Extra Treats I Got When Playing "Christmas" Genre on my iTunes

1. Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis by Tom Waits
2. Christmas with the Devil by Spinal Tap
3. Christmas in Prison by John Prine

Tomorrow's CBS Sunday Morning

The best ready-made list around:

• The upside of fat in foods
• chef Thomas Keller
• actress Michelle Williams
• Jell-O creations
• toasters

Happy Birthday, Wanda June (and Kurt Vonnegut!)

I'm a huge Kurt Vonnegut fan. Have been ever since my BFF Robin gave me Bluebeard for Christmas when I was 16. I plan to read everything he's written, but so far have just read about half of his books. Starting today - his birthday! - I'm going to start back at the beginning and read all of his books in chronological order (I'm also a big fan of chronological order.) But not in a row - I will intersperse them with other books.

I put this chronological list (yay!) together from the bibliography on the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library website:

• Player Piano (1952); pub. as Utopia 14 (1954); repub. as Player Piano (1966) Novels
• The Sirens of Titan (1959) Novels
• Mother Night (1961) Novels
• Canary in a Cathouse (1961) Collections (Short Fiction, Essays, Etc.)
• Cat’s Cradle (1963) Novel
• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine (1965) Novels
• Welcome to the Monkey House: A Collection of Short Works (1968) Collections (Short Fiction, Essays, Etc.)
• Fortitude (1968) Plays
• Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death (1969) Novels
• Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970) Plays
• Between Time and Timbuktu, or Prometheus-5: A Space Fantasy (1972) Plays
• Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday (1973) Novels
• Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons (1974) Collections (Short Fiction, Essays, Etc.)
• Slapstick, or Lonesome No More (1976) Novels
• Jailbird (1979) Novels
• Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage (1981) Collections (Short Fiction, Essays, Etc.)
• Deadeye Dick (1982) Novels
• Nothing Is Lost Save Honor: Two Essays (1984) Collections (Short Fiction, Essays, Etc.)
• Galápagos: A Novel (1985) Novels
• Bluebeard (1987) Novels
• Hocus Pocus (1990) Novels
• Fates Worse than Death : an Autobiographical Collage of the 1980s (1991) Collections (Short Fiction, Essays, Etc.)
• Make Up Your Mind (1993) Plays
• Miss Temptation (1993) Plays
• L’Histoire du Soldat, adaptation (1993) Plays
• Timequake (1997) Novels
• Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (1999) Collections (Short Fiction, Essays, Etc.)
• God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999) Collections (Short Fiction, Essays, Etc.)
• A Man Without a Country: A Memoir Of Life In George W. Bush’s America (2005) Collections (Short Fiction, Essays, Etc.)
• Armageddon in Retrospect (2008) Collections (Short Fiction, Essays, Etc.)

Things I Have Spent Studio Night Putting Together for My Sketchbook Class

• pencils
• more pencils
• pens
• blank sketchbooks!
• a plastic bin of filled-in sketchbooks
• a big piece of foam core with examples of really good sketches pinned all over it
  
• drafting dots
  
• a pile of magazine clippings
  
• a bag full of books
• a bag full of apples
• a bag full of hats
• no erasers

The Sketchbook at Flicker Street Studio
November 3, 10, 17

Just a Few Creepy Songs to Suggest for Your Halloween Afternoon

• Pirate Jenny by Nina Simone (I get chill bumps every time I listen to this song!)
• Lyle Lovett's version of Mac the Knife
• Werewolf of London by Warren Zevon
• Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon
• Chicago at Night by Spoon (just has a spooky vibe)
• Synchronicity II by the Police (a lot of this album is creepy, and then there's Tea in the Sahara ** shakes head **)
• Machine by Regina Spektor
• Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps) by David Bowie
• Tom Waits

Tomorrow's CBS Sunday Morning

• invasive species
• actor Dylan McDermott
• hauntings
• candy corn
• jousters
• pet costumes

Set your DVRs!

S*** Michael Kors Says

A collection of crazy phrases Michael Kors has used to describe the designers' looks while judging this season's Project Runway*

• Flintstone disco pouch
• ugly napkin clothes
• sea vixen Barbie
• Joan Crawford St. Patty's Day party (personal favorite)
• Victorian cocktail waitress in Las Vegas
• a hooker convention coming home
• superhero ice skater
• suede lobster bib
• Brady Bunch dashiki

*Disclaimer: I purposefully did not watch the stilt-walker team challenge because, well, it was a stilt-walker team challenge. And I may have missed a couple at the end of the season, but really he got kind of lazy in his descriptions and just randomly threw out the word "disco."

Joneses in Our CD Collection

• George
• Norah
• Sharon
• Thad
• Tom
  

The Four Albums in the "I" Section of Our CDs

• Indigo Girls, Nomads Indians Saints
• Intersections: Music from the Motion Picture
• Iron Maiden, Powerslave
• Iron Maiden, The Number of the Beast
  

Famous People I Saw in New York City Last Week

1. Mr. Noodle - but I recognized him because he played The Flying Man on Northern Exposure

















2. Kathy Najimy - She looks great! Better than any picture I could find of her. Or, it was just a really nice-looking woman who favored Kathy Najimy.



3. Raunchy wedding singer from The Hangover - saw him within a few seconds of seeing Kathy Najimy or her look-a-like









4. Stuart Markowitz

New York City Restroom Rankings

1. Pershing Square: Hands down cutest restroom in the city. Not only cute, but clean, roomy and well-stocked.
2. MOMA: Dyson hand dryer
3. American Museum of Natural History: Old-school tile. Actually, it looked like a bathroom in an old school.
4. Empire State Building: Kind of small but clean
5. Birdland: Clean but this is where the bathrooms start to seem like afterthoughts. Like maybe there used to be one big stall, then they split it into two.
6. Lou's: This was a cafe somewhere near MOMA. Nice and roomy, but a little cobbled-together looking.
7. The Applejack Diner: While this is pretty much my favorite place to eat in NY, the bathrooms are tiny and you have to go through a panic-inducingly small vestibule to get to them.
8. Famous Original Ray's Pizza: Plenty big, but painted dark brown with a dark red door.
9. World Financial Center: You'd think the restroom in a shiny financial building would be closer to the top of the list, but there were 4 things wrong with it, which means I'll probably make a list about it later.
10. South Ferry: Oh. My. Got. This restroom, and the whole restroom experience, were pretty traumatizing. I felt like Penelope Ann Miller in Adventures in Babysitting.
    
    
    American Museum of Natural History

Recent Random Photos

1. crepe myrtles and sky


















2. Cooper Young flowers


















3. kids selling lemonade


















4. lantern in tree























5. cool old guy


















6. neat clouds

What I Saw in Vancouver on My Birthday (in August)

1. substation


















2. crazy tree























3. Memphis local hero?


















4. birthday sushi


















5. Vancouver Gallery of Art























6. Hobbit House


















7. clouds through buildings























8. wires in the sky























9. neat sign


















10. Japadogs

My New Playlist: Chick Singers

• Nina Simone
• Regina Spektor
• Dolly Parton
  
• Lily Allen
• Lucinda Williams
• She & Him (Zooey Deschanel)
• Shonen Knife
• Dusty Springfield
  
• Fiona Apple
• Carole King
• God Help the Girl (Catherine Ireton, Brittany Stallings, Anna Miles, Asya, Dina Bankole, Celia Garcia)
• Ida Maria
  
• Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins
• Amy Winehouse
• Etta James
• Loretta Lynn
  
• Billie Holiday
• Aretha Franklin
• Edith Piaf
• Dan Bern (inspired the playlist with his song "Chick Singers")
  

To Do

To do list:
1. start smoking
2. grow hair long & dye back to original dark color
3. stop putting arms through sleeves in trench coat


















From one of my favorite blogs, Garance Dorè

Food I Just Made Out of Food about to Go Bad in my Fridge

• chinese meatballs
  - ground turkey on the verge
  - 1/2 an onion
  - old rice
  
• fried rice
  - old rice
  - also used edamame and peas & carrots from the freezer, and someone else who lives in this house says I never use the stuff from the freezer, so... bonus!
• cornbread
  - buttermilk creeping towards that expiration date
• banana bread
  - brown bananas
  - more of that buttermilk
  

Making Lists from Lists

Looking at lists from my 2009 & 2010 trips to New York City to make my list for 2011.

Things I Took Pictures of Yesterday with my Brand New Camera

1. meatball sub!



















2. geese



















3. Simon



















4. dark hersheys kisses



















5. wine and feet



















6. ceiling



















7. cat?



















8. cat!

Borderless Books from Borders

Yesterday we went to Borders for their next-to-last-day going-out-of-business sale. Seeing as how everything was 90% off and we both like to read, we bought 34 books for $54.72, saving $540! Now to go spend that $540 we just saved! (Just kidding!)

The novels and memoirs I picked out shared a common theme: they are from all over! Here are some of the places in which these books take place:

• Trinidad
• Brazil
• France
• Afghanistan
• Iran
• Taiwan
• Ireland

Muses for Go Change

Some of the things that inspired me while working on the paintings, stories and drawings in my show Go Change, which opens tonight at Flicker Street Studio (74 Flicker Street, 6-9 PM):

• my friends
• my family
• Dusty Springfield
• The album God Help the Girl by the guy from Belle and Sebastian
• lots of photographs
• nearly every book I've ever read, but specifically: The Help, Lives of Girls and Women, At Mrs. Lippincote's, Jane Eyre, The Elegance of the Hedghog, My Life in France 
• being a girl

Today's Sketch Group, by the Numbers

Today's Memphis Urban Sketchers sketch group was at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens. Here are a few things I saw there today:

• Chipmunks: 4
• Mosquito bites on me after sketching in the garden: 7
• Giant spider webs: 2
• Giant spider webs I almost walked into: 1
• Sketchers: 10
• Other artists who happened to be there at the same time: 1

Some of My Day in Pictures

Some me in my cubicle, outfit decorations, a tiny orange fridge I totally wanted to steal, gas station sushi, next gas station sushi is free!

(This is also a test of posting multiple pictures via email, so if these are out of order it's an accident!)

Art List - My Upcoming Art Stuff

Where I, or my art, or both will be in the upcoming days and months:

1. Saturday, September 3rd, 8 AM - 1 PM: (That's this Saturday!) I'll be sketching with Memphis Urban Sketchers at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens. First in the gardens, then in the gallery. Should be awesome!
2. Friday, September 9th, 6 - 9 PM: My new show, Go Change, at Flicker Street Studio. Have I mentioned I'm having a show? Please stop by the opening and see the new work, I'm really excited about it.
3. Tuesday, September 13th, 6 - 9 PM: Interactive Critique at Flicker Street Studio. $10 per session, these sessions are for artists to get feedback on their work in progress and engage in discourse with other working artists. No instructor, but I'll be facilitating to help with the flow. Call Flicker Street Studio to book your spot 901-767-2999. (Two additional sessions October 11th, November 8th, facilitated by other FSS teachers)
4. Thursday, September 15th, 5 - 7 PM: Some of my work will be in the Cooper Young Invitational Exhibit at David Perry Smith Gallery. The show will also be up during the Cooper Young Festival, Saturday, September 17th.
5. Saturday, October 1st: With Memphis Urban Sketchers, most likely at (and in!) the Sears Crosstown Tower! Fun! More details to come.
6. Friday, October 7th: Opening event for Fragments at Harrington Brown Gallery, works by artists and poets, paired together for inspiration.
7. Thursdays, November 3rd, 10th, 17th, 6 - 9 PM: Teaching at Flicker Street Studio - The Sketchbook. Conquer your fear of the blank page!
8. Saturday, November 5th, 11 AM - 2 PM: With Memphis Urban Sketchers at India Fest! At the Agricenter.
9. Saturday, December 3rd: Memphis Urban Sketchers, location to be determined
10. Saturday, December 10th, 10 AM - 2 PM: Teaching a workshop at Flicker Street Studio - Exploring the Landscape, about drawing from direct observation.
11. Whenever: I have some work at Harrington Brown Gallery that you can see any time.

 

 

Things My Husband Just Requested While Working in the Yard

• cotton balls
• Vaseline
• lighter fluid
  

Pretty Much My Definition of a Sunday

• Formula 1 racing
• CBS Sunday Morning
• laundry
• studio
  

Funny List Rattled Off by My Niece

Five-year old Genevieve told 8-year-old Somerset to wake up Uncle Toby who was pretending to be asleep, to which Somerset replied, "Okay, somebody get me some tacos, a small wiener dog and a glass of tea."

Movies I Own with "Big" in the Title

• The Big Lebowski
• The Big Sleep
• Big Trouble in Little China
  

Non-Verbal Communication with Words

Using instant messaging and texting has made me aware of how much non-verbal communication I use when I speak. I've noticed that I can't always convey what I would be able to if we were speaking in person when written in mere sentences (I'm old enough that I chat and text with sentences).

 

Here are a few gestures I've translated into words. I'll let you know if I ever figure out how to write out all of the shapes I make with my hands, sweeping hand gestures, or hand movements that don't even mean anything that I use when talking.

1. * shrug * (note that the * is used to indicate a gesture)
2. * shakes head *
3. * shakes head at self * (for when I'm conveying something I've done that is particularly dumb)
4. * snort * (more of a sound than a gesture, but I'm sure I make a face when I do that)
5. * thumbs up *
6. * rolls eyes * (might be my most-used non-verbal phrase)
7. * rolls eyes at self * (see #3)

Note that I do not use * smile * or * wink * because we already have those covered with emoticons, which I hope you make use of, because when I see someone write out (smile), it makes me not smile.

Some "Don'ts" of Airplane Travel

1. Don't take up three seats in the waiting area at the gate. I know you don't want to sit next to anybody any sooner than you have to, but if you have yourself in one seat, your food in another and your newspaper in a third, then there isn't enough room for everyone to sit.
2. Don't bring a carry-on that you feel like you must kick forward while standing in a line. Either get some wheels or carry it.
3. Don't not follow instructions. There are instructions posted almost everywhere in airports, all you have to do is look.
4. Don't stand all up in the line for boarding the plane if you are not actually boarding the plane yet. You're in the way.
5. Don't eat a whole full-size bag of sour cream and onion flavored chips before take-off.
6. Don't bring a dog.
7. Don't spray perfume. Or even wear it.
8. Don't talk constantly through the entire flight. Particularly if you have a very distinct voice. For some reason those two always seem to go together.
9. Don't put your seat back. It goes directly into the face of the person behind you. Most of the seats are broken and won't go back up, and you don't want the flight attendant singling you out.
10. Don't bring kids on overnight flights. For their own sake, really.
11. Don't make gross noises with your nose or your mouth. Just blow your nose or wait until you reach your destination.
12. Don't move any part of your body past your own arm rest if you do not have a previous long-standing relationship with your seat-mate.

 

Birthday Guestlist

People who have already sent me birthday cards (One day before my birthday) by Stephanie Chockleyblog

1. The HR staff at work
2. My incarcerated cousin
3. My husband's grandmother
4. My Jazzercise instructor

Recent Pictures from my Phone

1. My tiny paintings at Harrington Brown Gallery



















2. Sketching at the Peabody Hotel



















3. A baby blanket I made



















4. Riverboats


















5. Downtown Memphis

Common Sights at Paula & Raiford's Disco (aka Raiford's)

1. Hand-written signs



















2. "Sexy" hand stamps





















3. Beers served in 40-ounce containers

Guestlist: Vocabulary Lesson

by My Husband:

Here are 23 words or phrases that, based on usage over the past few weeks, are completely misunderstood by practically every D.C. politician, pundit and journalist in America, in alphabetical order:

• American People, The
• Armageddon
• bipartisan
• breaking news (Is it really? No, it's not)
• budget
• compromise
• credit rating
• crisis
• deadline (You'd think journalists would know better.)
• debt
• debt ceiling
• default (seriously stunning misuse)
• deficit
• eleventh hour
• full faith and credit (Hint: It's not about foreign debt.)
• kabuki theater (Aaaarrrrrggghhhh!)
• leadership
• limit (or ceiling for that matter)
• Market, The
• negotiation
• plan
• revenue
• Ronald Reagan
  

Seriously, can't we force these people to watch "Schoolhouse Rock!" and read "Macroeconomics for Dummies" before letting them have these jobs? A vocabulary test maybe?

Fantastic Visual List

Check out this list by Hilda Grahnat about places she'd rather be right now. Perfect visual break for a Monday morning.

Contents of Stephanie's Girls' Night Out Purse

1. ID
2. Credit card
3. Phone
4. 4 lipsticks
5. Ponytail holder
6. Tampon
7. A pen

Mentioned in Today's Sketchwork Sketch

See the sketch here on Sketchwork.

1. Purse by Moop
2. Flower pin by The Bean and Bear
3. Ad (spelled "Add" in my sketch - whatever) for the Jane Eyre movie that came out in the spring
4. Article about the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project that I participated in for this year
5. Photos of Paris featuring orange accents by Little Brown Pen
6. Travel mug from the Memphis College of Art, given to me as a thank-you for making a presentation to students about public art
7. Coffee mug from Casey Jones Village in Jackson, TN, with my name on it, given to me by my husband in the early early 90's

Guestlist of Lists

By The Memphisotan

 

Before going on a long car ride, I combine a bunch of iTunes Genius playlists into one and then sort them alphabetically to mix them up. This results in stretches of thematic songs, as follows. 

 

Suggestions Made By My iPod Playlist, in order:

1. Let's Get Married

2. Let's Go Crazy

3. Let's Stay Together

 

Admonitions Made By My iPod Playlist, in order:

1. Don't Ask Me Why

2. Don't Go Back To Rockville

3. Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight

4. Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You

5. Don't Make Me A Target

6. Don't You Evah

 

Personal Statements Made By My iPod Playlist, in order:

1. I'd Like To

2. I'll Be That Girl

3. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me

4. I'm Still In Love With You

5. I'm The Man Who Loves You

6. I've Committed Murder

7. I've Got Dreams To Remember

8. I Can't Get Next To You

9. I Can't Stand Myself

10. I Can't Stand The Rain

11. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down

12. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

13. I Don't Know Why

14. I Don't Like Mondays

15. I Got The Feelin'

16. I Hope The I Don't Fall In Love With You

17. I Should Have Known Better

18. I Thought I Saw Your Face Today

19. I Try

20. I Will Dare

21. I Would Die 4 U

Hall and Oates' Unfinished List of the Best Things in Life

1. your kiss

2.

3.

Actors I Am Surprised to See in a Cast List for Transformers: Dark of the Moon

• Patrick Dempsey
• Frances McDormand
• John Malkovich
• Alan Tudyk
• Ken Jeong
• Buzz Aldrin

Three Ladies Who Inspired My Tiny Outfit Paintings

These are... outfit blogs? I don't know what else to call them, but I LOVE them. I don't know these ladies, but they inspired me to get over my winter-clothes boredom by paying more attention to the whole outfit, which led me to take pictures of my outfits, which led to me painting my outfits, only tiny.

1. Kendi Everyday - she is funny, reminds me of my sister, and makes bold color choices
2. Unusual Form - she is an architect (yay, design profession!) and lives in Arkansas, so she's practically a neighbor!
3. The Other Emily - I'm not sure who the other other Emily is, but she's probably not having as much fun as this girl, who is traveling the world and having adventures one outfit at a time

Tiny Outfits by Elizabeth Alley, oil on paper, 3" x 5"

All About Me: The Me Edition

Here are a few blogs I'm mentioned on this week!

1. Spillmanville mentioned the show that I'm in opening tonight at Harrington Brown Gallery
2. The Memphis Blog wrote about Memphis Urban Sketchers and our sketch outing tomorrow at the Peabody Hotel
3. Artbutcher mentioned the Memphis Blog interview
4. Click (Daily) caught me being silly on the Fourth of July

 

Wildlife I Saw in Rural-ish Georgia

1. deer
2. bunny
3. red-headed woodpecker
4. Carolina wren
5. wasps
6. more deer
7. crows
8. chipmunk
9. lizard

--

Elizabeth Alley

www.elizabethalley.com

www.sketchwork.blogspot.com

CBS Sunday Morning

Tomorrow's Show for Your Viewing Pleasure:
1. call centers
2. a profile of American gangster Al Capone
3. singer Katy Perry
4. former British Prime Minister Tony Blair
5. the Miles City, MT, bucking horse sale

All 'Memphis Beat' Needs to Become a Good Show

1. new writers who are also good writers
2. for the actors to spend time in Memphis to hear what we really sound like (hint: not like people in Savannah and not like people in New Orleans)
3. to film here

Easy peasy.






















photo from wikipedia.org