Up the Leg Gladiator Sandal

Is it bad that I am strangely attracted to these Givenchy gladiator stilettos?

Jackson Pollock

I can't say that I have always been a fan of Jackson Pollock and the abstract expressionism movement. However, lately I have started to be able to appreciate these paintings that many people feel "anyone could do" more and more. Today we watched this clip of Jackson Pollock painting in class and it really gave me a much better sense of the idea behind this type of artwork. My favorite thing that he says is, "I want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them". And while many people could do drip paintings, any different person who did it would have an entirely different outcome... and that is what is really great about it.

Just get me a really big closet

May 30th needs to hurry up! I am SO anxious for the Sex & the City movie that I find myself watching (and crying at) the trailer every day. I have been trying incredibly hard to avoid all of the spoilers that are being posted every two seconds basically everywhere and it is getting hard! I need to see if everyone gets their "fairy tale endings"!

Better To See You With

So I have been totally into the Buddy Holly/Weezer-esque glasses that a lot of people have been wearing, as well as Ray Bans for sunglasses (duh). These Chanel glasses are seriously AMAZING -- mixing the fun, dorky nature of the style with the quilted siding and little Chanel logos to make them very chic. As well as this, the tortoise shell is done really incredibly, and the other color options are fabulous as well. Maybe if I had these I would be compelled to wear my contacts less frequently. Pllleeease, be mine!

Abortion as Art?

Abortion as art.

This is actually very strange. Perhaps as strange as starving a dog for art. People need to learn the difference between PERFORMANCE art, avante-guard, and just simply going too far. It is so obvious that what these "artists" are doing is simply to cause a stir, much in the way the Marcel Duchamp did in 1917 with The Fountain, but I guess in 2008 when so much has been done to shock people in art, these people can't figure out anything more creative to do than fucked up science projects. However, I was interested to read the artist (Aliza Shvarts) explanation of this project:
"For the past year, I performed repeated self-induced miscarriages. I created a group of fabricators from volunteers who submitted to periodic STD screenings and agreed to their complete and permanent anonymity. From the 9th to the 15th day of my menstrual cycle, the fabricators would provide me with sperm samples, which I used to privately self-inseminate. Using a needleless syringe, I would inject the sperm near my cervix within 30 minutes of its collection, so as to insure the possibility of fertilization. On the 28th day of my cycle, I would ingest an abortifacient, after which I would experience cramps and heavy bleeding.

To protect myself and others, only I know the number of fabricators who participated, the frequency and accuracy with which I inseminated and the specific abortifacient I used. Because of these measures of privacy, the piece exists only in its telling. This telling can take textual, visual, spatial, temporal and performative forms — copies of copies of which there is no original.

This piece — in its textual and sculptural forms — is meant to call into question the relationship between form and function as they converge on the body. The artwork exists as the verbal narrative you see above, as an installation that will take place in Green Hall, as a time-based performance, as a independent concept, as a myth and as a public discourse.

It creates an ambiguity that isolates the locus of ontology to an act of readership. An intentional ambiguity pervades both the act and the objects I produced in relation to it. The performance exists only as I chose to represent it. For me, the most poignant aspect of this representation — the part most meaningful in terms of its political agenda (and, incidentally, the aspect that has not been discussed thus far) — is the impossibility of accurately identifying the resulting blood. Because the miscarriages coincide with the expected date of menstruation (the 28th day of my cycle), it remains ambiguous whether the there was ever a fertilized ovum or not. The reality of the pregnancy, both for myself and for the audience, is a matter of reading.

This ambivalence makes obvious how the act of identification or naming — the act of ascribing a word to something physical — is at its heart an ideological act, an act that literally has the power to construct bodies. In a sense, the act of conception occurs when the viewer assigns the term “miscarriage” or “period” to that blood.

In some sense, neither term is exactly accurate or inaccurate; the ambiguity is not merely a matter of context, but is embodied in the physicality of the object. This central ambiguity defies a clear definition of the act. The reality of miscarriage is very much a linguistic and political reality, an act of reading constructed by an act of naming — an authorial act.

It is the intention of this piece to destabilize the locus of that authorial act, and in doing so, reclaim it from the heteronormative structures that seek to naturalize it.

As an intervention into our normative understanding of “the real” and its accompanying politics of convention, this performance piece has numerous conceptual goals. The first is to assert that often, normative understandings of biological function are a mythology imposed on form. It is this mythology that creates the sexist, racist, ableist, nationalist and homophobic perspective, distinguishing what body parts are “meant” to do from their physical capability. The myth that a certain set of functions are “natural” (while all the other potential functions are “unnatural”) undermines that sense of capability, confining lifestyle choices to the bounds of normatively defined narratives.

Just as it is a myth that women are “meant” to be feminine and men masculine, that penises and vaginas are “meant” for penetrative heterosexual sex (or that mouths, anuses, breasts, feet or leather, silicone, vinyl, rubber, or metal implements are not “meant” for sex at all), it is a myth that ovaries and a uterus are “meant” to birth a child.

When considering my own bodily form, I recognize its potential as extending beyond its ability to participate in a normative function. While my organs are capable of engaging with the narrative of reproduction — the time-based linkage of discrete events from conception to birth — the realm of capability extends beyond the bounds of that specific narrative chain. These organs can do other things, can have other purposes, and it is the prerogative of every individual to acknowledge and explore this wide realm of capability."



Now both the artist and Yale released statements basically saying it was a hoax but then she rebutted that statement and will not admit if it it was "real" or "fake" because the ambiguity of it is what made it so "great". I am just curious to understand how in her mind the fact that ovaries and a uterus are not intended solely to birth children turns self-induced pregnancies and abortions (real or not) into a work of art.

Burberry Spring/Summer 08

While in general I have really liked and appreciated the direction Christopher Bailey has taken since he has been Burberry's creative director, I really can't get past something lately. That SOMETHING is Agyness Deyn... who I think pretty single handedly ruined Burberry's otherwise fantastic and fun spring/summer 08 ad campaign. While this season's collection is sometimes slightly too embellished, I did really like it. And I totally understand the direction Bailey is trying to continue to take Burberry in, and I even understand the androgenous appeal of the campaign, but I wish just one time Agyness would have closed her mouth during the photoshoots. And I wish that I didn't now feel like that amazing teal trenchcoat belongs on a lanky male with bad eye makeup. I haven't always disliked her so much but ugh I just can't take it anymore... the campaign is *almost* as bad as Balengiaca's with Jennifer Connelly (ew). And to end my rant... she should have stuck with the brunette hair for a little while longer:

Gucci Hysteria Bag

Since I first saw the new Gucci collection I became infatuated with the new Hysteria bags and when I got a chance to see it in real life it was love at first site. Ever since then I find myself looking at pictures of it pretty much every single day online... probably drooling. I love how simple it is yet so posh and feminine because of the gold Gucci medallion as detailing. While many of the colors are very fun and I really enjoy the patent leather ones, the plain black leather one is my absolute favorite... it is just SO classic looking and definitely not be going out of style anytime soon. This bag might just have to be my big purchase of the summer.



Oh, and I must not fail to mention that the ALL of shoes from the collection are absolutelyyyy fabulous! And they basically need to be on my feet at all times.

Tarte Rejuvelash

Now that I really think about it, it has been a LONG time since I have found a real great beauty find. The last memorable one that I can think of is DuWop's Reverse Lipliner -- and that was literally YEARS ago. However, this isn't to say that I do not experiment with TONS of different products; I get a free gift basically every time I go into a Sephora because all of the money I spend there (sidenote: getting their rewards card is a great idea. Free gift every 100 points. 1 point=$1). One of the things I most frequently experiment with is mascara... my favorites that I have found to this point are Benefit's BADGal Lash in Deep Black and Dior's Diorshow in Black Out. But, until recently when I took notice to, and decided to try, Tarte's Rejuvelash ($16) on display at Sephora where it claimed it was great for refreshing mascara on your way from work to happy hour, have I found any eyelash product that I was so obsessed with! It is basically like a clear mascara that is loaded with vitamins and other goodies for your lashes with a brush that has all of these teeeeny tiny little bristles so it really does do a fantastic job freshening up 8 hour old mascara without giving the clumpy uneven look you get when you simply re-curl your lashes and apply over old mascara. Added bonus, it comes in a super cute case and is small enough for me to keep in my (very small) makeup bag that I keep in my handbag all the time. I highly suggest every girl try this because you WILL fall in love with it. I have even decided that once I finish up my current tube of Diorshow I am going to try one of Tarte's regular mascara, and perhaps another new obsession will form!

Frog Prince Do Me?

Anybody who has ever spoken to me (or lurked me) knows that I have an undying love for both Victoria Beckham and Marc Jacobs. Of course when they began working together for his current line, I was in heaven! I was loving how they release one new ad with her modeling at a time because I always get soo excited when I open up a magazine and see a new one. My personal favorite is the one of her in the enormous Marc Jacobs bag, and the rest are great too, especially when she is looking like she has escaped a looneybin. And now, I never thought I would say it, but I HATE this one:



First thing is first, that bag is just... awful. I do like the color but that GOLDEN FROG?! Initially when I saw this I thought of that episode of Sex & the City when Big gets Carrie the crystal swan clutch that she HATED, then saw all of those fancy women with other bags of the sort (my personal favorite was the asparagus one, ha!). And after thinking about that, I just realized how childish the bag looks... and not in a chic or fun way, but just plain dumb way. Last but not least, before this I would never admit to Victoria looking bad (or less good) in any photo... but I guess there is a first time for everything!

21.

The movie 21 is definitely not something to run out and see. Don't get me wrong, it was mildly entertaining... but the story was poor and it was WAY too long for what it was (this is the thing I most commonly find wrong with movies). And while Jim Sturgess is definitely a babe, I think I will always have something against him after that horrible disgrace of a movie that was apparently trying to ruin the songs by one of the best bands of all times (ahem, ahem). I did like the fact of how much your accurately were shown of Las Vegas (the casinos, bars, hotels, etc) but I didn't like the fact that one minute these "high-rollers" were shown throwing down thousands upon thousands in stores like Gucci and then shortly after were struggling for a few thousand dollars -- it just didn't add up. However, I love casino-based movies (The Cooler - which everyone should see, the Oceans series, etc) and the idea of card counting. While I do not think this is anything I would ever be able to do because even that "simple math" would be far too much for me, it is definitely very interesing PLUS I love black jack. I have been playing online black jack that tells you what you did right/wrong after every move. I am trying to get good/confident enough so that next time I am in Las Vegas I can play at an actual, real-life, scary TABLE. With that being said, I am at my last and final point... this silly movie produced enough Vegas withdrawal within me that I booked our ("deluxe") hotel room to celebrate Jess' 21st birthday in FABULOUS LAS VEGAS... July 24-27. Phew, it has been too long!