Mariann is having a yard/art sale!

Or, well, I should say, she's participating in one.

Next Saturday, the 26th, and it's a fundraiser for a good cause - to help one of her friends raise the money for his documentary, and also to help do some sort of 'day-camp type thingie.' The important thing here is that she is selling off most of the artworks from her gorgeous installation piece What Happens. This is one of my favorite installations that involves postcards, found artifacts, and a scientific frame of mind.

Here's her original post. It's in Los Feliz, which is central to the whole world, so you have no excuse for missing it.

Almost Autumn

As of yet, haven't found the money to fix the water heater, so it's still icy cold showers around here. During the 100+ summer days, a quick cool off felt wonderful, like a clandestine skinny dip in my boss's pool. I think I feel a change in the air that has got me pondering the near future, however. Here in So Cal, Fall is a season that never really appears; we usually have hot, hot, more hot, then out of nowhere in late October, miserable damp greyness that sometimes fades into two months of miserable rains, sometimes not. I think, though, this year we may have an Autumn. My room was so cold last night I actually had to sleep with a blanket. Not to mention the three cats who demanded I share. And this morning that icy cold water actually HURT.

So. What's a girl with zero cash to do? I recently tried to heat up pots of water on the stove top, but by the time one batch was done, the last was cold. I must tell you that the thought of a winter with out a bathtub of hot water makes me want to hide in bed for the next 6 months. Even after today warmed up, this morning's chill never left my bones. And in times of stress, as nearly every day for the last few weeks have been, I crave long soaks like other people crave... well, whatever it is you do to drown your sorrows.

I spoke to my Grandma Fran about it. She just returned last month from a visit to my cousin in Mongolia, where, she said, in the summer months, you have to take cold showers because that's when they work on all the plumbing. Fran said that my cousin told her to try to achieve a 'Zen one-ness with the water.' All I have to say to that is "Bullshit."

In the meantime, I'll be day dreaming about this:

Dear Morbidly Obese Man in line at the Asian buffet,

If it were socially acceptable for me to smack you on the head with a rolled up newspaper, I would.

I just want to say right now

that people who don't like candy corn are unamerican. They are probably not really people either. Possibly, they are robots. Or Zombies. Candy corn is one of the sweet foundations of this nation, up there with cotton candy and candy necklaces.

You know who you are, and I am looking right at you with a big eye. That is Vietnamese Kung Fu Master terminology for some sort of big... eye. Yes.

Will work for air tickets to Scotland

Scotland is my favorite place in the whole world, and every few months I get crazy needy to be there. I spend a lot of time obsessing over the photos I took there, all heart achey. What's that you say? You would LOVE to see my trip photos? Oh, no, they are terribly bor- well, since you asked.

When I go to Scotland, I can't help taking pictures of the sky. It's so moody and dramatic..

Free shipping in my etsy store: go see 'nelle, go see 'nelle, go see 'nelle.

Talking up my sale at my etsy store makes me feel a little like Cal Worthington. So imagine, as you read the following, that I have a chimp on my lap and a tiger on a halter behind me:

From now until September 12, buy two or more items from the sale section of my shop to get free shipping on those items. That's right, you heard me folks, FREE SHIPPING! On my already low, low prices! This applies to many prints as well as some note cards, craft supplies and vintage finds. Shop now before they are all gone!

Free Shipping Section

FYI: I used to think that the 'Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal' part of the jingle said 'Pussycow, pussycow, pussycow.' I thought it was his tiger's name. Which is illogical, because everyone knows it's 'Spot.'

Recent Discoveries: Bloggity Blogs

I don't know how I ended up being such a passionate blog reader, but it happened, and I'm hooked. I wanted to share a few of my recent favorites with you:

Murmers ( http://bird-murmur.blogspot.com/ ) pairs short little bits of poetic writing with these almost spiritual photographs (including a lot of polaroid sx-70, which always makes me swoon.) Each entry is short and sweet and always brightens my day.

John Foster at http://accidentalmysteries.blogspot.com/ features art and artists old and new. The whole thing is very postmodern as he has a very open view of what art really is - found photography, plastic bag sculpture, tattoo, everything goes. And that's awesome, because every post is a discovery.

Lemon Jitters at http://lemonjitters.blogspot.com posts super fun jewelry making tutorials, which I adore, because who doesn't love to learn new things? And you may not know this about me, but jewelry design is one of my secret passions. And I'm also a fan of her tidy tuesday finds.

And finally, my boy Allan Chaykin has just started a blog at http://slothart.blogspot.com and while he's only got a couple of posts up (one features me :D) I think you may be surprised at his depth. He's a smarty pants, that Mr. Chaykin.

I hope you check out my recent discoveries. And if you liked this post, I'll try to make Recent Discoveries a frequent part of my own bloggity blog.

This is why the current martial arts subculture really sucks right now.

If you follow my twitter, you might be aware that I competed at the Long Beach Internationals Martial Arts Competition, also known as IKC, this weekend. I came home with a first place trophy in Internal Styles (non Tai Chi) Advanced, and my little sister, Vivian (and before my mother can interject, I mean sister in the Kung Fu sense: someone who is a disciple of the same master as me) came home with second in Internal Styles Intermediate and a First in Northern Fist Intermediate. It was exciting and nerve wracking and my hands were shaking but the judges over looked that, which was kind.

And that is not what sucked.

This is what sucked: Apparently, the marketing geniuses behind a whole range of MMA products think that their lines of product are best represented at these events by busty, tiny waisted gals in midriff baring tops, tiny shorts, and a ton of makeup. Listen, don't get me wrong here! I'm all for looking smokin' hot when appropriate. I have little shorts and a makeup bag. Both almost never leave the house, but still. The point is, I ain't J. The problem I have with these booth babes is that the majority of women who do martial arts do not look like these women. What?! Shocked, I know, but it's true. In fact, the majority of the majority of ladies who perform at these tourneys are young(er than me,) impressionable girls who are just at the age to get their self esteem seriously effed up by the representations of the female 'ideal' in the media. So why can't the dojo, and by extension, the tourney floor, be a place where they can feel proud of the strength, power, and above all, uniqueness of their little kung fu, karate, kenpo, wushu or whatever driven little bods?

It was really gross to gaze into the rings at girls and women in gis and pads and silks and warm ups battling to be the best at what they do, and then turn around to the booths to find human Barbie dolls handing brochures to a gaggle of wolfishly staring men. Ick. And in all honesty, I did see some women on the floor who looked and dressed like the booth babes. These were usually hanging off of some Mixed Martial Arts fighter, two to a guy. And that's an attitude we would like to pass off to the girls we teach martial arts to, right?

My point is, if you are going to have lines called 'dojogirl,' or touted as the 'spirit of modern martial arts,' how about you have them represented by actual dojo girls, or women MMA fighters, like the skilled and lovely Jody De Simone, who looks nothing like a booth babe, and everything like a beautiful, bad assed woman? And let the girls and women who have already had to overcome a lot of misogyny and backwards thinking to become black belts and red belts and masters and disciples and martial artists have a world where they get to feel like the goddesses they are for once, no matter what size and shape their bodies come in.

And for the record, this is what women who do martial arts look like:

Love Letters? I do. Don't you?

Don't you love handwritten letters? To send or to receive, in the age of email and text messaging, a hand writ missive is an old fashioned pleasure. Before grad school, when I had a lot more time and money to spend, I used to send letters to everyone - my parents, friends, lovers, even a few pen pals I had picked up from the bbs world (yes, I am an uber nerd, thanks for asking.) I had a huge stockpile of fancy and funny papers, envelopes, strange stickers and exotic stamps.... What happened to all that stuff? It's in a box somewhere, or maybe I used some of it to write to do lists, and the rest got tossed in various moves.... The point is, it's all gone, and I wouldn't have even missed it, if I hadn't found http://www.papermash.co.uk/

Papermash is Lynne Robinson's new stationary e store, chock full of the sweetest, most lovely, bits and pieces for all of your letter writing, parcel sending, hostess gift giving needs. Some of my faves:

Mini Metallic Woodcut cards
There are a slew of these witty little wine tags:

Paris Polaroid Style Notecards

If you aren't familiar with Lynne, she writes one of my very favorite blogs, teaforjoy.blogspot.com, which is her exploration of tea, interior design, and the joy of simple pleasures.

To all the lovely ladies

Who add me on twitter and flickr and send me messages to "cum look" at their nudie pictures:

It's not you. It's me. I like man parts! I mean, I know you went to a lot of trouble to shave and get pierced and, uh, whatever. But I'm just not interested. You see, you ain't got nothin' I haven't already seen before, you know?

Besides, I have it on good authority mine are cuter than yours, anyway.