INFLUENCERS SERIES - part II

in continuing my interview series, i also asked Inside In, Inside Out's Fabliha and Tasfia Reza from Brisbane (though currently en route from Korea + Japan) to share their fashion and blogging-related musings with me - and of course, with you.
their blog was one of the very first Brisbane-based personal fashion sites that i stumbled across in 2010, and i have since sent intermittent emails back and forth to Fabliha..always in complete admiration of their beautiful styling and new purchases.
it is also one of the few blogs that truly keeps me on surprised. whenever i think i have their style pinned down, i am surprised by a burst of colour, or a silhouette i had never before imagined.



i have stuck with the same questions across all interviews, more or less, throughout this series as a way to compare the varied responses.
their joint + eloquent responses are as follows..

why did you decide to start a blog?
i didn’t put much thought into it when i began my blog – it started as a means of sharing my holiday photos and photography with my friends. over time as i became more and more interested in photography, our blog evolved into a fashion blog and i suppose from then on we took blogging somewhat more seriously.

is there a story behind the name 'Inside In, Inside Out?
in a subtle way, it is what i believe fashion ought to be – a way of expressing the internal (‘inside’) self to the external (‘out’side) world through a medium that is accessible to everyone.

do you have a way of categorising your wardrobe? (eg. colour / style / season)
one thing that i find unsettling is outside clutter. i always find myself organising and categorising everything that can be organised or categorised. my clothes are distributed between two clothing racks and my closet. one of my racks house all my current season, day to day clothing, one my more indulgent ‘going out’ clothing and my closet stores all the clothes i probably won't be wearing that season. the organisational paradigm within these racks/closet is always changing. at the moment it is arranged in terms of colour, the kind of clothing (e.g. dress or jacket) and then sleeve length.

what inspires your outfits on a day-to-day basis?
just about anything and everything – our mood, fashion blogs, street style, magazines, people on the street etc.



do you tend to mostly buy new or vintage pieces?
i have next to no vintage clothing. mostly because i have no skills or luck in shopping for vintage clothing.

was there a particular person / event that started your interest in fashion?
i’m not quite sure – i think it was a bit of a progression. i became interested in photography, then fashion photography, and then just fashion itself.

do you mostly follow local or international blogs?
a mixture of both – i love local blogs because they tend to be more accessible and relatable. nonetheless, there are also some incredible international blogs out there that we follow eagerly.

has your personal style evolved or changed as a result of beginning your blog?
i couldn’t say if it is the result of starting our blog, but it has definitely evolved through the course of our blogging.



what characteristics do you believe make a successful blog?
a fresh, novel, unique perspective, a flourishing bank account and ample free time – the latter two we unfortunately lack somewhat!

how much time do you generally spend on putting together each post - do you have a particular strategy to your blogging?
honestly, i don’t put too much thought into it. daily we wear what we like (irrespective of the existence of our blog) and if we feel that we are wearing something interesting or doing something interesting we’ll decide to photograph it and share it on the blog, as simple as that.

what do you think your point of difference is to all of the other fashion blogs out there?
i know that is probably the most cliché response that i can give, but i believe that our style is truly unique. unlike many other fashion blogs, i believe our style is rather individual and does not just prescribe to the interests of a particular fashion ‘niche’ but a fusion of many of them. also, i don’t think we prescribe to ‘trends’ like many other blogs – although of course there are innovations in every season that we tend to fall in love with.



what have you found the most difficult during your blogging experience so far? are there any reasons why you would not encourage other fashion enthusiasts to begin their own blog?
definitely building up a decent readership and getting my blog known. also, being so busy makes it difficult to constantly conjure up new and interesting content. despite that, i cant think of any reason to discourage other fashion enthusiasts to begin their own blog.

if you had unlimited money, do you think your style would change?
i don’t think it would change so much but i suppose it would become far more refined in its own context. could wear more of the expensive designers like Givenchy and Rick Owens that i can only admire from afar – then not only could i wear clothing inspired by them, but actually the real deal.

are you influenced by any particular designers, or more so by street style?
probably an amalgamation of both. but in terms of particular designers, we are more inspired by their aesthetic in a particular season than their overall, underlying aesthetic.

does the style of the city or country that you live in affect your choice of outfit?
definitely. i would have to say that we are probably most comfortable wearing local designers. plus the warmer Australian climate tends to restrict our outfit choices quite a bit.

(all images courtesy of Inside In, Inside Out)

you married Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, that's an obvious cry for help

ASOS sequin loafers - a Christmas gift to myself:

INFLUENCERS SERIES - part I

as part of a blogger interview series that will be continuing here in the near future, the lovely Francesca from Brisbane blog OpinionSlave agreed to answer a long list of questions that i posed to her not long ago.
the same questions will be asked of a number of different fashion enthusiasts; both local and international, in the hope of shedding some light on what indeed influences the influencers.
i did some research and attempted to avoid questions that were mundane or had been asked of a million bloggers (including these specific ones) previously.



+ without any further ado, Francesca's refreshingly honest, extremely insightful witty answers are below..

why did you decide to start a blog?
purely as a creative release because i used to maintain a Piczo site (haha) and thought i may as well start a fashion blog because i liked to webpage design and i shopped way too often.

is there a story behind the name 'Opinionslave'?
the idea derives from the fact that the fashion world is so superficial to an extent; we're all slaves to each other's opinions of what we're wearing and that was how the name was born.

do you have a way of categorising your wardrobe? (eg. colour / style / season)
i hate mess so it's colour co-ordinated in order of style.

what inspires your outfits on a day-to-day basis?
mostly my mood and conjoining that with drawing inspiration from the world and people around me.

do you tend to mostly buy new or vintage pieces?
there is shit all vintage in Brisbane so i have about one vintage piece in my wardrobe. is buying it off eBay cheating?



was there a particular person / event that started your interest in fashion?
not at all. i just liked shopping and expressing myself through fashion i guess.

do you mostly follow local or international blogs?
definitely a mixture. from Gary Pepper Vintage to Fashiontoast.

has your personal style evolved or changed as a result of beginning your blog?
yes! let's just say i'm so glad to have grown out of my 'emo' stage when i was like 15 haha.

what characteristics do you believe make a successful blog?
taking good quality photos really separates good blogs from shit blogs - so mostly all the aesthetics (dressing well, looking pretty, good blog layout etc). regularly updating also and interacting with other blogs is a must too!

how much time do you generally spend on putting together each post - do you have a particular strategy to your blogging?
my blog posts usually consist of posting about new things i've bought, outfits i'm wearing, things i'm lusting after, or fashion news (rarely). it definitely doesn't take an extensive period of time to post that though! click click, quick edit, then post!

what do you think your point of difference is to all of the other fashion blogs out there?
that i'm one of the few based in Brisbane and that my taste in clothing is somewhat on trend, yet i re-wear stuff all the time i guess.



what have you found the most difficult during your blogging experience so far? are there any reasons why you would not encourage other fashion enthusiasts to begin their own blog?
the hardest part is developing a readership base, but this comes with time as your blog becomes more noticed.

if you had unlimited money, do you think your style would change?
definitely. i would be the next Sea of Shoes or 5 Inch And Up because i'm pretty sure people follow them because they are just in awe at how they can wear all of these designer items which would cost $5000+ per outfit.

are you influenced by any particular designers, or more so by street style?
a mixture of both. i have my favourite designers, and i think of how i can wear their stock whilst being inspired by street style.

does the style of the city or country that you live in affect your choice of outfit?
somewhat in terms of the weather, as we don't wear huge Winter coats and such but not that much really. my style definitely reflects an Australian Summer/Winter though.

(all images courtesy of OpinionSlave)

Brisbane zine scene

today was the first official meeting for an exciting new zine project that i will be working on as a Fashion Assistant - which involves me writing two feature articles and helping out on things like fashion photo shoots and the general organisation of the launch party (expected to be in June / July).
i certainly don't have much faith in new year's resolutions, but in the future i am trying really hard to beef up my resume with relevant fashion work / industry experience.
the meeting seemed really promising, and i'm really looking forward to the final outcome. the whole project is still under wraps, but i'm sure i will be promoting it on here in a little while :)

on a different note, i went on a crazy music acquiring spree tonight. extremely varied:
Alexander Ebert - truth
Bloc Party - flux
Bobby Vinton - PS i love you
Chet Faker - no diggity (cover)
Dean Martin - welcome to my world
Etta James - trust in me
Frank Sinatra - what'll i do
Friendly Fires - skeleton boy
Groove Armada - paper romance
Jay-Z + Kanye - Otis
Karnivool - deadman
Lana Del Rey - video games
Last Dinosaurs - zoom
Little Dragon - my step / ritual union
Mark Ronson - hey boy / lose it in the end / record collection / you gave me nothing
Metronomy - the look
Queen - don't stop me now
Real Estate - its real
Roy Orbison - shahdaroba
The Rubens - lay it down
SBTRKT - wildfire (ft. Little Dragon)
Simon & Garfunkel - Bleecker Street
Unkle - burn my shadow
Vic Damone - on the street where you live
Wilfred Jackal - rooms
Young the Giant - apartment
Zero 7 - medicine man / Mr. McGee / swing

+ in true Christmas spirit, i made a batch of Nuts + Bolts snacks today (and ate far too much).
+ yesterday i picked up some fabulously trashy reading while Christmas shopping - an Anna Wintour pseudo-'biography', a book on Wikileaks by one of the original founders and a millionth 'how to run a fashion business' book to add to my growing collection (i am of the opinion that you can never get too much advice / different opinions).

apartment

Australia Day is one of my favourite moments in the entire year. it's incredibly difficult for all of my close friends to get together in one place and at a single time, though Australia Day provides a super fun platform for this as my Townsville and Brisbane uni friends meet half way and come home to Mackay to join those that are still living there.

i've been following Triple J less and less religiously since i was about 14, so my Hottest 100 voting shortlist only consists of around 15-25 songs these days.
this year, my vote involved the following 10 songs from 2011:
Ball Park Music - all i want is you
Cold War Kids - royal blue
James Blake - the wilhelm scream
Jay-Z + Kanye West - Otis {ft. Otis Redding}
The Jungle Giants - Mr polite
Lana Del Rey - video games
Little Dragon - ritual union
Metronomy - the look
Mr Little Jeans - the suburbs
Theophilus London - why even try {ft. Sara Quin}

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there is a quote that i've been loving for about 6 months now. it's really relevant to where i am at in my life at the moment.
super strange - it popped up on two different blogs that i follow within the last week:
'nobody tell this to people who are beginners. i wish someone had told me.
all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. but there is this gap. for the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. it's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not.
but your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. and your taste is why your work disappoints you. a lot of people never get past this phase; they quit. most people i know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this.
we know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have. we all go through this.
and if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta known that it's normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work.
put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece. it's only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.
and i took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone i've ever met. it's going to take a while. it's normal to take a while. you've just gotta fight your way through.'
- Ira Glass

first of all, you should give up the act of being a professionally confused person

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'life,' i say, 'is nonlinear, Mother.''
- p94
'men used to lock women up in asylumns because the woman wanted to wear trousers or because they decided they didn't want to be good Christian matrons anymore. the definition of sanity changes every day.'
- p194, Stigmata - Phyllis Perry

'memento mori' is a Latin phrase translated as 'remember your mortality', 'remember you must die' or 'remember you will die'.
it names a genre of artistic work which varies widely, but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their own mortality. the phrase has a tradition in art that dates back to antiquity.

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Lady Grey jewellery

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'..ships that pass in the night and neither acknowledge nor recognise one another.'
- p14
'whether we like it or not, we are slaves to the hour in all its forms and colours, we are the subjects of heaven and earth.'
- p14
'with an enormous effort i rise from my seat only to find that i still seeme to be carrying it around with me, only now it's even heavier because it's become the seat of my own subjectivity.'
- p22
'one of my constant preoccupations is trying to understand how it is that other people exist, how it is that there are souls other than mine and consciousness not my own, which, because it is a consciousness, seems to be unique.'
- p29
'yes, we will all pass, everything will pass. nothing will remain of the person who put on feelings and gloves, who talked about death and local politics.'
- p65
'physically he looks like a worn-out businessman. the signs of weariness on his face could as easily come from leading an unhealthy life as from thinking to much. his voice is a little slurred as if a general paralysis were beginning to attack that particular manifestation of his soul, a soul that expressed views on party politics, the devaluation of the escudo and the more despicable aspects of his colleagues in greatness.'
- p111
'everything is absurd. one man spends his life earning money which he then saves even though he has no children to leave it to nor any hope that a heaven somewhere will offer him a divine reward. another puts all his effforts into becoming famous so that he will be remembered once dead, yet he does not believe in a survival of the soul that would give him knowledge of that fame. yet another wears himself out looking for things he doesn't even like. then there is the man who..'
- p112
'as an ironic spectator of myself, i have never lost my interest in observing life. an now, knowing beforehand that each tentative hope will be crushed, i suffer the special pleasure of enjoying the disillusion together with the pain, a bittersweetness in which the sweetness predominates.
the fate of being unable to desire without knowing beforehand that i will not be granted my desire, has pursued me like some malign creature.
whenever i see the figure of a young girl in the street and just for a moment wonder, however idly, how it would be if she were mine, every time, just ten paces on from my daydream, that girl meets a man who is obviously her husband or her lover. a romantic would make a tragedy of this, a stranger a comedy; i, however, mix the two things, for i am both a romantic and a stranger to myself, and i simply turn the page to enjoy the next irony.'
- p138, The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa

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[Fashion Editors] have the most incredible legs and wear black so well. also they live in heels, so its like seeing gazelles on tiptoes.

a trip to Suitcase Rummage and afternoon pancakes

today i made a very budget attempt to get festive into the Chrismukkah Bar-Mitz-Vahkah season by stringing up my only Oxfam / Austrian Christmas decorations..

wow. guy survives a PLANE CRASH only to kill himself with crack. fragile stuff

some pretty festive treats:

WeWood watch, Poppies for Grace lolly bags, recycled cardboard Christmas wreath, banksia coaster - all from Biome

'the trick is to find that unique balance between what you love and what you study. ultimately this should be the same thing, like perhaps you enjoy watching movies and subtly analysing different filmmaking techniques, so why not study creative industries? or maybe you love those delicious burgers from Grill’d, so maybe there is a future in cooking for you? so, coming from someone who is right in the midst of it all, i know that the only thing that is motivating me through all the late nights, tough assignments and not-so-good times is the fact i know i really love this. and i’m going to be doing this for a long time to come.'
via


'...be able to afford TAFE or University, do it and give it all you have. now that i have finished university i still attend as many creative conferences, forums iand networking events as i can. i find that every time i speak to someone new I pick up a new useful piece of information that makes my business venture take a new turn or enriches my life! subsequently, if you were in the shoes of a student (or someone who is currently at a very early stages of their professional development), what advice do you have for, in Karen Walker’s words, 'Fashion designers who are currently studying':
‘the chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want right now’ – Zig Ziglar. be prepared for a lot of hard work, but stay focused – you can achieve your fashion dreams!'

there is very little that you can do to comfort yourself. at best, find someone to love, read Carl Sagan, and get out of your house before 10 AM every day. at worst, sleep. it's okay.

trip to Paul Dempsey @ The Zoo


6 word short stories:
- for sale: baby shoes, never worn (Ernest Hemingway)
- machine. unexpectedly, i’d invented a time (Alam Moore)
- lie detector eyeglasses perfected. civilisation collapses (Richard Powers)
- the baby’s blood type? human, mostly (Orson Scott Card)
- longed for him. got him. shit (Margaret Atwood)
- epitaph: foolish humans, never escaped Earth (Vernor Vinge)

what reason do you have to believe the earth is flat? a round Earth would roll away

FCUK dress before QUT Fine Arts (Fashion) student graduate show

(i always have weirdly fun ringlets just before going to bed, or in any other inconvenient situation - never when i need them)

seriously old Forever New dress

optic verve

'i just crave something warm, masculine that would give me a strong modern silhouette. i love how Clémence Poésy wears her clothes, always wrapped in a big scarf with a perfectly soft t-shirt. she embodies ease in dressing for me, simple pieces made interesting by perfect proportions and attention to detail. this is something i strive for in my dressing. i have this problem every year, i just find summer dressing too difficult, i have never been a summer dresser, i tend to find the fashions that are on offer too simple for my taste.'
- Everything and Nothingness blog

'particularly witty was a sporty collection from Kye which, playing on proportion, drew on a body-building aesthetic that transpired through the garment's details - so pockets became pecs and what would otherwise be cutesy jumpers depicted the wearer's insides. and we particularly liked Levi Palmer's cool and calm take on the cowboy with a Western-inspired collection of menswear in a pastel palette.'
- Vogue UK re Central Saint Martins BA (Hons) Fashion show 2009

Norman McLaren's 'Pas de Deux' (1968):


to do:
- GIFT IDEAS: a tree (any kind, but must be ones that you can have at your house) / stationery (eg. personalised) / a pack of Chanel eye masks / black Wolford 'Velvet De Luxe' tights / sterling silver Parker pen / wine or champagne glasses / jewellery / DIY jam or chutney / ask friends to guess their favourite song – made a compilation CD / personal soaps / (flavoured) tea / roses (varieties)
- source seasalt hair spray (DIY?)
- styleportfolio.com / juanvidal.net / artdesignfashion.com/portfolio + artdesignfashion.com/textile / twitter(?)
- youtube Sunn 0))) – belulrol pusztit part ½ + blog images
- find a signature fragrance
- General Pants 'Bubble' site
- 4th dimension

last year i had a dream that my partner (in crime + lrv) had Miu Miu pajama pants – the dog print

(i) improvised work uniform - its hard to cater for scorching outside temperatures + icycle-inducing interior ones (Wrap me in Vintage pullover, Portmans skirt) / (ii) play uniform for some post office + home cleaning duties - i can't wait to wear this dress to the beach, its a little difficult to balance the silhouette out with anything on the bottom half, but it is way too inappropriately short at the back to wear in public (Therese Rawsthorne dress, Forever 21 pants)

(iii) same old - for a groceries trip (Karen Walker button-up, shorts from Garnsis boutique)

'Olivia listened to every word a person said, valuding each statement equally. for me, this was disconcerting, as most things i said were not worth thinking about at all, just filling in the air around our heads. but Olivia listened to conversation the way some people read the Bible, attributing to each separate trivial word a sacred importance.'
– p5, Ursula Dubosarsky – Black Sails White Sails

to cool a hot attitude, apply nice / to melt a cool attitude, address warmly

'i don’t know whether this film is simply a reflection of poor editing and/or creative direction, but i found this to be a very self-indulgent piece on behalf of Cathy Horan. if one puts forth the the question, what is the role of a journalist? then ultimately, at its most basic crux, it is to ask and inquire and present the facts. instead of an inspiring 5 minute film on Sarah and McQueen, it was a part homage to Cathy’s current view of fashion. this wasn’t a critical opinion piece so therefore the point of view of the journalist becomes much less important. it’s not their voice we want to hear, it’s the subject’s. and in this case Sarah’s perspective on her own work certainly got lost in part of a little bit of preaching.'
- re: What Would McQueen Do? @ BOF
amen.

my kind of jewellery (Delfina Delettrez via her website, Yoox, Opening Ceremony):



The Essentials according to Tom Ford:
1. the perfect pair of dark denim jeans
2. a sense of humour
3. a daily read of an intelligent online newspaper
4. good manners
5. Aanail clipper
6. tweezers
7. magnifying mirror
8. a beautiful toothbrush
9. a bottle of mouthwash
10. a good cologne that becomes a signature
11. a well-cut dark suit
12. a pair of classic black lace-up shoes
13. black loafers
14. a blazer
15. lots of crisp white cotton shirts
16. always new socks and underwear - throw the old ones away every six months
17. a classic tuxedo
18. a beautiful day watch with a metal band
19. a beautiful evening watch with a leather strap
20. the perfect sunglasses
21. a good bed, crisp sheets, down pillows, and a down duvet
22. perfect teeth - if you don’t have them, save up and have them fixed

glossary / anonymity

via Reddit:
- all the quotes preteen girls write on Facebook about 'being a woman':
'girls are like cell phones, they like to be held and talked to, but press the wrong button and you're disconnected. guys are like buses, if you miss that one, another will be along soon.'
shit like that
= girls are like cell phones, they have a 2 year contract and by the end you wondered why you ever wanted that phone in the first place
= -cough- pay-as-you-go -cough-
- 'love is like a butterfly. let it go, and if it comes back to you, then it was meant to be.'
= ..what?
= butterfly wings added to inventory
- 'laugh as much as you breathe'
= although you might end up with ripped abs, you would also suffer insomnia, be disregarded as a nutcase, and ultimately become terribly depressed, which would comopletely go against the 'meaning' of the quote. this shit is just poorly thought out.

2006:
serendipity in my frontyard:

2007:

student festival of fashion:


what is colour?
'an intensity, a temperature, a clash, a harmony'
and how do you use it?
'when it asks'
what is black?
'an absence, a presence, a mood, a mantle'
what is red?
'a blush, a flush, a fever, a command'
what is skin?
'a protection'
what is fabric?
'a medium'
what is texture?
'a result of time'

2009:
Thiepval Memorial grounds, France:


sitting on the side of a stage watching a friend perform:

a friend's surprise birthday at the harbour:


what is construction?
'a means to an end'
what is function?
'a reply to a need'
what is art?
'a need to reply'
what is craftsmanship?
'a fruit of time'
what is clothing?
'the final layer'
what is fashion?
'a series of propositions'
what is recycling?
'another chance'
how does recycling fit into your work?
'by nature'
how does a concept develop at Maison Martin Margiela?
'time, a question, a reply'
how does a concept develop at Hermes?
'time, another question, another reply'
what would you like to develop? besides clothing?
'an understanding'
what words do you live by?
'we'
- Maison Martin Margiela for View on Colour, 04/02/1998

anyone who says something to the effect of 'living life to the fullest'..i know they pretty much live their life to the mediumest at best

Polari is a form of slang used in Britain by actors, circus and fairground showmen, criminals, prostitutes, and by the gay subculture. there is some debate about its origins, but it can be traced back to at least the 19th century, and possibly the 16th century.
eg.:
ajax - nearby (from adjacent?) / barney - a fight / bijou - small/little (French word for "jewell") / bona nochy — goodnight (from Italian "buona notte") / buvare - a drink (from Italian "bere" or old-fashioned Italian "bevere") / cats - trousers / cove - friend / dally - kind / meese - ugly (from Yiddish "meeiskeit") / meshigener - crazy / naff - awful / vogue - cigarette / zhoosh - style hair

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Leonardo da Vinci's to-do list:
- **the measurement of Milan & suburbs*
- a book that treats of Milan & its churches, which is to be had at the stationer's on the way to Cordusio
- the measurement of the Corte Vecchio (the courtyard in the Duke's palace)
+ the measurement of the Castello (the Duke's palace itself)
- *get Messea Fazio (a professor of medicine & law in Pavia) to show you about proportion
- *get the Brera Friar (at the Benedictine Monastery in Milan) to show you De Ponderibus (a Medieval text on mechanics)
- Giannino, the Bombardier, re. the means by which the Tower of Ferrara is walled without loopholes (!?!)
- ask Benedetto Portinari (a Florentine merchant) by what means they go on ice in Flanders??*
- *draw Milan*
- *ask Maestro Antonio how mortars are positioned on bastions by day or night
- the crossbow of Maestro Gianetto
- *find a master of hydraulics and get him to tell you how to repair a lock, canal and mill in the Lombard Mannersun
- the measurement of the sun, promised me by Maestro Giovanni Francese
- *try to get Vitolone (the Medieval author of a text on optics) which is in the library at Pavia, which deals with the mathematic

the front section of the magazine is a feast of encounters, experiments, recommendations and reviews, with some fashion suggestions, a revelatory horoscope and other facets that both educate and entertain

i've always wanted a peg leg. it's a boyhood thing i never grew out of. no, i'm not being flippant. i mean, i've given this a lot of thought. if you have a peg leg or hooks for hands, you know, maybe it's enough to simply carry on living, you know, bravely facing life with your disability; it's heroic just to survive. but without these things, you're actually expected to make something of your life, achieve something, earn a raise, wear a necktie. so if anything, i'm actually the antithesis of Ahab because if i did have a peg leg i'd quite possibly be more happy, more content and not feel the need to chase after these creatures of the unknown.
- X-Files 'Quagmire' S03E22

'..for the marjority of people, marriage-ending conversations happen only once, if at all. if you choose to conduct yours on a mobile phone, in a Leeds car park, then you cannot really claim that it is unrepresentative, in the same way that Lee Harvey Oswald couldn't really claim that shooting presidents wasn't like him at all. sometimes we have to be judged by our one-offs.'
- p1
''why don't you play Cluedo with us, Mummy?'
and i do, until tea time. and after tea, we play Junior Scrabble. we are the ideal nuclear family. we eat together, we play improving board games instead of watching television, we smile a lot. i fear at any moment i may kill somebody.'
- p64, How to be Good - Nick Hornby

'when i look back, i think that being a little naive was actually a positive thing, because i had no fear. sometimes, when you know too much, you can overdo it.'
- p32, Phillip Lim
some people caution against going out on your own too early, but you had a big job at a young age. do you think, under certain circumstances, it's okay to skip a long apprenticeship? and how do you compensate for it?
'yes. look at Proenza Schouler. those guys totally have a grasp of their craft, but they're still learning, and you can see it in the way they push themselves every season. Zac Posen is the same way. there's nothing wrong with being young and successful, and young people sometimes have a better way of looking at the world.'
- p39, Patrick Robinson: Gap's Head Designer, The Teen Vogue Handbook


'when you're growing up in a small town, you don't know that the rest of the world isn't like that. i had no reason to leave Yorkshire; i wasn't trying to get away - i just knew i wanted to see more of life.
i'd never felt particularly British. but the funny thing about spending a long time abroad is that it makes you feel more British.
overseas, people know the English accent if you sound like David Niven, but if you don't sound like that, as far as they're concerned, you coud be Australian. so you spend a lot of time talking about where you come from. you're almost giving yourself a crash course in who you are. you get more of a sense of yourself, somehow, than you had when you were back home, surrounded by people who are similar to you.'
- p39, Harland Miller: Artist and Author
'my father often used to talk about that old proverb, 'even a stopped clock is right twice a day'. in other words, everybody you meet has something to teach you - if you take the trouble to find it. the most unlikely person can enlighten your life. that's tremendously important for the self-worth of the people you meet, as well as your own.
there are all sorts of ways in which we're not equal, but we are all equal in what we can strive for. when i interviewed Senator Robert Kennedy back in 1968 - the last interview he gave before his assassination - i asked him how he would like to be remembered. he replied, 'well, there is a line of Albert Camus that says, 'this is a world in which children suffer.' i'd like to have made a contribution to lessening that suffering.' Kennedy spoke a lot about making a contribution. he used to say, 'for if we do not do this, then who will do this?' it's so simple: if you have a talent, you have a duty to use it to the full.
making a contribution and making a difference - they should be linked - is not only something that famous people can do, or that dead politicians can be quoted on. it is something that everyone can do in their own lives..'
- p41, Sir David Frost: Broadcaster and Producer
things to hate - CUM-an iritating form of speech:
a moratorium must be imposed on the artist-cum-musican. the hotel-cum-gallery, and the pub-cum-restaurant. simply, on CUM. this three-letter preposition-cum-conjunction has stolen the limelight from the once omnipotent slash (eg. model/actor). linguistically, CUM is the latin word for 'with', as in 'magna cum laude'. in colloquial English, it has taken the form of either preposition of conjunction. the conjunction form suffers the most abuse. recent outings include: bass-cum-keystar, boxer-cum-carpet cleaner, and cum-technology-cum-ecology - as found in The Guardian, of all places. by retiring CUM and saying what one actually means, sentences will find themselves inherently more handsome.
- p70
how would you describe society in New York?
'there's something about the density of it. the fact that its density produces a kind of care and concern and emotional investment in every aspect of the urban fabric in a way that doesn't happen in any other American city. it's still a city that's remarkably easy to get around in. you're pushed together with so many different kinds of people. there's the immense diversity, and at the same time the ability to run into people you know throughout the course of your day in different parts of town. no matter how much New York changes, it feels somehow aunthentic to itself.'
- p217, Peter Eleey, Fantastic Man magazine SS11

note: do not take lemon polenta cake out of oven prematurely or it will collapse

some aural memories from my sister's Austrian wedding:

unexpected wedding bells upon arrival at the tiny village chuch


schnee

a special song sung at the reception by our Austrian friends

+ some from my 2008 ANZAZ / Gallipoli trip:

ANZAC Cove ish as seen from the diggers' perspective

a busker on the Paris Metro train

a dawn hymn amplified throughout the town during Ramadan

local Trappist monks (in hoodies!) singing a surprise Gregorian-chant-like hymn at an Ieper/Ypres evening last post ceremony

a saxophone busker at the Paris Metro station

the 100 most beautiful words in the English language

ailurophile (lover of cats) / assemblage / becoming / beleaguer (exhaust with attacks) / brood / bucolic (in a rural setting) / bungalow / chatoyant (like a cat’s eye) / comely / conflate (blend together) / cynosure (focal point of admiration) / dalliance / demesne (territory) / demure / denouement (resolution of a mystery) / desuetude / desultory (slow) / diaphanous (translucent) / dissemble (deceive) / dulcet / ebullience (enthusiasm) / effervescent / efflorescence (blooming) / elision (dropping a syllable in a word) / elixir / eloquence / embrocation (applying lotion) / emollient (a softener) / ephemeral / epiphany / erstwhile (former) / ethereal / evanescent / evocative / fetching / Felicity / forbearance (withholding response to provocatio) / fugacious (fleeting) / furtive / gambol (leap playfully) / glamour / gossamer (a spider’s silk) / halcyon / harbinger / imbrication (forming a regular pattern) / imbroglio (altercation) / imbue / incipient / ineffable / ingénue / inglenook (cozy nook by a fireplace) / insouciance (indifference) / inure (become jaded) / labyrinthine / lagniappe (an extra gift) / lagoon / languor (inactivity) / lassitude (weariness) / leisure / lilt / lissome (slender) / lithe / love / mellifluous (sweet sounding) / moiety (one of two equal parts) / mondegreen (a slip of the ear) / murmurous / nemesis / offing (the sea between the horizon and the offshore) / onomatopoeia / opulent / palimpsest (a manuscript written over earlier ones) / panacea (a solution for all problems) / panoply (a complete set) / pastiche / penumbra (a half-shadow) / petrichor (the smell of earth after rain) / plethora / propinquity (an inclination) / pyrrhic (successful with heavy losses) / quintessential / ratatouille / ravel / eedolent (fragrant) / riparian (streamside) / ripple / scintilla (a tiny trace) / sempiternal (eternal) / seraglio (harem) / serendipity / summery / sumptuous / surreptitious / susquehanna (Pennsylvanian river) / susurrous (whispering) / talisman tintinnabulation (tinkling) / umbrella / untoward (unseemly) / vestigial (in trace amounts) / wafture (waving) / wherewithal / woebegone

to do list: bloomers

fortunately, i had my second last exam yesterday and decided on complete comfort while getting dressed.
unfortunately, the Chanel opening was the same day and as i resembled a boy / my outfit pretty rural-looking, i didn't allow myself to go near.


my noticeboard at the moment:

Bloglovin

i have finally gotten around to signing up for Bloglovin - you can follow me here
i have finally gotten around to signing up for Bloglovin - you can follow me here
i have finally gotten around to signing up for Bloglovin - you can follow me here

get amongst it, kitten

'so often it’s the case that when two people get together to create, if they're on a similar wavelength, the results are much greater than they would have been otherwise. in essence, a great conversation is an example of collaboration, so is parenting..car-pooling even. collaboration is a word which is bandied around a lot, but if you have a look at your own life, i’m sure you’ll see loads of examples of where it makes all the difference'
- Dumbo Feather Magazine

'i wanted to write modern love songs, sing all kinds of love – old love, young love, complicated love, happy love, sad love, carnal love, yearning love, hanging-on love, hanging-in love, out-of-control love, love gone wrong, love pretty right, love between friends, love among families, love of hime, love of the unknown, love of clan, love of enemies, love of drinking, love of oblivion, love of pain.
it seemed to me that any love story between a man and a women (or boy and girl) always had more than two people involved. in real life there were exes, rivals, children, stepchildren, sibligns parents, in-laws, friends. my songs began to get crowded.'
– p143
'Other Reasons to Live (Besides the Ones You Love):
Act Three of Der Rosenkavalier / Bondi Beach / Cezanne’s watercolours / Elvis, twenty years old, singing ‘Blue Moon’ / kicking the football in dying autumn light / 'Ode to Nightingale’ / rain on the roof / roast lamb with rosemary and garlic / the first beer after hard work'
– p50
'Nonna gave me a great piece of advice. she told me to breathe in and out slowly and deeply if i was nervous before going onstage. i use this all of the time. so far my voice was held up well, though i still have a ways to go yet. Nonna was knocking ‘em dead in the nursing home with ‘Ave Maria’ in her nineties. she was practically running the place by then. i suppose one shouldn’t say ‘knocking ‘em dead in the nursing home’. but that just about sums it up.
strange to say, over the years i’ve become a bit of a crooner.'
– p253, Paul Kelly - How to Make Gravy

i can certainly appreciate the ridiculous aspects (ie everything) of the Sex and the City seasons / movies

..and yet they are my guilty pleasure to a T.

however, in saying all of that, the following article made me giggle and nod my head in agreement.
someone had to say it:

'Sex and the City 2 takes everything that i hold dear as a woman and as a human — working hard, contributing to society, not being an entitled c*** like it’s my job — and rapes it to death with a stiletto that costs more than my car. it is 146 minutes long, which means that i entered the theater in the bloom of youth and emerged with a family of field mice living in my long, white mustache.
let us start with the 'plot.'

Carrie Bradshaw: at the end of the first SATC movie (2008) — after eleventy decades of chasing his emotionally abusive jowls through the streets of Manhattan — Carrie finally marries Mr. Big, the man of her shallow, self-obsessed dreams. it has now been two years since their nuptials. Carrie already hates it. she hates that he sits on the couch. she hates that he eats noodles out of a take-out box. she hates that he wants to spend quality time with her in their incredibly expensive and gaudy apartment. she hates that he bought her an enormous television. when Big suggests that they spend a couple of days a week in separate apartments (they own TWO apartments, because life is hard!), Carrie screeches, 'is this because i’m a bitch wife who nags you?' congratulations. you have answered your own question.

Miranda Redhairlawyerface: Miranda is a lawyer who has red hair. she also has a child. as a working woman, Miranda is forced to miss every single one of her child’s incessant science fairs (as though children know anything of science!). also, her lawyer boss is a cartoon dick. Miranda quits her job, and everyone is much happier. this is because women should not work. It is terrible for the children.

Charlotte Goldsteinjewyjewsomethingsomethingblatt: life for Charlotte is unbelievably difficult. as a wealthy stay-at-home mom with two children and a live-in, full-time nanny, she sometimes has to bake cupcakes! also, one time her little child got finger paint on a piece of vintage cloth. therefore, Charlotte cannot stop crying. 'how do the women without help do it?' Charlotte (crying) asks Miranda. 'i have no fucking idea,' Miranda replies. then they toast their disgusting glasses of pink syrup. to 'them.' to the 'women without help.'

Samantha Jones: we are never to speak of this.

in order to escape their various imaginary problems, our intrepid foursome traipses off to dark, exotic Abu Dhabi ('i’ve always been fascinated by the Middle East — desert moons, Scheherazade, magic carpets!'). when they arrive, Carrie, because she is a professional writer, announces, 'oh, Toto - i don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore!' each woman is immediately assigned an extra from Disney’s Aladdin to spoon-feed her warm cinnamon milk in their $22,000-per-night hotel suite. things seem to be going great. but very quickly, the SATC brain trust notices that it’s not all swarthy man-slaves and flying carpets in Abu Dhabi! in fact, Abu Dhabi is crawling with Muslim women—and not one of them is dressed like a super-liberated diamond-encrusted fucking clown!!! oppression! OPPRESSION!!!

this will not stand. Samantha, being the prostitute sexual revolutionary that she is, rages against the machine by publicly grabbing the engorged penis of a man she dubs 'Lawrence of My-Labia.' when the locals complain (having repeatedly asked Samantha to cover her nipples and mons pubis in the way of local custom), Samantha removes most of her clothes in the middle of the spice bazaar, throws condoms in the faces of the angry and bewildered crowd, and screams, 'I AM A WOMAN! I HAVE SEX!' thus, traditional Middle Eastern sexual mores are upended and sexism is stoned to death in the town square.

at sexism’s funeral (which takes place in a mysterious, incense-shrouded chamber of international sisterhood), the women of Abu Dhabi remove their black robes and veils to reveal — this is not a joke — the same hideous, disposable, criminally expensive shreds of cloth and feathers that hang from Carrie et al.’s emaciated goblin shoulders. Muslim women: under those craaaaaaay-zy robes, they’re just as vapid and obsessed with physical beauty and meaningless material concerns as us! feminism! f*** yeah!

if this is what modern womanhood means, then just veil me and sew up all my holes.'
- via

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i am probably the last Brisbane blogger to finally purchase a Joshua Hall 'helix' cuff, though i'm super glad that i did. it seems to balance out super-feminine looks so that they are slightly more digestible.
though i fear i have some sort of ear deformity as i find it quite uncomfortable..does anyone else find this?

XXXXXXXX

+ further,
'if you were stranded, or homeless, or if the house burnt down, what’s the one thing you’d keep? it’s a great question. it’s a question that leads to so much whittling down of things. once you whittle down, where do you stop? artist Susan Mullaly posed the question to a bunch of people in Waco Texas and photographed the results. many are homeless or disenfranchised, for various reasons.
Fred Albreight is a homeless carpenter:
'i pick up stuffed animals all the time, i got a truck in here too. i found him, this little dog in a dumpster down in the projects in the South Side while i was pickin’ up cans. the reason i picked it up is because whenever i see a little child i give it to him. that’s why i collect them.'
- via

1.5 hours

'i am woman, hear me smile. i like to paint my nails and shave my legs, and i wear a bra because God gave me a decent pair and i want them to stay up. i like wearing shoes, preferably toe-numbingly tall ones, and dread the day my podiatrist tells me that enough is enough. i take great pride in cooking, and hunger for the sated smiles of dinner guests.
when a man opens the door for me, i thank him for his kindness. i cry at soppy movies and snuggle into my husband. yes, i'm married. i want to share my life.
i worked as a lawyer, on a political campaign and in PR. so far i know i'm an advocate, my drug of choice is the adrenaline of purpose, and i'm a storyteller.
the point is that i have choices. and i didn't get them by chance. they are my inheritance from the pioneering warriors of generations past. there is so much to thank them for. i watch Joan and Peggy cop grubby office come-ons daily on Mad Men and it's as alien to me as Battlestar Galactica. when i say no, it means fuck off or you'll go to prison.
i delight in the privacy of a polling booth and don't give two hoots how my husband, dad or brothers vote.
i felt not pressure to marry other than the persistent drumbeat of my heart and the certainty of my head. i kept my maiden name and it was unremarkable. i've opened bank accounts, borrowed money and invested it unchaperoned.
if i choose to study law but decide that the profession is not for me, that's as okay for me as it would be for my brothers. if i choose to get married and move overseas for my husband's work, write books about politics and shoe porn, take time off work to have kids, that's okay too.
my generation sees equal opportunity as the norm because of the work hers did, but i don't want to lose my gender in her ongoing agenda. why mimic maleness? i wear make-up because i like to, not because men expect me to. that's the same reason why i covet the stylings of Messers Louboutin, Dolce and Gabbana. it's why i put thought into form-fitting garments that flatter my figure.
veterans, please know that when we wear our sex on our sleeve it is not because we are ungrateful, it's because we revel every day in the spoils of your victory. in choosing to be and do whoever and whatever we want, we honour you. thanks to you, when a little girl puts on a pink dress it doesn't diminish her.'
- sections from 'Lipstick Feminism' - Jessica Rudd, p.161 Vogue Australia December 2011

XXXXXXXX

Laneway Festival is approaching once again, and while i'm not sure how i feel about the lineup this year (well, in 2012), Harvest Festival is well and truly on my to-do list (though ticket still not purchased). regardless, here is a blurred happy snap of a friend and i pre-Laneway last / this year:

wearing Karen Walker button-up

+ i have been thoroughly appreciating old Freaks & Geeks episodes / Margherita Missoni's style lately.

+ before a friend's 19th birthday in early August of this year:

well, this isnt ideal

though the majority of my assessment is done and dusted, i still have two exams lying ahead of me before November reaches it's midpoint.
one is for economics and one for a statistics subject - both of which are compulsory and that i equally loathe. it is so hard to concentrate when i am so disinterested, and there is just so much of an information overload with economics..i am retaining nothing because my mind is always elsewhere.

i keep finding myself having 'fashion' breaks in which i delve into reinvigorating imagery to keep my mind alert and buzzing. almost like a sugar hit.



+ speaking of which, i'm thinking of cutting down on my sugar intake to an amount scraping zero in order to boost energy levels / control my cravings / avoid afternoon brain lapses, but i don't know if i have the motivation to change some staples, and to cut down on my fruit intake (initially, at least, in the detox stage). hmmmmmmmmm.


i wish this apartment had a bathtub.

tomorrow i will have words

words that don’t exist in the English language:
- L’esprit d’escalier (French) – the feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you think of all the things you should have said; translated it means 'the spirit of the staircase'
- Waldeinsamkeit (German) – the feeling of being alone in the woods
- Meraki (Greek) – doing something with soul, creativity, or love
- Forelsket (Norwegian) – the euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love
- Gigil (Filipino) – the urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute
- Pochemuchka (Russian) – a person who asks a lot of questions
- Pena ajena (Mexican Spanish) – the embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation
- Cualacino (Italian) – the mark left on a table by a cold glass
- Ilunga (Tshiluba, Congo) – a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time

my fashion studies in 2012

up until now i have been two parts completely nervous and one part excited for my debut fashion studio subject at uni next year. up until now my subjects have been purely theoretical. i will be taking a fashion illustration course next semester as well.
the studio subjects are about 12 contact hours per week for 2 years..and in fourth year that increases to about 20 hours per week ! insanse.

i remembered this promotional video made with this year's QUT Fine Arts (Fashion) students (i haven't yet done studio as my double degree structure is slightly different, and so if you simultaneously study Business + Fashion, you do not do any practical work until the 3rd semester).
in any other context, the exciting factors that are mentioned such as the distinct family vibes that develop over the teaching period, and the creative / open atmosphere, would seem to be a cheesy marketing ploy..to my cynical self at least.
but i've seen people graduate from these courses, and i have seen / heard how much they value the relationships that they have formed during their time studying.

+ so after re-watching this video, i have become less nervous about my self-taught skills, and just thankful that i was offered a place, amongst the few others that were.:



bring on 2012.

the revolution will not be televised / can we steer away from the whole picking up on other people's grammar thing..internet discussions just turn stupid when this happens

Triple J Unearthed and the Great Monopolisation of Australian Music:

'so it has arrived — Triple J's new Unearthed digital radio station. as pitched by the Jster's, this is a fantastic and groundbreaking new exponent for up-and-coming Australian artists whereby their unsigned wares can be broadcasted to the nation. it's so easy, you just upload a song or two and then (if you're handpicked by one of The J Team) you'll find some spins on Unearthed Radio before — fingers crossed — you'll go on to graduate to the big league and get played on Triple J. a positive idea in theory for those bands out there seeking that ever elusive 'break', but the question that must be posed — is this a healthy development for the Australian music industry? and the answer in this writer's opinion is absolutely not.

more often than not Triple J is the make-or-break medium in this country for Australian bands and artists. you hit the high rotation on the J's and you will quickly find queues outside your show at the OAF, rather than twenty mates peppered around the room hoping you finish in time for them to go and get a New York Slice. perhaps unfortunately, this is just the way it is and has been for some time.

you might think that having a relative monopoly over our national music airwaves might be enough, however a new beast has been developed by Triple J in the form of Unearthed Radio and along with it they have all but issued a memo stating — 'if you're an up and coming Australian band who doesn't arrive to us through our Unearthed system you can pretty much get farked cause we ain't playing your music'. it can barely be argued that this isn't the gauntlet being thrown down when you think about it. can anyone name any Australian bands that have come through JJJ and into prominence in the last few years that haven't been 'unearthed'? now think about then how much emphasis this must mean that bands and labels etc. are generally placing on Unearthed and hence what implications this has for our Australian music scene.

creating a system like this surely raises issues relating to market ownership and monopolisation, which are concepts that when related to a creative outlet (or just about anything for that matter) become dangerous ones. furthermore, isn't operating with this 'if we don't find them and we don't own them, then we're not interested' mentality when it comes to supporting new Australian music also effectively a slap in the face to everyone else operating in the Australian music industry? where is the role for A&R guys/gals, labels, management, agents etc. in terms of discovery if the only Australian bands that are going to rise to national airplay are pretty much categorically going to come through Unearthed? doesn't this just create an even more apathetic climate in an industry that should be synonymous with creativity and forward thinking?

a lot of questions but at the end of the day what Triple J are trying to do through the guise of 'Unearthed' is to create a system whereby they can take ownership over emerging Australian musical talent. and so perhaps the most poignant question to ask is why? why as a branch of the ABC and so in theory an objective organisation, are they trying to say to young Australian artists that the only way forward is by signing up to Unearthed and complying with their way of doing things? market share is one viable reason, but surely as a Government funded station that doesn't need to sell ad space, this is not the only motivator.

Triple J say that Unearthed Radio is innovative and intends to create a platform for unsigned and uncashed bands to deliver their music to the world, and in some respects it achieves this function. however, after all is said and done this function is grossly unnecessary and has so far only succeeded in turning much of the Australian music scene into an overblown battle o' the bands to be adjudicated by the self-proclaimed 'King' (yes I know it's part of his name but it's still self-aggrandising and lame given his position) and his sidekicks.

the biggest mistake you could make as a band uploading your tunes to Unearthed is to think that you are subjecting your material to an open forum, where if your work is truly great you will succeed in getting it on the radio. on the contrary, you are subjecting yourself to the opinions of a select few Triple J staffers who, given their track records in 'discovering great Aussie bands', have at best extremely questionable taste. of course, musical opinion is always a murky habitat, but, Art Vs Science, Washington, Little Red etc. let's be honest, the gaze seems more transfixed on the middle of the mediocre freeway rather than on the hunt for the next Avalanches or The Drones. further on the point of taste; why is a 50 year old man the designated 'tastemaker' for our national youth broadcaster anyway?

the real tragedy of the whole 'Unearthed' brand is that in the likely scheme of things it has only just begun. the scary reality is that the cycle will more than likely snowball as new bands become more and more dependent on Triple J Unearthed to push them to a national audience.

or, in a far less likely development, maybe it'll finally drive a deserved tidal wave of negative sentiment from artists and the remaining industry alike into the offices of Triple J before everyone goes ahead and turns their attention to those peeps actually on the hunt for interesting new music (See FBI Radio, RRR, PBS etc). wishful thinking huh?

nowhere else in the world is there a system like this — where the one avenue really does determine the make-or-break point for bands and that in itself is a pretty nasty concept, only exacerbated by the fact that the bands cutting through courtesy of some Triple J blow work are at best lukewarm. what this effectively means is that as it stands if the next Bradford Cox comes from Sydney or Melbourne a deserved audience will probably never hear from him unless he moves overseas.

a monopoly, an innovation, an abomination, Orwellian, whatever you choose to call it, one thing is for certain — it is here to stay. however that stay should not be without criticism, analysis, and questions such as; Triple J why are you attempting to reign over us as the singular and somewhat tyrannical champions of music in this country instead of simply fulfilling your role as a government funded broadcaster of unique, original and quality Australian music as per the initial Double J ethos statement? at this point in time don't bother looking for a reasonable answer, just change the channel.'

XXXXXX

'as someone who dislikes the bulk of JJJ with a passion, i wasn't expecting myself to take the part of devil's advocate, but surprises happen...

as far as i can see, the entire premise of this article revolves around the following statement, which isn't really qualified:

however a new beast has been developed by Triple J in the form of Unearthed Radio and along with it they have all but issued a memo stating — 'if you're an up and coming Austrlian band who doesn't arrive to us through our Unearthed system you can pretty much get farked cause we ain't playing your music'.

has this actually been established in any way? Because if this is just speculation then it's a fairly wild assertion to make.

yes, Kingsmill is a dictator - but he still responds to the right voices. just look at the amount of music hosted on the Unearthed site over the years that never got a single look-in until the act got signed and the wheels started turning.

if that stuff about 'no-Unearthed-no-airplay' and the 'graduation' process being the only way to get played is true, then yes - it's a pretty dire situation. but i'd need to see proof of that being the case.

at the end of the day my perspective is: if it looks like Unearthed is a monopoly, that's because it is - simply due to the lack of an alternative. in the face of absolutely no other national (mass cultural) platform for exposure of emerging Australian talent, all I really see this as being is Triple J attempting to bring a open-ended point for discovery.'

- all text via

nothing really mattress

'the first step in the design process is responding to something. sometimes you don't know what exactly that is until it happens, and sometimes you think it would be so much easier if it was a pre-meditated process. it's something that is natural and evolves and comes to life - and you're rewarded with product at the end of the day.
i'm quite curious about the dehumanisation of people. we're almost becoming drones in a way. i'm quite concerned about that social situation. it's the idea of dehumanisation vs natural, and the fact that there's always this challenge and this dialogue and we're kind of battling that with ourselves. we've all got this perfect version of what we think is perfection. sometimes that can be artificial, and there's something quite beautiful about the natural and the not so polished..and i'm curious about that.
my signature is definitely the opposite and equal reaction, and that's why i create these parameters of only working monochromatically in a collection. but that's not to say that i don't want to venture into colour in the future..this is just how i'm feeling at the moment.
i love the psychology of colour. as a consumer myself, i love the fact that colour can either repel people, or bring people to you..but black and white, i just love the fact that it's dramatic and it is what it is. there's a crisp communication and it is void of that initial response where you are responding to something which is colour - you're responding now to the design; the silhouette. that's what inspires me foremost. not using colour means that my focus is on silhouette, and it is on the texture, and it is on the contrast. it comes back to then the underlying philosophy of opposite and equal reaction. you find that in all forms. it's the natural order; the male and the female counterpart, the black and the white...'
- Gail Reid for Gail Sorronda, May 2010


- from the Stylemint October T Moment video

'Chris Supranowitz is a researcher at The Insitute of Optics at the University of Rochester. along with a number of other spectacular studies (such as quantum optics, trapping of atoms, dark states and entanglement), Chris has decided to look at the relatively boring grooves of a vinyl record using the institute’s electron microscope.
a single groove magnified 1000 times':


'sometimes in my travels i have come across something that immediately inspires rage and true hatred inside of me. these things are not always obvious and can at times be very subtle, apparently innocuous, and for the most part benign, yet they create in me an immediate impulse control crisis that in turn generates the threat of imminent violence. in the past the things that have caused me to want to smash to pieces either the item of disdain, the item’s bearer, or the closest inanimate object have been varied.
Baby on board warning signs in the rear window of a vehicle. i want to cook smores over you and your ‘baby on board’ as you lay trapped and screaming while you burn to death in your overturned car after i smash you into a ditch.
ugg boots. ugg boots symbolise all that is useless and vile about the women that wear them and i want to club them like a baby seal.
Mac people. i don’t care if nobody makes viruses for your hippie operating system. i hate Bill Gates like the next guy but don’t try and make me join your tree-hugging ‘hip’ techno-cult. just get out of my face before i thrash you permanently with your ergonomic ‘world-peace’ bush-hating white pussy-boy laptop. nobody cares that graphic designers prefer your s***. its a laptop not a lifestyle!
and now the most recent focus of my blind rage and perhaps the most deserving. the new Pepsi advertising campaign 'Everything Refreshes'.
the advertisements are like a hate-crime on my brain. i hate the colors, i hate the font, i hate the message, and i absolutely HATE the new Pepsi logo. first of all it’s so obvious that it’s a outright copy of the Obama campaign logo that it makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit each time i see one. the two logos are identical. there is a giant billboard with the word 'HOPE' just down the street from my condo. no mention of the word 'Pepsi' but it is their logo in place of the distinctive 'O', not Obama’s but Pepsi’s 'O'. clearly Pepsi is trying to ride the ascendency of Obama’s campaign popularity. what are they trying to say? 'Obama is the man who is going to refresh our nation'?
i know that massive corporations have vast and powerful marketing divisions that use the latest developments in science, psychology, and human mind control to turn us all into endlessly purchasing consumer robots. a nation of pale-faced zombies all moaning 'buy buy buy' while mindlessly staggering through shopping malls. well these Pepsi f***s are now trying to tap into the consumer zeitgeist and replace one symbol for another (and turn a buck as they do it). somehow you’re not an American unless you drink Pepsi, it’s like a loyalty oath for consumers. you don’t believe in America unless you love Obama and drink Pepsi. i think i read somewhere that it cost Pepsi one million dollars to design their logo. one million dollars!? that would have taken me five minutes with a pencil and some tracing paper.
i get it. i understand that you are using one thing to sell another. i really don’t care that you’re stealing either because what you are stealing is a lie anyway. there is no intellectual property if the idea you are stealing / selling is intellectually bankrupt. Pepsi ad campaign / Obama election campaign..YOU are intellectually bankrupt. this is the new brutal parody of modern civilisation. a society of merciless consumption (with a prozac smile). commerce is the first commandment and ethics is merely a marketing tool. mega-corporations rule the world and there are no longer such things as integrity, dignity, compassion or faith. the citizen / consumer can no longer rebel and seldom fights the system, simply because it is impossible: the oppressor is faceless and collective.
this mindless modern consumer society utilises total control over and demands total commitment from the citizens. the oppressors hide behind a political ideology with a reprogrammed language. freedom is slavery. ignorance is strength. totalitarian states throughout history have been ruled by party bureaucracies backed up by cadres of secret police and armed forces. the citizens in those societies were closely monitored and rebellion was always punished mercilessly. today the oppressor is the same as the oppressed. the futile struggle of isolated dissidents who resist today are not simply punished as in days before, but are excommunicated from the perceived salvation of the higher power of 'acceptance' and 'success'. the only free act is the simple act of rebellion against that which controls – in this case a marketing campaign. something as harmless as soda-pop is now mind-poison. do i own AIG or does AIG own me?'
- Slave Nation, April 2009

'she was a beautiful person, her two children’s eyes flashed with her life spark. she was in pain, physically, existentially. she pulled away from the world. she brought me into hiding as her good luck charm and i failed her as a talisman. so i stand now as her witness. her death, in some way, defines my life.
we talked many times about suicide. she wanted to steal power from the gods, for once in her life be the master of fate. she was misanthropic, disillusioned, alienated. the world was a trip to an asylum, other people were the inmates, so she medicated herself against the world. we argued in circles about it, usually by the end of the night she would capitulate, and agree to live just a little bit longer. i told her not to be so selfish, that her kids needed her, that life is insane but it’s the only one you get. my arguments were hollow.'
- Slave Nation, June 2011


- Kamila Filipcikova by Julia Hetta, Rodeo Magazine FW'11

i strongly disbelieve in jetlag + lie detectors

'i'm currently inspired by complicated internal structures of micro cells from certain organisms, like fungi spores and pollen and coral. they have an otherwordly quality that combines geometric perfection with organic patterning. i want to create smooth, rounded rings and jewellery that, when looked at closely, have busy, complicated lives otherwise hidden by the finger.'
- Danni Day, Peppermint Magazine



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'these were written to avoid staring for too long at a night-filled window that only reflected my own sorry-for-itself face. perhaps i should try writing with white wine too. a lighter tone may emerge. champagne would probably get me writing jokes for crackers. never mind, never mind.'
- Slowly Downward
+
Zombie Public Limited Company:
'for reasons too dull or humiliating to go into, i ended up blah blah blah. single again, embittered or whatever. i once had a passable future but it had evaded me, or blah blah blah, with the dusty streets and the bars without clocks and the blah fucking piss off blah blah.
one of the days, i was just sitting watching the tumbleweed and the little tornadoes of dust on the road outside. a removal lorry pulled up and big men began carrying large articles of furniture shrouded in blankets up the steps to the empty house opposite my block. the people or the blah blah blah, but it wasnt for about a week until i realised that they were watching me. i can't continue with this.
give it to me straight.
i am living quietly, zombie public limited company move in over the road, the workers look at us with hungry eyes, we lock the doors but to no avail, they get in, they eat our brains, we are reborn as zombies, slaves to the company, but it turns out not so bad, being a zombie is ok, but really we want to be free or something.
i like your pitch. it's an interesting metaphor. we'll put a package together. create a buzz. we could be talking telephone numbers.
[HEADS EXPLODE. BLOOD SPLATTERS EVERYWHERE. CUT TO: MTV]'
+
Telescope:
'the gap between you and me. the gap between you and me. in art class, the teacher would say to look at the spaces between objects. that was how you could see what the objects really looked like. well. well, i was fairly certain of your shape. i'd looked at it quite a lot. it was the shape of billowing wheat or sad violin music or a quiet discussion in the coat-room at a party, or something. i wasn't so clear on my own. i had looked at it, in mirrors, or in confused reflections from shop windows, and to me it looked unremarkable. just the shape of some man or other. could've been anyone, really. when i tried to remember my shape it was the silhouette of a murderer, a torturer, a rapist, or some kind of fiend. there was no end to how bad my shape could be, when i tried to think about it. our shapes, together? the gap between them was bigger every day. i couldn't see what we really looked like. the only thing i could think of was the sad violin music and the rapist; very far away, never any nearer.'
+
ZOMBIES:
'i was a bit stupid, not realising that zombies live amongst us. it wasn't obvious, and no-one had the f***ing decency to tell me. so i wasn't blind; i was just ignorant. i mean, i had suspicions, feelings..whatever. everyone has them.
the main thing about zombies, as I realised, is that they aren't very different from us. i've seen the films, and, well, they're not very accurate. zombies aren't different from us at all. they don't eat people; that's just ridiculous. unless they're desperate, i guess, and i've got to say: who wouldn't eat a human corpse if it really came to it? so that's the point. zombies are just like us. you can't tell who's a zombie. so it doesn't matter anyway. makes no difference.'
+
Sky Sports:
'one day i found out that my urine was acting like a powerful foaming agent. i thought that i could take advantage of my ability by hosting piss-scented foam parties in the pub toilets, but the landlord wasn't keen. he didn't think that people would be interested. in fact, he said that it was a disgusting idea. i said i'd rather go to a piss foam party than watch the f***ing football, but he said that i'm in a very small minority and the big screen stays.'



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'in the café-shop i found this particularly charming couple discussing Eastern-European politics of the 1960's. the discussion never came to any conclusion.'
- Ink & Mess

'i've always loved observing how people live – what they surround themselves with; how they solve spatial problems; why that object hangs above the bed and what’s the story there, anyway? i chronicle my visits and indulge in the intimacy of dwellings, however extravagant, utilitarian, messy, IKEA, Tufenkian, big or small.'
- Liz Arnold, English Muse

'-because analogue feels better for me. more selected. more concentrated.
-my major inspiration was the environment.
- really morbid.
- also, to watch people slip into roles, how they fit into something that doesn't belong to them at all. or does it?'
- Julia Klug, Faebric



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'you want the truth? Well Here It is.: eventually, you forget it all. first you forget everything you learned – the dates of wars and Pythagorean theorem. you especially forget everything you didn’t really learn, but just memorised the night before. you forget the names of all but one or two of your favourite teachers, and eventually you forget those, too. you forget your junior year class schedule and where you used to sit and your best friend’s home phone number and the lyrics to that song you must have played a million times. and eventually, but slowly, you forget your humiliations – even the ones that seemed indelible, just fade away. you forget who was cool and who was not, who was pretty, smart, athletic, and not. who went to a good college. who threw the best parties. who had the most friends. you forget all of them. even the ones you said you loved, and the ones you actually did. they’re the last to go. and then once you’ve forgotten enough, you love someone else.'