who would like to be a dapper gentleman?

Streets of Japan

me!

les queues de sardines

as an ardent fan of socks and hosiery, I felt most obliged to post these beauties, a pair of which Susie Bubble received this holiday.






check em out here.

2010

favorite albums of 2010

The Jungle

In 1967, a group of African-American teenagers in Philadelphia made a hybrid documentary/dramatization of their lives in the 12th and Oxford Street gang. In 1968, The Jungle, one of the first films in the US directed by youth detailing the inner workings of their own gang, went on to win the Documentary Film Award at the Festival de Popoli, Italy. (1967, 22 min)

-retumbled from Jon Bon

my sentiments exactly

When Hainan Meets Teochew

this looks interesting. It was directed by Han Yew Kwang from Singapore. Not only does one of the main characters identify as Teochew, but the main love story is between two transgender individuals. it opened on Dec 3 but is only being shown in Singapore. must find a way to watch it!

具が多い！！

I really want a projector! not for this, although I probably would do this as well. currently I have a bunch of things going on with school. it is exactly one week until I am mostly free from schoolwork. after that, I do have one final exam then it is smoooth sailing into winter break.. it is dangerous territory to think about what I want to do once I get free time because then I won't want to do any work. but let's just say netflix is coming back and so is knitting! on a side note kinda, I have sort of been watching a jdrama called manhattan love story, my first drama. more on that later, but all you need to know is that there are fake moustaches, love triangles and other geometric shapes, a bit of engrish, tons of coffee metaphors and it is terrific. it is more a parody of a drama than a drama itself. you can watch it here.

by golly

I absolutely do not need a new coat.

however, this one by jil sander for uniqlo is right up my alley.

new york, the next time I visit you, I may have to take a gander.

I am pretty sure that I felt this coat up last time I was there though..

Anastassia Elias

craft in a roll of toilet paper. find more here

little dragon

gorgeous.

automobiles with character

found just around the corner from my house. these are a testament to the unintended contingencies that make walking in the city something I think more people need to take advantage of!

Vega Wang

this girl is onto something.
credit for finding her goes to chris.

Noble Fibers

BE LINEN MOVIE from Benoit MILLOT on Vimeo.

you've probably not spent much time thinking or caring about fibers, but just in case you are interested, this is a short about the production and qualities of linen. I love learning about fibers/fabrics/textiles.. one of the interviewees in the film says about linen, "I love this fiber because I believe in it." this is the ultimate goal, to truly know and believe in what you do, to completely give yourself in to it. to classify a material as noble.. I absolutely love that.

these are probably not linen-based, but I have been thinking a lot about the qipaos that Maggie Cheung wears in In the Mood for Love. I wouldn't mind revamping my wardrobe to one that is strictly qipaos, as long as they look [and fit] like these. by the way, Maggie Cheung is a babe.

more images from here

TUJ dayzzze..

found this on TUJ's website the other day. can you find me? I'm the one that looks bored..
(see what I did there?)

Omar Souleyman

November 3, 2010
Johnny Brenda's produced by R5 Productions
Philadelphia, PA

who wants in?

pump it

The Cherry Blossom Girl

Jean Charles De Castelbajac spring 2011.

-

le Petit Prince était mon livre préféré lorsque j’avais 10 ans, c’était donc une sacrée ( et bonne ) surprise d’apercevoir le héro d’Antoine de Saint Exupéry sur quelques robes !

Et je rêve d’un ghetto blaster à strass maintenant …

a ghetto blaster? haha

坂本 龍一

this was the opening of Ryuichi Sakamoto's show, which was beautiful, eerie, intelligent, emotional, socially aware, engaging, humble, haunting, delicate, animated, seductive, stimulating, clean and simple, overwhelming, meaningful, necessary. no one clapped until the very end.

買いたいこと

I love Tokyo Bopper! I can't remember if I have blogged about it before but it's still true! TB is a clothing and shoe store for men and women, located somewhere in Harajuku. I would have posted a picture of their map but I can't seem to find it.. I found their website/blog before I went to Japan and decided that when I did go, I would find their tiny shop and buy a pair of their signature platform shoes. So I have actually been to their store but I remember for some reason I was kind of intimidated and didn't want to ask if I could try on some shoes. Perhaps they were closing. Also, Japanese store employees are verrry attentive to their customers, which is great, but it always made me nervous. Anyway, in case I don't go to Japan again anytime soon, the good news is that they now have an online shop, international shipping available!

Oh yes, and this is Yama. She works at Tokyo Bopper. You have probably seen her on a bunch of streetstyle blogs because girllll you got style! That's probably another reason why I was intimidated when I went to the store.. *swoooon*

oh, is it terrible that I am procrastinating on writing a paper about capitalism and inequality by blogging about expensive shoes? oopsy poo

blahblahblah

i've started thinking about my first words of each day. sometimes it is not until later in the day that i see a living being that i want to interact with. that moment of opening my mouth for the first time is a strange feeling and a very conscious one, sometimes i can still taste my morning breath. this weekend i have to work on my media deprivation paper. that means i must not consume media. this is a difficult task seeing as i live in a city. i would really like to go to the woods for awhile, catch up on some reading. i would consider bringing the cats with me.

Act da fool

from Style Bubble

rebellious spirits

Rei Kawakubo + Yoko Ono

I will never be this cool.

By the way, I apologize for my infrequent updates [oopsy poo]. I am pretty much all moved in and finishing up my first week of classes, although I am still looking for jobs so posts will continue to be few and far between. I am currently reading a book that Jon borrowed from the library entitled 'Skin + Bones: parallel practices in fashion and architecture.' It's pretty rad and if anyone would like to shell out the $165+ for it for my upcoming birthday that would be nice.

Sunday, Aug 8 2010

Lots of things going on tomorrow:

1. I am moving again!
2. Michael Rother (Neu!, Kraftwerk) + Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) + Aaron Mullan (Tall Firs) + Benjamin Curtis (Secret Machines, School of Seven Bells) play the music of NEU!
3. Philly Alternative Comic Con at the Rotunda.

Ben Curtis, it has been far too long.. *swoooon*

Hannah K. Lee

Always.

Hey, anyone wanna get this for me for my half birthday? Cool, thanx.
In all seriousness I plan on trading in my dslr for this thing. Am I crazy or what? Forgive me, Nikon..

Nobuyoshi Araki, Guatemala sinkhole, ?, Louise Richardson, Julia Solis

"He was going to die soon, you knew when you saw those eyes. There was no sign of life in his flesh, just the barest traces of what had once been a life. His body was like a dilapidated house from which all the furniture and fixtures have been removed and which awaited now only its final demolition. Around the dry lips sprouted clumps of whiskers like so many weeds. So, I thought, even after so much of his life force had been lost, a man's beard continued to grow."

-Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood.

Fishtown

on a whim

Ji and I drove to ny last night around midnight. We got there at 2 and left at 5, and that jawn was still bustlinnnn.


A Yoshinoya sighting had us reminiscing about our (separate) Nihon dayzz..



Justin Bieber in McDonalds. I only found out recently that his name isn't Justin Beaver, which is a shame really.


Our last act in the big city was getting our portraits done. We both stared into the eyes of this Chinese man for half an hour a piece. Things got pretty intimate.

Currently I am listening to the latest from Autolux and preparing for the punk rock flea market. I hope to see you there tomorrow!

Phenomenon

PHENOMENON FALL / WINTER COLLECTION 2010 from PHENOMENON on Vimeo.

I love everything about this. another re-blog from Susie.

bad brains

I'm starting a drawing habit. This is Miwako from Paradise Kiss. She is totally punk.

solitude

I have pretty much been living in seclusion this whole summer but there is something that is just so soul-draining about the suburbs. After reading Kafka on the Shore, I decided I would really like to live in seclusion for awhile, in the woods or something, with just my books and my thoughts. maybe the book only helped to realize a goal that has always existed. At the moment, this goal cannot be accomplished so I must settle for an indoor fortress made of twine and a patchwork of bed sheets.




In other slightly related news, I've been thinking about becoming a farmhand in France or someplace after I graduate, invaluable experience for an aspiring alpaca farm-runner. I'm not quite done with the city just yet but I think a change of scenery would be nice.

gris

today I got a bit sunburned at the beach and visited the Jersey Shore house and ate a fried oreo.
now I wish to sleep.

bonne nuit, mes petites amoureuses.

La jetée

"This is the story of a man marked by an image of his childhood. The violent scene which upsets him and whose meaning he was only to grasp years later happened on the main pier at Orly, Paris Airport sometime before the outbreak of World War III."

"Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments. Only afterwards do they claim remembrance, on account of their scars."

Chris Marker - La jetée (1962). images from here.

The story is set in Paris post-WWIII and follows the time travel experiments performed on one of its survivors in an attempt to "call past and future to the rescue of the present." The film utilizes voiceover narration layered on top of photographic stills (shot by a Pentax Spotmatic). The gaps between these images is reminiscent of the comic book form in which the audience must imagine the connection/transition between the frames.

Perhaps it may seem like a step backward to utilize what is essentially a slideshow during the time of the proliferation of the medium of film, but I think Marker (who also did Sans Soleil) very effectively and beautifully followed the dictum of letting the message dictate the medium. What this short film accomplishes in 28 minutes is amazingamazingamazing!

If you have netflix, it is currently available on instant play. Watch it!

And while I'm handing out prescriptions on what you should be watching/reading, but on a completely unrelated note, head on over to Style Rookie and read her post on teenage body image as projected by mainstream media. This girl is sharp.