Back in Black Cocktails

Let the Goths suck blood this Halloween. There's a better way to get into the Holiday Spirit - with Black Vodka! You can pick up Blavod brand for $24 a bottle. It allows your Martinis to Masquerade for the day. Here are some ways to serve it to your guests along with some other Creepy Cocktails that should get you into the holiday mood.

SCREWED UP SCREWDRIVER

1/4 cup ice

1/2 cup orange juice

1 1/2 oz. Black Vodka

1 strip of Black Licorice to garnish

Place ice in a tall glass. Pour in orange juice. Pour vodka over the back of a spoon into the glass so that it rests on top of the juice. Slice off the tips of the licorice to use as a straw.

GHOST

1 1/4 oz. Smirnoff Vanilla Vodka

1/4 oz. Godiva White Chocolate Liquer

1/4 oz. half & half

1 t. grated white chocolate

Wet the rim of a cocktail glass and dip into White Chocolate. Pour all other ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake. Pour into glass.

BLACK MARTINI

2.5 oz Black vodka

1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth

maraschino cherry to garnish

Place Vodka and Sweet Vermouth into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake.

Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the cherry.

BLOOD SUCKER

1 1/2 oz. Bacardi "0"

1/2 oz. cointreau

2 oz. pineapple juice

1 Tbs. strawberry or raspberry puree

In a shaker with ice pour rum, cointreau and juice. Shake and pour into a rocks glass. Dip the end of a drinking straw into the puree, hold the tip of your finger over the other end and use the straw to squirt puree into the bottom half-inch of the drink, where it will sink in red blobs. Do not stir.

Celebrate a day of Ghouls, Ghosts and Goslins

Ghosts, Ghouls and (Kate) Goslins will no doubt come out this October 31st, as a Gaelic superstition explains that all souls that are in Purgatory are released for 48 hours on All Hallows Eve.

Since you'll never be able to fight it, why not invite some specimens of the undead into your home this year?

If you are planning on staying home to dispense candy to the costumed kids in your neighborhood, you may want to kill time waiting for the zombies and mummies by playing Skeleton Jenga.

It's $18 from Uncommongoods. com and it's way more fun than the regular boring wood Jenga because it's a skeleton!!

When the doorbell does ring, let the kids grab your treats with their grubby little hands from this cookie jar from Target.

It's just $16.99. And the lid makes it easy to snap shut when those greedy goblins grab more than two like you told them!

This toaster will get you in the mood for all the tricks and treats that await you this day by stamping your morning toast with a skull and crossbones.

I am certain that the skull makes it taste better too. On the German Website that sells it, it costs 33 Euros.

Serve your hot apple cider on this melamine tray with a crowned skull. Amazon.com sells them 2 for $14.00

And make sure the mood is set by lighting tons of these candles from zgallerie. $24.95 each.

Go Wild in the Cinema

Maurice Sendak, the writer of the children' classic, Where the Wild Things Are was asked by Newsweek what he would say if someone thought the movie version of his story was too scary for kids. He replied:

"I would tell them to go to hell. That's a question I will not tolerate.... if they can't handle it, go home. Or wet your pants."

The long-awaited film combines both the author's amazing imagination and the director Spike Jonze's intensely creative vision. This collaboration began more than ten years ago, when Sendak saw Jonze's video for "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys. He knew then that he had found someone who shared his creative genius.

Sendak approached Jonze to adapt the book "Harold and the Purple Crayon" (which he held rights to) but the studio's love/hate relationship with Jonze caused Tristar to reject his storyboard just two months before shooting began.

Maurice Sendak then planted the seed in Spike Jonze's ear for a film adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are".

“I would think about it, but I couldn't work out what I could bring to it, what I could add,” Jonze says. “But then I realized maybe what the Wild Things could be: wild emotions. Through the eyes of a kid, unpredictable emotions – in yourself or the people around you – are very confusing. As soon as I hit on that I thought, 'Well, that's infinite, what you can do with that.' With that I thought I could add to the film but not from the outside, just go deeper into what the book already is.”

Sendak and Jonze's struggle to release this film is a gift to the wild thing in all of us.

Global Warming Towards America

Copenhagen's slap in the face has morphed into Oslo's pat on the back for America. The Nobel committee in Norway has awarded its most esteemed tribute, the Nobel Peace Prize, to fledgling U.S. President Barack Obama. This, just days after Denmark scoffed at the President's appeal to host the Olympics in Chicago, demonstrates Europe's continuing bipolar actions in its relationship with the U.S.

Most people, including those that live in the White House, are stunned with this decision and its premature awarding for visions, rather than actions, done to facilitate the Peace Process.

This decision may say more about the rest of the world rather than the U.S. Europe appreciates how President Obama has opened up international communications and revived old-fashioned diplomacy with his views of tolerance, open discussion and compromise -all that needs to be done if the world would achieve peace.

In the U.S. that is not the way its been done, at least not for the past eight years. This was glaringly evident this morning as former Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton whined on NPR about how he was nominated but never won even though he did so much more under George W. Bush. His claim to the prize was that he gathered 26 allies to help the U.S.' invasion with Iraq to smoke out the WMDs that were never there.

So, if Americans see starting a war as a prerequisite for achieving a Peace Prize, perhaps we should heed Norway's decision.

Obama may not have done much, however, his first call as President was to Palestinian President Manmoud Abba and said he will pick up the phone if Iran shows up on his Caller ID. He addressed the Muslim community directly in Cairo, placating their anger toward the last leader who promised a 'crusade'. These are key communication procedures that are imperative to gather the people of those nations toward peace.

Obama has also stated that he wants to work toward a nuclear weapon-free world and concentrate on containing global warming, instead of denying its existence. This may sound small, but in contrast to the last guy, it means a lot to the Europeans (and 80% of Americans).

But whatever your views on whether he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, I believe President Obama does deserve some kind of award for his accomplishments so far.

Who else had the courage to proclaim publicly what we were all thinking?- Kanye West is a Jack-ass.

The president was also brave enough to share a beer with a racist cop and hysterical black man who forgot his keys and had the PR savvy to make it a headline on Fox News, who thought it was an actual summit.

And we should thank him for his biggest achievement to date: Not Being George W. Bush. For that, he deserves all awards in my book.

Lights! Camera! Action Figures!

I am counting down My Top 5 Favorite Action Figures of all time

#5. Jesus

Tied for #4 are the classics Mr T. and....

...The Six Million Dollar Man

Everyone's favorite Psychotherapist Sigmund Freud comes in at #3

How cool is Tippi Hedren's doll from Hitchcock's 'The Birds' at #2?

And my all time favorite the new Karl Lagerfeld, Designer Extroardinaire.

Who wouldn't want this one?

Designing with the Drapers

I was in design heaven when Betty Draper renovated her living room during this past episode of Mad Men. As I drooled over the Japanese inspired couch, black print chairs and orange accents, I only wished the producers had made the decorating process more of a story line.

What did make it into the plot of course, was Betty's insanity. She rudely corrupts her designer's brilliance by adding an antique fainting chaise. All because a guy in a bad suit flashes his eyelashes at her. I mean WTF? It's hideous and proves she has truly lost it.

Don may need a new wife. But their relationship aside, I am glad Betty was allowed to call in a decorator for that room. Here's the before.

Now, if AMC wants to make me even happier, they will get that designer to attack the Draper's kitchen (and not allow any of Betty's 'adjustments'!) The Draper Kitchen is a nightmare even for the Suburban Country Style of the 60's they were going for. So I decided to help Betty rid the Draper's home of this horrific room.

I found some era-specific suggestions for Betty. There's a masculine kitchen where she can hide all her pots in wood cabinets and add brown appliances for a monotone look. And check the graphic floor motif.

If that makes Don feel as if he hasn't left his wood-paneled office, then Betty can lighten up the room with pink countertops and a pink tiled floor accented with a sleek steel refrigerator and oven. How Mod!

Or, if that's too urban for her, Betty can go crazy with color and mix pastels like birthday cake batter. Imagine this kitchen with a yellow formica table!

Perfect for the suburbs! Betty get on it! Your kitchen will only look older and more depressing now that the living room is so fab!

Pandemic in Glass

The outbreak of Swine Flu has focused our attention once again on the global impact of a virus. Fearing another epidemic like Smallpox, which killed nearly 500 million before being wiped out in the 1970s, scientists are scurrying for any way to contain today's most fearful infections. There's nothing like a possible pandemic that pulls the medical and scientific communities together.

Artist Luke Jerram explores the virus in its intrinsic beauty in contrast to its devastating impact on humanity. Interested in the artificial coloring of the virus by microbiologists, and how that may skew people's perceptions of the disease, he designed biological models of the virus out of glass. Pure, uncolored and 3-dimensional, these sculptures allow the viewer to more clearly see the effect of our scientific understanding of these plagues.

To read more follow this link to www.lukejerram.com/projects/glass_microbiology

swine flu

HIV

e Coli

It is Written on the Wall

My favorite graffiti walls in Williamsburg, (Brooklyn). As I went to shoot them today there were 2 other people with cameras at the same time, shooting the "Cereal Killers" wall. It is a longtime favorite.

I love how angry the Trix bunny is.

This looks like a different artist and its new. 2 of my favorite animals- a bear and a porcupine. Love it!

The Right To Bear Art

The image of the gun has been used by artists for decades. Its power and ability to destroy life is an intense symbolism artists regularly fall back on. Alabama artist Walton Creel attempts to deconstruct this theory and remove the power of the gun.

With a .22 caliber rifle instead of a paintbrush, Creel designs bullethole portraits of hunted animals onto white painted aluminum.

The statement on rural culture is implicit but the medium Creel uses brings up much more. The bullet holes from far look like computer pixels while up close, the woven proximity of them looks almost like needlepoint. Perhaps a statement on technology's influence on the art world. The exhibit, recently at the Coleman Center for the Arts in Alabama, just closed with a appropriately with a paintball event.

Dolled Up Dream Hotel

In the strangest of celebrity romances, uber-designer Jonathan Adler has hooked up with Barbie. Yes the doll. This September the relationship will be confirmed as he launches his "Jonathan Adler Loves Barbie" collection. (No comment yet from either Ken or Simon Doonan.) The doll will be going for $49.95 retail.

Before you think, "what did Barbie have to do for that custom Adler lamp?", the couple claim their romance is real. Sparks flew between Barbie and Adler recently when Adler brought his interior design genius to the Las Vegas Palms and created a hotel suite fit for his iconic princess. As you would believe, Barbie's room is full of bubblegum pink and fabulous Jonathan Adler style.

The room will burn a $4,000 /night hole in your pocket. But when you see these pink poodles flanking the fireplace your thoughts will immediately stray from your wallet. And you can be assured Barbie is not bringing Ken here. That guy cannot design like this!

Proving his love, Adler designed this amazing sunburst mirror out of 65 Black & White Bathing Suit Barbies - reproductions of the 1959 classic. Barbie's a lucky girl.

The only thing this hotel room DOESN"T HAVE is this Barbie Fussball table created by French Designer Chloe Ruchon. It showed at the Berlin Design Show 2009.

And I feel it is definitely deserving of the Palms.

With or without the footie-game, Jonathan Adler has hit it out of the park with his new muse.

All You Zombies Hide Your Faces (please)

Once again the 24 hour news organizations have made it impossible for me to watch current events. All of them (even those not titled "Fox News") are giving credence to a non-story and sensationalizing the most stupid of those living in our country. As long as there are cameras at these town hall meetings where anyone can spur rants of an uneducated mind, then I am banned from my TV Set and all news about Health Care Reform. I am, like the hopeful survivor of a horror movie classic, boarding up my windows and waiting for the invasion to retreat.

We as a country have seen this before, during the Cold War, when paranoid Americans spread the fear of a Communist invasion. Some good did come out of it back then, when Hollywood sensed this alarm and nourished us with our own panic in the form of Zombie films.

The classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) jump-started the craze. The Zombies- all made equal in death- symbolize the Communists and attack the God-fearing middle class who board up their homes and amass arms to fight the invaders. Back then, Zombies were speed-challenged, just as the Americans viewed the slow-crawling conversion to Communism when countries like China declared it a few years after North Korea made the move.

In the sequel Dawn of the Dead (1978) George Romero chose a mall as the location of the attack. A direct assault on American Capitalism as well as the fears of Socialism. Many have studied the political relevance of the Zombie film genre. Check out the links here to horrrormoviefans.com or American NerdMag.com)

The most frightening aspect of it is the fact that history seems to be repeating itself today- as the Dawn of the Brain-Dead sets upon us. The town hall meetings I am avoiding on the news and the paranoia that is infesting otherwise intelligent minds in our country does not allow for debate nor even education about the very topic they're frothing about. Some of us have obviously not learned from history and have inherited the suspicious minds of our fathers. I cannot change that. I can only amass my own arms in hopes the flesh-eating brainless dead get off my TV and back into theaters where they belong.