Happy Weekend

Here's The Raconteurs' bluegrass version of 'Old Enough' featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe.

I think this song reminds me of The Beatles. It's directed by Autumn de Wilde. I think I really like bluegrass. It's my Southern mama's influence. I'm craving (me some) drop biscuits, black eyed peas, fried okra, fried chicken and hush puppies.

I wonder how that would look as an outfit...

What a sweet surprise in the middle... Wake Up Little Susie...

Hunger Pains

Each outfit in the series is made entirely of food and depicts a meal that the person was craving.

Her dress is made of steamed artichoke leaves and kale, radicchio and cabbage leaves. Stunning, but who craves that?!

Al dente pasta with extra virgin olive oil. Now we're talking.

Buckwheat waffle pants with glazed bananas. I had pancakes this morning...

Bread basket with fudge brownies and bittersweet chocolate dipping sauce. Nothing like carbs to make my day. This was all shot by Ted Sabarese. Outfits designed by Ami Goodheart of SOTU Productions. She is pictured below. Her costumes are never subtle and her creative designs have been shot by one of my favorite photographers - David LaChapelle.

Aloha In the Hills

Luau is back in Beverly Hills! Above is the new... below is the original.

Luau first opened on Rodeo Drive in the 50's. Along with Trader Vic's and Don the Beachcomber, it helped establish Polynesian cuisine and rum drinks as de rigueur in the 50's and 60's. It was a hotspot for celebs like The Rat Pack, Johnny Weismuller (who played Tarzan) who was known to dive into the waterfall lagoon and Howard Hughes, who was said to have his own private entrance in the back and sat at the bar with a bodyguard, a pencil, and a notepad doing calculations all night.

It's still a celeb magnet! I was there last night and Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta Jones were eating dinner behind us. Yes, she IS that gorgeous in person!

Here's a sample of the original menu:

Luau still offers rum drinks in pineapples and scorpion bowls for four with ridiculously long straws. The original Luau was kitchy with clamshell shaped urinals in the men's room and the waterfall lagoon. Today, the decor features dozens of puffer fish as lights, but the overall feel is subdued & low-key. The mind behind the new Luau is Andy Hewitt, who opened Il Sole.

I'd compare it to Trader Vic's. The campy original closed at the Beverly Hilton and I am still in mourning. It's reopened near the pool with the same great drinks, but the decor is sleek & modern, which kind of throws me off for a campy Tiki night, no?

Luau

369 N. Bedford Drive

Beverly Hills

(310) 274-0090

A matchbook cover from the original.

Queen of the Jungle

These oil paintings are by Natalia Fabia. The first time I saw one of her works was at a charity event called Paint By Numbers. Artists took those cheesy paintings and painted right on top of them.

Fabia's featured a great white shark leaping out of a pristine water scene. She used glitter for the water - love!

The Surreal Life

These are images from Mark Ryden's latest show opening next month at Tomio Koyama in Tokyo.
His paintings have such incredible detail, with a softness and sweetness that remind me of the characters in the Little Golden Books of my childhood, but with an eerie bent.
He'll be signing copies of his new book The Tree Show at the MOCA store from 3-5pm this Saturday. These are samples from the book.

These were on display at the Michael Kohn Gallery a few months ago.

The Stepford Wives

These are from Steven Meisel's 2001 series, "Four Days in L.A.: The Versace Pictures."

The photos were taken at two L.A. mansions with the model primped within an inch of her life. The picture-perfect poodles too.

"There's a glamour to it, too -- a sick glamour, but a glamour," Meisel said to describe the photos.

I love the look in her eyes - so Valley of the Dolls!

Tracking the Wounded

We went to see Joey Remmers' show "Tracking The Wounded" last night at Corey Helford Gallery. The bio says he's inspired by the works of his favorite authors from Stephen King and Chuck Palahniuk to Michael Chabon and Dean Koontz. He grew up in SoCal and he's also a tattoo artist.

Fingers Crossed

I'm in tonight's premiere episode of Lie To Me! Watch tonight at 9 on Fox!

If you miss it, lie to me anyway and tell me how fabulous I was as the anchorwoman.

Didn't you love Tim Roth as Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs? Yeow!

Yes We Can

The questions I posed for the poster giveaway prompted many moving replies. Thank you so much everyone who participated. These were the questions:

Obama's platform was hope and change. What do you hope for our country? What change would you like to see from our 44th president?"

Here's the winning response:

What I hope for our country is that through Barack's example of leadership with a keen eye on hopefulness, that we can, as a nation begin to work with, have compassion for and truly have an understanding of our neighbors. Through that newfound understanding, I hope we as a people can be able to accept our neighbors for their individuality yet understand that they are really no different than ourselves and give one another the latitude we expect others to give each one of us. Acceptance is a key component to this, and I was saddened in my travels for work when I'd be in middle America and witness firsthand intolerance towards those that appear different and a strong undercurrent of racism that still rears its ugly head. Thankfully, we rose to the occasion and seemingly put our petty differences aside for that election moment to give this wonderful person a chance that he deserves and has earned to try and provide leadership in these very trying times.

The change I'd like to see from our 44th president is along the same lines as my hopes for this country, that Barack can be the agent of tolerance and have the ability to bring EVERYONE to the table that chooses to participate in the governance of our country, listen to and incorporate as much of every ones input as possible and work together to bring this country forward into the future, instead of treading water, or moving backwards as a nation. This will require work, no doubt about it, but the change I believe Barack is after is to empower people by allowing them a space at the table, allowing their voices to be heard, and encouraging people to provide their individual input to help formulate his own opinions and direction for this united country, rather than simply going about it on his own, or the outdated way of doing the business of our country by taking to the proverbial smoke filled back rooms where decisions get made by a select few, often unaccountable to the people.

This is exciting stuff that Barack is speaking about, actually including everyone at the table, my what a noble idea that our leaders should actually listen and take into account the trials and tribulations of the normal, everyday citizen. One great example of how he can bring us together and work towards a bright future is his discussion about infrastructure rebuilding. Many of us have been crying for this to be a main priority to focus on for years to employ our unemployed, rebuild what is falling apart at alarming rates, and focus our nation building efforts right here on our own soil. This empowers people, it provides paychecks that get spent here at home, it makes our roads and bridges safer, it brings many people to the table to work towards solutions, and is therefore indicative of how Barack plans to rebuild our nation, not only with words, but with actions and the support of the people.

So in the end, I think the message of hope and change is right on target and is much more than simple statements or politics as usual. Its the voice of our future, and that future is now, but we all must work together to make this more than just words and turn it into a reality, our reality for a better tomorrow.

-Jeremy

There's No Place Like Home

The Power of Now Nail Polish

Camptown Races

Here's how Julie Blackmon describes her series:

“The stress, the chaos, and the need to simultaneously escape and connect are issue that I investigate in this body of work. We live in a culture where we are both ‘child centered’ and ‘self-obsessed.’ The struggle between living in the moment versus escaping to another reality is intense since these two opposites strive to dominate. Caught in the swirl of soccer practices, play dates, work, and trying to find our way in our ‘make-over’ culture, we must still create the space to find ourselves. The expectations of family life have never been more at odds with each other. These issues, as well as the relationship between the domestic landscape of the past and present, are issues I have explored in these photographs. I believe there are moments that can be found throughout any given day that bring sanctuary. It is in finding these moments amidst the stress of the everyday that my life as a mother parallels my work as an artist, and where the dynamics of family life throughout time seem remarkably unchanged. As an artist and as a mother, I believe life’s most poignant moments come from the ability to fuse fantasy and reality: to see the mythic amidst the chaos."

I don't have children but can't we all relate? Particularly if you're a dreamer, I love the concecpt of struggling between living in the moment and fantasy. Blackmon normally photographs family members and her works seem to have a sweet yet sinister side. The images below remind me of Chris Anthony.

PC

Candy

American Gothic

Bubble Tape

Free Fairey!

I'm celebrating the inauguration of Barack Obama with a giveaway. I only have one of these lovely posters, so this is going to have to be a contest. My favorite answer wins.

Obama's platform was hope and change. What do you hope for our country? What change would you like to see from our 44th president?

Send your answers to my email address. You can find it on suzannemarques.com!

I launched my very own website! There's so much to celebrate in the new year. Happy thinking & hunting. I'll announce the winner after the inauguration. Cheers!

Visions of Sugar Plums

I woke up this morning with candy on my mind. Will Cotton is one of my favorite artists and his works are the stuff of dreams.

Will Cotton "Candy Curls"

Will Cotton "Ribbon Candy"

Kenny Scharf "Chocolate Donut in Space"

Will Cotton "Chocolate Forest"

The most special hot chocolate I've ever tasted was at Angelina in Paris. It opened in 1903 and their hot chocolate tastes like a liquid candy bar. It's so rich the whipped cream tempers the sweetness. I could only handle a few sips, but I recall thinking it was exactly what I imagined the chocolate river would taste like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Before things get to saccharine, let's finish with Morgue Chocolates by Stephen J Shanabrook, shall we?

My Lullaby

Darling
Don't got to worry you're locked in tight
Darling
Don't got to worry turn out the light

Pillow Talk

Tonight I ventured out for Woodson & Rummerfield's event with Ankasa. The hand embroidered pillows are intensely ornate and fabulous. One partygoer told me the company does all of the stitching for Versace.

The Ankasa rep was wearing a fab necklace - which I neglected to snap - but she says they have a jewelry line arriving soon at Bloomie's if I'm not wrong...