I'm Sorry, I Can't Stop

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The Genius of Kate Moss

The woman gets her ear pierced five more times, and wears clothing to match.

Photo via Hollywoodrag.com

Things That Are Awesome?: Pauly Shore Going To Africa?

OK, I recently had reason to catch a little bit of that comedic, cinematic GEM "Jury Duty" and you know what? It validated me as a life long fan of Pauly Shore.

"ADOPTED" - Movie Trailer (2009)


Totally racist? Totally hilarious? A little of both? Let's see what the internet says -- because dialogue on the internet is always coherent and constructive!

CAT TOWER!!!!

Approximately 1/4 of this video is awesometown.

And, for the record, I don't even own a cat. I used to -- one with three legs, named Ernie.

But now I have to make do. Thank Jesus for the Cat Diaries! I don't know what I'd do without them -- I can't wait to check out the 12 other "episodes"!

And Now For Something Completely Different: Lanvin

I'm always linking to this whenever fashion comes up, but Tim Gunn really hit the nail on the head when it comes to fashion:

"I'm the first to encapsulate this realistically. Nobody needs it. We need clothes, do we need fashion? No. And fashion, when it's good, comes out of a context that's societal and cultural and historic and economic and political -- so it's of a time and a place."

With the world's economy going as it is, I'm not surprised to see designers sending throwbacks of the 30's and 40's down the runway: triangular shapes of softly square shoulders over sleek pencil skirts, ladylike long gloves, sturdy heels, not a whole lot of patterns, rather good solid black, tweeds, etc. There is also a lot of fur -- which, oy, I'm not nuts about.

Here's my favorite's of Albert Elbaz's line for Lanvin Fall 2009 RTW. You'll notice that a lot of the silhouettes are really similar, but that's another throwback: it's better to go for great, flattering designs that look good wherever you wear them, rather than design a lot of fussier pieces that need to be "fashiony" and require buying and wearing five pieces. Jacket! Skirt! Done! Dress! Gloves! Done!

Also, if you're wondering why designers roll out their fall designs right before spring starts, fashion runs on a delay so magazines have time to shoot all the clothes, stores have time to decide how much of the collections they'll carry, etc.



You'll be seeing Natalie Portman in that, I'm pretty sure.



Paging Tracy Lord!

I Just Got Into This Great Pop Band From Liverpool, Can't Think Of Their Name...

Sometimes it happens that you manage to miss out on something that would have been, according to the unwritten laws of taste and preference, in your catalog of things you love.

What?

Let me try that again: Sometimes you hear a band or read a book or see a movie, way after its new and shiny and hip, and you think... "How the hell did I miss this? Where was I when everyone else was clued in? What was I doing, reading Star Wars novels?"

Last summer I "stumbled" onto Sleater Kinney, only possibly the most famous, beloved and well-reviewed of the "riot grrrl" bands of the 90's. I ended up spending the entirety of the season listening to them exclusively and telling people, "Hey, you know what, Sleater Kinney really IS good!"

This earned me some well-deserved eye rolls, but also several rounds of "How have YOU missed out on Sleater Kinney until now?"

I guess it's not that nuts of a question. I did spend most of my adolescence rocking out to Bikini Kill, Alanis and Tori (as much as you can really rock out to Tori) -- so one would think that somehow, someone would have said, "Yeah, Alanis is ok, but if you want really good music, and if you're into female punk bands, Sleater Kinney is the way to go."

Alas, that never happened.

However, in college, I heard about them all the time -- but for some reason I never got it together to actually give a listen. It wasn't until my dear friend Erica found out how much of a lack of Sleater Kinney I had in my life, that she freaked out and very generously made copies of every single one of their records for me -- plus some rare B sides.

And you know what? They fucking rock! So it's really annoying that I didn't get into them when I was 17 and they were still a band. Of course I only get into them only after they break up and thus no longer tour.

I did this with Rainer Maria too -- the first time I saw them, it was their last show ever. "Goddamn it!" (a litte RM humor there, for the fans.)

Anyway, here's SK on the Henry Rollins show, doing my favorite song of theirs, "Entertain" :



Not too shabby.

These days I'm wondering, "Why the hell didn't I get into Joanna Newsom when everyone I knew told me to?"

Here's my favorite single from her first record, "The Milk-Eyed Mender," "Peach Plum Pear":



Not for everyone, I know, but I dig it the most.

What music, books, movies have you somehow missed and are only now cluing into?

(Oh, and I recently saw "Manhattan for the first time, and was talking to someone about how great the opening titles are for it, and they looked at me like I needed to repeat the first grade. Again. Apparently it's famous. Also, I'm reading "The Brothers Karamazov" -- ever heard of it?)

New Things!

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry but I've enabled GoogleAds on this blog. If they really drive everyone insane, I will either get rid of them, or re-organize them. I figure I must be true to my 12 rabid followers.

But I'll make it up to you!

Below each post are now three boxes which will act as feedback: I like, I don't like, Shut up. Now you can tell me to shut up without having to sign in to leave comments!

And that is my gift to you.

And Now For Something Completely Different: Dior

Hi, Mr. Galliano? I hear you're designing for Christian Dior, one of my favorite labels. Could you, um, not make your Fall 2009 RTW* line SO UNBELIEVABLY GORGEOUS? These days I feel guilty splurging on a large shrimp fried rice, so if you could make it a little easier for me to not feel constantly crushed by the fact that there is no way I can buy any of this, that would be great. Just, back off the stunning for a bit, would you? And yes, I've noticed that with my new Louise Brooks bob, everything would look perfect on me (with the help of some pam non-sticking spray and fishing line).










Also, don't think I haven't noticed that these clothes, clearly inspired by Depression era styles are actually super expensive. I find your irony hurtful, Mr. Galliano.


* - Ready To Wear, ie not Haute Couture. Photos via nymag.com

Hey, Go Read This Thing: TakePart

I'm the new blogger over at Participant Production's social action, uber hippie awesomeness blog, TakePart.

Check it out, won't you?