My dear buddy Matthew made the Small Cool Apartment Contest this year on Apartmenttherapy.com. Go vote "super cool" for him and he has the chance of winning gift certificates not to mention the accolades of all the design-y people. If you check out Matt's floorplan you may recognize his work from his super great web comic, Isolated Instances of Non-Gravity. He's currently taking commissions, and if the comments on Apartmenttherapy are any indication, Matt's drawings could be quite the hot ticket.

The orange stripe on the wall was a good lesson in what a little painter's tape could do. The shelves were those basic modular kind just painted to match. Matt's vintage finds come from eBay and the Pasadena Rose Bowl.




Pictures of the colorful kitchen and bathroom here.

Labels: design, DIY, www.internet.com

Tastespotting.com. I can't get enough of this site. It was recently described to me as the Food Porn Site. Go to it right now and you won't be sorry. In fact, you might just want to cancel your Gourmet subscription 'cuz the food bloggers of the world are taking over. I've never seen so many unique and delicious recipes in one spot. I used to troll Epicurious.com for recipes but after bland search results and flawed results I gave up looking there for cooking inspiration. Sometimes an event just calls for wow-ing food and sometimes you can't put your finger on what you're craving. Then along came the pretty pretty pictures on Tastespotting. Every day there's 36 new finds, complete with pictures, reviews, and recipes. They're collected from some of the hippest food blogs around the web. The recipes have plenty of commentary which makes them easy to follow for new comers and then some blogs provide challenges to the more experienced palate. Examples: Ever wonder what beet ice cream tasted like? Ever want to throw a Willy Wonka inspired picnic? These questions never crossed my mind before but now my recipe file expands with new twists on old standbys and just new inspiring delights. More than recipes, there's kitchen gadget reviews, party ideas, and updates on all food related debates - like designer bottled water. (Fabulous or Ridiculous?) They even have a widget you can place on your own desktop or blog to keep you updated to every new delight the tastespotters find. Just now I got hit with baklava ice cream, the ultimate scone recipe and salami and ricotta pies. My mouth won't stop watering.

Labels: food, reviews, www.internet.com

Kristen Fairgrieve makes up the Girly and Christine Vasquez brings the Surly to their unique cosmetic line Surly Girly. Until July 31st they're offering an unbelievable sale. All online orders are $10 each and shipping is free. A friend of mine swears by their lipstick's deep colors and staying power, and especially likes Darkest Sin. I'm loving the pink and black travel bags that can carry your little purchases. Easy application and accessibility are on these ladies minds and so they take into account that the entire line of lip glosses, eye shadows, and liners can coordinate together as well as bring out a girl's cute punky attitude. The website doesn't reflect the prices by feel free to order up and the discount will be taken into account at checkout.

Labels: shopping, www.internet.com

Just today I discovered a new favorite blog: REFERENCE LIBRARY aka Andy's Blog. Andy likes to do what I like to do. We both scour the Internet for interesting vintage items, covet antique school furniture and modern toys, and get outbid on eBay all the time. Andy doesn't provide a lot of explanation but I'm still just as inspired by all this cool stuff as I would if each item was written up in some glossy magazine.

Labels: design, random, shopping, www.internet.com

Not super original I know to feature youtube videos, but MTV doesn't air music videos anymore so none of my friends know what I'm talking about when I say I can't get this song out of my head. Plus the t-shirts on the skinny boy torsos remind me of Sunset & Echo Park Blvd. on a Saturday night.





You know who also does great videos of the day? Onetokenblackguy of LastNightADJSavedMyLife - one of my favorite bloggers with a knack for old school jams and new instant classics.

"You are such a PYT!" Loving it.

Labels: music, videos, www.internet.com

There's a new blog in the Gawker town. That's right. The Manhattan media blog that brings LA Defamer launched Jezebel this month. Written by three sassy New Yorkers, they praise Sassy magazines from the '90s and boo airbrushing and they do it with sailor-tongued abandon. So much so you think they must have been fired from at least three magazine internships before landing this gig. They have quite the manifesto out to reverse what they've identified as the 5 Great Lies of Women's Magazines:

1. The Cover Lie -- Basically, every women's mag cover is airbrushed making the identities of their celebs and models alien or one bland Caucasian invention. There's also the blurbs on those glossy covers promising thrilling articles on the inside that never live up to expectations. I.e. 15 Workouts to Burn the Bulge in 15 min. are really just a page of boring dumbbell presses.

2. The Celebrity Profile Lie -- quote "..As stars use MySpace and Blogger to expose the doting public to their innermost thoughts and crap spelling, the celebrity profiles found in women's magazines have actually managed to get flatter, more nakedly consumerist and less imaginative than the movies and TV shows they're shilling for, and we include Georgia Rule in that group."

3. The Must-Have Lie -- A magazine editor loves a certain nail polish because that nail polish company gave her free nail polish and probably a free dinner and/or a starter condo. On the flipside, the basic must-haves are big duhs. Everyone knows you should have a LBD (little black dress) and decent shoes.

4. The Affirmation Crap Lie -- If you ever once thought the girls from The O.C. looked fat you need to get some self esteem and get some quick before you sign up for another subscription.

5. The Big Meta Lie -- I'm gonna have to paraphrase the girls here: It's a postmodern joke when you know what the word postmodern means but still flip through the magazine pages under the guise that celebphemera and retail therapy is harmless escapism. "The big lie is that we haven't let the norms of the celebrity-sartorial complex seep into the way we see everything in the world, perpetuating the notion that all of life is high school, and the pretty people are the only ones worth your attention, and that all the world would be that way anyway. Because it wouldn't. And though we've found women's magazines to be a fairly trusty engine of hilarious tidbits, it is not all one big joke."

Wow. Hit the nail on the head with that last one.

My verdict is still out to see how successfully anti-disestablishment they can be and still hawk hair products. Gawker is a good gossip read but still ends up selling a bunch of ads and products like any other online 'zine.

But like I mentioned, they do not censor themselves which is admirable. (It worked for Carrie and Samantha, didn't it?) Take this lovely article "Decoding Cosmo" in which they dig out Burt Reynold's centerfold from the Cosmopolitan Mag vaults and generously sprinkle the sass:

Labels: fashion, www.internet.com

Night Hawks opened a Flickr photo gallery this week from our last event Le Cirque du Titty Titty Bang Bang. The handful of photographers will be uploading their pics so check back often for new ones to grab for your myspace page or personal collection. If you have photos you'd like
to share of the event, contact me and I'll pass on the password.




The next Night Hawks is June 18th and the theme is Hawktronics - an electronic dance party. We're still taking artists submissions, especially DJ's, dancers, and installation artists. Send your pitch to nighthawksla@yahoo.com Attn: Danielle Holland.

Labels: Nighthawks, www.internet.com

I'm looking for new ways to declutter my home life. An obvious step is to cut back on the magazine subscriptions. While Vanity Fair used to rule my living room in tall sleek and glossy piles I now pick-up only cover stories that interest me. I faithfully buy the annual Hollywood Portfolio issue and five-finger discount any others from my gym. I've started my own library swap system actually. Last month's Jane for their US Weekly, for example. Pretty much everywhere there are magazines to be perused I'll leave another in its place then return the initial borrowed one. My coffee table as well as my recycle bin rejoice as the clutter keeps walking out the door with me. What is harder to get away from are the beautiful design and decorating magazines I keep on my shelf for years. Thank goodness for two sites which are my daily landing pad for inspirations. Desiretoinspire.blogspot.com & decor8.blogspot.com. I never have to cut a single page ever again. One question: How long should I hang onto my Lucky Magazines? One year? One month?


Desire to Inspire
Can now check Domino and Elle Decor off the list - they've done the work for me. The two-person staff trolls the web for sumptuous modern design images and then places them on their site in one cohesive collage. It feels so right. Loose categories for trends and specific designers are giving me quite the education each time I stop by. The house tours are especially inspiring. They usually showcase London's Living Etc. - a beautiful gallery for decorating solutions. Now I can get back to work and not have to hit up two sites in one day.





Decor8
Another blogger favorite. Holly Becker, a freelance writer outta Boston, posts gorgeous things all day long. Her aesthetic ranges from cool modern to handmade treasures. A store directory by city doesn't hurt either. Remove catalogues from the list. Her list is my shopping destination now. Everything on Decor8 would just look perfect in my apartment (see above couch & rug). And boy, is Holly thorough. Every subject she tackles she finds pages and pages worth of ideas. Her post on new doormats about a month back blew every other design blog away. Becker keeps price, proportions, and trendiness all as factors. Her personality delightfully shines through in every sentence. She's a blogger's inspiration too.

Labels: design, www.internet.com

Thank God I wasn't the only one who didn't know what THE ALGORITHM was.
Atempt at a clever ad campaign, I did recognize. But that it's actually an ad for a new internet search engine? Only the AskJeeves reference threw me and the readers of Metroblogging LA in the right direction.

The CEO of Ask.com explains his new search-engine baby: "The Ask.com algorithm’s relevance methodology goes beyond the popularity focus of Google, Yahoo and MSN’s, and is the only one to break the Web down into topic clusters and determine community-based relevance in real time.” [source: searchenginewatch.com]

Next thing we'll be seeing is THE ALGORITHM WAS HERE billboards. Any other guesses to what the next ones will be?

THE ALGORITHM ATE MY BABY
THE ALGORITHM IS MY HOMBOY (I stole that one).
THE ALGORITHM SHOULD FIND A NEW AD AGENCY (from valleywag.com)

I'm not really a fan of this new type of faux-guerilla advertising, and I guess THE ALGORITHM doesn't even qualify to be in that category. They've got as much cleverness as the inside of SOBE tops.

Labels: random, www.internet.com

Oh LA Times. What was news five weeks ago on the internet is now news in your Calendar section. Or is it news because it was news on the internet? Is it really revolutionary to know the blogosphere still gets the word out faster than you can upload a comment on MySpace? I do know the writers of the Calendar section would not be referencing YouTube videos as major pop culture groundbreaking material without the blogs out there turning the pop culture dial. Patrick Goldstein's article today gives a big applause to the people out there producing pop-culture commentary without an album or new perfume line to promote. He singles out one outspoken lady, Alanis Morissette and her straight-to-web video cover/parody of The Black eyed Peas "My Humps". It's been been tearing up the YouTube charts, Goldstein notes, beating out Otters Holding Hands with number of views. I am guilty of posting both the Otters video and the Morissette video on friends' myspace pages. I also take blame for passing on another video not mentioned in Goldstein's article: shock & awe princess Peaches' homage to Morisette's "My Humps" but re-written as "My Dumps". Goldstein praises Morisette for producing her video for $2,000 but Peaches looks even more low-budget. And Peaches' video has, well, more dumps - read: poo-poo. I love that Goldstein gives props to the new culture makers out to critique the superficial even sexist bumpin' and grindin' trends. But stating "the era of video activism is here to stay" is about twenty years too late. You didn't need a blog to tell you that.




What really got me thinking in the article was that Goldstein praises Morissette for making this video on her own accord. She's not promoting a new album or tour or even subvertly advertising a new website service. But he still admits it won't hurt her career. In fact, according to Goldstein's sources the average dude thinks Morissette's gained her credibility back from the days she would go down on you in a theater. I'm still under the impression that if you go public with even the smallest of pet projects you're still promoting something - mainly, yourself. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Labels: editorial, newsworthy, videos, www.internet.com

Once upon a time I moved to Los Angeles without a care in the world and no idea where anything was. Thank goodness for Citysearch to point the direction to a lunchtime bite or a dingy dance club. But which site would I turn to for dentist suggestions, bikini wax confessions, or really how long you had to wait in line to get into The Short Stop and is it worth it? So thank you, thank you Yelp.com - one of many new sites based on reader reviews. Also, reader submitted pictures give you an idea really what somewhere looks like when often a restaurant's webpage can make a mini-mall corner spot look like the Bellagio, and quite possibly just as tacky. You still have to read between the lines to really get the scoop on one Pinkberry versus another, for example. But so many new reviews are added each day - more than I can say for the cobwebs hanging on Citysearch.

The biggest discovery today: Tiki Ti has a calendar. Here I was thinking my favorite summertime bar kept the regular hours of half past whenever we feel like it to time to get the hell outta my bar. Well, the later time I guess is still true. Their website also has a pretty amusing gallery of the regulars - People to think about next time you see the drones of westsiders lining up outside on some weekend waiting to get in.

Labels: bars, reviews, shopping, www.internet.com