I think I got carried away, or IFB Project #2: Let's Get Poetic

This is my entry for the second installment of the IFB Project, for which the instructions were to "pick something out of your closet you love and write a haiku about it." I'm no Winona, but I couldn't resist trying. I guess I'll call the first haiku my official entry... The nine other ones that follow are just for fun.

double seagull ring,
you give a whole new meaning
to flipping the bird.

--------------------------


cheapest shoe i own —
no self-respect, just lets me
walk all over it.

--------------------------


fcuk slip:
sunny the prostitute from
catcher in the rye

--------------------------


banana necklace:
neither apple nor orange —
y u so phallic?

--------------------------


ron weasley t-shirt:
the closest i've ever let
a man near my heart.

--------------------------


discontinued keds:
i carry them in my heart —
they carry my soles.

[Photo: Work It, Berk]

--------------------------


extremely striped pants:
let's run away together —
circus or prison?

--------------------------


coral marquise ring:
the classiest of them all —
lost in a bathroom.

--------------------------


ugliest sweater:
only a mother'd forgive
the gilt on your chest.

--------------------------


batman timepiece: it's
the watch my wrist deserves, but
not the one it needs

UC Berkeley Fashion, Style, & Beauty Student Bloggers

THIS IS AN ADMINISTRIVIAL POST YOU ARE WELCOME TO SCROLL PAST

Or however you want to categorize us. Including a couple alum, because this list is so sad and small.

If you know anyone who should be added here (preferably the cool kids out of UC Berkeley, because I want this to be school-centric rather than region-centric), or if you're on this list and would like to be removed or to change your information (or write your own description, ha-aha), shoot me an email! (See my sidebar for contact info.)

As of May 2011, I no longer want to update this mini blogroll, but if someone wants to take over maintaining a current list of UC Berkeley bloggers, I'd be chuffed.

• A California Dreamer - LA native, communications and English student, vintage collector, art gallery hunter, aspiring photographer and fashion journalist.


• a smile & a shoeshine - Diane has floral pants. fuckyeah.
  


• BARE :: blog - the blog counterpart to UC Berkeley's BARE Magazine


• blushing ambition - killer shoes, killer food (and probably already in your reader)


• Cambo Soup - beauty blogger extraordinaire


• closet hound - 2 girls, 1 blog (Sherrie's at Cal; Sharon's at SD)


• dirty laundry... and everything else i air dry - a documentation of the daily musings of a not-so-average 20-something


• fazed-girl - Perpetually trying to get dressed.


• Inspirafashion - outfits, cravings, and signature red lips


• The Laugh Slut - Anisa likes butter. She also likes clothes.


• Whit Wat Wear - 2 girls, 1 blog (Whitney & Mallory)


• Work It, Berk - Berkeley street style!

second empire drawing room

In the interest of being timely and relevant (OH THE IRONY), here's the drawing I sent to my blogging BFF Bella, which she posted here:

It's supposed to be a picture of her, but, um, nobody's hair can be that fluffy without an anti-gravity machine. Except maybe David Tennant's, but as the Doctor, he probably does have an anti-gravity machine.

And here's a drawing she sent me ages and ages and ages ago:

Which I have kept in secret until now because it is TOO FABULOUSLY MAGICAL and the world was not ready for its jelly, and because it's taken me this long to get appropriate outfit photos with the t-shirt in question. But here we are:

Make Love Not Horcruxes t-shirt: DIY. Sunglasses: Claire's. Belt: aunt's. Skirt: DIY. Socks: gift. Shoes: Repetto.

I've got some Matt-Smith-esque eyebrow action going on here...

If it were not for Bella's drawing, I would have forgotten about these shoes, which are a half-size too small, but see how joyous and ectastic they are? SEE HOW THEY SPARKLE FOR YOU?

List of Lists (So Meta)

Things You Should Click On For Possibly Sketchy Self-Promotional Purposes

• My interview with Vanessa from My Heart Blogged
  

Things That Have Been Ruined for Me by Partaking in the The Social Network Fandom

• Disney’s Hercules
• Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”
• Disney’s Bambi
• Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted”
• real men
• the phrase “a ho who didn’t know her place”
• Muppets
• the phrase “so sexy”
• the phrase “hella horny”
• Skins
• Tom Jones’s “It’s Not Unusual”
• chickens
• maps
• Vespas
• the word “adequate”
• “Where is Love” from Oliver
• the name Abraham
• cats

Things I Find Unbearably Beautiful But Which Probably Reveal My Ignorance

• “whale road” – a translation of the Norse/Old English phrase meaning “the sea/ocean”
• the phrase “ships passing in the night”
• the opening of Lolita
• the first two lines of The Stranger
• “The Shire”
• the last lines of Great Expectations
• Harry’s “Does it hurt?” moment from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• the The Social Network trailer using “Creep”
• the Tree of Life trailer
• Never Let Me Go, even though I wouldn’t call it one of my favorite books or movies
• “Touch Me” from Spring Awakening
• the animation style used in The Secret of Kells
• the entirety of The Thin Red Line
• crowds of singing people

Pop Culture References/Memes Incorporated into My Cognitive Science Pre-Midterm Notes

• #kanyeshrug
• “Is this the real life, or is this just fantasy?”
• the Yo Dawg meme
• the Inception PARADOX
• Armie Hammer, who is Aristotle
• Colin Firth, who is Locke
• "Please, Abraham, I am not that man"
• dream is collapsing
• becoss
• “whip me if I misbehave”
• “Baby Got Back”
• “such a radical”
• GQMF
• King of the Cosmos
• the rules of Fight Club

A Smattering of Unrelated Observations

• It is easier for me to break a sweat by driving than by running.
• The hyphen in “fazed-girl” doesn’t make sense.
• I own almost nothing pink, and this sometimes disappoints me when I want to be wearing pink.
• David Tennant is a fox. (How many times can I say this until I start annoying myself?)
• My pinkies are really weak now that I haven’t been playing the piano regularly for four years. And when I say "really weak," I mean my piano teacher probably wouldn't be able to say that I play like a man anymore. (This makes me sad.)
  

Current Style Direction

• looking dirty, like I crawled out of a gutter in London, or like Bellatrix Lestrange, or Marla Singer, or Idris/the TARDIS
• giant fur monster coat
• a “pretty” dress in some very light material, like chiffon or georgette
• ratty lace
• black flat/platform wedges (no patent leather, preferably leather + canvas)
• get in the habit of exposing my knees again
• knee-length crinoline (black, off-white)
• black satin slips
• smudgy, sparkly gray eyeshadow
• bird’s nest hair
• Look Good Outside, Feel Good Inside

Things I Wore During Dead Week Because I Am The Epitome Of Style

Wow, you guys! Mirror shots? It feels like fashion blogging circa 2006! And my outfits are even as bad as they were in 2006 when I was posting on MyStyleDiary! DO TODAY'S BLOGGERS EVEN REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS LIKE WHEN WE ALL TOOK MIRROR PHOTOS?

Disclaimer: These outfits are for LULZ, and I am wearing leggings as pants.

DEM PANTS

Because every time I wear these pants, I get some variation of "Did you escape from the circus?" but I also feel like I can take over the world, and shouldn't all your clothes make you feel like that?

Bomber: mother's. Hoodie: brother's. Striped jeans: delia's. Boots: Steven by Steve Madden.

P. S. I was contacted by Smashion at the beginning of February to do a little blog interview. In typical college student fashion, I procrastinated on it for a month before I finally got around to sending my answers in, but they were kind enough to publish it anyway.

My interview goes up at the Smashion Lounge sometime tomorrow, but until then, you can read other bloggers' interviews at the archives, where you'll find interviews with other Berkeley-based bloggers from Work It, Berk, A California Dreamer, Inspirafashion, and The Laugh Slut. And there's a great interview with Vanessa Kuo, Director of Marketing at Smashion, over at the BARE Magazine blog (as reported by Anisa from The Laugh Slut!).

If you've never heard of Smashion, its biggest feature is its no-fees online marketplace for buying/selling new and lightly used clothing, which is pretty genius if you ask me. From what I've heard, it's a really good place to try if you're looking to sell things in good condition, but you'll have to wait longer to find buyers (because the community's still new and growing, unlike, say, etsy or ebay where there's already a sprawling community).

something there is that doesn't love a wall

(Sam doesn't love a wall.)

I have a backlog of outfits from mid-February up to today, but I should probably post this before it becomes grossly irrelevant.

So last week, I met up with Diane from a smile & a shoeshine for a little photo session outside the Berkeley Art Museum. You can see what she was wearing at her post, or you can click the picture below:

See that nonchalant stance? That is the foot positioning of a woman who is not afraid that she is about to plunge to her painful almost-death off a concrete ledge. This, on the other hand, is the face of a woman who wants to pee in her high-waisted shorts because she never knew she was so afraid of heights:

I don't know if this shows the height of the wall/ledge any better, but I felt totally justified in my terror:

But you know the rules of fashion blogging.

RULE #1: You don't talk about fashion blogging.
RULE #2: You don't talk about fashion blogging.
RULE #3: Fake it 'til you make it.

Here's a much friendlier wall that I didn't stand on:

It's been a really long time since I've had outfit photos taken from so far away, so here are some poorly-lit afterthought detail shots:

...I don't think you can even tell I'm wearing bobby pins or rings in the outdoor photos. Oh well. Jacket: H&M, mother's. Thermal: Old Navy. Belt: thrifted. Shorts: Alloy. Tights: Costco. Boots: Steven by Steve Madden. Bobby pins: grandmother's + Claire's. Rings: Forever21 + Rapunzelsgold.

It was really nice meeting Diane! She's tall and I suspect hyperarticulate and I know very interesting and not afraid of standing on high concrete ledges and and and right after we took our photos I got something in my eye. Like a twig, or a branch. (I GOT A POCKET GOT A POCKET FULLA SUNSHINEEEE~)

Go check out Diane's post! Why? Because her cardigan matches the polka dots on her shirt. IT'S MAGIC, YOU GUYS.

It's kind of a funny story.

WALL OF WORDS!

GUYS! I'm supposed to be studying for my midterm right now, but I was watching a video of Jesse Eisenberg reading from It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, and I thought something must be up because I was paying more attention to what Jesse was reading than to Jesse, so I started Googling and discovered that the book was made into a movie in 2010. Cue more Googling. Cue procrastination. Cue "You have watched 72 minutes of video today." Cue blog posting.

Now, I've got copies of Never Let Me Go and Fight Club winging their way to me from Barnes and Noble right now (my uncle didn't want his gift card, and I've got Ender's Game coming too, but I've actually read it before, unlike the other two), but I like the 72 minutes of It's Kind of a Funny Story that I've seen so far (especially the soundtrack), and I really like the excerpt that Jesse Eisenberg read.

So here's my current reading list, unordered:

• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (reread)
• It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
• Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
• Eleemosynary by Lee Blessing
  
• Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes by Tony Kushner
• The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

My current to-watch list, which I doubt I'll follow because filmed things require so much less deliberation to commit to consuming:

• more Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
• Moulin Rouge (rewatch)
• 127 Hours
• A Single Man
• All the President's Men
• Full Metal Jacket
• Se7en
• The Golden Compass

I thought I'd have more of an aversion to watching movies before reading their book counterparts, but I think I overestimated myself. They're so separate. It's one thing to read the screenplay before watching a movie, but I think books are entirely separate. Like the 2009 draft of The Social Network is wildly different from the 2010 version that they eventually edited for film. Mark and Eduardo's relationship makes so much more sense and is more accessible and less ambiguous, and Mark's character is easier to read, and his motivations are pretty much laid bare. But I like the ambiguity that ended up in the actual film version. It makes it less talk-y (which I suspect is a better thing on paper than film) and more compelling to watch.

The point of that The Social Network brainbarf was to say that it's hard to read the 2010 version of the screenplay without thinking of the movie. But it's not like The Accidental Billionaires (the book the screenplay was based on) will be affected in the same way, because it's an entirely different medium.

In other news, here's an outfit from January 28th (punctuality fail):

Red polo: Ben Sherman, from Christine. Cashmere sweater: (the qualifier is necessary) gift. Jeans: Levi's. Shoes: Harajuku Lovers. Photogeny/photogenicity/photogenicia: well-kept family secret.

In other other news, Bella from plastic barettes interviewed me and I talked too much.

Also, I've been alternating between two Microsoft Word documents for a couple days: ling120-midtermstudyguide.doc and grrrl.doc, the latter of which is for Bella's zine, Grrrl Fashion Journal. The first issue will be about "traditional femininity." If you're interested, you can read more about it and find out how/what to contribute on Bella's blog, plastic barettes. There's even more info and submission ideas/guidelines at the zine's tumblr, or you can follow the zine on twitter.

DO ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! The submission deadline is March 20th, so get cracking! THIS IS GOING TO BE SO. MUCH. FUN, YOU GUYS.

(Bella is being a slave driver and making me write about Andrew Garfield. OH, THE HUMANITY. THIS IS PURE TORTURE.)

And I think my "Please wait 30 minutes or click here to enjoy unlimited use..." is up, so... back to feeling guilty about having to Google whether Keir Gilchrist is legal yet.

#jesseshrug

Midterm, report, and homework defeated. Now to catch up on this week's reading, but first, here's a ring I bought a little while ago:

From Rapunzelsgold on etsy.

I guess I should be embarrassed that it's based off Bella's engagement ring in the Twilight series, but I'm not because it is so pretty and slightly tacky and anachronistic.

In other news, there are a bunch of visitors coming to this blog through a Chinese forum pointing to my Graceful Eyre coat outfit post discussing (if Google Translate is to be trusted) how unattractive either I am or my blog is. My Chinese skills have deteriorated so much since high school (though their initial existence is also contestable) that I can't understand the grammatical constructions they're using, but I do know how to say "not very good-looking" because apparently that falls under Conversational Chinese Topics Necessary To Cover In First-Year Mandarin, Along With Things Like How To Tell People Sorry, I Am Not A Teacher, But I Am Australian And Own A Cat Named Paul Or Peter Or Xiao Ming.

Then again, Google Translate makes everything sound like it's been filtered through Alex from Everything Is Illuminated, and Alex says things like "My legal name is Alexander Perchov. But all of my many friends dub me Alex, because that is a more flaccid-to-utter version of my legal name. Mother dubs me Alexi-stop-spleening-me!, because I am always spleening her."

#kanyeshrug

Except I prefer Jesse Eisenberg, so

Hopefully this is a picture of a #jesseshrug and not a frog in an ice cube because "This domain violates ImageShack's ToS." Click for original source. NOTHING IS ORIGINAL. (Is it illegal to reblog lolcats? Is it illegal to reblog the .GIFs people use for expressiveness on tumblr? I DON'T KNOW. WHY DO I SEE A FROG IN AN ICE CUBE IN MY PREVIEW? DID I SAY "PORN" SOMEWHERE (RECENTLY)?)

this is a rather large photo dump

With unintelligent commentary. Just to make up for having no pictures yesterday.

I am not a photographer. (But Yvan Rodic is. And my miniature recap of last night's fashion forum is at the end of this post.)

Starting off with...

The fabric-covered frames my roommate glued and stapled with her own hands and brought to put a little color in our living room. I kind of wish that instead of fabric-covered frames, we had a giant wall of fabric swatches instead. Oh my God that would be so cool. Actually, maybe I'll do that over my headboard.

And these thrifted ... glass frame things.

Above, the rather ambitious family dinner my mom roped me into helping out with.

Lamb, salmon, pile of vegetables, pile of vegetables deux. I don't know what's up with my mom and arranging vegetables, but it's a pain.

SUGARRRRRRRRR. (Store-bought, obviously.)

Above, an unrelated food photo from another meal.

A monster-sized grape.

MY GRYFFINDOR PEN. On my linguistics textbook. It doesn't know which team to play for because if you turn it over, it's...

MY SLYTHERIN PEN!!!

Above, epic fail of the my-head-is-too-heavy variety: glasses with headphones with a headband. Don't do it. So much pressure on your temples!

I don't know why I took a picture of this, but I like the colors. That's my grandma's purse. She's a baller. And then I changed into these clothes. For real. I looked 6 years old.

Uh... obligatory flower picture because it was in our kitchen.

In case you were wondering, "sloe" is a plant. It was the last word my cousin and I got stuck on.

Hahahha... from my Java textbook. Also from my Java textbook:

We all know what the answer to that question is.

It's 11 PM. Do you know where your children are? It's November. Do you know what you're thankful for today?

So last night I heard Yvan Rodic from Face Hunter, Liz from Late Afternoon (she works for Chictopia), and Laura from On the Racks (she works for Shop It To Me) talk at a fashion forum hosted by UC Berkeley's BARE Magazine and FAST.

(In attendance were... at least Jennie from Going West, Christina from Profresh Style, FAST model Tiffany (you are sweet! I didn't get your contact info! Email me!), Anisa from The Laugh Slut, Chandamheer from pancakeSTACKER, and Brittany from Work It, Berk. These three ladies were also supposed to have been there BUT I AM A CHICKEN AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO MEET PEOPLE SO I HAVE NO IDEA IF THEY WERE THERE BECAUSE I SUCK AT INTRODUCING MYSELF.)

I'll have photos of what I wore later (probably much later...), but for now, here are my takeaway points:

1. A big part of blogging is being extraordinary. The other part is luck.
2. Bloggers are early adopters. Not trendsetters. Because everyone (including Liz's grandma but excluding Yvan Rodic) knows who Snooki is, but not everyone knows who Rumi is. The kind of audience a blogger commands is still nothing compared to even a reality TV star, no matter how big they are on the internet.
   
3. If a man with a French accent opens his mouth and no racial slurs come out, I have already removed my pants.
   
4. Biz Stone (of Twitter) said "Creativity comes from constraint," and Liz (smartypants) said something along the same lines, about how what a blogger puts online is an edited version of real life, the nice parts, the not-wearing-cat-and-dog-hair-covered-pajamas-sitting-in-front-of-a-laptop parts, and therein lies the appeal. It's a combination of aspiration and accessibility - as in something for a reader to aspire to and relate to.
   
5. The Bay Area at large has no remarkable style, probably because of its function-over-form aesthetic.
   
6. Some street style blogs actually have product placement and staged outfits. (This blew my mind.)
7. It is often a good idea to go where things take you.