Design Thursday (1 day late): Getting creative with wall art.

I've had this blank wall in my apartment for a year and a half now, since I moved in.  I could never really figure out what to put there.  I didn't want to put up more frames/art, because I already have a 5-part series of photographs on the other wall, and a bookcase on another.  I thought more frames would feel too cluttered.

So I thought about maybe a sunburst mirror, which I've seen lots of decorators use, and which I love for its classic design and structural element.  But cost more money than I currently want to spend.  So I thought maybe a wall decal in some cool graphic like the stuff they sell on etsy or Blik.  But the problem with decals is not only are they way more money than you would expect to pay for a piece of plastic ($50 for a chandelier silhouette?) BUT ALSO they are not reusable whatsoever, so when I moved, I would have to rip it off the wall and discard it.

Then I went to IKEA last week and saw these really cool, fancy paper plates with a punchy black and white floral graphic on them.  I think they were originally intended to be served at your holiday parties this year.  But I saw them and immediately knew I had the answer to my blank wall.  The cost?  Just $3.00/pack of 12 (or is it 16?)...AND with the added bonus that they are super lightweight (I used scotch tape to stick them up--no nail holes in the wall!), easily rearrangable, easily removable, easily stackable, and easily reusable.  They are so glossy that I've already gotten one comment from someone who was fooled into thinking they were made out of glass.

It's like a dream come true!  And so much fun to collage!

P.S. The white vases in the second picture are also from IKEA, and my beloved two-headed dog was a gift from Garry, purchased from melabo on etsy.

Bad driving: Something random I worry about.

I've never really admitted this to anyone, but something I worry about from time to time are idiot transplants who move to Los Angeles from other parts of the country and dilute the quality of driving there.  Growing up, my conception of Southern California drivers was this: aggressive, but generally competent and more courteous than any other part of the country.

Case in point:  In the Los Angeles metro area, when someone in the next lane flips on their turn signal and wants to merge into your lane, what is the right thing to do?  The answer is positively revolutionary: you YIELD.  

Amazing, right?  And what happens in every other part of the country?  You speed up, as if out of spite.  Like you would lose your place in line or something if you let someone in before you.

I've shared this observation with a bunch of people, especially non-Angelenos, and they insist that Los Angeles drivers are just as obnoxious as those in other parts of the country.  I disagree and am willing to bet that anyone in LA, who does not yield when you flip your signal to get into their lane, is a transplant from another state (including the Bay Area).

When driving here in the Bay Area, I hate to admit that I usually adopt this abhorrent practice of speeding up to avoid letting people into my lane.  I rationalize it by being late to everything.  But once in a while I get to feeling evangelical (setting a good example and all), and when someone signals to merge into my lane, I slow down to yield.  This usually results in much confusion on the part of the other driver, who pauses and makes no move to merge, though their signal light is still blinking. And I have to motion frantically to them and yell "GO, you mofo!"

But if that person yields to another driver the next time someone wants to merge into his lane, then it was worth it!
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The other thing that really frustrates me about Bay Area drivers is when I'm driving at a steady speed of about 35-40 mph on a surface road, and I approach an intersection, and I see a car at the intersection that looks like it is going to make a right turn into my lane.  Now, most people who have a decent sense of safety will opt to wait until the coast is completely clear before making a right turn (or any kind of turn).  I definitely make sure there are no oncoming cars before I make any sort of turn.

But what to many Bay Area drivers do?  Of course, they take a chance and turn right into my lane when they CLEARLY don't have enough room to accelerate.  This causes me (and often the car behind me) to slow way the heck down in order to avoid rear-ending the retard who made the right turn.  It's not only an obnoxious thing to do, but it's also totally stupid and dangerous.  It's these kinds of blockheaded maneuvers that cause accidents.  My parents always say it takes only 1 idiot to cause an accident.  They are great drivers, so I'm inclined to agree with them.

Moral of the story: Don't DWI (Drive While Idiotic).

Foodie Tuesday Postponed - Let's talk Halloween.

In my attempt to come up with a good Halloween costume, I did some brainstorming tonight.  I scoured my brain for all the coolest characters I could think of--from film, books, and history.  Some I've seen done before... none, I think, is truly original (meaning, someone, somewhere, has done it before), but I don't think that really takes away from the coolness factor.

1. Lola, from Run Lola Run (yes, that is Natalie Portman)
2. Jem
3. Penny Lane from Almost Famous
4. Princess Leia (nighttime)
5. Rogue from the X-Men - more common but harder to execute
6. Aeon Flux
7. Anastasia Krupnik
8. Anne of Green Gables
9. Arwen
10. Chun Li
11. Clementine from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
12. Cleopatra (a classic)
13. Dagger from Cloak & Dagger - a good couples' costume
14. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz (another classic)
15. Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady - I got to hand it to this chick, what an inventive outfit!
16. Frida Kahlo
17. Juno
18. The Bride from Kill Bill (a bit overdone)
19. Zelda - such high quality execution!
20. A headless Marie Antoinette - very original and creepy!
21. Penelope
22. Princess Leia (daytime)
23. Princess Mononoke
24. Psylocke from the X-Men - I dressed up as her my senior year of college.  Got great reactions.
25. Rainbow Brite
26. Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas (I really wanted to do this last year!)
27. Maria from The Sound of Music
28. Yvaine from Stardust
29. Tootsie!
30. Vicki from Small Wonder
31. Wonder Woman

A little movie you probably overlooked.

I know I almost did.  It popped up somewhere on my Netflix recommendations though, and I remembered the kind of weird trailer that went with it.  Penelope.  Produced by Reese Witherspoon and some old acquaintances I knew at Stone Village Productions, and what seems to be a first-time director, Mark Palansky, whose control over a camera reminds me a little bit of Jean Pierre-Jeunet or Alfonso Cuaron (two of my favorites).  The trailer, I think, did not do the movie justice (much like the trailer for Stardust did the movie an outright disservice).

I was pleasantly surprised.  I had in my blog-post queue a rant about the lack of good romantic comedies, but what I got here was even more than that--it was a perfectly delectable modern fairy tale.  Characters that were strangely real, relatable, and warm.  Some well-timed humor and an unexpectedly (and gently) feminist little thread.  Of course, James McEvoy never hurts--he has an inexplicable, irresistable allure for someone so scrawny.

Check out the trailer: