Lipstick Prophets FASHION PRODUCTION HOUSE

Elizabeth McGrath : a special treat for your eyes… and ears!

I’ve been a fan of this little doll’s work since the first time I stumbled across her on the old Myspaz… I guess that was back around 2007, I can’t really remember. Liz is absolutely adorable and overflowing with creativity & talent.

For those of you that are not already in the know, here is a short bio that I snagged from her website: Los Angeles-born artist Elizabeth McGrath has always had an eye for the strange beauty in the grotesqueries of life; this appreciation is nowhere more evident than in her work. Inspired by the relationship between the natural world and the detritus of consumer culture, she brings forth a new cavalcade of creatures from the darker corners of the streets, the city, the imagination. It is this melancholy interaction between man-made status symbols and suffering specimens of nature that make up her intricate body of work

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I love it all; from her super cute watercolors, to the elobarote dioramas & sculptures. On top of all the amazing art that she puts out there, she is also lead singer for the L.A. based band Miss Derringer – might I add that I’m a huge fan of her music as well. Everything the does makes me smile or leaves me in awe.

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I also need to mention that she has a lovely hardcover art book called Everything That Creeps I just happen to be the very proud owner of an autographed copy ♥ You should totally buy this book!

Yes, I took a picture with my book. That is how much I love it. 

Other places to follow Liz’s work…

Sometimes she blogs over at Juxtapoz Magazine, HERE And you can follow the band on Twitter, HERE.

I leave you with this photo of Liz & I after their show in Dallas, TX back in July 2009… I look like a hot mess (I hated my bangs all fringey like that, plus a migraine & drinking = not a good look for me.) but this is the only photo I got that evening.

Yes, I also wear that little mini top hat a lot. I know. haha.

Hope you enjoyed.

Because it is still only TUESDAY….

What bands do you listen to take you to your happy place? How can you not want to make out with David Bowie even though he’s old enough to be my grampy-pants….? I dunno…. thoughts?

peace n love

c.

Well first off…Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s and single father’s out there.

As for me, I’m not really sure what the word “mother” means; seeing as how I’ve never really had one.

This is my biological mother and I when I was a little kiddlet. It took me forever to find this one picture. I have thousands of pictures on my computer, only one of which is of my mum. Kind of sad, huh?
Mother’s day is kind of a hard day for me. It causes me to think of all of the things that I never had. I really wish I would have known what it was like to actually have a mum.
But even though I never had a mum, I have motherhood to look forward to myself and I can give my kids something that I never had. I look forward to that (though I don’t plan on that being for another six years or so! haha).

My mum’s sister however, is a wonderful woman and mother.

It makes me sad that she doesn’t live closer. I rarely get to see her because she’s all the way in Florida. If I were to choose any woman in this world to be my “mum” it would be her. so to her I say “Happy Mother’s Day” and “I love you.”

As for what I did this mother’s day…I spent it with the only mother I know…my father. He played mum & dad for me growing up.
We spent a nice day together; him, my fiance and I. We went to a private screening of Iron Man 2 at Paramount studios. After the movie we had a Q&A with Jon Favreau about the film. It was quite interesting. Then, we went out to dinner at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles. I have never eaten there before and I have to admit that their menu was a little weird. My fiance & father both had chicken & waffles. It was pretty good. I settled with the fried chicken and corn bread. yum yum.

I tried to reach my “mum” to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day, but no luck. Oh well. 

I had a great day with my dad and fiance. I am very lucky to have them both in my life.

Happy Mother’s Day, dad…I love you. :]

the patchwork heart represents all the amazing moms in my life.the crossed wooden spoon & feather duster because they cook & clean for you. chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.

one of my favoritest mom’s & favoritest tattoos is of my g. she is effin epic. she hates it when i say fuck. this portrait of my g was done at the philly show in 2007, also by mel d. i called her crying while he did it. not because it hurt but because it was such an emotionally significant tattoo done by such an emotionally significant artist. her name is marjory but when i was little i said “ma-gee” & everyone though i said my g & so it is. she was a nurse. when she was in nursing school she & her friends took a trip to california for a “nurse’s conference” & each day 1 would go & the other 2 would go play. 

she also cut school once to go to texas & they flipped her lil red convertible & broke her leg & her neck. she also married a man named kenneth & had two kids, my mom, sandra & my uncle, tom.

her husband passed & she never really had nay other romances, none that i have heard of anyway. she is fucking amazing & she completely supports me in my career & brags about me too. 

my g

my mom. she’s nice. she had me at 21 & has had a whole basket of mess in her life. she has always supported my individuality & taught me how to cook really well, not to be afraid to wear what i want. she is a huge fan of naked pretzels. she has always supported me as a rainbow bright, starlight boot wearing badass girl. as an adult i respect her struggle. she has the biggest heart of anyone i know. she is unbridled optimism. & a very annoyingly chipper morning person. this is the only photo i have of her 

the only pic i have on my laptop

another spectacular mom is my lovely bestie tallulah. she & i have been friends since 2006 i think. she is an amazing, fantabulous mom & wife {her hubs makes potato mess that is amazing!}: she is stylish, funny, talented, a grate graphic designer & a super social network guru. she is great on roadtrips, takes super photo booth pictures & can be trusted with your entire heart. she will defend you to the final & call you out on being a bitch. i met her through myspazz & love her like joey fucking lawrence. when i refer to going home, it’s always her place i mean. i love her heart. white trash russians ftw. who doesn’t want a smoking hot mom like this?

tallulah13 shot by personal images

here in ok the only mom i really kick it with is andrea: another myspazz friendship. she became a client & we became friends. she was also going through a break up when i was going through my own difficult time i hjanuary & we drank lotso f vodka tonics & i second hand smoked too many cigarettes. i did get better at pool & learned about cross canadian ragweed. it’s all up hill from here. they grow good girls in oklahoma.

oklahoma girl

so happy mother’s day to all you hot mamas. i love you. you make boo-boos better, hangovers more fun & always know how to help heal a broken heart or broken nail. 

So, my friend brought me cupcakes yesterday.
This is the second or third time that I have tried “Famous Cupcakes.”
I have to say that I am not a fan. Not at all. And neither is my fiance.

The best thing that I can say about Famous Cupcakes is that they LOOK pretty. But that’s about it.

Their slogan is “One is never enough!” But as far as I’m concerned…one is too much.

Their website says: “Delicious, Fluffy & lightweight, our European style cupcakes are baked fresh with the finest all natural, organic & kosher ingredients for freshness you can taste.”
Hmmmmm. Well, I don’t find them delicious. I also don’t really find them to be all that fluffy & lightweight. Now Ali’s cupcakes…THOSE are fluffy, lightweight and delicious! yum yum. I also have to say that they don’t taste all that “fresh.” I mean, yea…they taste like they were recently made…but when I think of fresh I think of being able to eat them and feel like my body just ate something it will process easily and not something that feels like it’s going to clog my arteries. haha. When I bite into a famous cupcake I feel like I’m biting into a lot of butter and unhealthiness. Not that I have anything against unhealthy food…It’s pretty much my favorite food. But I don’t really want to feel like my arteries are clogging with every bite!

My fiance and my main problem with “Famous Cupcakes” cupcakes is that I feel like they are just trying to hard and ALL of their cupcakes are so complex.

I thought I would try one of their more normal cupcakes, so I ordered what I thought was a simple vanilla cake with milk chocolate frosting. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. They SAY that it is just vanilla cake with chocolate frosting…but it’s really not. Their vanilla cake has cinnamon and other spices in it. What is so wrong with normal vanilla cake??? Why do they have to add all of these other spices in it???

Not only do I NOT enjoy their cupcakes and find them to just have too much going on…but they are $3.25 each!!! $3.25 for a cupcake just seems ridiculous to me! I mean, if it was an amazing orgazmically delicious cupcake, then I suppose I could understand the price for special ocassions…but they’re just awful.

Can someone tell me what is so wrong with normal, regular, vanilla/chocolate, vanilla/vanilla, chocolate/chocolate cupcakes??? I am a big cupcake fan and I think “normal” cupcakes are just spectacular without this nonsensical razzle-dazzle cupcake crap!

Anyway….I shall end my rant.

But seriously….does anyone agree with my fiance and I? sometimes simple is better…and in the case of cupcakes; I definitely think simple is best!

Hey Squirrels!

This Past Monday I shot an INCREDIBLE promo for Diva Zappa’s Beauties.  Anyone who has kept an eye on Lipstick Prophets over the years will remember the fantastic story we did on Diva and her over the top knitted beauties in the 1st issue of Lipstick Prophets magazine.

Well.. since then Diva has been up to A LOT to say the LEAST.  She has been keeping busy acting and knitting, her knits just went to the Cannes film festival, she has an art installation going up in London in December and she is currently filming a movie where she plays a zombie seductress. 

Anyhow.. here are some behind the scenes pix we snapped with our collective bb’s.  THE OWL is yours truly.

oxxo

Ali

I am obsessed with these PSA’s Time for Timer… hero shit.

Please check out the lyrics.. its too good

even for a VEGAN!!!

Time for Timer!!!  Should have named the new line that!!!!

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The Dirty Secret Of Soy

This is not a reader question this week, but something I  feel is too important to not share.

Being an herbivore for longer than I haven’t been one, I was horrified and saddened by learning that some of the easiest to come by and not to mention delicious veggie burgers contain a neuro-toxin from a gasoline byproduct called Hexane. I found this out; I kid you not just after going to the supermarket and buying some Original Vegan Boca Burgers. Boca Burgers I discovered unless they are organic, and they don’t have the organic ones in my supermarket are riddled with Hexane.

Hexane is a by product of gasoline refining and is toxic to humans ingesting it and also those who work in the manufacturing plants (can you say skin and nervous system disorders and even death)

Hexane is used to lower the fat in soybeans by literally soaking the beans in it to separate the oil from the protein. They do this with textured vegetable protein (TVP) as well, which many of us non- meat eating folks also enjoy. And on top of it the lovely FDA does NOTHING to regulate or monitor or regulate hexane residue in the stuff we eat. (It’s also in infant formulas, soy lecithin and soy protein isolates)

I was hipped to this a week ago by my vegetarian uncle who sent me this article on Mother Jones and I looked further to find the full report Behind The Bean by the Cornucopia Institute as well as this very helpful  soy bean Score Card. The gist is, to buy Organic only, but even things like ‘mostly organic’ Cliff Bars have soy products in them that contain hexane. ‘Natural’ Silk soymilk is also particularly bad as is Trader Joes private label and Whole Foods own brand. Thanks, thanks a lot.

I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer, and there ain’t no way I will be eating meat in case anyone is wondering, but I feel this is extremely important to know, vegetarian or otherwise. The conclusion is to go organic or go home when it comes to any soy products whatsoever. And don’t let me start on pesticides on non-organic fruits and veggies… Ok  I won’t.

Till next time.

Xo,

Theo

We’ll be back to your regularly scheduled questions next week.

If you want my sometimes tough – love advice about life, love, beauty and nose hairs; email me at asktheo@gmail.com

If your question gets answered you will receive swag from Lipstick Prophets