Oh Happy Day

Get up and booty bounce to this:

Tefi Loves: (Certain) Musicals

Technically, I do not love musicals, as a genre. For the most part, they get on my nerves, really get on my nerves. [Example: 2007's Wicked should receive public censure and a week in the stockades for ruining what I consider to be one of the best works of modern fiction.] But there are a few musicals that I hold near and dear, mostly because I grew up with them. The following Etsy items are inspired by my warm fuzzy memories of certain musicals that left an indelible mark on my childhood. Enjoy! (but don't go singin' about it):
Xanadu Roller Skate Earrings: $15 Shop: Deb Star Designs Location: Sydney, Australia
Hedwig & the Angry Inch Gummi Bear soap: $2.75 Shop: Jessica Edwardss Location: Idaho

The Sound of Music Kissing Cousins Print: $12 Shop: Made with Love by Hannah Location: Los Angeles, CA
A Chorus Line Tiny Dancer necklace: $19 Shop: Cocoa Chu Chu Location: Toronto, Canada
Grease! John Travolta Cross-Stitch Pattern: $4 Shop: All Stitches Location: somewhere in the U.S.
Grease! 2 Motorcycles photograph: $18 Shop: Eva Vaughan Location: Louisville, KY
Annie She wants to live with grandma Doll: $12 Shop: pocomedio Location: Port Clinton, OH
Little Shop of Horrors Venus Fly Trap Skinny Tie: $30 Shop: Jes Switaj Location: Brooklyn, NY

Tefi Loves: Heathers

If you've seen Heathers as many times as I have, you're gonna love these handmade items I found on Etsy!
Big Red Bow $6 Shop: http://www.sweetblossombowtique.etsy.com/ Location: Odessa, Missouri
Glitter Croquet Set $85 Shop: http://www.missyindustry.etsy.com/ Location: Montreal, Canada
Moby Dick Sculpture $118 Shop: http://www.morningstardesign.etsy.com/ Location: Connecticut
Chainsaw Necklace $55 Shop: http://www.mintagehome.etsy.com/ Location: Huntington Beach, California
Corn Nuts Coin Purse $10 Shop: http://www.trashbaggs.etsy.com/ Location: Vancouver
Eskimo Moe $15 Shop: http://www.feltmeupdesigns.etsy.com/ Location: Scarborough, U.K.

Fatso

Before the obesity epidemic swept across the nation, there was Fatso, a surprisingly sweet movie starring the recently deceased Dom DeLuise (d. May 4th) and Anne Bancroft (hellooooh Mrs. Robinson). From imdb.com: "Dominick has always been a big kid who loved eating. It was his favourite thing. Then his cousin dies from health complications due to a lack of exercise and improper diet. Antoinette, Dominick's sister, makes him promise to see a diet doctor and lose some weight. This is very hard for Dominick, but he tries. He also finds motivation when he meets Lydia, and he discovers a love that is more intense than his love of food. He spends so much time kissing and walking around with Lydia that he no longer eats as many unhealthy things, and he loses weight without even trying."

When I watched this movie years ago, I had no idea I would love it so much. I even cried at the end - happy tears. Here's to you Dom! Hope you're enjoying a hot dog in heaven.

Storytelling

This morning on Etsy I found this on the front page:



It's just beautiful! I love the colors; so attractive. It's a limited edition giclee print by apak called Storytime. Oh, and I recently learned that it's pronounced: zee-clay. Now I don't feel so dumb...

This print reminded me of the delightful album Storytelling by Belle + Sebastian. Well, it's actually a soundtrack for the Todd Solondz film. So strange and beautiful...

The Ol' Switcheroo

My dear aunt Sylvia snapped this pic at the Mambo Room about a million years ago and I just got it in my inbox last week. This is the four of us in an alternate universe: me + Justin and Jen + Jason. How funny would that be?

Speaking of alternate universes, I'm sorry to hear of Heston's death over the weekend. His politics leave much, much to be desired, but he made some great flicks: The Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes, and Soylent Green. After all, Soylent Green is....PEOPLE!

Free Gift Boxes!

My oh my, do I love a good deal. Last weekend I found myself smack dab in the middle of a close-out sale at Macy's in Valley View Mall. As I rummaged through the damaged, faded, sad-looking displays, I came across a stash of gift boxes. I was all over it! The price wasn't as good for me had I had the patience to wait, but no way was I going to let someone else get them. *wink*

So I bought 40 gift boxes in two separate floral patterns. One is a metallic print with purples, pinks, and blues; the other is a bright print that reminds me of Matisse collages. While supplies last, all purchase (that fit) will be shipped to your door in one of these pretty little gift boxes. Enjoy!

(By the by, I was a little saddened to see Macy's close up shop at Valley View. Back when it was a Sanger Harris, Logan's Run was filmed there. Don't know what Sanger Harris is? Then you were probably born after 1980. Don't know what Logan's Run is? Oh my. My, my, my. Get yourself to your nearest video shop now!)

It's Leap Day!

What a hectic week. As I finalize some deadlines at work, prepare for my BFF trip to Santa Fe next week, and keep Tefi Designs motorin' along, I want to stop to pay homage to this once-every-four-years event..........okay, there. That was nice.

I'm so excitied about my trip. Jen and I will get our yoga on, our shopping on, our mud bath on, and tons of walking and hiking. The hiking part I'm not too keen on, but she is and I know it will be fun so long as I keep it lowkey. My ol' bursitis knees can't take too much.

I'm gonna be a regular Willie Loman, too. I plan to pack my bag with some of my charming fabric bookmarks and hair goodies, and see if I can't get some of the shops we visit to carry them. Work it, work it. The worst word I can hear is No, right? And it's only made up of two itty-bitty letters. *shrug*



Tomorrow night is Jason's and my first in a series of movie nights. I call it "Bitchin' B-Movie Bonanza" with our first installment to be Westworld starring Yul Bryner. Also on the horizon for other BBMB nights: The Warriors, Logan's Run, Soylent Green, and The Jazz Singer. Awesome!

Date Night Recap: Every Wednesday, Jason and I have a standing date night, and this last Wednesday we went ice skating at Plaza of the Americas. I used to go there a lot as a kid and it was weird going as an adult. Everything was so much smaller.

We had so much fun, and altho I did a few twirls and he did a few oh-oh-oh-OH!'s, neither of us fell down! Check it out - that's Jason on the right swingin' his arms like an Olympian (I took that while skating backwards!) and me doing a bit of disco dancin' on the ice:





Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday - A Love Story

This past weekend was awhirl with plans and get-togethers. Friday night I spent the evening surrounded by popcorn, chocolate, and estrogen. That's right, a girls' night movie night was in effect at my cousin Jennifer's house. We watched Love Story starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw and let me tell you: Love means never having to say, "Oh my god this is cheesy."

I Am Officially Bummed

Shiny New Title, Same Old Tefi

You see, I can't get this song out of my head: "Expectations" by Belle & Sebastian. It's from their first (and best, I think) album Tigermilk, and I was pleasantly surprised today to hear it in my new favorite movie, Juno. ("Piazza, New York Catcher," a sweet folksy Gaelic-type ditty, is also on the soundtrack and also by B&S.)



So this takes me to my new blog title, making life-size models of the Velvet Underground in clay. It's a line from "Expectations" and it also stars my alltime favorite band, VU, who I keep just a notch above B&S in my list of tops. I thought it was time I had a full-on blog title rather than just some generic "Tefi Designs" wannabe title. So here it is. Hope you love it as much as I do. And go see Juno already! It's tops, foshizzle.

Funky Finds

Thanks to Jessica of Funky Finds for giving me a shout out in her blog yesterday. She came by my booth at the Deck the Halls show and couldn't have been nicer. Check out her site and keep up-to-date on some crafty happenings! Looking forward to seeing Jessica at our Etsy Dallas trunk show this Saturday (11am-3pm!).

Love Vigilantes

There are two things that can have such an amazing power over me, that shoot me back years and years to my childhood or adolescence. Those two things are: smell and music.



This morning I read this article about Control, the new indie movie about Ian Curtis and Joy Division. JD had such a pull on me when I was about 14+. I remember listening to Club A broadcasts on 94.5 The Edge or watching 120 Minutes (with Dave Kendall!) on MTV and subsequently taping songs and videos that I loved. Back in the day I didn't really have the means to buy every cassette single I wanted, so I relied on the record button.

Anyway, one Sunday night I was watching 120 Minutes on the sly. It was about 12 am and I just had this gut feeling that I was finally going to see the video to "Love Will Tear Us Apart." (Forget buying the pirated video compilation at Bill's for some undisclosed amount.) Just as I was coming back from the kitchen with a glass of water, I heard the opening chords and rushed to the VCR to hit the record button. My prediction was right and had I not been so completely enthralled with the song I would have been really creeped out. I still have that tape.

[A little primer on Joy Division: They formed in Manchester, England the year after I was born, 1976. Ian Curtis suffered from epilepsy and depression, and eventually committed suicide. He left behind a wife, child, mistress, and 3 bandmates who later went on to form New Order. When I was 17 I met New Order and partied with them (in a legal way) at what is now Babalu on McKinney. Peter Hook and I were on the dancefloor and he did some crazy move that nearly dislocated my shoulder. It's totally irrelevant to this blog and totally an awesome memory.]

Control is playing at The Magnolia and I'm going to go see it maybe this Sunday. If not this weekend, then sometime during next week. It was directed by photographer Anton Corbijn and stars the uber cute Sam Riley and the classy Samantha Morton. Get your dose of indie; don't miss it!

Window Shopping at Midnight

What a weekend. Pretty uneventful, altho Jason and I went to see The Darjeeling Limited at the Angelika. It was very good. Even if Wes Anderson were ever to make a bad movie, I would still enjoy watching it b/c the visual themes and set decor are stunning. Remember The Royal Tennenbaums? Magical and sweet.

I also started crocheting a scarf, which was inspired by this (more on this later once I finish it - over halfway there!):


Tonite I'm trying to wind down and couldn't sleep so I decided to fill up my Wish List at Anthropologie. Makes me feel like I'm buying myself whatever I want, only sadly that package will never arrive...That is, unless you - my dear reader and hopefully secret admirer (?) - feels like indulging me. You can go online and view my Wish List. Let's pretend it's my birthday! Here are a few things from mine, in case you want to spoil me:

It's a gnome, baby.

Yesterday was a very full day. It started off sort of slow, like most Thursdays do, but it picked up by late afternoon. Let me start from the bottom up. Last night I met some friends for beers at Lee Harvey's. We sat outside in the cool Dallas night and talked about all sorts of things. The most interesting was that my girl Laura is starting her own law firm. How cool is that? We celebrated with a round of Shiners and talked about the possibilities. I can't wait for her to get the chance to quote Pacino: "I'm out of order?! You're out of order! This whole court is out of order!" Earlier that night I went by Shambhala to get my quarterly spoils and some price tags for my second round of jewelry pieces. I was amazed at how well my stuff sold and how empty my jewelry cases are. Yikes! But this is good news. I'll be pulling together oodles more to take over there tonite. Also on the horizon: I was invited by the guys at Shambhala to be the Featured Artist for Bishop Arts District's First Thursday shebang in July. More details to come... Even earlier that night I went to my second kung fu class of the week. I've been going since March and only tonite did I officially meet some of my kung fu brothers. It's not a very conducive place for socializing as we are all respectful of the academy (read: minimal chit chat) and serious about studying the art. But for some reason three brothers introduced themselves to me last night and I was pleased as punch to meet them. In fact, one of them told me about his sister who is learning to be a metalsmith and jeweler, and another brother joined us for beers at Lee Harvey's last night. Keeee-yah! Yesterday afternoon, a short film got the ball rolling on what turned out to be a great Thursday. Reminiscent of Raymond Carver's writing, the film is called Gnome. It stars my uber favorite woman-I-don't-personally-know, Lauren Graham and a travelling garden gnome. I could give you a synopsis or a critical take on it, but I think it's best that you watch it for yourself. The film runs about 12 minutes (the end credits run a good 3 minutes) and it's worth every second. Here's what I told some friends I showed it to: "When I was in college this was the sort of story/film I aspired to write. I like to think I came close a time or two. Whatever happens to our dreams?"

Craft in America

Last night I watched Craft in America and it was really good. I would have liked to have seen more on the current "hip" craft movement in addition to a lot of the "traditional" crafting the documentary showcased, but the history and stories of artists and crafters was so inspiring. All of the artists and craftspeople were interesting and very talented, and all had a common thread running through their stories. A thread that binds those of us who use our hands to create beauty: There is nothing like making something by hand. There is nothing more fulfilling.

I especially liked two craftspeople in particular:

Jan Yager uses local flora and found urban trash to make her distinct pieces.

Garry Knox Bennett decided one day to be a furniture maker having no experience in woodworking or making furniture.

Tristan + Isolde

Let me spew some hyperbole before I launch into a real blog entry: OMG, Tristan + Isolde is one of the bestest movies EVER. Seriously, it's super fantastic almost better than Romeo & Juliet oh my I can't believe I just said that I hope my English degree is still in good standing.

Whew.

What a great movie. The story is as tragic as anything and there's fighting for independence galore. There is just something great about people who fight to be free. I put it up there with one of my all-time favorites, Braveheart, and I don't even like Mel Gibson. Sometimes the story is greater than its individual parts.

But the individual parts - i.e. the actors - in Tristan + Isolde are fantastic. The men are beautiful, the women (well, Isolde) is striking. She reminds me of Kate Winslet, whom I think is one of the prettiest women I've ever seen. And at the risk of sounding like a twelve year old boy, the sword fights are really cool. It's like a visit to Medieval Times without all of the cheese.

I've yet to see the Wagner opera, but I hear it's, well, long. There was a recent production of Tristan + Isolde at the Dallas Opera that was 5 hours long. The original opera, if I understand correctly, was written to be 8 hours long. That's a whole work day of sword fights and unrequited love!

Here's a necklace from my Pottery Shard collection that I appropriately dubbed "Tristan & Isolde." I sold it last week and miss it already!

Untitled

I was eight when A Christmas Story came out and it quickly became a personal favorite years before pop culture and commercialism took it over. Ralphie and I were the same age, and we were both idealistic and stubborn children, not willing to give up when we wanted something. Seriously, who wouldn't want an official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time?

Last night, Robert Clark, director of A Christmas Story and his 22 year old son died in a head on collision with a drunk maniac. The drunk? He walked away with minor wounds. His guilt, I hope will haunt him for the rest of his life. It's the least fate can do.

Ref: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6533803,00.html

Don't let your life-clock light up.

I am psyched. Completely. Utterly. Psyched.

They are remaking Logan's Run. Aw hells yeah! And by "they" I mean Joel Silver, producer of The Matrix and The Reaping.

"I love the original material but I think that version is a bit silly," he told reporters in Barcelona.

Silly? Huh. Says him. Frankly, I think it's cinematic greatness. Well, perhaps that's a bit much. It's greatness insofar as making a sci-fi classic in 1976 can be great.

For those of you under 30 (and believe me, in this context that's a blessing), Logan's Run is a must-see. It's a futuristic story about a world where, once you turn 30, you are killed. This is to help curb the population problem and get things on an even keel. Utopia, dystopia, whatever. It's greatness.

Plus, it was filmed in Valley View Mall right here in Dallas. You can see Michael York cavorting about the shopping center trying not to get his 30-year-old self killed. There are moments where he passes by an area that you swear is where Things Remembered or Claire's should be. It's really cool. Trust me.

There are also scenes from Fort Worth's Water Gardens, but we won't go there. No, I mean we literally won't go there. They still have it shut down since some teens got themselves killed there breaking the rules.

But I can't end this blog on a dour note. Wa-wah. Debbie Downer strikes again. How about some scenes from Logan's Run to get the remake party started?

movie poster

Logan 5 and Jessica 6

the life-clock