ALTERNATIVE CLOTHING STORES, SHOPPING ON MELROSE IN LOS ANGELES: COSMO OF FLASHER & SPEED BOUTIQUES.
Gather round, children, and listen to the twisted tale of the Adventure Team’s shopping trip! We began the mission by posing fiercely in Santa Monica. (I stole Lemon’s velvet navy blazer with gold military buttons. Ementhy stole my grey skull scarf.)
Look what we found in the Giant Robot store on Sawtelle: my Crazy, Wacky Theme Restaurants book, which has a full-page color photo of Yukiro as the Cheshire Cat! (You know you want a copy… click here for info.)
Onwards to Melrose, one of my favorite LA shopping spots for vintage/alternative/Goth clothing. There’s free parking in the side streets (you’ll want to hit the Melrose strip between Spaulding and Formosa). In a used CD store, I picked up a little something by The Creatures.
Being cash-strapped means we go nuts for anything free — so when we heard that The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was giving out free chai lattes between 4-7pm, we arrived on their doorstep at 4:01.
While Yukiro tried on flaming black and white pants, Lemon and K made beckoning hand sweeps.
Danger! Danger! We wandered into Speed, the Melrose lair of Liza-Minelli-flamboyant Cosmo. He grabbed my boys and started dressing (and molesting) them like Barbie dolls, all the while spewing “scandalacious” one-liners in a scratchy voice…
“It’s like you’ve got gonorrhea and God gave you a lifetime supply of Vagasil. It’s like you call your crack dealer and all they’ve got left is Vagasil. It’s so f*#%-ing sick, it’s totally SICK!”
Cosmo made sure to primp and fondle the boys until they looked “Vagasil, like so totally SICK.” When he couldn’t zip up Lemon’s $600 jacket, he tore it off…. and flung it onto the sidewalk! (Dramatique!)
Cosmo whispered to Ementhy (center): “I’ll give you this jacket free in return for a blow job.” He winked and jabbed his thumb towards the back: “There’s a bathroom over there.” (Choose Your Own Adventure time: did Ementhy take him by the hand and lead him to toilet? Or did he back away slowly, slowly?)
Cosmo’s second in command was a bouncing Asian boy who sang, “Tutus, we’ve got tutus!”
Here is the finished result. Are you laughing as hard as I am?
Time for a nap and Tao Te Ching readings… until the next adventure!
Have you been to Speed or Flasher, Cosmo’s boutiques on Melrose? Do you have any strange and fabulous stories of over-zealous store clerks?
Song of the Day #314: Gackt – Black Stone (for the raven-haired K, who always poses like his beloved Gackto!)
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TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN HARLEM HEALTHY EATING. JAPANESE CHARACTER BENTO LESSONS IN UNDERPRIVILEGED NEW YORK CLASSROOM.
I began my speech by telling the Harlem schoolchildren that I brought a cute friend with me. I pulled her out of a large bag… and they awwed in recognition: “It’s Hello Kitty!”
I talked about kawaii in Japanese culture and character bentos, and gave pointers on healthy eating. The nine-year-olds were very high-energy and asked me rambling questions. Then it was time for the students to try making their own cute-faced sandwiches. They chose ingredients from the spread I had prepped the previous day. By the end of the shoot, almost everything was gone!
The children intuitively understood how to use cookie cutters, straws and other basic tools to make kawaii characters out of food. I went around the tables to help and encourage them.
Amazingly, the children ate vegetables that they’d never seen before — sprouts, green snap peas, red peppers — and said they tasted great. Their parents took away a fun, new approach to making healthy food accessible for kids. I was pleased.
Hana cheered, “Let’s make kawaii character bentos together!” — and we all raised our fists and yelled “Yayyyyy!” Ah, the wonders of Japanese TV.
You will love the episode of New York Wave, which will air next month on NHK (I’ll upload clips). Much thanks to Thomas, a teacher at the school, for his invaluable help in making the lesson possible. Arigato also to Shichi for the photos and help in dishing out the food.
For more images from the Harlem TV segment, you can watch this video slideshow. If you’re interested in cute healthy cooking for picky eaters, I have a new book out, Cute Yummy Time.
I Tweeted a link that got a lot of responses: Condom Fashion Show in China. A very creative use of the material (and my mom sent me the link!). Birth control couture: kawaii or ai-yah?
Received my Akumu Ink x La Carmina t-shirts today and AHH the prints are so eye-catching! Each tee and hoodie is hand-screened; you won’t be disappointed by the quality. (They’re available for order at www.akumuink.com — I’ll post photos of me in them soon.)
What’s next? My visit to NYC Lolita store Tokyo Rebel, my spooky Goth girl band, Bowie’s birthday party, and more undead adventures in LA!
Song of the Day #295: Matenrou Opera (摩天楼オペラ) – Murder Scope (A solid Visual Kei band with hard-rocking melodies.)
LA CARMINA
