Artsyfartsypants

Over the past couple of weeks I have gotten back into art. Last year all I did was sit in my room and draw because I was in a really time consuming art class. This year it's all academics but whatev. I still do what I can.
This is The Ultimate Butherface. For those who don't know what a butherface is, click.
This is untitled but it unintentionally came out looking like my dad if he did crack or something and got all wrinkly.

Finals are next week so don't expect a lot of posts this and next week. Actually, maybe you should expect more posts because we may be busy procrastinating and notstudying. Also, Christine and I both started Tumblrs, which are like crack.

ki'mpeacingout

redpanda

SaMo

For Thanksgiving break I went back home for an entire week, long enough for me to actually miss it now that I'm back ...
Thankfully, not much of my time was spent in the armpit of Southern California, otherwise known as the San Fernando Valley. "THE Valley." Of "Valley girl" and pornstar fame. Last Friday I went to the Santa Monica beach with some of my high school friends. One of them had to take pictures for a photography project, and as I was the one who looked the most ridiculously hipster, she used me as her subject.
Then we went to downtown LA where I bought 3 LB of fabric for $6. I miss LA. Not "THE Valley", "THE Valley" sucks balls, but I must admit, Los Angeles is legit.

-manbearpig

Old Lady Paradise

So Christine and I have a secret. It's called the Cellar and if you live in the Bay, it's on the corner of Dana and Channing in Berkeley. The Cellar is a tiny thrift store owned by some church and run entirely by adorable old ladies who play 1930's jazz and will give you completements and tell you you look cute in everything. I got the shoes in these pics, Salvatore Ferragamo, mind you (!!!) for ten dollars. They are in perfect condition too. Also the necklaces I'm wearing are from there as well, purchased for a total of 20 dollars. This place is fucking amazing. I would not expect designer shoes each time, but there are definitely good things to be found if you look hard enough. Keep in mind they are only only on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The outfit: BCBG dress, Zara jacket, Derek Heart cardigan, American Apparel tights, Salvatore Ferragamo shoes, American Apparel headband.
Oh yes, I was a test subject in a psychology experiment today and my professor asked me if I was an orthodox jew because he mistook my headband for a headscarf and also noticed my oldladyjewelry. Wtf.

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P.S. If anyone wants an AMERICAN APPAREL CARDIGAN IN SIZE XS IN ROYAL BLUE there is one at Buffalo Exchange! It was too small for me but if you wear size XS get it.

Maybe It's Hypomania, Not Mania

shoes: Michael Kors, leggings: Target, dress: H&M, vest: thrifted, jacket: Anne Taylor Loft
My current favorite possession: these here shoes by Michael Kors. They make me feel like a ninja, too bad I can walk only a maximum of 4 blocks in them without experiencing excrutiating pain. Such is life.

I am currently working on two drawings... when they are done I will post pics. For now, let's just say tigers, amateur fashion models, and crack are involved.

Ohhh and I realized that I need either a haircut or for my hair to grow. Badly. I don't want to look like a cross between Princess Diana and a thirteen year old boy any more!! Hair, can't you please grow out???!?!?!?!?!?!!! Kthx.


REDPANDA

Oh, and I was busy doing ...

this:

The fashion club that I belong to at Cal had its annual Fall Semester fashion show. The theme was eco-friendly, so I made my 3 outfits out of magazines and newspapers (& I made the dress that I'm wearing in the last picture too, but not out of paper). Needless to say, it was hella time-consuming ... but all the color searching, cutting, collaging, and gluing was worth it. I can't wait to work with real fabric again though.

-manbearpig

Slap a ho

I think I am having a manic episode. I don't have any mental disorders to date but for the past two days I have been inexplicably happy for no apparent reason. I am also bursting with ideas for all sorts of creative endeavors; this blog, drawing, photography, fashion, etc, etc, etc. This morning my roommate accidentally woke me up at 7:30 and I was actually really excited to be awake and start the day, which, if you know me, is INSANE. I am the anti-morning person. Seriously. I hate everyone and everything for like an hour after every time I wake up, but not today. Wtf.
After class I went to Buffalo Exchange, a consignment store in Berkeley for those who don't know, to try to find an oversized sweater for cheap that I could wear with my leather-looking-ish leggings. On the way, I saw this man:
And his gorgeous bike! Holy shit! Pimpin.At Buffalo Exchange I was enamored by the purple and the blue shoes above. Unfortunately, they were too small for my feet. Between ninth and tenth grade my feet grew substantially to a size 8.5-9. My grandma came to visit me from Russia and asked me if it was something in the water in America that made my feet so big. Instead of finding a sweater like I wanted, I bought these sexy little things. Vintage black leather gloves with red fur lining, baby. Then, outside of our building Christine and I noticed this beautiful tag. Props to the artist. It was really small and subtle... um, that's what she said? Classy.


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THXGVNG

I spent the last four days in Florida at my parents' house, seeing high school friends and spending loads of time with family. Of course, I accomplished no studying what so ever, but I am going to rationalize that to myself by insisting that I really reaaaaally needed a break. Not that I don't give my self plenty of breaks from studying any way. My life is really bipolar; I am either in the library or inebriated.
In the above photo are my besties from TPA, Andrea and Miguel. They broke out their knitting at a small gettogether I had. I seriously only took 5 pictures on my trip. Completely unproductive but whatevs.
I also drew this on the way back because I was inspired by the song "I wish I was a polar bear" by Ted&Francis from the Kitsune Maison Compilation 6. For those who don't know Kitsune makes the best compilations ever if you want new music but are too lazy to find it yourself.
Oh yeah, and I left my glasses in Florida and I'm sitting 2 inches from the computer screen right now.
Main lesson I learned over Thanksgiving break: keep camera glued to fingertips. I always forget that I have it in my purse.

redpanda

An Explanation for My Absence

I can sum up my absence from this blog in a hypothetical situation: Let's say that your relationship of 7 months ended miserably on HALLOWEEN while you were wearing your dream costume (sexy Hermione Granger!) and then you went on to mope for the next two weeks, wearing only black as a means of mourning the death of your relationship ... oh, and you had midterms.
Not that this is what happened, but let's just pretend it's my excuse for putting Hugfire on hold. Who could blame me, right?

Moving on (like I really should! Ok, bad pun), here is my list of 3 things that will make anyone (or maybe just me) feel genuinely happy, at least temporarily, after a bad breakup:

1. Sasha Fierce's (wtf, why the name change Beyonce?) new single "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - First off, she's hot and plain ol' fun to watch. Secondly, the lyrics will be your new facebook status because hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I watched this video 8 times. In a row.


2. "The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World's Greatest Human" by Ian Spector - Example: "Chuck Norris eats pencils and markers for breakfast, and he shits out masterpieces." Better example: "Chuck Norris can create a rock so heavy that even he can't lift it. And then he lifts it anyway, just to show you who the fuck Chuck Norris is." This book will get you through the toughest times of your life, GUARANTEED.

3. Dressing in disguise - As I previously mentioned, black was the new "every other color" in my wardrobe. I was still in that wardrobe stage between "I have a boyfriend" and "I'm newly single and would like to attract as many men as possible." So while I was home in LA I picked up some awesome nerd glasses and laceup leath-uh boots at the Fairfax Flea Market and a pair of faux leather leggings from Target. Dressing in black on black on black made me feel like a badass instead of a mopey, brokenhearted grump.

Mourning the Death of a Relationship by supercereal

Yeah, it was a pretty shitty couple of weeks. But I think I'm done being emo and done neglecting this blog. I'm still wearing the nerd glasses and the black on black on black though!

-manbearpig

If You're Going to San Francisco...

Plan for Vandalism... THWARTED

There is a reason why I write under the alias redpanda. It is because red pandas are the fucking cutest animals you will ever see in your life. So I decided to create some urban artwork (if you catch my drift) inspired by the best animal ever. I spent so much time and effort drawing a beautiful stencil, sneaking around in the middle of the night, and vandalizing a wall only to return in the morning to find my gorgeous red panda PAINTED OVER WITH WHITE PAINT. You can imagine the distress I felt. Also, I don't even have the stencil any more because I disposed of the evidence. Luckily I took pictures of the stencil making process:


redpanda LIVES

The Universality of the Gangster Lifestyle

Okay, so I am no G. I grew up partly in Russia and partly in the East Bay (and not even the gangster parts of the East Bay, mind you) but am coming to realize that everyone should live by the gangster code of ethics in order to get the most out of life. My conception of gangster morality can be summed up in this valuable aphorism:

Mo' money, mo' bitches.

This handy little saying helps me to justify pretty much every aspect of my life. Yes, I was a hedonist before I discovered the importance of gangster ethics, but now I feel connected to an enormous amount of hedonists around the world who incorporate such phrases into their lives. In fact, the more I am exposed to gangster ideology, the more handy phrases I discover. For instance, just yesterday I picked up two: bbc and dgaf. What better way is there to proclaim two universal truths: bitches be crazy, and don't give a fuck?



Overall, the gangster lifestyle applies to pretty much everyone and I think it's important to acknowledge the lessons it can teach us. So remember, "never fuck without a rubber, never in the sheets, like it on top of the cover, money on the dresser, drive a Compressor, top notch hoes, get the most not the lesser."



redpanda

DIY

So about a week ago, I fell in love:

With her style, her skirt, and her in general.
But at the moment, I was drawn mostly to her skirt, so I trekked to Stonemountain Fabrics (cutest fabric store in all of Berkeley, the Bay Area, the world?) and set out to DIY it (that's what she said). Since this is my first DIY post, it is confusing :[ & I'm sorry, but feel free to ask me any questions. Sewing isn't that hard! Well actually, it is pretty hard, but I'm a total n00b, so if I can do it, so can you.

Materials: about a yard of fabric, a bunch of buttons if you so desire, a sewing machine or hand sewing skillzz if you have the patience, thread, scissors
CLICK TO ENLARGE & READ INSTRUCTIONS:

And the finished product:

-manbearpig

In Defense of Vapidity, aka welcome to hugfaya, beezies

HugFire is a creation that has been brewing in the minds of Nastia, Christine, and Seamus, also known as redpanda, manbearpig, and crunkkoala, respectively. We meant to have a more extravagant introductory post, but everyone got too caught up with midterms, etc (you know how we do at UC Berkeley) so I am just going to take the plunge and post an editorial I wrote last week.

Recently, I read an article in Adbusters about how our generation’s hipster counterculture is basically a signal of the decline of western civilization. Yes, this made me want to giggle, too. The author claimed that hipster culture is uniquely vapid and self obsessed, unlike past counter cultures that valiantly crusaded against their parents’ values in order to spread, uhm, revolution. It seems that all hipsters are hopelessly vain and unoriginal.... oh, are we ever doomed!

Guess what? NONE of the above criticism is unique to hipster culture. At all. The punks in the 1970’s are used as an example of “good” counter culture in the article, a counter culture that really stood for something and had meaning. Does this author truly believe that all of the punks in the 1970’s were working to promote equality among the social classes in order to improve society? Isn’t it more realistic to believe that many of them were following a trend, trying to break away from their parents, and doing what they thought was cool, like the hipsters are doing now? The author claims that hipsters use emblems of the working class, like Pabst beer and v-neck t-shirts, as fashion, therefore draining them of significance. This isn’t a unique “flaw” of hipster culture either: in the 1960’s, for instance, it was popular for affluent, white teenagers to wear African and Asian inspired ethnic clothing. Interestingly enough, that type of clothing is still considered ethnic and particular to those geographic regions. Likewise, working class men of past generations can hold on to their v-necks and Pabst. And, of course, no two hippies or punks looked alike, right? Of coooooourse not.The hipsters are a group of youth like any other group of youth with common clothing, music tastes, and behavior—that is why we are able to categorize them as a subculture. I doubt that adolescent psychology has rewired itself in the past decade to bring about the “decline of western civilization.” You know what will really bring about the decline of western civilization? This: We have better things to worry about than a group of American Apparel clad kids destroying life as we know it.

redpanda