Epic dinner. Tonsil wounds, prepare to meet your match!!!

For the mashed potatoes:
7-9 red potatoes; boiled (skins on or off is your choice; I like skins on)
2-3 grated whole carrots (not the baby snack kind)*
1 1/2 cups sour cream*
1/4 cup cream cheese*
2 Tbs. chives (fresh or dried; doesn't matter)*
2 Tbs. butter*
Bacon bits (optional)

Directions:
Mash/mix together all ingredients until smooth; ingredients with a (*) are to taste; these are the measurements I like.

For the pork chops:
Pork chops (the really thin ones)
Smokey bbq sauce
Yucatan Habanero pepper sauce
onion powder
garlic powder
coarse ground pepper

Directions (what I did; this is all to taste):
Cover both sides of pork chops in bbq sauce and put on a baking sheet (hint: with foil will make clean up much easier for those of you without a brain stem). Put a few dashes of the habanero pepper sauce on pork chops, onion and garlic powder and pepper to taste. Put in the oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes (this is NOT to taste. You want them to be done.)

Oh, the horror!

My favorite horror movies (in order):

The Devil's Rejects
Hannibal Rising
Silence of the Lambs
Shutter Island
The Strangers
Dracula
Hannibal
Doomsday
Death Note/Death Note 2
The Unborn
Interview with the Vampire
Dawn of the Dead
Resident Evil (series)
Ghost Ship
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later
30 Days of Night
Queen of the Damned 
Ammityville Horror

Honey and Sunshine Rolls Recipie (makes about 24)

You will need:
8-11 cups of flour
6 Tbs yeast
1/2 cup of sugar
1 Tbs salt
3 1/2 cups warm water
1 cup oil
3 eggs
vanilla (optional)
3 sticks butter
honey (to taste...I used an entire little bear shaped bottle)
1 cup powdered sugar
large mixing bowl
mixing spoons
2 13-by-9 inch pans

1. Mix 4 cups flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add water, oil, eggs and vanilla (optional); beat throughly for 5-10 minutes.
2. Allow to rise for 5-10 minutes; add up to 6 1/2 cups flour. Mix well.
3. Knead on floured board 5 times.
4. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter per pan; spread over entire pan.
5. Drop apple sized balls of dough into pans (12 per pan).
6. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes; pull rolls apart upon pulling from the oven.
7. Melt remaining butter, honey, and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Mix well.
8. Pour honey mixture over rolls (I separated the rolls into 3 pans so they would absorb the mixture more easily.)
9. Sprinkle powdered sugar over rolls.
10. Allow to set for about 15-20 minutes to allow the rolls to absorb the honey mixture.
11. Enjoy!!! ^.^
***Note: Best enjoyed warm.***

Early to rise...

Just woke up again; wide awake. Lame. I hate sleepless nights.
Think I'll go bake some yummies for breakfast. ^.^
I love cooking. It's ridiculous.


Agenda for tonight: 
Watch Paranormal Activity/Paranormal Activity 2 with Jen.
...I think we are masochists. The first one scared us pretty bad.

Babe with the Power...

Just had the most AMAZING, FANTASTIC night with some stellar individuals helping one of my best friends do a photo shoot! It was beautiful, dirty, gritty, lovely, and everything else a production like this should be! Everyone (the model more than anyone else) worked their asses off with their designated jobs (and probably will be sneezing coal-dust for the next week). The owner of the building where we shot was spectacular, the photographer was fun, and I think the moral support did a pretty bad-ass job as well (if I do say so myself *teehee*). And the model...oh my hell! She worked her butt off for about 6 hours and did anything asked of her. OH MY FREAK...!!! She was...gah...! There's not even a word for what she was! Combine gorgeous, sexy, adventurous, confident, witty, natural, dirty, gritty, amazing and a trooper all in one person!

If these photos don't go far with their original purpose, I am losing all respect for whoever is making the final selections.

All about "Mary," my special lady.

I keep having people ask me about the symbolism of my painting, "Mary."

One view of her, she is the "perfect woman." Perfect figure, no mouth so she can't talk back or think for herself, posed as a statue; never wanting or desiring anything for herself.

Another view of her is that she represents how much of the world view Americans or America in general. She is green, which symbolizes greed; we are viewed as a culture that always wants more, takes more, uses others for our own gains. She has no hands, to symbolize the laziness of our culture. Her nudity and body (which not many women can come by without cosmetic alteration) represents how over-sexed our culture has become, and how even though the human figure may not be a cause for alarm in other countries, it is here. And her lack of a head is also lack of brain; our education is crap right now compared to many other countries.

The element I used to tie these two elements together is the banner flowing around her body. Originally, it was only a dark red, to represent sin and lust. Then I added the bright red, white and blue outline to tie in the aspects of America.

***Side note: I was listening to "Suite Sister Mary" by Queensryche and "We're From America" by Marilyn Manson. I can tell you what I was listening to or reading for every single piece of artwork I have done.***

My demented take on "Devour" by Marilyn Manson

I was on YouTube tonight after taking a nap, and decided that I would try to find an interview by one of my favorite artists, Marilyn Manson (a.k.a. Brian Warner), to see if he had any thoughts on or explanation of some of his music (preferably newer albums) and his art in general. 

I found one. Oh, and I screamed with excitement and scared my dog out of his rabbit-chasing dream. It was a four part interview I believe. It discusses the music on his album "High End of Low." Ask and ye shall receive! In his interview, he said something that I personally believe is true about the unoriginality of anything "ground breaking." See the end of this bit of my demented thoughts and random word vomit for the quote.

He also discussed the first song on this album, "Devour." I must admit that this made me squeal (again) like a little girl because this is one of my favorite songs on the album (I love them all, but this is at the top of my list).

He discussed how there was some uncertainty about having this song be the first on the album due to its "raw" content, which I didn't quite understand how that would affect it's placement. Not to sound like a complete dweeb but this IS Marilyn Manson we're talking about. In his interview he admitted to the fact that while he doesn't necessarily advocate some of his symbolism, he does get blamed for the effects.

Anywho, when discussing "Devour," he mentions that it is not a metaphorical song. After hearing his explanation of "Devour," I realized that the meaning the song had for me was along the same lines of its real meaning. I thought that this song was completely metaphorical, as I'm sure many others did.

I was wrong and I will readily admit it.

The meaning I took away from the song is that my views on love are completely valid. (*Note: My views on love do not match the story behind "Devour," so please don't misunderstand me.*) And here is what my mind comes up with when someone talks about love. Please try to keep up.

Many people think of love as a Romeo-and-Juliet, Twilight, Taylor Swift, sugar-coated candy. I think of love as a triple shot of even parts Everclear, Bacardi 151 and Jack Daniel's with a splash of Jager for a little sweetness. This is not to say that I don't believe in love, or that I am not or never have been in love. I am very much in love right now, and have been many times (not necessarily with romantic partners, but with many friends and  ideals). Love is painful. There's no other way to put it. How do you feel when the object of your love leaves for a short time, leaves you for good, dies, becomes emotionally distant, et cetera? You hurt; you feel as though someone has kicked you in the chest and made a balloon animal out of your stomach. How do you feel when the object of your love is near you? You feel high. You feel a fullness, as though an alien is about to burst through your chest. You sleep as though your body has gone through serious trauma and shuts down from overload. You feel the endorphins caused by things such as getting a tattoo or piercing or other painful experiences.

Many people are in love with love, the Taylor Swift love. 

Then there's those of us who are in love with love because we are pure masochists. Humans need love because it masks the feelings of loneliness and pain that we feel from being alone. We need it like it's cocaine. We are addicted to the rush of endorphins.

My reasons for thinking that love is such a painful, yet enthralling experience? Heartbreak. 

Did you know that it has been proven that you can die from heartbreak? Interesting that love can make someone feel so alive yet it can (literally and figuratively) also kill?

This is not to say I am a mocker of Twilight, Taylor Swift, Romeo and Juliet or religious views on love. I actually find them to be cute and also necessary to most people. It can be hard to wrap one's head around the ideal that love is masochistic and dangerous. That's fine with me. To each his own.

I think I've done enough damage (or whatever you want to call this) for one night. I will now leave you with the quote by an amazing person that made me feel not quite so guilty about making his artwork (music) my own (paintings).

"Nothing new exists under the sun. There's only new ways to destroy what already exists and as an artist you create things, sometimes in creation you destroy things... and it's just being conscious of that." ~Marilyn Manson

Here is the link for the interview I mentioned. There are four parts; this is part one. The other three are in the side bar. If they are not there...well, use your gray matter. It's there for a reason. Don't make me spoon feed you; I will not do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfjsl3TzJkw