So, the amazing kaleidoscope of color above designed by artist hilary pecis– which makes me imagine the most festive christmas wrapping paper ever designed by the misfit toys from the island of misfits– is supposed to represent positive energy for the purposes of this post.

If you can muster any positive universe energy waves please take a moment to aim them toward my computer. I just purchased an external hard drive in preparation for the major backup I was going to commence when my ONE YEAR OLD Macbook inexplicably conked out– 2 WEEKS AFTER THE WARRANTY ENDED. I’m too distraught to speak of it further.

I’m taking it for servicing on Monday just hopin’ and prayin’ that at least all my newly organized and massively collected library of muse photos and other inspirations are safe. I’ll be away indefinitely until I can get this problem, hopefully, resolved–I hope to sneak in a post or two every so often from my guy’s computer.

Until then, also send some goodwill toward artiste extraordinaire Kime Buzzelli who submitted an amazing logo for a Van’s contest:

VOTE FOR KIME HERE

Her bright patterned designer Van’s are supposed to be released this summer or early fall.

Here are some fun links I came across… I can’t wait to experiment with them at some point:

(design made by Spoonflower user Natalie Jost)

Spoonflower: Print your own designs on to fabric! If you haven’t mastered the silkscreen but want to make your own printed fabrics, try out this site. They charge by the yard or for individual swatches.

Font Generator: You can make your own handwriting into a font for only $8.50. You can view the final product before purchasing too. Upload your templates to the site.

The Rubik’s Font Stamp: A simple, smart idea: take the classic Rubik’s design and make it into a stamp that creates 80s nostalgic typography. Following the guidebook, use the rubber stamps attached to 4 sides of the cube to create lettering.

Some genius named Zach’s intense transformation from an Ikea chopping block to a guitar.

Ikea Hacker: Long a favourite site for perusing, this one is definitely heavy on the construction. I always imagine copying some of the brilliant projects on here…. if I can one day conjure the time and energy. Some ikea reconfigurations are light– or simply arty decoupaging– but the best ones require major tools and muscle, and a little mathematics.

After finding all the alluring cat mistress photos of Kim, how could I avoid following up with a Muse post?  She’s the lead actress in one of my all-time favourite-ever films, Hitchcock’s Vertigo.  Although she’s not the most beautiful actress of her time– not the loveliest (no Grace Kelly), not a young fille or an it girl (no Natalie Wood or Mia Farrow) not the sexiest (she’s not a Jayne or Marilyn), not the face of the decade (Jane Birkin, Brigette Bardot), not a Hitchcock obsession (luckily she didn’t end up a Tippi Hedren), not the most sought after (she’s wasn’t tabloid fodder like Liz)– she’s got something far more rare: the sultry death stare of mystery and imminent seduction (refer to photos).  No lead actress of the time exuded such a powerful lock on the camera– I’ve also never seen an actress, starlet, or model from the time (late 50s-early 60s) shun the soft beautyshot publicity op for a mysterious femme noir lock on the lens like Novak. 

And when she shoots a glance at the camera that’s not filled with jaded noir its pleasant, yes, but with an air of knowing behind it– which is so refreshing when most of her peers prefered uncomplicated wholesome and or uncomplicated bombshell images.  There’s something almost scheming behind her sweetest faces that complicate her image in a thrilling way.  

Maybe it was eyebrows.  Novak was noted at the time for her thick sweeping arched dark brows– at their most prominant in Vertigo. 

The infamous spiral French twist:

WoW; How about this creepy Vertigo poster (below)?  In Vertigo a woman has several hidden identities captivates Jimmy Stewart’s character… Judy the brunette and his client’s murdered wife– which is the real woman?  Is he really in love with a real person or a false identity?

Novak paired up again with Stewart in Bell, book, and candle– and cats.

This promotional poster for the movie is incredible: 

Kim Novak was born in 1933 as Marilyn Novak to a Czech-American family in Chicago.  She was hired by Paramont on trial period in the 50s, and they immediately decided to turn her into their bombshell, nixing the overly obvious connection to Monroe, her first name Marilyn.  Among the names thrown around was Kit Marlowe, which Novak resisted, in favor of Kim Novak.  

She started working on a number of films with costars such as Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth, and Jack Lemmon.  Those films, while noted, Novak’s branded persona didn’t shape until Vertigo, Bell Book and Candle, and Strangers When we meet.  In the former two, Novak plays a bewitching, complex outsider female character.   In Vertigo she is torn between two identities– neither the one she was born into.  In Bell, Book, and Candle she plays a witch… need I say more?  The universe would be amiss of Novak wasn’t casting spells on screen.

See her cast her magic:

(this is why I’m getting a Siamese cat when I settle)

In two other career-defining films, Billy Wilder’s Kiss Me, Stupid and, opposite Kirk Douglas, Strangers When We Meet, Novak’s characters show the blurred lines of relationships, deceit, and lust, as both roles deal with infidelity– and of course, Novak’s characters are always the OTHER woman.  Something about her is just slightly off-kilter from the expected, the straight and narrow, and always a bit non-conforming.  

Not many stars aged with her grace either (from 1996, age 63):

Those naturally sweeping brows work better than a face lift.

A sultry scene from Picnic:

Doing the ‘Celebs and Cats!’ post, I included a pic of Kim Novak and her beloved feline, finding a plethora of other AMAZING picures of Novak and her kitties.  She should be in the Guiness book for ‘Most often photographed with cats’ in the world.  

And how about these super creepy blue ones?

1.  Gather fabrics and rhinestones.  

2.  Drape and drape and drape.

3.  Pin and pin.

Lennon and cat!

 Twain and cat!

McCartney and cat!

Zappa and cat! 

Moon and cat!

Brando and cat!

Corlione and cat!

Anna May Wong and cat!

Kim Novak and cat!

Joan Collins and cat!

Imogene Coca and cat!

Travolta and cat!

Vivian Leigh and cat!

Dreamboat Davy Jones and cat!

Glenda Farrell and cats!

Liz and Kitten!

Capote and Cat!

Kitt as Cat!

Connery and cat!

James Mason and cat!

Clark Gable and cat!

Paulina and cat!

Kelsey Grammar and cats?

Fonda and cat!

Bardot and cat!

Steven Martin and cat in hat!

Georgio Armani and poofy cat!

Nina Simone and cat!

Bewitched cat!

piece de resistance?…

Basquiat and cat!

So guess what?  There’s a webpage on everything.  

You already knew that… but did you know that there’s a website merging two of my fav things: John Lennon and cats.  Thanks to walking cat-lady cliche Aunt Mimi–John’s bitter, single older aunt who primarily raised him from childhood– John developed a love of cats from a young age.  He had said that his house isn’t his home until cats take up residence there.  From Liverpool to London to NYC, John had resident cats at each place he moved.    

John’s cat drawings.

John & Yoko at Tittenhurst

And for more creepy cat indugences, my favorites:

Catorialist 

The Catalyst

Gato Poder

Getting inspired by individual models these days is rare… they may look fantastic in a particular photo shoot thanks to styling genius but looking past the amazing styling, its disconncerting to notice how many of the models all look the same with bland personal style.   Thankfully the huge eastern european craze is ending, while many of the girls were gorgeous, runways all started to look the same.  

There are a lot of times flip past a great face in a mag, but the model is usually uncredited in photoshoots and ads, leaving her hard to track down.  I recently scooped up a copy of Spring/Summer 09 “Elle collections: the ultimate catwalk edition from British Elle” (yes, pricey… its funny sometimes when you realize you pay for magazines what is generally the price of a new book), and I was delighted that it had a section called “Girls of the Season”  (I know, I’m going to have to post scans this week for you).  Its a little 2 page spread on some noteworthy new faces (not really new in terms of modelling, more in terms of new attention being paid to them): Liu Wen of China, Arlenis Sosa of DR, Sesilee Lopez of US, Lakshmi Menon of India, and Jourdan Dunn of UK.  

Liu Wen at Viktor & Rolf show

Sessilee Lopez by Anna Sui

Lakshmi Menon at Zac Posen show

Jourdan Dunn at Zac Posen show

Here are my personal favs to add:

Arlenis Sosa  

Spotted on the street at age 17 by Luis Menieuer, Sosa’s now a ripe 19 (!).  I love her babyface sweet look:

Valentine Fillol-Cordier, not yet a classic, is one of my favorite models ever.  She’s got a lot of personality and the incessant smoking is just part of the package.  Shes definitely the rock star of supermodels:

Sigrid Agren has such a 60s look to me.  She’s like as if the very elegantly mature Sharon Tate was meshed with a wide-eyed Twiggy:

And her twin, Siri Tollerod… Not completely the same, but I picked photos that made them look more different from one another:

I love the soft focus photography of these 60s glam photos of actress & screen siren Caroll Baker– especially the dreamy color ones below.  

Born in Pennsylvania to a travelling salesman, Baker attended a community college for one year before hitting the road as a magician’s assistant.  Couldn’t you just see her stepping into a coffin box to be sawed in half or handing the magician his top hat?  Her film career began in the early 50s as an actor’s studio student who got work on Broadway.  In one of her roles she got noticed by director Elia Kazan who cast her in Baby Doll, scripted by Tennesse Williams.  Her take on the small town gal role was controversial, and earned her a lot of attention, including an academy award nomination.  She was also in such noted films as Giant, How the West was Won, and The Big Country– all stories set in rural America, utilizing Baker’s trademark drawl.  During this time she divorced her first husband, married director and holocaust survivor Jack Garfein, and converted to Judaism.  

She kept her career momentum going in the 60s with her notable performance in 1964’s The Carpetbaggers.  By the 60s, she began to craft her role as a Jean Harlow-esque sex symbol, inspired by the positive reception she received from her Harlow homage role in The Carpetbaggers.  

After a legal dispute with her studio and dissolution of her second marriage, she moved her career to Europe, until being lurred back to the States to star in Andy Warhol’s 1977 film Bad.  She restarted her acting career in the states with a string of theater roles.   Things simmered until the 80s when she took to film again, starring in couple films including… yes, Kindergarten Cop where she played the female villian!  The 80s also found Baker settled and writing her memoirs, and the 90s saw Baker in a random string of TV appearances.

Her third husband died in 2007, but Baker, age 78, continues to live in California.  You can see a more recent Baker speaking about her career in the documentary on the 2006 rerelease DVD of Babydoll.

I don’t know where I found these from– different sources, I think– but they all fit together so well.  I can see the beginnings of a multiple sub-plot story.

But I guess they really just remind me of myself; I so despise mornings that I’d rather dilly-dally them away (my mom’s words, not mine) than be productive.  Just to spite mornings, if I wake up early, on days I don’t have to go my early job, I will lounge and doodle and read and play with makeup and watch TV until the noon– in silent protest– at which time I finally get dressed, roll up my sleeves, and begin to do work.  At the end of my day, I usually then hate myself for wasting so much time.  Its a bitter, bitter cycle.  It also keeps me from maintaining a normal 9 to 5, I can only manage to work my 8-3 job 3 days a week.  Its all the 6:30 AM wake up time I can handle.

Despite bumps in the road, you can still hear the Dark Night of the Soul album — by Sparklehorse and Dangermouse– and purchase the corresponding book.  I had a listen, and highly recommend it.  Its a really exciting collaberation project between said DJs and film director David Lynch.  Unfortuntely, due to a rift with the label, the album– which was set to be released as a package with the book of Lynch’s photographs– has been stalled, and in protest it seems the DJs have elected to package the book with a blank CD that is labeled “due to an ongoing dispute with EMI the book of photographs will now come with a blank, recordable CD-R. All copies will be clearly labeled: ‘For legal reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.’”

In lieu of the album-book package, you can buy the book here and listen to the entire album exclusively on NPR before its official release (though how it will be released or when I don’t know).

The project was originally rumored about after discreet posters went up around Austin, TX in March.   They simply said “Dangermouse, Sparklehorse, and David Lynch Dark Night of the Soul”, leading to a lot of speculation, while the artists involved remained tight-lipped: not revealing what the project even was… film? music? event?  Finally, publicists revealed the book-cd nature of the project.

All songs were co-written by the two musicians, but the list of guest producers and singers is incredible:  James Mercer of The Shins, The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Frank Black of the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Suzanne Vega, Vic Chesnutt, David Lynch, and Scott Spillane ofNeutral Milk Hotel and The Gerbils.  Supposedly, the latter contributors had a lot of input into the composition too.  

While the music isn’t as dark, and slow as I thought it might be, it still has a great mysterious feel.  Some of the tracks do have a spooky sound– but mostly in an up-beat, fun or beautiful etheral way.   At times funny, and at other times sweet, its an album I could play all the way through and its got a lot of layered sounds to keep you interested for a while.

The project name or concept may have been inspired by the writting of a 16th century Spanish priest.  He wrote mystical texts with the title Dark Night of the Soul divided into two books.  One book tells of the purification of the senses, the second resumes the steps one goes through to reach mystical love.  The text was written was he was imprisioned for his reformist beliefs:  “Dark Night of the Soul (Spanish: La noche oscura del alma) is a treatise written by Spanish poet and Roman Catholic mystic Saint John of the Cross. It has become an expression used to describe a phase in a person’s spiritual life, a metaphor for a certain loneliness and desolation. It is referenced by spiritual traditions throughout.” 

poster for sale at the site.