Irrelevance (#10)

Christmas
I finally feel myself getting into the Christmas spirit this year. After spending close to $400 on gifts (a ridiculous amount of money to a teenager like myself), and countless hours on paintings and other projects, I can say that I'm finally feeling good about admitting that we are currently in the midst of the holiday season. I'm usually in denial until around December 23rd, so this is an especially good year for me.
I'm beginning to notice "holiday backlash" though. Remember how the past two years haven't been "Christmas," but "the holidays" instead? Well, every chain store (mostly Wal-Mart) seems to be giving that idea a huge FUCK YOU by having Christmas-themed everything. No other winter holiday seems to be even casually mentioned. It's weird.

Kozik busts
I've been into "urban vinyl" toys for about two or three years now, yet I don't own a huge vinyl toy (meaning that it costs over $150). For some reason, I always save for them and sketch out at the last moment. I've never really wanted one of them, until now:Yes, that is Stalin. Yes, it's made of vinyl. Yes, the first one is glow-in-the-dark. And yes, those last two are flocked (AKA "velvet-y"). These 14-inch beauties are what I've been pining for since I got my new job. $300 for the non-flocked, $350 for the flocked. These have been out for about a year, and are by one of my favorite artists, Frank Kozik. I even did a project (or rather, an analysis) on one of these for my ceramics class last year.
He's also done one of Chinese Communist dictator Chairman Mao with Mickey ears ("Mickey Mao"), Vietnam revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, and Beethoven made-up to look like Alex from A Clockwork Orange (since Beethoven's 9th Symphony plays a huge part in the book/movie). I know, they are fucking awesome.
I want the red or blue one on the end. Oh, and there are about 15 colorways for each bust.

Top 50 movies
As sad as it sounds, I've been re-writing my top 50 movies list for the last few days. This is the list (in alphabetical order):

28 Days Later
American Beauty
Apocalypse Now
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The
Big Fish
Big Lebowski, The
Brick
Boogie Nights
Chasing Amy
Children of Men
Clerks
Clockwork Orange, A
Dark Knight, The
Departed, The
Dog Day Afternoon
Donnie Darko
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Evil Dead
Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn
Fight Club
Garden State
Graduate, The
Green Street Hooligans
Illusionist, The
Incredibles, The
Machinist, The
Magnolia
Matrix, The
No Country for Old Men
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Pulp Fiction
Punch-Drunk Love
Ratatouille
Reservoir Dogs
Requiem for a Dream
Royal Tenenbaums, The
Rushmore
Scanner Darkly, A
Science of Sleep
Se7en
Shaun of the Dead
Shining, The
Sin City
Snatch
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi
Taxi Driver
Usual Suspects, The
WALL-E

I imagine I'll probably have them in numerical order by the end of this next week. The bolded ones are potentials for my top 10. Let me know what you all think of this list.
It also just dawned on me that I have now mentioned A Clockwork Orange twice in this post. Wait, no. Three times now. Goddammit.
And yes, the Star Wars original trilogy is the only series that I have given a 10/10. Most other ones screw up the formula (lookin' at you, Indiana).

Bettie Page
Legendary pin-up model Bettie Page passed away a few days ago from complications of a heart attack she suffered 8 days previously. The 85-year old woman was best known for stirring up controversy in "racy" S&M photos back in the 50's.
I hereby dedicate my entire article on pornography to her memory. Bettie, you will be missed. I wish I could have met you, but not in a creepy way.