Intimately Social 10.13

The plum colour Minna Palmqvist uses for her A/W 13 collection is one of my favorite colours ever. I am generally not a purple kind of person, but somehow my prom dress, my fanciest non-wedding dress, my often-worn mandula dress, and a lovely custom mydearthing dress are all this colour, give or take a shade. Perhaps it's time to add another...Anyway, Minna suggests you listen to Björk's "Mutual Core" while watching the video presentation of the collection (from 0:06 on). With or without a soundtrack, I love what I see. I'll definitely be checking into Minna's e-shop in a few months to see if I can get myself another plum fix.

Entirely unrelated, if you like Neil Gaiman, Stephen Colbert, and Leonard Nimoy (a.k.a three of my favorite people), AND if you're not one of those people who hate short stories, you may want to click here (and listen to the January 27th show). Live long, and prosper.

Edit: Unrelated again, Blogger tells me that this is my 1100th post here on kOs. Crazy!

Prochaine gare: Home

My fifth trip to NYC brought with it many lessons, particularly as I was not alone this time and acted the part of tour guide (albeit rather poorly). Also, the trip started with a full day of travel to Montreal, four days in Montreal, and a full day of travel between Montreal and Manhattan. Meaning, I was away from my bed (and thus a good night's sleep) for far too long, and someone else had to witness the incoherence/temporary psychosis New York can induce in even the most well-intentioned Canadian. Not to mention that the trip ended during a heat wave that nearly caused me and my man to live the rest of our days in the well air-conditioned Uniqlo on 34th Street (in reality, we should've at least stayed for tea). At any rate, here are 5 of the more important lessons I learned:

1) If your destination is hot and humid, pack only light, breathable, and moisture-wicking clothing. Then, remove and leave half of what you packed and bring travel-sized laundry detergent/Febreeze instead. Also, don't travel to somewhere that's hot and humid in the summer when you live in an Arctic tundra. If you do so, chances are you'll have to immediately leave that art show gig you were looking forward to going to but couldn't physically stay at on account of needing to breathe and staying conscious. It's no wonder Amanda Palmer frequently takes her clothes off if roughly 45 degree Celsius venues like the Momenta Gallery in Bushwick is the sort of place she can be found in. What doesn't make sense is how Neil Gaiman manages to still look so cool (literally and figuratively) in such a place (picture unavailable due to inability to work a camera and/or brain under such conditions). Sigh.

2) If you pack light summer dresses that you know you'll be comfortable in because they're loose and flowy, do not wear those dresses on the days that photos will be taken. The comfort was but momentary, and those photos where I look 15 pounds heavier than I actually am last forever. Ironically, I lost at least 5 pounds/2 inches after sleeping a night in my own bed, so if I wore any of those dresses today and took photos, it would look like some sort of before/after ad.

3) Always opt for the oddest sounding drink, especially when you know it's not available at home. A table in Old Montreal loaded with assorted maple paraphernalia including maple lemonade resulted in a very refreshing rest before entering the hottest circus tent ever. The best beer I've now ever had is Dieu du Ciel's 'Pouliche', described as a half sour noir aged beer. Sounds gross, but I was hoping the sour would result in a sour cherry flavour. Turns out, it tasted like Coke mixed with a borderline stout. Fantastique! Lastly, I finally got a hold of a Dogfish Head Midas Touch, after finding it on a menu here at home and then being told it was no longer available in the country. Made from ingredients found in 2700-year old drinking vessels in a tomb (...of King Midas), it was well worth the wait.

4) I definitely do not like clowns.

5) I should always spend all my money in Montreal before going to New York. I had nearly forgotten that I wanted to visit one of Marie Saint Pierre's boutiques in Montreal until we were looking up addresses for a shopping/brew pub trip into the city. As the Quartier du Musée location was right by a metro station along our predetermined route, I didn't feel too guilty dragging my man and the in-laws to what would likely be another too-cool-for-us shop (i.e. I don't think any of us felt that we fit the bill for Reborn's expected clientele). As it happens, when we got to the door of the boutique, I needed to be buzzed in, so the family hightailed it down la rue and left me to deal with the scornful glares that tend to accompany such retail establishments. And yet, once I was buzzed in and had shyly walked up the steps in front of the till, the next half hour or so was nothing short of a lovely experience. The sole consultant working was so helpful, told me all about the collection and the current sale (great timing!), was interested in knowing how I came to know about the label, and suggested pieces for me to try on within my budget. She even disagreed with me (politely, of course) when I said I was probably a size large. The result was that I happily walked out with a medium (size '2') piece that was the staple I had been missing from my wardrobe (a simple long black skirt), at 50% of its retail price. The space itself was also rather lovely, reminding me of a minimalist cross between the Alexander McQueen boutique in Manhattan and an upscale wedding dress boutique (in fact, the basement is a wedding dress boutique, but I didn't have a reason to take a peek). I could've spent much more time and money there (particularly as I found out afterwards that the leather rope detailing was faux leather), but now I have a new shopping destination and have rediscovered my new favorite label. As such, the photos above are of the upcoming F/W 12 collection, and the photos below are of the current (and on sale) S/S 12 collection which I had somehow failed to post before, and of which my skirt is a part.

In My Mind

Before I get to what has been occupying my mind for the last week and a half, let me first say this: chromat now has swimwear in stock and available to order from the chromat online shop! How can I not get a bathing suit with a hood? It's pretty much a match made in heaven (and not just because it's named the 'habit suit'). I'm also loving the back coverage for the top - quite unexpected for a bikini top, and would shield at least the trunk portion of my tattoo (...it's a tree). I'm not ashamed to say that I will likely wear this as a bra as well. Would go well with the TwinSyndrome bathingsuit bottoms I have been known to wear as underwear. Becca - genius!

Anyway, for the last week and a half, I've been aggravating my tennis elbow by constantly hitting refresh on Amanda (F'ing) Palmer's Kickstarter page. If you haven't heard all the hullaballoo on the Internets about AFP's brilliant success in raising enough money to produce and tour her upcoming album from her very own fans, I suggest you start by going to her Kickstarter page, and then perhaps Googling 'Amanda Palmer Kickstarter'. And if you're not familiar with Amanda Palmer, let me start by saying that I wasn't really either. In fact, I didn't bother trying to become familiar with her before, because: a) her eyebrows, or lack thereof, scare me (I've very particular about eyebrows); b) I can't relate to her brazenness (I have trouble being myself at work); and, most importantly, c) I'm jealous she gets to hear Neil Gaiman's voice whenever she wants. I honestly can't even say I had heard any music from her (and/or the Dresden Dolls) until I watched her Kickstarter video. Which was when I realized that she's really quite good at what she does and is to be admired for leaving her label (for very good reasons - Google that too) and for giving her very loyal fans a chance to be (even more) involved with her work. Without waxing noneloquently about the evils of the big music industry, etc., let's just say I backed Amanda's project (when it had reached about 4X what the goal was and only a few thousand backers) because I could get behind the idea of it, and now (when it has reached over 6X what the goal was and over 11,500 backers) I'm very much looking forward to seeing her in Brooklyn and hearing what I expect to be great music. I wonder if she could've predicted gaining a crapload of new fans because she asked for money...

Anyway, this Violitionist session was posted in the deluge of tweets* surrounding Amanda's Kickstarter. I think it's a very darling song, and Neil Gaiman as puppeteer amuses me to no end.

*P.S. An added bonus about said deluge of tweets was that I learned from a tweet/retweet of AFP that Five Iron Frenzy is alive again! Sad I missed that Kickstarter campaign - my wallet opens freely for those who hand me a big heap of nostalgia in exchange!

mea gaudia narret,/dicetur si quis non habuisse sua.

In case you've been wondering, a whole slew of things have been both improving my week and keeping me away from my blog and the blogosphere in general. My favorite distractions are as follows:

1) Music from Satyagraha. The videos I can find on the YouTubes are from the earlier Met production of the same opera. So Gandhi is played by someone else, and I think that the music is slightly faster (even though Philip Glass said that they sped it up a bit this time around). Nonetheless, I find the repetitive music and (Sanskrit) lyrics quite relaxing.

2) American Gods (The Tenth Anniversary Edition). I got a signed copy of this last time I was in NY when I saw Neil Gaiman at 92nd Street Y (eek!), but just got around to reading it now (seeing as my David Foster Wallace obsession has plateaued for a bit). This is my third or fourth time through the book, but, bless my bad memory, I can't yet tell where the added bits are (as it's 12,000 words longer than the original version). It's wonderful.

3) Homemade mulled cider. Yum.

4) My research. If things don't work out in the job world, my next move is to finally go back to school. And so, I have been planning out a thesis for the last couple months, which has quite quickly developed into something wonderfully exciting and possibly groundbreaking (and/or controversial), at least to the handful of scholars that actually care about this topic. And really, even if I don't go back to school for one reason or another, I'm planning on continuing my studies and writing as an independent researcher. This topic has been in the back of my head since I graduated with my BA in 2007, and it hasn't left me alone since. So I figured it's finally time to give it a go and get everything down on paper and out into the world. Expect to hear updates on the whole thing right here (whether you want to or not...).

5) Hoodies. I used to wear at least one hoodie a day, but with my work attire, that section of my wardrobe has been sorely neglected. Now, after seeing that beautiful one by Boris Bidjan Saberi and entering into the long dark winter, my eyes have been catching on every hoodie with potential. And this one from Audrey Cantwell's Ovate has lots of potential. Previous to the unorthodox complexgeometries stifler hoodie adopted from my man, I would only wear ones with zippers. I am now ready to wear a closure-less hoodie. I even have some funds in my PayPal account to help me make this next step in my growth as a hoodie connoisseur.

It is time for me to walk the abyss.

I just have to say that the most stylish guy on the red carpet tonight was my favorite author, Mr. Neil Gaiman. He was even more dashing than usual in a custom made suit by Kambriel, the lovely American designer of all things Gothic. Sigh.

A funny thing (or two, or three) happened on the way to the coffee shop...

1) I was checked out by, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful locals my city has to offer. Since I can't read minds, I have no way of knowing whether she liked my look or thought it to be hideous. But her eyes followed me all around the magazine racks, and I took it as a compliment just the same. Her eyes may have been offended by my uber bright vintage frock, since she usually sticks to a muted palette for her wardrobe. But I can dream and be flattered just the same...

2) Since blogging about the once familiar looking regular at my Starbucks that has now simply become 'her', this girl has somehow become somewhat of a celebrity to me. I've sat by her before at Starbucks, since we've both been there hundreds of times and seating is limited. But now I take extra notice of her and her outfit. Like today. She was making this black ruffled skirt look fabulous. I'm a tad biased though anyway since it reminded me of my ArtLab Bustle of Lysistrata, with its industrial elastic waistband.

3) On my way out, I remembered that there was a Neil Gaiman children's book that I had not yet read. So I found it and quickly read through. And, I must say, it's one of the most delightful children's books I have read! I'm not really surprised, since Gaiman is my favorite author in every genre that he has set his pen to. Now I must go pick up a copy of Crazy Hair for myself...