Belated Valentines, This Fickle Weather & The Stones

I recently did a quick little linocut print for our Hoodzpah clients. They were supposed to be little valentine, but they ended up getting sent out a little late, in typical Amy fashion. I printed each in black ink and then hand detailed in the gold detail. The banner says "We go together like rubber on asphalt." I feel like The Outlaws would even approve of this valentine. Anyways, printmaking is so fun. More of these little babies to come!

Shorts: Levis, Shoes: Seychelles, Shirt: Charlotte Russe.

The weather has been toying with our heart strings here in Orange County like a fickle woman. One day I was laying out on the beaches of Newport and riding my bike on the boardwalk in my daisy dukes, and the next I was bundled up in layers and beanies trying to survive the brutal wind and rain! Here's one of my outfits before the rain set in.

Back to work. Lot's to do and not enough time to do it in!

- Amy
Listening to: "They Girl With Far Away Eyes" by The Stones

Rock N Roll Paintings, Mini-Adventures & Thackery Binx

[Fig. 1: "Come Together" © Amy Hood]

Things I've recently discovered and subsequently loved:


1. Painting with India ink. Instant gratification. The variations you can achieve with just your brush stroke, or adding a little water or layering the ink are so unique to that medium. It is my new favorite medium. Expect many more ink paintings to come. Kobe portrait is next on my list. (I know he had a rough night Sunday, but he did break another scoring record didn't he?! Give the guy a break. Yeah, I'm talking to you Eric, if you're reading this.) Here's a recent commissioned painting I did for Sara Wilkins [Fig. 1] as a present for her Dad for Christmas. Turned out pretty fun. I especially love Ian Anderson, mid prance.

[Fig. 2: Don The Beachcomber. Sara and Yenny!]

2. Don The Beachcomber. This old tiki lounge [Fig. 2] that was established in Hollywood in the 30's but now resides in Sunset Beach, up the coast from our new digs in Newport. I went with Sara and my sis, Jen, after our mini vacay to Palm Springs this last week. It was like being on the set of Elvis' Blue Hawaiian. I'm sure it used to be like one of those old themed Hollywood clubs that the stars hung out in. Like the one in The Aviator where snow was falling and there were hot chicks wearing fur hats and swinging from trapezes while the bandstand howled. It wasn't that cool, but it was still pretty rad. They also had some killer Mai Tais that are supposedly world famous.


3. Palm Springs. I could definitely start doing winter breaks in Palm Springs from here on out, lounging pool side and working on my tan.


4. Rye Bread. Once hated it and now can't get my stubby fingers on enough of it.

[Fig. 3: Thackery Binx]

5. Thackery Binx on NCIS: I love crime/myster/investigation shows of any kind. And I mean any. Columbo, Hawaii 5-0, CSI: Miami, Law & Order:SVU, MacGuyver, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, and even stooping to Matlock and Murder She Wrote. The one exception to this was NCIS, the murder/mystery genre's dorky, dweeby little brother. All this changed when my pops was watching an episode over Christmas break and I sat down and watched long enough to realize that Thackery Binx, my adolescent crush/soulmate/star of Hocus Pocus, was in fact alive and well and still acting on NCIS [Fig. 3]. Hollywood had not eaten him up as a yummy childhood star and spitten him out a bankrupt coke-head with a bad goatee (poor Corey Feldman). So I guess what I'm saying is, that if the only things on were Wipe Out, Everybody Loves Raymond and NCIS, I'd watch NCIS.


- Amy
Listening to: "Rock And Roll Heart" by Lou Reed

Glamor Shots, New Pretty Things, & Shameless Shout Outs

Just as I had given up hope in my search for a pleated, sheer, maxi skirt (remember my post a few days ago?)- there it was. At Pretty In Pink Boutique in Costa Mesa, CA. I'd like to take this moment to thank Locale Magazine for assigning Jen and I the story that led us to Pretty In Pink because it is now hovering around the top of my list of places that I would love to call "my closet." They had so many cute shirts, dresses, shorts and earrings, it was all I had not to buy half the store. But what I did buy was the below gorgeous grey skirt and turquoise blue top. Both of which I will lovingly wear through the rest of summer and fall. All you ladies, check out Pretty In Pink. They have a monthly "Ladies Night" where you get 25% off anything in the store. Yeah. I'm following them on facebook now so I don't miss the next one. It's a down economy here. Plus they are right next door to one of my other favorite shops, Dee Lux, which carries new and used items for the best prices (not to mention an impressive and eclectic selection of the best sunglasses). And now a few glamor shots in my pretty new things.

- Amy
Listening to: Jimmy Durante's "As Time Goes By"

 

The Great & Powerful LOCALE Magazine, Some Recent Design, & Eating Brains

[ LOCALE Magazine flanked by the Cycle Zombies - participants in our Summer Guide. Photograph by Jonah Gilmore, our wonderful photographer for our feature. ]

I've been doing a freelance design project with my sister Jennifer for a rad local OC magazine called LOCALE. It's a really nice 200 page, thick stock, perfect bound magazine with advertisers like Blue Moon and LA Club Sport and really fun and interesting local editorial - so it's basically every editorial designers dream - or at least mine. After working at a smaller publication for the last five years where our covers were paid for, our demographic was suburban moms, and our page count never exceeded 44 (our big dream was to one day have a perfect bound magazine), I am having so much fun letting my creativity run rampant on this project! 

The feature we're working on is a guide to summer in Orange County. It's full of how-tos, lists, interviews with OC celebs on their favorite summer memories, summer fun ideas, and summer playlists from local bands. I really want to post some of the design I've been working on for said project, but I will wait till it is printed to show you the end result. I will give you a little teaser and show you this little beer cap I created for one of the segments. I even made little dew drops! No skimping on the design here, folks.

[ © Amy Hood ]

Yep, just a foreshadow to the greatness to come in this feature. Which brings me to my next point: this feature can only be as great as we envision it with your help. We're compiling a list of "summer musts" and we want to pick your brain and steal some of your genius. That made me sound like a zombie. I promise I won't eat your brain - that's not what I meant. So what do I mean? I mean we want to know what your favorite things to do for summer in Orange County are so we can include it in our list. You know - those things/pastimes you have to indulge in every summer, without which, it's just not summer: going to the beach, riding your beach cruiser on the boardwalk, slip n' slides with your friends, getting a balboa bar at the Balboa Fun Zone... and the list goes on. If you feel inclined to lend your thoughts, leave a comment with your favorite things to do. 

You guys are diamonds.

- Amy

Listening to: Wilco's "Outtasite"

Wilco - Outtasite by WBRNewMedia

My last few days in photos, How Kentuckians Are Hipster By Default, and Adventures in OC

I've been insanely busy of recent. Thus the neglect of this blog. So here is an update of my life in iPhone pics. The last few days consisted of photoshoots with Penelope Spheeris (director of Black Sheep and Wayne's World) to promote her new film at the Newport Beach Film Fest (it's called Balls To The Wall and it looks hilarious), adventures at the Balboa Fun Zone, some amazing patty melts with Kyle Lightner and Jennifer Hood at Eat Chow's in Newport (this part included some heavy banter with Eat Chow owner Eric about ass-kickin' surfers, hardcore, and documentaries), cooking lessons with the lovely Caroline Landon, and then the longest day of work EVER today which was only survived thanks to the hour long sun bath I took at lunch. 

[ I went to Urban Outfitters to find something glittery to wear to the Billabong XXL Awards this Friday. No glitter was to be found, but I did find out that apparently being from Kentucky is now "hipster". I guess that makes me a hipster by defualt. Crap. ]

[After a long day of photoshoots at the Lido and the Balboa Fun Zone for a project Jen and I are working on, we met up with our friend Caroline Tuesday night and made dinner. It was DELECTABLE. Lemon Zest Shrimp Linquini. Or something along those lines.]

[Lunch time tanning sessions at the local park today.]

This was fun; A bit boring but fun. I'll have to document more of the interesting adventures in my life and do this again, but BETTER!

Tomorrow I'm dying my hair. Ombre baby. Roots on purpose. Who'd of thunk?

- Amy
Listening to: Neil Young's "Old Man"

Middle Brother, Making Stone Cold Steve Austin Cry, & More Hilarious Dopplegangers

[ Fig. 1: Middle Brother. Left to Right: John McCauley, Taylor Goldsmith, and Matt Vasquez. ]

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AMY HOOD: Middle Brother at Detroit Bar

My sister and I headed up to the Detroit Bar to catch Middle Brother [fig. 1] last night. It was AWESOME. It's a supergroup of small rock/folk/indie bands. When I say supergroup, think Monsters of Folk (yay!), not Them Crooked Vultures (yawn). And like MOF, this band is made up of a plethora of amazing singers joining forces, sometimes taking the lead, other times taking turns backing each other, and at best breaking into three part gritty harmonies that would make even Stone Cold Steve Austin tear up (or at the very least make him want to join a folksy rock band).

[ Fig. 2: Johnny Corndawg. © cjfoeckler ]

Middle Brother is made up of Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes (yay!), Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit (double yay!), John McCauley of Deer Tick (Yeah 3x! [cue Chris Brown]), and on special occasion the hilarious musician/leatherworker Johnny Corndawg [fig. 2]. And I can't forget the drummer, Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes [fig. 3], who's game face rivaled any Billy Idol scowl. I like the way Rolling Stone described them as a whole: "This singer-songwriter summit... is an alt-country round robin, with raw harmonies and punk-rock sentiment as unforgiving as a prison shiv." Couldn't have said it better myself.

[ Fig. 3: Griffin Goldsmith. ©Jack Edinger ]

The album is really good. Seeing them live was even better. Which is almost always the case with a good rock n' roll band; They've got that energy, that stage presence, they love the live performance and they love the crowds. All of which seems to be very rare in pretty much all the bands today. Most of the bands I've seen recently either seem like they'd rather be surrounded by hot chicks in a hotel bar somewhere, or they are seriously lacking in talent without their production magic. 


I also discovered a new act thanks to the show (which is one of my favorite parts about going to shows). The opening act was a guy named Jonny Corndawg and not only can he sing a country/rock/rockabilly song, he is one of the fines leatherworkers you've ever seen this side of the Mississippi. I'm pretty sure every member of Middle Brother was wearing a finely crafted leather belt with his initials in it courtesy of Jonny. Last night, despite suffering from a bleeding ear and horrible amp feedback, he won the hearts and minds of the Detroit Bar masses. You can see him below featured in the song "Middle Brother." Also check out his song at the bottom or google "Trash Day." 

[ Middle Brother © Brandon Tauszik ]

[ Bickering just like loving siblings. ]

And to close this blog out with a bang:

And I've said it for years now, but how much does my dear old friend Sean Murphy look like Matt Vasquez!? I think a DNA test is in order because they may be twins seperated at birth. Don't believe me from this photo [below]? Visit Sean at Kaylani's in San Clemente and see for yourself. 

Here are some tunes for you. 

-Amy

Listening to: Middle Brother's "Wilderness" 

Tsunami Warnings, Our Campaign To Be The New Face of Doublemint Gum, & My Undying Love For Chris Brown (Even Post Rihanna)

[Fig. 1: Yenny (right) and me.]

Jen and I went to the beach this weekend. One of our favorite spots: Pirate's Cove/Wesley Dr. It was sooo lovely outside. Of course we abided the tsunami warnings. So intense. It's so horrible what happened in Japan. I seriously think the end of the world is coming. Hurricane Katrina, Indonesia, Haiti, New Zealand, Australia and now Japan. Not to mention all the governments that are bankrupt or in complete civil unrest. It's hard to watch the news anymore. It definitely makes me thankful to God for sunny days like this and friends and family. 

 [Fig. 2: Me and Jen circa 1996. Guess which is which haha.] 

Don't these pictures just scream Doublemint Gum commercial? [Fig. 1] I think so. I gotta get my agent on that ASAP. They've got to be looking for a new face for their campaign after the Chris Brown debacle. We've been practicing for this role our whole lives. Check out this vintage shot [see Fig. 2] of the Hood sistas back in our Syracuse, NY days. For Halloween we dressed up as giant sticks of Doublemint Gum. It snowed. Our costumes melted. Blasted water based finger paints. Speaking of Doublemint Gum and Chris Brown...

INSPIRATION OF THE DAY: Chris Brown's Insane Dance Skills

I know he beat Rihanna, but I still love Chris Brown. How does he move like that? And that cute little face with those tattoos? I can't help it. I'm determined to try to learn his tunnel dance moves in the "Deuces" video. Woah. 

- Amy

Listening to: Chris Brown's "Yeah 3x"

Inspiration of the Day: Nolan Hall, More Cheesy Metaphors, & A Little Richard Hawley

[ ©Nolan Hall ]

INSPIRATION OF THE DAY: Nolan Hall

Nolan Hall is one of my favorite photographers. He's up there with Kyle Lightner. And like Mr. Lightner, he has an innate ability to capture that Southern California joie de vivre within a 35 mm frame like Jim Croce captured time in a bottle.  Cheesy metaphor. Forgive me. Especially when speaking of such bad ass, gritty photos as these. 

I have yet to meet the man in person, but via social media I've come to know this kid, and I'm pretty sure he might be omnipotent. Nolan Hall is everywhere and knows everyone. The former member of the Japanese Motors photographs famous surfers, skaters, musicians, models and more; He works with the likes of Vans and RVCA; I even found him amidst the pages of my Spin Magazine one time in a two page spread photo with Modest Mouse (see Fig. 1: He's the very tall gentleman in the Captain's hat). Hat's off to you Mr. Hall. You're clearly doin' things right. Check out some of my favorite photos by the OC native below, and don't forget to head over to his blog to further stimulate your eyeballs.

-Amy

Listening to: Richard Hawley's "Tonight The Streets Are Ours"

[ Fig. 1: Nolan Hall in my Spin Magazine with Modest Mouse. Livin' the dream, Nolan. Livin' the dream.]

[ Alex Kopps and boards. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Alex Knost (former singer of Japanese Motors). ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Black Lips. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Christian Fletcher. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ CJ Nelson. ©Nolan Hall ]

[The Fuck Yeah Fest. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Keegan Sauder. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Matt Archibald. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Austin Stephens. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Tyler Warren. ©Nolan Hall ]

New Crystal Jewelry, Summoning Captain Planet, and Musicals

[Fig. 1: Hiya Moon Gift Box with rock n roll (literally) jewelry inside. ]

I finally found some raw crystal jewelry that won't cost mE a small fortune! The shop is called Hiya Moon and it's on Etsy.com. I got a bullet casing necklace with a quartz crystal and two raw crystal rings - one for my sis and one for me so we can trade like creepy twins do. The jewelry came in a cute little box [Fig. 1] which made me want to sing "Brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things" in my best Julie Andrews impersonation. 

The rings and necklace were even lovelier in person than I thought they'd be from the photos online. After placing the rings upon our chubby little midget fingers [Fig. 2], Jen and I felt a rush of power and the strange urge to summon Captain Planet with our beautiful earth-centric jewelry. I've worn my necklace [Fig. 3] and ring everyday since I got them last week. They're fun to layer with my turquoise ring and raccoon claw necklace (at least that's what kind of claw I think it is). It makes me feel very Native American.

[ Fig. 2: Jen (left) and I (right) giving the fist of solidarity to show off our new rings. ]

[ Fig. 3: Bullet Casing Crystal Necklace from Hiya Moon. ]

Today I get to go to South Coast Plaza for a pre-mini-showing of a few numbers from Rock of Ages, the musical showing at Segerstrom Center for The Arts (formerly OCPAC). I'm pretty excited! There's not very many things that get me in a better mood than a musical number. I blame my mother for raising me on Rogers & Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber. I'm just a product of my environment. After, I'm grabbing lunch with my friend/PR Rep for South Coast Plaza, Beverly Morgan, and then it's back to the graphics cave where they'll re-chain me to my desk to pump out ads and editorial layouts till the prints on my finger pads are worn off. 

Cheers,

Amy

-Listening to: Cage The Elephant's "Tiny Little Robots"

[ Fig 4: Cage The Elephant from Bowling Green, KY. ]

Fun Fact / Pop Culture Lesson of the Day: Cage the Elephant

I went to high school (Greenwood High School in Bowling Green, KY) with Matt and Brad Schultz and Tyler Champion of Cage The Elephant. They were called Perfect Confusion back in those days. Matt Schultz [Fig. 4, center] was actually named Calendar Boy of the Year for our high school; It's like a Sports Illustrated Calendar they sold to raise money for school programs, except with high school hotties instead of models. It's always fun seeing how old friends go on to do great things as they grow up. I wish I was playing Coachella and opening for The Black Keys right now. Talk about making everyone else feel crappy at the ten year high school reunion. 

New Tattoos, Keeping It Real Like Ponyboy & Playing The Guinea Pig

[ On the "operating table," stencil on foot, awaiting the gun. ] 

Like I posted a couple weeks back, my friend Ari is apprenticing at Newport Tattoo right now. In order to practice he's handing out free tats like a pedophile hands out free candy on a playground. Being the starving artist that I am, and looking to scratch my metaphorical itch for some fresh ink, I offered my skin as a sacrifice. It was done in the name of art... and pauperdom. Here's a photo essay of the night as documented by my favorite twin sister (no need to point out my only twin sister), Jennifer Hood. 

[ Awaiting my foot's fate. ]

[ Starting to get excited! That's my friend and tattooist in training, Ari Kotsiris. ]

[ Discussing the plan of attack. ]

[ I had to run out to the car to grab my phone, and then I had the dirtiest feet you've ever seen which Ari had to touch. Sorry Ari. ]

[ Jen Hood, up to no good. ]

[ Sweet Jen. ]

[ Me mid-tattoo. ]

[ No pain, no gain. Or so the meat heads tell me. ]

[ Ari doin work, hoping I don't find out he has no idea what he's doing. Just Kidding. Ari was a pro and a half! ]

[ Trying to talk between whimpering - I mean - trying to talk while not noticing my foot is getting blasted. ]

[ We both made it out alive! Authors Note: Ari has the quickest thumbs-up draw you've ever seen. This thumbs-up was recorded at .06 seconds. ]

My tattoo says "Stay Gold Ponyboy." It's my first semi-ridiculous tattoo and I just adore it. Like I said a while back when pondering my potential Clint Eastwood tattoo, I've realized that the tattoos I like most on other people are the kind of ridiculous ones. The ones most would consider their mistake tattoos. And I don't mean the Winnie-The-Pooh-on-your-hip or dolphin-on-your-ankle kind of mistake tattoos - I mean a smiley face on your knee cap like my friend Tim Wiececk, or half the tattoos on or done by my friend Chris De Armas over at American Vintage Tattoo in Orange [See Figures 1 and 2]. Funny/strange/absolutely unique tattoos. "Stay Gold" is a pretty common tattoo, but adding the "Ponyboy" to the end makes it quite unique and semi-comical. Mission Accomplished. As soon as this bad boy heals I'll post better pics of the actual tattoo.

[ Figure 1: A Jackolope, and Figure 2: A Colonel Sanders headed chicken shitting biscuits. Tattoos by Chris De Armas. ]

If you want some free ink and want to play the guinea pig too, call Newport Tattoo and ask for this guy [Fig. 3], Ari Kotsiris.

[Fig. 3: Ari]

 Cheers,

Amy

Listening to: The Duke Spirit's "The Step And The Walk"