braces

the best of tommy ton's street style mavens is model hanne gaby odiele with this specific look. i've loved the leather brace for years (was it mcqueen who reinvented it?) and am a huge fan of her new take on it. spotted some at that ossington boutique that has topshop in the back....hmmm

for the new year

this kate moss for topshop blazer and

this versace minidress
and the american apparel crinoline

but instead i'll be wearing a yellow silk dress from a now-closed toronto boutique (with a crinoline from a little danish shop underneath?) for my mad men themed new year party. (because that's what was stopping me from picking up the versace)

picture me

just read about this documentary, made by model sara ziff and her then-boyfriend ole schnell, whom she snuck into anything and everything pertaining to the fashion world so he could surreptitiously film what was going on. unsurprisingly, a lot of what was encountered was the dark side to the supposedly glamourous industry - forced eating disorders and sexual assault seem to be the norm, yet a blind eye is consistently used. as ziff reported, one model spoke of a prominent photographer known for his sexy photos who oh so nonchalantly sexually assaulted her, but decided against being shown in the film at the last minute. who wants to bet it's terry richardson, beloved photographer who has multiple rumours regarding his set etiquette....

http://www.fashionologie.com/Sara-Ziffs-Picture-Me-Documentary-Uncovers-Sexual-Assault-Modeling-World-3271323

carine resigns!

the inimitable carine roitfeld has just announced her resignation from vogue france...apparently she wishes to devote her time to personal projects. who will take charge? bets are on current fashion director emmanuelle alt, who is a major player in the fashion world.

http://www.vogue.fr/mode/news-mode/articles/carine-roitfeld-quitte-vogue-paris/6536

the girl....

...with the dragon tattoo...who played with fire...who kicked the hornet's nest. read the first, am in the middle of the second, and need to get the third. the books and character's are all incredibly addictive, especially of course lisbeth salander, my favourite. stieg larsson obviously felt the same about the character and must have modelled mikael blomkvist after himself - man in his 40s, editor of a magazine, interest in curbing the far right (and the receiver of death threats for this), and a staunch feminist. apparently he was witness to a horrific rape in his youth, and never forgave himself for not stopping it, with these books being a response to it. cut down in his prime by a heart attack (you can't tell me that his line of work and connections had nothing to do with it), he supposedly has a forth book half-written. we shall see what happens with it...

that hair

remember that haircut of selma blair's from a few years ago? rediscovered it when looking through a million old vogues (apparently keeping them all isn't an option)...looks like something lisbeth salander would get...

a man with a strong mustache

first of all, what a wholesome-looking man that moshe safdie is! now that that's out of the way.... my mother had been rambling on about the safdie exhibit at the national gallery, so i finally went to see it. i didn't realize it was so extensive, or perhaps i would have put aside more time for it (had just been through 'it is what it is' and my bag and coat were starting to become quite the nuisance). anyways, everything the man touches is gold, from the expo 67 building complex in montreal (which i must go see) to of course the stunning gallery that housed his exhibition! it was interesting to see just how many of his ideas failed to be realized due to financing struggles, or protests (the student building planned for a university in california). how frustrating. what i like most about his work is how he without fail, incorporates nature and gardens and the surroundings into everything. like how the silhouette of the national gallery echoes the parliament across the river. what moshe did with yad vashem - the holocaust museum in israel - is particularly poignant. apparently the criticisms included 'oh god it's just such a cliché, moving from darkness into the light,' but it's not as if he sat on the mountain and inscribed the phrase in big block letters. i think it was done beautifully.

a night on the town

on friday i helped out at a christmas concert for the euro diplomats at the notre dame church in ottawa. surprisingly had never been there before - gorgeous architecture that felt like europe, especially with those unforgiving benches. various choirs performed european christmas carols, ending with stille nacht, the austrian classic. i nearly shed a tear. nearly.

that guy from vice

shane smith. oh he's canadian? and from ottawa? what. i always thought he was a new york kid. i've been reading vice mag irregularly for years (the ONE american apparel i frequented in korea had a solitary issue for display purposes only, and always kept a CLOSE eye on yours truly when i attempted numerous times to sneak off with it...), and am a huge fan of their documentaries, especially the vice guide to north korea, which is awe-inspiring. smith was just featured in an article in the ottawa citizen, which spoke of his punk beginnings in the nation's wholesome capital...before he moved to brookyn of course. vbs tv just released the vice guide to liberia which is shocking, and as of tonight there's a weekly vice guide to everything on mtv. i will be watching. (but they best not fuck up and suddenly become polite.)

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/Former+Ottawa+punk+rocker+expands+private+empire/3932530/story.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/28/shane-smith-talks-about-t_n_440052.html

http://www.mtv.ca/tvshows/vice-guide-to-everything/about.jhtml

a list of books

i'm trying to recall books which i read while traveling. here's what i've come up with, many of which are either by indian authors or related to experiences in india:

anita jain - marrying anita
elizabeth gilbert - eat pray love (of course. preferred the movie to her non-hilarious tone in the book)
john harris - the backpacker (terrible.)
ralph steadman - the joke's over (fascinating portrayal of a friendship's ups and downs)
kiran desai - the inheritance of loss (unfinished - got distracted by oz series!)
mark haddon - a spot of bother (read before and wanted something humorous)
joanna trollope - the men and the girls (read long time ago)
lydia millet - oh pure and radiant heart (overall interesting, however plodding at times)
douglas adams - the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy
charles bukowski - women (pure filth! but i love bukowski)
greg mortenson - three cups of tea (read right after i was in leh - extremely similar terrain)
yann martel - life of pi
aravind adiga - the white tiger
suketu mehta - maximum city
sarah macdonald - holy cow (loved this book! great introduction to india)

if ever, oh ever, a wiz there was....

...the wizard of oz is one because
because because because because because!
because of the wonderful things he does!
we're off to see the wizard
the wonderful wizard of oz!

currently rereading all of the oz books. just starting the road to oz...i remember being completely enthralled with the whole series while growing up, especially with the princesses and similar marvelous female characters such as polychrome, the abandoned daughter of the rainbow (perhaps that's why i wore so many rainbow-tinted garments for such an extended period....) i have yet to catch wicked on stage, although it must, it must! return to toronto once again...

iwantiwantiwant

this american apparel lace t-shirt! i've wanted a lace shirt for eons - tried to get some made in vietnam, but finding good lace in a place known for silk was impossible. i need one before it's too late!

docs

so when did docs come back? when. a friend of an ex-boyfriend was getting rid of stuff before a move and offered up her docs to me. i snatched them and stomped around town feeling incredibly tough and angry. this was three years ago. but then i left them when i moved to korea (there was little rationale to my packing job. chaotic at best. ). and then all the korean girls started to wear them and there was nothing i could do until i came back to canada and found that everyone's wearing them, leaving me to wonder who was first. probably the koreans.

burtonmania

with the unveiling of the tim burton exhibit at the tiff lightbox in toronto, canada is currently going through an obsession with all things burton. last night i watched mars attacks! for the first time in a long time, but it is far from my favourite burton film. beetlejuice has been a longstanding love of mine, and was seen endless times during my childhood, along with the wizard of oz, alice in wonderland, and the lesser-known babes in toyland. until the exhibit i didn't realize just how strongly burton has been influenced by roald dahl (and quentin blake i'm sure, although i don't recall him being referenced), an author whose books i keep returning to (and who came in quite handy when teaching grade 4 students!).

i spent over 3 hours in the fairly small exhibition space, and could have stayed longer, save for the fact that i had things to do and people to see. while i certainly loved seeing costumes and sculptures and the like, i took to his illustrations most of all. each one is a work of art in itself, and it was fascinating to see how his themes developed over the years, and yet the general aesthetic remains steadfast. now he has returned to frankenweenie, a character he developed years ago, but never came into fruition. can't wait.

stebbins, mark

while on an art crawl on west queen west, i came across mark stebbins at the edward day gallery. each piece is incredibly intricate, with tiny brush strokes coming together to create the effect of a swoop of paint across a canvas. the paintings bring to mind an intermingling of textiles and technology, with the fragmentation seen as a distant echo of pointillism, a different take on chuck close. what is interesting is that stebbins is a male artist exploring what is usually seen as a female domain: textiles, knitting, embroidering etc. curious.

podcasts

something i had never been into but SHOULD have: podcasts. i'm just getting started but have been listening to the following: savage love (have always loved his advice column at the end of NOW magazine), the ongoing history of new music with allen cross (one-minute blurbs), and a bunch of CBC programs including definitely not the opera with sook-yin lee (a delight), Q with jian ghomeshi, and radio 3 programs. if only i'd had some of these for those 20 hour bus rides around asia...

bonjay

have been doing a lot of new music searching, especially for toronto-based acts...bonjay act the act that have gotten me the most excited, what with their unique electro dancehall style. very cool. closest comparison would be santogold...