GIRLentine’s Day at the Vampire Lounge (Yes, all of these things are real)

The holiday of love is one that should be shared with all of your friends, not just your beau. Inspired by a Parks and Recreation’s episode on “GALentine’s Day,” I started my own “GIRLentine’s Day” (yeah, not the same ring to it, but “GAL” means something else to those in the Japanese fashion circle so I changed it up a bit!)! I want to make it an annual tradition with my girl friends; a day to relax, be girly, bond, and bitch about whatever pleases us.

For a venue, I found the totally awesome Vampire Lounge & Tasting Room located in Beverly Hills, across from the posh Peninsula Hotel. It is with a heavily ironic heart that I was super excited to check the place out, especially since their Yelp reviews were glowing.

Vampire Vineyards is owned by an entertainment attorney and his wife, with vineyards in northern and southern California producing a line of “Vampire” wines, including specialty bottles like the (officially licensed!) True Blood Pinot Noir and the Dracula Zinfandel. Vampire Vineyards also owns a small run of spinoff Vampire-themed products, like Vampire Vodka, Vamp Energy drinks, and chocolates and coffee. These guys were smart enough to buy VAMPIRE.COM back in the day, so they know a thing or two about smart marketing.

But back to the event! The lounge itself has 2 floors, with a posh upstairs perfect for a gathering of girls, featuring plush couches, a host of vampire novels, and our new favorite bartender, Rob!

Monster of a Time

I’ve been purposefully making sure I can go out and socialize as much as possible in the first few weeks of January, because my schedule of over working and not seeing my friends is coming soon…!

So, if these last couple of posts makes you think I’m a party animal, you may be correct only for another week or so, haha.

Will and I purchased a superfancy electric skillet from Mitsuwa, so that we can host our own yakiniku, shabushabu, and sukiyaki parties at our home eventually! We tested it out for the first time last week and had some nice yakiniku times. Here’s a quick pic of the pre-meat action setup.

You'll note the face that it's not even on a table.. it's an upside down bulletin board on top of a box, haha. We need furniture...

Saturday morning provided some downtime for us, so I made an attempt at a different DIY nail style, with sort of half-assed results…

This is totally the better of the two hands. I'm right handed, so the nails on my right hand look like a battlefield! Next time, it would be better if I bought one of those nail pens to do the black! You'll also notice I have inadvertantly done the VIVA JAMAICA colors lol.... dammit!

Saturday night, we went out to the Anime Babes Burlesque & Cabaret show at Bordello Bar in Downtown Los Angeles. Last year, this same crew did the Star Wars & Video game burlesque, and it was a huge hit– I was sad I didn’t go! But this time, we braved the chilly streets to check out the show…

For the occasion, I wore my dress that I've named "The Tron Dress", even though it's just a regular dress I purchased online, haha.

The show itself was pretty amusing, with burlesque dancers dressed up as Pikachu, Tokyo Mew Mew, Trixie (it wasn’t really her outfit though… just a generic “racing girl” costume.. gah I’m a perfectionist!), Lust from Full Metal Alchemist, and Rei from Evangelion. I wasn’t really able to get a proper photo int he dark club with my phone, but you’ll find the rest of the proper photos up on my pals’ LA Weekly article here!

Sunday I had a nice work-related adventure downtown grabbing supplies for an upcoming party that my co-owned company Bubble Punch are throwing with Onch! I always get super tired after huge adventures like that, so I NEED to replenish my HP bar with some bacon covered hot dog goodness!

Well, I know you all LOVE my crappy fuzzy phone pics, but I finally got my new camera in the mail! May it live longer than its predecessors (I am a camera killer, and accidentally ruin all cameras I have in about a year. SADS). This little tyke shall be named.. THE RED DEMON. THe red is so bright it’s almost orange..!

Other than that, last week was really keen and relaxing. Monday brought on a slew of really terrible events, which I’m working hard on keeping my mind off of this week. Please excuse any emo-ness you may find on my twitter and such. But hey, more inane blog posts about absolutely nothing for you guys woo!

Stay warm, my friends!

Fairytales and Warriors

This past Sunday, May 16th, three Los Angeles artists combined their works for the “Folklore Art Show,” a presentation hosted by Fleeting Projects, a monthly installation of different works at Renee’s Courtyard in Santa Monica, CA.

The three artists all met while attending CalArts, and currently all work on the popular show Futurama. These three friends showcased work based on different stories and legends that were dear to them.

Aimee Major Steinberger is one of my dearest friends, and her work proved to me again why I’m always so in awe of her as an artist. She works quickly and creatively, and is adept at making quick decisions when creating artistic works, something I’m painfully slow at. An assistant director at Futurama, it was interesting to see that work contrasted with her artwork included on the Bamboo Cutter, which was gently done in pencils and marker. Her attention to detail was shown not only in her artwork,  but also in the accents she decorated the room her work was featured in. Strewn with Chinese lanterns, obi, and small flowers, she made the gallery feel like a part of the artwork itself. The Bamboo Cutter is one of the oldest narratives in Japanese literature (way before Tale of Genji), and tells a bittersweet tale of a princess from the moon (Kahuya-hime) who was raised by the bamboo cutter and his wife, but grew up longing for her home on the moon.

The beginning of the tale of the Bamboo Cutter, by Aimee Major Steinberger.

The bamboo cutter found Kaguya-hime in the forest

Lots of photos and details of all artists after the jump!