new people at a deep sea valentine party when they could sit home depressed instead. i mean, how could a mysterious environment filled with eligible strangers really compete with moping?

what is "retro happy hour?" they wonder. well, let's start by discussing what it isn't: it has nothing to do with a chain restaurant that serves "wings" of any kind, a big group of people wondering what to do tonight, lite beer, or gross-out "comedies" starring hack actors. retro happy hour or any thoughtful, themed get together is c-r-e-a-t-i-v-e. it involves conversation, it takes time, and it's memorable. it might even take effort or energy or might require certain aspects of personality that have been burried by very many boring nights in a row, such as the ability to enjoy something complex, a taste for adventure, or the maturity to participate in something you'll want to tell people about later instead of being too cool to try it.

Toasted

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:22:00 +0000

What a strange feeling I get when I search job boards for "artist" and only come up with "Sandwich Artist."

*sigh*

plush valentine snakes

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:10:00 +0000

justin's valentine's day present = DONE!!

Let the wild rumpus start!

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:00:00 +0000

A natural.

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:48:00 +0000

Well it's Christmas time here in Pasadena, so we went ice skating -- a lovely, romantic activity just brimming with holiday cheer. It is open year round, but for some reason we only go around Christmas because it seems the right thing to do. Here Autumn has her skates laced just so -- ready to gracefully swoosh across the cool ice, holding on to the hand of her confident husband as they lock eyes and --

Wait. No.

You see, this is only the second time I've been ice skating over the age of 6. And even as a 6 year-old, I was horrible at it. This photo captures well that spirit of panic and general stiff-limbed flailing that characterized my night of skating.

Autumn circled around me, effortlessly dodging my attempts to pull her to the ground, all the while humming encouragement.

I don't know about this. It's just like walking, right?

Hey, look! I think I'm getting the hang of --

AGGHHH! WAIT! WAIT! JUST HOLD ON A SECOND!

reindeer games

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:33:00 +0000

this afternoon i am busy studying for mouse adventure: reindeer games. a christmas version of our amazing disneyland race is slated for this weekend, and our team, the pillage people, are going to come back with a vengeance after a one-year hiatus. at least i hope we are. that's why i'm studying!

so far i have discovered and devoured a mini-site on disneyland.com that tells all about the holiday transformations at the park. naturally, i have memorized the information the mini-site offers. for example, did you know there are 60,000 lights on the main street tree and 50,000 on sleeping beauty castle? now we both do! i also learned that toon town is decorated for christmas. newsflash! i feel sure they will send us there on a quest, so now we know to check it out when we go for our pre-race warm-up on friday. boo yah!

i have also changed by desktop to a scene from small world holiday, so i can memorize its contents. my goal is to have answers to quests and questions filed away in my psychic index. should they then appear on quests, we can save valuable race time by already knowing them. it's all part of my plan to dominate!

afi shia ea (merry christmas in swahili - thanks, small world dolls)!

More tilt shift : San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:05:00 +0000

Here I am playing around with more of our photos to achieve the miniature effect. This time with the "Painted Ladies" of San Fran.

THE washington inn

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:26:00 +0000

imagine a young, would-be hotelier, who has great taste but no money or experience, decides to open a boutique hotel. he or she scoops up some property in an awkward, industrial district of oakland, buys all the best furnishings target has to offer, outfits several rooms in a former boarding house, hires a fabulous photographer to take pictures, and then cuts the giant, red ribbon on opening day. the washington inn is born. and left to die.

you see the pictures snapped before opening day and decide to visit. after snaking your way through oakland, looking in vain for an area that even remotely looks like it could house a hotel, you give up and decide to kill the engine in some temporary parking until you - hey - is that...the hotel?

yep. inside, the lobby furniture and bar feel out of place, like temporary stand-ins for whatever is normally there. maybe this used to be a bank? an old masonic temple? whatever it was, it’s now quieter than death; you find yourself whispering to the front desk guy. he hands you your key and gestures toward the elevator, a windy, open-sided contraption of the 1930s warehouse variety. thankfully, the doors open on the third floor like they're supposed to. ah, the hallway looks normal. thank goodness. maybe the lobby was just a little off. around the corner, you find room 307. you insert the key and lean into the door to open it, but - whoops - you stumble in after discovering the door to your room is apparently made of balsa wood. it looks and feels like it was bought en masse from the bargain bin at home depot.

yikes! what is that lumpy mass in the middle of the floor?! oh. it’s the bed. and look! someone has laid out a nice grid of softballs under the duvet (which has no duvet cover). the softballs are actually soft balls…stuffing that has worked its way into fluffy mounds about six inches high at the center of each of the duvet’s quilted squares. interesting. almost as interesting as the rainbow of stains on the carpet, the threadbare sheets, and the fiberboard nightstand/armoire set.
oops. you almost forgot about your car in temporary parking. just a quick call to the front desk to find out where to move it…and…really? i see. those two-hour meters are the only parking. good thing they are free overnight, but you hadn’t planned on getting up at 7:00 a.m. to go plug them and then move your car around the block very two hours. oh, well. you hold your breath and resign yourself to the fact that you have to get in that bed, then fall asleep kind of.

hey! turns out there’s no problem getting up at 7:00. in fact, a fleet of garbage trucks and unloading semis gets you up just fine at 6:00! might as well grab some of the free breakfast while you're up plugging the meter. but which pre-wrapped danish to choose?

with the remains of the pre-wrapped danish still clawing at the back of your throat, you pull back the shower curtain and are instantly transported back to your college days, since when you have never wished so earnestly for shower shoes. alas, you'll just have waddle around on your heels so as to keep the majority of your foot surfaces from coming into contact with whatever leftover fungus may be growing on those vintage tiles. now, a quick dry with one of the mismatched, shredded towels, and you're almost ready to tackle san fran!

Whatever happened to predictability?

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:40:00 +0000

We attempt to remain spontaneous in our life together, and sometimes it works. I had an opportunity to take a tour of Pixar animation studios yesterday, so we jumped on it and hit the road up San Francisco way.

This is the lone picture I snapped behind the gates, just to prove I was there. Touring the studio was amazing and something I've wanted to do for a long time. A friend showed me around and I got to geek out and drool on everything. Very inspiring.

Since my tour was in the morning, we had the afternoon free to explore surrounding San Francisco -- a new city neither of us had been to before.

Since we left in a hurry, we didn't have time to plan what we would do or see -- or even to grab maps to show us how to get there. We did surprisingly well, considering.

Through dumb luck we stumbled on a local park view of the bridge and Alcatraz, ending up at the famous location from Vertigo. Here Autumn thought she saw an actor from Mad Men and made me go into the bathroom after him to find out. He eluded me, but I hid in a ditch and photographed him as he drove by. The photo came out blurry, so we'll never know.

Autumn sniffed out the next locale on our impromptu journey -- a park high above the city that borders the famous "Painted Ladies" homes from the turn of the century. Apparently this is the final shot in the opening credits of everyone's favorite show Full House. (You can watch that here.) I felt as cool as Uncle Jessie.

After spinning through the rest of that crazed, hilly, jam-packed city -- we hit the road back home again. Our quickly acquired hotel was another story that I'll let Autumn tell, since it requires withering verbal accuracy.

twilight halloween pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:29:00 +0000

psssst

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:57:00 +0000

justin's charlie brown color article is now internationally famous - and on a college art syllabus!

yes, please

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:11:00 +0000

bring it on

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:47:00 +0000

the macy's thanksgiving parade (especially the rockettes)
trays of cheese and crackers and nuts
food that takes all day to cook
hanging out with family from morning 'til night
telling the same stories that get told every year
decorating
red tablecloths on on round tables in department stores
live plays and shows and concerts
houses that go crazy with lights
"snow" at disneyland
holiday-themed commercials
christmas music
candles
pumpkin, pine, and apple scents
getting cozy
cool cheeks
hayrides
lots of parties
heritage-specific foods
those baskets of pre-wrapped sausages, mustard, and cheese
animated holiday specials
church
store windows
sparkly things
gourds, hay, and corn stalks
snowy grounds at hogwarts and hogsmeade village
wool
tissue paper
the stable and the star
giving thanks

hard questions

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:23:00 +0000

should we get the life-size cardboard cutout of edward cullen for our party? it would definitely be an awesome decoration, but what i am really interested in is the activity that will surround it. inevitably, people will pose with him and take pictures. that will be fun and a cool souvenir for guests, who will then post the photos. posted pictures ups the fun factor of any party. it might be worth it.

Color design

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:54:00 +0000

Sometimes I learn better by writing. I wanted to study the color theory used in everyone's favorite holiday special It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown -- and I ended up turning my notes into a little article. This was made primarily for me -- but there may be someone out there on the internet that likes this sort of thing. Anyway -- here is the link to it if you like!

Color design in It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

I also tweaked my portfolio site a little bit if you care to look:

Slug Animation

awesome (or at least original) twilight party ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:49:00 +0000

alright, so i am kind of taking over the blog here with twilight stuff (sorry, honey), but based on the rest of the ideas for twilight parties i've found on the internet, i feel it's necessary. i've been scouring for weeks and haven't come up with anything remarkable, so i decided to create and publish my own ideas, in the event that somebody else who's planning a twilight theme party wants something more than just the mostly-lame ideas that are already out there, copied and pasted from some original (and uninspired) source, over and over. here goes!

twilight party food - food for our tongue-in-cheek twilight halloween party will be mostly inspired by the movie, though we are planning to add in a few things for fun, such as these little beauties we found at cost plus world market.

i say always throw in a little kitsch at every party. it keeps you from taking yourself too seriously. but if you're seriously looking for twilight food ideas for your party, here are mine:

steak bites and berry cobbler bars (inspired by charlie's thursday visits to the diner in twilight, the movie)

individual mushroom ravioli squares on toothpicks (a nod to bella's meal of choice on her first semi-date with edward)

plenty of deep red apples (hello, twilight cover art!)

(harry clearwater's homemade) fish fry bites

twilight party drinks - casks of red wine are the perfect beverage choice for a twilight party. decant them into different glass vessels for visual interest and to show off the rich color. for temperate guests, these awesome mini sodas from jones are spot-on; they scream the need for "team jacob" and "team edward" signs. get them at target or world market.

twilight party music - never underestimate the power of loud music to create atmosphere. go ahead and pump up the volume on both the soundtrack and the score for twilight. i took a few minutes to combine the two discs into one playlist that reflects the order of the music in the twilight movie, and if you want even more music, you can always add tracks from stephenie meyer's website, where she lists all the songs SHE imagined with the story.

twilight party decor - we're keeping it pretty chill on the decor for this party, since it was a last-minute idea and the economy blows right now. generally, we're focusing on dark. there will be very little in the way of light other than candlelight, and for the candles, we're using lots of eclectic holders we happen to have from other parties. we've got a simple silver candelabra from goodwill, several black candlesticks of various shapes (which we got at michael's), and then a few cut glass holders for sparkle. we'll also put tea lights in a bunch of red, glass holders we have (also from michael's, but probably cheaper at ikea).

in my online digging, i came across hostessblog.com, the only site i really found to be interesting and valuable in terms of other twilight party ideas. she's got some great pictures, plus all kinds of downloadables. we'll use both sets of quotes and put the drink labels on our empty wine bottles.

if target ever breaks down and puts this wreath on sale, it's going to hang on the front door:
or, it'll end up on the food table, and instead we'll wedge a tension rod in the doorway and hang our shower curtain there (it's thick, red and gold brocade). either way, a unique point of entry ups the anticipation for a fabulous party.

we'll also break out the fog machine to create the "near constant cover of clouds" that hangs over forks. it will either go near the front door or on on the back patio.

finally, we're going to clear one entire wall and use it as a screen on which to project the film. i borrowed a projector, so the image will be a silent, larger than life backdrop for the party.

twilight party costumes - we're doing a little bit of a spin on a classic twilight party for halloween, since lots of our guests either aren't familiar with or may even dislike the twilight saga. if you read our invite carefully, you'll see we've come up with a party that caters to everyone's preferences. at this twilight party, guests will be allowed to "mock it or rock it," meaning they can either faithfully recreate a twilight character's costume, mock that character via costume, or just wear something inspired by twilight. to do this, we're telling them, they can be an "extra" from the books/movie (either a plaid- and boot-wearing resident of forks or a modern native american from the la push indian reservation), or they can create their own vampire or werewolf look. again, the party is meant to engage and appeal to lovers and (out-of-their-minds) haters of the series - which makes it a fun night for everyone.

party progress

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:58:00 +0000

i am getting really pumped for our halloween party! i had a stroke of genius when i came up with the theme for this one (if i do say so myself): a twilight party that lets guest either mock or rock the movie and books. so many people either love or love to hate twilight, and this way everybody wins!

i spent a long time deciding which character i should dress up as and finally decided on prom bella. i figured bella's prom dress is her most recognizable outfit, and any day now my very own version of the bella dress should come in the mail. i searched high and low for this dress. it's not as easy as i thought it would be to find a blue chiffon halter dress. i finally ended up with this one:

of course i already have the grey leggings, black converse shoes, and white sweater. the only other thing i had to get was the wig, and target had a great one for only $9.99. woo hoo!

The inspiration - Mini Magic Kingdom!

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:04:00 +0000

This is what got me thinking about miniature photography!

Miniature?

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:47:00 +0000

Inspired by things I've seen online -- I thought I would experiment with some of our photos to make them appear like photographs of miniatures. I don't know if it worked. What do you think?

lunch time

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:38:00 +0000

last summer, i helped take care of a few details surrounding the renovation of the cafeteria on the campus that i work at. since it's a graduate institution, the refectory, as they call it, isn't really the major hub a cafeteria can be in an undergrad situation. in fact, up until the renovation, it was kind of, pretty much, all the time empty and sad.

a few coats of warm, red paint, a couple dozen bamboo tables, and a trio of pottery barn prints later (all picked out by decorators, not me), and the new refectory looks nice and homey and harvesty - a perfect place for a bearded seminarian to have a slice of meatloaf, contemplate the mysteries of god, and listen to mariah carey.

what? what's that you say? mariah carrey is a ridiculous choice for a homey, harvesty, dining hall full of bearded guys at a seminary? the fuller refectory would be ever so much better with a soundtrack tailored perfectly by a music playlist genius to enhance the homey, harvesty atmosphere? well, i couldn't agree more! and that's exactly why i spent about three hours last summer combing through my music library making one.

you can imagine my surprise, then, when i ate in there yesterday for the first time in about a year and was serenaded by ms. mariah herself. when "fantasy" was over, on came gloria gaynor with "i will survive." that's when i started composing this blog post in my head.

what happened to my aaron copland? my music from epcot's "the land" attraction? the homey, harvesty sounds of chris and johnny?

alas, they are gone. as gone as the lovely tune that once accompanied this here "living with the land" boat ride. is it just a coincidence that the post-renovation surge that flooded the refectory is now gone, as well? i think not.

Oh, it's nerdy alright

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:56:00 +0000

Last Saturday we fully embraced our Disney theme park fandom and attended one day of the new D23 Expo -- which was a convention set up for Disney fans encompassing theme parks, movies, TV, etc. (D23 is a new official fan club that we haven't joined because it seems kind of lame, but the expo was open to anyone silly enough about Disney.)

Picture a large convention floor filled with various booths of the different aspects of the Disney company, then fill in the remaining space with adults wearing Mickey ears and Disney t-shirts, add a healthy dose of retro-loving artist/hipsters (that's me, by the way), then throw in a handful of adults wearing princess costumes -- and you've got a fair picture of the mayhem.

Our camera died pretty quickly after our arrival so I only have a few shots -- but if you want to see more just look here.

This is the view from first walking into the exhibit floor -- a big lounge in the middle for resting and riffling through your SWAG bag. In the back there is the best exhibit of the whole event, the Disney Parks exhibit -- filled to the brim with models and whatnot of coming attractions for various Disney parks.

This is just part of a model that was in there -- a foam scale model made to design a new ride coming to Disney's California Adventure themed to the movie Cars. This model would not have fit in our living room -- that is how big it was.

Here we have a blurry shot of a model of Disney's new resort hotel in Hawaii. It seems a little sanitized to visit Hawaii through the eyes of Disney -- but I did have to admit the resort looked pretty amazing. And expensive.

And our last photo -- there was a lot more to look at -- including large arena-sized events filled with wonderful guest stars -- and movie props and all kinds of cool things for Disney fans -- but, again, our camera died -- our last photo is of one of the many booths on the show floor -- this one about the show LOST, containing props from the show. Kind of neat, not that awesome. If you look on the right of this picture you'll see one of the aforementioned artist/hipsters wearing a black t-shirt and a man-bag. Oh wait, that's me. Note: all of the buttons on that bag are for the MouseAdventure games we've played (a scavenger hunt inside Disneyland). I told you this was nerdy. AND I LOVE IT.

UPDATE: I just noticed that there is A SECOND guy wearing a black t-shirt and carrying a man-bag in this photo. Don't get confused.

past burning

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:58:00 +0000

i like this time of year in LA. the clouds roll in off the sea, making everything blue, fresh, and otherworldly. it's not leaves changing color or apple picking or bonfires, but fall here - such as it is - still brings with it a pinch of the familiar feelings of expectation and embrace. nights are cool, cool enough to want sweaters and lit candles. mornings are muffled by mist, eerily quiet. about it all there is a sense of being curtained; something is happening behind the scenes that must be completed and soon revealed.

view from my office

noreply@blogger.com (Autumn) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:47:00 +0000

except i'm 15 miles closer to the action than where this photo was taken from.

CLICK THIS LINK