he kilt it

for the January issue of Vogue, (i'm assuming American), Sasha Pivovarova was shot with some of the most leading bands and artists of 2009. these are my pick of the bunch:


Chester French

The Horrors

"

Vampire Weekend

Mika

images via

Ohio-based blues/rock band the Black Keys released a rap/rock collaborative album under the name Blakroc, with some of the biggest names in hip-hop, on november the 27th..the project was spearheaded by rapper Jim Jones and also sports contributions from Mos Def, Q-Tip, RZA, Raekwon, Ludacris, Pharoahe Monch, NOE, Nicole Wray, Billy Danze and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard.
BlakRoc sets the drawbridge between forms of expression; Hip Hop and Rock, by doing something as simple as putting the artists of different genres of music in one room and documenting as harmonious collaboration takes place.
i'm a big fan of this great genre-transcending collaboration.




Blakroc - Telling Me Things [feat. RZA]



Blakroc - Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) [feat. Mos Def & Jim Jones]


image via

the following are some words out of a blog that i stumbled across a few months ago. these are my favourite sections from the post:

This is what becomes of profound loss.

The day I heard that Elliott Smith had committed suicide was a day spent in a shock-born fog.

I had just ended a year long relationship with a girl I had fallen hard for. Despite all of the things we shared and how much we knew we loved each other, neither one of us were willing to make the kind of commitment that was necessary to keep the relationship going.
At the time, every word was a document of my pain.
My brother had just sent me a preview of one of his new tracks entitled "A Distorted Reality is Now a Necessity to Be Free".

Everyone I know can easily make up a list of the acts they have to see before they die.
Mine consisted at one time of David Bowie, Prince, Nirvana, and I have since added Coldplay.
I got to see an amazing three and half hour set by Mr. Bowie at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia in 1997. I was privileged to see his purple badness at the Tower Theatre in Philly in the same year. I still haven't seen Coldplay. And then there's Nirvana. Little did I know that Kurt Cobain and company should have been itemized on a separate list: Acts I have to see before they die. The awfulness of that idea is that unlike aging bands like The Stones and The Who, there are some artists that can be and are taken from us too soon.

I could never speak as eloquently as some about Jeff Buckley or Kurt Cobain. I discovered Jeff, like most people, after his death, and thus the blow was softened by the foreknowledge of his tragedy. Kurt Cobain never spoke to me like he spoke to many people my age and younger. I was not as angry or as alienated as he felt. Don't misunderstand me, I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news of his death, and it did affect me, just not as much as I thought it would have.

There are very few artists who I have been able to relate to through their lyrics.
Although I love R.E.M., most of Stipe's lyrics are a mish-mash of ideas that mean little to anyone but him. Some artists are extremely specific in their choice of words so as to leave little room for interpretation. Others are so vague as to defy true meaning. Good poetry is that which is written to evoke emotion amongst a variety of people. Elliott Smith was just such a poet.

It hurts me to know that he might not have understood just how many people he touched so deeply. Maybe that knowledge would have made a difference. We'll never know. There was a great review in "VH1's 100 Greatest Albums of All Time" book about Jeff Buckley's Grace.
It started by saying (and I'm paraphrasing, sorry) that by merely mentioning the name Jeff Buckley, you can spot fans quickly. They are the ones that get that twinkle in their eye and a sad look on their face at the same time. "They own Grace", it said.

The same is true for Elliott, but not for a particular album. Each fan has his or her favorite song. For me, it's "Pitseleh". For some of my friends, favorites include "Angeles", "Needle in the Hay", "Waltz #2 (XO)", "Miss Misery", "Ballad of Big Nothing", and "Division Day".
If you mention that one song that has touched someone's heart, the twinkle comes to their eye, their head kind of tilts to the side, and they sigh. Elliott has touched them.

'Pitseleh' (lyrics below) means "little one" in Yiddish.

I'll tell you why I don't want to know where you are, I got a joke I've been dying to tell you.
The silent kid is looking down the barrel to make the noise that I kept so quiet. I kept it from you, pitseleh.

I'm not what's missing from your life now, I could never be the puzzle pieces.
They say that god makes problems just to see what you can stand before you do as the devil pleases, and give up the thing you love.
..but no one deserves it.

The first time I saw you, I knew it would never last.
I'm not half what I wish I was.
I'm so angry, I don't think it'll ever pass.
And I was bad news for you, just because.
I never meant to hurt you.

'..cover myself head to toe in body art, plait my hair with jewels and ribbons and be an art therapist somewhere by the sea with 3 or more kids pulling at my sleeves.' - Abbey Lee Kershaw tells i-D Magazine about her aspirations for the future :)


YSL unveils their second edition of New Vintage based on recycling and recuperation. The long lasting fashion under the artistic director of the brand, Stefano Pilati reuses fabrics from past YSL collections and adapts the classic silhouettes with refinement based on his concept for durable fashion.


image via

(i'm on the hunt for a great grey nailpolish)

'sometimes he forgets the simple things, like "please".'

tell me what you know about dreaming ?
you don't really know about nothing.
tell me what you know about them night terrors, every night ?
5 am, cold sweats, waking up to the skies..
tell me what you know about dreams ?
tell me what you know about night terrors, nothing..
you don't really care about the trials of tomorrow.


lanvin spring 2010 rtw:

i am a head-to-toe black convert because of miss kate lanphear

Sparkling Pink Punch

250g punnet strawberries (used 250g frozen mixed berries - blackberries, strawberries, raspberries - bc strawberries had sold out, and no frozen strawberries were available on their own)
1/4 cup raspberry-flavoured vodka (we used vanilla vodka bc it was lying around at home)
2 tblsps lime juice
2 cups ice cubes
300g frozen raspberries
2 limes, thinly sliced
750ml chilled bottle Jacob's Creek Sparkling Moscato Rose NV
1.25L chilled bottled soda water

(Sugar Syrup:)
1 cup caster suger
1 cup water

1. To make sugar syrup, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan. Stir over a low heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil. Remove from heat. Refrigerate until cold.

2. Remove and discard stems from strawberries. Finely chop strawberries. Place in a large serving jug with cold sugar syrup, vodka and juice. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve.

3. Before serving, add ice cubes, raspberries and limes. Slowly add moscato and soda water. Stir gently to combine. Serve punch in glasses.

Punch can be prepared up to the end of step 2, up to one day ahead. Keep it covered in the fridge.




SO. GOOD. and so easy, both to make and to down. :)

i’m pretty sure that when a baby is born, the doctor informs the mother whether or not their child is a mere mortal or a paris vogue.

^ screen shots from Dappled Cities' The Price music video. just remembered the warm golden quality of this clip this morning while voting for Triple J's annual Hottest 100 poll. and i'm glad i did. god i love anything that vaguely resembles fairy lights..and the lightbulbs as microphones was a great late addition.

my chosen songs for the 2009 Triple J Hottest 100:

1.Andrew Bird - Oh No
2.Bloc Party - One More Chance
3.Cold War Kids - Audience
4.Dappled Cities - The Price
5.John Steel Singers - Luxembourg
6.Jonathan Boulet - A Community Service Announcement
7.Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension
8.Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man
9.Temper Trap, The - Love Lost
10.Tim & Jean - Come Around
 
for a long time i considered voting for Paul Dempsey. he's had a fairly large impact on my musical upbringing, due to my sister's and the radio's heavy heavy airplay during primary/early highschool. but that was while he was a part of Something for Kate, and not off on his own solo tangent. when i was younger, i guess about 10-6 years ago, i absolutely hated him. i hated Monsters, the only song that i ever really listened to of SFK's at the time. i hated him, because he was different to what i was used to, and now that's what i love most about that group and Paul. but his album didn't prove to be as life-changing as i had expected this year, so he made it only to my shortlist.

my inspiration for and way of voting in the Hottest 100 is not necessarily the songs that i've just ~liked throughout the year so much..because there's far too many of those..
but i tend to instead vote for the songs that have opened my mind to an issue or have lyrically (or musically, or anything else-ly) brought something new to the table.
i like to also bring forth personal snapshots and moments in 2009 that were accompanied by a song or two.
so the artists that have done something entirely new and inspiring in my eyes, i vote for.
if i have spent a special moment in the company of a song and it brings me big de ja vu..then i also often vote for that song.
theres a whole heap of reasons behind my particular votes and way of culling songs off the shortlist (i always ALWAYS end up with eleven absolutely perfect, votable, songs..but ten can only go through..)
..but,what im trying to really get across is that i try not to vote for songs that have just tickled my fancy thoughout the year gone by, - although there is absolutely nothing wrong with that..that's what the poll is is for, after all, - but in my case, and more so because i need a system that allows me to narrow down the shortlist to just ten songs....i vote for songs that go that little bit further to fight for my attention :).

songs that so narrowly did not make the cut this year:
Juan Maclean, The - One Day
Local Natives - Camera Talk
Tame Impala - Sundown Syndrome
Art Vs Science - Parlez Vous Francais?
Hungry Kids Of Hungary - Scattered Diamonds
Seth Sentry - The Waitress Song
Yves Klein Blue - Getting Wise
King Creosote - Coast On By
Florence & The Machine - Dog Days Are Over
Paul Dempsey - Ramona Was A Waitress
(i thought A Day To Remember might have had a few songs in there..because i'm pretty sure that they had a 2009 release ? or maybe it was last year..the two years have really moulded into one, due to school. i would have liked to have voted for them though, but no major harm done.)



^ Cold War Kid's EP 'Behave Yourself' is due for release early next year..the short clip below is a teaser..

i actually get butterflies whenever i listen to Audience, the first track featured in the video, as well as for We Used to Vacation. that was the first track that i heard by the group..and intially introduced me to their music.
Cold War Kids and Editors are the two artists that i crave to see live, more than anyone or anything else.
theyre almost the only two groups that make me feel exactly the same each time i hear their music as i did the first time that i listened to them two and  three years ago.
they make me smile, they make me cry, and they bring back incredibly de ja vu of books i was reading at the time of first hearing them, where i was standing when i first listened to certain tracks and so many other pockets of my life that i would have gone forgotten if not for their music.
the honesty in their words and music is never lost in translation.



Strength is so important.
I like to be different in my own quiet way.
My inspiration is the person I want to be.
You have to be able to find beauty in the mundane and to see your reflection in a mudpuddle.

There was a great tenderness to the sadness
when I would go there. She knew how much
I loved my wife and that we had no future.
We were like casualties helping each other
as we waited for the end. Now I wonder
if we understood how happy those Danish
afternoons were. Most of the time we did not talk.
Often I took care of the baby while she did
housework. Changing him and making him laugh.
I would say Pittsburgh softly each time before
throwing him up. Whisper Pittsburgh with
my mouth against the tiny ear and throw
him higher. Pittsburgh and happiness high up.
The only way to leave even the smallest trace.
So that all his life her son would feel gladness
unaccountably when anyone spoke of the ruined
city of steel in America. Each time almost
remembering something maybe important that got lost.
- 'Trying to have something left over', Jack Gilbert


image via

(we think there's probably free wine.)

cliche disregarded

relevant..thanks alicia:

giving up what seems your lifetime, what went wrong with something once so good ?
how do you find the words to say..to say goodbye, when your heart don't have the heart to say goodbye ?
i know now i was naive..never knew where this would lead.

was it something wrong that we did ? ..because others infiltrated.

is this the end ? are you sure ?
how should you know when you've never been here before ?
it's so hard to just let go.

irrelevant..but oh so thoroughly appreciated, thanks Elbow:

How dare the Premier ignore my invitations ? he'll have to go.
so, too, the bunch he luncheons with; it's second on my list of things to do.
at the top is stopping by your place of work and acting like i haven't dreamed of you and i and marriage in an orange grove.
you are the only thing in any room you're ever in.
i'm stubborn, selfish and too old.

i sat you down and told you how the truest love that's ever found
was for oneself. you pulled apart my theory with a weary and disinterested sigh.
so yes i guess i'm asking you to back a horse that's good for glue and nothing else. but find a man that's truer than, find a man that needs you more than i.

sit with me a while and let me listen to you talk about your dreams and your obsessions. i'll be quiet and confessional.
the violets explode inside me when i meet your eyes,
then i'm spinning and im diving lke a cloud of starlings.

darling, is this love ?

your one and only source into the scandalous lives of manhattan's elite

there are songs that make us want to dance, songs that make us want to sing along,
but the best songs are the ones that bring you back to the moment you first heard them,
and once again,
break your heart.

at least be consistent with your shit grammar

if youre going to put in apostrophes in a word just because it's a plural, then at least do it to every word that is a plural in your chunk of text or sentence.
if youre going to use the wrong use of 'your/youre' or 'their/there/theyre' then at least use the same wrong one each time.

i mean, cmon. seriously.

this time, baby, i'll be mullet-proof/refined minimalistic tendancies

oh for god's sake, feel free to cry with me as i link & bask in green-skinned celebration of the decade of the fashn bloggr..:

free comme,
free rodarte,
free miu miu and more,
free herff christiansen,
free etsy gifts,
free tickets (with a thousand complimentary gifts) to celebrity-flocked exclusive events and parties,
magazine and editorial features + collaboratory projects with designers,

i am to: thrift more men's button-downs that i can just wear with jeans or a maxi-skirt (that i also want to acquire a whole heap of)..
= all very slouchy and casually comfortable-looking, & with nice clean lines, most likely in restrained colours; mostly black, grey and white..
i'm aiming to sort of tap into 90's minimalism in fashion more through mixing more tailored, narrow, fitted skirts that falls to the ankles or a little lower that i can dress up, or just wear casually with jackets or drapey cardies..it's just going to be hard finding opportunities to wear these - i guess mostly just shopping/jobs around town/having coffees & catch-ups ? lucky the weather's been reallllly cold lately..



'Hemlines are like the economy, so much so that the correlation between the two has been coined "the hemline theory."
Dresses and skirts rose to thigh-high proportions in the '20s and the '60s, just as the stock market took a turn for the better. And now, with the economy on shaky ground, the Spring/Summer runways saw the comeback of the maxi skirt. More than just a signal of a conservative market, however, this influx of long skirts seems to be a declaration that showing less leg might actually have more of an impact.'
- Meredith Fisher.

'and there were more formal varieties at Marni and Roksanda Ilincic, both designers who have the ability to take less-than-sexy shapes and make them feminine.
but it was Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel who proved that long does not equal conservative, showing just as much leg as a mini with his sheer skirts.
Vera Wang, traditionally known for her evening dresses, pared things down this season, by pairing up big, patterned skirts with silk shirts, fit for a formal.'

- maxi column skirts
- 'safety orange', 'peacock blue'
- Vera Wang resort 2010
- sew crop tops

'the Dark 90s were not only associated with heroin chic but with 90’s minimalism too, when women wore clean lined dresses, oversized tuxes, pin-thin pants, pencil skirts and scalpel sharp jackets.
this trend was skillfully evoked at the Narciso Rodriguez, Calvin Klein, Stella McCartney, Helmut Lang, Jil Sander, Michael Kors, Rick Owens, Roland Mouret, Bottega Veneta, Donna Karan and YSL shows.'

- tube skirts, often paired with long blazers
- & crop tops
- & doc martens

'this is a look that can become a mainstay in your wardrobe for everything from work to cocktails, season to season, if you are looking for an investment. ..there were also some great new photographers like corinne day, juergen teller, david armstrong and david sims just to name a few, who really modernized the face of fashion editorials and campaigns.'



(let's be in love..let's do old and grey.)

all i really enjoy about the Twilight series is the weather in Forks and the choice of soundtrack/s

i stumbled across a fantastic song that i hadn't heard before on the radio earlier today when i was driving..i always seem to listen to songs more when i'm driving or just lying around being a bit actively minimalistic.
i guess that's mostly just due to the fact that in those situations my brain is seemingly empty..or emptier

(also, i really like the way that when its raining and i'm driving with music on, it seems as if those songs are a soundtrack to my life..at that point in time. it's like i'm in a movie and at that point all noise is silent other than that song. it's hard to describe, but for some reason the outside world only ever seems to be muted to me when the weather is grey.)

and so the words to the song..:
have you ever had a day that you wanted to erase ? tear the page out of the history books and try again..but you knew that you couldn’t so you put on a brave face and waited until you could make your mistake. and when you finally got away from people and their gossip and their judgement and their gaze, you let your guard down and so you just gave.
all of a sudden, tears are falling til theyre running down your face, whatever it was; you fought with your friend, or your boss, or maybe you got a heart that won't mend..or you're struggling with the rent or missing someone you lost, or maybe you're just tired of pretending.
you feel the weight like a pain in your chest, you're straining, you're breaking, you're aching, you sob. and its great til it stops, til it fades, til its gone, like the tears sort of washed it all away.
sometimes i like to think it’s the same with drops of rain. each one is just a tear falling off of God’s face; sitting all alone in the clouds, looking down on us all, watching every mistake that was ever made. every bit of pain, every murder, every rape, every person that’s having a shitty day..taking it all in til he breaks down and cries, til his eyes dry up and he gets on with it again.
i had this very faith tested on an ordinary day, i was walking down a busy street around my way. i saw a face in the crowd, my heart skipped a beat, a man who looked exactly like an older version of me.
so i moved through the hustle and the bustle of the day-to-day until me and this man stood face to face. we locked eyes and for a moment of time moving slow-motion as the crowd around continued on their paper chase. i stood frozen in disbelief and opened my mouth to speak. to my surprise the words wouldn't come.
then he looked into the clear blue sky up above, and said, ‘it's gonna rain’..and then it does.
and as the rain came down like missiles from the sky set on a collision course from the heavens to the ground, he’s just standing in the middle of it all, unconcerned by the panic and the people running round. so i stepped to this man with my hand outstretched just to offer him some help to get this storm up off his head.
he took my hand down and we stood getting drenched. he looked me in the eyes with a smile, this is what he said;
'hush child, from the joy to the pain, it’ll all wash away in the rain.'
so play this song on the days when the rain keeps on and you wait and you pray it’ll stop, and if youre stuck in a storm this very second from the thought that we’re all at the mercy of the gods.
so instead of looking for somewhere to place the blame, aceept it as a part of that big lazy 8. go outside and stand under the clouds and embrace it as the rain keeps plummeting down, and say;
'hush child, from the joy to the pain, it’ll all wash away in the rain.'
from the million dollar brands to the tags on the train, it’ll all wash away in the rain. from the birth to the dirt-man; the training to the grave, it'll all wash away in the rain. what’s been and gone will come again, it’ll all wash away in the rain. so, hush child, from the joy to the pain, it’ll all wash away in the rain.

- i really love the reference to 'lazy 8'..which i'm assuming is speaking about the infinity sign, which is an 8 on its side..so as far as i can gather, i think it's talking about the way that no matter what happens at any point in time, things are just going to keep on going and going and going..to embrace what happens and really take a step back to see if all of the stress is reaaally worth it.


(taken from Ashley + MK's fashion line, The Row - image via)

i've been reading Breath by Tim Winton lately, and it's not a terrible book..but not my favourite. i feel, like most books, that the way it's written..the wording and technical, structural, side of things..doesn't stretch my brain at all. but i do like, from what i've read so far, the idea of the story behind it. i've learnt a lot about surfing..not just the physical but mental challenges that are involved in the sport(?).
that idea reminds me of Bryce Courtenay's The Power of One.
what i found the most interesting about that novel was the way that a first-hand depiction of boxing was illustrated on a really in-depth level. like Breath with surfing, The Power of One broke down all societal-ly perceived barriers that had, to me, previously existed in terms of boxing and the somewhat stigma that is attached to it. simply because of these two texts, surfing and boxing now appear to me as artforms..there is an entirely mental and psychological preparation behind those two acts that i had never stepped back to consider.
in The Power of One, for example, the main character is always being told to act, when boxing, first with his head and then with his heart. it speaks of boxing as this great art that doesn't just involve theory and thought processes, but something much much deeper.
i again find books and movies and people's stories and new experiences so so important in our lives, brains need to be stretched, eyes opened, perceived ideas extended.
i respect and am so intrigued by that.

(8): Jackson Jackson - The Devil in Me
Thom Yorke- Hearing Damage

god, Editors. i think they're going to be my loved group til i'm grey and old.

i was studying architecture & psychology and i loved it, but i kept thinking about t-shirts and how to make the perfect one.

what the cape helles

The cover art of Fleet Foxes’ debut self-titled album is a detail of the 1559 painting Netherlandish Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Vocalist/guitarist Robin Pecknold notes that: When you first see that painting it’s very bucolic, but when you look closer there’s all this really strange stuff going on…dudes defecating coins into the river and people on fire, people carving a live sheep..I liked that the first impression is that it's just pretty, but then you realize that the scene is this weird chaos. I like that you can’t really take it for what it is, that your first impression of it is wrong.


image via

image via



..we can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.

'fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months', OSCAR WILDE.



2. learn how to play the guitar,
3. write a song with the word 'batman' in,
4. see polly paulusma live again,
11. get down to 9 stone,
12. stop thinking about my weight,
13. learn how to make a good carrot cake,
15. work out how to use logic,
17. have a big party [18th at lincoln massive],
18. go to at least one music festival,
19. learn to like coffee [vanilla cappucinos. and mochas. but i guess that's cheating.]
22. have a bath when fully clothed,
23. apply to university,
24. go for an hour long bike ride ,
27. floss my teeth once a week,
28. stay up partying for 24 hours in a row,
29. use the words "don't you know who i am?" successfully,
30. read tolstoy's 'war and peace’,
35. pretend to be a foreign tourist for the day,
38. send a message in a bottle,
50. grow my hair,
52. save 10% of everything i earn,
54. learn about electronic instrument things,
56. fall in love,
58. visit ten cathedrals,
61. be a member of the audience for a tv show,
65. run 5k,
66. cook a three course meal for friends/family,
68. try and tone down my tendency to exaggerate everything,
69. always look on the bright side of life,
70. take more pictures of places i visit,
72. buy a stranger a coffee,
75. remember all my friends' birthdays,
80. swim 60 lengths in a row,
86. learn some very basic Russian,
87. accidently get locked in the park,
88. watch more 'classic' films,
89. watch more films in general,
90. learn all the states of America,
91. have my picture taken with someone called Rodney,
94. eat something i've never tried before,
96. give a fiver to a really good busker,
97. make the effort with people,
99. find something good about every single day,
100. stop making lists






I think my biggest style inspiration comes from movies.



images via

(replace fear of the unknown with curiosity)

Self-Reliance is an essay written by American Transcendentalist philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson

i cannot get near enough of this image ^. it just..wow. i just want to emulate emulate emulate with all of the oversizing in great, yamamoto lines of class and with a similar sort of dreamy materials. i guess i like it mostly because of both the grace and dissonance; both aspects of which are just inspiring me no end. its a nice fresh of breath air (< oops, i typed that quickly and wrong, but think i'll actually leave it that way..) from the other end of the oversizing-in-fashion-spectrum that seems to only really include/involve cheap stretch-cotton shirt/dresses and whatnot that just can't seem to say their goodbyes to the world. i haven't felt this way about an image in a fair while, its refreshing.

now should you expect to see something that you hadn't seen in somebody you'd known since you were sixteen ?
if love is a bolt from the blue, then what is that bolt but a glorified screw ?
..and that doesn't hold nothing together.
far from these nonsense bars and their nowhere music..it's making me sick, and I know it's making you sick.
there's nothing there, it's like eating air.
it's like drinking gin with nothing else in
..and that doesn't hold me together.

but for one crowded hour you were the only one in the room,
and i sailed around all of those bumps in the night to your beacon in the gloom.
i thought i had found my golden September in the middle of that purple June,
but one crowded hour would lead to my wreck and ruin.

and i know you like your boys to take their medicine from the bowl with a silver spoon, who run away with the dish and scale the fish by the silvery light of the moon, who were taught from the womb to believe till the tomb that as far as their bleeding eyes see is a pleasure pen, meant for them, builded and rent for them.
..not for the likes of me, not for the like of you and me.

well put me in a cage full of lions, i learned to speak lion;
in fact i know the language well.
i picked it up while i was versing myself in the languages they speak in hell.

for one crowded hour, you were the only one in the room.
well I played a few songs for those bumps in the night, in fact i played this very tune.
you said, "What is this six-stringed instrument but an adolescent loom?"
and one crowded hour would lead to my wreck and ruin.

-what i do is not a bad occupation, someone is always willing to pay.
+i would find it tiring.
-oh no , its quite ________, almost peaceful
no need to believe in either side
or any side
there is no courage.
theres only yourself.
the belief is your own precision




- all images are just from jak&jil

she's all over it

with much interesting thought process inclusive, from brooke.:

I just read your most recent blogspot, and I really like what you said about attempting fashion with financial constraints, and how fashion changes how you appear to people, not by general image, but by that extra little bit of confidence the right outfit can bring.
I've been noticing that most people in Mackay tend to associate fashion with a brand label, especially guys, and they think they are the absolute bee's knees if they get around in a shirt that says unit in big letters. Then this rubs off onto girls and before you know it, there is a swarm of slogan printed tshirts, and people think they are being fashionable because they are being a walking billboard for a brand. Brands aren't fashion, yet we would fork out so much for designer outfits, if we had the chance. If fashion is a look, and that extra little bit of confidence, why don't more people sew for themselves? People spend so much money to wear a certain fashion house, but if people started making their own clothes, using their own style, that would really be fashion.

thankyou, intelligence.

(http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/media/s2743699.htm)


(http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/media/s2743674.htm)


Over two nights at The Forum Theatre in Melbourne triple j have invited some of todays best artists to interpret the songs of Paul Kelly.
This year marks Paul Kellys 30th anniversary as a solo recording artist (his debut single “Recognition” was released in 1979). This is the perfect moment for triple j to acknowledge and highlight his enormous contribution to Australian music. Kelly has crafted a heartfelt catalogue of songs that speak to successive generations. Many of his songs have captured the essence of what it is to be Australian. His strength as a songwriter and storyteller has inspired a whole raft of musicians working today.

Starring:
Missy Higgins
John Butler (Fri 13th Only)
Paul Dempsey
Katy Steele (Little Birdy)
Bob Evans
Ozi Batla (The Herd)
Dan Kelly
Clare Bowditch
Jae Laffer (The Panics)
Adalita (Magic Dirt)
Dan Sultan
Megan Washington
Plus members of Augie March & Even

he says there are always lingering questions about relevance before an album is released

images via
"it's important to have empathy for where everyone's at in their lives."
- bernard fanning.

remove mold, eat pesto out of bottle

i've just had one (wow, i just typed 'won' instead of 'one'..haha) of those moments when you, for the first time, properly listen to the lyrics on an album/song that you hadn't really appreciated/paid attention to before. you can never ever recreate that first moment when you discover some great words, or for some reason finally understand a passage in a song for the first time; a passage that beforehand you had never been able to grasp, or draw meaning from/relate to.

for me, it was within a few Mumford & Sons songs tonight.


an around-the-edge definition that i found for 'Timshel', one of Mumford's song titles:
my [elders] felt that these words were very important too — ‘Thou shalt’ and ‘Do thou.’ And this was the gold from our mining: ‘Thou mayest.’ ‘Thou mayest rule over sin.’ ...

the American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you can call sin ignorance. the King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. but the Hebrew word, the word timshel — ‘Thou mayest’ — that gives a choice. it might be the most important word in the world. that says the way is open. that throws it right back on a man. for if ‘Thou mayest’ — it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’ ...

now, there are millions in their sects and churches who feel the order, ‘Do thou,’ and throw their weight into obedience. And there are millions more who feel predestination in ‘Thou shalt.’ nothing they may do can interfere with what will be. but ‘Thou mayest’! why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. he can choose his course and fight it through and win.

within Timshel:
- death is at your doorstep, and it will steal your innocence. it will not steal your substance.
- you are the mother..the mother of your baby child; the one to whom you gave life.
- you have your choices and these are what make man great; his ladder to the stars.
- you are not alone in this. as brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand.
- and I will tell the night, whisper, 'lose your sight'. but I can't move the mountains for you.

within Awake My Soul:
- how fickle my heart and how woozie my eyes.
- lend me your eyes I can change what you see.
- where you invest your love, you invest your life.



when preparing for a performance, (or , I feel, when about to create anything,) begin with the drive to give, to communicate, to share, to inspire..this positive approach dissolves all nervousness and anxiety which is born out of fear and judgement.



i really really really want to read Cloud Atlas..i encourage you to look it up on wikipedia for a pretty great summary ! i really hope the library has it, i’m planning to get right into it post-final exams/schoolies and what-have-you. one of my favourite, most thought-provoking/mind-opening quotes comes from the very end of that book ('Only as you gasp your dying breath shall you understand, your life amounted to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean! Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?' = referenced in a post a little earlier, here).







i've absolutely adored this song since day one. i think i first heard it on the radio about 2-3 years ago and its still in my top 10/20 songs..i'm not even really sure why. it's so romeo/juliet-esque, but i just think it's fanastic. and every time i hear it, i still feel exactly the same way as i did when i first came across this song. (and i haven't watched this/the video clip, so if it's incredibly hopeless or off-putting..dont judge me on it haha. just have it playing in the background while you do other stuff on the computer. i just wanted an audio clip of it to throw in here :D)
i present to you, O Valencia - The Decemberists:

boys should make passes at girls who wear glasses

Nick Cave and Yann Tiersen are fantastically appropz, non-distracting, focus-inspiring study music..just in case you were wondering.

was talking to a good friend today at school and she brought up an interesting point. I (stupidly) hadn’t realised that other people had felt the same..but it makes sense that heaps of people do...
She was saying that she has this great fashion sense, mentally, but no-one knows about it because she doesn’t have the dollars to get the clothes/outfits that she dreams about/has the creativity to whip up with her sense of clothing greatness, :). she was saying that she hopes no-one judges her on the clothes that she does wear, haha, bc its not really her sense or real choice of clothing..just what she is able to get by with at this stage.
i think a little bit of that is true for everyone - minus the queen and maybe lady gaga, or something.
it’s really frustrating being somewhat caged into affordable fashion, because I think it’s a pretty big deal in (my) life, and a huge outlet for fun and creativity and even a fun chance for making friends through mutual interest in certain pieces/designers - had we the opportunity to have what we really desired, at the click of some fingers. i also find that the right clohteswhat also frustrates me is that, even despite having a personal lack of dollar value, most clothes that I dream of aren’t even accessible from where I am right now – financial woes aside. hmpf.

i’ve also found that the right clothes for your body, the occasion, or your personal taste can have a lasting impression on the whole atmosphere and confidence that oozes out of you at any given time. for eg., in a get-up that you feel 110% comfortable in, whether it be a floor-length evening gown that fits just right around your waist, a tee and jeans that make you feel at your most subtly comfortable or even a pair of heels that makes you stand with your shoulders back that little bit more – then it will show. clothing has a strength that can empower the wearer, and I think its really important that people remember that..whether they are necessarily interested in ‘fashion’ as an entity or interest, or not.
clothes are not just for looks or even necessarily always made for function. they can have so many emotional levels attached, if you allow them to do so. some pieces are created with a direct concept or political opinion in mind that has/had an intent to be publicised and appreciated widely or, alternatively, a point that was brought to public attention simply bc the designer is aware that its morals and opinions will be contested and argued against – bringing their point-of-view to the surface, as they desire.

but on an ending note, i really like this little philosophy, and do definitely agree whole-heartedly (despite everything that I’ve just said re: $).
never compromise quality for price,
black before white,
understated rather than complicated. - friedrich gray

here’s some things that have inspired me to create (if only at this stage the pieces of wearable art/fashun are still stuck in my mental volumes of note-to-selfs to diy) this afternoon..
a great deal are from The Selby at some point along the line, if memory serves correctly.:






bothers me that the pictures are different sized in width toward the end of the little collection in this post, but whatever..i can hardly be bothered to swap them round. its a shame that the last two vertical strips are smaller, too, but hmm. you may or may not survive without my fixing it up.

the last image though, Donnie Darko screenshot, anyone ?
ps, for fans: wiki 'Sarah Darko', (i think it's called). its a potential somewhat ~sequal to donnie d and sounds absolutely terrrrible. it has nothing to do with the original director and really sounds as if it is just a cheap rip-off of a hand-full of motifs and moments out of the original film. such a letdown in advance in my opinion..
and no sequel (as if i want one anyway, ever) could ever match the qual of the soundtrack of the first.

aw cmon. you were thinking it.

sublime, a true study in weightlessness.

always take note of deconstruction and silhouette, ensure to stay refined
self-muse, astrid, lady di(e),
novel/novella/novelty



image via

image via



...and just for good measure:

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a powerful love, a force from above.

i don't doubt that many will have already seen/read this on a fairly renowned blog recently, but for those who have not..:

and i'm not in any way shape or form trying to fashion-bash, but i do think that some pretty great points have been raised in a small amount of words:

"It's always a bit discombobulating when people raise their voices in anger because they've gotten wind that designers are making and selling $25,000 dresses. After all, it's not as if the existence of a dress that costs as much as a car negates the availability of cute $25 frocks at Target. And it isn't as though edicts have been issued that all women must now dress like one of the superheroes on Balenciaga's runway.

For personal and sometimes tortured reasons -- I can't have it so no one else can! -- observers declare that they just don't understand the attraction of these strange and expensive clothes. That would be a fair argument if those same complainers lashed out at people who spend thousands of dollars on Redskins season tickets, vintage wines, first-edition books or midlife-crisis cars. But those industries don't stir nearly as much ire from people who are uninterested in them.

Everyone has a passion that is lost on others."

(Robin Givhan - The Washington Post, October 18th.)

thanks arrie-sahn.

natalie portman's shaved head

i've been really getting into Paul Kelly and at jono's request: a Cat Stevens cassette i found in my room. really enjoying both. they're really good to study to. Paul reminds me a teenie tinie bit of Crowded House for some reason.
i want to start listening to more Bob Dylan and some more stuff from the ~60s, but cant be arsed to download right now. i think i'm really just going to wait til next year and rely on the file-sharing network at whichever uni i end up at.



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like so many other novel inventions - the internet, amphetamines, the atomic bomb - sunglasses were born of war. well..this is not entirely true. like the others, what really happened was they were invented for other purposes and then got their 'big break', as they say, because of their capacity to aid in combat. the internet helped share military intelligence (mostly on atomic bombs, ironically), amphetamines helped keep the soldiers awake, and the bomb, well, we all know how that story goes..

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crackling static sounds overwhelm you. you're in a future world, a dark and crowded place, chasing a giant - or is it chasing you ? a cyber adventure, a sensory overload. this is a comic book experience you've never had before.

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this week i'm really dreaming about Buderim again (or am i ?) - which means i would have to really soon-ly look into a residence of sorts if i went to USC. it's scary, i really want to be on college first year out..and at least for a year. but if i head out to Sippy Downs..i won't know one person.
but, i think also that that fear is kind of exciting. i could be aaanyone - not that i plan to change so much, well not consciously, but imagine. fresh.



i really feel like going op-shopping and this crave ALWAYS sets in on a sunday. i haven't been in..probably 4-5 months, if not more. feels like really really ages, but i just haven't been feeling in the mood for it for a long time, and a lot has been going on that has either restricted me time/money-wise.
i'm a bit dollar-less right now, and i went into Portmans the other day, only to find about $1500 worth of things that i didn't like but really LOVED. rare.
like, i'm really wanting just a plain pair of small-framed black sunglasses. they're so flexible; black would be so much more multi-purpose than the patterned/transparent pairs i sport now.

i really want a pair or five of black (i think ?, well at this stage) pleated/non-pleated pants that can be/are cropped just above the ankle. they fit so loosely but snugly in the pictures that i've been hounding for months. porties had a pair just like that, i think. but right now i CANNOT afford 100+ for anything like that :(..so cue: endos/lizline.
a little like these, but with cuffs at the bottom..
or some identical to this pair would surely not go astray at all.
unfortunately, though, i dont know if they would look ok with out heels..and if they look shabbitha without some elevation - than they would go to waste in my lifestyle.

there were a thou little black dresses - not excruiatingly short (from what i could tell, i didnt try anything on because i dont plan on having to sew my tear ducts shut any time soon) and all with just the right amnt of embellishment - like a single ruffled sleeve, or some puffed action on either side or or or just what i want in life right now.
there was lots of pastels and sheer, which i thought i would be sick of right now..but nope.
lots of (fake - i did the scratch test, hehe) pearls in just the right, minimalistic quantities.
blazers that weren't too structured/square; and made out of soft fabrics that i can only imagine would sit nice and a little loosely, but still formally

but ohh it was just everything in abundance that i've been trying to find for a lot of months. bug-ah.

so therefore i want to find a great deal of these finds in a thrift outlet-o in this town quiiite remarkably soon. perhaps before the art exhibition's -grand- opening thursday night ?
i guess i could sew all of the above - with all the skill/time/dollars i have.



and and and im really enjoying cropped/cuffed shorts - i guess a liiitle bit like the bottom-haff of this get-up (but not really at all) - teamed with patent nude heels. yummo.
(neither of which i own ? - better get to it.) ive been actually finding a whole heap of patent nude heels in mackay in the last week or two - like in 2-3 shops, which has really excited/surprised me. i've been searching for a pair for at least a year now, since i first saw a picture in one of the cheesie magazines at work featuring vickbeck and katie holmes shoe shopping, and one of them i think was either wearing a pair or trying them on.
many of the pairs that i have recently come across have been well over the budget, but whatever. im worried they'll get really scuffed if i do invest in a pair for formal/grad etc (im going to be well and truly shoe-pooling), like my mocktail pair did..but maybe if im extra-careful, i'll get by relatively unscathed ?

i'm also on the semi-search for something a bit obnoxious in size but also pretty feminine and formal for Prom to whack in my hair. all ive found are flowers and im not too sure, i feel like theyve been done so much before - but i guess it would be a safe option. any ideas ?

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images via

art music, metamorphasis, soldier on, straight-jacket, no vowels

yuck yeah, francesca

(i wrote this for English at the end of last term.
there's bits i like, bits i don't like. it was veerrry last minute, like literally half a week before it was due because so much was going on academically at that time. it was sposed to be a modernised version of Macbeth. mine was set in a concentration camp. on the most part, its embarrassingly over-descriptive. like 'hi, i like creative writiiing guyz, its a hobbie of mine, i've never read a book in my life but im going to use the word 'however' as many times as i can in a single paragraph.' or maybe not like that at all.. you decide.
i hate the way i made it end so abruptly because i got lazy and idea-less.
AND i know it's looong but that's to be expected of me nowadays, i think ? i know i'm a waffle. but i like waffles. they're great with syrup.)

'Incineration of the Human Conscience: Macbeth modernised.'

Overhead, three vultures circle. Their keen eyes search the sea of emaciated bodies for their next meal. They don’t notice that we exist down here, or that we continue to live; to survive, from sunrise to sunset, though all the while showing no real signs of life. We are the dead - herded like animals, void of all rights and dignity that would allow us any opportunity of communication or exterior emotion. Just as birds flock elsewhere in the colder months, in search of nourishment and shelter; an escape, we travel together in an exhausted mass in desperate hope of a slight improvement of where we are now – Mauthausen concentration camp.

One of the scavengers released a rasping screech - in doing so breaking the aching silence for a fragment of a second. As vultures, they are the scum of the sky. Here as Jews, albeit humans, we are the scum of the Earth.

Our heads remain obediently bowed, our shoulders collectively slumped. We shuffle uniformly, in single file, day after day after repetitive, melancholic day. We are always being watched; always seen through the scrutinising eyes of the authorities, but not once are we ever heard.
The cold is so stifling that all the brain can concentrate on is the slow, steady trudging of the skeletal excuses for legs in front. Not a single foot is stepped out of line on either side. There is no forgiveness for error here, you learn quickly.

To the side of the front of the food line a comparatively less-gaunt figure can be seen. Although more or less physically alone in his stance, the man’s self-conscious dependence upon and admiration of his superiors is demonstrated quite plainly, although non-verbally. He can be seen with arms crossed, mimicking the other three guards in child-like search of approval or recognition as they intrude upon his shadow, apathetic dispositions in tow. Sporting a red cap, he is stuck in an awkward limbo between camp prisoner and camp authority. He wears the same uniform as the rest of us, but is not one of us. His similarly bald head is covered instead with a few scraps of red fabric that have been roughly sewn together into the shape of a cap.

A red cap is more or less royalty. It signifies a little extra food, a thicker blanket and indifference from the guards. Indifference is a blessing, as in this case, camouflage is synonymous with a longer life expectancy. Within the first few months of the camp’s existence, the more fit of the male workers were given a red cap and a sense of duty. They had been given the role of guard’s assistant – they tell the authorities of any thefts or traitorous activity that takes place behind closed doors.
The red target that was central in my sights this morning belonged to 70-odd-year-old Duncan, and I wanted in.

My envious thought processes were broken as I found myself on the receiving end of a tired nudge in the ribs from what is now my brother’s painfully skeletal elbow. I would have groaned had the cold not blocked out all of my physical senses weeks ago.
In my direction he hissed, ‘Michael, you’re staring at Duncan again…you know that cap’s got your name written all over it.’
I knew he was right in one respect. Partially, I wanted the cap and the extra food, without doubt, but was not about to forcefully remove the position from anyone. If anything, this camp has shown me that out of all of the combinations of emotions on Earth, that without compassion and companionship, no person or difficult circumstance can be conquered or indeed even endured.

I studied the inside of my eyelids for a minute before further diverting my attention to the growing and gaping hole in the front of my faded cotton shirt. I pulled at a loose thread until the worn opening had almost doubled in size. Being agonizingly close to succeeding in wholly distracting myself momentarily, I irritatingly found myself only to be tugged from my thoughts for a second time.

In an impatient and whispered tone I heard the words,
‘Come on, he’s not even good at what he does. I know you’re tired of barely scraping through survival on this slop, we all are. Think of the extra food you could be getting with that cap. He’s a liar, Mike, he’s a danger to all of us. We can get rid of him easily.’
I shook my head, though in partial defeat, with my eyes once more focussed steadfastly straight ahead. I noticed that the line for food was growing progressively shorter, as was my struggling resistance.

As the sun reached the horizon we retired to our icy wooden bunks for another uncomfortable night of unrest. We were retiring once more, but as brothers; as people with names, rather than numbers. For the entirety of the evening no crack in the wall, splinter in the bed or fleeting draught of wind went unnoticed. My eyes didn’t shut for a second all night. Instead, they incessantly flicked around the room, for the constant and choking fear that my thinking would become verbal as I continuously deliberated and tore my morals apart over Ben’s words and the possibility of Duncan’s position soon becoming solely and rightfully mine.

While lining up for the morning soup ration, Duncan’s cap appeared to be redder than ever; the fabric darkened to a deep crimson of blood. His usual stone-faced expression of authority had transformed instead to a taunting and smug smirk. As I approached him in the line, an overpowering smell of human death arose from nearby brick towers in the form of stiflingly thick black smoke. The dawn seemed to be entirely without noise other than knives being sharpened against each other at the food stand, while a quiet, more distant chugging noise could be heard from two steam trains in the distance. It was a recognized realisation that both trains were headed directly to Auschwitz death camp.
It seemed that even the vultures understood the fight against fate of the red –donned figure on that morning. The ravenous birds circled a few times but never once swooped down, as they had every day previously.

Upon reaching the soup-laden guard I veered a sharp left, directly into the sights of the other who stood at that stage unoccupied, arms crossed, on casual but sharp surveillance. I tipped him off in hushed and hurried tones about Duncan’s ‘theft’ of food. While in full awareness that it was in actual fact his colleague’s wrongdoing, I could see the sentry’s ears prick up within seconds. He nodded, while his eyes visibly widened with surprise; darting around in both confusion and perhaps betrayal.

Upon returning silently into the line once more, I felt another friendlier shove to the ribs, although in this instance no words were exchanged. A slight nod signalled my brother’s approval, fully aware that the deed was indeed done.
There was rewarding for acts like that of my own, regardless of red cap or not. I knew that Duncan’s position would so soon be mine, and fairly so.

The following morning was as anticipatory as the previous, if not more. At daybreak, I was handed a small pouch along with my soup bowl. Its contents were expectantly no more than a small scrap of now-faded red fabric that had a short brim at one end.
The thrill from adrenaline and newly-obtained self-satisfaction that filled my mind and body within that instant temporarily liberated all discomfort that I had been feeling as a result of the frozen winter air.

The arrival of the cap into my awaiting hands had simultaneously marked the disappearance of Duncan from Mauthausen camp. I could only assume the worst; that his faux act of theft had resulted in the grey-haired, ex-guard’s assistant being sent on a direct route to Auschwitz.

As days passed, I came to realise through my newly promoted social rank that not even a prolonged stint in a concentration camp can do a lot to suppress the individual ambition that can be found within all conscious beings – whether being victorious in a metaphorical arm-wrestle with mortality or not. As my brother grew ever more bitter with the passing of each day, his words became to be all but generated with a supportive or compassionate motive. His actions seemed to become increasingly colder, as did the temperatures outside. Contrastingly, outside of Mauthausen the war grew hotter; its unrelenting grasp on our throats slowly but surely tightening. Prisoners started dropping like flies as the smoke that rose from the chimneys grew fatally thicker as a result.

I found myself cold and alone. Without the comradeship of my brother I became quite literally just another number on the long list of death-assured Jews. In my position of solitude and social isolation, the vultures were my only companions. They were without guilt or moral conscience, seemingly appearing then disappearing at their own free will – the perfect disposable partners in crime.
Without a real reason to continue living as well as not having the fortunate gift of flight like my new-found feathered friends, I found myself digging a mentally-draining hole that felt to be kilometres deep. It became difficult to find things that were worth greeting each breaking day for. My existence had been solely and wholly reduced to the simple repetition of breathing in and out, with my eyes constantly darting left, then right.
The extra food was so insignificant an increase that I noticed no difference in my physical health; my ribs still jutted out at an angle that no longer seemed alarming to my eyes.

The satisfaction that I had once held quickly approached guilt while the empathy and fairness that I had prided myself on within my red-capped role of responsibility in the past, dwindled, and soon became overridden with an abusive lust for power.
Friendship and equality turned to words that I had, either subconsciously or consciously, wiped from my vocabulary as well as from all mental thought and processes.

Again, my sight appeared to alter on a remarkable level; mirroring my thoughts almost identically. My cap drooped and sagged at the edges, as if others were always trying to pull it off my head and from my grasp completely. Its colour returned to a shade of stale blood…my blood…Duncan’s blood. Ben’s sneering eyes undeniably understood more than they let on, and I felt his stare burning a deep and dark hole into the back of my crimson headwear whenever he was reduced to a hazy image at the very edge of my peripherals.

I heard whispers, which caused me to don my cap protectively, even in my sleep. I slept lightly or not at all, panic taking over every physical sense that existed in my body.
‘Michael murders sleep, Michael murders sleep, Michael murders sleep’, I heard the wind howl through the worn, wooden rafters at night.

Faces in the mass of Jews appeared to sprout grey hair or a rugged moustache, just as Duncan’s had been. Backs grew hunched and towering, similar to Ben’s.

No corner could I turn without the sight of looming smoke from human death. It overwhelmed me entirely, weighing down my tired lungs with every waking moment of its constricting embrace. Paranoia was not an obsession or irrational disorder of mine, but a form of safety; a comfortable blanket of peace.

After weeks of distress along with a zombie-like gait, I fell; simultaneously both mentally and physically. Ben, soon after, disappeared on a train to nowhere.

If anything, this camp has shown me that out of all of the combinations of emotions on Earth, that without compassion and companionship, no person or difficult circumstance can be conquered or indeed even endured.

'i want to be a machine', said andy

warhol.

1. i aim to achieve that healthy balance between caring and not-caring (what others think). i think i'm really getting close, and it's a great feeling.
of course, you've got to keep the self-respect of Number One in-tact/order and at the top of the importance ladder, bc i don't think it's v good or healthy for anyone to compleeetely discard what others think..
(and most of the time, anyway, those who say that they strictly 'don't care what anyone thinks at all' are the ones who are most self-conscious. i find that really sad - the fact that certain people feel that they have to be so transparent and go to such defensive (wrong word, help me out ?) lengths just to reassure themselves..)
tame the shame and win the game !

and i've seen far too clearly - and ish even at times felt it myself, personally, - how damaging it can be to live your life by the idea/l/s of others only and of ~ society in general. some people are really really far too flexible, and live these fragile little breakable lives bc they strain for its entirety in trying to crack the barrier of the super high expectations of others..

i mean, come on..it's so far from worth it.

2. i'm really starting to appreciate this/the? mutual understanding of similar humour and general life views that offspring/s of teachers just seem to somehow collectively share. im beginning to become more observant toward a little unspoken bond via an unofficial Humour Appreciation Society or something similar that appears to be in awesome existance..its kind of like one of the rare good-qwol facebook groups that are stumbled upon every so often (but instead, of course, in person)..and i bloody love it, haha. i'm becoming more and more pro-teacher parents as the days pass..somewhat secretly. and i think that (secretly) my fellow teacher-kids/z out there are aswell. hellz YEAH edu.

3. lately i've been trying to get my head around how people can think that intelligence can be so easily measured..whether it be through a state-wide set QCS-like test or even just from conversation with someone - over time, or at initial acquaintance.
i don't know if you're born with 'intelligence' or if its a skin that can be grown into. i don't know how to measure or to really even understand this thing, and i try not to judge others at all on things like school grades or the vocab that they choose to use - it stretches so far beyond that, i think.

what i also do think, sortofmaybz, is that reading is one of the best things that can be done to uppen (?) this so-called knowledge.
a really good friend of my family that i got to know pretty fantastically well in the last couple of years had made it past what i have gathered to be his 80s or 90s. i found out after he left us that he had always wanted to be a doctor but didn't have the funds for that sort of job when he was younger. it broke my heart to find that out, because i thought he would have been perfect for the job - personality/intelligence-wise. i don't think that he had had as lengthy/in-depth an edu as most of us these days, and mainly just due to circumstance and general society/wealth back in his prime. bc of this, it had always surprised me that he seemed to always know so much about the world, and was just super observant/knowledgable.

i guess where i'm going with this is, that i think that reading as much as possible is what gives you the obvious broader vocab and that sort of thing, which in turn seems to also provide such a massive/huge-r/greater understanding of the world than that of someone who does not read much/at all.
this man-friend read on an emulate-able level. he was old and his sight was fading, or had indeed faded a fair chunk as it was, and even though he required something like a magnifying glass at one point, he still read. he did sudoku and puzzles similar to keep his mind whirring. when he grew too tired after reading for even fairly short spans of time, and/or had lost his sight even further, he listened to audio books. i find that so fantastic. a lot of people reach that age and sort of give up on learning. they sit and don't want to accept that the world is going to, and is, changing so much around them. they don't want to learn or to expand their knowledge - but he did. he kept going and going and going, and i loved him for it.

one set of audios that he particularly referenced to a lot was a set that a relative or close friend had told him about. it was a collection of semi-life philosophies involving a whole heap of different people who were of different ages and lifestyles. for eg., one person believed in barbecues. they believed that life should always involve them..because of the social side of things; they bring people together, they're places of happiness and of optimism - and often even celebration.
another believed in high-heels..because they accentuate a woman's feminine form, boost the self-esteem and empower the wearer.

you've really got to take in little lessons like this from other people around you when given the chance - emulate the ones you love !

i just love everything about reading - even the v idea of it. it makes you less naive, and more open-minded to the ideas of others and of the way that other people live their lives. and i think that's so so important - especially in today's society. its not even a matter of interest anymore; its just that you will not survive if you sit around and do not absorb what is going on around you/us.

i guess, mostly, literature and even news is so great bc it puts your feet on the ground. it makes you aware that you are a tiny speck in a giant's eye in the whole scheme of things. i'm not even sure if that's intimidating or scary, or a good thing.

there's a quote by eva mendes, of all people, that i really like. i can't rememeber it directly, i have it saved in my ipod upstairs..but it goes something like the following:
'the most sexual organ is the brain.. you don't have to be a scholar, just curious about the world.'
i really like the end part, especially. its something i mentally refer to often, i think its an important point to think about.

4. artificial intelligence is amazing. i don't know so much about it, but i think paul dempsey initally spurred my thoughts toward the topic. in qcs, the theme for our unseen written task turned out to be time, and one of the snippets of stimulus involved the turning back of time - and the sort of skin/physical rejuvanation that's getting around more and more as the years tick by. i had wanted to some how tie in artificial intell into that, but struggled and ended up sadly changing tact a little/lot.
in an interview, paul was talking about his song Ramona Was a Waitress - which speaks about artie intie a fair bit..a little cryptically if youre not entirely switched on to its topic or aware of his referencing.:

in his own words:
'it's about a guy arguing with an artificial-intelligent robot waitress about mortality..artificial intelligence and conscious robots arguing about the meaning of life.'
the name Ramona comes from a man by the name Ray Kurtzweil who is one of the foremost thinkers on artificial intelligence and what the future holds for technology. he has created a program called Ramona that's like an interactive person, and, as technology progresses, he's trying to build her up so she becomes more and more sophisticated in the hope that one day she will be essentially conscious.
'that's the point he's trying to make, that at some point in the future technology will be arguably conscious.
this guy Ray Kurzweil also goes on about how with the use of emerging technologies like nanotechnologies and stuff like that, human beings will be able to augment themselves and improve themselves to reverse the aging process. we will essentially merge with machines and will be able to prolong our life spans almost indefinitely. so the Ramona character in the song is sort of this trans-human woman who lives almost indefinitely. i thought it would be kind of funny if you were in that position but you were a waitress. i just wanted to make it something banal. this fascinating amazing idea of this potentially immortal artificial intelligence that can augment itself and improve itself and exist for however long..' but she's still just a waitress, you know ? like youre this super-human and yes you have endless life..but youre only a waitress. i found that such a funny little situation..really interesting.
'But life is still life and you still have to do something with life.'

some of my more favoured lyrics from the above:
she circles past, she fills your glass, but she don't recognise the song.
and once in a life time, she says..the waking life stitched together in your head.
and i don't need these arms anymore, i dont need this heart now to love.
i don't need this skin and bone at all.
and eyes like crystal balls that just won't shut up about the future of the future.
ramona was a waitress; all but made of information.
in a bar under the third bridge, she says she's looking forward to living forever.
(okay so that's actually most of the song, but but but..)

a funny little tweet that pd had sent during the making of the film clip for that song:
shooting video for ramona....size 13 dancing shoes on....understandably there is a lot of fear in the room.
;)

5. just when you think there are no new stories to be told, a new one manages to come along.

6. well i am the shape of a lonely soldier, oh, I am the shape of a single structure.
but even the bravest Lions, they need a sidekick.
i know that even the tallest kings, they need a sidekick.
everyone needs a Robin, no ?

7. a fair while ago now, there was an epic storyline for a dance on So You Think You Can Dance.
the moves and costumes etc on their own were pretty ordinary, but it was all about a man who was the last left on earth and an alien had come down to impregnate itself/or actually, maybe to do so to the human?. on 2nd thoughts, im not even sure who was doing what in that sitch haha but i thought it was so awesomely original. as if you'd even come up with that, ever. haha.

8. the Stromatolites in WA, i just rememebered them after having a dream the other night that they got all flooded over and lost forever. i was actually really really sad about that - theyre one of the oldest living things..on the whole earth.
my fam visited them in i think about 2000. even then i was amazed.
google them, theyre really ugly :).



again = length/uber punctuated. of course.

if the fact that my blemish cream went O.O.D. in '06 doesn't result in 7th degree burns, i'll be mildly satisfied with life

some words i've been enjoying lately:

- women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors.

- make the most of every day.

- don't ever tell anybody anything. if you do, you start missing everybody.

- the sun will rise..even if you don't happen to be there.

- sometimes it takes the worst to see people at their best.

- sorting things out isn't always easy.

- i sat there for some time, a man with more on his mind than in it.

- you're gonna make mistakes; you're young.

- obviously when the sun comes out, every bastard has a festival.

i'm livin it major, i'm livin it major

just some quick shots from the Selby that i had already uploaded into photobucket..it's playing up for me right now so i'll post the rest of my faves (of which there are maaany) soon when the uploading option is back and running for my account.






images via

the collection is mostly blue because he's colour blind and blue is one of the few colours he can see

hello, hello, hello, hi.

i've been waiting on official photos from the festival of fashn to drop into my hot little hands soon (via school ?, not sure) so i can post them here..if theyre ok.
but i really dont think that thats going to be happening any time soonskies.

so a while ago i was going to post some of my quick sketches/fashn illustrations here, but didnt want to until after the festival - assuming that i'd finish making them all before that night. no.
i ended up finishing some pieces for the red carpet section and another 2 for resort - all half-finished/half-arsed attempts which i didn't even like in the end which bothers me, just cos i ran out of time.
but oh well. i also lost a whole heap of study time bc of the hours i spent on fashn stuff, which is equally annoying..i dont think i did nearly as well in the last set of exams as i could have. or assignments. and theyre all so goddamn important right now.

but back to belated fashnfest review; i think my resort duo were in the ~wrong section, and i know this def mirrored the judges' opinions because it seemed that they considered resortwear to be strictly lycra/togs..
that did annoy me a tiny bit, but was expected. its funny though, bc resort collections at fashn weeks around the world (paris, ny, etc) have the occasional swimwear incorporated into the collection, but always include dresses/shorts etc and the whole summer 'look'. hm.
i was luckie enough to score a 'special mention' for my 'edwardian' get-ups though, which is kind of cool.
so here are some of my drawings from january '09 up until about june/july..when i got lazy:
originally i planned on doing a slouchy/drapey set of tops. i wanted them to be made of loose fabrics so they sat loosely but maybe with shoulder pads underneath for even more of an androgynous/boxy shape. just in muted colours or greys and blacks or something. its hard to explain the image in my head and this picture's actually quite terrible..one of my first sketches so its rough and horrible. and i guess fairly subconsciously yohji-inspired, accidentally, with the mesh incorporated and what have you.



this is image is also a little hard to decipher due to the dodgie picture quality, but i had wanted to do a set of three jackets, at the start of the year, to go with three dresses - all to go in as one entry in the after 5/red-carpet section. at that stage, that balmain collection hadn't been soo publicised, so the boxie zipped/studded/embellished jackets weren't at that stage so overdone and difficult to stomach. i'm now so far from enjoying the collection bc im so sick of seeing it done and re-done and in spreads in most magazines for months afterward.

the original plan for the dresses:


here is a version of the dresses that was closer to those that i ended up sewing. the colours at least..you can ignore the embarrassing descriptions beside each figure haha..that was just for the benefit of translation when i entered it into the illustration comp thingo..
and also for those who are unaware, i have a massive Sunday bun hair fetish. so thus the amy-winehouse-beehive ish buns times trois..

originally for the resort section i wanted to include a set of (again) slouchy draw-string dresses. i wanted three and for them to be made of similar fabrics/colours but to each differ slightly - ie. different sleeves or asymmetrical or drawstring used in different sections of each dress.
i struggled to find patterns that fitted the exact idea/s, obvz, but mum has a few big boxes of old patterns so i managed to mix and match to find patterns for the tops and bottoms of each.
i wanted to incorporate originally a sort of neon transparent fabric into each..but couldnt find anything like that in our one/two fabric store/s, of course. so i stuck with a steady range of whites and beiges with some black string. this idea let me use doilies which i had wanted to include in/make a dress out of for yonks..
ALTHOUGH doilies/doilie-esque fabric proved too expensive, so i just used a whole heap of different types of lace that i bought/had lying round from past mini-projects, curtain-making and art stuff for school.


this was a different unfinished tangent alltogether, but sort of had a similar idea to the transparent neon action that i was hoping for in the resort idea above.


i suppose this one was more of a wearable art piece, but i still wanted to enter it into the evening-wear section..in a mishmash-of-pretty-fabrics-and-fairly-muted-colours-but/so-still-wearable-with-confidence-rodarte sort of way..
i guess if i had included the antler/twiggie and/or bird-wing/feathered alexander mcqueen ish headpiece it would have tipped it over into more of a not-so ready-to-wear category..but as if i even started/finished it at all in the end D:
i guess i was still in a bit of a white/fluffie mood after my wearable art piece for school and so was still feeling the beige/gold/shades of ivory and white soft fabrics. i wanted to use a heap of different types of wool in those colours as well as transparent and floatie fabrics as weeell as some rougher more textured ones..but all in a feminine fairie sort of fashion. i guess. i dont know..the image in my head was ~relatively awesome haha..i can assure you.


i guess just a shorter, slightly modified equivalent of the one above..
god, none of these are even slightly identifiable.


here's a slightly similar set of three that i had quickly jotted down (i think there's something about me and threes ?) one afternoon in about 20 minutes.

this was going to be entered into streetwear i spose - was more for night-time escapades but there was no section in between street/day-wear and full-out evening gowns.. i wanted the skirt on the left to be mostly luella-like gold and black non-symmetrically-aligned ruffles..maybe made out of taffetta or something a little structured and firm so they would be kind of excessive and hold their shape easily. the top was just going to be a black leotard i think..~ something fitted and non-descript so that it wouldnt draw attention away from the bottom half.
the second dress was going to have a big silver/gold/something sillie and metallic-ly coloured whopper of a frill that travelled from the front of the waist up around the neck and back down to stop just below the wearer's collar bone.
i wanted some ott bow/bunnie ears on headpieces - probably just metallic also/black..a little like louis vuitton S/S09 did at the louvre !
sidenote1:i think every 'idea' of mine has referenced a really obvious copy of someone else..revolting.
and 2:embarrassed at the link content in this post ! hahah, sick of it yet ?


this was nuclear-cloud-shape inspired. i guess direct theft from chris kane. again i'm totally ripping off other people. thank god my career tangent isn't based around anything to do with fashion..this week.






i have so much more to write about and some of my favourite recent Selby pictures to post. so there's a large chance i'll post another blog tonight if i find nothing better to do.