This week, I live-tweeted Season 1 of Dawson’s Creek (Highlight: I’m just going to say what we’re all thinking. Pacey has a unibrow.) I also donated a little cash to the World Wildlife Fund because I’m ashamed to be in the same genetic category as Donald Trump and his evil poacher sons. They should have their human cards revoked.
Onward to happier things:
What’s Making Me Happy This Week
Bebe
Bebe Buell is one of my heros. She was the inspiration for Penny Lane in Almost Famous and she’s Liv Tyler’s mama. Here’s a great interview with her and Cameron Crowe. My favourite part:
It was the guys that made the fuss. They wanted to have the relationships. I would have been perfectly happy just loving the music.
This is late (on account of it being my blog-aversary this past Thursday, my birthday on Saturday and my anniversary today because everything in my life happens in March.) Also, I totally forgot it was my anniversary until two seconds ago, at which point I yelled “Hey Dude! Happy anniversary!” at Fiancé from across the apartment.
Yes, I call Fiancé “dude” and I forgot our anniversary. Stop judging me.
Here’s What’s Making Me Happy:
This blog is Pisces porn. Gorgeous pictures of waves, water and surfers.
Diego Rivera sealed Frida’s bathroom and closets after her death. They weren’t allowed to be opened for 50 years. Here are some of the photographs that were found.
If you want to learn more about the opening of the rooms and what was found inside, this book is AMAZING. It has photos of every item the historians found, in the locations they were found. All of Frida’s clothes are documented, along with medicine bottles, prosthetics and art.
Speaking of art, look at the masterpiece I created:
P.S. This was taken like 2 seconds after Fiancé proposed. The one on the right is me. Look how awesome my hair was! P.P.S. I have no respect the "special" moments of my relationship.
How should you celebrate International Women’s Day?
1. Call your mother, sister, daughter, mentor, hero or friend.
2. Donate to V-Day and end violence against women and girls.
3. Read amazing literature written by women. I suggest Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Hayden Herrera (who wrote thebiography of Frida Kahlo.)
4. Look at photos of your feminist heroes. Be inspired. Example:
The young man standing on the far left in the suit is Frida Kahlo. She liked to wear mens clothes sometimes. Pretty brave for a 20 year-old Mexican woman in the early 1930's.
5. Break up with your shitty boyfriend.
6. Wear a dress. Feel grateful that you’re wearing it by choice. Some women’s aren’t so lucky.
7. Stand up for what you believe in. Don’t want to have babies? Don’t believe in marriage? Support LGBT rights? Say it. Out loud. To other people.
8. Masturbate
9. Rent a movie with a strong female lead. Feel angry that there are only like 5 of them.
10. Look into gender politics in your area. Find out about your abortion, sexual health and birth control rights. These things matter.
11. Look into the rights of women in other countries. The Congo is a good place to start. Read Nicholas Kristof’s articles. Here’s a good one on reproductive rights in Texas. Excerpt:
“The state of Texas is waging war on women and their families,” Dr. Boyd added. “The new law is demeaning and disrespectful to the women of Texas, and insulting to the doctors and nurses who care for them.”
12. Get mad. Get PISSED. Then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Donate. Write a blog post. Petition your local government. Volunteer at a women’s shelter. Mentor a girl. Stop watching reality TV. Take off your makeup. Refuse to be silent.
This is one of the best pieces of magazine writing I’ve ever come across. It inspired the movie Blue Crush and it’s a fantastic look at Hawaiian surf culture and the girls who are raised in it.
This is an interesting article on Frida Kahlo from a feminist website.
This is a National Geographic article on the book/film Into the Wild, about the travels and untimely death of Christopher McCandless. Into the Wild is one of my favourite books EVER.
It didn’t go particularly well. There was a lot of “GGGAAAAAAH! F*CKING PIECE OF SH*T!!!!!!!!” followed by a string of even more colourful curses. But things are good now. Problem solved. Mostly.
Soooo… without further ado…
What’s Making Me Happy This Week:
THIS VIDEO IS THE CUTEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN! It makes me giggle, and I DO NOT giggle. I’m going to marry Kristen Bell and have her babies. Also, if you brought a sloth to my party, I would react this way too:
I’m taking Goddess Leonie’s business e-course and it rocks! If you’re in the market for a self-help course or e-book of some kind, you can join her Goddess Circle and get all of her courses and access to the forums for $99. It’s a reeeaaaallly good deal. She’s not even paying me to say that. Here’s some of her free stuff, if you feel called to check her out.
This NPR article on the Danish concept of hygge, roughly translated as “coziness,” is very interesting.
If you live anywhere even remotely close to the Tucson Museum of Art, you should attend their exhibit “Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Murray.” Nicholas and Frida were lovers for many years and his portraits of her are exceptionally beautiful. The museum is also offering a children’s program to teach kids about Frida’s art and fashion. They also get to make Frida dolls! You need to go ASAP, because everyone should love Frida as much as I do.
And if you don’t live in Arizona, maybe you could attend this!!!!!! Toronto is less than an hour away form me and my year has officially been MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My eyes have been welling up with tears of happiness ever since I heard:
Fiancé just gifted me a Cinnamon Dolche latte from Starbucks and I’m writing this in bed, still wearing yesterday’s makeup. Week 2 of my 4-month long temp job was completed with slightly less waterworks than Week 1, so I consider that a success. The past week was full of snow, Twinings Ultra-Spice Chai and many, many podcasts.
So, What’s Making Me Happy?
On the podcast “WTF with Marc Maron,” comedian Tom Glass came out of the closet (to the general public anyways) and the discussion that followed was honest and very intelligent. Go listen NOW. Find it on iTunes. excerpt:
“Leave everybody the fuck alone… let people do what they want.”
It’s been a week of carefully selecting recipes to try for Yule (white chocolate-pistachio bark?) and plotting various other holiday activities, like watching “Elf” and drinking Bailey’s. Also, I love holiday candy. Particularly these:
So What’s Making Me Happy?
If you looked at Google’s banner yesterday (Dec. 8th) you saw this:
Look closely.... see Frida?
The banner honoured Diego Rivera on his 125th birthday. Even more awesome is the little figure on the bottom-right dressed in a long skirt and green shawl; none other than La Gran Ocultadora herself, Frida Kahlo. You have NO IDEA how happy this makes me!
I discovered this adorable owl template on 3 Eyed Bear. You just download the PDF, fold and glue and you’ve got a 3D paper owl! It’s totally free and there are a bunch of different colours, see:
This article is great, as is everything from The Bloggess. I too, know the pain of holiday decorating with asshole cats.
Did you hear about the 400 year old witch cottage they found in England??? I wish we had 400 year old ANYTHING in Canada.
So, not to brag or anything, but Ryan Gosling grew up a couple cities over from me. YEP. I’m awesome. Anyways, check out “5 Signs that Ryan Gosling is God”
True Story: I’ve Seen Ghosts is a cute interview with a girl who comes from a perceptive family. I like the part about her mom staying away from amethyst because it makes her more sensitive. I always keep amethyst with my tarot cards.
Have a great weekend lovelies! Go for a walk and look at everyone’s decorations and lights. Bring a flask.
The Cult of Kahlo is growing everyday. In life, Frida was known simply as Mrs. Rivera, but now it’s Diego who lives in her shadow. She has become a pop culture phenomenon.
Frida’s artwork first gained recognition in North America in the 1970′s. The Women’s Movement championed Frida as a feminist icon who’d suffered at the hands of her sexist husband. Women resonated with the emotional and physical pain depicted in her paintings. While feminists misunderstood her life, (Frida loved being a wife, longed to be a mother, had several affairs herself, etc.) women adopted her as a saint-like figure.
Frida continued to gain popularity in the 1980′s when Madonna began collecting her paintings. The cost of an original Kahlo rose from several thousand dollars to over $1 million.
When the movie “Frida” debuted in 2002, Frida Kahlo became a household name, often in reference to Salma Hayek’s unibrow. The movie, with its script based on Hayden Herrera’s book, was nominated for two Academy Awards, making Frida Kahlo famous and ensuring her place in pop culture.
In the past two months, Frida was sited as an inspiration for the Florence and the Machine song “What the Water Gave Me” (also the name of a Kahlo painting) and Mara Hoffman became the latest of several fashion designers to reference her iconic style. Hoffman’s Spring 2012 collection is definitely Mexico-inspired and the hair and makeup on the runway models is unmistakably Kahlo.
It makes me so happy to know that people are as inspired by her as I am. I love that her spirit and her iconic beauty are still alive in people’s minds.
People associate December with religious and spiritual holidays, like Yule, Hanukkah or Christmas. If you’re not in the holiday spirit and you don’t plan to be, I totally understand. I’m an advocate for creating your own holidays and traditions. You should celebrate whatever is meaningful to you, not just those days when the government says you can stay home from work.
Here’s a sampling of events that merit a little celebrating this week:
Dec. 5th – Walt Disney’s 110th birthday!!!
Esmeralda is the most bad-ass Disney vixen.
Look past the omnipresent media force his name now symbolizes and celebrate him for the creative entrepreneur he was. Disney also contributed time and money to CalArts, the California Institute of the Arts, helping thousands of creative students to live their dream.
Celebrate Walt Disney by watching your favourite animated movie or reflecting on characters who meant something to 7 year-old you. Mine include, Belle (the ONLY literate princess!) and Esmeralda, who I wanted to BE. I also have a soft spot for villans like Ursula, Maleficent and the Evil Queen from “Snow White.” For the record, “Fern Gully” is my favourite animated film, and even though it’s not a Disney production, it couldn’t exist without all of Walt Disney’s hard work.
Dec. 7th – Tom Waits’ 62nd birthday!
He's a smart, smart man.
I LOVE Tom Waits. LOVE HIM! Celebrate Tom by listening to his music all day and watching these videos:
Elizabeth Gilbert has a great Tom Waits story around the 12:30 mark:
Dec. 8th – Diego Rivera’s 125th birthday! Also, Jim Morrison’s 68th Birthday!
Diego Rivera, husband of the beautiful Frida Kahlo, is a legend in his own right. Diego is one of Mexico’s famed muralists, bringing art to the streets and celebrating the everyday people of Mexico. While I have a profound respect for Diego Rivera, I celebrate his birthday because I know Frida would have wanted it that way. Frida loved to host parties and she often threw elaborate fiestas in Diego’s honour.
Jim Morrison’s grave is one of the most visited sites in Piere Lachaise Cemetery but many pilgrims have trouble finding it. He was buried amoung the poets, instead of in the musicians section. My favourite Jim Morrison quote:
“Where’s your will to be weird?”
Dec. 9th – Jakob Dylan’s 42nd birthday!
Nineties rock music makes me recently-nostalgic and The Wallflowers are one of the best bands from waaay back then. Jakob Dylan is the lead singer of The Wallflowers and has recently made a name for himself as a folk singer-songwriter. I used to dream about marrying him and looking dreamily into his husky dog eyes for all eternity. Also, being Bob Dylan’s daughter-in-law would be awesome. Observe his talent:
Dec. 10th – Emily Dickinson’s 181st birthday!
One of only two portraits showing Emily Dickinson in adulthood.
We all know her, we all love her. She turned her back on societal norms, like marrying and having babies, in order to focus on her art. She was a true eccentric who was true to herself in a time when few women could be. My favourite Dickinson poem is about truth and beauty and a quiet moment between bodies in a tomb:
I Died for Beauty – Emily Dickinson
I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.
He questioned softly why I failed,
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth – the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.
And so, as kinsmen met a-night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
So, lovely creatures, when you’re cursing the heavens because there are no parking spots at the mall, remember that Christmas is just one day and that all days are equally worth celebrating.
