Adoring these Muses

There are certain photographers that can do no wrong. They are so brilliant that I know whatever they create will be tortuously beautiful to behold. Here are some images that always inspire and put a smile on my face.

Sweet Prosciutto Baked Brie Recipe #1 (no carb)

This is the second day I make this delicious lunch:

1 Brie Cheese big slice
Prosciutto sliced (3-4 slices)
Honey (5 tbsp)
2 Sweet Red Apples

Wrap brie cheese in fresh prosciutto, then place it on a foil-lined baking sheet. Then drizzle honey all over it and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

While it is baking you can chop up 2 sweet red apples.

You dip the red apples into the brie. It's delicious! I bet figs would go really well with this too.
This could also go well with a small salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and peppers (seasoned with lemon, olive oil, hot sauce and dried red chili pepper flakes.)

Opera, Boston, Good Eats & Love

I had a wonderfully long weekend in Boston, this past Thursday through Sunday.It started off with a nice 1st class flight to Boston on American Airlines Wednesday evening. Kat Von D. was right next to me as we were all herded through security. The flight was pleasant for a red eye, although once you go 1st class you can't go back.

Upon arrival I got to watch the tech rehearsal and dress rehearsal for Evan Ziporyn's new opera "A House In Bali", directed by Jay Scheib, with renown musicians Bang On A Can and a 16-piece Balinese Gamelan ensemble from Bali. It was a really impressive opera, that I would watch the premieres of the following 2 evenings.


After that first night's rehearsals I went to a delicious fine seafood dinner with Timur in the theater district. I had a platter of fresh calamari, oysters and cod with tomato ratotuille. That was the begining of the delicious food my weekend. Every performance was followed by a reception or after party. On saturday, my younger brother Michael, took the train from Brown University to visit. We ate an Indian lunch in Harvard square and after a visit to the Natural History museum, we had nutella and strawberry crepes for desset.

The weather was gently cool (although it felt very dramatic compared to LA.) Boston is just a beautiful city and incredibly inspiring.

More about the opera:

A House in Bali is a new opera by Evan Ziporyn with libretto by Paul Schick based on a memoir by Colin McPhee. is stunning, multi-media spectacle brings together the finest ensembles of east and west: a 16-piece Balinese gamelan directed by the dynamic Dewa Ketut Alit, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Balinese choreography by the enchanting Kadek Dewi Aryani, wayang shadow puppets, and high-tech projections converge, pushing all boundaries of theatrical innovation.

A House in Bali features some of the finest operatic and Balinese voices working today: Anne Harley, Marc Molomot, Timur Bekbosunov as well as the legendary Nyoman Catra and Desak Made Suarti Laksmi and - making his operatic debut - Nyoman Triyana Usadhi.

Kristian Hoffman "Out Of The Habit" Official Music Video

Donkey Lovin' Scene

Donkey Lovin'

I've been editing a music video for Kristian Hoffman's new album. There are so many silly outtakes from it. Here's 1 of them: Donkey Scene

Stellar's Sea Cow: The Defenseless Beast

Besides the Dodo Bird and Tyrannosaurus Rex, I have discovered a new extinct love: The Sea Cow. Some believe there have been sightings of it in the Bering area and Greenland. I hope that is true. It seems like such a large, loveable beast.

"The sea cow grew at least 8 metres (26 ft)to 9 meters or 30 feet long. According to Steller, "The animal never comes out on shore, but always lives in the water. Its skin is black and thick, like the bark of an old oak…, its head in proportion to the body is small…, it has no teeth, but only two flat white bones—one above, the other below". It was completely tame, according to Steller. They fed on a variety of kelp. Wherever sea cows had been feeding, heaps of stalks and roots of kelp were washed ashore. The sea cow was also a slow swimmer and apparently was unable to submerge.

Fossils indicate that Steller's sea cow was formerly widespread along the North Pacific coast, reaching south to Japan and California. Given the rapidity with which its last population was eliminated, it is likely that aboriginal hunting caused its extinction over the rest of its original range (aboriginal peoples apparently never inhabited the Commander Islands).

Photoshop Playing

I only have Maya and Photoshop on my computer at work, so sometimes I come up with little projects to play around with. Here are a few...

A Beat of Reality

I almost moved far, far away...

to the other side of the world.

I may have decided to stay,

but that doesn't mean I am the same.

There are so many grand things to do in life,

and now I've opened my eyes and realized-

that I'm not stuck anywhere.
I will end up where my heart decides,
which doesn't mean it's on the other side of the world.

Fairy Photo Shoot of Zahra

Zahra is a beautiful dancer and a complete sweetheart. These are some photos I took with my toy camera of her. It's on Fuji medium format.

Feeling Dehumanized...

Perhaps a strong indicator of how dehumanized many of us are is the fact that we have much stronger feelings of excitement about the weekend approaching, rather than mourning and sorrow over all the catastrophes currently happening all over the globe- even right around the corner.

I mean wtf is this with Arizona? How can they possibly pass such a racist law? And now Oklahoma is eyeing a similar law! How can this land of immigrants be so incredibly racist. Is anybody out there seriously a native U.S. American? Well no... unless you were related to one of the native americans or perhaps that British that exterminated them.

The Daily News states that the passage of Arizona's controversial SB 1070, which calls for police in that state to use "reasonable suspicion" to question and detain possible undocumented immigrants, is supported by 51% of Americans, a new Gallup Poll says." Since when can a police officer arrest you simply because you look foreign so you must be an illegal immigrant. Are these police men even that smart? They're just going to make their decisions based on their opinions and judgments of factors including skin color and accent.

At a Tea Party rally in Ramona, California on Saturday, Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter told the conservative crowd that he supports the deportation of children of illegal immigrants. These are kids! Seriously what kind of human being is Duncan Hunter?


Then there's the oil spill. Oil, one of our most expensive commodities that so many human beings have died over  is now not only lost, but is also contaminating our already endangered and polluted oceans and killing thousands of species of fish. Here's an interesting article about what's happening.  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/04/29/financial/f044405D85.DTL

So I feel very guilty... I shouldn't be happy that my weekend is here. Maybe this is life, one catastrophe after another, maybe that's the culprit of our dehumanization.

Timur & The Dime Musem

Timur's been working with his band on a new album. They've been spending long hours at the Catasonic Studio in Echo Park. I got to spend time with the gang last night. Here are some photos from the recording session. I even got to play a little bit with Daniel's adorable toy piano, (they're using it on a NIN cover of "Closer".)

I think the album is going to come out pretty amazing. You can hear some of their music on their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/timurandthedimemuseum

Their next performance is going to a part of the ALOUD Series in downtown Los Angeles on June 10th. They're the featured performers a week after our beloved John Waters. That's a pretty amazing artist to follow! 

Abandoned Worlds...

During lunch today, Timur and I were talking about his album cover for his band's new album, "Timur & The Dime Museum; The Permanent Collection". He had a beautiful idea of an abandoned museum with strange artwork and it inspired me to delve into researching imagery of abandoned buildings and the uninhabited, forgotten worlds of the past. It's actually something I've always been fascinated with and find so nostalgic. It would be a dream to live in an overgrown, abandoned castle.

 

The Inevitable Unveiling

We finally unveiled Masque films to the public! We had a beautiful celebration at the ASTO Museum of Art in Lincoln Heights on Saturday, April 4th. The gallery was pretty packed and most importantly the whole night was a lot of fun.  Bobby Webster did a great job being the host, the Masque's Meow burlesque troupe performed gorgeously, Jason played some fun electronic beats and orginal electro-dance, the films were received well and the Mayfield beer was fancy and scrumptious. Most of the audience was in their 20s and 30s- quite hip.

We even got a really nice review in L.A.BUzzBlog, you can read it online here: http://labuzzblog.com/masque-films-the-inevitable-unveiling-unveils. Highlights from the article are, "Masque Films’ Inevitable Unveiling on Saturday night did a great job of setting the aesthetic tone of Masque Films. Taking place in the ASTO Museum in a begotten part of Lincoln Heights, the unveiling immediately enveloped the audience into the Masque world – a dark, delicate, and hauntingly beautiful place filled with furtive, sidelong glances, unintelligible whispers, and unspoken emotion.
The event began with the ladies of the Masked Meow burlesque troupe shadow dancing behind a red silk drape. It was easy to become entranced by this, and as I fell under the spell, I forgot how beautiful shadow dancing really is (too much Space Island/Area 33 can have this effect). Soon after the drape falls and the corseted and tu-tued dancers are revealed, the show begins. The series of short films and music videos opens with “Exoskeleton” by Sandra Powers, which, in all its dark monochromatic glory, was no less enrapturing than it was the first time I saw it at An Evening of Sinister Amusement at the Unknown Theater.
The Tuvalu-esque “Autumn” was next, followed by a blooper reel of teenage skaters....

The next film was a masterfully shot beautiful piece which juxtaposed super-saturated beach imagery of a man in a long black overcoat against darker shots of a lovelorn or forlorn ballerina lamenting amid her blue-lit world of empty picture frames. The costuming in this film was brilliant and even though I didn’t really get what was going on, it was one of the best films of the night because it was so gosh-darn beautiful (anyone seen The Cell? The experience was similar to that, but with a lot more emotion and a lot less J-Lo.)
After the films, The Masked Meow returned for another audience interactive performance. The Masked Meow is an old-school modern burlesque troupe, who at once combined the dark Victorian ages with elements of modern dance, all set to a Nick Cave Tender Prey-era soundalike. Put it all together, and you have one pretty damn sexy burlesque troupe.

The Inevitable Unveiling of Masque Films, who are available for commercials and music videos, was a veritable explosion of the artistry of the macabre, and set a definite tone of the work to come from this young and incredibly talented film company. Keep these guys on the radar!"

Excellent Source of Sparkles

Unicorns, as we all know, frolic all over the world, pooping rainbows and marshmallows wherever they go. What you don't know is that when unicorns reach the end of their lifespan, they are drawn to County Meath, Ireland. The Sisters at Radiant Farms have dedicated their lives to nursing these elegant creatures through their final days. Taking a cue from the Kobe beef industry, they massage each unicorn's coat with Guinness daily and fatten them on a diet comprised entirely of candy corn.

As the unicorn ages, its meat becomes fatty and marbled and the living bone in the horn loses density in a process much like osteoporosis. The horn's outer layer of keratin begins to develop a flavor very similar to candied almonds. Blending the crushed unicorn horn into the meat adds delightful, crispy flavor notes in each bite. We are confident you will find a world of bewilderment in every mouthful of scrumptious unicorn meat.

Radiant Farms Canned Unicorn Meat Specifications

• Limited availability
• 14 ounces of delicious unicorn meat, canned for your convenience
• Imported from a small independent cannery in County Meath, Ireland
• Crunchy horn bits in every bite - an excellent source of Calcium
• Tastes like rotisserie chicken but with a hint of marshmallow sweetness
• Easily spreadable for sandwiches, hors d'oeuvres, and more
• Sparkly meat lends the unmistakable air of class and sophistication to your parties
• Unlike other meats, unicorn fat is polyunsaturated and lowers your LDL cholesterol
• Not yet approved by the USDA or FDA, but the nuns have eaten it for centuries and they're healthy as horses

LA Buzz Blog Features Our Event

Not only is that exciting, but they also introduced me very kindly. Now I feel pressure to make sure that they continue liking me- I hope the event goes well.
Here is a screenshot of the article:
 

And this is the link: http://www.labuzzblog.com
Under the 'Art' section, (I like that.)

A Steampunk Daydream

I wish I lived in a Steampunk world, full of steampunk everything! There would be a mix of castles, burned down Victorian buildings and industrial guts, bricks and decay everywhere. The attire would be Victorian with industrial preparations, in case of the building collapsed or a bomb or meteor came from nowhere, (so goggles, gun belts and tourniquets would be as essential as underwear). The weather would be a perfect mix of gloomy, overcast 75 degrees all year round, (with brilliant magenta sunsets of course.)

The main occupation would be time travel. So when you got sick the doctor would send you back in time to correct the problem before it even began. Television would be unamusing compared to theatre, opera and social events. Grand masquerades would be the traditional way to celebrate holidays.
What a decadent vision... maybe one day.