Dispatch From LA

kid president

a reader of DFLA sent me this 100% awesome video. thanks lizzie!

 

now i'm sharing it with you.  i am in love with kid president.  i bet you will be too!

you can check out ALL of his videos HERE.   way to go kid prez ♥

LA STORIES

ink&paper from Ben Proudfoot on Vimeo.

I post this in hopes that Los Angeles locals will discover a new paper source. I can't wait to go check it out. Thanks for sending Connie!

alpaca stampede

how good it was to drive through the california countryside over hill and dale through sun dappled roads all the way to an alpaca farm.

alpacas don't look like alpacas so much as they look like stuffed animals.

teddy bears with furry rumps.

the one in the photo above with the brown puffball rump is a huacaya alpaca.  and the white one on the left is a suri.

i prefer the ones who look like lambs.

but the truth is they are all Cute with a capital C. and some look like donkeys or kangaroos or rabbits or ostriches or camels.  but mostly like stuffed animals.  looking at alpacas is kind of like looking at clouds.  you start to see all sorts of animals.  that's the truth.

the name of the farm we went to is WINDY HILL.  they take extra good care of their alpacas.  lots of people board their alpacas and come visit them on weekends.  we talked to some of the owners and they let us pet their alpacas!!!  i pet their necks because they don't like having their faces touched.  i don't either.

one thing i thought was very interesting is that  they need other alpacas because they are herd animals.  one of them sees something and the entire group stampedes across the field to go take a look.  teamwork.  it's unnatural for them to live in isolation from a herd.

i made a little slideshow slash video since i had so many photos.

alpacas from MAM on Vimeo.

 

so gentle and wildly curious.  but also shy.  and you know what else?  they don't have top teeth!

and their fur is not called wool.  it's FLEECE.

WINDY HILL  has huge guardian anatolian shepards who watch over the herd.  such sweet dogs!

i highly recommend a visit if you're local.  

joyce and i went out for grub after our visit. 

to a little mexican market where we were surrounded by pinatas.  

good times.

 

 

something lovely

have i told you before?  have i?

that i like to lie in bed at night with the lights out and watch little movies like this one on my ipad.

just before i fall asleep.

dreaming of bus rides through snowy hills.

and little cafes just like this one.

I DO.

i click the HD to make the HD go away.  makes things faster.  more efficient. easier.

 

Charles Bukowski's Nirvana from Patrick Biesemans on Vimeo.

shake your groove thang

 

supah dupah fun.  

i can't help it.  i love absurd & fabulous dance videos.  because i do.  that's why.  No. 13 is my favorite.  okay well No. 21 is my 2nd favorite. and also i need the jacket in No. 36.  

psssttt.  come 'ere.  sometimes i play this and dance along with it.  shhhhhhh.  our secret.

look!

 

i found these negatives in a pile of old paper.  i taped them up to have a closer look.

someone else's life in my paper drawer.

makes me feel nostalgic.

in other news, the severely emotionally disturbed oppositionally defiant child was shipped off to a more appropriate classroom setting better equipped to deal with his volatile personality today.  

whew.  

everyone, myself included breathed a huge sigh of relief.  unless you're in the field of education it's extremely difficult to describe the sheer havoc that one 7 year-old child can wreak on an entire playground, an entire classroom.  the other children were constantly frightened, intimidated, and harrassed until today.

if you've been a teacher for awhile you've probably encountered such a student and you know.  you get it.

i still have a handful of high maintenance red hot chili peppers to contend with, but am very grateful that the most severe case is off to a more structured specialized greener pasture.

and tomorrow is friday.

amen & halleluja.

take a listen

 

soothing & hypnotic

 

so good!

a dose of cute

happy birthday maru!

 

now that cute overload is on my flipboard i am powerless to resist clicking every play button i see there.  this one is ESPECIALLY fabulous.

happy birthday sister!!!!

i am sitting here sipping spicy christmas coffee.  mmmmm

getting ready to sit down at the art table and put the finishing touches on  my little project.  handpainted labels if you hadn't already guessed.  

it's gonna be a late night here at moss cottage.  music's on.  night sounds are drifting in the open windows.  paint & ink are flying.

i've been in the deep end of the photoshop pool ever since i got CS5.  these little frames are called:  real simple shaped masks by jen allyson.  i got them a little while ago, but hadn't used them.  don't know if they're still available or not, but they're super easy to use.  i added the thin grey outline.

happy friday.  i can't say it enough.  it never gets old.

xo

p.s.  today is my sister's birthday!!!!  monday is my other sister's birthday.  may babies.

dewy sparks

for 48 years i had a love affair with the moon.  but now i like starshine best.  it's hard to choose.  i certainly don't have to. not really.  but when i was in chiapas this past winter, i saw such brilliant stars in that inky black sky and looked at them for so long with such deep wonder and love...  that i knew after that i'd have to break up with the moon.  and marry the stars.

this video has nothing to do with stars but i thought it was exquisite with a capital E.

you will too.  i just KNOW it.

 

and this poem has everything to do with stars. ~

Looking at the Sky

by Anne Porter

I never will have time
I never will have time enough
To say
How beautiful it is
The way the moon
Floats in the air
As easily
And lightly as a bird
Although she is a world
Made all of stone.

I never will have time enough
To praise
The way the stars
Hang glittering in the dark
Of steepest heaven
Their dewy sparks
Their brimming drops of light
So fresh so clear
That when you look at them
It quenches thirst.

 

this & that

it's a cold night here in the city of angels.   if you ever visit in winter your skin might be surprised by how chilly it can feel.  today our high was 59.  which...i must say, thrilled me.  

my crocheted blanket is now 3 inches wide.  my heart grows warm and thumps harder the more i work on it.  my enthusiasm, naturally unrelated to my skill.  i posted a hipstamatic photo on facebook if you wanna see.

 

this video is for my public school teacher friends.  enjoy!

sunday part 1 of 2

I ♥ our prez.  This video inspired and moved me.

 

where i turn my photo booths into a video

5 Years In 5 Minutes from MAM on Vimeo.

5 years.  1500 photo booth photos.  i have no good explanation for this.   except to say... i send my sister LOTS of pics.

 

 

advent calendar gone wild

i started with a photo.  i haven't uploaded any photos from my camera yet so i'm afraid i'm the only subject of my experimentation on my new ipad.  shameful.  yet uproariously fun at the same time.

used tracing paper app

then went into sketchbook xpress app to muck things up a bit.  

a dramatic hairstyle!  

pink lips!  

a lime green chair!  

i simply have no aptitude for realism.

finished things off with a luminance app chaser.  i didn't have a choice really.

p.s.  in my last post i mentioned sketch & draw app.  it's actually sketch & frame app

~

wanna take your regular advent calendar for a spin?  a high voltage, kick in the arse spin? go HERE and just do it.

a sample below.  courtesy of my SISTER!  i was SO doing this in my garage today while i was cleaning it out.  it's my new excercise routine.  play their advent calendar and dance along.

sensible & senseless

we're getting reacquainted, visual journal no. 12 and i.  bonding.  making playdates and keeping them. 

do you have an ipad 2?  have you blogged with it?  traveled with it?  please share.  since i have a laptop i've resisted the urge to plunk down the cash for an ipad, but it's getting harder to resist.  my sensible half doesn't think it's justified.  my senseless half is in a trance.

my inner child is having a party with the pink washi tape.  she can't help it.  no really.  she can't.

i saw this really neato video on one of your blogs a couple of weeks ago, but the old cogs in my memory wheel seem to be stuck and i can't remember where!  

anyway i'd never heard of a murmuration before.  incredible.

 

The Bully Project

Anderson Cooper had a special report on bullying, did you see it?  So sad!  That program led me to this new documentary coming in March of 2012. Too bad being different means being endangered for so many kids.  I was especially heartbroken over the bullying of Alex Hopkins, the young man with asperger's syndrome who endures daily torture on the bus ride to and from school.   I hope his bullies know the eyes of the world are upon them.  Of course even a video camera on the bus didn't seem to deter them.  Hmmmm...maybe school busses need adult bully monitors.

2 more inspiring auditions that I watched 3 or 4 times each.  More X-factor love.  What can I say?

 

 

 

small things that please me

today was a holiday

i got new ikea curtains for my living room {that fill the room with light}

ate huevos del valle de guadalupe at cacao for breakfast

my 29 little monsters are becoming slightly more civilized

tomorrow's friday 

the x factor is on again tonight

the end.

extraordinary

 

 

 

rich.  enchanting.  simple.  traveling.  life.

wouldn't have known about these if not for lisa the magnificent.  thanks lisa!  i just had to share.  especially since i'll be on my own moving, learning, and eating adventure in less than a week.  good-bye summer.  hello budapest.  

Kinfolk

 

Kinkolk: Lunch for Two from andrew+carissa on Vimeo.

Go.  Read.  This.  Magazine.  Thanking my lucky stars I spotted this at Poppytalk earlier today.  Wouldn't have wanted to miss it for the world.  Sublime photos, good reading - a nice article on blogger meetups.  AND.  I adore the couple they meet!   Mr. & Mrs. Globetrot who I discovered this spring because of their amazing Budapest posts.  As I most recently met Chrissy in France, I could especially relate to the nervous apprehension that sat with me as I waited for our date to begin.  It was all for naught.  My instincts were spot-on.  She has a wonderful post up right now about moving to the village of La Borne.

Diary 2010

 

The photojournalist Tim Hetherington died last week in Libya along with Getty photographer Chris Hondros.  In his stirring tribute, Anderson Cooper mentioned this short film Tim made a few months ago, Diary 2010.  I watched this morning while I drank my coffee.  It's 19 minutes long.  I began it reluctantly thinking I couldn't possibly watch for 19 whole minutes.  But I sat here at my computer with the video in full screen and watched.  It's about war obviously, but the way it was shot is so poignant, so raw, so beautiful.  If you ever think about documenting your world via video this film will inspire you.  It is masterfully done.  The NY times' LENS wrote a good article about Diary 2010.  Huffington Post, where the photo below came from, also ran a piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I want to see Restrepo, the critically acclaimed winning documentary he made with Sebastian Junger.  If you don't have 19 minutes I totally get it!  But if you watch Diary 2010 let me know what you think in the comments.  It's the sort of film you want to talk about after viewing.  There's the content, but also the artistry.  Thoroughly engrossing.

last postcard from paris xo

i'm literally dashing out the door.  here is one last video from paris.  i have more and i have MORE paris posts, but they will be broadcast from LA.  see you soon!

goodbye paris.   you have kissed me on both cheeks and for that i THANK YOU.  merci bien,  au revoir.

 

xo,

 

mary ann

we were here.

we rode le métro aérien.  soaring above the city.  then the parisian tom waits boarded.  and began to sing.  we jabbed each other with our elbows at the exact same time.

what i don't have on video is the part where tom started singing TO ME.  and winking.  i'm not kidding or imagining.  he was searching for a face to deliver his funny lines to, and i was the big smiley headlight in the back.   a natural audience participant. 

further walkabouts in paris

paris walkabouts from MAM on Vimeo.

xo from paris