Thursday, October 14, 2010
Yeasayer - Love Me Girl
I mentioned before that I first heard of Yeasayer at Coachella '10 and was inspired to download their album. Today, iPod shuffle gifted me with one of their songs, and it reminded me that I hadn't really given them a listen in awhile. So I scrolled to hear the full album again, and I'm glad I did. This is really one of my favorite albums of this last year, and this song is one of the main reasons why. So for the song of the day, it's "Love Me Girl."
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Why I won't be paying to see The Social Network - Part 1: Women in Movies in general
So apparently there is this new movie out! And apparently, it's the movie that is DEFINING MY GENERATION.
My generation - according to this movie - the geek shall inherit the Earth, by shitting all over womankind to get there.
There's always a lot of discussion in pop feminism about women's roles and portrayals in various media. The consensus is, basically, that it's not really a pretty picture. There is a gross dearth of media that allows women to be human beings rather than caricatures, and that actually bothers to tell women's stories and doesn't act like those stories are For Women Only (it's why stories with a female protagonist are 9 times out of 10 "chick flicks", but stories with a male protagonist are "for everybody".)
There's a pretty genius litmus test for whether or not your movie even pretended to give a crap about the existence of women. The Bechdel Test has three simple requirements.
1) There are two women with names in this movie...
This first criteria requires that the film acknowledge that some 50% of the world's population are women, and thus, even if your main character is a man, chances are he probably has significant interactions with women every day. So, point #1 says that if your movie exists in our reality, there are probably women involved in the protagonist's life. Because the women must have names, background extras don't count. You'd be surprised how many movies - good movies - can't even nail this one.
2) ...who talk to each other...
This speaks to the point of giving the women an actual character. They're not just props who respond only when spoken to by the (probably male) protagonist.
3) ...about something other than a man.
This is the killer. So many movies get this far, and then fail, because whoops! If you're a woman in a movie, you're probably a love interest, or you're interested in love. So even if you have a sassy female friend, you're probably talking about the guy you're interested in. Because what else do women talk about anyway?
This video sums the test up rather nicely:
What's interesting about the Bechdel test, as alluded to in the video, is that it's actually a pretty low standard and isn't really meant to be used on an individual basis to grade movies. Because the bar is set so low for including women, it's fascinating to examine Bechdel in terms of the number of movies that don't pass. When they don't pass, it's because most movies are starring men. In these movies, you may have one token female coworker, and/or a female love interest. So they stuck some women in there, but they're only there because of how they relate to the male protagonist. And since most movies default to a guy as the main character, women are more often than not very superficially written supporting characters. When the movies are about women? They're usually rom-coms, so even if a movie passes the test by having two female characters briefly talk about something other than the dude she's lusting after, women in these movies are motivated by falling in love with men (unless of course she's the uptight career-driven archetype who needs a fun-loving rogue dude to teach her to love.)
Another interesting way to look at the test is to evaluate the reverse Bechdel test. This would be:
1) There are two men in the movie, with names
2) Who talk to each other
3) About something besides a woman.
When you look at it this way, it seems almost silly, because this is true of almost every single movie (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants comes to mind as a rare exception!) We take it for granted that, in film, men have had their stories told so many different ways, and that their characters are fleshed out - it makes perfect sense that men would have a lot to talk about other than women. The Bechdel test isn't about trying to police women's conversations so that they never talk about men. Instead, the test is about trying to get the audience to accept that women aren't always just talking about men all the time, especially since we internalize that men talk about all kinds of different things in movies. Why should women be any different?
So I know that in Part I of this post that claimed to be kind of about The Social Network, I didn't talk about The Social Network hardly at all. That's because I wanted to set the stage for my critique of that film by establishing that there is, in the movie industry, a systematic disregard for giving women characters the opportunity to carry a story and exist as more than re-usable archetypes (who only talk about men.) This issue is widespread, as it rears its head in good movies as well as in blatantly misogynistic ones. The bottom line is, the dudes that write and direct these movies either feel that they don't understand women well enough to create realistic ones, or they simply can't be bothered to do it (they don't care, or they don't even realize they're perpetuating the exclusion.)
My generation - according to this movie - the geek shall inherit the Earth, by shitting all over womankind to get there.
There's always a lot of discussion in pop feminism about women's roles and portrayals in various media. The consensus is, basically, that it's not really a pretty picture. There is a gross dearth of media that allows women to be human beings rather than caricatures, and that actually bothers to tell women's stories and doesn't act like those stories are For Women Only (it's why stories with a female protagonist are 9 times out of 10 "chick flicks", but stories with a male protagonist are "for everybody".)
There's a pretty genius litmus test for whether or not your movie even pretended to give a crap about the existence of women. The Bechdel Test has three simple requirements.
1) There are two women with names in this movie...
This first criteria requires that the film acknowledge that some 50% of the world's population are women, and thus, even if your main character is a man, chances are he probably has significant interactions with women every day. So, point #1 says that if your movie exists in our reality, there are probably women involved in the protagonist's life. Because the women must have names, background extras don't count. You'd be surprised how many movies - good movies - can't even nail this one.
2) ...who talk to each other...
This speaks to the point of giving the women an actual character. They're not just props who respond only when spoken to by the (probably male) protagonist.
3) ...about something other than a man.
This is the killer. So many movies get this far, and then fail, because whoops! If you're a woman in a movie, you're probably a love interest, or you're interested in love. So even if you have a sassy female friend, you're probably talking about the guy you're interested in. Because what else do women talk about anyway?
This video sums the test up rather nicely:
What's interesting about the Bechdel test, as alluded to in the video, is that it's actually a pretty low standard and isn't really meant to be used on an individual basis to grade movies. Because the bar is set so low for including women, it's fascinating to examine Bechdel in terms of the number of movies that don't pass. When they don't pass, it's because most movies are starring men. In these movies, you may have one token female coworker, and/or a female love interest. So they stuck some women in there, but they're only there because of how they relate to the male protagonist. And since most movies default to a guy as the main character, women are more often than not very superficially written supporting characters. When the movies are about women? They're usually rom-coms, so even if a movie passes the test by having two female characters briefly talk about something other than the dude she's lusting after, women in these movies are motivated by falling in love with men (unless of course she's the uptight career-driven archetype who needs a fun-loving rogue dude to teach her to love.)
Another interesting way to look at the test is to evaluate the reverse Bechdel test. This would be:
1) There are two men in the movie, with names
2) Who talk to each other
3) About something besides a woman.
When you look at it this way, it seems almost silly, because this is true of almost every single movie (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants comes to mind as a rare exception!) We take it for granted that, in film, men have had their stories told so many different ways, and that their characters are fleshed out - it makes perfect sense that men would have a lot to talk about other than women. The Bechdel test isn't about trying to police women's conversations so that they never talk about men. Instead, the test is about trying to get the audience to accept that women aren't always just talking about men all the time, especially since we internalize that men talk about all kinds of different things in movies. Why should women be any different?
So I know that in Part I of this post that claimed to be kind of about The Social Network, I didn't talk about The Social Network hardly at all. That's because I wanted to set the stage for my critique of that film by establishing that there is, in the movie industry, a systematic disregard for giving women characters the opportunity to carry a story and exist as more than re-usable archetypes (who only talk about men.) This issue is widespread, as it rears its head in good movies as well as in blatantly misogynistic ones. The bottom line is, the dudes that write and direct these movies either feel that they don't understand women well enough to create realistic ones, or they simply can't be bothered to do it (they don't care, or they don't even realize they're perpetuating the exclusion.)
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Day 26 - My week, in great detail
(Last) Wednesday - Went to school, did some experiments, had class. Went home, Lacey came over, she and Emily and I made dinner. Well, Lacey and Emily made dinner and I made parfait. I used a papaya that was no bueno. It needed to be picked out of my otherwise lovely parfait. Boo. We also watched Castle in the Sky - cute, but not my favorite. There were lots of forlorn faces.
Thursday - Went to school (this is a noticeable pattern, no?) and otherwise I really don't remember anything that happened last Thursday. Oh! I started working out at the mini-gym in the building. They don't have a lot of different machines, but they have a bike and an elliptical - which is all I need for cardio - and some other weight machines that mostly seem to focus on the thighs (good) and arms/shoulders/upper back (also good) but for abs, they only have a big ball, and I'm not really sure how to make the most of that so I'll definitely have to supplement with my abs workout with some 8 minute abs at home.
Friday - More school! More class! Worked out again. I'm doing about an hour and 15 minutes when all is said and done.
Saturday - Made an egg scramble in the morning with bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, Italian sausage, and cheese. Went to visit Casper, we hung out and had some chicken corn chowder for lunch. Steak and potatoes for dinner. I watched Die Hard for the first time - I'd never seen it before.
Sunday - Went to visit Tiffany. We were going to go to Venice, but the weather was icky. Instead we hung out and talked, and went to dinner at C & O's Trattoria. I had fettucine in a lemon cream sauce with Italian sausage (okay, I guess I really like that stuff.) She and Steve and I split a pitcher of sangria (tasty) and I also ordered chocolate milk because I'm wholesome like that. Also, that place has a lot of owls.
Monday - Back to school. I wrote about it "great detail" that day, so I'm skipping it here except to mention that after I wrote, I went and got El Tepeyac for dinner.
Tuesday - SURPRISE! More school. Really long lab meeting involving critiquing presentations that are going to be given at the Obesity Society conference this weekend. I'm not going. The meeting ruined my workflow and I didn't get much done for the rest of the day other than set up a PCR. Worked out at the gym again, then went home. Casper came to visit and we watched Quantum of Solace, which I had but had never seen, and then he had to go home so I went to sleep. Exciting!
(Today) Wednesday - So far, I took care of some DNA extractions in lab, and I'm now sitting in class, so you know it's really exciting. I probably should be paying attention because these slides have absolutely no words on them, so I'm not going to have any idea what to take away from them when it comes time to study. Oh well. C'est la vie. I plan to head over to Lacey's later with Emily, where they have some dinner planned (this has been kind of a tradition of theirs that I started piggybacking on last week, so ideally I'll be less of a leech in the future and actually help more in the coming weeks.) I'll probably watch last night's Glee at some point, even though I hated the last episode and am ready to quit this show. Win me back please!
Thursday - Went to school (this is a noticeable pattern, no?) and otherwise I really don't remember anything that happened last Thursday. Oh! I started working out at the mini-gym in the building. They don't have a lot of different machines, but they have a bike and an elliptical - which is all I need for cardio - and some other weight machines that mostly seem to focus on the thighs (good) and arms/shoulders/upper back (also good) but for abs, they only have a big ball, and I'm not really sure how to make the most of that so I'll definitely have to supplement with my abs workout with some 8 minute abs at home.
Friday - More school! More class! Worked out again. I'm doing about an hour and 15 minutes when all is said and done.
Saturday - Made an egg scramble in the morning with bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, Italian sausage, and cheese. Went to visit Casper, we hung out and had some chicken corn chowder for lunch. Steak and potatoes for dinner. I watched Die Hard for the first time - I'd never seen it before.
Sunday - Went to visit Tiffany. We were going to go to Venice, but the weather was icky. Instead we hung out and talked, and went to dinner at C & O's Trattoria. I had fettucine in a lemon cream sauce with Italian sausage (okay, I guess I really like that stuff.) She and Steve and I split a pitcher of sangria (tasty) and I also ordered chocolate milk because I'm wholesome like that. Also, that place has a lot of owls.
Monday - Back to school. I wrote about it "great detail" that day, so I'm skipping it here except to mention that after I wrote, I went and got El Tepeyac for dinner.
Tuesday - SURPRISE! More school. Really long lab meeting involving critiquing presentations that are going to be given at the Obesity Society conference this weekend. I'm not going. The meeting ruined my workflow and I didn't get much done for the rest of the day other than set up a PCR. Worked out at the gym again, then went home. Casper came to visit and we watched Quantum of Solace, which I had but had never seen, and then he had to go home so I went to sleep. Exciting!
(Today) Wednesday - So far, I took care of some DNA extractions in lab, and I'm now sitting in class, so you know it's really exciting. I probably should be paying attention because these slides have absolutely no words on them, so I'm not going to have any idea what to take away from them when it comes time to study. Oh well. C'est la vie. I plan to head over to Lacey's later with Emily, where they have some dinner planned (this has been kind of a tradition of theirs that I started piggybacking on last week, so ideally I'll be less of a leech in the future and actually help more in the coming weeks.) I'll probably watch last night's Glee at some point, even though I hated the last episode and am ready to quit this show. Win me back please!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Day 25 - My day, in great detail.
Here begins the end of the 30-day challenge, where the challenge authors ran out of ideas and came up with some pretty boring shit that we're now tasked with writing about.
8:30 - wake up. Get out of bed. Wash face. Apply sunscreen.
8:45 - eat cereal (Quakers Oatmeal Squares, nonfat milk), take vitamins (Daily Multi, Calcium supplement, fish oil)
9:00 - check email. Browse internet (Facebook, AuthenticForum, whatever is on GReader)
9:15 - back to bathroom. Apply makeup. Deodorant (Degree clinical protection: sucks, do not buy.) Clean up dead ants that inhaled too much poison overnight and died on sinktop after (I imagine) writhing around sadly for awhile.
9:45 - leave for class.
10:05 - arrive at school, late. Look for failed meter to park at near classroom. After doing some circles, one is found. Walk to class.
10:15-12:00 - in class. bored.
12:05-12:35 - seminar on stem cell regenerative therapy after MI. Summary: hematopoetic stem cells don't work; embryonic stem cells do. BOOM!
12:40-1:40 - class discussion. Bored.
1:45 - walk to car, move it to different spot to avoid 4hr parking only ticket.
1:55 - Lunch. Food truck on campus: Crepes Bonaparte. It is always this truck and I am tired of it. Nonetheless, I don't feel like walking to the further cafeteria in the rain. Got a bacon, tomato, avocado, and mozzarella crepe with wheat batter. Savory!
2:05 - Inside student center, newly remodeled. Damnit - they opened the Poquito Mas and I already bought this mediocre crepe.
2:15 - I would usually sit outside and wait for my next class, but it's raining. Walk to lecture hall, choose prime seat location in back row next to electrical outlet, plug in laptop, browse internet.
3:00-5:00 - Class. Bored.
5:05 - leave, go home.
5:30 - Traffic is bad (thanks rain!) Just arrived back. Start downloading last night's Mad Men and last week's Community. Browse internet. Find interesting article defending women against ev-psych apes who think women evolved to be shitty at technology.
6:00 - on the phone with Casper, then Mom
6:20 - sit down to write horrifically boring blog entry about the meaningless shit I did today
8:30 - wake up. Get out of bed. Wash face. Apply sunscreen.
8:45 - eat cereal (Quakers Oatmeal Squares, nonfat milk), take vitamins (Daily Multi, Calcium supplement, fish oil)
9:00 - check email. Browse internet (Facebook, AuthenticForum, whatever is on GReader)
9:15 - back to bathroom. Apply makeup. Deodorant (Degree clinical protection: sucks, do not buy.) Clean up dead ants that inhaled too much poison overnight and died on sinktop after (I imagine) writhing around sadly for awhile.
9:45 - leave for class.
10:05 - arrive at school, late. Look for failed meter to park at near classroom. After doing some circles, one is found. Walk to class.
10:15-12:00 - in class. bored.
12:05-12:35 - seminar on stem cell regenerative therapy after MI. Summary: hematopoetic stem cells don't work; embryonic stem cells do. BOOM!
12:40-1:40 - class discussion. Bored.
1:45 - walk to car, move it to different spot to avoid 4hr parking only ticket.
1:55 - Lunch. Food truck on campus: Crepes Bonaparte. It is always this truck and I am tired of it. Nonetheless, I don't feel like walking to the further cafeteria in the rain. Got a bacon, tomato, avocado, and mozzarella crepe with wheat batter. Savory!
2:05 - Inside student center, newly remodeled. Damnit - they opened the Poquito Mas and I already bought this mediocre crepe.
2:15 - I would usually sit outside and wait for my next class, but it's raining. Walk to lecture hall, choose prime seat location in back row next to electrical outlet, plug in laptop, browse internet.
3:00-5:00 - Class. Bored.
5:05 - leave, go home.
5:30 - Traffic is bad (thanks rain!) Just arrived back. Start downloading last night's Mad Men and last week's Community. Browse internet. Find interesting article defending women against ev-psych apes who think women evolved to be shitty at technology.
6:00 - on the phone with Casper, then Mom
6:20 - sit down to write horrifically boring blog entry about the meaningless shit I did today
Monday, September 20, 2010
Day 24 - Whatever Tickles My Fancy
Wobblers.
I'm really into dubstep lately. So are a lot of people, apparently. It's catching on in a major way after being a pretty niche sound in the UK for awhile.
A lot of people also really, really hate it. And they get mad when the DJs play it at shows - I guess Deadmau5 dropped some dubstep in Ibiza, to which a lot of his stans whined "HUURRR ur sellin out mau5," to which I reply "Huh, dubstep may be catching on, but Deadmau5 is still a whole heck of a lot more mainstream than dubstep is, HURR HURR."
Also, it seems like there's this nasty family rift among self-proclaimed dubstep lovers. For instance, the divide around wobblers. Like, okay... here is a pretty wobbly dubstep song:
And here's one that's not wobbly:
Right.
So for me, I go "damn, this is considered the same genre?" And for people that don't listen to electonic at all, they're probably going "Um, this all sounds exactly the same to me." Sorry about that! But then, you probably skip over most of the music posts on my blog. And that's cool.
All of this rambling, I'm not sure it's going anywhere. I'm really sleepy. But. I did want to just post about dubstep, because it really blows my mind live (and as a kind of depressing corollary to that, it never sounds quite as good at home since my speakers aren't, um, huge and professional grade, which makes all of this delicious dubstep listening kind of a love-hate thing when I can't have HUGE BASS at home. But ANYWAY! Sheesh, sorry about the huge parenthetical run-ons. Moving on) and like I mentioned before, it really can be akin to a religious experience when there are thousands of people pulsing like one uniform organism to a dirty massive beat.
END!
Next up - I get some sleep and write something that makes sense. Stay tuned!
I'm really into dubstep lately. So are a lot of people, apparently. It's catching on in a major way after being a pretty niche sound in the UK for awhile.
A lot of people also really, really hate it. And they get mad when the DJs play it at shows - I guess Deadmau5 dropped some dubstep in Ibiza, to which a lot of his stans whined "HUURRR ur sellin out mau5," to which I reply "Huh, dubstep may be catching on, but Deadmau5 is still a whole heck of a lot more mainstream than dubstep is, HURR HURR."
Also, it seems like there's this nasty family rift among self-proclaimed dubstep lovers. For instance, the divide around wobblers. Like, okay... here is a pretty wobbly dubstep song:
And here's one that's not wobbly:
Right.
So for me, I go "damn, this is considered the same genre?" And for people that don't listen to electonic at all, they're probably going "Um, this all sounds exactly the same to me." Sorry about that! But then, you probably skip over most of the music posts on my blog. And that's cool.
All of this rambling, I'm not sure it's going anywhere. I'm really sleepy. But. I did want to just post about dubstep, because it really blows my mind live (and as a kind of depressing corollary to that, it never sounds quite as good at home since my speakers aren't, um, huge and professional grade, which makes all of this delicious dubstep listening kind of a love-hate thing when I can't have HUGE BASS at home. But ANYWAY! Sheesh, sorry about the huge parenthetical run-ons. Moving on) and like I mentioned before, it really can be akin to a religious experience when there are thousands of people pulsing like one uniform organism to a dirty massive beat.
END!
Next up - I get some sleep and write something that makes sense. Stay tuned!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Day 23 - A YouTube video
Ok, so part of me was conflicted about how cool to be with posting a video. Should I post something funny and new that's ahead of the curve, so that I get ultimate credit for "discovering" it? Well, that's hard. And also I'm not usually that ahead of the curve with stuff like that.
I also didn't want to post an obvious meme, as funny as they are wont to be, because that would be kind of obvious and overdone. And I didn't want to lean too far in that direction.
So I'm going to do a different kind of overdone, one that isn't quite as obvious, unless you know me and have seen my current bathroom decor.
I wanted to just post a video that I can rely on to make me laugh every time I watch it, so here's an old classic that I still love (and quote) pretty frequently. It's a series, but this is one of my favorite episodes (even though it's hard to pick a favorite.)
You could have guessed, right?
I also didn't want to post an obvious meme, as funny as they are wont to be, because that would be kind of obvious and overdone. And I didn't want to lean too far in that direction.
So I'm going to do a different kind of overdone, one that isn't quite as obvious, unless you know me and have seen my current bathroom decor.
I wanted to just post a video that I can rely on to make me laugh every time I watch it, so here's an old classic that I still love (and quote) pretty frequently. It's a series, but this is one of my favorite episodes (even though it's hard to pick a favorite.)
You could have guessed, right?
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Day 22 - A website
Oh hello, passiveaggressivenotes.com.
This website has been around for awhile, but I'm proud to say that I've actually been a reader since it started up (and I've got an email from the founder, Kerry, to prove it!)
-- As an aside, I have received two personal "thank you for being awesome" emails and one t-shirt from the administrator/owners of various web communities I've been involved in. Talk about having so much goddamn time on my hands that they recognize for wasting my life on their websites. Pity me!
Anyway, the notes usually speak for themselves, but I also really enjoy Kerry's witty commentary that goes along with it. It's definitely in my top 5 sites to check up on every day (and when you're a computer hermit like me, that's saying something.)
This website has been around for awhile, but I'm proud to say that I've actually been a reader since it started up (and I've got an email from the founder, Kerry, to prove it!)
-- As an aside, I have received two personal "thank you for being awesome" emails and one t-shirt from the administrator/owners of various web communities I've been involved in. Talk about having so much goddamn time on my hands that they recognize for wasting my life on their websites. Pity me!
Anyway, the notes usually speak for themselves, but I also really enjoy Kerry's witty commentary that goes along with it. It's definitely in my top 5 sites to check up on every day (and when you're a computer hermit like me, that's saying something.)
Project Runway Fashion Week collections - now with judgements!
So the images from all of the remaining PR contestants' collections are up and about on the internet! There are ten contestants remaining, so that should mean three of these are finalists and seven are decoys. (I feel like the number of decoys gets greater every season... can't they coordinate a little better with fashion week? Or maybe these designers don't mind the exposure, even if they're not in the competition.)
All links are to Tom & Lorenzo, because they posted the pictures so I don't have to.
April Johnston's Collection
I really like a lot of these clothes and would totally wear them, but I don't think this has enough drama for a fashion week runway show.
Prediction: decoy
Andy South's Collection
This is coming from someone who loves shiny, so you must know this pains me: I HATE the metallic chartreuse. Also, the fit and proportions on so many of these are terrible. Someone, please kill satin pants.
Prediction: finalist
Michael Drummond's Collection
Bored. So so so bored. Also, depressed. As per my comment on the TLo blog, I think this is what would happen if Hot Topic tried to go haute couture.
Prediction: decoy
Ivy Higa's Collection
Ivy is, by all portrayals, a massive bitch, so I'm happy to see that her collection looks like it was shat out by J Crew after an overindulgence of chili.
Prediction: decoy
Valerie Mayen's Collection
This is so hit-and-miss for me. Some of the pieces are really interesting and great, and some of them are just plain wack. Kind of like Valerie's work so far on the show!
Prediction: decoy
Mondo Guerra's Collection
Now this is what I'm talking about. There's drama and it's totally weird, but in a perfectly tailored and executed sort of way that it totally works and you know this guy knows exactly what he's doing.
Prediction: winner
Christopher Collins' Collection
I love the gold metallics that are popping up, but overall I feel like the silhouettes here are very tired and uninspired. Not to mention that one of those looks came straight out of the recent team challenge fail that the judges hated, except in different colors.
Prediction: decoy
Michael Costello's Collection
For me, this is actually not bad. It's pretty wearable. But, in perfect Michael C fashion there are some execution issues on interesting concepts, so if this isn't a decoy the sloppiness is unacceptable.
Prediction: decoy
Casanova's Collection
I kind of feel like this collection is an amalgamation of all of the others I've seen already. Maybe it's not his fault that I looked at his second-to-last, but the metallics are everywhere (ref: Andy, Christopher, Michael C) and the goofy shiny pants need to DIE (ref: Andy.) These are nice clothes, but they don't feel any different or any more amped-up from what he's already presented.
Prediction: decoy
Gretchen Jones' Collection
This collection is a shocker. The opposite of what I just said about Casanova - I would not have guessed this was Gretchen if I was not told so. Her elements are there - the nods toward homeless chic, the muted colors - but there are some shapes and silhouettes I would not have predicted from her. And some of the pieces (hot pants, patchwork pants) I would almost have expected her to pronounce "tasteless" had she not done them herself.
Prediction: finalist
All links are to Tom & Lorenzo, because they posted the pictures so I don't have to.
April Johnston's Collection
I really like a lot of these clothes and would totally wear them, but I don't think this has enough drama for a fashion week runway show.
Prediction: decoy
Andy South's Collection
This is coming from someone who loves shiny, so you must know this pains me: I HATE the metallic chartreuse. Also, the fit and proportions on so many of these are terrible. Someone, please kill satin pants.
Prediction: finalist
Michael Drummond's Collection
Bored. So so so bored. Also, depressed. As per my comment on the TLo blog, I think this is what would happen if Hot Topic tried to go haute couture.
Prediction: decoy
Ivy Higa's Collection
Ivy is, by all portrayals, a massive bitch, so I'm happy to see that her collection looks like it was shat out by J Crew after an overindulgence of chili.
Prediction: decoy
Valerie Mayen's Collection
This is so hit-and-miss for me. Some of the pieces are really interesting and great, and some of them are just plain wack. Kind of like Valerie's work so far on the show!
Prediction: decoy
Mondo Guerra's Collection
Now this is what I'm talking about. There's drama and it's totally weird, but in a perfectly tailored and executed sort of way that it totally works and you know this guy knows exactly what he's doing.
Prediction: winner
Christopher Collins' Collection
I love the gold metallics that are popping up, but overall I feel like the silhouettes here are very tired and uninspired. Not to mention that one of those looks came straight out of the recent team challenge fail that the judges hated, except in different colors.
Prediction: decoy
Michael Costello's Collection
For me, this is actually not bad. It's pretty wearable. But, in perfect Michael C fashion there are some execution issues on interesting concepts, so if this isn't a decoy the sloppiness is unacceptable.
Prediction: decoy
Casanova's Collection
I kind of feel like this collection is an amalgamation of all of the others I've seen already. Maybe it's not his fault that I looked at his second-to-last, but the metallics are everywhere (ref: Andy, Christopher, Michael C) and the goofy shiny pants need to DIE (ref: Andy.) These are nice clothes, but they don't feel any different or any more amped-up from what he's already presented.
Prediction: decoy
Gretchen Jones' Collection
This collection is a shocker. The opposite of what I just said about Casanova - I would not have guessed this was Gretchen if I was not told so. Her elements are there - the nods toward homeless chic, the muted colors - but there are some shapes and silhouettes I would not have predicted from her. And some of the pieces (hot pants, patchwork pants) I would almost have expected her to pronounce "tasteless" had she not done them herself.
Prediction: finalist
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Day 21 — A recipe
So, here's a "recipe" for something I make at least once a week. It changes a lot, depending on what's in the fridge. But the idea is the same. So this version is the one I made this week.
Eggs on Toast (this is going to be such a hard recipe, guys.)
1. Bread. I prefer whole wheat
2. Egg
3. Prosciutto, 1 thinly sliced
4. Tomato, sliced in rounds. About 2 rounds per toast.
5. Avocado, about 4 thin slices per toast.
6. Cheese (right now I'm using Havarti) for melting on the toast.
7. Salt and pepper.
K. So fry your egg, I usually do sunny-side-up or overeasy. While that's going, prepare your toast, then throw your sliced cheese on top and zap it in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds to get the cheese shmelty. Then put the tomatoes on the cheese. Then put the prosciutto slice on the tomatoes. Then, the avocado, and then lastly your fried egg. Add salt and pepper to taste. Yum! This has been my dinner several times since I moved into my place because a) I like it and b) it takes less than 10 minutes. But if you're not a breakfast-for-dinner person like I am, then, uh, try it for breakfast.
Eggs on Toast (this is going to be such a hard recipe, guys.)
1. Bread. I prefer whole wheat
2. Egg
3. Prosciutto, 1 thinly sliced
4. Tomato, sliced in rounds. About 2 rounds per toast.
5. Avocado, about 4 thin slices per toast.
6. Cheese (right now I'm using Havarti) for melting on the toast.
7. Salt and pepper.
K. So fry your egg, I usually do sunny-side-up or overeasy. While that's going, prepare your toast, then throw your sliced cheese on top and zap it in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds to get the cheese shmelty. Then put the tomatoes on the cheese. Then put the prosciutto slice on the tomatoes. Then, the avocado, and then lastly your fried egg. Add salt and pepper to taste. Yum! This has been my dinner several times since I moved into my place because a) I like it and b) it takes less than 10 minutes. But if you're not a breakfast-for-dinner person like I am, then, uh, try it for breakfast.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Day 20 - A hobby
All right. Let's have some real talk about my life.
I think my hermit tendencies may have first started to blossom senior year of college, when I would spend an embarrassing amount of my free time watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD in my room by myself. I still went out a lot and made sure to enjoy that last year of college, but certain things (I'm looking at you, Biochem 153L) reminded me that I have, in one way or another, resigned myself to a life that's gonna involve a lot of me spending quality time with me, myself, and a box of autoclaved filter-tips.
So, my hobbies? They're a lot less social than they used to be. I used to dance and play team sports. Now, I just tend to entertain myself when I'm not at school. Don't catch yourself thinking though that my hobbies are weak-sauce. In fact, one of them would run you over and award itself shiny gold stars the better it ruined your face.
I think what this game means when it says it's appropriate for seven-year-olds is that you're never too young to learn the value of wrecking shit. Basically, Excite Truck is a racing game. But the truth is, the winner isn't the person who crosses the finish line first. It's the person who has the most points. And how do you get points?
Well, for instance, you can crash into a bunch of stuff. You get points for that. If you totally annihilate another truck, "SUPER TRUCK SMASH" gives you maximum stars. Can't stay on the road? "SUPER TREE RUN." Take a turn too wide and then crash into something? "SUPER DRIFT!" followed by "NICE CRASH!"
Obviously, this is my kind of game. Check out the theme song.
This is like elevator music, if it just had its face rocked off at a heavy metal concert and then it was transplanted with awesome. Now, imagine yourself listening to this and driving a monster truck around some kind of terrain that doesn't always make sense (tornadoes in Canada?) and tell me that you can't imagine the glee infiltrating your body as the crescendo of this wicked awesome song propels you into the back end of another truck that is gonna spend the rest of its life crying over how you totally pwned its sorry ass.
So, your hobbies might get you some cool photos on facebook, but mine will run you over in a big ass truck.
I think my hermit tendencies may have first started to blossom senior year of college, when I would spend an embarrassing amount of my free time watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD in my room by myself. I still went out a lot and made sure to enjoy that last year of college, but certain things (I'm looking at you, Biochem 153L) reminded me that I have, in one way or another, resigned myself to a life that's gonna involve a lot of me spending quality time with me, myself, and a box of autoclaved filter-tips.
So, my hobbies? They're a lot less social than they used to be. I used to dance and play team sports. Now, I just tend to entertain myself when I'm not at school. Don't catch yourself thinking though that my hobbies are weak-sauce. In fact, one of them would run you over and award itself shiny gold stars the better it ruined your face.
I think what this game means when it says it's appropriate for seven-year-olds is that you're never too young to learn the value of wrecking shit. Basically, Excite Truck is a racing game. But the truth is, the winner isn't the person who crosses the finish line first. It's the person who has the most points. And how do you get points?
Well, for instance, you can crash into a bunch of stuff. You get points for that. If you totally annihilate another truck, "SUPER TRUCK SMASH" gives you maximum stars. Can't stay on the road? "SUPER TREE RUN." Take a turn too wide and then crash into something? "SUPER DRIFT!" followed by "NICE CRASH!"
Obviously, this is my kind of game. Check out the theme song.
This is like elevator music, if it just had its face rocked off at a heavy metal concert and then it was transplanted with awesome. Now, imagine yourself listening to this and driving a monster truck around some kind of terrain that doesn't always make sense (tornadoes in Canada?) and tell me that you can't imagine the glee infiltrating your body as the crescendo of this wicked awesome song propels you into the back end of another truck that is gonna spend the rest of its life crying over how you totally pwned its sorry ass.
So, your hobbies might get you some cool photos on facebook, but mine will run you over in a big ass truck.
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