It

"It is that quality possessed by some, which draws all others with its magnetic force. With It you win all men if you are a woman--and all women if you are a man. It can be a quality of the mind as well as a physical attraction. It is self-confidence and indifference as to whether you are pleasing or not, and something in you that gives you the impression that you are not at all cold. That's It."

- Elinor Glyn, describing Clara Bow, quoted in Nylon magazine.

lifechoreo

Take Dance Summer Intensive - Video

Statue Redux

strong as the statue made of stone

standing resolute, alone

but even Sphinx crumbled, you'll recall

like sand through an hourglass,

watch me fall.

August Thrift Store Finds

Sparkly Pegasus sweatshirt from Beacon's Closet

Men's J. Crew oxford from Buffalo Exchange, to which I added DIY shoulder cut-outs.

I learned how to do it here.

A chunky wood-and-neon-plastic necklace from Savers. Pretty last season, but hey, I'm always a little last-season.

A white embellished tank from Buff Ex; basic with a little something extra.

Tan silk blouse from Savers.

Ivory silk blouse, also from Savers. And a glimpse of the studded side-zip booties I bought at Buffalo Exchange the other day, too.

The silk blouses were inspired by the American Apparel one I can't afford.

Nice duds for the new school year, huh? Also be sure to check out my lookbook blog.

Official "Soft Vision" by Tropics Music Video

Directed/Filmed/Edited by Anna Dobos (annadobos.com).

Soft Vision Official Music Video from Anna Dobos on Vimeo.

"Gothic Vogue"

You can always sort of guess at what a photograph is going to look like, but whenever Anna uploads her sets, I'm amazed anyway.

This photo shoot was an afterthought, because the three of us (Leah, Kira, and myself) are in Anna's music video she was commissioned to make for UK up-and-coming artist Tropics. The video hasn't been approved and made its debut yet, but trust me, I am going to hype the shit out of it when it's up.

Here are some results of our "Gothic Vogue" themed shoot from this past week:

See the rest at her Flickr and definitely check out her website, annadobos.com.

Keep checking back for the music video!

I want to dress like

http://lookbook.nu/looks_i_hyped/193191-Natalie-Scarlett-W#more

Anti-Lactivism Theory

In my Feminist Theory course this past Spring we touched on the topic of Lactivists, or women advocates of the right to breast-feed in public. Breastfeeding in the USA is societally oppressed, and the reason often given is that it is indecent to expose a sexual body part in public. The act of feeding the baby is seen as uncomfortable, unappetizing, disgusting, even.

I think the fact that the breast is sexualized is not the root of the concern. I think its sexualization is an effect of a deeper trigger: that it's primitive. We like to think we're modernized--independent and in total control of our bodies. It's obvious in the common suggestion, which even liberal Bill Maher gave in the February of 2010 issue of Elle, that a breastfeeding mother go in a bathroom: never mind that a tiny person is eating--would you do that in a restroom?--but for the same reason we don't like poop, we don't like breastfeeding. It's one of those unshakeable bodily functions that reminds us that we are human, which reaminds us we are animals; and we don't like to think we are animals (just ask the "Intelligent Design" advocates). After all, in the same thread, when animals make babies, they reproduce, but when we humans do the act meant for reproduction we call it "making love" or "having sex." Anything to separate these animal acts from their origins and attempt to remove humans from the Animal Kingdom. The sexualization of the breast is a side-effect of our denial of everything animalistic about humans because by making a breast into a sexual object we deny it has function and purpose. Sexualizing it takes it out of necessity and into the realm of things we can control and which separate us from other "species."

This is soccer.

Mind-Blowing

The original:

And someone's remake:

Recent Thrift Fashion Finds

Barbados tank: Salvation Army, $0.99

Levi's shorts: Savers, $5.99

Blouse that is gonna bring the funk: Salvation Army, $2.99

Plus-size lacy mesh shirt: Salvation Army, $2.99

Floral romper: Salvation Army, $7.99

Minimalist shoulder cut-out shirt: Salvation Army, $1.99

Kimchi Blue sundress: Second Time Around Soho, $14

The last time I saw a therapist was in 3rd grade because I had no friends.

That was a weird evaluation ... I didn't cry, but the lump was lurking ... however, I just left feeling nauseated.

passing cloud

I want to inhale you, I want to curl up on your chest. I want your whole big warm hand flat on my back and I want to listen to your blood pumping through the valves of your heart while I count your ribs with loving fingers.

I want to hide in the curve of your neck and breathe in your molecules and taste your smooth skin with my whole face. I want to draw your profile like Etch-A-Sketch in the air I want to slip my hand under the elastic and escape to the warm hollows

I want to hold you so tight I melt onto you into you and then I can squeeze you from the inside out and we'll be so together we're one body and all my nerve endings will connect with yours and finally my palms will be satisfied.

Mostly my palms ache because they were holding you but now you're gone and there's nothing left to do but dig my nails into them and fight down the knot in my trachea.

Art Videos

I keep hearing about Lady Gaga's "Telephone" video being "artistic." I get it, BUT, after watching the Gorillaz's "Stylo" video, I don't want to hear that crap anymore! This is some real "art"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9vAOzYz-Qs

Bruce friggin' Willis is in it! This made me really happy. I love the Gorillaz's attitude, too--nonchalant little animations in a real, badass car. How cool.

Loner

"The friends you make in college are friends you'll have for life."

Looks like a lonely fucking life ahead of me.

Missing

I'm trying to convince myself that it wasn't really perfection; it was only what I was comfortable with. As in, once you get used to something a certain way, any other way seems "wrong." Like ballet technique: you get trained in Vaganova method, say, and then some Balanchine adherent wants you to open up your arabesque, and all your training screams, WRONG. And you don't even want to try it.

So I'm trying to tell myself it's not that what we had was the only thing that can ever be right.

... Even though that's the way it feels.

Thursday Night

Everyone else went to Dublin Pub ...

we made embarrassing music videos.

"Rude Boy" Video by Rihanna--an M.I.A.Ripoff?

I just want to be the first to point out that Rihanna's "Rude Boy" video is a complete imitation of M.I.A.

First watch these:

Now watch this!:

IMO simply being from Barbados doesn't give you the credentials to use the term "rudeboy" in a talentless pop song, either ... but that's just me.

Trey Songz - Missing You

He told me about this song and I listened to it, and was on the floor crying before I got out of my towel

Well, at least I have nothing to look forward to

Spontaneous saline combustion

Can't find the fucking ice cream scoop with all these tears in my eyes.

The amaretto & cream wore off so now, to drown my worries and maybe-sorrows in Neapolitan ice cream.

I don't even want ice cream, I want my boyfriend.

You know, the boyfriend I'm gonna be with forever, the boyfriend who jokes with me about making babies, the boyfriend who makes up the only other body and soul I share my life and bed with and would ever want to.

It's the worst part all over again, when I really (naively) thought we were safe. When I think about it, it's not that I just want to hear the news, because there's a good chance it'll be bad, and that's the part I'm worrying about. But the worrying hurts like a bitch because I don't know whether to chill the fuck out because everything's gonna be okay, or to start preparing myself for what is going to feel like a cliff dive.

Uglymonster

Made from a red t-shirt that belonged to my late grandmother.

As you can see, using a knit had an interesting effect: the front and back layers were cut with the grain perpendicular, so they stretched different directions when I put the stuffing in, creating a bowed effect.

Crotch shot so you can see his little feeties.

DIY: Imitation Free People Crochet Headband

Back in early December my boyfriend made me walk with him around the mall and show him things I liked, because he didn't know what to get me for Christmas. (It felt like cheating, but thankfully he got me nothing I pointed to, so I guess it was fair.) Anyway, During this excursion we went into Free People, where I found a knit head wrap with crochet flowers on it that looked surprisingly cute on me:

... but it was $28. I didn't feel like shelling out thirty bucks on a headband. BUT the other day I checked in on Threadbanger's latest DIY videos, and lo and behold, a tutorial on how to crochet a headband:

I embarked on a project (complete with iced coffee and See's chocolate nearby):

JUST so everyone knows, flower appliques are IMPOSSIBLE to crochet, and anyone who makes them is a liar because a quadruple crochet stitch can't be done. Since I can't figure it out. After giving up on countless videos, including a really awful Threadbanger one (usually they rock, but this one was just terrible; most of their YouTube comments agree with me), I fudged some sort of frilly circular things that can pass for something floral, and tied them on.

Here is my cat, modeling the final product:

I saved the best part for last. The price!: