Lolla Sched

I don't know why I'm so excited. The lineup isn't even that good. I just want to run amok, I suppose. And see NIN. Love that they are playing at the same time as Kanye, so the hordes will run over to see him.

I also hope I have access to the VIP lounge.

Soon, Chicago, I will come back to you.





Schedule is HERE

New York Jewelers I Want Stuff From

I've been running into jewelers on blogs and whatnot that are New York based and feature some stuff that I really like. There is this nice trend of incorporating found, recycled or natural objects into necklaces and bracelets, and I think it makes things look a bit more well-crafted. And I like fake bling, aggressive images encased in metal or gold, or laser cut acrylic. All three of these designers have a really unique aesthetic, but there is something similar. I can't quite figure it out...



Alex and Chloe: Geometric and extravagant, Alex and Chloe kind of made it big with this awesome necklace featuring the CC of Chanel in black plastic dripping down. I can't find where to purchase it online for the life of me, so I will just have to satiate my desire with a diamond cut out, and amazing perception bending shape and a bit out oceanic imagery (as a way to soften up the collection).
Chloe's Zero Carat Diamond: $52.00


Alex's Pyramid: $56.00


Dream Reflector Necklace: $111.00

Oh, and if one of their swords fell onto my neck, I wouldn't complain one bit.




Erica Weiner : This is the only designer I've actually purchased something from, and Erica wrote me a nice email thanking me for my purchase. It made me feel like I was really supporting something: giving an artist money directly. Erica works with found and organic materials. I love how antiqued everything looks. It has this sweet nostalgic feel, but also stays within the corporal by having these pieces that have a very biological, almost 'cabinet of curiosities' undertone to them. I ADORE the claw necklace.

Book Lover Necklace: $45.00


Raptor Talon Necklace (Gold): $90.00


Twig Bracelet (Silver): $80.00




Made Her Think: Seemingly teeeny tiny, the webstore doesn't have much, but what they do have seems to be a happy medium between Alex and Chloe and Erica Weiner. That antiqued, claws-n-teeth thing translates into a tougher street style that feels very contemporary. Unfortunately I culled this from another blog, but I'm excited to see what this little Brooklyn upstart can do. I am certain that I'll be seeing a ton of those Pyramid Totem Cuffs around - its colorful, charming and a little bit threatening.

Talon Ring: $88.oo

Pyramid Totem Cuff: $132.00

Rose Totem Cuff: $264.00


Note: you can purchase all of these online...so get yourself something threatening and beautiful. Or get it for me. Either/or.

Game Over?

Really? Facebook is killing Scrabulous? But...but...it made me feel so smart, and, like...non-myspace-y. It allowed me to flirt without being overt. It was a way to signify that, while we aren't quite friends, we are more than acquaintances and certainly ready to move into wordplay territory...

Now I have nothing left to do with my time but blog over and over and over again.

Apparently mega-corp Hasbro couldn't take the tiny, independent group of college students or Indian kids or whomever they are taking all the credit over their invention. I mean, I guess...but if not for copying other people's ideas and passing them off as your own (or making money of of them), then what is the internet for?

Nuts.

Via NYT.

THE BENEFITS OF BEING A POOR JOURNALIST

I get lousy pay. I work hard hours. I take abuse that is usually not warranted. But sometimes, when I am having the lousiest day, I get delicious chocolates sent to me without warning. And I feel sad because I would never cover anything culinary, despite how delicious it is (and this IS delicious) but they arrived at such a proper moment.

And then I came home and had wine with friends and ate my chocolates.

So the least I can do is put pictures of the Vosges chocolates on my measly little blog. Feel hungry, and get some. I would seriously recommend them - they come in very unique and delicious flavors (like curry and dark chocolate, or fennel and ginger), and their gift boxes are paired with wines and olive oils and would probably impress anyone.

Here is photographic evidence:









We are so totally satisfied. It was a house of yum.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON VIDEOS

Seven days to Lolla

I have a random assortment of old faves, including the video my brother worked on and the song my mother adopted as our family's anthem one jobless Labor Day.





DHS - "House of God"







Kate Bush - "Hounds of Love"







Nico - "My Only Child" from Philippe Garrel's La Cicatrice Intérieure







KLF -"3AM Eternal"







Nirvana - "Negative Creep"



It's a dark playlist today. I'm feeling restless.

PATRICIA PICCININI

David Cronenberg-like, Patricia Piccinini is fascinated with growths, birth, turning the unnatural into the natural. She is completely absorbed by taking uncanny images and makes them soft and maternal. Her most famous series is entitled "Natures Little Helper", and features these fleshy, inhumane creatures paired with helpless children, and positing that they are genetically engineered to raise our children - possibly better, and more eerie, than we can.

Here are some totally bizarre, emotional and terrifying images from that project:









I think these images are really beautiful and creepy. I've followed her work for some time, and I like her commentary on the tenderness between the innocent and the obscene, and how our own humanity is reflected in those moments, but how disturbed we still are by birth and physical, corporal openings and gashes. Also, I like how she uses our cues for "adorable" - big eyes, long lashes and friendly faces, and puts them on grotesque, naked forms. She's really quite excellent.

So when Designboom wrote about her project involving mopeds, I had to pass it on. It seems that Piccinini has created these little moped creatures and has shown us what its like to raise a baby moped.






I adore those zoomorphic eyes on that last one. I don't understand why these move me so much, but they are really amazing. I've always been touched by imbuing inhuman objects with very deep emotion - which is why sad dolls scare the crap out of me.

See more of here stuff at her website, patriciapaccinini.net.

Flickr & Museum of Natural History

Last weekend I took my camera and headed to the Natural History Museum, where Max took me to the museum for the first time. In true Leila style, I couldn't help thinking of the Museum of Natural History in Chicago, which I think is a pretty world class museum. However, the New York version had a grand sense of history, and certain rooms I entered (specifically the Woodland Creature Drawing Room - the Audabon room) had a very classic vibe.

We went on a Saturday so it was a bit of a madhouse, and I learned two very important things. The first is that its BY DONATION ONLY. This is crucial. It doesn't say anywhere that its donation only, and it saves you, say, 20 million dollars. As I figure, wealthy donors go to absurd soirees so the Museum can afford air conditioning and to buff the backside of the cave men in the dioramas. The struggling editorial assistant is going to enrich her life, two bucks is enough for her.

The second thing I learned is that the special exhibitions are INSANELY overpriced. We wanted to see Horses, but the line was long and the ticket inside was not by donation only, and was certainly not worth looking at a genealogical retrospective of the equine. Bodies wasn't worth it. The Komodo Dragon exhibit wasn't worth it. Rarely are special exhibits worth it.

Another pleasant aspect of the Museum was the gradual decrease in light throughout our journey. Vaguely chronological (dinos at top, cave people and civilization at the bottom), we started top-to-bottom, in a bright room filled with bizarre bones and hypothetical creatures. And then we passed to weird monkeys and evolution, and we got this very strange glowing green light. The diorama glass boxes section (the funniest/funnest part of the museum) was bathed in kind of a fluorescence that may have attributed to the crushing headache I had that afternoon, but we traveled down to see the different eco-systems. While Chicago has that giant T-Rex that is so terrifying, New York had its fair share of dioramas. I mean, most of the museum was composed of scenes frozen in time.

Then Max and I visited the Gem Room, which looks like a bad movie set from the 70s or at least a very rich washed-up rockers living room. Max says he gets "Golden Years" by David Bowie stuck in his head every time he enters. Last we hit the large whale room which was gorgeous and made us feel very small, and it was this huge, indigo room with a giant whale. But I didn't take any pictures because, by this time, I was exhausted.

Anyway, I wanted to take this time to introduce my Flickr account which has now gone PRO, an investment I strongly recommend for anyone. I usually put some pretty good images up there, so check it out and be my friend.




















POSTED AT: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leilaclaire/

MTV Launches Comic Blog

MTV, ruiner of everything awesome, has launched their comic movie blog which features inside information concerning the now totally freaking legitimate genre of the comic book movie.

As cynical as I am about Viacom as a corporation and a galvanizing cultural force, this blog is put together by totally capable and passionate individuals (and I know was a goal of their more dedicated members for almost two years now). Yet, using their all-powerful resources and connections, I'm sure the blog will feature a lot of exclusives, like this image that I cleverly stole of the Owlship from the upcoming Watchmen movie:




So far, it seems very Watchman/Batman heavy, but it seems like it has a great deal of potential. My inside source, the heavily involved Matt Harper, has leaked that upcoming topics would include some panels (including the Christian Bale "Terminator 4") and interviews with Joss Whedon, Keanu Reeves, Frank Miller and the entire cast of Watchmen. Also, he told me that they will have exclusive access to Rodriguez's "Red Sonja", which is a Amazon-esque Conan spin off about a red-haired, sword-wielding babe played by Rose McGowan (obvi.) Woot.

Anyway, I'm curious to see how this goes, or if it will end up rehashing things we already know with a slightly watered down, innocuous angle.

MTV SPLASHPAGE

BUYING VINCENT GALLO'S SPERM

My friend Andy told me that it is possible, via the internet, to purchase Vincent Gallo's (of RRIICCEE and such thrilling movies as Buffalo '66 and Brown Bunny) sperm on his website.

Of course, I didn't think he was telling the truth, but then I thought about it. Vincent Gallo perfectly encapsulates that Terry Richardson-esque, polaroid-sleeze, DIY-style of film, and it would be perfectly reasonable to believe he would offer up his sperm to the tune of $1,000,000.

Here is what Gallo says:

"Price includes all costs related to one attempt at an in-vitro fertilization. (A $50,000 value) If the first attempt at in vitro fertilization is unsuccessful, purchaser of sperm must pay all medical costs related to additional attempts. Mr. Gallo will supply sperm for as many attempts as it takes to complete a successful fertilization and successful delivery. Sperm is 100% guaranteed to be donated by Mr. Gallo who is drug, alcohol and disease free. If the purchaser of the sperm chooses the option of natural insemination, there is an additional charge of $500,000. However, if after being presented detailed photographs of the purchaser, Mr. Gallo may be willing to waive the natural insemination fee and charge only for the sperm itself."

Ha ha. Look. He's being ironic. That ole Vincent Gallo, doing something so unbelievable as offering up his sperm for a million dollars. What a hipster. What a cad. What an experiment-or. Ha ha. Greasy megalomania is always funny.

You know, I have never heard his music, but his movies are just frankly bad. I do not enjoy them. I do not enjoy stretched apart, sad people in sad situations with sad backdrops who don't really have any compelling reason to be sad. And on top of that, he skeevs me out. In fact, I never use the word skeev unless its in conjunction with Vincent Gallo, and his over-sexed, under-groomed persona.

This is why people cringe when you use the word "auteur." He also resembles a bird-Jesus to me. A bird-Jesus covered in a fine layer of man-fur.

Oh, you can also buy Vinnie's childhood Hopalong Cassidy bedspread for $3,000 - probably a better investment if one didn't want to spend the million on his "specimen."

Bonkers for Batman :: Friday Video Edition

There was something curious that happened in New York when Heath Ledger died. Maybe because I was in Soho, maybe because the gay boys in my office cried, but it was a moment that will be pretty well-defined in my recollection of 2008.

And its carried over to 7.18.08

Viral marketing, intensely sold out shows, screenings from 3AM-6AM. This movie is remarkably unspoiled, based on one of the most iconic figures of 20th century fiction and has a romantic death surrounding it. It's like The Crow, but with less suck.

So, in celebration of the vice-like grip Batman has on this real-life Gotham, I bring you a musical tribute to the Batmen of the past, of which the cinematic representations have been decidedly lack-luster as my selections demonstrate, for my Friday video presentation.

FROM BATMAN FOREVER (1995)



Seal - "Kiss By A Rose"

FROM BATMAN (1989)



Prince - "Batdance"

FROM BATMAN RETURNS (1992)



Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Face to Face"

FROM BATMAN AND ROBIN (1997)



Smashing Pumpkins - "The End is the Beginning is the End"

and lastly - Batman outsurfing Joker:


This is, strangely enough, the second time I've witnessed this Batman use his shark repellent spray from his utility belt. Lucky for that spray...


Enjoy your Bat-day, and I'll enjoy my 10:20 viewing at Union Square.

Facebook

Find me now onnit.

I think?

This is mostly a test, but I really think that Facebook is a really integrative, intuitive tool and everyone should use it. Everyone aside from my father, because that is weird.

You can find me here: Leila

FALSIES

Fake eyelashes are one of those things I don't think a great deal about, but always appreciate when I see them employed correctly. I think, like fake nails or high heels, its something I want to bring into my life, but I just don't really have the usage for.

However, in my recent intensive Viktor and Rolf research (started by their retrospective and the amazing couture dolls they created), I ran across V&R for Shu Uemura and found their exquisite, incredibly unique eyelashes. The campaign is really quite lovely, in this fantasy-whimsical-Viktor& Rolf way, and I have never considered eyelashes art pieces until now.



From top to bottom: Rhombus (named after, what I would assume, to be the gold shapes imprinted on the lashes); Wing (the paper-clip looking ones); Swirl (the dramatically sweeping, incredibly soft lashes - my personal faves).

Apparently, this is based on the S/S '08 runway collection which is inspired by Marcel Marceau, which I can understand in the sense that he's a mime with pronounced makeup and ways of expression, but it really reminds me of John Tenniel or something Ozma would wear in Frank L. Baum's original Oz books.

Once again, eye lashes truly signify the luxurious and I've never felt mine have needed much accessorizing, especially because I couldn't find the occasion to do so. However, upon researching Shu Uemera, I've found there are quite a lot of accroutemants to the eye lash, and it appears that this quick glamor fix is rather inexpensive (minus the V&R pair which clock in at $120) . In their Fantasy Lashes section, Shu's most expensive pair are $25, which I suppose may be a lot for something that you wear once or twice, but with intensively dramatic, criss-cross lashes like the Dazzling Black Diamante's, it's a pretty great deal - though, glue isn't included.

Also, use JULY08 for free shipping.
And send me pictures if you ever DO procure any of these.