A love story for your Thursday: Thursday.

I know I'm on an animated short film kick lately- there's just so much good stuff out there. Matthias Hoegg's "Thursday" is a love story set in the not-too-distant future and was nominated for a BAFTA this year. Full screen recommended.

Thursday from Matthias Hoegg on Vimeo.

via Creative Review

Beauty in infrared: Jonesville, Virginia and the Eastern Congo

My father, Bob LaForce, has been shooting with digital infrared for years. I'm constantly awed by the dreamy beauty of this medium. Below are some of my favorite images of his from his ancestral hometown of Jonesville, Virginia (Think Winter's Bone but slightly more temperate).






Beautiful Decay recently did a piece on Richard Mosse and his stunning infrared work from the Eastern Congo. The cotton-candy landscape against the raw human faces is incredible. Images below.

Pwning Metropolis

I have but one goal for summer 2011: Score a role on Superman, Man of Steel, supposedly filming in Chicago beginning this August.
Since I am a giving person, I'm sharing my strategies so that you too can be famous with me.

1. Be exceptionally hot or borderline grotesque. Superman doesn't fuck around with mediocres. If you're going to be a compromised victim in need of a super-savior, you need to be angelic or nearly disfigured (think Steve Buscemi). If you're an innocent schoolgirl or down-on-his-luck curb-sitter, you can be a likely target.
(Luckily, I work both looks.)

2. Dress the part. Can a casting director ignore you if you are clad in sky-blue spandex? I think not. If that's a little too drastic for you, I recommend this bad ass Bioworld hoodie, available on Amazon for a mere 45 bones.


3. Get a part-time job as a food catering employee or a security guard on set. When bigwigs venture near, casually unbutton your blouse a bit and drop copies of your headshot in the critical laps.

4.Be loud. A good scream is worth it's weight in gold for a superhero movie. Practice your terror-induced vocals by imagining a naked Chicago Mayor Elect or a Rebecca Black world tour.

5. When in doubt, find the important person, and bang him/her. The casting couch is a time-honored tradition. I have a romper you can borrow for the occasion.

Chernokids

The most simultaneously beautiful and creepy piece you will see. At least this week. Timely, as we are approaching the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster (April 26th.) Watch it in full screen.

Chernokids (english subtitles) from Les Chernokids on Vimeo.

NOTW: In flight

I spent a lot of time birdwatching this weekend. The LaForce compound in Northeast Ohio sits atop a heavily wooded ravine. It is truly breathtaking. My parents have set up feeders to attract every possible bird known to man (well, in the Great Lakes region). In one afternoon I saw cardinals, bluebirds, finches, chickadees, titmice, red-tailed hawks, and pileated woodpeckers out the back window.

I love this piece, a structured brass take on a bird-wing. Available on Etsy.

Week-end happies

Image via FLUX by Karen Ay



RAD. Giant zodiac heads on tour.

Love this. Pics from the set of Twin Peaks.

Moments. Amazingly beautiful short video smacks you in the face with life's everyday beauty.

A dictionary for all things lesbian.

Stupid beautiful river photography.

For cyclist types: 6-pack frame cincher, handmade in (where else?) Portland.

Hot sexy tattooed goodness. Warwick Saint's Ink series.

I love you Nate Silver, but I will still eat my beets. How to Beat the Salad Bar.

I find these pilgrim shelters to be simple and stunning. I DO.

Seasonal. Cadbury Creme Deviled Eggs. Drool.

Boy Crush: Ain't nothin' gonna breaka my stride.

More.


Wilder.


Please.



CRANK IT.



Images via 80s Music Lyrics,eMusic, Music Blog of Saltyka and his Friends.

Romper Ambivalence

Making my sexy face in a romper in Central America. You.Are.Welcome.



I have a love-hate relationship with rompers. In essence, I love rompers when I wear them. I hate rompers when other girls wear them. When I wear a romper, it is super cute and endearing. When other girls wear a romper, it is slutty and trying-too-hard. I generally associate romper-wearing with IQs in the lowest quartile. Plus, where were you hos when I started this trend like 5 years ago? Thank god I have transcended my own romper stereotyping.

4ish years of roller derby involvement have taught me that wearing intimate apparel as outerwear is not only acceptable but conformist at many functions. I own 5 rompers. I have my 2 stand-by American Apparel soft lovelies, in black and blue (naturally). I have my "dress" romper, which I can wear to the black-tie events that I am so frequently invited to. I have my "girl on a skateboard in pigtails flashing a peace sign" cutesy romper. And finally, I have my "requires-boob-taping-to-prevent-nipple-slip" romper that I wear when I want to seduce old men.

These are the rompers that I want to rock this season. Stay away, bitches.



This one will be for smoking cigars in the Venezuelan breeze. (I do that a lot.)
via Topshop


If this doesn't say "Feed me klonopin and spank me while I bake these cookies" I just don't know what does anymore. via Anthropologie


Refined. For polo matches with johns a la Pretty Woman. via Modcloth


Hells yes that's chewing tobacco I just spit on you. via J.Crew

Obsessing over Yelle

I've been listening to the same Yelle song on my workout mix for months and months until Chicagoist posted this video with 2 songs from the new album, Safari Disco Club, and inspired me to dig up more tunes.

YELLE - Safari Disco Club / Que veux-tu (exclusive full length edit) from Yelle on Vimeo.

Now I am creepily hooked, rocking out regularly in my office and making data mining much more enjoyable. French, hot, rock. She'll be in Chicago May 6 at Bottom Lounge.

Listen to the new album before actual release date of March 29, 2011 here.

Image via All Things Go.

Monday lunch jam: All the 80s movies in 4 minutes.

Just.....this. I'm working on forgiving Atomic Tom for the butcher job.

Atomic Tom - Don't You Want Me (dir. Isaac Rentz) from More Media on Vimeo.

via Booooooom

NOTW: Agate cattle horn

I imagine this simple, strong necklace being worn like a talisman under the dirty t-shirts of my favorite tomboys, like Turtle from The Westing Game or Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. It seems like a good piece to clutch furtively when evil lurks nearby.

via Etsy

Week-end Happies

Image via Design Crush via Cassia Beck





The salted tarragon greyhound. Your summer drink.

A good exercise in contemplation. Do Nothing For Two Minutes.

Bamboo canoes. I would like to row one of these puppies into oblivion.

Badder-ass than you. Indomitable Snow Frogs.

Gorgeous and stoic mugshots from the 1920s.

All you need is images of basset hounds running.

Real-Life Romance Novel covers.

Girl crush: Artist Mariah Karson

Smut-happy greeting cards, tailored pillows, over-the-top feminine debutante parties, elaborately tacky holiday installations, and drastic cosmetology experiments are some of Mariah Karson's recent projects. I wish I could steal some of this girl's creative visual brain cells. Mariah has also given me more bruises than I can count on two hands and she has a penchant for breasts. Below are some images from my favorite projects.












Pillows and adult greeting cards from Mariah's Etsy shop. (Left side bunny art also by Mariah.)






Revelers from Santa's Workshop II. (Left photo by Mariah Karson, Right photo by Gil Leora)




















Photos of The Unnecessary Combover project by Mariah Karson.














Portrait and misc photography
(Higher quality on flickr)

Emo Wednesday Cure-All.

This.

(thanks Kara!)

And this.

via

And this.


via


And this.

(Kara, again, FTW.)

And this.


via

Shit I can't live without: The Good Earth Green Tea with Lemongrass

I buy this in bulk from Amazon. It is 100% necessary in my life. It serves so many purposes.



When you are sitting at your desk, staring blankly into your computer, the moderate caffeine buzz will make you all "FUCK YES I LOVE SIMULATING PROPENSITY SCORES!"


When you are waking up groggy and head-achey from too much meth, it will make you forget that your teeth are blackening and that you smell of cat piss.

When you smiling at a cute boy over a cup of this tea, you can be confident that you are rocking so many goddamn concentrated antioxidants that there is no way in hell that he can see your crow's feet.

When your artificial lightbox therapy fails you and you find yourself sinking into a shame spiral, you can close your eyes pretend that you are sipping tea at a beach spa in Bali surrounded by beautiful topless Indonesian women.

Get some!

NOTW: Deborah Baxter

I almost lost my mind when I saw artist Deborah Baxter's work on My Love For You. Giant and mythical. I could crush your face with any of these pieces and then daintily lick off the blood. Hardcore Want.







Images via DB/CB

Week-end happies

Photo via Will Rice



Oh my sweet god. The "Turducken of Sweets": Cake ball-stuffed chocolate chip cookies. via Badder Homes

Make a DIY vintage bus sign and be the trendster in your building.

Passive Aggressive office notes. (Thanks Kelly!)

These hardwood floors that follow natural tree shape are friggin' gorgeous.

We're not lazy or distractable, we're creative, yo.

I'll admit I'm on a bearded boy kick. Better with a Beard (Thanks Joseph!)

What happens when you dress up a little girl like a horror movie icon.(Read: Borderline child abuse...but funny.)

Art is Stupid but I like it.

I call this "Needs Tartar Sauce." via My Love For You and Printeresting. I would make a "holy mackerel" pun, but any idiot could tell that is clearly not a mackerel. Clearly.





The sad spaghetti monster via Sometime Friend. I want to eat him like a sammich.






These prints by Dilly make me sweaty-fainty. via Beautiful Decay





My art will eat your face. Gelchop taxidermy via The Fox is Black.