I know it's corny to some of you, but this, all of this is happening today...

Capricorn Horoscope
"It's your intention to be evenhanded while dealing with difficult political dynamics at work today. However, your patience is growing thin and your true feelings might overwhelm your strategic thinking. Even your best-laid plans can fall apart as circumstances change in unexpected ways. Work with your current intensity, but don't let it get the best of you. Although flexibility is your friend, there's no reason to overreact by changing your goals. Modify your approach and your method without altering your destination."
(source)

“I wanted to remind people that the lowest types of humanity may have within them the capacity for supreme self-sacrifice. The dwarfed, misshapen beggar of the streets may have the noblest ideals. Most of my roles since The Hunchback of Notre Dame, such as The Phantom of the Opera, He Who Gets Slapped, The Unholy Three, etc., have carried the theme of self-sacrifice or renunciation. These are the stories which I wish to do.” - Lon Chaney (source)

Off of work in 15 mins...HAPY FRIDAY!!

Violent Femmes - Country Death Song

White Stripes - We're Going to Be Friends

Friday fascinations dump - on Sunday - ALL the links not posted before!

The Fascinations

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A big catch up of all the things I wanted to share but also wanted to preface, or add thoughts to, or they were too depressing and I wanted to spread out the depressing stuff...Whatever, here it all is. ENJOY the clusterfuck!

• Convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala was found guilty in 2010 of killing four women and a 12-year-old girl in Southern California in the 1970s. Alcala, 69, is a former photographer and a one-time dating-show contestant who has been behind bars since 1979. Police in California previously released dozens of photos, including the ones seen here, taken from a storage space rented to Alcala. Recognize the people in this photo? Please contact Huntington Beach, Calif., Police Det. Patrick Ellis at 714-375-5066  PICTURES HERE (Just above the shoulders shots, though they are creepy, they are safe for work)

• Children that remember past lives

• The paleo-vegetarian diet experiment

• Larky groups all your memberships!

• Avoid "Decoy Habits" to Stop Putting Off Your Goals

• Angelina Jolie's choice is clear to one who faced it

• My Medical Choice - By ANGELINA JOLIE 

• Jolie’s Disclosure of Preventive Mastectomy Highlights Dilemma

• Image Exclusive - Professional make-up

• "Mexican Spitfire" Mystery Solved After 7 Decades! 

• Willam, Michelle Visage & More Star In Amazing New “Downton Abbey” Spoof: WATCH

• The chilling pictures of suitcases left in a New York insane asylum by patients who were locked away for the rest of their lives

• Sharon Needles's Vine (NSFW!)

• THIS great video of amazing people wishing BUST Magazine a happy 20th birthday!

• Tumblr for the assistant editor's 

• Porn sex vs. real sex

  

• 7-tips for keeping your man in the1950s

• Palette Porn (no naked people, SAFE for work)

Why yes Angie, you did turn me on to many of these ;)

Friday Fascinations

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Above amazing illustration by Mab Graves 

It's been a grim week people. Lots of really bizarre news out there. Weird vibe in the air. I don't follow astrology, but those that do would probably say something about the moon being in the house of Mars and that causing bad juju. Or, something. Anyhow, I have also been in a weird place all week, and that has affected all of the relationships around me and made it all just a little, uncomfortable. I am SO GLAD it's Friday! I started the unwinding and celebration last night with Pinot Nior and Pim's orange biscuits. I was bad. Oh well, it's not every week work is slow and you pore over all the gruesome crap the internet as barfed on shore. 

 ☠ 3 girls finally escaped the fucked up guy that held them captive in his Ohio home for 10 YEARS!!! 10 fucking YEARS. One of them has a daughter with the sick freak. These poor women. I am so amazed this could happen. Thing that made me sadder: the girl that did the breaking out and made the call, Amanda Berry, her mom died while she was in captivity. 

I mean, I'm sure lots of people were born and died in their families, but still, her mom...

  

☠ Jodi Arias was found guilty of killing her boyfriend Travis Alexander in 2008. I couldn't remember hearing about this, and I haven't been following the trial like many other people have. This is crazy. This woman is crazy. DO NOT google image search Travis! I was trying to jog my memory of this murder and the crime scene photos are all over the internet! Bloody body in a bathtub photos. The "porn" photos of them together right before she killed him have little black bars over the naughty bits. The photos of him in the bathtub? Nope, all blood and stab wounds and rolled back eyes for the whole world to see. This poor guys family.

 ☠The jury is still out on how to punish the 14 year old boy who shot his mother to death cause she took away his video game. Then he tried to rape her...He texted his dad to say he killed mom, dad thought it was a joke. What the hell is wrong with the world?


On the sunny side of the street (or this is where I sound like a self-centered whore after talking about how fucked up the above situations are)

♥  I am addicted to LU Pim's Orange Biscuit thingys. No I was not paid to say this. I just fucking love them. They are very similar to Jaffa cakes.

♥ My bedroom is going through an overhaul this weekend (yes for real this time) and I am trying to figure out the best way to do that.  

♥ I am in the middle of Stephen King's Eyes of the Dragon and loving it.

Friday Fascinations

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♠ You can get custom mix hair color online now! For cheap!! This rocked my world.

♠ Early American settlers turned out to be desperate enough to eat each other, and not in a kinky-fun way. 

♠ RuPaul has a game app now! So exciting! (I LOVE RuPaul) Just such a bummer they don't have it for
 android.
 
♠ Rapper Chris Kelly of Kriss Kross was found dead at the age of 34! Dude, I LOVED their song "Jump" when it was hot in 1992. I thought they were cool. I watched the embedded video, I can't believe how little they were! Such cuties!

♠ Have you seen the Dove Real Beauty sketches ads? Makes ya think, whichever side you're on.

♥ ROBERT PLANT IS TOURING AGAIN! ♥

Friday Favorites (on Monday)

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Maybe I should start calling this the Friday Fascinations...cause it's not all stuff I necessarily love, but is what has kept my attention this week. Oh what the fuck? I just want this to be the disclaimer that I don't love the cannibal cop or murderers at all, they just keep me interested cause they are fucking sickos.

♥ Icebox Cakes. Just made my second one ever, my first one all from scratch, and it was a huge success. Post about it coming this week. Make one. Keep them in mind for summer. THey are so easy and delicious you'll cream your jeans. (Get it? wink, wink. Yeah...bad humor)

♥ Women that are not in love with their children. I had two different friends pass along a story about a woman that is less than in love with being a mother. Fascinating. Both are very interesting and good reads. #1 & #2

♥ Reasons why you should drink lemon water.

♥ Hip scarves with amazingly long fringe. I want one! Swoon!

♥ The latest developments in the "Cannibal Cop" case in NY. Some days I think I must be the most jaded person on the planet for all I've seen growing up in L.A. Then some new weirdo pops up and I'm blown away all over again.

Friday Favorites - Women's History Month edition

 

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♥ Announcing the Theme for National Women's History MonthMarch 2013
 
♥ March is Women's History Month (official site)

♥ Women's History Month Artists: Celebrating WHM With BetyeSaar As The Six Of Diamonds

♥ Seneca Falls Convention: A Turning Point in Women's Rights

Friday Favorites

 

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♥ that photo above. I Love Lucy has always been one of my very favorite shows. I LOVE the look on Lucy's face in the above photo. Click the photo link. It's an amazing tumblr dedicated to everyone's favorite redhead.  

♥ It's almost Girl Scout Cookie time! YAY! all the cooking/baking blogs I follow are all raving about the new Mango sandwich cookie debuting this year. Did you know that girl scouts used to bake the cookies themselves and they cost about 35 cents a dozen? I found this little history article really fun to read!

♥ Still sober for January, and I actually feel and look better if I do say so myself. However I couldn't help but be intrigued by the fact that Starbucks has introduced "Starbucks Evenings" and is NOW SERVING WINE!! In select locations. But did you hear me? WINE AT STARBUCKS PEOPLE!

♥ I LOVE marmalade, I love grapefruit. THIS grapefruit jam looks like an amazing combo of the 2. 

♥ THIS photo shoot. I love it. I hate it. It makes me wonder why I question my art so often....

♥ In addition to being sober for January, I was also trying to go sugar free...well that feel through the crapshoot. But I found THIS RECIPE and blog post about gals that are sugar free for January very inspiring.

♥ HEARTS!! ♥

♥ We needed bigger hearts!!  ♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Have a great weekend!  

Weekly Favorites

 

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 ♥ Thank the goddess for Tina Fey

  

♥ I am not a huge fan of Christmas and the season that just thankfully ended, but I LOVE Valentines Day and all it's cute heart shaped bullshit. SWOON!

♥ I'm not drinking this month to do a sort of half-assed detox, so naturally I'm starting to miss my dear friend booze. One of my favorite cocktails is a greyhound. Look at these yummy greyhound jello shots I found while daydreaming. 

♥ I need a good camera bag. I guess I should concentrate on getting the camera out a little more often to earn it first...

♥ Just watched Trailer Park Boys "Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys" last night. Hilarious. The Man ran it back at Mia's urging cause I missed Mr. Lahey penis shot when I walked out of the room. Shocking.

♥ David Bowie has a new song and may be touring!!

Friday finally

Made it.
It's Friday.

First 5 day work week in weeks and I made it.

Thank the heavens. I am grateful. I am feeling better than I have since December 8^th and have hope that this weekend will be productive. I have a bunch of cleaning to do. The Christmas tree is still in the living room. Dying a little more each day and it’s really got to go. I haven’t meditated since last weekend and I want to do some yoga and some dance practice. I have however practiced ukulele 2 nights in a row and was brave enough to show my amazing musician friend Mia how far I’ve gotten in “Sea of Love” when she came over for dinner last night. Which also indicates I’ve felt well enough to have a friend over for dinner, so, that was a win as well. The Man has a 7 pound ham that he and Pink are not gonna be able to finish, so he’s having people over to help him. I really like this idea, of impromptu dinner parties focused around destruction of ham before it spoils. Though from what I understand it doesn’t spoil since it’s cured. I really have no idea. I’ve been vegetarian since I was 6 years old, and while I’ve had several moments of wanting or trying or wishing to just join the masses in their carnivorous ways, at this point I don’t feel the need. 

There is also hiking on the menu for the weekend. I look forward to this as well, because I look forward to feeling better about the human form I exist in. Cutting out the sugar and not eating anything else after 9pm has helped to flatten out my belly this week, so, that’s nice. 

I’ve learned, in many very painful examples, never to let my guard down, never to pat myself on the back, never to sigh with relief. But, still, I am so glad I feel a little closer to physically normal than I have in a month.

I’ll go back to posting pretty pictures with quotes under them now for your viewing pleasure.

Happy 4th of July, Friday faves

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★★  ★ ★★ ★★

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Hello, Happy Friday!

How was everyone's week? Ready for the long weekend? I sure am! I have no real plans other than helping a friend move, trying to find someplace to watch the race (if we're finished moving), and figuring out what to do for the 4th on sunday. We will be with friends of course, just not sure what else yet. What are you gonna go do? I love 4th of July, I love summer. Barbecue and beer and fireworks, how can you beat that? I suppose I should add how wonderful it's been to be an independent country, how amazing America is and how proud I am to be American. All those things are true, I have never lived anywhere else, have very little travel experience and truly love living here. Without much to compare it too, how could I say anything bad right?

Well...our great country has had a few...struggles over the last, 40 or so years and right now it's in an awful slump. I am not going to explain all the details of how I feel, this is not about the politics side of America this weekend. It's celebrating the best part, of the U.S.A. in all American style, with large portions of grilled meat, copious amounts of alcohol and setting stuff on fire and releasing it into the heavens!

So what has kept me entertained, enlightened, and inspired this week?

★The Consumerist. I know, where the hell have I been eh? Well, I didn't really spend any time at the consumerist till I was stuck in an edit bay in Burbank yesterday waiting for The Man to finish up a session with a client. I googled "cutting sugar out of your life" cause I'm fat and need to do that and this great story about a woman suing over Fruit Roll Ups not being healthy came up. I was hooked, this whole site has some of the best weird news stories!

★Historic Lolz are amazing!

★ Also on the amazing just because it has funny funny things and anything that makes me laugh belongs here because laughter is the best thing in the world to make me feel better category is: Hyperbole and a Half!

Go, read, now. Then, laugh till it hurts. Also a blog that has been around for a bit, so maybe you have already seen it. I'm alway out of the loop but that's what makes my links so crazy fun!

★ Great Tee shirts designed by real people.

★ Do you need ANYTHING belly dance related? L.A. Raqs (pronounced Rocks, get it?) is THE place. Love this site!

★ Also, in case your not sure what Raqs means, I found THIS handy glossary of belly dance terms!

★Small Swords Magazine's Salute to the Greatest Crotches in Rock History smade me laugh out loud, litterly. Who's #1 on this list? That's right, my secret agent lover man, Robert Plant. YES!

"The crotch of Robert Plant should be considered the fifth instrument of Zeppelin."

♥ AMEN! ♥

★Artist and Sexologist Annie Sprinkle's site is informative, inspiring, hilarious, thought provoking and BRIGHT PINK! I can't wait for her Love Art Lab's purple wedding to the moon in October! (NSFW)

★This Photo (also NSFW)

★ Gypsy Lady Hats Etsy shop RULES! I want a tiny top hat! Eeeep! 

★ Last but definitely not least, last weekend Jillian took me to The Annenberg Space for Photography for the opening of Pictures of the Year International. Breath taking. Absolutely amazing photographs. If you are in Los Angeles you must go, closes on October 10th, but I wouldn't wait that long!

Ok, have a great 4th of July everyone, be safe, don't drink and drive, don't burn your hands off. 

Peace!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★  ★ ★

Rush, Rush!

Friday we went and stood in the hot sun to watch one of The Man's favorite bands, Rush receive their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! I have never been to a star dedication before, now I know why...so many people! 




I never did find Jason Segal, so either he wasn't there or...I don't know I couldn't see anything!!

Thank the goddess for a 300mm lens 'eh?

The great catch up

(Yes those are my funky shoes)

Welcome to Sunday night, the last trickle of weekend before the dreaded Monday.
Guess what?

I have a job to go to tomorrow! I am so excited! It's something totally different too, which makes it even more exciting. I can't wait! I need work so, so bad and I haven't really applied myself as much as I should to looking for a job in billing cause...it's boring. I'll do it if I have to but, it's way more fun to work on dance or photography, or work out. So, cross your fingers this thing goes really well tomorrow and they ask for me back! I need this!

So, in the interest of getting some posts done that I have been slacking on this one is gonna be a mixed bag.

♥ First off, you have to check out my darling Jillian's new blog Getting Illegal with Segal 
It's all about her quest to smoke a joint with actor Jason Segal, and it's fricken hilarious! It's mostly a joke, but it's a serious joke and if you have any degree of separation from Mr. Segal help a sister out and point Jill in the right direction!

♥ I want to fly KLM airlines just for the food! This post from Baking Bites made me drool. maybe if Jillian and Jason Segal fall in love we'll all fly to Amsterdam on KLM and roll around in all the marijuana.

♥ Thursday night I happened upon Things That Aren't Here Anymore on PBS (It was totally destiny, we almost never watch PBS anymore and nothing was on and The Man had mentioned this show earlier), after I retreated to my google reader and there was a post telling me to watch it on Punk Turns 30!! I love this blog, Theresa is so inspiring, and she was interviewed for the show!

♥ The woman behind all that amazing Barbie Jewelry I want so bad, Margaux Lang, shared an amazing post/link to art made from everyday things like staples, packing tape and push pins. It will blow you're mind.

♥ My friend Mia introduced me to the amazingness of Amanda Palmer last June and I have been an addict ever since. HERE is some of her wonderful poetry. Read. Laugh. Cry. Love.

♥ My childhood idol, Cyndi Lauper has been immortalized in Barbie form! (I have been on a Barbie kick this week, blame Margaux Lang who is blogging all about her new jewelry line for Mattel). In fact I spent  quite a bit of time at the Barbie Collector website the other night. They have SO MANY cool new dolls! I always loved Barbie and now I guess I have grown out of the phase where I out grew Barbie and now I am moving into the old lady that collects dolls phase...anyway LOOK at all the great new dolls! Eeeep!
I also love the Debbie Harry doll, the Joan Jett doll, the Lucy and Ethel dolls from one of my favorite episodes of I Love Lucy ever, The Rockabilly upright bass player doll they are saying was inspired by The Hardrock Cafe, and THIS great new retro inspired Wicked Witch of the West!

I guess that's it on this post, the links took a bit longer than I thought...and I am gonna post some of my dad's photos in separate posts in the interest of keeping things sorted, cause I'm anal retentive like that. Have a great night and a beautiful, blessed week!

-Syd

Blessed over

Hello!
Happy Friday!

I have had quite a trying week, I can't wait to relax. Today is my little sister's 27th birthday, I am broke and have waited till the last minute to do everything (it's like me...I think I like pressure). But we are going to have a great night anyway, I promise. The cake is in the oven now, I gotta make the card, and figure out a gift....Yikes.

I gotta back up (Well first I should warn and apologize for the fact that I didn't have my camera, and  was too upset to remember to stop and get it. So, all the pictures in this post are cell phone ones that suck. I know, I'm lame. Get over it.) I gotta back up to this time last week when The Man and I journeyed out to Burbank on the bus, for what we thought would be the last time. We picked up our truck, dropped the pretty penny we couldn't afford and drove off into the sunset! Yee Haw! When we stopped 6 blocks away for gas, The Man took the coolant bottles out of the back and threw them out. No need to waste the space anymore, we had  whole new heads! We had new  head gaskets! We had new push rods!
The truck was never gonna overheat again!

Well, this is what happened about 3 miles later:

And this:

That is green coolant spilling all over the street. I was pissed. I was broke, tired, hungry and couldn't believe I had just dropped all the money I had for weeks into this damn thing. Sucks. I cried. True story. Ask the man, he felt like crap. Or my friends, cause I did it again in Richie's car on the way to an amazing gallery opening in Venice we all went to (I have to tell you about this tomorrow, it really deserves a better post than I can currently provide).

Venice. Ah Venice, how I love thee, how I loath thee. I had been there last Saturday for a bike ride with Mia, it rocked. The truck was in the shop and we couldn't get a bus down Venice Blvd. that had 2 open bike racks. So we rode. Then we met up with Mia and rode to the Santa Monica Pier.

We rode past Tom Kirschbaum's  failed boat. It was eerie. It's always weird to be in a place where someone has died but this was, weirder. They just sort of threw the boat up on the sand, and all the things inside were all over the place. But it was as if it had crashed right there. Tom was coming from Catalina Island to the Marina Del Rey and was lost at sea. It doesn't appear that his body has been recovered. 
Rest in Peace Mr. Kirschbaum.


Then we rode all the way south to the Baja Cantina and had a drink (or two, or three) and went back to the boardwalk to hang out with Lesley, lay in the grass, take in the parade of freaks. My right shoulder burned bad, and right along the line of my tank top, so it looks like someone else's arm was snapped on instead!
Here's another really horrible cell phone picture! You can kinda tell it's Mia!

So anyhow, I gotta run now and prepare for dear Les' birthday. I know I sound rushed. I am behind on talking about a lot of stuff I have been meaning to get to. The truck took over this week and I have been exhausted by it. Wow being a grown up takes practice. Blah.
Seacrest out!

Links later! (You might even get lucky and get a rambling drunk post! Yay!)