Arnold Burgers

Pickman's Progress

2012-01-29T06:56:00.000-08:00

I just finished a treatment for our short HPL puppet film! It was fun and it has a goat-plumber in it! And look at all these colourful puppets finished and ready to be dressed up for the movie! I've had a big filmmaking day today- I'm working art direction on a friends project, and today had lots of ups and downs (mostly ups though). Now it's nice to sit back and work on my own stuff for a while to clear my head.

Who's gonna win the HPLFF 2012? "WE ARE! WE ARE!"

New Raincoat

2012-01-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

It's raining in Brisbane. ALL. THE. TIME. People are freaking out thinking we're heading for another flood like the on we had this time last year. I don't see it happening, but the river has risen quite a lot.

eep.

However, I did buy a new raincoat so at least that's getting a workout. Here are photos of it in action!

Raincoat: Modcloth

Dress: Modcloth

Shoes: K Mart

Socks: Cotton On

Bag: Tintin store official.

Ironically, my flowers of the week this week are sunflowers.

I just don't know what to do with myself.

2012-01-22T18:25:00.000-08:00

It's a rainy, boring day at home, so I'm selling clothes on eBay and watching TV. I found this dress I bought off Modcloth that was too short so I chopped it in half (or thirds, I guess- it was very short) and made it into a top.

OK. I'm bored. Can we have an alien invasion or rain of frogs something already? Blergh. Sorry blog.

Rainy Day Dress

2012-01-16T16:41:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law Polly (and family) sent me this dress from Spain for Christmas, so I thought I'd share it with the group! It's raining and cold here, despite it being the middle of summer, hardly a time for summer dresses, but the colours are quite wintery. Now I plan to put on pyjamas and a coat and stay that way till the weather clears.

Shoes: Kathryn Wilson

Dress: Almatrichi

Stockings: Myer

Socks: Myer

The best part is, it goes with my wedding shoes, which I rarely get a chance to wear anymore. Also, you fashion blogging types, let it be known that I still feel like a massive dork posing for photos. Does that ever pass? When do you get to that stage where you're like "yeah, I'm standing around over-dressed in a rainy, muddy park getting my photo taken leaning on muddy things, whatevs"?
Blogging about food and movies is easier. No one gets muddy.

An Evening with Ira Glass

2012-01-13T13:47:00.000-08:00

Just an evening?

So Homer Simpson was talking about Phillip Glass when he said that, but I'd much rather spend an evening with Ira, which is just what I did Thursday night.

For those of you who have never listened to Ira on This American Life, stop reading this stupid blog and go download the Podcast! You don't have to be an American (or, in my case, have a Life) to be moved by the show.

Here's a cruddy iPhone photo or Ira at work. It was a funny and enlightening look into storyteling. Speaking of cute guys giving lectures, I also saw my Husband Colin speak at a Dark Knight screening last night. He is now Brisbane's foremost Batman expert!

And finally, my outfit of the day!

Top: Modcloth

Skirt: Sportsgirl

Belt: H&M

What I Wore: Thai Food With Friends

2012-01-06T23:32:00.001-08:00

In the spirit of posting more outfit photos this year, here's my Friday night wear! I feel silly getting my photo taken, I hope this will change over time. I had a nice Thai dinner with some friends, lots of coconut rice. Sometimes I think all I really want is the coconut rice, but have to order a curry so not to seem like such a weirdo.

Top: American Apparel

Pants: Tokito

Shoes: K Mart.

My main dude, Kermit.

Getting a jump start on those Resolutions, I just had my first driving lesson! I have to drive 100 hours before I can sit the test, so now I only have 99 hours to go. Woooooh. No alcohol, 8k bike rides, eating well, saving money, who am I anymore?!?

I also planned to buy flowers more often this year, and so I have.

Purdy.

Saturday Drivers: Montville

2012-01-06T23:29:00.000-08:00

Something unexpected happened- I had a day off on the weekend. Part of me feels guilty about this, after all, I'm missing penalty pay-rates and I always feel guilty if I'm not at work (go figure). The other part of me loves cheese. So Colin and I took of too the Sunshine Coast hinterland in search of cheese pure enough to absolve my guilt.

There is something terribly middle-aged about a road trip to Montville. Terribly GOOD that is. Where else can you find so many cuckoo clocks in one room? Germany? A factory or workshop where cuckoo clocks are made, and here, at Montville.

We also had a very nice lunch at a French restaurant and looked around for wedding rings at Antique stores. We didn't have one when we got married, and decided to just let them find us over the course of our marriage. However, I'm getting sick of waiting for the little guy to show up and ward off the creepy dude at work.

I give visiting Montville: 3.5 stars. It was better than visiting the Gold Coast, but worse than watching all the Alien films back-to-back in your winter pyjamas and eating Chorizo.

Too Much Fun

2012-01-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

6 puppet skins down, a whole mess of arms stuffed and three seasons of Gilmore Girls watched back-to-back from behind a sewing machine. It's been a good couple of days. Back to real-work today though, which isn't so bad either. Happy Friday (or thursday for US readers)!

It rained a little, so I got to break out the rainboots yesterday. They're too big for me, but I wear them anyway because sending them back to the US is too expensive.

Boots: Modcloth

Dress: Modcloth

Bag: Dangerfield

Work from Home Wednesday

2012-01-03T17:08:00.000-08:00

Two days at home to get a head start on my puppets for the short film! Which means A Storm of Fleece and Fluff (George MM Martin, you'd better not steal that for a book title).

It's pretty easy to make absolutely no effort to get dressed on a work-from-home day, and that is usually what I'd do, but I'm still riding that New Year wave of inspiration to better myself. Here is what I wore today, before it got covered with loose threads and bits of felt.

Can anyone guess where they've seen this necklace before? HINT: Tannis, anyone?

It's a replica of Rosemary's Tannis Root necklace from Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby- which is one of my favourite films.

Available on Etsy HERE from sirenasirena

Anyway, back to work. These puppets ain't gonna sew themselves.

Evil Pink Dress

2012-01-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

I really hate wearing pink. It's not some anti-cisgender, Barbie hating thing, it just makes me look fatter while at the same time making my skin seem red and blotchy. Hot. Like Miss Piggy in a "Before" shot in a Proactiv ad. Colin convinced me to buy this dress from Kenzie Girl- I thought the style was nice but the pink was a little intense. However, in the spirit of blogging more of what I'm wearing this year, Old Pinky gets some time in the limelight. Lime and Pink. Ew.

I had to change before I went to Dungeons and Dragons. You can't kill a dragon in a pink dress. FACT.

Aside from posting more dresses, I also (finally) have my own domain name. Now I just sit back and wait for the fame and fortune to roll in...

Post New Years Round-up

2012-01-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

Add to New Years Resolution List: Use fewer crappy photoshop filters.

So far the eating well is going okay, and my flat is still shiny and clean from that January 1st buzz you get where you have to clean everything because you're full of ambition. It's a shame Jan 2nd usually means dumping socks in the middle of the floor and not making your bed anymore because you're 'just going to sleep in it again tonight anyway'.

What we wore on New Years! My whole outfit is shameful, sexist American Apparel. Add "buy fewer clothes from American Apparel" to resolution list. I wish they made crappier clothes so I could adhere to that one. Colin's shirt is from Country Road and his pants are Witchery Man- or as we like to call it "Warlock".

My shoes, however are $13 Kmart brogues. Cheap, standard shoes for when you just want your shoes to quietly blend in to your outfit without causing a fuss.
I like to travel. When you move a lot, you can't have a lot of shoes, they take up too much luggage space. So I always have on hand 1 pair of sandals, one pair of Havianas, one pair of Cons, one pair of dressy ballet flats, rain-boots and one pair of brogues. I bought these as a back up pair because my good brogues have no grip on the bottoms and usually result in me falling down something steep.

2 Broke Dorks

2012-01-02T05:03:00.000-08:00

It's the last days of Colin's end-of-year holidays and thanks to a whole mess of public holidays and whatnots we are on our last dime which means aside from having very vegetable-rich dinners, we have to entertain ourselves in a very inexpensive way. Today we decided to make a movie about Garry, the sheep we bought at Ikea last week. If you want to know more about that check out Colin's Blog HERE.

Yesterday after I finished work we hung around to look at some of the exhibitions I still hadn't seen. We got in a very bourgeois disagreement over Matisse. Things got heated. Fine cheeses where thrown and Ralph Lauren polos were stained. In the end we agreed that while we disagreed on art, we agreed that cheeses (no matter how fine) should never be used as weaponry.

Happy New Year- Yearly Review

2011-12-31T02:25:00.000-08:00

The year 2011 started full of hope and promise at Katie and Yang's NYE party. The future looked bright, we had plans to move to L.A. in March.

So we hung out. Passed the time. Looked at some things. Here's Colin, looking at something.

January brought the Brisbane Floods. Our suburb remained unscathed, but the rest of Brisbane was le boned. We helped clean up after the damage was done. It was sad to see our friends and their relatives lose everything and the clean up was hard work.

Finally, March came and we went to the USA! Thanks to two very awesome flatmates we had somewhere to live and to drive us to and from LAX.

But first we took a mini break to New York, where we saw Book of Mormon, had Muppets made of ourselves and saw Cults play in Williamsburg.

It was cold in New York.

I whinged a whole lot because I was cold.

Then, back to LA! At first LA was scary, but we grew to love it after a month. We ate a lot, put on weight, made some cool friends and saw some great things. I interned for The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast, I met Chad! He bought me a tea. It was large and I burned my mouth, but played it cool anyway.

Colin got work on a movie called Lip Service, and then a rap video, and then a Russian mini-series. LA was the best.

Unfortunately, our Visa expired and we had to come home. We were excited about being home for almost an hour! Then metaphorical dark clouds rolled in, and we vowed to get permanent Visa and return to our beloved Silverlake... FOREVER!!! So we applied for a permanent Visa which we're still waiting on.

Now, back in Brisbane we started work on a video for Muse's Origin of Symmetry tour. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. Seeing pics of it on the big screen was exciting.

Then something amazing happened! We both got jobs! PAYING jobs! Colin as a videographer and I at the children's center of the Art Gallery. With two wages coming in, we could save and keep waiting for news of our US Visa!

We had a Halloween party. It was fun.

Then decided it was time to work on a short film. I started making the puppets.

And this is where our year ends, seconds away from leaving for Paul's NYE party, which I will be leaving early from so that I can get enough sleep for work tomorrow. Thanks to Carly and Felicia for helping us out in LA in 2011, Simon and Clare for giving us a break, my DnD crew for playing DnD a whole bunch and not telling too many people about it, and my friends for being cool like they do every year. Happy New Year kids! All the best for 2012 (despite what those pesky Mayans are saying, I'm sure it's going to be a good year).

Top Films of 2011

2011-12-29T14:45:00.000-08:00

Here's my picks for 2011! What a great year it's been for movies.

1. The Muppets
I cried tears of joy. Like, for realz. Also worth mentioning that Amy Addams had a great wardrobe that I intend to steal for 2012.

2. Drive
Believe it or not, I don't have a crush on The Goz. He always seems a little simple to me (like Gump simple). However this movie was unexpectedly awesome and the soundtrack is great. A real huuuman beeeeing AND a real heeroooo...

3. The Woman
Controversial as heck, and not a film I'd recommend to just anyone, but Lucky McKee's The Woman was top notch black comedy/ satire.

4. Tucker and Dale Vs Evil
Most clever, funny horror/comedy movie I've seen in a very long time.

5. Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey
A must see for Henson/Muppet fans. Surprisingly emotional.

6. Submarine
Very funny underrated film that reminded me a lot of Harold and Maude.

7. Rango
Interesting style of animation, very grotesque (in a good way!). Great storyline and cool cameos.

8. Cedar Rapids
Another great, underrated dark comedy.

9. Winnie the Pooh
Very funny, classic Pooh bear story with a nice soundtrack by Zooooey with the extra o's.

10. Tree of Life
Beautiful, with dinosaurs! I would have actually enjoyed the long version of Tree Of Life, I feel like I could have watched it for six hours.

Also worth a mention was Paranormal Activity 3, which was surprisingly great! Directed by the Catfish guys, the film contains some great set design and an actual sheet-ghost!

Chippy Chrimbus

2011-12-19T04:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! We've been out tonight checking out the winner of the lights comp in Brisbane. We found a brand new Samsung smart phone while we were there too, but tracked down and returned it to the owner because we're honest (and also have superior iPhones). Not many sleeps to go. I hope I get something heavy and expensive.
Like an outboard motor.
Or a snow plow with my name on the side spelt with diamonds.

Pickman's Model

2011-12-18T01:05:00.000-08:00

Hey Hey honky cats! We started pre-pre-production on our short film for the HP Lovecraft Film Fest. And by that I mean "I am 1/10th into making the first of 4 puppets, we have a co-writer for the script and I looked online to see the submission closing date".

The 'skin' of our narrator

I saw the new Muppets Movie and was inspired- it's so wonderful, I think I teared up about six times. Tonight I'm teaching myself the Henson Stitch and reading puppet making blogs like Puppet Muse, it's full of creative and fun puppet-making tips and ideas for anyone who's interested!

And because 50% of my readers are fashion bloggers who don't care about my puppet obsession, here's what I am wearing while I stitch the night away in front of the X Files and pig out on Singaporean take-away! Fashionably fleecy! I match my puppet.

Skirt and "Belt" both from Modcloth (Belt stolen from Soda Fountain Dress). Top: Some shop in Melbourne c2009

Look Ma! No arms!

Updates

2011-12-14T17:45:00.000-08:00

So I'm still working ALL OF THE TIMES, which leaves very little time to blog, or, y'know, sleep, eat... Here's some photos of things I've been doing. I swear, I'll try harder next post...

Still making puppets for of HPLFF film, not enough progress to get excited about though. Sigh.

Playing boardgames. I am a sheep baron.

I also bought a Kindle. I had a day off so I just lay on the couch reading all day because I was low on energy. So far I've ready Jack Ketchum's The Woman, and I'm half way through Robert Chamber's The King In Yellow. We're about to hit our first goal in saving to move back to America too, thanks to all this work we're doing. Yay team!

I will be better at blogging next time, I promise.

Laterz,

Brooke

Eustus Comedy

2011-12-03T04:57:00.001-08:00

So when I said "less hours at work" turns out I actually meant "I will now be working 364 days a year, and will probably end up taking another persons shift on that one day". Oh well, I have cash coming in, which is useful around Chrimbus time, and the work is fun. As I have nothing of my own to post this week, I thought I'd share some videos by my creative pals Clare and Simon.

Clare and Si live in the UK and make great animations and funny comedy videos.

We made a short film together this year, and it's almost finished, so I'll share it once it's done. Until then, enjoy these sheep from Cornwall.

Same Brooke, New Job

2011-11-28T01:34:00.001-08:00

If I've been a little light-on with the blogging this fortnight, it's because I have a new job in the children's workshop at an art gallery! Brag post!

This is where I work now! And I already got a promotion after 3 shifts! Less hours, more time to work on my own projects too, like blogging for example. Stay tuned.

Harvest Festival

2011-11-20T16:35:00.001-08:00

Howdy Pardners!

I've been away from computer for the last few days working with the art department for Harvest Music Festival. Now it's over, but I'm still itchy and bumpy from alergies to grass seeds and the faint smell of sun screen continues to follow me around. We had a great time on the day though and everything looked great. I got to see The National for the first time, and TV on the Radio and The Flaming Lips again. Good times.

It's time to paint the nails...

2011-11-16T02:39:00.001-08:00

Y'all know how much I love The Muppets, when I found out OPI was releasing a Muppet line of nail polishes I plotzed. The one I wanted, Rainbow Connection (as seen above on my pitiful nails), was completely sold out city wide. I had to put my name on the waiting list, but like Jeff "Wait Mate" Goldblum, I simply couldn't waaaait. I had it shipped to me and it is now on my nails where it belongs. Retailers, pro-tip: If you want my money, just put some reference to Jim Henson on it. Unless it already mentions Pee Wee Herman, then leave it as it is.

Now I have to buy all of them.

Package Pals

2011-11-14T04:15:00.001-08:00

I'm getting back into correspondence- as in ye olde fashioned kind, like with stamps and all that jazz. I'm doing this in three ways. The first is printing, folding and stuffing about 10,000 envelopes for a mail-out at my lousy job- which I've made even more difficult for myself by adding like 200 fake names to the client database in various fits of boredom. This is not one of the fun ways I'm getting back in to correspondence (unless you count the joy of discovering one of the letters has been returned because "BRUCE WAYNE at Wayne Manor" is not a valid address).
The second (and third) is sending letters by post to France- to my dear friends Martin and Glen, and Utah to my new pen-pal and fellow puppy-lover Heather.

I met Heather through fellow blogger Gentri Lee, and we are now exchanging packages of local goodies. I'm not showing you what's in them because I don't want to spoil the surprise for Heather, but here are some pics of the packaging I made (which turned out to be as fun as buying things).

Sending packages is a really great way to be creative! Why not send someone something you made? A drawing! A photograph! Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box! Maybe an eldritch clay bas-relief of an octopus headed monster that will send them on a quest that will unravel their very sanity?

Just as long as you don't send those last two things to me.

AND I managed to get through that whole post without making any lewd innuendo regarding the word "Package".

Brooke

2011-11-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

I did something I didn't know I could do! I grew a strawberry. Strawberry plants and I have a bad history, I've killed a lot of them. In the Strawberry Plant community my name is feared, I'm the Ed Gein of fruit plants. Yet somehow, this plant is doing really well. I put it down to Colin doing most of the upkeep.

Things are a little off kilter at the moment, we are realistically still a year away (possibly more) from moving back to LA and it's getting me down. I miss that crazy town a lot, I'd sell my soul for a Port and Stilton Umami Burger and what ever snooty beer the cute Hipster who works there recommends. I'm working two jobs to save money, and studying. I'm tired, cranky and frustrated.

To combat the sads, I am staying very active. I'm trying (and succeeding!) to lose weight, being healthier, and taking on more creative projects. Here are some "Get Happy" techniques that seem to be working (or at least distracting me).

1. Ride a bike. No one can be unhappy riding a bike! Do you ever see someone weeping and feeling sorry for themselves riding a bike? NO! It's also good for your health!

2. See more live music. We've got Tv on the Radio, Flaming Lips, Deerhoof, Cults, M83, Pains of being Pure at Heart, Toro Y Moi and Twin Shadow on the horizon. More to come!

3. Hang out at home more. Do your washing, cleaning, folding, cooking. It makes you feel like you have it together, even when you don't. Then, once everything is in order, kick back and watch some Comedy movies/TV. My current TV choices are Community and Pee Wee's Playhouse.

4. Trade sugary drinks for cold water. I'm trying to drink 2 liters everyday. My skin looks better and I feel better for it

5. Be creative EVERYDAY! It's my new moto for living. Now that crazy-October is over I'm trying to abide by this rule. I'm learning to crochet (not successfully) and we're writing a screenplay. I'm also getting back into puppet making.

When all else fails and I still feel bummed out, I like to lay on the grass in the sun and relax, maybe listen to Elliott Smith's Figure 8 album. Listening to music distracts your brain from telling you to worry about things.

And if all that doesn't work, my plan would be to buy these boots:

Fong-O-Ween 2011

2011-10-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we held the first annual Fong Family Halloween party, and it was totally fun! Lot's of cool costumes and good food and catching up with friends. Here are some photos!

Dressed up as my idol, Pee Wee Herman!

I made Mary Blair inspired invites.

Snack table.

A few of the costumes (apologies if we missed yours). ~~There were some great Rock-em-Sock-em Robots who's picture has mysteriously disappeared!~~ Got em'!

2 Nyan Cats at the same party!

It was a great turn out (especially considering we live in THE SUBURBS).

Special thanks to Mandrew who braved white lycra to dress up as the Greendale Human Being, Rowena, Susie and Elliott who brought extra (delicious) snacks, Katy who didn't arrive in a costume but somehow acquired a good one during the evening, and Spencer who not only dressed up as a HP Lovecraft character but thought it would be 'easier' to bring a REAL syringe from work full of glow stick juice than a fake one- y'know, for authenticity :)

Hallo-week DIY #2

2011-10-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

Halloween Holidays for Halloweenies: Fuji Q Highland

2011-10-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

Carrying on with the Halloween theme of the week:

Colin and I like to go to theme park haunted houses a lot. A LOT. We've been to some amazing ones (Fuji Q), some pretty ones (Efteling, Netherlands. Disney's Haunted Mansion) some okay ones (Universal Studios) and some downright poor ones (New Farm Primary School, lift your game! Your Sheet Ghosts were just phoning it in).

Sometimes I go to "real" ones too. Amityville!

Probably the most impressive Haunted House ride I've ever been to was in Japan's Fuji Q Highland theme park. If you go to Japan and do only one thing, make it this ghost house!

For all you familiar with Japan, you will know that it is literally swarming with long haired female ghosts and city-destroying monsters. But if you really want to be scared, Fuji Q is where it's at.

This three story haunted hospital will have you pooping the proverbial. If you do it right, it takes over half an hour to complete.

The queue for the ride is conveniently located beside the exit, so while you wait you can watch grown men running out of the exit screaming, sometimes in tears, sometimes falling over themselves and face-planting onto the wet cement.

You thought I was exaggerating?

I'd like to tell you what happened in there, but I actually don't remember a lot of it, I think my brain shut down due to fiercely pooping myself. It was like being in the Silent Hill game, we walked in to a perfect replica of an abandon hospital, we were given flashlights and then pushing into pretty much the scariest thing in the world. I think there was a boiler room. And a natal ward. And a scary guy with a scalpel and two moronic Australians screaming and running away in terror.

The only low light of the day was that it was pouring rain and 3 degrees. 80% of the rides were shut down and Colin's feet went blue from the cold. We were at the base of Mt Fuji and we couldn't actually see it for the cloud cover.

We were not having any fun, but at least the queues were short.

So, if you find yourself in Japan, and have 7 days to kill before that darn videotape curse gets you down, head on out to Fuji Q and try not to embarrass yourselves as much as we did in the Haunted Hospital. Also, check the weather report and you might get to go on some other cool rides too. Seeing their beautiful, park sized ice rink closed down and full of cold, grey water was a heck of a depressing sight.

Happy Halloweek!

Brooke

Meet Me At The Waterfront After The Social #3

2011-10-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

Drag Me To Hell (2009)

It's a big Halloween week over here at Arnold Burgers! (Even though, as previously mentioned, Australia doesn't do Halloween) What better way to kick off a big week of defiance against the homeland than a good scary movie!

Who hasn't woken up on Saturday, hung over as hell with a angry old Gypsy lady? No? Me neither. *cough*

I had pretty much lost faith in Sam Raimi so going in to Drag Me To Hell I was skeptical. Actually, belligerent might sum it up better, I was on my high horse cantering bareback straight to disappointment town. But somewhere along the ride I took an unexpected turn and ended up in New Enjoymentville... I'm gonna stop with this horrible metaphor, what I'm trying to say is it was good.

From the opening scene and the fantastic title card to the wonderfully twisted ending, Drag Me To Hell is my pick for the best horror movie of the 2000's. (And definitely in the top 10 movies of the 2000's)

Christine is an ambitious young banker who is angling for a promotion. To prove herself to her oblivious boss, she denies an old Gypsy lady a loan extension. As revenge, the vengeful Mrs Ganush curses Christine with the dreaded Lamia, a goat demon intent on dragging Christine to Hell. Will Christine escape the curse? Will Mrs Ganush learn to pay her bills on time? Would it have all been different if Christine read Stephen King's Thinner before she messed with Gypsies? Drag Me To Hell has all the answers.

What I love about Drag Me To Hell is how unnecessarily cruel it is. Christine is just doing her job! Mrs Ganush is in the wrong, yet it's Christine who gets punished. It reminds me of the film The Changeling (or a multitude of Asian horror films) where someone who already has it tough suddenly finds themselves the victim in a supernatural episode of Punk'd. Cruel. Unfair. Awesome.

Halloween is a good time to watch a multitude of disgusting liquids being spat at Christine. So is every other day. If you haven't seen it, quit reading this dribble and get to the video store.

*Fun Fact: when I wrote a review of this for a magazine back in 2009, I got fan mail from an 80 year old man who went to see it on my recommendation and loved it!*

It's the weekend!

2011-10-21T00:36:00.000-07:00

So here is a picture of a ghost in Kanye sunglasses that I drew.

Weekend, yo'. Have a good one!

Happy 100th Birthday Mary Blair

2011-10-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

It's Mary Blair's 100th birthday today. Her art will never stop inspiring me, Happy B'day MB. Celebrate by checking out the Google Doodle today!

HP Podcraft

2011-10-20T05:29:00.000-07:00

So I'm at University studying books n' moofies, and y'all know that, but what you might not know is that I'm focusing my studies on weird fiction and short horror stories- in particular the works of an author called HP Lovecraft (as you can imagine, the employment opportunities for a Lovecraft Academic are so darn plentiful I'll be practically recession proof!).

Furthermore, there's this podcast I do some research and things for called The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast. If you wanna hear me stumble and stammer through this week's episode of the Podcast, (and maybe learn a little about HPL along the way) then click THIS LINK! Or you can download it on iTunes. If I sound nervous it's because about 1 minute in I remembered thousands of people would be listening to my droning, deadpan voice and idiotic observations. Bricks were shat.

I recommend the podcast to everyone, even people with no idea who HPL is and what he wrote about. Heck, you might just find out that something you love is actually inspired by the universe HPL created- especially all you Arkham-City-playing-kids out there. Chris and Chad are funny guys who make Lovecraftian Learning fun, and it really is the best way to get your weekly giant octopus fill (in a nice, G rated kinda way). Also, there's some great music and cool(er than me) guest hosts.

I'll leave you now with this ceremonial Lovecraft-inspired Octopus I drew, because I fear this post has gotten a little wordy.

Big Cake Bake

2011-10-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

Some photos from our charity cake bake, and the invites I designed. Fun, sugary times on a very hot day. ~~Not sure how much money we raised, but I think we did okay~~. We raised lots of money!

Big Fail Bake

2011-10-15T22:32:00.000-07:00

Big Cake ~~Bake~~ Massacre

I don't wanna toot my own horn, but I'm pretty good at baking things. Usually, anyway. Yesterday I lost my baking mojo and the results were disastrous.

Ingredients, things, Gilmore Girls on the TV, we're off to a good start... but suddenly- failure.

Last recorded photo of the deceased cake.

I was scheduled to make two cakes for a charity bake off we were holding on Sunday. The first was the Smitten Kitchen Caramel Cake, the second was the Funfetti Cake I've been meaning to try for ages.

Ladies and gentleman, it was a massacre. I killed three cakes before I made a semi-decent one. One was so bad it was inedible. I just couldn't bake yesterday. And then, an apocalyptic storm hit, as if to say "STOP BAKING! STOP HURTING THESE CAKES!!!"

Below is one of the lucky survivors. And my $15 halloween pumpkin, (because that's what they cost here.)

I really hope I do a better job for Halloween baking. If I don't I might have to take up monster truck driving, or fencing, or anything that doesn't involve the senseless torture of baked goods.

BAH. Epic Fail.

DIY Halloween Decorations

2011-10-13T04:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true what you've heard- Australia does not celebrate Halloween.

I don't know why. Sure, it's not Autumn here, we don't have those big pumpkins either, but it's the holiday that holds back the non-stop flood of Christmas merch invading stores in October! If you're not a Halloweenie, then YOU are the one to blame when Silent Night is playing in Kmart on repeat this week.

So hold off on the tinsel for a few more weeks, Australia! Grab a tiny butternut pumpkin and start carving! Or in my case, plan a halloween party and make your own Halloween Candy Corn Pom Poms*

*FYI America: We don't have Candy Corn here either.

Step 1: Cut two cardboard donut shapes of the same size and put them together. The Yellow pom pom will be the largest donut, make the orange cardboard donut slightly smaller, and the white one smaller still. This will make three different sized pom poms.
Step 2: Wrap your Candy Corn coloured wool around the donut, through the centre
Step 3: Cut around the outside wool. Take a length of wool and slide it between the disks. Tie a tight shoelace knot.
Step 4: Slide the disks off the pom pom and fluff it up
Step 5: Tie them all together to make your fluffy candy corn.

Make a chain of them! It's a cheap, fun way of decorating for Halloween.

The X1

2011-10-12T01:43:00.000-07:00

It has arrived! Behold, The X1.

(Lens flare added for dramatic effect)

It still needs lights, a skirt guard, spoke protectors, a plastic horn shaped like a tiger, a... well, you get the picture, there is much work to be done. But for now, YAY!

Mix Tape Summer '11

2011-10-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

The first cassette I ever bought was Oasis's What's the Story Morning Glory. Unlike the example above mine was blue- it was the height of technology and general coolness. The kids in my grade didn't care much for brit-pop but the high-school boy I was jonesing for was well into Oasis and he was mildly impressed when I told him. It was possibly the highest point in my primary school career.

To the future: My first boyfriend and I exchanged mixed tapes a lot, they had a lot of Jeff Buckley on them, or b-sides by 70's rock bands. By the time I met my husband they had become mixed CD's (of which Colin was famous for making good ones).

I'm not in 7th grade anymore, I don't really listen to Oasis- I assume one of them eventually beat the other on to death, and now I have an iPod rather than a Sony Walkman (it was forrest green, black headphones) but I still love a good mix tape. And after that brief history of the portable music device, here is my Summer Mix Tape.

Summer Mix Tape

1. Keep It Going Louder- Major Lazer

2. Crazy Mad- Bird Talk

3. You Know What I Mean- Cults

4. Everlasting Love- Alisa

5. Chick Habit- April March

6. Wrapped Up in Books- Belle and Sebastian

7. Real Estate- Cadence Weapon

8. Keep it Clean- Camera Obscura

9. Just in Case- Micachu and The Shapes

10. Country of the Future- Mirah

11. This Year- The Mountain Goats

12. A Man With No Ankles- Owen Pallet

13. Relator- Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johanson

14. Scott Pilgrim- Plumtree

15. Honkey Donkey- Solex

16. Psychic City- YACHT

17. California Gurls- Katy Perry

18. Too Much- Sufjan Stevens

19. The Suburbs- Arcade Fire

20. Shady Lane- Pavement

Feel free to share your own Summer/Winter Mix Tape suggestions!

Roll a D6

2011-09-29T04:38:00.000-07:00

Playing Dungeons and Dragons: it may seem nerdy to you now, but forget what you think you know about DnD!

I ask you, is it nerdyfor an adult woman to pretend be a 116 year old male, Eladriin Wizard named MohlwheyWhitebeard every Tuesday night? And is it nerdy to agonise over the colour ofyour dice set? Is it nerdy to be part of an awesomefighting group of super friends that fight to the score of the Star Warsmovies? Or to spend hours of your working day reading thru Wizard spells?

No.Of course not, none of those things are even remotely nerdy.

Case closed.

Does this guy look like a nerd to you???

Okay, so it's super nerdy!!! But it really is the most fun ever. And it’s a fun way to socialise. My Wizard though, he’s bit shite. His special power seems to be getting hit by things and passing out a whole bunch.

This is apparently my reaction to passing out (again).

Also, we're all hipsters so we play on various Apple products while we drink micro-brewery beer, and our Dungeon Master designs our characters himself in Adobe Illustrator.

Good times! DnD: a good, wholesome way to spend an otherwise possibly debaucherous Tuesday evening.

Meet Me at the Waterfront After the Social #2

2011-09-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985)

Pee Wee Herman is pretty much my idol, and his first feature film Pee Wee's Big Adventure was born the same year I was! It's fate that this is my all time favorite movie.

Paul Reuben's iconic character Pee Wee and his dog Speck live in a big red house where inventions make his breakfast and toys water his (very tastefully decorated) front lawn. Life is pretty good for Pee Wee until his arch nemisis Francis steals his beloved bike. After a fortune teller tells Pee Wee his bike is in the basement of the Alamo he sets off on the aforementioned "Big Adventure" to get it back.

I love everything about this movie, Pee Wee is such a great character, and the script is just so funny and uplifting, it reminds me why Tim Burton is good (and these days you really need something to remind you). The film is full of great characters, Dottie--Pee Wee's love interest-- is pretty much the cutest bike-riding chick ever, Large Marge still gives me nightmares, and Pee Wee's bike is the greatest bike that ever existed.

Seriously, Dottie is the coolest.

Pee Wee's Big Adventure is the perfect film for big kids like us, I'm so glad Paul Reubens is getting his well-deserved comeback and making a new Pee Wee movie. Long live Pee Wee Herman!

Colourful Night Out

2011-09-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

Brisbane Festival is on again, and one of the things happening is a daily laser light show over the city. I've always wanted to be blasted in the eye with lasers while listening to Phillip Glass, so we went.

It was both warm and cold enough to wear my favourite Laura Ashleigh dress.

South Bank is the remains on Expo 1988, it's popular with families from the country who are visiting the city, teens on first dates, and flood waters. Apparently South Bank was also the best place to see the lasers, so we met up with our friends Rowena and Elliott for a dorky double date.

The wheel of Brisbane, or as I like to call it The Brisbane Eye.

LED tunnel of wuv.

Laserzzz! Pew! Pew!!!

I'm not kidding about the Phillip Glass either. And I had some many laser beams in my eyes I think my vision is cured.

It was a very strange Brisbane night out.

Summahhhh

2011-09-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

Summer time is time for breezy short-shorts! Evidence below!

I got my short shorts at a terrible, terrible trashy chain store in the Glendale Mall. All short shorts should be born in such a place. Now off to the cool, airconditioned mall at Chermside to look for more Tin Tin inspired outfits for Colin.

Swoon!

2011-09-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

My hero Pee Wee Herman just thanked me on Twitter. Life goal achieved! 10000 XP earned! +5 Charisma!

Extreme Blog Makeover!

2011-09-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

Thanks for being patient while the blog was getting all gussied up. It's pretty much done now though, or at least I'm done with it.
Stay tuned for future updates!

Meet Me At The Waterfront After The Social #1

2011-09-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends of Arnold;
Inspired by Virginie's recent blog posts about films, I have decided to dedicate my Mondays to writing about my 100 favorite films. A few of you already know I am a film reviewer for Rave Magazine, and I pretty much live for movies, but I'm not a cinema snob. I enjoy arthouse, as much as I enjoy children's movies and Arnie movies, so hopefully there will be something for everyone. I hope that I'll introduce you to a movie you have never seen before and it will become one of your favorites too, or I'll at least remind you of a film you've forgotten.

1# Harold and Maude (1971)

When people ask what my favorite film is, Harold and Maude is usually my answer. Or it at least ties with next weeks film* (*SPOILER WARNING) Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

Harold and Maude is an offbeat romance/ coming-of-age story. Harold is a teenager who is fascinated by death. He frequents strangers funerals, drives a hearse, and stages fake suicide attempts- much to the dismay of his highly strung mother.
At one such funeral he meets Maude, a woman in her 70's who is Harold's opposite. Maude lives life with abandon, staging protests, stealing cars and liberating trees. An unlikely friendship forms between the two amidst police chases, staged murders and an uplifting Cat Stevens soundtrack.

Critics often accuse Harold and Maude of being too obvious and they have a point, there aren't a lot of surprises- but the journey is so lively and uplifting it's hard not to be moved. Bud Cort is perfect as the morbid Harold, and Ruth Gordon is similarly wonderful.

Harold and Maude also has wonderful sense of fashion. Kind of an American take on 1960's Dapper London, all tweed and scarves and suit jackets that hasn't dated at all (for me, at least). I wish it were mandatory for all men to dress like Harold.

Both Colin and I are so fond of Harold and Maude that we chose to play Cat Stevens' "Don't Be Shy" from the soundtrack at our marriage ceremony. This film really means a lot to me, very few movies have really changed my outlook on life, but Harold and Maude did. It's a film I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching.

2011-09-18T03:26:00.000-07:00

Warm weather is happening!!! Like, now!

I made a Summer Strawberry cake to celebrate. Recipe here.

To be honest, it wasn't great. I reduced the amount of sugar which was good, but it was still quite plain. However, it did look pretty and it was very easy to make. Happy Warmer everyone! Sandal and sundress times ahead!

Duff Beer. Like, for reals.

2011-09-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

How long has this existed?!?

My best Japanese Beer Commercial pose

We bought two 6 packs, one for us, and one for my dad. The strange thing was, I thought it would be sh*t, but it was actually totally good!

(we added the umlaut.)

Find of the day for sure.

Making The Most Out Of Your Shoebox : Part 1

2011-09-15T03:33:00.000-07:00

Part One: Living Room and Kitchenette

If you're like me, you live in a converted garage in your mother-in-law's yard. You too?!? Aren't we both the model of mid-20's success.

But even though things may seem bad, you can turn your shoebox into something that you won't be ashamed to bring friends into*! (* no more friends than three will fit in said flat).

Here are some tips to confined living

1. Let go of all inhibitions when it comes to using the bathroom. No amount of running water, coughing or loudly singing Journey songs will disguise what you are doing in there from your partner. Embrace the embarrassment, in the words of Gomi Taro "Everybody Poops"

2. NO MESS ANYWHERE EVER OKAY. One sock on the floor of a tiny apartment means chaos and pandemonium. Two socks and you may as well empty a trash can on the floor. There is no room for mess in a tiny flat.

3. Ikea
4. Storage. Everything must be stored. Shelves and boxes people. The Ikea shelf below is my kitchen and garden in one. What you see here is only 1/5 of our belongings. All Colin's comics are in boxes in the storage room next door, waiting for the day we move the heck out (end of the year!) or move back overseas (end of the year!). If Colin's comics were out though one of us would need to move out.

5. Get some plants. They're good for morale.

6. We like to buy prints where ever we go. Usually they just sit in tubes waiting to be framed for months and months, but sometimes they make it to the wall. They make the room seem smaller, but you actually want to be in it. If you've got no space for mirrors, why not buy a print that looks like someone similar to you. It's essentially the same thing. For example, I think I look like when Pee Wee Herman puts a dress on in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Colin resembles a stuffed doe head.

And last--but not least--a $19 Ikea LACK coffee table CAN and WILL be used as a dining room table. Just kneel on the floor and pretend you're in Japan.

Weekend Post

2011-09-04T04:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we went to Yang's place for a Riverfire party. Pics or it didn't happen:

Today I made the head and glasses for my next puppet. His appearance is based on HP Lovecraft, hence why his head is long and chin is large. He's going to be covered in green fleece. HPL wasn't green, but he would probably agree with Kermit's sentiment. At the moment he looks more like Don Draper.

Finally, have I accidentally been looking like Donna Matthews from Elastica for my whole life? I ask this because people have been saying it a lot at the moment, including one guy who was her old roommate.

???

"Submarine" Film Premier, Palace Cinema, Brisbane

2011-08-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

Some dude snapped a photo of us for an entertainment website. SUPERSTAR!

More from Muse- "Darkshines" at Reading and Leeds

2011-08-29T05:15:00.000-07:00

Some photos of our visuals from Reading and Leeds for band Muse. If you are lucky enough to live in the UK/Europe watch it on the BBC website and think of how many X-Files episodes it took to get through cutting out all those puppets.

Photos by the awesome duo Si and Clare Bennett. And if you want to see a behind the scenes of the very intricate and professional process of making a music video for an epic, famous rock band...

That is a shower curtain thumbtacked to a wooded frame, secured to the roof with a length of yarn held up by thumb tacks. Colin is fashioning puppets out of kebab sticks and cardboard.

PROFESSIONAL.

Muse Visuals

2011-08-27T01:51:00.000-07:00

Our visuals for Muse at Leeds Festival! It looks cool! Look out for dancin' Ian!

Searching our names on google...

2011-08-25T04:12:00.000-07:00

...And it's actually us in the results, and not a porn star with a similar name! Taken by ex-roomie and awesome photo-takerer Carly Hoskins in Silverlake.

EKKA 2011

2011-08-24T02:31:00.000-07:00

For all of you out-of-towners, the EKKA is like a big country show that comes to Brisbane every August. It's always on my birthday week and we get a public holiday for it, so we always go. They have the best strawberry ice creams (except they changed the recipe this year and blew it) and the cutest animals.

They also have a lot of hillbillies and carnies, airborne illnesses and overpriced rides... but who cares? PUPPIES!

Super big veggies

Horrifying

A goat ate my dress AND my hair. And neither of us got the flu.

The end

Album

2011-08-24T01:20:00.000-07:00

In honor of my first year of wife'n I'm putting together a photo album of memories of our first year. I plan to do it every year so that one day when we have little geeks of our own they can see how we lived (for better or worse) and mock our stupid haircuts and outdated taste in things.

I always wish my parents kept more from their youth, it's cool to look back and see how they dressed, what they liked and where they went.

Here is the title page, it contains many a fun fact about what we did this year. You can click it to make it bigger...

THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID

Indoor Gardening

2011-08-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sick of buying herbs, so I wanted to plant some. Here's the problem though:
1. Possums (and sometimes my Mother-in-law) enjoy pulling up my herbs. Possums because they are tasty possum food, and mother-in-law because she thinks they're weeds.
2. I'm bad at remembering to water things.

Usually nature would take care of the watering but... well, see point #1.

To combat this, I gave the planters faces. That way if I forget them, their sad expressions will make me feel bad. As soon as something has a face, I start to believe it cares for me.

Colanders make cool planters!

Anniversary the first.

2011-08-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

Colin and I have been married for one year!

Marrying Colin was the best thing I ever did. Here is a brief photographic tour.

Early times, on the roof of the old Dendy Cinema

When we were first dating in 2007 and stripes were cool. James st. house party

Visiting family in Hong Kong

Being racially insensitive

Holidaying in NY

Living in LA

Wedding day!

Now we're off to the exhibition pat some cute animals to celebrate.

Puppet Sunday

2011-08-07T00:57:00.000-07:00

Making my own non-union Muppets to star in a short film for next year's HP Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland.

What you see below is fleece, a mangled dog bed, a mangled pillow, ping pong balls and a shaggy dust removing cloth. I am making this up as I go along, as I have no idea how to make a muppet.

This guy's name is Elliot, and he's one of the supporting characters. I'm trying to convince Colin that it should be a musical, but he thinks that may be a little ambitious for my first puppet short. Colin is away filming a music video for a few days, I hope my hard work will dazzle him into reconsidering. I also hope I can avoid spending the night reading crime library because I tend to do that when I'm home alone then I have the challenge of going to sleep with a head full of serial killer stories.

Ex dog bed.

Today was a bit of a bummer, so working with colourful fleece and furry cloth was a real pick me up, I also had a nice breakfast with friends and watched a lot of Pete and Pete.

In related news- Pro Tip: if you're feeling sad, don't think listening to Elliott Smith is going to improve your mood. That guy was way more sad than you are.

Market Day

2011-08-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

We actually woke up early enough to go to the markets on saturday. A rare event, indeed. We bought lots of eggs and mushrooms, and some baked sweets, then took a picnic basket full of snacks to the park to brainstorm ideas for a short film we're making for next years HP Lovecraft Film Festival.

GIANT Lamingtons.

All of your eggs are belong to us.

Beers and sugar distracted us from writing anything of worth for the short film.

Then I put off cleaning the flat to draw faces on the eggs.

All in all, a winning Saturday.

Brooke.

Mighty Cthulhu

2011-07-31T03:34:00.000-07:00

Sunday night, watching Master Chef and illustrating some graphics for a website in daggy PJ's.

I used to draw comics almost every day, now I rarely do unless there is someone who needs me to do it. I can't really say I enjoy drawing anymore, which is sad, but I always like seeing the finished product and knowing that I can still draw if I want to.

Whole Darn Chicken

2011-07-31T02:14:00.000-07:00

The supermarket had whole organic, free-range chickens for cheap! (pun certainly intended). Last time we ate a whole chicken it was at Medieval Times and boy, it wasn't pretty:

Greasy from chicken, drunk from beer.

I've never cooked a whole roast chicken, but it wasn't difficult. I dried it off and seasoned it with salt and pepper two days ago, then roasted it for a little over an hour, and threw in the veg for the last 20 mins. Perfect winter snackage.

Also, the one I cooked was much better than the ye olde (emphasis on the 'old') Medieval Times roaste chickene. Firstly, it was cooked properly. Secondly, it was hot. Also, we could use knives and forks when we ate this one, but alas no one was jousting for our entertainment for this one so we just watched Grand Designs on tele.

Roast Garlic is awesome, no? Somehow we forgot to go to the greengrocer, so all we had vegie-wise was pumpkin and garlic. Shame. Some roast potatoes would have elevated this chicken to a whole new level of tasty.

Brooke

Puppy Skate

2011-07-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

Before you ask, I'm not in the Roller Derby. I'm just a rollerskating dork with dorky knee-pads. Look at those cool 3D blue and red skates though. Then look at that strapping young Vizsla. Then look back at me. Then look at my friend Susie. She is in the Roller Derby. She is also getting married. Yay Susie!

Stunt Cookies!

2011-07-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

Sometimes my world and my husband's world collide in a chewy, chocolatey, cookie-shaped way.

Below are Jacques Torres signature Chocolate Chip Cookies, as made by me, to be featured in one of Colin's films tomorrow. Colin bought me chocolates from the store when I was sick in New York, and they cured me.

I am also playing hand model in said film. My mother always said I had a face for hand modelling.

Butter and sugar(s). If there is a better combination I don't wanna know about it.

Supa Chunk Superstars

Preparing for their big acting break.

The house smells like one of those toll-house cookie cabinets. Also, I love the sea salt topping- salted chocolate is better than almost anything. Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to prime my gross man-hands for their acting debut.

Lights! Camera! COOOKIESSSS!

Brooke

Ratatouille, again.

2011-07-27T00:31:00.000-07:00

I know I've made it before, but it just looks so good. Also, not much else is happening here, aside from job hunting. I'm about to start planning my short film to be entered in next year's HP Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, hopefully starting on the puppets next week when my sweet tax money comes in. Until then it's all employment websites and Oprah. Blah.

Oops! Forgot the capsicum :(

No matter! It's super easy to make ratatouille, all you need is a tin of crushed tomatoes, a zucchini, an eggplant, a capsicum, a squash, some garlic, onion and olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Sometimes I think I should just quit looking for jobs and start baking a ton of cupcakes and macarons and cookies and sell them at the markets. I can't imagine I'd make too much cash doing that though. Boo-urns.

Martha's Misery Macarons

2011-07-25T03:22:00.000-07:00

Miserable day! Failing at finding a job, living on no money and missing Los Angeles is getting us down. LA was full of film jobs and places to explore and warm sunshine and Brisbane is cold with nary a job in sight. All our goals feel a million miles away.

But when life gives you heaps of lemons, and you're sick of eating lemons for breakfast, lunch and dinner, then it's time to make Macarons.

(But no lemon ones).

This will be the first and last time I make Macarons, and here is why:

8 egg whites.

This is a supreme waste of eggs. To ease my conscience I bought discounted free range* Wiggles brand eggs that had a looming used-by date. They were purple, like Jeff (the best Wiggle) and only $2.99! Tomorrow we are having the most protein rich scrambled eggs ever, and I'll probably make some pastries to use the rest of that pesky yolk.

*If you don't buy free range eggs you are a massive jerk. No excuses.

Green tea flavored!

Here's a pro Macaron-making tip: Leave the shells sit on the bench for 10-20 minutes before putting them in the oven. The difference is puffier, happier Macarons that don't go too flat.

When I looked in the oven and saw this I was shocked they were actually working out.

More egg whites, of course.

Pro tip #2: try not to overfill your 'croonz like I did.

The final product, all overflowy and soft. Green Tea and Vanilla AND Choc-Hazelnut with Hazelnut Honey filling.

These were based on Martha Stewart's Parisian Macarons (recipe here) and they were easier to make than I expected- really! Try it! Don't be scared.

I changed it up a bit and added green tea matcha to the shells instead of vanilla, then stuck with a vanilla bean filling. Also, for the chocolate ones I substituted almond meal for hazelnut meal and added some dutch-process cocoa powder. Then I ate two and went into sugar-shock.

The good thing about the Macaron is that you can pretty much add any flavours and colourings you like and come up with something cool every time. I even saw a ketchup one once. Gross. The best one I've ever had though was a black sesame one in London.

Now I'm ready to face another day of applying for jobs and getting no response! Only it's not so bad now I have SUGARRRRR (and Dr Phil back-to-back with Oprah at noon).

"I put it in her brownie!"- Oscar Bluth

2011-07-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't made brownies since I was actually in Brownie Guides. I was six, and they were a packet mix. My mum did all the work, I licked brownie mix off the spatular and complained about being bored and that was my entire contribution to the thing.

For those not in the know, Brownie Guides is the step before Girl Guides. I was in house Melora, but then I was shifted to the Tintookis. Meloras were all about being polite and helpful, Tintookis were trouble makers. It's like thinking you're a Stark then suddenly being exposed as a Lannister. Or for our Harry Potter fans: if the sorting hat switched you from, say, mild-mannered Hufflepuff to sly Slytherin.

I still have my Brownie Guide sash. I earned the Thrifty badge mainly because it had a picture of a cute bee on it. That was tough because even at six-years-old money burned a hole in my pocket. I also had the arts and crafts badge, the bicycle badge (my finest achievement) and photography badge (which I got to impress my mum, who was a photographer at the time).

Considering how overexposed this photo is, it's a wonder I ever earned that Photography Badge.

And now to the other, better type of Brownies:

Chocolate and Walnut Brownies

These were made with cocoa powder, which some people have an issue with. I assure you this was the best quality, dutch-process kind from America and not the lame kind of lame powder from Lamesville.

Those lumps are walnuts, or, as my Granny like to say "Waahl-nuts".

The final product.

First pikelets, now brownies- Colin and I should be morbidly obese, right? Wrong. To stay trim, I like to rely on a diet of delicious fatty treats, rich dinners and beers... and then a 5k run at the end of each day (working our way up to a 10k). Getting outdoors makes you feel good, and a life without unhealthy, buttery, cheesy and sweet things is a life not worth living.

For your health!

Brooke

Downloadable Pikelet

2011-07-20T02:45:00.000-07:00

Our internet is back!

For my readers in the USA and Europe who aren't aware- in Australia we have a monthly download limit. It is evil and wrong, the ultimate first world problem.

So here are some celebration pikelets I made. I also did my tax online. It was bliss.

They were fatty and tasty.

Now I'm off to look at webpages, as in not the basic HTML versions! Maybe watch a little X Files. 'Like' a couple of things on facebook. Image search some puppies and cute babies.

Laterz,

Brooke

Aerosmith and Animal Hats

2011-07-19T04:12:00.000-07:00

Today we filmed a video clip for Ian who recorded a Mandarin cover of Aerosmith's "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing". It was the first Mandopop video we've worked on and it was heaps of fun! It was also a good chance to try out the capabilities of the Cannon 5D before we buy our own, and it was a nice easy little project for Colin after the big Reading Festival project. I'll post the song after it's edited, it was pretty great- a cool twist on a cheesy song.

Thanks to all who helped out.

Colin: Director, Camera, Editor
Rowena: 1st AC, wardrobe
Me: 2nd AC, runner
Ian: MandoSuperstar, wearer of cute hats

Colin and Rowena, seriously discussing a thing.

Ian, who involuntarily closed his eyes whenever he sung "I don't wanna close my eyes".

The first of many cute hats. Good for keeping warm in the winter breeze, and melting the hearts of cute Chinese and Taiwanese girls.

Wall of sushi.

Since people were coming over I actually wore a nice outfit today, but then I spilt noodle soup on it before I could take photos. Back to sweatpants and a bib tomorrow I guess.

Brooke.

Krycek Me A River

2011-07-17T02:17:00.000-07:00

We're re-watching The X-Files, and I never realised how unsexy Mulder is when he cries. Evidence below...

And he cries a lot. According to THIS stat list, 17 times throughout a series about UFO's and paranormal occurrences. Then again, it could be worse...

How to make sock friends and influence people

2011-07-15T02:42:00.000-07:00

Before I start work on my big puppet project we're making some short sock puppet videos for the youtube. Here are the first of our actors, still looking for some willing voice actors.

Willing to work for free that is.

Friday night, just a girl and her sock puppets.

Why is it so freakin' cold in Brisbane??? I'm considering wearing these sock puppets around for warmth. Looks like a big weekend of warm blankets, daggy clothes, horror movies and grilled cheese.

Brooke

Harry Potter and the Weak Harry Potter Costumes

2011-07-12T23:36:00.000-07:00

Colin is a big HPizzl fan, and I have been known to say "Yes, I enjoyed that movie" following a HP screening, so last night we went to the midnight screening of the last of the HP's. Before the film we attended a friends Harry Potter Party in weak Harry Potter costumes sourced from the things we already owned. The most wand-like objects we had were a spatular and a hammer, I maintain that defeating old no-nose would be easier if Harry just had a good hammer and the element of surprise.

American Apparel: good at fake school uniforms and sexually harassing staff

"Spatulus!" "Hammerium!"

Having no job gives me time to overreact when a friend says "Bring a snack to my Potter Party", hence these over the top Potter Cupcakes I made. Chips and dip would have totally sufficed.

Step 1 for going overboard: Choose patty pans in Hogwarts House colours

Pink batter, trying to find yellow creaming soda in my suburb is an effing nightmare

Butterbeer cupcakes: contain much butter, creaming soda and homemade butterscotch sauce. Taste like regular, not-special cupcakes.

Homemade butterscotch, as there is no butterscotch chips/sauce/anything available at Woolworths.

It is also important to go overboard with decorating said cupcakes (not pictured: Gryffindor, too blurry):

Slytherin

Ravenclaw with crummy broomsticks

Hufflepuff, where my imagination ran dry.

The movie was a good conclusion to a really long series, my only real qualm is that with all those filters it was so dark and I am pretty night-blind. Also, question for the Potter Nerdz: If everyone can see Nearly Headless Nick and crew, then how come Harry's parents and Sirius don't just come back as ghosts and ghost parent young Potter? GHOST DAD! Sounds like a great idea for a film title.

Patent Pending.

Brooke

Smeg Retro Fridge-Freezers

2011-07-05T06:05:00.000-07:00

I'm looking at buying a fridge. Do I like these? I'm not sure. I think I do, but part of me thinks I'll never love it like I love Nigella Lawson's awesome fridge. All the other parts of me know I can never afford the Nigella fridge anyway.

Smeg is a funny word.

Banocalypse!

2011-07-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

One of the big shocks of being back in Brisbane is that horrible weather's effect on the price of a banana. It is now at the point where I can actually imagine a post-apocalyptic Mad Max type Australia, where desperate men roam the dead highways and kill for the chance at getting a cheap banana.

Lucky for us, our friends were prepared with their very own banana tree, and shared some of the spoils with us.

The banana at the front is a store bought one, the little guys at the back are the home grown. This is not a perspective thing, they were actually pretty little.

The only thing I really like about banana is banana bread, and so our three little musketeers became just that.

I could seriously just eat this batter by itself.

Finished banana bread, to be consumed by the husband, me, and four noisy Mah Jong players.

And it was good, cheap and filling. It gets 50 gold stars. The end.

Finders Keepers 2011

2011-07-04T04:45:00.000-07:00

Finders Keepers Markets were on this weekend. As I have no job (=no money) I wasn't going, but Susan and Jason bought us this cute print. Y'all know how much I love Cthulhu, this is like cutethulhu.

See more cute prints HERE

Vintage Martha

2011-07-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

My friend who works for a magazine is road-testing a bunch of vintage cookbooks. That all sounds very cute and twee, but realistically cooking is one of those things that actually wasn't better in the past.
However, I love Martha Stewart so I expected her book of Horse Doovers to be an exception.

After all, look at that dress and those amazing green Majolica plates!

What you are seeing here (left to right) is
a. Kate's Quesadillas b. Rowena's Electric Devilled Egg, c. (back, slightly out of shot) Susie's Asian Meatball d. Rowena's shrimp wrapped in a blanket of bacon e. Brooke's bland frittata and f. Brooke's "Asian" chicken tartlet.

But what you would have been tasting is this:

Beige.

My frittata, despite having all the good vegetables in it, tastes like nothing. Like a mouthful of solid air. The Asian Chicken Tartlets were about as Asian as Apple Pie. Adding a whole thing of soy sauce to something don't make it Asian, Martha. Also, the quantities had to be halved or I would have had about 40 of them.

The winner of the "why?!?" award went to Rowena's devilled eggs, which were described as both 'electric' and 'like the fish section of a supermarket'. Rowena went a strange colour when she ate one.

In conclusion: the 1980's gave us many good things, music, film, television, E.T. But unfortunately even "Mrs. Stewart" couldn't make finger food appetising.

Martha Stewarts Hors d'oeuvres: I give it no stars, and may God have mercy on it's soul.

*Photos by Susan Yang

Shopping in L.A

2011-06-29T05:07:00.000-07:00

Colin and I have been stocking up on home wares, once we get jobs we'll be able to get our own place finally and not live in the granny flat anymore. Where ever we end up, we'll be renting there until the day we can actually buy a house- I'm over moving around so much. So here are some cute things we've picked up in design stores in LA for the imaginary future house.

His name is Buck, and he likes to fluff.

The sunny-side-up of The Force.

Can you believe Pottery Barn make Batman sheets for Queen beds?

Am I happy about being a mid-to-late-20-something with Batman sheets? Undecided. But they make the husband happy so I couldn't not buy them. We also bought many a boring adult thing- floral things, vintage things, cooking things, things to make other things with, but I'll just show off the nerdery for now.

Sock Puppets- Doug

2011-06-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ford's marketing campaign with Doug- the orange puppet.

Kit Cat Clock

2011-05-31T15:01:00.000-07:00

This tacky little gentleman just showed up on my doorstep. I don't care if they're in poor taste, I have wanted one since I was a little kid.

Why yes! That is a Portal necklace.

2011-05-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

While the cake may be a lie, the awesome acrylic jewellery LicketyCut make certainly isn't. Can't wait to break this one in at Mana Bar some day.

An Unusual Refurbishment

2011-05-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

Colin and I have been on the hunt for Mexican Day Of The Dead dolls (like these ones from El Torito) for quite a long time.

Unfortunately, it's hard to find them with a plaster face and material dress like these ones, the plaster head especially. So today when I was at Olivera Street and I found the elusive plaster-head-paper-mache-body, I thought 'what the hell', who knows when we would see another. Unfortunately, she was covered head to tow in glitter. There is a time and place for glitter (Eurovision, RuPaul's Drag Race), but in my house is not one of them. So I bought some mexican fabrics and laces, and went to town giving her a makeover.

All I need to do is paint the inside of her hat black and she'll be ready to... do whatever they do. Sit there I guess. But she'll be less sharp and shiny. I also put a felt black ribbon around her waist, but couldn't be assed photographing her again.

Fabrics from the Fashion District

2011-05-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

I bought these really fun fabrics from the Fashion District today. I'm not sure what to do with them yet, but I have a few ideas.

Mushroom Marsala= MEAT FREE!

2011-05-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

My favourite pro-vege ad. Dog? Smiling cat?? Parrot?!?

Living in America has greatly improved my vegetarian cooking skills- mostly because I'm afraid of the cheap supermarket meat. I saw those sick little piglies on This American Life, so I'd rather not risk it for their sake and mine. I'm okay with the killing and eating of animals (even though I probably shouldn't be), but I need to know they had a good quality of life before I came along and ate them. Not cooking with meat seems easier right now than finding a good butcher.

So, sans meat, this is one of my favourite pasta recipes. It's easy, inexpensive and tastes so good. It isn't healthy at all, but no one is perfect.

It also doesn't photograph well.

As far as I'm concerned, there are only three food-groups: Mushrooms, Cheese and Booze. This recipe incorporates all three.

Looks like some drunk guy's attempt at chilli, smells and tastes amazing.

Only eat a whole chunk of the parmesan if the other person eating the dish is okay with your amoebas.

Looks like bum, tastes of win.

(note: I forgot to buy parsley so it is lacking in greenery.)

In every recipe that contains ingredients like cheese and cream, I find it best to add up to 75% more than the recipe calls for. Think about it, has anyone ever said "This is nice, but I wish it had less cheese"? No. No one, aside from me right now, has ever put those words together. And they never will again.

This makes a lot of food, so yay for leftovers. I am also enjoying artichoke hearts which I seem to be cooking with quite a lot.

Majolica Plates

2011-05-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

There are few things I love more than Wedgewood Majolica Plates.

Monthly Anthropologie Loves

2011-05-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

I will certainly be purchasing the skirt and the Octopus wall hanger. What kind of Lovecraft fan would I be if I didn't buy the Cthulhu Coat Hook? A bad one, that's what one.

Alton Brown's Plantain Recipe

2011-05-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

I often get caught up in the moment and get the wrong impression of things. You only need go through my home decorating file on my computer to see the things I thought were great at the time but are actually not very good (antique cabinet full of plastic dinosaurs- I'm looking in your direction).

Add to that list 'Plantains'.

WE ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND.

When I was in Panama and caught up in Panamanian things I had a lot of Plantains. At the time, I thought "Man, these Plantain chips taste like cork coasters and the only thing saving them is the gallon of sauce I have them swimming in". Then I came home and for some reason blocked that out of my mind, taking the stance that plantains were actually the best thing in the world.

Tonight I cooked my own Plantain chips and it all came flooding back. They are not good. Not even a little bit. I even used Alton Brown's recipe and he usually is pretty great, but they still tasted like a mouthful of hot sweet banana oil on a cork coaster. Also, they looked ugly and no amount of arranging them or lighting them made them photogenic. So here is someone elses:

Even these ones look shithouse.

And now, here is something I wish I was eating rather than these deep fried horrors:

Recipe is here. I will be making this one at some point.

Monthly Modcloth Loves

2011-05-08T01:40:00.000-07:00

Elderich in Vitamins and Minerals

2011-05-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

Elderich in Vitamins and Minerals

2011-05-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

BUFF Logo 2011

2011-05-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

The logo I made for the Brisbane Underground Film Festival. This is the festival's second year, and my second year of making the poster! If you live in Brisbane, make sure you get along to BUFF this year.

And here's last years one, for the heck of it:

Drawings for BUFF2011

2011-04-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

My drawing of the retro coloured Octopus you WON'T be seeing on this year's Brisbane Underground Film Festival Poster (but I like him and wanted to put him on display some place).

My Big fat geek Wedding

2011-04-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Royal Wedding, huh? I have shamefully spent the morning looking at the photos. I like weddings, they're just big parties with great food. I wish more of my friends would get married so I could go to more of them and eat my way through everything on the food table... oh yeah and something about celebrating their love too.

When Colin and I got married it was all about the food and the playlist. It was probably one of the most fun days I've ever had, although I feel like I neglected some guests because there were more than I thought there would be. I also drank all the beer in the world, which was not ideal the next morning, and I have vague recollections of singing Journey songs into the night.

I bet Kate Middleton didn't have a cool BatCake! NANANANANANANANA BATCAKE!

Our other cake buddies

Susie and Glen, my unofficial Bridesmaids/Bridesmen. Those roses are bacon. WINNING.

Sweet Cuppin' Cakes

The families collide

What an awesome, nerdy time it all was. If I could do it all again, I'd hire a Delorian and ride off into the sunset blasting "The Power Of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News.

Photos by Susie, Swan and Scott

Mum and Dad in the late 1970's

2011-04-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

I hope when I have kids they'll look back over old photos of Colin and I and think "those guys were awesome" like I do every time I see this picture of Mum and Dad.

I also hope they never come across that photo of Colin reading Batman on the toilet.

Colin Fong Video Resume

2011-04-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

We had to put together a brief audition/resume film for Colin's producer/editor application, so we whipped this up yesterday. I did the filming and photography, Colin did the puppeteering, editing and photoshop. TEAM! A regular Jan and Wayne Skylar.

How could you not hire this Muppet???

My lesser American Apparel skirt is no match for this one

2011-04-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

File under: should have bought it and didn't.

Shadow Puppet Theater

2011-04-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

Colin and I made this video for our friend Glen (in France) who is an effing fantastic musician. He is now in a civil partnership with his man Martin, but for a while they were separated by a whole bunch of ocean and that was the inspiration for the video. I did the art, Colin did the filming and Danny Camara (also awesome filmmaker- see his videos here) helped me puppeteer.

After the filming we had a lot of leftover materials so rather than throw it all away I created some still scenes from my favourite horror films. I only got two made before we left for the US, but here they are... because I don't know what else to do with them.

Nightmare On Elm Street

Ringu

Cloverface!

2011-04-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

Cloverfield!

In case you're wondering, the top is from Modcloth, the skirt is American Apparel, the shoes are from Sportsgirl and-although cute-feel like you've had your foot bound to a cheese grater, the socks are stolen from Colin.

I despise American Apparel. I have all kinds of ethical problems with how they treat women, and some other non-related issues with fluro lycra. But this skirt was a cheaper version of the Pumpkin coloured skirt I was lusting over at Violent Green, and so I caved. I still hate them, but this is a damn fine skirt.

Strange Embrace

2011-04-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

David Hine's "Strange Embrace"

I picked up this comic in Los Feliz two weeks ago. The cover had me hooked as soon as I laid eyes on it, then the sales clerk praised it and dropped the magic word "This comic is scarier than anything Lovecraft ever wrote". You could sell me anything if you told me it has something to do with HPL, and throwing that challenge down too... well played Comic Store Guy. Well played.

I'm a big fan of horror (anything) comics, and this one blew me away. It is the most unnerving and disturbing comic I think I've ever read, and I read a lot of Jason's soul-crushing Indie comics.

It's just been released in one big glorious hardcover edition, so if you like comics and being genuinely creeped out, then this one is for you. I don't think I'll ever read a better horror comic in my life. MY LIFE.

2011-04-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

Fridge of my dreams

This is a cute idea!

Drawing salvaged from the old blog

2011-04-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

"Ruby the Cat girl" by me.

Decisions Regarding the KitchenAid

2011-04-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

Namely, what colour should I buy. They're cheaper to buy here (by almost $300!), and if we have to move home I'd kick myself for not buying one.

Having a real kitchen seems like lightyears away anyway, but I enjoy clicking through the Kitchenaid site.

The Shortlist

(although the Copper one is well out of my price range)