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.