The Savage Vixen

Whimsical dreamscape painting

2014-06-04T22:12:00.001-05:00

I had a dream of a horse walking down a sunlit path toward the rotating sun with a sea of pills cascading past him. I decided to paint it and it turned out just as I dreamed. Painted with watercolors, acrylics and collaged ink and watercolor pill accents. Available for purchase in the Savage Vixen Etsy store.

Etsy!

2014-06-04T22:04:00.001-05:00

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SavageVixen

The link above is where items for purchase can be found! From original artwork to jewelry and prints, prices negotiable and items mailed quickly. Take a look, favorite, and enjoy!

Sci Fi Dream Audio Experiment - worth a listen

2014-05-20T17:12:00.000-05:00

Here's my first attempt at an audio track experiment called "Stage Seven." It was inspired by a dream I had a few months ago, and as I awoke I tried to grasp the threads of what I was left with before it escaped my memory entirely. I wrote a few notes which I turned into a script and this was my result. My dreams can be quite strange.

S.T.A.G.E. VII

I highly recommend using headphones to catch all the subtleties, or at least playing it loud! The audio is my voice (my best fembot robot voice at that!) recorded on my iPhone but with a pitch change to make it lower and multiple layering effects by using Audacity. The music and sound is partially original but I also found some great effects and tracks from freesound.com.
I'd love some commentary! Thanks for listening!

Hello again:)

2014-05-20T16:24:00.001-05:00

It has been quite a while since I dusted off these digital pages. A job change, a move, and a necessary boyfriend upgrade, plus several venues of artistic endeavors come to fruition and here I am posting once again. I will let that short sentence suffice as my introduction to welcome myself back to this blog and leave you with a few images of sketches: some old, some new.

"Broken Doll" - concept sketch

	Remember to follow me on Twitter via @savagevixen as well as my personal instagram @FemmeFoxx for updates!
"Fancy Lady" - just a sketch

Very old sketch that I'd like to revise... Flame Creature walking on Rainbow

"Villain Queen" - just a doodle

International Art Exhibit: 6x6@110

2012-09-03T12:03:00.005-05:00

Happy Labor Day!

I am voluntarily going into work to continue progress on the hanging of the Gallery's newest upcoming exhibition, 6x6@110. 6x6 refers to the size of the hundreds of canvases there are to hang at the gallery as each one is 6" square, and 110 refers to the street number for the gallery's address. It is a huge fundraiser to support our arts programming, so it is very inspiring to see such a massively positive response to this exhibition.

We've received over 500 canvases in various mediums (3D, ink, watercolor, fabric, photography, and so on). We've received canvases from all over Texas and as far away as New York, California, and even Nepal, officially making this an international exhibit.

It has been a huge undertaking to hang this show, but it has been so fun to see each individual canvas as it comes in. Thanks to the help of my boyfriend (and his connection as an editor at the City's leading newspaper), the gallery's clear glass windows have been covered in newspaper to maintain the secretive nature of this exhibit until the opening reception this coming Thursday. More pics to come over the next several days to track the progress as this project comes together.

Gallery doors from outside view.


Interior view obstructed by newspaper.

Long time, no see.

2012-09-02T18:25:00.002-05:00

Wow, it's been a while.

I intend to jump back into blogging if it's the last thing I do. Despite being the Gallery Curator who runs an extremely busy art gallery, keeping up with modeling gigs and a rigorous workout routine, spending time with my journalist boyfriend (who's schedule is almost exactly opposite to mine), maintaining a clean and orderly loft apartment despite having two rambunctious male cats, and breathing somewhere in between all that, I am shooting for at least two blog posts a week! We'll see how long my well-meaning intentions last, but for now, since I've successfully wasted 30 minutes - that I really didn't have to spare - on themetapicture.com, I am going to resume blogging after a 14 month hiatus by posting several pictures that amused me greatly. Enjoy.

Ooh, sick burn, brah.

There actually is a difference.

I remember Clippy!

Fact: everything looks shitty in Comic Sans.

Just one hand makes a world of difference.

Ok, this last one is from the time I turned my younger cat, Rococo, into an internet meme, just for the LULZ.

-The Savage Vixen

Caffe Tazza Art Show- 7/21/11

2011-07-22T10:56:00.010-05:00

Ok, so I promise I will stop making and breaking promises to keep up on my blogging, because clearly, that is not happening.

I am so busy with the gallery, my work, moving (again!), haggling with my insurance company over my icky car wreck, and just life in general, that its nearly impossible to keep up with my blog.

BUT, last Thursday night I had yet another art show at Caffe Tazza, and it was a HUGE success! It stayed busy pretty much the whole night, tons of friends and new faces as well made the show, and I sold several pieces! ALWAYS a good thing! Here are some snapshots of the evening (all I've got are cell phone pics at the moment, but I will upload some digital camera pics soon):

"Vanity": originally marked NFS, something told me to put a price on it, and it ended up going to the perfect home.

Happy gallery-goers.

Beautiful Caffe Tazza, a tuscan style bistro, where the show took place.

Busy busy busy!

2011-07-05T12:49:00.006-05:00

Just when I thought I had finally caught up on my little blog, I once again fell behind.

I recently exchanged my two unfulfilling, part-time jobs for one very fulfilling and exciting full-time job as a Gallery Curator for a downtown art gallery. I now spend my days behind a desk in a beautifully architectured building, surrounded by art, artists, and artisans. I organize events, write newsletters to inform our local art community on local happenings and not-so-local art trends, oh, AND I get paid for it. The other day I spent three hours posing for pictures and riding a city bus around town with my boyfriend. While being paid.

Needless to say, I am extremely excited about this opportunity, and after a very busy first two weeks on the job, I am finally able to update the public on the goings-on in my life. I will also be uploading a brief picture montage of the recent events at the gallery, but first, a fantastic Transformers inspired political poster, appropriately titled "Optumism":

I know some of you have seen it before, but with the new Transformers movie recently out, I thought it apropos. Love.

Updates soon on the gallery, a birthday trip to Austin, and tattoos!

-The Savage Vixen

Fight Cut.

2011-06-09T12:20:00.009-05:00

After about my 107th time watching Fight Club, I decided to go all Tyler Durden with my boyfriend's hair. Comb a little bleach through natural dirty blonde hair, texturize and cut the shag, finger comb up into a fauxhawk and Voila! You turn thin pretty hair into thick pretty hair that is more willing to do what you tell it to.
Bad pics, I know, his hair is lighter in person and since then I have added much more texture. But I took a lot off and he was a good sport about letting me bleach his virgin hair. And he looks pretty sexy, so he makes my crap snapshots look good. Purrr.

-S.V.

Moving day!

2011-06-09T11:54:00.007-05:00

Moving naturally means boxes. And boxes means tunnels and secret passageways for little kittens. I set up several boxes, overlapping a small box into a bigger box, and an even bigger box over that one, and so on until Wolfie had a nice little village to play in. He's getting so big now he's hardly a kitten anymore. But he'll always be my little baby kitten.

Upon packing up, I realized I have the most random collection of objects ever. I mean, I knew I was eclectic or eccentric or whatever, but seeing them all together in boxes really opened my eyes. I finally started taking pictures of my moving boxes, its quite funny how random and varied my taste is in decorations. Yet I wouldn't change a thing about it.

Is that a batman mask? Yes, I think it just might be...

More cute kitten pics....

-Savage Vixen

SXSW 2011: Day III

2011-06-08T14:31:00.011-05:00

Antone's record store, all the vintage posters and original records you can imagine.

Sunday. The final day of our 2011 SXSW trip. Of course all the festivals were over, so the morning started out with a hobo bath in a gas station sink, some Starbucks coffee, and then MORE coffee, and breakfast tacos at Joes.

In between snagging leftover concert posters off street poles, we had a really chill day just walking through shops, touring the outside of the capitol building, and getting lunch at Torchy's Tacos. Yummi. Then we headed to Daniel's parents' house in Copperas Cove for a delicious homecooked meal, and an early night to catch up on Zzz's.

Enjoying nature outside the Capitol building.

Oustide the Army Surplus store. Legit. And the truck had my name written all over it.

Driving home.

Sweet dreams...

For those of you who hung in there for the duration of my SXSW posts, hope you enjoyed! Now maybe I can stay caught up on my blogging!
Until next time!
xx

SXSW 2011: Day II, Part IV

2011-06-06T18:49:00.024-05:00

Last but not least, this post will conclude day two of SXSW 2011. After getting backstage with Beats Antique, we headed over to the Bright Eyes outdoor show... but not without some delays, including returning a lost wallet to its owner, sneaking in through the back door of a pricey hotel to charge our phones/camera in a spare outlet, and a few rest stops along the way to take the pressure off Daniel's fractured ankle.
We finally made it though, and got a fairly close spot in the middle of a crowd. The band couldn't hit the stage soon enough for me. Anyone who knows me for about an hour would be able to tell you, I love Bright Eyes, specifically Conor O'berst. He is my muse, and my inspiration. The music of Bright Eyes got me through some very very rough times in my life, and I view Conor more as an old friend than a musician. I run the risk of sounding like a fan boy by saying so, but I mean that I have an intimate connection with the music because of the effect it had on my life, and there was a time where for a while, my music was my closest and dearest friend, none more near and dear than Bright Eyes.

While I have seen Conor's other projects before (Conor O'berst and The Mystic Valley Band, Monsters of Folk), and even met him before, this was my first time to see Bright Eyes live. And I could barely contain myself. They started out with the opening track of the new record, The People's Key, and the crowd went wild. This song has a 2 and a half minute intro, and it seemed to take hours. Then Conor started to sing into the mic, and you could barely hear him, so loud was the crowd's roar. It was hard for me to get any more than screen shots due to where we stood, but this is the best I can do:

There were a ton of embellishments on this song, both from Conor's vocals but most impressive was the trumpet solos. They added trumpets to songs that they aren't even included in on the record. It really added a beautiful touch, and it was very appropriate. Conor gets so intense when he sings, he spoke a lot about the war, and the attacks on Libya. He is very outspoken against war, and his passion against it shows. He also dedicated a song to "The Super Moon", because that night we were experiencing a phenomenon where the moon looked much larger and brighter because it was closer to the earth than usual. They left the stage and there was an encore, where they played 4 or 5 more hit songs, and finally closed with the last song on the new record, and a fireworks spectacular! It was incredible. I cried during Lua and at least 3 other songs, and then as the fireworks went off, I shed a few tears again. It was a beautiful, beautiful experience. That music truly does something to me, right here *pats heart*. Unfortunately, my camera didn't have enough of a charge to get the fireworks, but I've got the memory. If anyone knows where I can get concert footage of that performance, call me. Setlist for the show was:

"Firewall"
"Jejune Stars"
"Take It Easy (Love Nothing)"
"Four Winds"
"Cleanse Song"
"Something Vague"
"We Are Nowhere"
"Shell Games"
"Approximate Sunlight"
"Arc of Time"
"Haile Selassie"
"No One Would Riot for Less"
"Bowl of Oranges"
"The People's Key"
"Cartoon Blues"
"Beginner's Mind"
"Poison Oak"
"Old Soul Song"
"The Calendar Hung Itself"
"Lua"

"Gold Mine Gutted"
"Lover I Don't Have To Love"
"Road To Joy"
"One for You, One For Me"

Although it was approaching midnight, we were nowhere near going to bed. Heading back to the Sixth street area, we stumbled across the Thre3style DJ Battle sponsored by Redbull, an epic, out of control electro music feast for the ears. DJ Z trip, Jazzy Jeff, De La Soul, Switch, and others played epic remixes of rap, rock and hip-hop songs for several hours. Of course, with Nate Dogg just recently passing away at the time, there were plenty of remixes of his songs and also a lot of nods to popular Calfornia songs, (which I of course enjoyed, being from Orange County and all). Then, to really put the cherry on top, when the last DJ was on stage, they announced that a "very special surprise guest is with us tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for LL Cool J!" Holy effing crap! The music got louder as did the crowd, and we partied on for another forty minutes or so. Loved that.

Photo cred for these goes to the DJ Z Trip forum and Austin360.com.

Next was the Vice Magazine sponsored after party, Vice Kills Texas. It was held in a secret location off Sixth street, and the line stretched for about a mile. It was an RSVP show, which we had RSVP'd to days in advance, but somehow, when we finally made it to the front doors, our names weren't on the list. Daniel's was, but mine wasn't. "I'm not goin' in if she can't go," He told the bouncer, who had turned away dozens of people in front of us without even blinking. But, somehow, we got lucky again, and with a promise not to say anything to anyone else, we were stamped for entry and let inside. We later found out that it was a "Badge Only" party too. Score!

The abandoned building was dark, humid, loud, and epic. They had rotating lights, a huge stage, and huge projected and spiraling ads for the promoted beer, Sapporo. I'm not a big beer fan, but this Japanese beer was definitely better than I've ever had. It came in these extra large, super heavy duty, industrial strength aluminum cans too, those suckers were impossible to crush. Anyway, moving on. DJ Ben Swank, Odd Future and Thee Oh See's were some of the lineup set to play. Also special guest P. Diddy was there, but Daniel and I bailed before he came onstage. We had been going off of next to no sleep, and basically lived off of coffee and booze, and had walked God knows how many miles in the past couple days, and the outdoor nature of the building in the sweltering Texas heat wasn't doing us any favors. So we found a safe, quiet parking space in the YMCA parking lot, cracked the windows, turned off the engine, and caught about 3 hours of sleep. The next morning we hobo bathed in a gas station (shaving your legs in a convenience store bathroom isn't as easy as it sounds, ladies), and quickly headed to the nearest Starbucks to get our caffeine fix before we got back on the road. Pictures from the evening:

Odd Future.

The party just spilled outside, doors were kept open letting the sweaty body heat out, and the humid air in, as well as the aroma of a thousand dirty hippes using portapotties.

Oh yeah, and check out who else showed up to the party.
Daniel and I snuck onto the rooftop of the building (as we usually do), and got to enjoy a nice breeze, live music from a surrounding club, and the gorgeous view of Austin at night.

And this is where I (finally!) conclude end day two. Action packed.

Photo creds: hotelfashionland.com, viceland.com, and myself.

-Vixen

SXSW 2011: Day II, Part III

2011-06-02T16:29:00.015-05:00

After aforementioned chill out time, we got a text from our friend Marvel saying that she was about to catch a Beats Antique show, and that they were sold out but there may be a chance for us to get in. Now, Beats Antique is a favorite band of mine. Their name pretty much says it all. They are an experimental/world/electro music group from San Fran, Cali, who make beats that are designed with bellydancing in mind. The "eye candy" of the group is Zoe Jakes, a bellydancer and percussion musician, and one of my idols. I've caught them before at ACL, and was determined not to miss them when I was in the same 100 Mile radius.

When we arrived, the show was indeed sold out (it was an RSVP only free show, but there was a limited number of wristbands, so technically the tickets "ran out"), and security was pretty tight. I even tried to stand on a nearby chair to try and catch a glimpse of the stage, and was immediately shouted at by a hefty security guard with a rabbi beard. So we decided it was a lost cause to try and get in, and walked away....

Right around to the back of the stage, where we and a few others had a near perfect view of the [back of the] band, and got to catch the last 40 or so minutes of the set. Savage.

Wasn't the best view I've ever had, but it was worth it and gave it a kind of backstage feel. PLUS, had I not been backstage, I wouldn't have been ballsy enough or at the proper place to jump in there and get this pic:

She was really cool to talk to, I told her I had been bellydancing for 3 years and wondered how to go about doing it professionally. She said she had danced for 9 years before making any money at it. "Go to clubs, parties, anywhere you can, something will come of it eventually," She said. We talked for a good 5 minutes, it was great and she was very real and friendly. So badass.

Huge "Obey" mural on a huge piece of wood. If I'd have had a moving truck with me, I would have snatched that sh*t... And gotten arrested, I'm sure.

Full band playing in the back of a truck. Amps, microphone, full drum kit and guitars. Only in Austin.

Later, the final part of day two!
-V
P.S. Got to keep a huge 20 foot mesh 2 part poster that is the design of the poster at the top of this entry. Came back later that night and took it home! Will make an awesome addition to my apartment one day, when I get one with walls big enough!

SXSW 2011: Day II, Part II

2011-06-02T13:50:00.013-05:00

Third Man Records: The record company founded in large part by Jack White, guitarist, singer, the integral half of the White Stripes, and pivotal member of The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather. TMR physical store is located in Nashville, but every now and then they will set up a temporary location, or a record store on wheels to give the other folks a taste of the Third Man Magic.
The latter was the case this year at SXSW. Third Man Records had a van set up full of records and merch galore, and they were there for a limited time only, so naturally we set out to get our hands on the goods before they rolled away. Check it out.

The entire bus had record accents on it. The "windows" on the back of the doors? Turnstyles from legit Technics record players. The wheels and hood ornaments were the Third Man Logo. Inside the Rolling Record Store were all kinds of vintage cameras and record players and parts, used as decoration or with a functional purpose.

The "menu" of merch was displayed for all to see while in line.

Yeah yeah, I know there are like 40 pictures, but really, this is a HUGE deal. Those who are in the know, know, and those who aren't, well.... just take my word for it.

Did I mention Daniel had a fractured ankle that weekend? My baby was on a photo shoot and sprained his ankle on some uneven terrain while trying to set up a light stand. Stubborn guy that he is, he didn't make a trip to the Dr. before we skipped town to do all this "walking". Needless to say, after that mostly unfruitful Perez Hilton journey and all the party from the night before had us feeling pretty wiped out. Daniel especially. So good Ol' Austin had what we needed in the form of an oasis in the middle of the South By Desert. Fake grass and picket fences, plastic flamingos, free liquor and food, and plenty of water and phone charging stations adorned the area, and it was a good opportunity to relax.

I also met the new love of my life, Mike's Hard Mango Punch. New favorite drink. Its like a little bit of Austin Summer in a bottle.

It's Godzilla! Ahh!

And then, fitting somewhere into all of this, was this guy:

Part three coming soon, but later!
-V

SXSW 2011: Day II, Part I

2011-06-02T08:15:00.000-05:00

Saturday. After crashing on a narrow couch at our friend Birdsnest's place well after 5 in the morning, we slept hard. But only for about 3 hours. There is way too much going on at SXSW to sleep. That, and the fact that we were two of 8 people sleeping there that night, and only one clean shower to fight over, waking up early was the obvious choice. Man oh man did I need some coffee after that "nap". And after running a search on Daniel's droid for nearby coffee shops, we found the perfect place to give me exactly what I needed. Kick Butt Coffee.

A modern eatery with a cool vibe, Kick Butt Coffee has Chuck Norris quotes framed, samurai swords and nun-chucks displayed from the walls, and a menu that includes things such as The Fight Club Samich, The Knuckle Samich, and a drink called the Dead Japanese Aviator, I knew I was instantly in love.

With a bleary eyed glance at the menu, we decided on a delicious breakfast burrito, small but full of flavor, washed down with a "Kick Butt Espresso": a 24 oz cup of joe with 4 shots of espresso. It lived up to its name. I had my game face on in no time, and even amongst the frustration of wrong directions given by our GPS, with my Kick Butt Coffee in hand, I was ready to face the day.

Once we headed into town, we headed toward sixth street to try and find a Kinko's to print off tickets for the very exclusive Perez Hilton Party, which we had been randomly selected to receive VIP wristbands for. Once the tickets were in hand, we went on a very long and very exhausting search for the venue that was giving the wristbands in exchange for the tickets. This took about 2.5 hours. The address was all wrong, and by all logic, did not exist on any maps. But after a strenuous pattern of asking around and walking back and forth, we finally found our destination. The line moved fast, we had our hot pink bands in no time, and we were free to check out the Third Man Records van... part 2 coming soon!

xx

SXSW 2011: Day One

2011-06-02T07:35:00.001-05:00

Yes I'm definitely late on posting this, however, as I have already stated, life is flying by at an intangible rate and hey, better late than never. SXSW took place in late March. For those who aren't in the know, it is South By SouthWest, an Texas Music, Film and generally badass festival and media experience that has been going on since the 80s. The film screenings, concerts, and events take place in downtown Austin and stretch over the course of several days, and there is free food and booze pretty much everywhere you turn.

This year I was stoked to go, since last year's SXSW was ruined due to the unusual and extremely cold Texas spring. All I had packed was shorts and hot weather clothes, and being the total pussy that I am when it comes to cold weather, I couldn't handle standing in the cold with just my boyfriend's hoodie pulled tightly over my short shorts to shield me from the bitter cold. Even though I had to miss out on seeing Holy F*!k, Gwar, and Yelawolf to name a few, it was not worth freezing my arse off. So I spent the next 4 hours freezing in the slightly warmer comfort of my car and hearing the sounds of the concert beckoning me to come outside and play... it made me sick.

Anyway, I was determined to make this year count for something. And wow did it ever kick ass. The first day my boyfriend and I spent there was March 18th, a Friday. We left town late on account of the fact that Daniel and I both worked all day, and traffic was miserable, but a little after 11pm, we finally arrived. Our first stop was the "Past Yo Bedtime" Afterparty at Austin's abandoned Highland Mall. After waiting in line an hour, we were in. Free Red Stripe and Jeremiah Weed, lights, smoke machines, all kinds of crazy techno awesomeness. Found this vid of the very party we attended, check out the badassery: (Video courtesy of iHeartComix Records on Vimeo).

Yeah, we didn't make it home til a wee bit after 5 am. It was awesome.
More pics from the iheartcomix.com blog to recap the evening:

I look a hot mess, but hey, if you were drinking and dancing and partying to some savage live DJ beats, you'd look about the same. This is the only picture I managed to score of us that night, cameras weren't allowed and its thanks to my lucky stars and our friend Kiser that I even got this one.

If you want the full lineup they are all listed below:

It was considered a "Secret Party". Pretty badass.

Day two post coming soon, PROMISE!
-savage V.

Katy Towell Carousel of Sorrow Book Trailer

2011-06-01T22:47:00.004-05:00

If you have a highly anticipated book, bravo. If your book has a trailer, then very well done indeed, my friend. That's why I am proud to present Katy Towell's book trailer for Carousel of sorrow, due to be released August 23rd. I can't wait.

Find the trailer here as well.

-S.v.

Art by Landon Sea

2011-06-01T22:20:00.005-05:00

These are some fantastic light paintings by my brother, Landon Sea. Yes that is his God given name, and he is as epic as his name sounds. He's a songwriter and multitalented musician; a singer, drummer, guitarist, and all around cool guy. He made these a few years ago, and I still plan on getting these printed onto large canvases and hanging them in a row above my sofa. Absolutely love em.

Beautiful. If you think these are good, you should hear him play at a drum off. He's been playing eleven years, and he kicks ass. Oh yeah, and he's only fifteen.

-Vixen

Sparkling French Soda and Birch Beer

2011-05-25T10:10:00.004-05:00

With the boyfriend at our newest health food/grocery store/eatery/bistro/Friday night musical entertainment joint in town. Had French soda, blood orange flavored mineral water, and Daniel had Boylan's Birch Beer made with real sugar. None of that corn syrup nonsense for us! It was a windy but nonetheless pretty day.

Starbucks Cake Pops!

2011-05-25T09:31:00.007-05:00

It's been a hard day's night and I've been working like a dog, so naturally my blogging has suffered greatly from it. But I'm back, and so much has happened, so hopefully I will be a good girl and keep blogging away faithfully!

Thought I'd pick up where I left off and blog about Starbucks Cake Pops, which I first tried shortly after my last post. These little 150 calorie treats are the perfect tasty complement to a cup of coffee, and sweet enough to satisfy your cravings with just one little pop. They come in Tiramisu, Birthday cake, and Raspberry Cheesecake. Yum! Went with a couple girl friends to get in on a promotion they had in March where they offered them for free between something and something-else-O-clock.

Abigail, Olivia, and The Vixen enjoying cake pops and iced coffee.

Oh, and check out this necklace: It was all I could do to keep myself from leaping across the table and taking this beautiful bronze fox pendant for my own!

Beautiful. The necklace, too!
Thanks again for reading, more posts to follow soon! Promise!
-S. V.

P.S. Lookie what I found in an eBay store... looks like my friend can keep her necklace after all...

Happy Birthday, George

2011-02-25T23:03:00.002-06:00

Our guitars aren't the only things weeping.
Happy birthday, George. We miss you.

Jealousy.

2011-02-25T21:47:00.003-06:00

That one little word can destroy the world.
Your heart, soul, mind, body, and life can be destroyed by the simple seed of jealousy, planted unknowingly by a fleeting glance, a single word, or an overactive imagination.
If untended it can grow into hate.
And hate, when it is fully grown, has the power to kill.
To destroy.
To burn.
To cause wars.
To harbor bitterness toward an innocent person,
or to inflict the darkest of moods upon yourself.
Hate. It festers, and smolders, and burns and nags.
Hate can cause you to murder.
Hate can cause you to kill yourself.
Hate can cause you to utterly ruin the one you love most.
Or the one they love most.
Hate and Jealousy are the wicked stepsisters of our imperfect fairy tale lives.
They are wicked, dangerous things.
Oh, how none can tame them.

Currently listening to Am I Not Yours by Cursive. Listen here.
Picture above is by Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch circa 1896.

-v.

Shepard Fairey in Tyler, Texas?

2011-02-24T14:27:00.000-06:00

Hahaha. Haha. Ha. ha. No.

But I spotted an OBEY sticker on a traffic light downtown, and the clouds were just too perfect to not take a snapshot of it all. Click on the image for the ultra closeup detail of the shot. Nice to know there are some paper bombers among us.

The beautifully demented mind of Katy Towell

2011-02-24T12:57:00.000-06:00

Do yourself a favor and watch this. And then watch everything else. Then stalk her site, because absolutely everything by this woman is pure creative genius.

I first found out about Miss Towell way back in 2007/8ish, and fell in love with this little flash animation when all she had (to my knowledge) was a "DeviantArt" page. Since then, she has elegantly upgraded to a very well done website, and even has a much anticipated book, Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow, coming out late this August. Can't wait!

Her unsettling storylines and adorably macabre art really drew me in at first sight. My second favorite animation by her, would probably have to be Never Woke Up. It gives me chills every time, though I've probably watched it a hundred and six times.

-Savage V.

Hare Krshna (Krshna, Krshna, Hare, Hare)...

2011-02-24T12:18:00.000-06:00

I recently picked up a little book called "Chant and Be Happy" from the Vedic library series. Picked up from my boyfriend, who picked it up from a little booth promoting charitable causes in New Orleans.

Its a little book about chanting the Hare Krshna to heighten your spiritual awareness, and bring about positive energies and happiness. Those who know me know that my religion is a complicated one. I was raised Christian, and as I grew older I still held fast to a largely Christian mindset, but incorporated more Hindu and New Age practices into my spiritual repertoire. Simply put, if you took the love child of Jesus and George Harrison, and named it a religion, that is the church I would fall into. (I have more reason than the average person to not get into discussions about religion.)

Moving on, this book covers the basics of Hare Krshna, what it means, and why its important. It includes exclusive interviews from John Lennon and Yoko, as well as extensive interviews from George Harrison about how he first came to learn about the Hare Krshnas, and how chanting the mantra has really affected his life in a positive way. Its a very interesting read, and a great introductory book for those who want to learn about the Maha Mantra.

Within the book is a how-to on making your own Japa beads, which are beads designed for meditation so that you can chant the Hare Krshna at your leisure and have a way to focus on something physical, (to make the chanting more real, in theory). Just as the Catholics have rosaries, the Krshnas have Japa beads.

I created my own set using glass beads in white, baby blue, teal, and an indigo/purpleish color. I wanted the beads also to serve as a reminder to keep my chakras properly aligned (chakras are energy centers in our bodies; there are seven running along the base of our spine to the top of our heads), and the fifth, sixth, and seventh chakras are represented by the colors blue, indigo, and violet or white.
The beads feel great to the touch, they can be cool or warm depending on the weather, and they are all different textures and shapes so they are stimulating to the nerve endings in my hands, enhancing the effects of the chanting and meditation process.

As you can tell, I am very excited about these beads, so I thought it was only right to take a picture of them.

Regardless of your religious background, you can't deny that this is a pretty string of beads.

-Vixen