Apr 15th 2011

moving

This weekend is the big moving weekend. Yikes! We’ve begun the process of bringing things into our new home but there are still a lot of big pieces of furniture (some of which need to be disassembled) that need to make the trek. I foresee lots of heavy lifting.

We somehow volunteered to have Easter brunch at our place, which is pretty funny because we don’t even have a dining room table yet. The search continues! On the other hand we have some spring appropriate decorations for the occasion. Shawn and I have already been brainstorming a menu, so despite the deadline pressure I’m very excited to be cooking up some quiches. Bagels maybe? How about these vegan deviled eggs? Oh and candy, definitely candy.

I feel the need to put a lot of care into the design of our new space, and not bring unwanted items into it, but I’m trying to realize it won’t all happen right away. Slowly but surely. The bookcases I bought in college will probably still be in my kitchen holding appliances. My leopard print chair will still be in our living room but perhaps with a slipcover.* There will still be big ikea presence. Oh well.

We’re also taking the time to really make everything nice, even though it’s a rented apartment. Which means restoring old door knobs and lots of little fixes. I’m happy to do it and am even enjoying the process. I’ll definitely be sharing some of our upgrades and the decorating here in the future.

I have a huge laundry list of stuff to take care of this weekend that includes really boring things like buying a paper towel holder. How come paper towel holders are so ugly? Why do all the inexpensive ones look so phallic? Why do I even need a paper towel holder? When did I become so boring?

The cats will also be making the move this weekend. They’ve been very needy all week as we’ve moved stuff out, so I’ll be glad to finally show them they’re not being left behind.

Other exciting news: We’re getting our wedding photos! Like today according to the famously reliable United States Postal Service. So get ready. I’ll be sharing them over the next few weeks. (Monday even? Maybe!)

Also, I’ve decided on a new blog feature that I’m going to start incorporating in the near future. I’m very excited to share another passion of mine that gets a little left out here on Cute & Delicious oddly enough. Plus some site design changes.

Besides moving, there are lots of exciting things to do this weekend. Can’t wait to get some fancy cupcakes and beer at the vegan drinks cupcake party. We also have tickets to a movie I’m fond of, with a director Q&A which is always a bonus. Hooray! Weekend!

* I love this leopard print chair. It’s terribly comfortable and made for me by my grandfather. I just made the unfortunate choice as a teenager to have it covered in leopard print velvet. Alas. To make things worse, it was originally covered in a modern, dusty pink fabric. Oh if I could only turn back time.

» home

Apr 14th 2011

Shout outs

In light of the ridiculous news that VegNews is using stock photos of meat and trying to pass them off as vegan, I think today would be a lovely day to point you all in the direction of some other vegan blogs, sites and photographers.

I have a lot to say about what went down with VegNews but I think it’s pretty much been covered, so I’ll be brief. Using stock photos for completed recipes is just wrong in itself, let alone using images of non-vegan food. For that matter, I don’t know why anyone would want to read a magazine that uses stock photography on the cover under any circumstances. It just shows that the magazine doesn’t care about what they are publishing. I don’t know why they would then expect us to care enough to visit their site or buy a subscription. A magazine is not just about text, it’s a complete product.

But let’s move on…there are so many other vegan resources for you to check out besides this magazine, so here are a few of my favorites (in no particular order).

Quarry Girl – Have to give a major shout out to the blog that broke the news about this whole scandal. Go here for restaurant reviews and sass.

Post Punk Kitchen – The godmother of vegan recipe blogs brought to you by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Innovative takes on the classics and inspiring new recipes all rolled into one.

Vegansauraus – Vegan news and fun around the internet. Great writing and totally amusing.

Your Vegan Mom – Reliably good recipes that are uncomplicated and mouthwatering from Trina, accompanied by witty storytelling.

C’est la Vegan – Wonderful recipes especially for desserts and appetizers, with great ideas for entertaining guests.

Little Vegan Planet – I like this blog so much I married the guy. Seriously though, fun stuff and amazing photos.

These are just my top few of today. It’s always changing. Here’s a whole list of awesomeness.

Since the controversy really comes down to photos, I thought I’d share some talented vegan photographers as well. VEGNEWS, MAYBE YOU SHOULD CONTACT THESE GUYS:

Nicole from Bonus Round

Sara from Simply Stardust

Ryan of Suckatash Productions

Nora from Pride and Vegudice

Shawn of course (yes I’m listing him again, I’m totally allowed to do that).

Not to mention, when I asked for a vegan photographer on twitter, I had tons of responses, ranging from newbies willing to take photos for free to established working photographers.

I’m working on compiling a list for the future so if you’re a photographer that would like to be included, or have someone to add, please let me know.

» handmade

Apr 11th 2011

happiest place on earth

The moving process has begun. We have a few weeks to get everything into our new home, but let me tell you, it’s exhausting. While I love having the time to sort through things as we go and not have one strenuous weekend of work, extending it over weeks has its own special kind of stress. There’s always that nagging, scratching thought in the back of my mind that I should be packing or transporting things.

So things might be a little bit slow on the blog for a bit as I’m using nearly all my energy for carrying boxes up and down stairs. In the mean time, I thought I’d flash back to a few days before our wedding… Read More

» adventure

Apr 8th 2011

intellectual property

Generally speaking, I try to keep this blog on a positive note (there are of course exceptions on occasion). This week I have reached my peak in frustration though. It’s a culmination of things that was pushed over the edge when our good friend, Liz Hayward, showed us the logo design in the trailer for the movie Crazy Stupid Love. You can see it above. You might notice a distinct similarity between it and the logo that Liz designed for Brainwashed Love

I know this sort of comparability happens quite often in design, and who knows, it could be a complete coincidence. On the other hand, perhaps it’s not. There is a definite trend right now where larger companies are directly taking ideas, whether they be films or handmade items or photos, from individuals and using them as their own without any kind of credit.

Larger organizations are preying on the ideas of the creative community. I read recently about a photographer who’s image was lifted from flickr and used on the Delta website front page without any compensation or permission. The photographer only found the image by chance when he was looking to purchase a ticket from the airline.* Or what about this blogger’s face being plastered on t-shirts and sold without any kind of permission/credit/compensation for either her or the photographer who took the photo? There is essentially no repercussions for this blatant plagiarism as quite often individuals don’t have the means to go after the perpetrators.

Months ago when the 30 Seconds to Mars video for Kings and Queens came out, I expected it to look a lot like the photos Shawn had posted to Midnight Ridazz over the years, as there were thousands. What neither Shawn nor I expected was to see a stop motion wildfire in the middle of the video. For no reason. Just a few clicks away from Shawn’s many photos on Midnight Ridazz, one would find his short film Ignite, which is, as you might have guessed, a stop motion film of the Griffith Park fire. The music video also reuses Banksy imagery amongst other things so it’s clearly not trying to be original, but I’m sure Jared Leto just felt this was all derivative. I mean he did pay a bunch of cyclists to ride to the MTV music video awards with him and pose as his bike friends. Because that’s the sort of thing you can do when you have money I suppose.

That’s what it comes down to…money. Which is what makes this so frustrating. It’s frustrating because Shawn and I spent everything we had and more on making Brainwashed Love. We made a super low budget film on our own terms and I’m so proud of what we did. Since we made a truly independent film we’re left to rely on film festivals as one of the only options to get the publicity needed to distribute our film. Unfortunately, this often puts us up against “independent” features which cost 100 times the budget of our film. It puts us against films with Hollywood stars trying to earn some industry cred that are enticing to festivals who can in turn use those names to promote the festival itself.

So when a Hollywood film comes out, before we’ve even had a chance to get our movie released, and it has nearly the same logo as the film that we poured our heart and souls into it makes me want to scream. It makes me crazy that money gives you power and that this movie which could be a complete piece of junk will be seen by so many people with a logo just like ours and there is nothing we can do.

Brainwashed Love Title Sequence from Shawn Bannon on Vimeo.

Here is where in another place this post might turn into a Kickstarter campaign to help us distribute the film ourselves. That’s not what I’m looking for. I have faith that we will find a way to get this film out there. Instead, I ask that you watch our opening sequence with its awesome titles by Liz Hayward. Or instead, check out our teaser trailer. Become a fan of Brainwashed Love on Facebook so that when we are able somehow get this film in theaters we can let you know. If anything though, this lit a fire in my heart again to ensure the success of our film baby.

Most importantly, support your creative contemporaries. And if you’re out there making stuff, keep making. Don’t give up.

Oh and if by chance you happen to know anyone looking to distribute a great feature film, in any capacity, feel free to send them my way.

*I of course, now can’t find where I read this article, so if anyone has a link I’ll gladly take it.

» film