Interview: Sarah Rodenhouse of MashUp Contemporary Dance Company

This week’s interview is with Sarah Rodenhouse, one of the founders and Artistic Directors of the MashUp Contemporary Dance Company in Los Angeles. Although MashUp was founded only a couple years ago, this all-female dance troupe is making waves as it brings an interesting mixture of jazz, hip-hop, and modern dance to the national stage.

Learn more about one of the group’s founders and how she started a non-profit troupe from scratch.

Twenty Two: Let’s start with the basics. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Sarah: I’m originally an upstate New Yorker with four awesome brothers and parents who have turned into two of my best friends. I’ve wanted to be a dancer since my mom and dad bought the Michael Jackson Thriller album and my older brother and I played it into the ground, dancing around the living room.

I’ve been in LA for about seven years now with a year stint in NYC somewhere during that span. I absolutely love being outside and I’m active as hell which is why I think LA and I have gotten along fairly well so far!

The Sunday Best: From an Edible Fixie to Dave Franco’s PSA

The Sunday Best is a weekly wrap-up of the greatest things that happened this week in art, entertainment, fashion, food, the interwebs, and sustainability. Church clothes optional.

Here’s a sneak peek of what we have in store for you this week: revisited childhood pastimes, Dave Franco’s PSA, and an edible fixie.

7 Mouth-Watering Cupcake Recipes to Test Out Now

We’ve scoured our favorite food blogs to find some of the most interesting, unexpected, and, above all, delicious tried-and-true cupcake recipes we could find so you can put your baking skills to the test.

Video Review: Lana Del Rey – “Blue Jeans”

Our resident music writer, Michael Reckstin, discusses the new music video for one of pop’s most “controversial” singers.

Interview: Bruce Chan of Bruce’s Buddies

This week I caught up with Bruce Chan, an architect and community activist living in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. In the latest installment of our interview series, he discusses his career path, his weekly newsletter called Bruce’s Buddies, and his love of biking in downtown Los Angeles.

Twenty Two: Let’s start with the basics. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Bruce: Bruce Chan. 27. Born and raised in Orange County, and went to the USC School of Architecture, so I’ve been in Southern California for most of my life.

Since graduating in 2007, I’ve been dabbling in different fields and jobs. I was in Sri Lanka doing a planning master’s course. Then I worked on an organic farm in Orange County for about a year and a half. Then I moved to LA where I worked at Silver Lake Farms, and also a non-profit called M&A. Not until this past summer did I start working in a formal architecture firm.

So I’ve had lots of wonderful under-employed periods of the past years to try my hand at different interests, whether in the work that I do or in the organizations around town that I’m now involved with. I now live in Silver Lake, have a “Pepsi spirit” blue bike, and enjoy maps.

The Bare Hands Series: Homemade Spicy and Sweet Beer Mustard

In her latest installment of The Bare Hands Series, our very own Heather Do wants you to open up your nostrils and take a whiff of some homemade mustard.

The Sunday Best: Breakfast Tacos & Must-Hear SXSW Bands

The Sunday Best is a weekly wrap-up of the greatest things that happened this week in art, entertainment, fashion, food, the interwebs, and sustainability. Church clothes optional.

Here’s a sneak peek of what we have in store for you this week: 17 must-hear bands from SXSW, underwater ink photography, and minimalist LEGO versions of your favorite cartoon characters.

Yay or Nay: Guess Who Shades

Usually when I’m browsing through street style blogs, I don’t have much of a reaction to the outfits presented, or at least nothing more than something superficial like, “That’s pretty,” “Oh, polka dots!”, or “Orange. Really?!”

I had a very, very different reaction when I came across this photo of a lady shot in Seoul for Drop Tokyo. This was basically my thought process at the time:

0-2 seconds*: A Chanel bag… red nail polish.
3-5 seconds: Hooved boots. Okay, I’ve seen those before. I guess that’s a thing… Eek.
6-9 seconds: What’s over her eyes? Is someone behind her? Is that another pair of hands, a pair of plastic hands? Oh my God, they’re sunglasses!
10-13 seconds: Ew, it’s like some creepy doll is holding onto her head for dear life. Close the tab! Close the tab!
A minute later: …I wonder how she can actually see out of those things.
*These time durations are obviously estimated. You can put down the stop watch.

Interview: Maxine Hagan & April Spencer of Maxi And April Have a Tumblr

This week we caught up with a comic book-loving duo that’s making waves in the Tumblr-sphere. In our most recent installment of our ongoing interview series, Maxine Hagan and April Spencer of the aptly-titled blog, Maxi And April Have a Tumblr, discuss their attempts to recreate the unrealistic poses of female characters in comic books. Read on for our most hilarious interview yet.

Twenty Two: Let’s start with the basics. Tell us a bit about yourselves.

Maxi and April: As it says in our profile, we’re both film students and we live together. As you can probably tell from our blog we’re both massive comic book fans (Deadpool’s our favorite!), but other than that we’re nerds in different ways. Max is really into video games and April is big on strange movies. If it’s made someone sick she probably owns it. We are also very into art, but April prefers realism and Max leans more toward comic book art. We got into film because we realized that we film everything anyway, so we thought “might as well get some college credit for it.”

Listen Up: Our Mid-March Playlist

Say hello to our new music writer, Michael Reckstin. For his debut post, this wannabe Pitchfork columnist gives us his picks for your mid-March playlist.

Here are ten songs released recently (in no particular order) sure to pique your ears’ interest.