I repeat, will the real Amy Winehouse please stand up?

Halloween used to be so much fun. Seeing all fun costumes, the candy, haunted houses, the candy, pumpkin patches, the candy. Ah! What revelry!

Now it just stresses me out. I start thinking weeks in advance, "what to be. what to be?!?!" Of course I don't start actually doing anything until about four hours before I'm supposed to be at a party. Although this year I did put some thought into my costume ahead of time, and even tried to start piecing it together about two weeks before. I found the perfect wig at about ten different websites - all of whom were sold out. So either Elvira is making a comeback in a serious way (stranger things have happened I suppose), or EVERYONE else had the brilliant idea of dressing up as the hot mess that is Amy Winehouse.

Uh oh. Perhaps my ingenious idea was not as ingenious as first thought. I mean, when you really think about it, its not particularly creative. Its pretty much stealing her costume idea (lets all pretend she doesn't really dress like that and everyday is Halloween in her messed up world). Is this the lamest idea coming from someone who considers herself a creative person? Ugh. Now I'm as depressed as Amy Winehouse. I need wine.

But not giving up (or maybe just too lazy to think of something else. ya probably that.), I decided to run with the idea, and ended up combing two wigs from Halloweens past (shout out to Amii for the help). In fact, most of the costume was recycled goods (I'm even green on Halloween! Hey that rhymed!) The only real purchase was the fake tattoos, which were actually pretty cool. I've always wanted an excuse to have boobies on my arms.

The tank top, bra, mini skirt and platform shoes were all mine. I'm a whore. :(

So ladies and gentlemen, without further ado (thats a weird word)... I give you... Amy Winehouse!
(or "The Asian Amy Winehouse" as my whitey white white husband so nicely referred to me)

So there it is. Me and eight thousand other Amy Winehouses.

Oh, did I mention someone at the party thought I was Cher? Why is that the most hilarious thing EVER?

***********************

OCTOBER 2008 UPDATE: I've had thousands of hits to this post in the last few weeks, as I'm sure Amy Winehouse will be a popular costume choice again this year.  I've also had a lot of people emailing me asking how I put my costume together, so I wrote a new post with all the deets. Good luck and Happy Halloween!

Halloween Filler.

Sorry, midterms this week, so been a bit busy. So here's some filler. I'm a huge fan of stop motion animation, and this one does not disappoint. I'm really diggin the song, too.



Speaking of stop motion, the hubby promised to take me to see the 3D version of Nightmare Before Christmas (pardon me, the official title is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney Digital 3D). This is Halloween! This is Halloween!

Has anyone seen?

And now for some BlogHer pimpin'

Thought I would update you all on some of the BlogHer goings on:

BlogHers Act
The BlogHers Act initiative for 2007-2008, that was voted on by members, is maternal health. If you are a blogger, please participate in BlogHers Act: Blog Day for the Mothers Act on October 24th. Oh, and all those neat buttons were designed by yours truly.

Preview of Earn Our Votes: Election 2008
The BlogHer’s Election 2008 get-out-the-vote campaign! Oh, and all those neat buttons were designed by yours truly.

If Oprah likes it, it must be good.

So remember all that talk of work and school and the hubby - well kind of the reason why I haven't blogged much lately. Sorry about that. I'll try to sleep less.

Anywho - I couldn't sleep again on Saturday night. Surprise surprise. (I know, I should have been blogging, but I was in bed and my laptop was all the way downstairs. So there.) So as Mr. Johnson lay in a dead sleep next to me, I flipped between Jon Bon Jovi hosting SNL (I know, right?), and a replay of Oprah (I know, right?). Oprah won.

So what could tear me away from the acting genius that is Bon Jovi? Believe it or not, it was a cook book, Deceptively Delicious, on how to "sneak" vegetables into meals, specifically targeted towards kids.

I know this might seem like an odd intrigue for someone without kids, and well, a vegetarian (a lot her recipes include meat). But it was her main solution to sneak in the veggies that sucked me in: purees. And not only purees, but pre-packaged wonderful little colored bags of goodness. I'm known to prewash, cut and bag my veggies, so seeing this was like heaven! I think I may have to buy it for the spinach brownies alone. Oh wait, she posted the recipe on Oprah's site!

Brownies (with Carrot and Spinach)
Created by Jessica Seinfeld (yes, that Seinfeld),
From the book Deceptively Delicious
Makes 12 brownies

Brownies (with Carrot and Spinach) These brownies fool everyone! You won't believe how scrumptious they are (or how good they are for you) until you make them yourself. Just don't serve them warm—it's not until they're completely cool that the spinach flavor totally disappears.

INGREDIENTS

* Nonstick cooking spray
* 3 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
* 1/2 cup carrot puree
* 1/2 cup spinach puree
* 1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
* 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 2 Tbsp. trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread
* 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
* 2 large egg whites
* 3/4 cup oat flour or all-purpose flour
* 1/2 tsp. baking powder
* 1/2 tsp. salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Coat an 8" x 8" baking pan with cooking spray.


2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or over a very low flame.


3. In a large bowl, combine the melted chocolate, vegetable purees, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine and vanilla and whisk until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes.


4. Whisk in egg whites. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt with a wooden spoon.


5. Pour the batter into the pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 bars.

Oprah couldn't stop eating these - although I don't know if that is a testament to the brownies or not.

I was also pleasantly surprised when I went to the book's website. Super super cute!

I loved it so much I could never watch it again.

That dang History of Aesthetics class got me thinking again... This time about today's debates over representations of violence and evil. Of course video games is the topic that seems to come up the most, but then that leads to the discussion of art, literature and film. I guess I don't get why this is even an issue. Throughout history, masterpieces in both art and literature have focused on violence and the evil of humanity (Dante's The Divine Comedy, Picasso's Guernica). The beauty of human nature is that this duality exists, and that we recognize and challenge it. To show evil reminds us as to why being good and just is what we all seek, right? Just because technology has advanced in such a way that all this violence looks REAL, does that mean it should be censored?

I think today we see a lot more of the exploration of evil through film. And there are two films in my top 10 that fall into this category (both of violence and evil), that absolutely affected me - and yet I could never watch them again. Does that mean they should never have been made? Absolutely not. They had to me made. (Sorry... a lot of "absolutely"s. I guess I'm kinda passionate about this).

The first is Requiem for Dream. I watched this movie both horrified and captivated. It is a film about addictions, and forces the viewer to feel the pain, anguish and suffering that the characters go through. Literally. (I felt as if someone punched me in the stomach throughout most of the film). It was brilliant, brutal, intense and uncomfortable all at the same time. It's not until the ending credits roll (or even days after that) that you begin to see the beauty in such a dark, horrific story. Although I personally have never had an issue with addiction, I identified with the film in the sense that, it is through times of difficulty and despair that you truly find out who you really are. This movie is not for everyone, but it was a story that had to be told. And I can't imagine it being as powerful were it not as graphic and daring as it was.

The second film is The Green Mile (I realize this was a book first, but I haven't read it, so I can only speak to the film). It isn't often that a film is made of pure human emotion. That's the only way I can describe it. The story is told through the eyes of a man who experiences evil and violence within the walls of a 1930's prison. But in a world of cruelty and hate, he comes into contact with a truly GOOD man. I left this movie absolutely (there is is again!) heartbroken. It affected me in such a way that I cried when thinking of the characters for days afterwards. Like, tears. Streaming down my face. For days. An incredible film that I could never put my emotions through again.

Would I have been affected if these films were not as violent as they were? Doubt it. I needed to be put into those dark places - as harrowing as they were - to remind myself that even in the darkest moments of life, there is always hope.

And when you have someone like George Bush in power, hope is what gets you through the day.

Do Your Doody.

Some green tips from today's Ideal Bite:

• If 10,000 households replace one old-school toilet with a dual-flush, in just one day we'll save enough water to flush 350,000 number ones.


• Replacing one pre-1994 toilet (which use around 3.5 gal per flush) with a high-efficiency one can save a family of four $90 on their water bill each year

Check out this controllable flusher that converts your standard toilet into a low-flow toilet - for only $36! Seriously, thats only like 3 lunches. Do it.

Superflat meets Superego.

I saw a CD for Kanye West's single Stronger while shopping at Target yesterday, and thought the artwork was a complete ripe-off of Takashi Murakami. Well apparently it isn't a rip-off (really? <>).

I am a big fan of Murakami's work. Pre-LV (you know, the Louis Vuitton handbags with those cute little smiley-faced cherry blossoms - the most bootlegged purses in history). I first fell in love with his work when Art in America had an article on his 2001 "Superflat" exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The bizarre, vibrant paintings of mushrooms were absolutely captivating! Love at first site.

My first experience seeing his work in person was in 2004, when Mr. Johnson and I went to the Supernova: Art of the 1990s from the Logan Collection exhibit at SFMoMA. In one of the rooms was a giant sculpture of a manga-esque man, ahem, pleasuring himself and a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized boobies squirting a blue liquid out of them. Really, whats not to love.

Don't judge him on his Kanye work alone (although I hate to admit, as is the case with Kanye's music, it's all pretty bitchin'). Check out this Jonathon Ross interview. It's a really interesting look into what inspires Murakami. Plus the background music is rad.