spaceballs

In my head I have a popular talk show called "Weirdly Specific Things I Have Googled" in which a rotating cast of celebrity guests and myself talk about that time we googled "how long is a baguette" or "how to spell a wookie sound".

The former I did for this VERY ILLUSTRATION, in celebration of that space wars movie or whatever that's out today I guess. JK GUYS, I'm no die-hard Star Wars fan but I do really love the movies and all the stupid dinky droids that live in the universe (MSE-series anyone?). Although I haven't seen the new movie yet I'm reeeeaaaalllyyyy hoping that it's just a buddy cop comedy film staring Chewbacca and BB-8. 

p.s. in case you were curious, my Jedi name is Emmrt Brann... according to the internet.

role play, baby!

Time for a little nerdery on the bloggie! Thought I can't claim myself to be a hardcore gamer or fantasy fan, I have my moments of Skryim/Game of Thrones/Dungeons & Dragons/Redwall (childood, whattup) obsessions. I'm also obsessed with the Light Grey Art Lab over in Minneapolis. Just when I think they've topped themselves with a show idea they come up with a new call for art that gets my creative juices flowing.

Role Models is the next show from LGAL that I'm participating, a combination self portrait/role playing/card game show at that! Each artist was tasked with choosing a task, an alignment, and a back story that somehow tied back to themselves and make a piece of art that would then go into a fun strategy card game. Go buy the game, go buy a print of my piece or some of the other AMAZING work made for this show, or go figure out a costume to wear to the opening on Friday!

the original sketch / a detail of her sweet awesome headband.

Above is Ermintrude, the Dark Empress of Blankets. I chose a cleric because they seem the most closely related to my real self, but then decided to make her evil - because bad guys are always my favorite! I imagine Ermintrude controlling her horde of undead and traveling from town to town, collecting more blankets so she can be as comfy as possible. There are never enough blankets, buddies.

I completed this artwork quite awhile ago, so for funskies I did a little sketch of our intrepid cleric trying not to mess up her best traveling blanket/cloak as she searches for new loot. And now I kind of wish I had come up with this sketch earlier and used it for my final piece but WHATEVS, FOMO FOREVER.

ps speaking of nerd things who's buying the new pokemon game? No lies, I really want to play it.

gem is my name

all images in this post were found on mineralists

So I was really into rocks when I was little. This, of course, was the natural progression from when I loved dinosaurs when I was even younger - I mean, fossils are rocks, and oh look! There are all these other crazy cool rocks out there! In my memory my entire 4th grade class was obsessed with rocks and we would trade them and stuff, but that might just be me trying to reconcile that I am forever a huge dork.

Anyway, I've taken a liking to these crazy contraptions of nature again - although unfortunately this time around my interests lay more in the aesthetic than the scientific. I need a quick crash course in minerals so I don't feel completely fake about it. Anybody wanna teach me rocks?

In the meantime I've started following mineralists on tumblr. They have the most amazing selection of rock photos from all sorts of sources around the globe, all labeled and linked back to to the source if possible! If you're also into "gems" (gems are the new cats, doncha know) I'd hiiiihgly recommend following these guys.

Here are some of my recent faves. That smokey quartz/black specularite up on the top left is my all time most wanted.

ring bearer

Did you guys catch that excellent Beyoncé concert / game of hand egg last night? Man, what a blast. I seem to be enjoying televised sports more and more these days, although I STILL don't quite understand how football works. Each year someone has to explain it to me.

In order to pump myself over Queen Bey and her glory I put on some of her bests on Spotify and loaded up.... Lord of the Rings online. Yeah okay, I've been playing it a little after my brother and his lady convinced me that I should give it a shot. It's free, okay? Any video game where you can design a character is already something I want to play, and it's free and you can like.. fight BEARS. 

So here's my character Nanfrid (Norse for "brave and fair", doncha know) with a vial of green dye. She loves dying her clothes and fighting bears and spiders. 

Now that I got that nerdery out of the way, I've got some exciting stuff waiting in the wings that I can't WAIT to show you. Just hold your horses, little bloggert!

In the meantime please enjoy these photos of my coat rack during last night's super bowl party and a cat I saw at a cat show last weekend.

unlisted #5

welcome to my semi-regular hexagonal list of things I've been thinking about/obsessing over! previous versions: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

molasses cookies | I didn't realize it, but molasses cookies are SUPER easy to make. I mean, I guess it makes sense, it's a simple cookie, but I can make these babies at the drop of a hat! What's Gaby Cooking has the perfect recipe, I've been eating one (or two or okay okay three) in the mornings with a good pot of black tea for dunking.

triforce ring from Eugene Tan | With the news that they're remaking Windwaker in HD I have been thinking a lot about the Zelda games. Zelda holds such a special place in my heart! This ring is a great little homage to the games - after all, the Triforce is a fantastic example of good simple design in video games. (related: this great article on "fake" geek girls)

upstream color | Don't you love it when you can't really tell what a movie is about from its trailer, but you can tell it's going to be interesting?! No? Just me? Either way, Upstream Color looks like a beautiful and pooosssiibly freaky movie - just watch the trailer. I know I can't wait to see it!

orchid grey's hair | Julie Sharp has perfect stunning hair that I am getting very envious of. Must not cut hair again, must not cut hair again, must dye ends soon.

help us great warrior! | The brainchild of Madéleine Flores is my kinda superhero. She loves pizza and cats and cute boys and her idea of saving the world is bringing candy to a party or kicking the bad guy in the shins. What else do you need?

super deluxe edition of rumours | HAPPY 35TH BIRTHDAY RUMOURS. How can I express how much I love you? You are such a perfect album, I listen to you all the time! And now there is a fancy rereleased version of you with live tracks and other goodies? OH MAN, what a great day.

winter is coming

star siblings tote by fencing & archery | mcalister wedge boots from j.crew

Yeah okay, the last post was pretty nerdy. Hopefully you were okay with that because this one might be equally nerdy, if not more. I am coming quickly to the end of the first book in the A Song of Ice & Fire series (you might know it as the tv version, Game of Thrones, which is what got me started on this whole thing). It's so good, oh man. You see the same event through the eyes of multiple characters, and it's easy to get attached to every single one of them - even the baddies.

I'm loving the overall tone of Game of Thrones, too - it's dark and cold, even though the first book takes place during a very long "summer". That tone carries over into the show, which has some GORGEOUS costume design. There's even Helmut Lang's most recent collection, also inspired by Game of Thrones.

So yeah, I figured I should do a round up of my favorite Game of Thrones-y things, for more nerdy fun. Enjoy, and remember: a Lannister always pays his debts (as in someone should buy me that antler chair post haste).

hybrid No1 by merve kahraman | vintage celluloid brooch from the greedy seagull

game on

image from swordandsworcery.com

I'm guessing that not many folks that read my blog are super duper into video games (although if you're out there holler! Fashion-art-videogame nerds UNITE). Even if you're not that into something simple like Tetris, I'm just going to let you cast your eyes on the visual feast that is Sword & Sworcery. It's this amazing little iphone game that combines adventure, puzzles, and a few bear fights for good measure all in the most detailed pixel-y goodness imaginable. I love nature in video games, and this game does nature in a gorgeous and unique way.

image from kotaku

The folks that made this game are pretty great, too. You can tell they have a sense of humor AND an appreciation for the arts - as evidenced by their crowd sourced "A/V Jam", a call for art and music and whatever else based on their game. I love this one by Annie Carbo!

Oh, and did I mention the music for the game is gorgeous? Like, listen to it by itself gorgeous? Jim Guthrie knows how it's done.

I'm not exactly a game reviewer or anything, so I won't say too much about the game itself - but it is terribly fun and you should probably give it a try. Here's one last look, for funsies...

Walk in the Woods from Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery on Vimeo.