Thursday, September 30, 2010

Tu M'Ecoute?

Listen, I never told you this... at least not in a language you would have understood.  Maybe if you quiet those bat flutterings you will hear this time. You're alone with your diamonds and your secrets because you want to be and you know what?  That's okay because to me you are beautiful.

Wake Up Boo! This Is Your Alarm Call!

I love sleep.  I love naps.  Curling up in my blanket with the white cloud of A/C noise humming steadily and methodically in the background.  Pure Bliss.  It is a rare day I enjoy waking up at the butt crack of dawn to welcome the morning [unless I'm on vacation and there is a pool, then some weird rooster crows inside me and I'm happy to swim laps at 6am].  But most days I'm the antithesis of those crazy Kundalini yogis happily hyperventilating their morning Breath of Fire.

Even with the SIX alarms I set, seven if you include my little pup, Mavis, who gets so excited by the 3rd alarm she can't stop wriggling and somersaulting over my head, my half-asleep hazy brain either throws the clocks, hides them under pillows or simply ignores them altogether.  It has always been this way and I know I'm not alone; my friend Evie is also a sleep hoarder.  When we lived together, she would hear my alarms beeep beeeep BEEEEP for an hour before I would rouse.  All of my roommates have complained.

So a few days ago, Evie sent a video for this fabulous invention to me.  I wonder with a maximum volume of 113 decibels [apparently louder than a chainsaw] and a shimmy thing that shakes the bed, if this is my answer or if it would just be a new chew toy for Mavis.

Notice how even the cameraman jumps?  This alarm is skeery.



Best Wake Up Song Ever [Live]


One of my friends used to get soooo ticked off at me for blasting this while making breakfast.  I confess 10 years later, I did it on purpose.  Who wants to eat breakfast alone?? Tee hee.


source

Little Bunny Foo Foo's Fate

Internet trolling is the new black, especially the inky innocuous anonymous kind. Maybe I'm some kind of retro throwback to a time before internet but I just don't get it. Not to date myself, but I did matriculate from high school before internet was even particularly prevalent. [Websites looked like a minimal Wikipedia page].  To that end, I didn't even own a computer or have regular access to the internet until about 5 or 6 years ago and then only because I was living with someone who did. I remember trying to wrap my feeble old lady mind [I was still making mixed tapes and loving it] around myspace of all things and now I'm blogging and communicating with people from other continents. There is a sinister aspect to all this new found technically enhanced brotherhood, what is true in our social circles is also true in the internet world. Call me naive but I'll never understand this particular nasty aspect of human nature.  We've all been there at some point in our lives and if you haven't, then count your blessings. 

Emily Dahl is a Swedish photographer and fashion studies student and also the author of one of my favorite blogs See Emily Play. She documents her delicate musings and posts some amazing photographs of her adventures.


She's also a victim of an anonymous internet hater bashing her photographs, which are lovely and incredibly inspiring.  She takes something as mundane as getting dressed or eating berries for breakfast and it becomes this magical intimate moment infused with an undercurrent of joy and minutiae.



It takes a lot of courage to put yourself and your life out there in plain sight and I just couldn't stand that someone out there felt so superior they had to vomit something hateful, so of course I had to swoop in and defend her honor. If someone feels the need to voice an opinion but doesn't have the cajones to say it to their face, then don't cower behind the "Anonymous" label. Grow a spine.

Do you remember this nursery rhyme?
Little bunny foo foo hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the heads. Along came the good fairy and she said, "Little bunny foo foo, I don't want to see you scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the heads.  I'll give you 3 more chances."

You know what happened?  Little Bunny Foo Foo didn't listen and he was turned into a troll.

*All photos via Emily Dahl

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Schadenfreude and Other Thoughts

I recently began reading, albeit reluctantly, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath. 


Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Whats It?

The weather this week is unbelievable.  After months and months of sweltering 100 degree sticky disgusting sauna heat, the temperature is now a comfortable even slightly chilly 75.  Everyone is so much more relaxed and cheerful.  Gone is the feeling that the blasted summer would last forever [though if you live here, you expect to have a sweaty Christmas].  I suppose in other parts of the world people are lamenting the rapid approach of wintry darkness but here, in the Groin of America, is when we all come out of our hiding holes and celebrate. 

So in honor of the Advent of Fall, last night I made my friend a mix cd.  Not of quietude and death but of blazing Let's Get Our Asses Outside And Do Things.  Even better, she's on the verge of falling in love and I can't think of a better season for love.  So we drove around blasting speakers, bopping around and generally making giddy fools of ourselves. 

This made in on there - Warning: Extremely silly.


And This.


And just a bit of grit. <3 <3 <3
Hot skin in the night
In the hour when the animals are born
And crimes of passion are committed
Take me to the morning light
Take me to your leader


Take me to the frozen north
Skating, falling
Falling down, down, down
Into icy water

Monday, September 27, 2010

Erdem Meets Fujikawa

Gyo Fujikawa illustrated one of my favorite children's books of all-time, Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses in 1957, which contains the very first poem I ever memorized and recited aloud to my first grade class, The Swing.



I used to stare wonderingly at each subtle illustration, enraptured at the incredibly detailed minutiae.




Her palettes comprise just about every single saturated color I love which are in blazing abundance in Erdem Moralioglu's Spring 2011 ready to wear collection.  Even though meant for spring, I think the colors are perfect for fall.

Erdem Spring 2011 Ready to Wear

Erdem Spring 2011 Ready to Wear

Erdem Spring 2011 Ready to Wear


Erdem Spring 2011 Ready to Wear
I love that he's not afraid to use color, texture or pattern. Even in monochromatic black his charming sense of playfulness shines. Source

Erdem Fall/Winter 2010

Erdem Fall/Winter 2010

Erdem Fall/Winter 2010

Friday, September 24, 2010

Cutebuster du Jour

This song is stuck in my head today and this video is also today's cutebuster. [No I don't have baby fever, this kid just reminds me of a Sesame Street muppet. Plus how can you go wrong with earthworms? Octopi's friendly cousins.].

Flux Imperative

Happy Friday everyone.  I'm glad it's finally here though I promise I won't have a cliche "Everybody's working for the weekend" moment but yeah, it's kind of like that.  I'm going to deviate from a typical post to report on something a little awkward for me.  This last week or so has been super stressful and not in a typical light-hearted hysterical resolved in 30-minutes-aren't-we-all-glad-we're-friends sitcom kind of way.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

It's Good But It's Not The One

If you couldn't tell I'm feeling exponentially better after the dregs of the last few days.  Hope your day is bright and sparky too.

Cutebuster du Jour

I saw this in a window, which made me smile. If you ever feel sad and lonely, just remind yourself that at least you are not a dinosaur.

Via Maud

99

I came across this little checklist via blogger Morrigan and as I'm desperately searching for ways to avoid working, this seemed like a fun, mindless exercise.  So if you too are in full avoidant mode, just list the things you've done in your life in bold. It's kind of a PG-13 Never Have I Ever sans booze.


Smear

Andy Denzler
Detached 2010
Oil on canvas

source

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Anxiety and Hopeful Euphoria

My playlist for the better part of today.  My innards feel like Madison from Splash when Alan asks her name in the TV store.




Slaraffenland - Take on Me [Aha cover]
Nick Cave - More News from Nowhere
Slaraffenland - Paranoid Android [Radiohead cover]
The Veils - Larkspur
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
Wolf Parade - Shine a Light
TVOTR - Let the Devil In
The Veils - Jesus for the Jugular
Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Patsy Cline - I Fall To Pieces
Of Montreal - I Was a Landscape In Your Dream [Grizzly Bear remix]
Modest Mouse- Shit Luck
The Black Keys - Oceans and Streams
Howlin Wolf - Three Hundred Pounds of Joy
School of Seven Bells - Face to Face on High Places
Wolf Parade - This Heart's on Fire

Begin Again

We're all just following the light of long dead stars.
It's the acid rain sent from above
and it's the joy and pain you'll grow to love

 


It's a new day, a grey one at that with no sun to follow.  Filled with dramatic portent and people groaning with sleep or gnashing with orgasm.  Still it's a beginning nonetheless.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Tick Tick Tick Tick

Only The Brave Surrender

The front side of this week has me more than just a little bit scared, filled with crystal sharp anxiety and cold clammy hands.  Wordy though I can sometimes be, right now I have nothing to say.  I made a mix on my new 8tracks profile.  Maybe that will help explain things.

You can't hold my hand but I'll imagine it just the same.  Please don't let me end up a squid, a mere specimen, in a jar.



The tracks are as follows.

Son Lux - Weapons VII
M83 - Too Late
King Charles - Time of Eternity
Radiohead- Unravel [Bjork cover, Pocket remix] <3 <3 this version!
Gary Numan & Tubeway Army - We Are Glass
The Kills - Passion is Accurate
Devotchka - How It Ends
The Killers -  A White Demon Love Song
Radiohead - Hearing Damage
Black Rebel Motorcyle Club - Ain't No Easy Way
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen, We're Floating In Space.

Life don't get stranger than this and it is what it is.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Interlocutor

My fingers cramp at writing this here because my insides cry with another story.  Look!  I wish I could be honest and scrape the inside of myself out for all to see, but I can't. I will say this, this song was given to me as part of a beautiful mixed cd.  Little does he know he changed my life with that simple disc. This particular song is haunting and I often wonder if he ever understood the swift and vociferous embrace of these words.

Portishead - The Rip


As she walks in the room,
Scented and tall,
Hesitating once more.
And as I take on myself,
And the bitterness I felt,
Realise that love lost, while

White horses,
They will take me away,
And the tenderness I feel,
Will send the dark underneath,
Will I follow?

Through the glory of life,
I was scattered on the floor,
Disappointed and sore.
In my thoughts I have bled,
For the riddles I've been fed,
Another lie moves over

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Turn The Key

Dammit.  I really like the latest Black Keys album Brothers and believe me I really really tried not to.  I resisted when music gurus, people I respect, told me it was good. I simply nodded and thought, "Uh huh, no way brother."  Don't ask me why.  It's just stupid stubborn contrariness for no reason.  Well, I suppose there is a reason but it's even more idiotic than the contrariness.  It's the same reason I refuse to listen to the new Arcade Fire album and the same reason I refused to listen to Bjork's album Medulla for over a year, and I adore Bjork.  That started to change when Evie put Everlasting Light on a mix for me and then I had no choice.  Totally hooked.

Now I have to eat crow and say all sorts of lovely things.  But what can I say boys?  I guess I was just too pig-headed to love you.  Badum ching.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Far Away

It's okay, I often am. 



I've lost myself once and I see
that I was weak of heart.

And if you will stay with me
we face the hardest part.

It Is Not a Tumor!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Walmart Devil Breath

This will be screened at a locally owned coffee shop tomorrow night in a neighborhood near my own known for its independent businesses and eccentricities now threatened by the building of a friendly quaint Walmart Supercenter.  [Could this sentence be any longer?]

Friday, September 10, 2010

Cutebuster du Jour



Old Ladies and Amputees

Today and old lady complimented my hairstyle. Why do old ladies always like my hair? When I am old, will it be the other way around?

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Stornoway, Are You The One?

I'm quite smitten with these blokes and have been meaning to post about them for awhile but in typical absent-minded fashion forgot until Ali Shaw reminded me via his twitter today.

Halfaxa

I'm so excited Grimes releases her second album Halfaxa at the end of this month. Here are two tracks from the forthcoming album, even more celestial and dreamy than her last.


Grimes - Weregild
Grimes - Devon

Do You Fill Strange On The Inside?

Great performance of Puzzles live on Swedish television station Nyhetsmorgon.  Still no word on any upcoming US tour.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Paper Crafts

Beautiful paper air vases designed by Torafu Architects in Japan. 


Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Cutebuster du Jour

Lolla and a tattoo of Lolla

via twitterpic

Monday, September 6, 2010

A Red Potato... Very Romantic

If you're not familiar, Frankie and Johnny is based on the play by Terrence McNally and I think it's such a successful movie because while he also wrote the screenplay the director, Garry Marshall, stayed true to the roots of the original. 

Saturday, September 4, 2010

My Heart

Dying to know but too afraid to ask.  Go wash your heart in the river til the water runs clear.





September 2010

Friday, September 3, 2010

Chewed For Thought

To say I have an oral fixation, would be putting it mildly.  I am constantly chewing my pen caps, lips and fingernails and I undoubtedly keep the gum industry afloat.  So, it's only natural I would be drawn to this gorgeous piece by Chewed By Tuesday.  But for $250 I should probably stick to Bic pens and sticks of Big Red...

Vozianov

Fedor Vozianov is the head of the Ukrainian design house Vozianov which specializes in avant-garde construction.  His work is incredibly thoughtful and editorial and I'm quite smitten.  The shoes in the Winter collection are drool-worthy.

Spring/Summer 2009

One of Us!!

The Dreamers is one of my favorite self-indulgent films of all time.  It's an intimate look at a coming of age story set in 1968 Paris amidst the university riots.  Eva Green has such a classically sultry belle française, it's impossible not to watch her.  One of my favorite parts is when twins played by Eva Green and Louis Garrel bring Michael Pitt into their odd quirky cinephiliac world and chant "We accept him, one of us!" a la the 1932 gem Freaks.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Remembering Corinne Day

“Photography is getting as close as you can to real life,” she said, “showing us things we don’t normally see. These are people’s most intimate moments, and sometimes intimacy is sad.”






article -The New York Times 

Queries

Some of you asked these questions a long time ago, so I'm really sorry that I'm only just now getting around to answering them.

Would you rather be a zombie or a mummy?
Would I rather eat brains or have leprosy? I think I choose the skin condition.

What bands are you listening to right now?
Lots of dreamy things, like School of Seven Bells, Grizzly Bear and I'm really enjoying Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's latest Before Today.

Are you on Facebook?
I was on Facebook, but I recently deactivated my account. [You can read about why here.]

Best hangover food?
Mmmmm hashbrowns with tomatoes and cheese or banh mi.  Also coconut juice and watermelon. I also really really like those 64oz lemonades from corner stores [but I've never been attacked before].

Have you ever been in love?
Yes. It is the most lovely rollercoaster. First you don't eat and there's a big bright shining light within and out of you, and everything is shaped and colored by your love. Then you both establish your level of in-loved-ness, which kind of looks like a flat line, with intervals of spiked peaks and valleys. Then the process of falling out of love is just as exciting, except it's the opposite direction, a straight decline. One wild ride.

What is the picture on your profile page?
If you're referring to the painting of the woman and the octopus on formspring, it's by amazing artist Monica Cook entitled Untitled [Self Portrait] 2008. If you mean the title picture on my blog with the pig and the woman, that is also by an amazing artist Charlie Isoe and it's called Will Be Home Late - Leave The Light On.

What is your best kiss ever?
I'm lucky to be able to answer that I've had quite a few that would have that distinction. Maybe one day I'll share them all but today, you get to hear about Geordie. He was 6 and I was 4. He had this amazing grey blue bomber jacket and I had this awesome white knitted jacket covered in red hearts. He used to come out of the bathroom, take one look at me, and pop the collar.  I think he thought he was the Fonz or something. We would sit in the corner of the classroom and cover our faces with our jackets and play pretend kiss, by which I mean we would give each other quick successions of peck kisses. Until one day he upped the ante and touched his tongue to mine. I was hooked.

If you could live in any city, where you would you live?
This question boggles my mind, I want to live so so many places. I want to climb mountains like Heidi and stay in a Swiss chateau, the really old ones that look like cuckoo clocks [or is it the other way around?] An old Parisian apartment complete with the cornices and a beautiful, non functional fireplace. Northwest US, Spain, and island in Greece, maybe Ibiza. We haven't even talked about the southern hemisphere. There's too many places worth seeing.
 
 

 Curious?
Ask me anything.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Funeral for.. Something

On a quest for a particular Magritte painting, this image came up in my search which as it turns out is a cover for an album called Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation by a band called Funeral For a Friend.

Stop. As in full telegram lingo, STOP.

Intrigued and excited, I happily plunge into the very slow myspace site hoping for my next new favorite band. I mean, with a surrealist cover and morbid love band name... how can we go wrong? Oh so so so very. They're definitely a funeral... like funeral for that dead wasp on the bus yesterday we were all happy to throw out the door or those really gross human hair tentacles that cling to you in a pool. That's called disappointment kids and also apophenia, which if you didn't know is the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or connections in random or meaningless data and pretty much sums up most of what I do with my day. I'm sure there's some cliche buried in here about not judging books by the cover or believing kitsch can be anything but just that but I won't pretend to be that erudite. Insert wink emoticon.


My search also unearthed this very interesting essay by Matthew Clay Field, entitled Happy Hour which made the previous not only irrelevant but also worthwhile. As Jane Austen said in a very different context, "A woman likes to be crossed in love a little now and then" or something to that effect.

Darling live version of The House She Lived In by The Veils.


I’d offer my soul
If I thought it might help at all
And I’d follow you down that road
If I thought it might help at all

Like a Miniature Hugh Hefner

My friend Evie turned me onto the free podcasts through iTunes. My current favorite is the Moth Project which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the art of live storytelling without notes. I hope you take the opportunity to listen to writer Meg Wolitzer's account of First Love, Long Island Circa 1975, embedded below if the link doesn't work.


"I grew up inside a Judy Bloom novel. By which I mean, my entire girlhood was sort of filled with boys, malls, tampax and bases..."


The next two are amazing too.
"Juliet Wayne and Brad Lawrence - GrandSLAM stories". Juliet and her crazed love and heroine addiction scares off her Mr. Juliet. Brad realizes something about crushes.



Mike Daisey - What Was Lost
The danger of long distance relationships and when his girlfriend decides to keep their baby.

Girls in the Back

Where's the best place to stick a backstage pass? Which of the three audience zones are you most comfortable in? What's the link between the Protestant Reformation and a My Bloody Valentine gig? When did our lives become so artificial that we expected music to be real? The Professor of Indie, aka Wendy Fonarow, anthropology professor at UCLA, ponders these questions in Empire of the Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music.



Today, The Guardians asks the burning question, Are gender stereotypes still present in indie music?

It's true that I would never consider crowd-surfing, not because I lack spunk and enthusiasm but because I know some, please forgive the obvious stereotypical euphemism, dick would grope me. So, I stand back and appreciate the music aesthetically and reserve raucous dancing for more open spaces or let's face it alone in my apartment. This seems like a really interesting read as it combines my love of anthropology and music so I'm definitely adding this to my goodreads list.

As long as there are stereotypes amongst people, they will inherently exist within music or any other form of creation. Humans seem only capable of creating wraiths or frankensteins of truth and freedom.

Club-Ciné Cinémathèque





MyPetsQuare's latest collection is too darned cute not to post. Maybe it has more to do with their choice of model and styling for the ad campaign but I'm really loving the quirky brogues, hair and their little black dresses. I've watched suspiciously this wave of horrid 90's fashion but somehow, at least partly, this collection has just enough mod-spiration.

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