Every time I hear someone go "the CGI in Avatar looks SO BAD" all I can be is like "...wat."
No, seriously, clearly I see through a different filter than some other people. I don't know how someone can look at this and say it looks like it's poorly done, or a video game. Um hi, have you PLAYED any video games? Because if they looked like this I would never leave the house, except for more Cheetos and shoes.
Look I'm not saying that this is going to be the pinnacle of sci fi films, or that it's even gonna be a good movie. They're definitely pushing it way harder than I'm comfortable with (they're kind of acting like it's already happened and to critical and popular acclaim). But-- it--I mean...it doesn't look pretty to you? You don't think you'll get any visual pleasure from seeing what is, no fucking joke, absolute cutting-edge CGI and 3D technology?
I'm just flabbergasted. There's no argument there. It's literally "IT'S BAD" and then "NO IT ISN'T" and then "YES IT IS" etc. I mean, what do REAL things look like to you? Because I'm stealing your optical nerves. I don't care if I can't stand to look at CGI for another 20 years, if every day looks like fucking hyperreality in your world, DO WANT.
It took until the end of November for it to finally get cold enough here to consider it winter, and now that it's here I'm struck with a renewed love for the season. Hot chocolate, ice skating, big family dinners...oh yeah, and presents! And money. Mmm, money.
With the winter '09 season comes winter '09 obsessions, and I've got a few shiny new ones I'm dying to indulge:
1. Black puffy bags & coats ¡Viva la puff negro! I'm aching for the Chanel Coco Cocoon totes!! As you may or may not know, I don't own a bag. I have a lovely Chrome messenger rucksack, but it's really only stylish in the rugged, "I ride my bike in the rain" sort of way, which of course I don't. So, I'm still hunting for a good school bag, hopefully stylish enough for around town, weather resistant and good for lugging my crap around in. The cocoon bags fit the bill perfectly (for winter at least), although they are *cough* a smidge over my price range.
Shopbop.com
Still, I'm on the hunt to fulfill my black puffy bag needs! Perhaps the LeSportsac Lexie Tech tote? I'm not sure if it's too big, but it's certainly a consideration. And as the season deepens, perhaps there will be more black puffy bags mimicking Señor Lagerfield.
Norma Kamali.com
And of course, a black puffy coat! That's a little bit easier...although I am of course lusting after Norma Kamali's sleeping bag coat, but that's, yet again, another desire to be slaked in the far-flung future...Till then, I'm thinking of the Soia & Kyo Sheena coat. What do you think?
Soia & Kyo.com
2. Smith's Rosebud Salve Oh my god. How I love it so. Really an item for all seasons, but particularly so in the winter! It's awesome for my lips, and FANTASTIC for those horrible itchy patches of dry skin (so long as you don't mind a petroleum-based moisturizer shining up your face a bit...keep it indoors). And it's like, what, $5? Come on.
3. Korres Wild Rose 24-hour Moisturizer SPF 6 Speaking of moisturizing, yum! :) I'm not sure how my combination skin will like this in the summer, but for winter I LOVE IT. It's so soothing and refreshing! The SPF is nice too-- I'm told that SPF 6 in Greece is equivalent to SPF 15 here, which would be awesome. Any extra protection I can get is a good thing! I wish I could say I put sunscreen on everyday, but I don't, so a moisturizer with sun protection is a total must for me.
New season, new music! After seeing the "Bad Romance" music video, I am her newest fan. Seriously, she is rad. And her music is really growing on me! Not all of it, but "Teeth" off her new album and "Paparazzi" make me super happy. I'm stoked to be getting in touch with my inner pop-lover. Superfierce crazy inspiring!
While really you ought to have a book on hand at all times, winter is great for curling up at home by the fire (or by the heater, as the case may be) and catching up on your reading! William Gibson is my favorite sci-fi writer, and one of my favorite authors of all time. I'm rereading Neuromancer right now, and as soon as I finish slogging my way through The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant I'm on Pattern Recognition. His prose is beyond sexy. It's indescribably visceral. Not to mention his stories are brilliant and his characters are some of the most compelling I've ever experienced. Best of all perhaps he totally gets fashion. Love. Oh and did you know that he also created a genre? It's called cyberpunk. Maybeyou'veheardofit.
6. Japanese skin care
Shu Uemura.com
I think my winter skin is subconsciously controlling my cosmetic interests. Japanese skin care differs from American primarily in that instead of "toning" like we do, stripping off the last of the dirt and oils after cleansing, the Japanese use "softeners." They take up the same step in your regimen, but softeners are supposed to prepare skin to absorb all the goodies of your moisturizing step. I so want to try it! Oh yeah, and as soon as my Murad face wash runs out, I'm grabbing shu uemura cleansing oil. Yes, oil. Ridic, right? I'm super stoked!
7. Sparkly things I've never been much of a jewelry girl before, but I'm really wanting some bling, you know? First up, some cubic zirconia studs! I'm not getting diamonds for a while, but I can dream!! Till then, I'm going to indulge in my inner cheap-chic magpie next time I'm out and about...
These are the Tiffany Bezet rings. They kind of got me on this kick to begin with. I LOVE the round cut one. My future engagement ring. That's totally normal right? ... SHUT UP. x_x
See how cool the profile is?! It's like it's fucking floating!!!!!! Although 2.69CT is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. ... Well maybe not the mostridiculous thing...
*ahem*
What say you deary lou? Any winter obsessions your hoping to satisfy before spring is sprung?
"Model Daul Kim was found dead in Paris this morning, her agents at Next confirm. "She was a top model and a great friend to all of us at Next. Please respect her family’s privacy at this time of sadness. We will all miss her very much," they said in a statement. The cause of death remains unknown at this time but a source tells the Cut she committed suicide. She will be missed." Source
At first I read it and was like, "Oh, what a bummer! She seemed really smart and funny, not to mention she was a fantastic model. So sad." And then I thought about it some more...and I'm actually really sad.
My friend introduced me to her earlier this year through this video:
I thought it was fucking hilarious and amazing. Nothing validates the ultimate excellence of our existence as seeing someone break stereotype and cliche and prove that people really are awesome and are not who you think they are. I'm so guilty of judging people in half a second that nothing makes me happier than being proved wrong.
"By presenting these cliches about women, I'm dealing with the language of stereotypes. I'm pointing to the fact that the wrong questions are so often asked, and this is why you don't know anything about this person." -- Lorna Simpson, about her own works
Like that.
I read her blog off and on a couple weeks after that and then forgot about it, as I'm wont to do, and would be happy to recognize her in ads and photo shoots and runway shows when I did. All contact I made with her was completely impersonal, and yet she always stood out, even just a little bit. As an excellent model, as an interesting blogger, and as a smart and fucking real human being.
Seriously, read this. Tell me she was not fucking rad.
It's not the death of a pretty model that I liked that makes me sad. It's really understanding that we've lost a truly amazing, talented and intelligent person. Every time she welcomed a stranger into her thought process through her quirky and at times downright fantastic blog she proved to me to be someone...well, worth it. Worth affection and attention and adulation. She wasn't a Kate Moss. She was actually a role model.
I know it's weird to get to sad over someone I not only didn't really know, but wasn't even a huge fan or anything, almost disingenuous...I just kind of liked her and she made me smile. I guess to me she just represented another person, or something, across the void of space and magazine pictures. Like every time I saw her, I'd think, "Oh yeah, she reads Tolstoi," and smile and somehow that meant something to me.
So basically I've already uploaded this shit up on Chictopia and I'm tired and not sure how people manage to have a blog and a lookbookand Chictopia and a tumblrand a Style Diaryand...you know what I'm saying. I suppose in lieu of yesterday's post I've answered my own question: I suck at this shit because it is fucking exhausting.
Anyway, here's what I've managed:
This is my serious face, reminding you that faux flannel is serious business.
Flower makes you smile, yes?
Flower makes me sneeze a little.
I am excellent at pretending to hold a camera. Life skills, people. Life skills.
I need to do laundry if I am going to continually feed into this narcissism. I wonder if that's incentive enough?
I think that maybe all my life I have been in some way or another an outsider. I never felt that way before, or even really considered that before, but now that I have had time to stop and reflect, I'm beginning to believe that this is true.
I have no idea how to use social networking. I don't even know if it's rewarding in any meaningful way, but I miss having friends. I mean, I miss having good friends. There are so few people that I've felt I was actually part of their inner circle, and none of them are near me anymore. The people I've met are wonderful and new, but it doesn't feel the same with them. When I call to ask if they want to hang out, the answer is often no. And if I don't call, nothing happens.
And I'm always the new kid introduced to the social circle. I'm inserted into a pre-existing group that already has their dynamics worked out, they all know each other and the people they talk about. I can't contribute much that has any social currency because I'm not really a part of them. Not yet, one could say, but...it really never gets to that point.
With blogging, Facebook, this new Chictopia thing, Youlookfab, io9, every social networking community or forum I join I'm just somehow not really a part of it. I wonder if it's self-imposed, sometimes. It's so consistent, it must be something to do with me and the way I interact with people. I guess I'm not very active. But typically I'm not active because I'm ignored. Youlookfab is the exception here, but the demographic is mostly middle-aged women who are fantastic and sweet, but are not people I relate to. People I would love to get to know seem to have limited interest in me.
Maybe I'm better one on one or something. I don't know. It's just so hard to meet people and find that connection. It seems like everyone I respect deeply and would love to be significant to do not really feel the same. Except Daniel. Maybe that's why I attach myself so strongly to boyfriends, because they're the only ones who seem like they care about me as much as I care about them. But that's shitty, because I really crave friendship. A good friendship, like a "best friends" thing, someone you can call at all hours to go walking around with, or someone you can crash with when you're feeling fucked up.
I don't want to appear needy, but I think in reality I am. I'm so insecure for no reason. I just don't have that anymore. It's funny to hear people say "you're so lucky to have such a good relationship!" when they can't see how lucky they are to have a safety net of friends. I supposed we both appreciate what we have, but that sense of lack is so much more acute.
I understand friendship takes work. And I want to put in that work! I just feel like it's a one-way street a lot of the time, and I'm much more earnest in pursuing it than the other hypothetical person. They're already preoccupied with people who ARE important to them, with people who already interest them. I feel like a hanger-on. Either I don't relate, or I'm simply less important. I am consistently on the outside of the clique. But I guess I'm just so anonymous that I don't even get attached to the "outsiders." It's this kind of horrible social limbo that leaves me at home alone when I would be so much happier in the company of others.
I don't think I define myself through other people, it's just that I'm lonely. I don't like being a part of a huge group of people but I don't like being a loner. It's easy being an outsider when you have other people with you, you know? God I fucking hate the way that sounds. I hate wanting this so much. I hate needing people.
It's not even that I'm socially inept, I have no idea what my problem is. Maybe I'm just looking in all the wrong places. Or maybe I'm asking too much. Maybe I should just burn my bridges and get over it, or maybe my self-loathing is more apparent than I thought it was. That can't be very attractive.
Oh, p90x, the topic that has dominated this blog for the past 10 days (or the past 10 days while I was still in the blogosphere)? Ahahahaha, um. That. I'm putting it off until January. Partially because I'm a lazy ho, mostly because I messed up for 3 days in a row and I can't handle jumping back in when I skipped that many workouts, and following the same neuroses I don't want to diet and alternately pork out on the holidays. So I'm waiting for them to pass. SHUT UP. >_<>:(
ANYWAY, back to more interesting stuff. I am now on Chictopia! So I can go be MIA for months on end and then post one or two pics every so often on that website and this one! I am pretty fucking brilliant. Yes I'm feeling somewhat jaded with this whole internet thing, but I'm kind of loving it anyway. I don't know why I think my experiences on that site will be any different than this blog, but there you go. I am here as per usual. I'm not sure whether I'll post both on Chictopia and here; I am very lazy...
Meh I might as well post here anyway. At least I'll always have this blog, I may not always have that account.
Rodarte F/W 2009 is my inspiration. Pretty pretty dystopian futurism. Daniel and I call this the "zombie stomper" outfit. I LOVE IT. I want those freaking boots.....
And here is my loose interpretation of it with the clothes I have on hand. SWORD Lucca jacket (Oh my god, is my love for this jacket truly unending? I think it is), black "jeans" (they are way to freaking cheap to actually be considered denim), Diesel pumps, white tank top and fabulous chunky knit scarf from Urban Outfitters. It's really more grey in real life, the green tones kind of came out to play for some reason.
God I look so sad! Or something? I am not terribly photogenic.
I feel like these things turn out better when I don't look at the camera.
It's cool, you can totally be jealous of this jacket. I'm jealous of this jacket. I believe it has achieved a kind of perfection, perhaps not unlike Plato's Absolutes.
A ha, I am so coy! That CHAPTER ring makes me so effing happy!!
So, successful day on the outfit front. Let's see how many more of those I can manage? I need to challenge myself with something. It's kind of depressing when people ask, "hobbies?" and my only (truthful) answer is "fashion."
Okay! So since yesterday = utter fail today was Cardio! Okay, cardio is my super favorite. I worked extra hard to make up for yesterday (plus I was feeling particularly aggressive) and it feels sooooo good to work. I guess I just like that kind of movement.
I also got the cutest pair of sneakers ever! But unfortunately they were a half size too big. :( So I'm exchanging them. Once I get the new pair, pictures! They make me smile just looking at them. :)
Food wise was...not perfect today. My friend took me to Santa Cruz Diner and I had 2 links of sausage, 2 slices of bacon and 3/4 of a big ass waffle. With syrup and butter. Mmmm....
I didn't eat lunch since I wasn't hungry...although I did eat candy...but dinner was 6oz of tofu and 4 pieces of asparagus! Yum! Delicious! And then I worked out, and then I had a banana and some string cheese. So I'll try to get back on track tomorrow.
I've determined that I'm going to be largely cooking only chicken and fish as far as meat goes. I just suck at red meat and it makes me paranoid and I don't know how to make it taste good and I just end up throwing it out. Tofu is not scary. Chicken is kind of icky, but not scary. Fish is delicious and only scary in my fear of overcooking it. So while I love red meat, I'm going to leave that to chefs and cooks elsewhere. And maybe fish as well, since it's so expensive I might as well just eat out for that too.
Anyway! No breakdown today either because I'm lazy and watching The IT Crowd. See you tomorrow~!
Here you'll find tidbits of fashion & fabulousness alongside a whole pile of miscellany & musings, with the occasional rant. It is mostly ridiculous. Feel free to explore, contact, quote & otherwise interact with this small sector of the blogosphere. Enjoy!
