Last year or so, I cut back on going out to eat for lunch while at work, which allowed me to explore the wonderful world of bento boxes. I have collected several Hello Kitty bentos; the first one I received through a swap from a Flickr friend who was attending school in Japan. After that I was hooked on the cuteness. I’d scour the different Flickr groups and be amazed at how into it some Bento fans are. As all twenty-something going on twelve-years-old girls like myself, I go crazy over kawaii-cuteness so a sandwich that looks like a panda is going to entertain me.

The problem with the Hello Kitty bentos I have is that they are not microwaveable, so I was only able to pack salads or fruit in them. For a long time, I had considered getting a Mr. Bento or a Laptop Lunchbox, both microwave-friendly and ideally-sized for hardcore lunch packers. After much debating and researching [yes this is SERIOUS], I decided on a Laptop Lunchbox, in pink of course. Since I started using this bento a couple months ago, I’ve been packing healthy foods and have already lost ten pounds! YEAH! It feels so good to eat healthy. Of course it is a struggle, as I do love my booze, burgers and Jack in the Box Cheddar Potato Wedges on a drunken Saturday night. And they ain’t got no bento for that, honeys.

Photo by bento lunch

Now, Bento can become an expensive habit if you are truly serious about it. There are tons of accessories like molds, condiment holders and separators to think about. I have a couple of accessories myself, but I don’t mold my food into some scene from The Little Mermaid because I am too lazy and the thought of eating hot pink rice makes me VOM. I appreciate those who do though, as I believe cooking is a form of art, and bento-making is in a class all by itself.

Aside from saving the world and my health with my bento, I almost always carry a reusable water bottle. I got annoyed at having thirty half-empty water bottles in my backseat all the time. Such a fucking waste. Of course there’s that whole plastic scare as well, so don’t settle on that unsafe pink bottle they sell at the 99. There are several bottle options that adhere to the plastic safety guidelines such as Sigg or Klean Kanteen. The bottle I use is actually from Rite Aid and only about six bucks. I also stopped going to Starfucks every day, and instead have opted to make my own coffee to bring to work. I still have to find a good thermos though, as the one I’m using leaks all over my shit and has a picture of a chicken that says “Our Chickens Don’t Do Drugs.” BLOL. Nubby Twiglet actually has a great and informative post about the pros of using the Sigg thermos to carry her Chai lattes.

For more Bento craziness here are some of my fave hot links :

+ Bento Boxes Flickr Group

+ Mr. Bento Porn

+ Diet Bento

+ Lunch in a Box

+ Bentos at J-List

+ Cheap Bento Boxes and Accessories at Ichiban Kan!

I was sick in bed this weekend so all I did was Netflix and screencap…and drink beer as if it were medicine. Another reason why I am not your role model.

Anyway, I have another post coming at chu later today, but I wanted to share my favorite scene from Return to Oz, one of my top ten films from childhood.

I loved Princess Mombi and her cabeza switcharoo. It was so fucking scary slash glamorous to baby Marie.

Donchu know I’ve been planning on doing a shoot to recreate this scene. LADIES, are you ready? Don’t worry, I will leave your pretty little heads attached.

Her pad was the shit, was it not? All that crystal…makes me want to grab a bat. I just decided to do a future post on my dream house with the appropriate screencap references sometime.

Look at that BED

Love that red key too!

Toodlez!

Hello cryptid lovers! MEETING IN SESSION. Okay kids, I am a big nerd for cryptozoology of every kind: legendary creatures, undiscovered oceanic animals…I love them all, especially the furry little lobster of 2006. Where is my garlic butter?

Anyway, I find it an amusing coincidence that lately the news has been filled with strange creature sightings week after week. I have also noticed in the recent few years there seems to be more reports of giant squid and other large oceanic animal sightings. This sort of thing personally freaks me out because of a certain apocalyptic giant octopus dream I had in 1998, which some of you know I am obsessed with. MAWR! Back to recent events, sadly, the “Montauk Monster” was fake, but what about its creepy comrades that have been making waves across computer screens in the past week?

This video of the Chupacabra sighting in Texas shows what looks like a dog running from the camera. When it turns its head to the left, you can make out what seems to be a long snout. CHUPACABRA? Or just a mangy mutt?

And then there’s the Bigfoot that a couple of dudes in Georgia found. Supposedly they have this homeboy kicking it in a freezer waiting for an autopsy. I don’t know about all that. Bigfoot is like the Holy Grail in Cryptozoology. It’s probably someone’s old Harry and the Hendersons Halloweeners costume. Aww.

And of course we have to ask, why does it seem that more and more people are obsessing over mythical creature sightings moreso than ever before? Were these things actually always there and the somewhat sudden major interest in them is only highlighted because of our expedited access to information? Or is it just that in these modern times we want escapism more than ever to help us deal with all of the lame shit going on in the world? F U gas prices, let’s go ride a unicorn!

Am I trying to get too deep for a Friday? Let us go back to talking about boners and shoes.

Your hot cup of nerd stew,

Marie

to get your monster-hunting weekend rockin’: Bobby “Boris” Pickett - “Monster Mash”

+ My favorite HOT PINK nail polish. I first found this intense day-glo nail polish last summer and have been working it nonstop this year as well. It’s so bright that when I’m wearing black fishnets you can see me coming from miles away. I like to call it my Poochie nail polish. Remember that cartoon about the pink dog from the ’80’s, Poochie?. You can see how neon this shit is in this picture of me at the Coilhouse launch party. I love wearing all black with a boner burst of obnoxious color somewhere.

+ Love letters between best friends in song form. Danger Baby’s new song “Little Misfit” is a catchy tune paying homage to a certain other lovely Mickay Micks. My friends make me all GUSHY. I can’t stop listening! I just want to take off my dress and dance! Add them on Myspash!

+ Impromptu slumber parties with my bff drinking lots and lots of vino, eating greasy cheese pizza, re-watching Daisies, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Ghost World, dancing like a flapper in my favorite Edie Sedgwick-esque uniform of black tights and an H&M white baby tee, wearing gorilla masks and top hats, laughing nonstop and just being silly girls…and not being hungover the next morning when going into work.

Hope your Thursday is just as delicious.

XO

I was recently recommended the 1966 Czech film Sedmikrásky or Daisies, by a lovely lady and what a fantastic recommendation it was! Vera Chytilová’s famously banned film is about two sisters who one day decide that since the world is bad, they should become bad too. They engage in a number of conscience-free high jinks ranging from fake dinner dates with sugar daddies to setting their apartment on fire. There is plenty of food gluttony in this film. Those bitches are HONGRY! Visually stunning and fucking weird as fuck are two of my favorite ingredients for foreign cinema. On top of that I felt like I was on drugs! This was one of those films I couldn’t stop screencapping because every scene looked like celluloid dessert, so allow me to now force feed your eyes. Open wide!

Since we always gotta talk about FASHIONZ up in here, I just have to say that the girls looked cute in every scene. 1966 will of course bring some cute dresses. This movie makes me want to wear a daisy crown.

Naturally by the end of the film I was left trying to analyze everything: the girls being portrayed as robotic dolls in the beginning, their constant fixation with scissors and cutting things paperdoll-style throughout the film, the basic theme of female rebellion and then up until the very end when they are outfitted in pieces of paper [what does that symbolize?!] during their attempt to clean up the destruction of the dining hall, a scene which was voiced-over by some spooky OCD-type whispering, followed by their meeting with fate. However, the lack of plot and character exploration along with the faux-high feeling it produced just made me do an F U middle-finger-80’s style at the television and just sit back and enjoy the imagery. The end scene in the banquet hall also reminded me of something that would happen IN OUR COMIC BOOK WORLD by the way.

Anybody else loved this movie as much as I did? How are Vera Chytilová’s other films? Anything as good as Daisies to recommend to your dear friend Miss Marie?

I wish someone would invent a kind of machine that would scan Polaroids so you wouldn’t have to go through that whole ’scan, crop, rotate, crop more, stand back, save as and repeat’ routine. Or maybe just a robot to do it. Or maybe I am just a lazy asshole. Anyway, I finally have the Polaroids from Madonna Inn uploaded and ready for viewing. The good ones at least.

I brought four Polaroids cams with me that weekend. My trusty Sun 660, which is the most common and simple out of all my cameras, yet it has also produced my favorite pictures. My Spectra, which didn’t get too much usage since I prefer shooting with it outside and playing with the filters. My Holgaroid, which is also best for outside use, and my SLR 680, which also unfortunately didn’t get too much play. It’s just so simple to grab the Sun 660 when there is complete chaos going on!

Let us peruse together shall we? Let me make you a mimosa…

Dizzy Von Damn! and Robyn Von Swank looking SEXY 4 U

Nikki!!

and Nicki!

A couple of Miss Von Damn..

This is a Polaroid that Shaun took of Joz and Dizzy Von Damn. So HOT!

The next morning, Shaun, Robyn and I went to the pool for a morning swim. The Holgaroid was perfect for it.

Majestic!

Glorious!

Why HELLO THERE

On the way back home, I forced everyone to make a quick stop in Solvang, the land of mystical delight, so I could venture back to the store I like to call “Jody’s” but is really “the store that time forgot,” where I had found outdated 90’s clothing during the first trip. This time, Jody’s failed me and I was flabbergasted! I tried on a red and blue elastic-waisted jumper as well as a red and black shoulda-padded business suit number but no such luck. DAMN YOU JODY! I will do fifteen-hundred jumping jacks and come back to you my tacky, tacky Solvang love. So instead we had treats and Polas.

YAY! Welcome to Solvang!

So I have this idea (DON’T STEAL IT) of writing a script called “Solvang, Land of Wonder and Mystical Delight” in the key of my favorite show Wonderfalls. Basically it will be about a small tourist town where unexplained phenomena is experienced by one girl who lives there. Okay, so it really is just Wonderfalls part 2. Man, I miss that show.

Actually this show you are watching right now is called “Marie and a Giant Lollipop.”

ICE CREAM IS GONNA SAVE THE DAY

Goodbye Sweet Solvang! Until we meet again…

Muscles - “Ice Cream”

Me at the Madonna Inn Steakhouse. Photo by Robyn Von Swank

This past weekend the gang and I had our second Madonna Inn adventure…and it was QUITE a delight. My glorious friend, Robyn Von Swank, professionally shot us in a variety of looks and outfits. If you recall our first trip to the Madonna Inn was in February and we absolutely fell so in love with the hotel so we made it a goal to stay and shoot there as much as possible.

This time, we booked the Love Nest as well as the Old Fashioned Honeymoon Suite. I was already excited about the Love Nest from the pictures I saw online, but it didn’t do it any justice. When we stepped in I felt my heart explode. Everything I feel on the inside is materialized in that lil’ Love Nest. All that whimsical tackiness bubbling over in my guts was finally manifested!

There was a pink spiral staircase leading to a little scenic area where you can enjoy a view of the entire property through rainbow-tinted windows. In the morning when everyone was sleeping I tip-toed up there and peeked outside. It was so lovely. I just needed Tangina up there making me a cup of tea and it would have been perfect.

And now a few of my favorite shots…

Dizzy Von Damn and Robyn Von Swank switching roles.

Mikkay and Mickay [Nikki P and Nicki H]

Dizzy Von Damn! as Rollergirl

Italians Do it Better

Ello mum may I have another?

Here is a sneak peek at some of Robyn’s photos from this weekend… I will be posting more as I get them! Thank you Robyn!

Comin’ to getchu

The fabulous Shaun!

Burlesque Goddess Dizzy Von Damn!

My gal Nikki P of Danger Baby!

I also took a bunch of Polaroids and Holga shots at the Inn, as well as during our stop in the wonderful land of Solvang and will post ‘em in an entry soon enough!

Xo! [i really need to get one of those signature things, no?]

PS. Regarding some website stuff= We fixed the navigation on the bottom of the site so you should be able to clearly view past entries now! Also, I added my lurky links to the About page! Let’s be BFFs!

I always mean to participate in Gala Darling’s TiLT but everytime I remember to it’s always on a Tuesday or a Friday. I am all tilt-a-whirly 24-7, boo’s. But today is different. It’s TiLT’s one-year anniversary! Let us see what Momma LOVES.

+ Spankin’ comics. Today I held a Google Image contest for Comic Spankins. I put the winners on my Myspash blog. Why am I so perverted? Perhaps because spankin’s are lovely?

+ The Madonna Inn. We were there this past weekend and it’s honestly my favorite place in the world. Photoshoot galore! I will be writing about our adventure later on today.

+ Deep discussions with best friends about trying to stay positive and focused on goals. It’s so easy to be bitter and sarcastic. It’s such a hard concept for some of us to remember all the good shit. Luckily, there are so many people out there (especially a lot of you bloggers!) that inspire me and help rev up the WHIMSY. Also, thankfully I have Bjork. She helps me focus.

+ Amusing contradictions like when I’m dressed like a schoolteacher driving around listening to gangsta rap. I love shit like that.

+ Dazzling trophy gifs. Mmmm.

PHEW that felt delish! I will try to make this a tradition like the rest of you!

xo!

I purchased a pair of GIGANTIC cat-eye glasses from the party store a couple weeks ago because gigantic things are hilarious so when my bff came over today we had an impromptu photoshoot using one of the most embarrassing books in my collection [NOT Twilight].

In other news I am going to one of my favorite places in the world this weekend so expect tons of photos and maybe even some quality time when I return.

Smooches!

Finally! I have for you the second part of my “Getaway Girls” special…this one is a DOOZY!

Remember when we were sixteen and wanted to be like Rose McGowan’s character in that terrible/awesome Gregg Araki movie Doom Generation? Anyone? Was it just me?!

Well…I always thought the cigarette-smokin’, tough talkin’, nymphomaniac that was Amy Blue was such a badass character, especially because of her look. With her black bob, bangs and crimson pout, my first and most obvious reason why I coveted her style was because she too is a member of the International Society of Black Hair, Bangs and Red Lipstick [ISBHBRL].

Since Amy and her two lowbrow Romeos were on the run during the entire movie, she was shown in only two different outfits: a black mini-dress with boots, sunglasses and tons of silver jewelry; and a pink vintage dress with see-through raincoat and white cat eye glasses. Although her fashion choices were limited, they were still memorable to a teenaged Agent Lover, especially the second outfit.

With the magic of Polyvore, I have chosen a few pieces that are sure to evoke Amy Blue style.

[set details]

She wears black boots in the movie, but I thought bubble-gum pink boots might offer a nice touch. Don’t forget your gazillion-ounce Diet Coke since Amy never ate and was tweaking the whole time. Hopefully you are unlike Amy and will just be very thirsty.

[set details]

For my favorite outfit of hers, I found a ruffled pink modern dress to substitute for a vintage one, and added some sexy black and white heels. Sadly, I couldn’t find a good see-through raincoat, but white cat eye glasses are an easy item to pick up. Remember she loves wearing tons of rings and smoking cigarettes. Bonus points if you have a black bob with bangs and two hot dudes hanging [banging?!] with you all the time.

I still want this belt buckle.

Part 3 coming soon, I promise!