.~dirty and smiling~.

Pigeons at Dawn

ladyleblanc — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:52:56 GMT

Extraordinary efforts are being made To hide things from us, my friend. Some stay up into the wee hours To search their souls. Others undress each other in darkened rooms. The creaky old elevator Took us down to the icy cellar first To show us a mop and a bucket Before it deigned to ascend again With a sigh of exasperation. Under the vast, early-dawn sky The city lay silent before us. Everything on hold: Rooftops and water towers, Clouds and wisps of white smoke. We must be patient, we told ourselves, See if the pigeons will coo now For the one who comes to her window To feed them angel cake, All but invisible, but for her slender arm. –Charles Simic

basura sagrada :: tomorrow :: june 12 @ DNA

ladyleblanc — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:58:19 GMT

tomorrow night @ DNA lounge in SF there is a fundraiser for this year's temple, basura sagrada (sacred garbage, holy trash), at which my friend miranda caroligne and i will be artfully serving the crowd from 7:30 onward. if you're around, i highly recommend attendance at something beautiful.... Please join us at SAGRADA, a beautiful event supporting the vision of the 2008 Burning Man Temple! Thursday, June 12 DNA LOUNGE, San Francisco 7pm-4am We invite you to eat, drink, dance and make merry while offering up some abundance to this year's community temple space, BASURA SAGRADA. For years, people have relied on the temple as a physical space of transcendence, a place to connect to their own sense of the metaphysical and provide meaningful offerings and prayers to the beyond. Now, we come to you in great need of your financial support so that we may continue to make the temple a reality! The Sagrada Soiree offers many ways to tithe along with fellow burners, patrons, and temple supporters. With sumptuous dishes creatively served by temple avatars (Miranda Caroligne and Lady LeBlanc!), tasty libations, performances by mind-blowing troupes, live painting with Shrine and others, it's a unique event not to be missed! In addition, we will be hosting an incredible art auction featuring one-of-a-kind works by artists and friends of the temple, some special presentations by the Basura Sagrada creators, and other delights to complete this lavish evening gala. Plus, it's all set to a beautiful soundtrack by some of the best downtempo talent in the city! Later, we will throw open the doors to the entire community, and turn up the heat (and the volume) for some splendid late-night celebration. With more performance, more music, and more art than you can believe, SAGRADA will provide an exciting peek at what this year's temple has to offer! Get your tickets now and support this sacred undertaking! SAGRADA SOIREE — 7pm-4am $150 ($250 for two!) Hosted reception between 7-10 pm, with VIP access to special performances, presentations, and pre-event admission to the silent auction. Includes ample hors d'oeuvres and drink specials, conversations with the artists, and much more! SAGRADA SHAKEDOWN — 10pm-4am $17 PRESALE $20 AT THE DOOR edIT: anasia: saQi: COMMA: mozaic: EPROM For tickets, please visit www.dnalounge.com For more information about the Basura Sagrada temple project, visit www.basurasagrada.org Basura Sagrada is working with MAPS, a generous non-profit foundation, to make a portion of your Patron Level ticket price tax-deductible.

Spring Training : Free Day Party in Joaquin Miller : Sunday June 1

ladyleblanc — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:36:24 GMT

(spring training 2007 photo by jasonunbound) ...the most beautiful non-renegade day party in all the bay area is happening this sunday, and the weather report says SUNNY IN THE EAST BAY HILLS, even if it's foggy in the city... http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?brand=sfgate&query=94602 get ready get set go! http://www.false-profit.com/2008/06/01/spring-training/ False Profit presents... Spring Training Sunday, June 1st Joaquin Miller Park (@ Woodminster Falls) 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd Oakland where? http://maps.google.com/maps?q=3300+Joaquin+Miller+Road Noon-8p Free Alxndr (False Profit, DownLow) benchun (False Profit) DJJD (False Profit) Dov (Muti Music) Dr. Toast (False Profit) F’kir (elderfae.net) Obi-J (False Profit) and more TBA… Oakland, CA - As global weather patterns continue to destabilize, campout industry insiders have been busily preparing for the Summer Quarter. They reportedly expect that investors, given new confidence by the influential predictions of the Sun, will arise from hibernation into a wild fits of weekend trading that will send the Bass Index soaring. False Profit, LLC, a major player in the campout industry, is taking measures to ensure a smooth market transition. In a move that the Treasury Department has hailed as “fiscally healthy”, False Profit, LLC will offer Spring Training, a free “Summer Campouts for Dummies” course, that will help investors prepare for the upcoming trading frenzy. “You can’t just jump right into these frenzies,” said Dina Pinza, a Senior Medical Analyst for False Profit, LLC. “Even the most experienced summer camper needs a little refresher course.” She added, “You’ve seen what Bass can do to people.” Spring Training will be held in picturesque Joaquin Miller Park on Sunday, June 1st from noon until 8pm. False Profit, LLC recommends participants bring water, food, and sunscreen.

EBX roundup: The Grouch, Ariel Schrag, and George Lakoff

ladyleblanc — Thu, 15 May 2008 05:30:58 GMT

i wanted to point out a few articles of interest in the current East Bay Express: this EBX article gives a bit of history and background to The Grouch (of "you ain't artsier than me" fame), a bay area native, and reveals that he's not really that much of a hater. or a grouch: Anti-Artsy Emcee http://www.eastbayexpress.com/music/anti_artsy_emcee/Content?oid=726340 "He explains that the song is set up as a parody, and the video is actually a pastiche of images borrowed from other people's videos: ink blots from Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," hand gestures from a Hewlett Packard commercial, silhouettes from an ad for iPods. In describing the video, Grouch is pretty open and unapologetic about his intent: The concept behind it, he said, "was that we were stealing from other people's artsy campaigns that they had already put out." CocaineBlunts.com blogger Noz suggested that the song is actually a diss on Grouch's fanbase — a claim Grouch resolutely denies, though it has gained currency in the blogosphere. He said it's mostly about being an anti-elitist: the guy in the hip-hop scene who's not boasting about how he has the flyest clothes and the rarest records; the guy in the hippie scene who's not trying to front like a baller just because he ate brown rice and salad for lunch today. Grouch takes the Barack Obama gambit in this album, emphasizing personal stories, ranting against elitism, and gabbing about life in the domestic sphere..." if you want to watch the video, it's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCHV2I_Xog0 then, there's this interesting piece about Ariel Schrag, now known as one of the writers of The L Word but first famous at Berkeley High for self-publishing comic books about the awkwardness of being a teenager the she sold to her classmates: Top Spy at Berkeley High http://www.eastbayexpress.com/artsculture/top_spy_at_berkeley_high/Content?oid=726315 "She wrote Awkward during the summer after her freshman year, cribbing it partly from sketchbooks she filled with cartoon depictions of stupid high school exploits (like spray-painting with boys or stealing yogurt pretzels from a store and getting chewed out by the cashier). "My brain sort of naturally did the perfect amount of editing, in terms of remembering what was interesting and forgetting what wasn't," Schrag said. Awkward is the most primitive of her comics, though it's still a thoroughly entertaining read, filled with a fourteen-year-old's chatty stories about her crush on actress Juliette Lewis, and the best guy friend who became a pseudo boyfriend, but not really... Schrag finished Awkward before tenth grade and sold copies for five bucks a pop. By the time she started school in the fall, she was a minor campus celebrity." and finally, a sad but revealing article on the recent demise of The Rockridge Institute, a thinktank co-founded by well-known linguist George Lakoff formed to focus on pushing the progressive movement forward. mostly interesting because 1) i'm working for a similar thinktank, and the lessons learned here about funding and image apply to many small progressive organizations, whether NGOs or not, and 2) the idea of 'framing' is something that we do a lot of in my environmental public policy work, and one around which me and my colleague formed an "environmental salon" in 2005; the shorthand for the name of the group was "enviro-framers", inspired by Lakoff's book, Don't Think of an Elephant. Framing Issues Is Hard; Just Ask George Lakoff http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/framing_issues_is_hard__just_ask_george_lakoff/Content?oid=726327 "Because Lakoff's best-selling book had received such acclaim, everyone assumed Rockridge was flush with cash. "People thought that they should just get stuff from us for free," said Joe Brewer, a fellow who wrote about environmental policy. He said advocacy groups would approach Rockridge talking excitedly about how they could use the institute's resources; when they heard there was a price tag attached, "they just turned off," Brewer said. In fact, Rockridge suffered from the same fund-raising issues that plague all progressive organizations, where funding is often doled out in dribs and drabs for small, specific projects. Conservatives don't have that problem, Brewer said. "The Cato Institute will get a million dollars a year for five years, and the donor will say, 'Do whatever you need to do to reach your goals,'" he said. Whereas in the progressive world, it's more like: "Here's $20,000 and we're going to watch how you spend every penny, and no you're not going to get any more," he said. ...Brewer and his colleague Eric Haas both say that the group realized six months ago that "framing" was the wrong word for its focus. Too many people took that word to mean that the Rockridge Institute worked on spin, propaganda, and messaging, and that it wanted to slap some new labels on candidates and policy proposals to trick the public into supporting them. A review of Lakoff's best-seller in The Atlantic called framing "psychobabble," and Democratic Congressman Rahm Emanuel devoted a section of his own book to bashing Lakoff, saying that Lakoff is "flat-out wrong" to think that Democrats can win campaigns through word games." cognitive framing and linguistics are something we spend a lot of time on in the public policy field, as the words used to describe an issue have so much weight and meaning and greatly affect how people think about a subject, whether it's immigration or healthcare or the economy or national security, and it's sad that the Rockridge Institute, as the author points out, ironically framed themselves in a way that negatively affected their success.

tomorrow is bike to work day!

ladyleblanc — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:54:19 GMT

http://www.bayareabikes.org/btwd/index.php?page=index.htm http://www.sfbike.org/?btwd tomorrow, may 15, is Bike To Work Day all around the bay area and San Francisco, and friday, may 16 is NATIONAL bike to work day. if you have a bike, i highly suggest you do it. there are parties and gifts if you do! see websites for details. i've been biking to work 2 days a week, and as result, have often been biking around after work too, taking my bike into SF from downtown oakland, because going home to get in the car just seems stupid, and i really like the thought of my car sitting without ever being driven once 2/7 days a week. i've really started to enjoy being a bike commuter and bike rider in the city - it took a long time for me not to be terrified of traffic + cement + train rails, but now i'm really into it and plan to start biking to work more than 2 days a week (at least until it starts raining again.) i'm still a little overworried about someone STEALING my bike, as that is unfortunately super common around here. being in davis last weekend, which is a SUPER bike friendly city with their own traffic signals and everything, made me wish the bay area was more bike-friendly and that bike culture was something that more than just a small percentage of people participate in. it's great exercise, it relieves stress, it's good for the environment, it's CHEAPER, and it's fun. sure, sometimes it's a bit inconvenient (like if you need groceries), but you can ultimately change your life to fit bike living (like buying groceries in smaller quantities from stores closer to you), and i think it's a fun and positive change to make, even if it's just a couple of days a week.

ART art ART art ART art ART!

ladyleblanc — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:26:09 GMT

in case you miss the AMAZING Exploratorium event on friday ( http://sanfrancisco.tribe.net/event/2nd-Skin-Exploratorium-Friday-April-25/94123/24567f0f-e09f-472c-8991-d341f8b2520a ), or you're like me and just can't get enough art in your weekend, come out and ART with us this saturday April 26 for ALCHEMY: ART art ART art ART art ART! interactive art! performance art! messy art! DIY art! professional art! unprofessional art! fashion art! textile art! sound art! photo art! video art! writing art! sensual art! lego art! magnet art! origami art! FIRE ART! False Profit Presents: ALCHEMY @ CELLspace - 2050 Bryant, SF CA! 9pm - 2 am FASHION SHOW AT 10:00 $15 full bar Featuring: Styles of Magic fashion show by Missing Piece @ 10pm Phantoccino, a magic show by Keith Boudreau Art Gallery by Will Chase Arts Alchemical Afforestation, an interactive steel sculpture by Shira Loa Digital Paint Mash-Up by Dangermarc Pyrocardium, a heartbeat-powered candelabra by False Profit Labs Web of (de)Construction, a live textile piece by Medium Reality Identity Tapestry by Mary Corey March Flame Tree Building Workshop by False Profit Labs Phoenix Aviary, a reactive video installation Writing Photos, an intersection of writing and photography Altered Paintings, reworking thrift-store finds Interactive Lights & Magnets, Photo Booth, Lego Robots, origami, and more ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ in other totally unrelated linkage, please read this: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/04/23/notes042308.DTL&nl=fix "....scientists now say the planet itself is generating a constant, deep thrum of noise...."

Yuri's Night: BadUnklSista + Space Fashion

ladyleblanc — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:04:21 GMT

BadUnklSista will be performing at Yuri's night ( http://www.ynba.org/2008/ ) this saturday at around 11:30-11:45pm (Hangar Stage A) - don't miss us! before our performance though, from 7:45-8:15 there is fashion event followed by a space fashion costume contest in which YOU (or me!) could win a ZeroG flight. THAT would be fucking cool. http://ynba.org/2008/performance.php Space Fashion: Future Perfect A fashion, music and dance event, featuring an introduction by quantum fiction novelist Vanna Bonta on the future of smart fashion and presenting a dynamic, avante-garde aerial dance by The Aerial Showgirls, whose dance performance will include amazing stunts to classic science movie themes and original aviation music. Rocketplane’s Chuck Lauer and Misuzu Onuki of The Space Fashion Organization will make a special international announcement and showcase award-winning space fashions from a Tokyo designer collection. The event is capped by the SpaceFashion.org Yuri’s Best Prize, with support from the Space Frontier Foundation and World Space Week — an on-site Fashion Contest with real-time voting for the 10 most fashionable people picked from the audience. This is the place for winners to strut the catwalk in outrageous spacewear, with prizes including a grand First Prize of a zero gravity flight (value $4,000) awarded to the winner.

proust on art

ladyleblanc — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 06:07:14 GMT

"By art alone we are able to step outside of our selves, to know what another sees of this universe which is not the same as our own, the landscapes of which would remain as unknown to us as those of the moon. Through art, instead of seeing one world, our own, we see it multiplied and as many original artists as there are, so many worlds are offered up to us, each differing as widely from the next as those which roll round the infinite and which, be their name Rembrandt or Vermeer, send us their unique rays many centuries after the hearth from which they emanate is extinguished. The artist’s labor to discover a means of understanding that transcends matter and experience, indeed words, something different from their appearance, is of a nature counterposed to the operation in which pride, passion, intelligence and habit are constantly engaged within us when we spend our lives without self-communion, accumulating as though to hide our true impressions, the terminology for practical ends which we falsely call life." –Marcel Proust

Savant Garde: Tonight @ 111 Minna

ladyleblanc — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:13:50 GMT

TONIGHT "Fast Forward to a White 30foot Runway juxtaposed in an organic setting at 111Minna - the Dragonfly Bar will ignite with 12outfits each from each of our innovative Fashion Designers: featuring Gibbous Fashions - presenting a All Male Victorian Militaristic Wear that are handmade and hand-stitch to death. Then, Kayo and Mythica will be showcasing their brown handmade leather crowns infused with their Princess Xena wear. The way we visualize is like - the designs are peeled off from a bark of tree worn by beautiful Manga Characters. Next, is NIKA ... a budding 'Jill of Trades' presenting her Ball Gowns from bright reds to white hues. PLEASE DRESS UP designs are Avant Garde and yet wearable, whimsical and sweet in comparison to the elaborate final of what this Fashion Show is going to be. Also, we have Mandrake Designs, an all white ensemble which upgrades the meaning of a 'Prom Date.' Last but not the least, Betty Croaker is the winner of STYLEWARS produced by House of Diehl, New York. She will open the runway - with her tonque and cheek designs that will remind us when the mood of the world was effervescent. Segment 2 : A surprising performance to be: by Bad Unkle Sista entitled 'MEMBRANE.' It is going to be very INSANE and yet Beautiful. Ten performers in a very intimate setting ... think Galliano VS Kawakubo VS Mad Max to the Nth degree." http://fashionreplant.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1351071%3ABlogPost%3A13565 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ i'm excited - this is going to be a super special performance. we even rehearsed!

stuff white people like #89: st. patrick's day

ladyleblanc — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:19:42 GMT

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/03/16/89-saint-patricks-day/

systemic abuse

ladyleblanc — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:48:16 GMT

re: the recent decision to put new arctic land up for oil drilling leases - http://www.noia.org/website/article.asp?id=4691 - in important polar bear habitat - http://www.polarbearsos.org/, i just got this email from Barbara Lee as a response to a letter i sent some time ago: Dear Miss Leblanc: Thank you for contacting me regarding the pressing need to delay the go-ahead for Lease Sale 193 Area in the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Region of the Chukchi Sea until the Secretary of the Interior determines whether to list the polar bear as a threatened species or endangered species. I appreciate your input on this important matter. Like you, I have serious concerns that these oil and gas lease agreements represent a genuine threat to the remaining polar bear population. As a vocal advocate for a responsible and sustainable environmental strategy, I have long opposed environmental policies that place the profits of the oil and gas industry ahead of protecting our domestic wildlife. I am proud to be a co-sponsor of H.R. 5058, which would prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from selling any oil and gas lease for any tract in the Lease Sale 193 Area until the Secretary determines whether to list the polar bear as a threatened species or an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Our nation's dependence on oil is no excuse for pillaging the arctic for natural resources, and destroying some of our nation's most unique natural habitats and wildlife species. Rest assured, I will continue to fight to ensure the polar bear population appropriate protections required by the Endangered Species Act. Thank you again for taking the time to contact me and I look forward to hearing from you in the future. Sincerely, Barbara Lee Member of Congress ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The thing about this was that the Secretary of the Interior and other Powers That Be have purposefully delayed whether or not to list the polar bear as an Endangered Species until after these oil lease deals have gone through, because if the bears get listed, then the leases can't happen. the deadline for the decision was January 9. the Administration claims they need to do more research, but at the same time they are considering these oil leases. suspicious much? The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a law suit on monday against the Bush Administration and the DOI for missing the deadline to make the decision on whether to list the bears: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2008/2008-03-11-094.asp . whether or not you really care about polar bears, it's a total injustice to abuse the system this way, and complete abuse of power. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne could use some mail about this: dirk_kempthorne@kempthorne.senate.gov in other related news, 10,000 EPA employees have filed an official union complaint that the EPA has also been abusing trust and violating its mandate to make decisions based on science, not special interests: http://www.celsias.com/2008/03/10/dark-days-at-the-environmental-protection-agency/ "In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, nineteen union local presidents cited “abuses of our good nature and trust” and the promotion of political expediency and “private sector interests” over principles of scientific integrity as reasons for the withdrawal from the agreement." the environmental resource management branches of our government are in desperate need of good leadership and a total overhaul, and for me, this the largest issue in determining who to vote for this election. who is the next president going to choose to head these agencies, and what sorts of direct Executive action will they take ( http://www.celsias.com/2008/03/11/executive-orders-can-address-climate-change/ ) ?

having it all

ladyleblanc — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:02:42 GMT

(original post with links here: http://www.amyleblanc.com/index.php?id=P2497 ) this past weekend was much more fun and interesting than i had anticipated, partly due to the absolutely gorgeous weather we're having here in the bay area. let's see: friday night i went to hang out with anastazia of BadUnklSista so that we could talk about upcoming performance events as well as finish a custom skirt i was having her make for me (as a model/performer, i preferred to get paid in trade/clothing over cash.) it's always fun hanging out with staz. she's so inspiring, and we talked about lots of things coming up we both want to do together. saturday morning i got up and prepared for a photoshoot with my friend Faern of www.faernworks.com. faern and i have been hanging around in the same circles for a couple of years now, and i've always loved her photos and other media work (she's also a painter and jewelry designer, among other things). recently she asked if i wanted to do a photoshoot with her, and i was like hell yeah! i realize it might appear that i'm a total narcissist and that i love staring at photos of myself, but really, it's that a) i love dressing up. it's my favorite pasttime. i used to think it was silly and vain, but lately it's gotten me a lot of places and 2) in addition to my vintage collection i have so many beautiful amazing custom clothes that people have created for me - my mom, my friends, local designers i don't really know but highly respect - and many of those clothes have never been photographed and i think that's a total shame. i wanted to do the photoshoot specifically to capture some of the things that have not been documented much, but of course i got completely overwhelmed by my wardrobe when trying to pull outfits together and ended up taking a huge suitcase with me to meet up with faern (jay asked if i was moving out when he saw how much shit i was taking.) we didn't get through only half of the outfits, so, another shoot will be needed to capture the rest and some other less formal clubwear in my collection. we did shots in north beach, toxic beach, at old factory sites in the dogpatch, and heron's head. it was a gorgeous day, faern was really great to work with, and we had a lot of fun. a couple of preview shots in my profile pix. more to come. saturday night jay and i went to see a play @ UC Berkeley Zellerbach Playhouse, thx to my coworker @ AmericanEnvironics who is working on the production and gave me 2 free tickets. the play was a fairly straight rendition of The Bacchae by Euripides (no weird modern stylistic twists or liberal interpretations). it was open seating so we sat right smack dab in the middle of the front row, cuz i like to see people sweat and get a close-up view of their wardrobes whenever possible. i have to admit the final scene was quite moving (greek tragedies are usually really harsh in the consequences), although i did not cry like some members of the audience. i also couldn't get the extreme misogyny aspect of the play out of my head; the play puts the idea that women are easily susceptible to emotional overloads, and therefore weak and easily manipulated at the center of the plot. still, it was well done. afterward, we went to a warehouse party in Jack London Square that was refreshingly old school. oakland parties are so much less scene-y than SF parties, and this had a real old warehouse vibe, although thankfully an older crowd and not a bunch of 18+. our friend Taj Angelo did a great MC performance, and more friends than we expected turned out. the time change gave us a bit of a startle when we looked at the clock and realized it was way past our bedtimes, especially since i had to be up at a reasonable hour on sunday. sunday morning i woke up and headed down to Stanford to take part in a brain scan imaging (MRI) research study that had something to do with brain responses to product stimuli. it was a gorgeously clear day and as i drove down 280 through the peninsula (the coastal mountainous area between SF and San Jose, with the Pacific Ocean to the West and SF Bay to the East, which is largely undeveloped and protected as open space thx to groups like The Peninsula Open Space Trust), i was reminded of how beautiful it is here, and also reminded that fighting to protect open space is SO IMPORTANT. i'd never been to Stanford before, and coming off 280, driving past the Linear Accelerator Lab down well-manicured tree-lined streets and seeing all kinds of well-to-do looking people happily riding bicycles and jogging in the california sunshine seemed a bit surreal, like i had arrived on the set of that TV show Eureka. anyway, the experiment had me lying in an MRI machine, which is a little claustrophobic, and while i was in there and my brain was being scanned, i played a little video game sort of thing in which i responded to pricing and products, determining how much or how little i would be willing to buy and sell items for. in the end, i received a nice payout based on my preferences. it was sort of like being on a very, very weird gameshow. after i got back to the east bay, reagan can over with her cutest dog jake, and we all went to Point Isabel, an open space dog park on the water just north of berkeley. it was a bit cool and windy on the bay, but still sunny and there were hundreds of dogs and dog owners out and about, everyone soaking up the sun. makes me really wish the cats could be taken outside to play. then we went back to our place and watched some of Planet Earth in high definition projected on the wall with our new HiDef projector. the Planet Earth series is quite possibly the best use of television media that has ever existed, and if you haven't seen it, RENT IT NOW, but get the BBC version, not the Discover/American version. if you do not feel totally humbled as a human being and have deep emphatic respect for nature after watching this film, you must be a droid. tonight, i have a dress rehearsal for a fashion event with the lovely Silver Lucy Design. we are doing some sort of crazy interactive fashion show as part of the iTV "TV of Tomorrow" Conference tomorrow @ Yerba Buena Center for the arts. iTV is the thing that combines the internet with your television. like, you're watching the SuperBowl and you see an ad for Pizza Hut, so all you do is hit a button on your remote and a screen pops up that allows you to order a pizza. or, you're watching your favorite reality show or SitCom and you REALLY WANT THAT SWEATER that whatshername is wearing, so you hit a button and it tells you wear you can buy it. stuff like that, which, to be honest, i'm not all that personally interested in, but whatever, should be fun. my life, it is beautiful. i'm so grateful for all there is to do here in SF. this weekend had a very progressive sort of feel to it for me: so many things developing, changing, moving forward, in my life, and in the world, and while at times i'm exhausted, i just can't keep myself from wanting to be a part of it all.

wave function

ladyleblanc — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:13:24 GMT

my friend (and yours) dr. toast has a new album of beautiful electronic music coming out, and you can listen to parts of it here, on solipsistic nation - http://solipsisticnation.com/?p=133 - , or on his myspace page - http://www.myspace.com/drtoastmusic . the CD release party will be @ poleng lounge in SF on 3/27: http://records.false-profit.com/2008/03/04/dr-toast-the-wave-function/ . when the full album becomes available online, i'll let you know. more blog @ http://www.amyleblanc.com/index.php

callibug designs

ladyleblanc — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:00:55 GMT

my friend calli's ( http://people.tribe.net/callibug ) new clothing design website has just been launched! http://callibugdesigns.com/ she specializes in "A sleek blend of Anime, Steam Punk and Victorian dress." of particular note are her amazing customized pants, which many of the menfolk in my circle have come to cherish, including jay, and her reconstructed jumpsuits. think a coverall can't be sexy? think again. check it out! congrats to calli! :D

blog, work, dance, blog, work, dance, repeat.

ladyleblanc — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:51:22 GMT

i haven't been blogging much here but rest assured i've been blogging a ton at my actual blog about all the things i've been up to. check it out (in case you forgot): http://www.amyleblanc.com particularly of note is my "creepy doll" post about my recent funtimes with BadUnklSista @ Supperclub this past wednesday: http://www.amyleblanc.com/index.php?id=P2462 (is that photo of the creepy doll above NOT eerily similar to this photo bex took of me 2 halloweens ago? http://www.flickr.com/photos/bexhurwitz/286488164/ ) other things on the doing schedule: how long has it been since you've been out dancing? 24 hours? 6 days? 2 weeks? a month? however long, it's been too long. i know i need a good bass-induced sweat with all this cold rain and shit. 2 great parties this weekend i heartily endorse: TONIGHT: Evil Breaks & False Profit present: Dirty Friday, February 22nd, 2008 DNA Lounge (375 11th st.) $10 b4 11pm/$15 after that 10pm - 4am 21+ w/ID Along with E.B. dj's: Carbon Community Aaron Jae Bam M.O.D. False Profit upstairs: Dr. Toast Alxndr Obi-J - JAY PLAYS @ 11:30~! DJJD www.EvilBreaks.com TOMORROW: Return of the Panda Saturday, February 23rd Urban Art Farm (1345A 17th St @ Connecticut) $10 Before 11pm $15 after that 10pm - 5am 21+ w/ID IAaron Jae (#73) Alxndr (#69) Donna Matrix (pi(squared) or something like that) Ernie Trevino (#1138) Kapt'n Kirk (#006) Mancub Tamo Website: tribes.tribe.net/pandarejectsrock and soon enough it will be Monday again. have a great weekend everyone!

biodiesel adventure

ladyleblanc — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:48:46 GMT

this event is taking place at my office this weekend. if you are interested in learning more about biodiesel, it should be a fun and low-key event (with free food & bev!) bring by your USED (not new!) cooking oil, and meet some of these adventurers. spread the word: http://www.biodieselchallenge.com/index2.html

honky

ladyleblanc — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:42:39 GMT

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/ slightly offensive if you're easily offended, but that's what makes it funny! practically all of them apply to me and i think it's hilarious. orange notes that this is more like stuffupperclassliberalwhitepeoplelike and is more socioeconomic than race divided. most of this does not apply to trailer parks in the midwest, for example, and i see a lot of non-white people at the whole foods in lake merritt. i probably wouldn't find this site so interesting (the joke fades fast) if i weren't currently investing a lot of time into researching identity and social values and the socioeconomic factors behind value systems, so my brain sort of went in a lot of directions all at once when i clicked that link this morning.

USDA Makes Nation's Largest Beef Recall

ladyleblanc — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:37:00 GMT

143 million pounds of beef recalled. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/02/15/state/n110931S31.DTL&tsp=1 "Federal officials suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark after an undercover Humane Society video surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts. Authorities said the video showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing "downer" animals that were apparently too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse." whether this makes you weep because of the animal cruelty or cringe because you ate an enormous burger from Carl's Jr. yesterday, it's incredibly disgusting. the USDA claims the recall is not due to any health hazard to humans, but is being recalled because it was not properly inspected. most of the beef was sent to school cafeterias, and they figure it's already been eaten. if you haven't seen the film Fast Food Nation, please do. the book/movie are about all the illegal things that happen in america's slaughterhouses and the beef industry, particularly how illegal immigrants are brought in to work there and forced to work in unsafe conditions and to do illegal things to the animals under threat of being deported. illegally processed meat is then sent into the public food supply. the abuses going on in slaughterhouses are not just an animal rights issue, but a human rights issue too.

10 years gone

ladyleblanc — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:16:22 GMT

longtime friends and readers know that jay and i have been together for 10 years (i have a whole other related post brewing in my head about that - 10 YEARS. oMg. am getting old, and oh the number of ways i feel it!). we met in college in 1998, and shortly after graduation, with no jobs and no plans and no strings attached, we hopped in the car and drove west. we weren't really thinking at the time, i guess, and more than one person (esp. parents) were like "you're doing what?!" when the plan was revealed. but it's the american dream, isn't it, to head out into the unknown and see what happens? we arrived in san francisco a couple of weeks later, after spending time in great places like boulder, CO and the grand canyon and joshua tree, pretty much completely unaware of the whole dot-com bubble happening, and i'll admit it was pretty hard that first year, living in a small shitty apartment and trying to find jobs in a supercompetitive housing and job market. i think when my parents visited for the first time they were a little worried still about us 'making it' out here. but we pushed through, learned a LOT about 'the real world' (oh the naive mistakes i made upon first arrival!), got decent jobs and gradually moved up in living conditions. in the last 10 years we've cycled through 'scenes' in the bay area, seen dozens and dozens of friends come and go, moved, changed jobs, dabbled in various hobbies, and have really enjoyed the happy accident of ending up here. through it all though, it's always been us. the two of us. we're extremely compatible and we have similar ways of doing things. we respect eachother and admire eachother. but there's always the issue of space and room to grow. this has probably been our greatest challenge, as the years between 21 and 31 are extreme personal growth periods for most people, moving from adolescence into adulthood, figuring out who you are and what you want out of life and what you want to be. that's hard to do alone, and in some ways having a partner makes it easier but in other ways it makes it harder. what if you want to grow in different directions? for some of us chameleon types, 10 years is a long damned time to 'be the same person'/want the same things, even if only in basic ways. i won't lie and say there haven't been some rough moments (or days, or weeks), where the various stresses on a relationship took their toll, but we've never broken up. we've always worked through, probably because the thought of losing your best friend is worse than losing a lover, and we are most definitely best friends. even so, maintaining a long term relationship is work. whether it's hard work or easy work depends, but it's still work. relationships don't maintain themselves; unmaintained they either stagnate or fall apart. it's especially hard, i think, when living a semi-alternative lifestyle, like we do. at least, it's alternative for people who've been together as long as we have: not married, no kids, incredibly active social life. we don't have anything tying us together except wanting to be together. we don't have a legal binding or a mortgage or childcare. the only think keeping us together is love, but it's quite enough. people ask 'how do you it?', and generally all i can answer is that during the frustrating times i try to remember what's important, and find ways to resolve the issue/meet whatever current needs i have but integrate that into the whole relationship. unless someone seriously violates trust in an unreconcilable way, i think most things can be worked through IF YOU WANT to work through them. you have to want to. like i said, if your partner is your best friend and not just some lover, reminding yourself of what your life would be like without that person is a pretty strong impetus to resolve whatever temporary issue you have. even if there are those moments when you think maybe you want to take the money and run, those moments are brief and usually ill considered, and if you can step back long enough to check the impulse and get some perspective, it's not hard to see what the choice is. viewing our relationship with respect to so many others that we've seen come and go during our time together makes me incredibly grateful for what we have. i like taking long roadtrips with jay, such as the one we just took to palm springs, because it gives us time to just BE together, without jobs or distractions or social commitments. we just hang out together and enjoy life. it's what we like to do. however, even though we love being alone just the two of us, we also rely heavily on our friends and community to be part of our lives and our growth, and to sort of keep us sane in terms of having other important relationships and outlets (to drive other people crazy, not just eachother). so, yesterday afternoon we had a little anniversary party at our loft, and many of the friends we've made over the years - old and new - were there to celebrate with us. many thx to those who came, and i hope everyone enjoyed themselves and hopefully walked away with a warm fuzzy feeling inside, also grateful for all the love in their lives. (original post and links back about the trip to palm springs @ http://www.amyleblanc.com/index.php?id=P2438 )

what if

ladyleblanc — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:38:51 GMT

blame it on my aunt cynthia, but i've been a marilyn monroe fan since i was a teen. her innocent sexuality is completely mesmerizing to me, and her comedic performances on film are always underrated. i recently heard an old song of hers on the radio (thx, kalx) and even without the visual her voice was flirty and sexy yet also raw and honest, and totally beautiful. so, when i clicked over to Alison Jackon's set of fictional papparazi-portraits - http://www.mbfala.com/Jackson/Jackson_Confidential.html - i was really excited to see this: (NSFW!) http://www.mbfala.com/Jackson/102_Marilyn_wanking_black.html um. OMG.yowza. the other ones are pretty good too.

that third sentence is killer.

ladyleblanc — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:21:40 GMT

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things. Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

MLK day - tomorrow is today

ladyleblanc — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:40:31 GMT

"The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality...and if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing "clergy and laymen concerned" committees for the next generation. They will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end, unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy. And so, such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God. In 1957, a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. During the past ten years, we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which has now justified the presence of U.S. military advisors in Venezuela. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counterrevolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Cambodia and why American napalm and Green Beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru. It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin...we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered... ...A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood." --Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., "Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence", April 4, 1967 i encourage you to listen to the speech while reading along on this link: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm while it may seem tedious to listen to a speech about something in the past, if as you read/listen to the whole speech you replace word "Vietnam" with "Iraq" and/or "Afghanistan", it's more than a little relevant, and incredibly sad that this history is being repeated again. if you want to skip over the parts focused on vietnam, scroll down to the last 1/3 of the speech below the photo for his inspirational message on peace and social values.

"That's Haute"

ladyleblanc — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:08:48 GMT

for the past 2 nights i've been part of the Crucible's "Hot Couture" fire and fashion show as part of the final fashion act with my friend anastazia of Bad Unkl Sista, and tonight is the VIP gala and finale. it's been extremely fun, despite the 'hurry up and wait for 5 hours' sort of thing that happens backstage, i have really enjoyed being part of a multiple night event, sort of like being in a play or other ongoing performance, which i never have been. everything i've done has always been a one-off, so it's been a great experience having more than one chance to do something, and to see the show sort of evolve even in a few short nights. last night there were 15 people in our troupe, all completely dressed head to toe in these amazing incredible costumes (she is NOT a 'little black dress' designer) that include everything from hoop skirts to kitchenware to houseplants as pieces and parts. i'm always totally humbled by the amount of creativity that comes out of this woman. this write-up in the SF weekly is particularly exciting, because out of all the designers in the show (a dozen?), the three she mentions are my friends! we don't know who the writer is, but we thank her :) "When it comes to checking out a show at the Crucible, it's unlikely you'll be paying much attention to the sartorial choices of the probably sweaty performers. Considering that the organization's forte is the "fire arts," a fashion show may seem like a dubious tie-in. All the same, Hot Couture proves that pyromaniacs can be as stylish as the next guy. The three-day gala, which marks the Crucible's ninth anniversary, blends compulsory flame throwing/eating/dancing with equally red-hot catwalk couture. Dozens of local designers band together to throw a little grace into the inferno. They include Bad Unkl Sista, a collaborative of multimedia artists creating threads that are both sustainable and pulled apart at the creative seams; Miss Velvet Cream, whose custom needlework is as likely to cover a codpiece as it is a futuristic miniskirt; and Miranda Caroligne, whose recycled bricolage embodies the show's focus on wearable, eco-friendly art. Runway models are accompanied by dancers like the Nekyia, a cabaret troupe that specializes in sultry trapeze -- not to mention a ton of nifty demonstrations by welders, glass blowers, and other artisans." -- Nirmala Nataraj, SF Weekly : http://www.sfweekly.com/search/events.php?oid=872169 here is a link to video of local news coverage as well: httlp://www.ktvu.com/video/15081569/index.html

the line simulator

ladyleblanc — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:13:54 GMT

there are currently 4,074 people in the virtual "line" ahead of me to buy burning man tickets. i have no idea how long the queue will take, and it's sort of funny thinking about 4,000 other people sitting in front of their computers watching that little blue ticker thing go back and forth.

hello, 2008

ladyleblanc — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:56:09 GMT

pity this busy monster,manunkind, not. Progress is a comfortable disease: your victum(death and life safely beyond) plays with the bigness of his littleness -electrons deify one razorblade into a mountainrange;lenses extend unwish through curving wherewhen until unwish returns on its unself. A world of made is not a world of born-pity poor flesh and trees,poor stars and stones,but never this fine specimen of hypermagical ultraomnipotence. We doctors know a hopeless case if-listen:there's a hell of a good universe next door;let's go ~e.e.cummings see blog post @ http://www.amyleblanc.com/index.php?id=P2411