Seattle: Visit to MoPOP! part three: Scared to Death

Over the years I've had many different interests evolve, blooming into questionably obsessive territory before they eventually wane, like that time I really wanted to learn how to play the electric guitar but upon taking home an acoustic I realized my fingers were perhaps a bit short for the task and over time found my way to the ukelele instead...or the time I tried to learn Russian. One thing that has remained strong, consistent, and lurking in the background of my more pressing goals (tie-dye, candle making, travel, whatever thing I'm obsessing over at the moment) is a deep and lingering love for all things spooky, supernatural, or otherwise bone-chilling. Fortunately for me, I'm able to listen to headphones while I work, so I can satisfy my curiosity for the creepier side of things with endless hours of true crime or cryptid podcasts as I work, work, work away. If you're interested in some of those ear-filling goodies for yourself, some of my favorites include Small Town Murder,  And That's Why We Drink, Morbid Podcast, The Cryptid Keeper and of course, Mysterious Universe as always. I can absolutely credit Mysterious Universe for being the alpha and omega podcast to truly get me into podcasts, and I've been listening to MU for years and years.  

One of my first introductions to horror films was through an old Vegas local show, Saturday Night Fright At the Movies, a gloriously cheesy schtick involving an undead Elvis and a rotating cast of B-grade (or often much worse rated) films of a spooky or science-fiction bent. As a kid obsessed with spooky things, I absolutely loved the show and would make a point of trying to catch it every weekend after watching Ren & Stimpy. I'm really dating myself here with all this, but the point of all the backstory is to fully impress upon you, dear readers, that as a fan of horror I thoroughly enjoyed the Scared to Death exhibit at MoPOP!! I had seen advertisements for it during the Halloween season but had presumed it was a seasonal showcase and forgotten about it until the Marvel exhibit caught my eye and we found ourselves down at MoPOP to check it out. There are, as it turns out, many different exhibits that stay on for extended periods or permanently, but there's also many different rotating through, so if you're in the area it's worth considering a membership if you think you'd be going more than once. 

There's a lot to see, and we really could have spent longer wandering the halls and absorbing as many details as our eyes allowed. We'll be heading back again soon! For now, please enjoy these photos I captured and there's plenty more below the cut!

Japan: Design Festa Fall 2013, part 2

Design Festa is one of those experiences that is so surreal, so sensory-overwhelming by its very design and nature that you might have to stop and wonder if someone might have spiked that water somehow. You can explore a labyrinthine space filled with dwarves, nightmare-faced visions, sexy girls in scanty-clothes, murals unfolding in real time and way, WAY more! Design Festa is a twice-annual event where artists from all over the world, though predominantly Asia, come together to showcase their talents and rub-elbows together. As you might imagine, this leads to some incredible collaborative experiences as well as some rather unusual neighbors, like my multi-eyed friend here who was seated near a caricature artist. As the caricature artist was drawing, I watched our friend here hover and observe, making the artist and his model both squirm a bit. Good times, I assure you! Where else would you find a caricature artist from South Korea hanging out and interacting with a special effects artist from Japan? Well, maybe a movie set, but for the rest of us this is the place to meet and mingle!

You don't have to be into large-scale formats to be well-received, nor does your art necessarily have to make sense or even comply with general standards of decency to gain an audience here. Luckily, most of the creators are exceptionally talented at what they do, whether it's manufacturing tiny robots and dioramas or drawing girls shooting rockets out of their genitals. The world is a very big and multi-faceted place, and there's room for everyone's creativity here, or at least that's the attitude the team behind Design Festa tries to bring to the table, and I can most certainly respect that. There's a little something for everyone to be found here, whether you're into decorating your phone cases to look like tasty desserts, punny t-shirts, nightmarish masks, fur-suits, or good old fashioned rope bondage, it's a well-rounded showcase.

There's really only so much I can say about the experience, after all... this is the kind of thing that requires you to bring all your senses to the table, but since you couldn't physically be there with me these photos will have to suffice. Enjoy!

Beauty: Purple hair 2018

By this stage in the game, it should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that I'm a big fan of changing up my hair. I've had accidentally green hair thanks to Lime Crime's Charcoal dye, neon orange-red with Lime Crime's Leeloo dye, outright buzzed my hair off when I got sick of the bleach blonde, had purple-pink pigtails, tried Manic Panic's Electric Lizard Green (with bangs!), rocked faded turquoise and minty-green strands, channeled multiple Sailor Moon characters with both pastel pink and bright turquoise, gone bright blonde, and even rocked the ombre thing way back when, so changing my hair is a common occurrence. These days, I've been trying to avoid bleaching all the way up to my scalp because it's just not a fun or enjoyable situation. Have you ever bleached your roots? It's tingly stinging weirdness that feels very much like the chemical burn it is, so if I don't have to go to my scalp to rock the colors I love, I won't. Also, I'm lazy, guys. Do you know how much work it is to try to maintain platinum blonde when your natural hair color is a dark brown? Hair grows, a lot, and you've got to stay on top of your touch-ups or you're going to have a very visible situation in no time. 

So, lately, I've been making the best of my bleached ends and faded ombre to throw darker colors over top. I've been alternating between different shades of purples and pinks, whether it's Lime Crime's Pony or Special Effects Wildflower, they all play well together after a little fading. There's less upkeep, too, as these shades seem to stick around more on my hair than the pastel tones, though there's also the much better quality of water in Washington compared to Vegas to consider here. Antho helped, which, naturally, stained his hands a bit.  

I've really enjoyed rocking the purple shades! While I know that purple will no longer be the color of the year going into 2019 (it's coral), it's still a favorite of mine. I'll keep rocking it when it feels right!

Thanks for popping in!

💘

XOXO,

NAU