Does it Make You Live Forever?

The little birds over at Nylon Magazine have just informed the world of the most amazing thing ever invented to spray on your body: Unicorn Perfume.

The new fragrance is called I Heart Unicorns, and comes from Lambertville, New Jersey-based company, A Beautiful Life. Fuck yeah Central Jersey! I'm glad my hometown area can represent the unicorn love so hard. Look at this stuff:
It definitely makes you live forever, just like Lisa Frank trapper keepers!

And for those keeping track, this is now on our Christmas wish list:

It may not technically be a unicorn, but it totally makes you live forever too.

Don't Call it a Come Back

The brilliant people over at Longshot! Magazine just completed their first issue, based on the theme "Come Back."  This concept can go a lot of ways, and obviously all the awesome contributors stretched the idea far and wide.  We didn't get our act together to submit something by the deadline, what with Friday night calling and all, so we're doing it here. 

We haven't had a chance to read the whole issue, so hopefully we aren't stepping on any toes with our compendium of come backs in 2010:

Cats.  The ancient Egyptians loved them; now fashion does too.

Call them what you will -- cuddly lumps of fluff or screeching balls of claws and allergies -- the Spring 2010 runway was filled with felines.  Just check out what The Style File had to say. Or if you're ready to take it to crazy cat lady level right away, check out United Bamboo's kitty couture. (For those keeping track, this calendar is now on our Christmas wish list.)

Not convinced?  Katy Perry also named her cat, Kitty Purry, CEO of the pop singer's company. Watch the video here. Now that's cat power. Oh, no wait -- that's Cat Power.  

Clam alert:  Speaking of Katy Perry, looks like this girl is after our own hearts:

Mustaches.  A time machine for your face. Yeah!

Mustaches have had a long history of ebbs and flows in popularity, and each era seems to have it's own style of choice.

They neared extinction in the 1990's, but now they're back full force, and slaying the ladies left and right.  Mustaches, as has been pointed out by upcoming movie Going the Distance, are really like a time machine back to when "they were king" in the late 70s and early 80s.  Agreed, but we also think it's time for the 'stache to reign supreme again.

Mustaches have been on a steady post-millennial climb, with tons of new events created in their honor, including the "Tache-Off"(2006), the "Mustache March" (2003), and "Movember" (2000).

There is so much photographic gold out there covering mustaches, but we had to give our final nod to Zappa on this one, founder of the controversial Zappa 'Stache -- that is, mustache plus soul patch.  Also, his picture links to a great site breaking down all the official 'stache options out there, so check it out!  And keep this time machine alive.



(Oh hey, and shoutz to Goldenstash in Boston. Woo!)




Vampires. I vant to stick a fork in my eye.

Do we really need to talk about this?  These guys are about to eclipse zombies, and that's just not right.  True Blood has basically destroyed board game night.  Somehow Twilight has tranced more post-tween minds than seems healthy or natural.  At least it's appropriate; those fans are to Edward Cullen what nubile, blonde chicks have been to vampires in general since they first hit the big screen in 1922.

Um, though things have gotten a little sexier since Nosferatu.

Racism.  We can't all just get along.

Whether it's Glenn Beck's fault or not, there's been a surge of racist acts in the U.S.

 A New York taxi driver just got stabbed for being Muslim.
A mosque went up in flames in Tennessee. 
There was this little bill passed in Arizona that you may have heard of.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger lost her job because she couldn't help but bust out the N-word about 8 times more than we expected. 

Hold yourselves back, people!  This is the great melting pot!  Not the great I-punch-you-in-the-face-because-you're-different pot.  (Although, that might not be a bad pot to check out for, like, a second.)


Lesbians.  We're just taking Snooki for her word here.

A Dip Into the Realms of the Unreal

 Henry Darger was the kind of crazy that inspires curiosity and fascination, the kind that is gentle and reclusive--and only slightly reminiscent of people who wear other people as jackets. He escaped from an insane asylum at the age of 16; he was uncomfortable talking to people, but argued with himself in wild dialects and voices; and he produced over 35,000 pages of written works and art. 

So, obviously we checked out his exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum.


Henry Darger is arguably the most famous, if not at least the most prolific, outsider artist in history. Unable to relate to the world around him, and wrapped up alone in the world inside his mind, Darger spent 47 years creating the work he is most known for: a 15,145-page, single-spaced epic titled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.  (Should we all just take a moment to imagine producing 15,145 pages of fiction?  How about an eight volume, 5,000 page autobiography?  Because Darger did that too.)

He also produced hundreds of paintings to illustrate his tale, some of which were created on ten or twelve foot scrolls of butcher paper. With no training or money for supplies, Darger had to develop his own artistic techniques.  He used a heavy collage style incorporating watercolor, clippings from print media, tracing techniques, and photo enlargement.

Warning:  The more you look into the life Henry Darger, the more depressing the facts become, though digging deep is highly recommended.  There's a documentary about him on Netflix you can play instantly, so three cheers for that, but don't be prepared to go put on your dancing shoes when you're done watching it or anything. 

Darger's Workspace and Self-made Art Collection 

Darger often used stamps as makeshift picture frames for his work. 

Illustration of the Vivian Girls, about whom In the Realms of the Unreal was written.

Darger also depicted the Vivian Girls in collage.

Depiction of a Glandelinnian/Vivian Girl/Blengin battle.  Darger had a natural talent for composition and color. 

On a totally different note, we discovered there are excellent masks to be found at the American Folk Art Museum shop!

It's the Weekend!

Hooray!

My New Favorite Animal

Holy crap, have you ever heard of the clouded leopard?  It's the greatest looking thing on the planet.  Look!

This thing is seriously blowing my mind with its awesomeness.  It's like what a regular leopard wears when it goes to a rave. Basically, I want to be inside one.  Why has no one ever made a coat in this pattern?

It's a big world of animal prints out there, but the market is totally dominated by regular old leopard (and I guess a dash of zebra, but let's not get too crazy). Despite decades of leopard print, human kind has still not figured out how to wear it with out looking a. trashy, b. cheap, or c. creepy and insane.  A lesson:

I guess this list touches mostly on the "creepy and insane" aspects of badly executed leopard.  (Also, who wants to eat that baby with me?)

This also exists, but I just wasn't sure what to do with it:

I want to say it's a don't, but then I realize we should all be doing this like every day.  Until the goat eats its own leopard print dress.  Then you start filming.

 So now that that's all cleared up, let's go to phase 2 where we learn how to cover our entire face, hair, and body with leopard print!  No, really.  Check out this link.

The Disgusting Underbelly of Santa Cruz

They didn't tell me about this before I got here. Did you know Santa Cruz is world-renowned for it's land mollusk population? Google banana slug. Go ahead, do it. The second result is the website for UCSC, because it's their damn mascot. Santa Cruz is technically a temperate rain forest, and as a result we have one of the highest populations of banana slugs in the world, apparently. Oh, and this is what they look like when they try to make the sex.

How gross is that?

I just walked out onto my patio barefoot and almost stepped on 3 snails, and there's another one trapped inside a vase. I wish I had a camera so I could document the terror I face on a daily basis. A few weeks ago, boyfriend found one IN THE KITCHEN. There's not even a door anywhere near the kitchen, which means it must have traveled for hours on it's quest to gross me out.

Moral of the story: not all clams are created equal. I'll stick with these little guys, thanks.

What's Your Hobby?

This guy (girl?) makes us feel bad about 90% of our life skillz.  We'll just never live up...

The big question, though, is Who's making these?  Sadly (and on some levels pathetically) this little gem came to me in a forwarded email chain from my mother.  'Cause, you know, that's what moms do.  If anyone in the world knows who this is, speak up!  And let them get the credit they deserve.  (also maybe get them a hand wipe.)

Too Sexy For This Template

It has a certain je ne sais quoi, no?  And also a rainbow. 

Look! Another clam!



















(Clam cake not to be confused with clam bake.)

Irena Clam Eaves.

Hi. 

I made a blog!  Let's make it better!  Along with the blog, there's a gmail -- thedailyclam@gmail.com.  I tried to make the blog itself thedailyclam.blogspot.com, but believe it or not that was already taken.  (we should probably look into it)  So, dailyclam.blogspot.com it is.  Let's start making this thing look phenomenal, and also let's incorporate the tagline "Pearls of Webdom, Delivered Fresh," or something along those lines.

Also, let's have a meeting soon.  A skype-y one.  And a glittery one.

Ok, bye.