From the Observatory

Love

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:32:01 -0700

Brenna: Is the mail key here, or do you have it?
Allgood: y/n/
Brenna: Um
Allgood: m/
me
y/n
y
Brenna: You have the mail key
Allgood: y
Brenna: I hate you
Allgood: i knowsorry
Brenna: S'okay
Allgood: n
Brenna: See you in a bit
Allgood: y
Brenna: Meet at side door?
Allgood: y
Brenna: I will kill you
Allgood: n

Because I use Tumblr as a dumping ground for half-finished...

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:39:39 -0700

Because I use Tumblr as a dumping ground for half-finished thoughts, I was going to post something about how a co-worker called The Dark Night’s Joker “this year’s The Crow” and how in link-hopping I found a forum thread over a hundred pages long dissecting and discussing every single thing about his outfit. Or how I found competitive replica patterned tie listings, even.

And I was going to say that in a perfect world we’d see people using the great job of the costumers as a jumping point for reinterpretation of another character.

But have thirty seconds of ducks instead. Chase recommends you watch it listening to Slayer.

ELLEgirl Editors’ Blog : Prom Styles, New Bands,...

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:02:00 -0700

ELLEgirl Editors’ Blog : Prom Styles, New Bands, Celebrity Gossip: Men in Tights

God.

Okay, although the Jezebel entry linking to this was focusing more on pantyhose/nylons (there’s a difference)—which I agree are super lame-o, more for texture and look—overall, this is about not letting a section of humanity do what they want.

And, frankly, it’s ignoring a consumer base. Though there’s a men’s section at Sock Dreams, the only difference is that “men’s” sock only means a bigger foot, or less frills. I wear men’s socks, Chase has some girly socks.

There’s a hunt to find products that fit more people, and it disregards gender. Big feet, broad hips, muscled thighs and calves are overlooked by suppliers. But those folks want to have pretty shit too.

Great comment from the Jezebel article:

As I’ve said before (well, perhaps not in this way), whether you like men that act like “men”, men that act like “women”, women that act like level 3 wizards, or charming single polar bears with monocles, it’s okay. Unless you’re a douchebag about it.

I repeated it because it's a great word

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:17:00 -0700

Allgood: But I like the story, does what flash fiction does well, being a vignette without being simple scene wankery

Brenna: wankery

Allgood: Wankery is like the few 365 stories that are all: whoa shit weird shit ahead see how I can make stuff subtly alien but not use that subtlety because I don't have to because it is super short fiction.. bad

Brenna: HA!

Photoshopped: Why Women Hate Pictures Of Themselves

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:54:00 -0700

Photoshopped: Why Women Hate Pictures Of Themselves:

And so we become more and more fearful, and we take more and more pictures, hoping that this next one will be the one that shows us who we really are and want to be — but validated through the objectivity of a lens.

I wonder if it’s an extension of not even knowing oneself, or what one wants to project into the world, however shallow. My teen years were compounded by having a fucked-up face, so I started taking pictures myself, documenting. I look painful in old photos, because I’m clearly posing.

Now, I get documented and have been for the past five years, thanks to Chase. And, even the most unflattering pictures I don’t hate. I couldn’t tell you if it’s because I just innately learned to hold myself, or if I stopped caring. I think it’s not caring. When you’re a person who is just existing—even if it’s only in situations with friends and family—you look more true to life in photos. You don’t think “God, I look awful.” The thought is “Jesus, what a fucking great time that was.”

I guess it’s like how I don’t understand exactly why we need to wash our cars. If you love it, doesn’t it age?

Coilhouse » Blog Archive » Butt Panniers! By Scherer...

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:56:00 -0700

Coilhouse » Blog Archive » Butt Panniers! By Scherer Gonzalez.

Here’s how I see it. Though the days of the slip may be sliding, we’re gaily re-entering an age of foundation garments. Everything in fashion seems to be ‘structured’ lately. Jennifer Connolly’s crazy-ass Balenciaga thing of a while ago is an example, the winged Prada shoes of recently are another. On the opposite end of the whatever spectrum, when you wear slips as clothes, you might want a some foundation.

I am sure there are maths to this. Magical maths that align the economy and how women are feeling about that to the fashion of it.

Or—and this is such a guess—things come in cycles.

via chaseallgood.com I know I throw links to Chase’s work...

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:48:00 -0700

via chaseallgood.com

I know I throw links to Chase’s work all the time. I try not to be too overzealous about it, but I worry that I am.

Here’s the thing—Yes, I live with and love the guy, so I’m sure I’m biased. But his work is God-damn good. You can tell that he adores Zoe Strauss, Alec Soth and Martin Parr, but extracts what he needs from them and does his own thing.

I feel sometimes that it is like watching a movie or going to a show alone. I am seeing something great happen as Chase’s work finds itself, but all that joy of the experience has nowhere to go.

"“And I do not believe it to be a serious problem. Why in the world would the humans produce a..."

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:09:00 -0700

“

“And I do not believe it to be a serious problem. Why in the world would the humans produce a weapon that could not, in some manner, be controlled? A device that would annihilate its user along with its victim. It makes no sense; no sense at all.”

“They’re Morts. They didn’t have to make sense,” replied Zerena.

”

- Darkness of the Light, by Peter David (through Tor.com)

As I noted in a one of my standardly awkward reviews, this book deals with a favourite science fiction concept: all humanity has going for it is their creativity, cruelty and luck.

Not that Darkness is a stunning book. But it is interesting. We’ve either got it made or are so totally fucked.

Chase and I sometimes talk about “The Amy Winehouse...

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:42:06 -0700

Chase and I sometimes talk about “The Amy Winehouse Thing”. It was something that’d been in the back of my mind for a while, and crystalised with this picture. What I said about it was this:

“The angle is tilted, but not extremely, just enough to throw the viewer off. There are multiple light sources, working together perfectly to create the washed-out face that carries the “exposed character” look across with the bonus of smoothing the skin. Random concerned dude is in the shot just enough, without dominating the image.

With a little post, better set dressing and her chin up just a bit it’s almost a studio shot.”

Another almost-perfect shot was this one, and even when the woman is not totally on she is still almost there.

She’s not the only one, though some people are just made to be always on, but I think you have to be a little weird and around paparazzo a lot and you cross this divider, where you’re always on and everything looks like an ad shoot, and if something’s off, it’s clearly the photographer not stepping up.

"And indeed, Kidada describes herself as a “kidult”; besides Disney collectibles, her Hollywood home..."

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:05:51 -0700

“And indeed, Kidada describes herself as a “kidult”; besides Disney collectibles, her Hollywood home is filled with Strawberry Shortcake, Hello Kitty and My Little Pony memorabilia. “When I have kids, I won’t be able to differentiate my shopping sprees from theirs,” she jokes.”

- Kidada Jones: Fashion: Wmagazine.com

This woman is making Disney hip to the kind of people who want more than kitsch out of their nostalgia consumerism. I guess for every interesting article (in this issue, a spread on the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar) there must be something like this.

"It strikes me as gruesome and comical that in our culture we have an expectation that man can always..."

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:06:03 -0700

“It strikes me as gruesome and comical that in our culture we have an expectation that man can always solve his problems. This is so untrue that it makes me want to cry — or laugh.
*
The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

- The first by Kurt Vonnegut, the second by Ernest Hemingway.

Chase and I were discussing how one is the next generation of the other, that Hemingway showed the sad emptiness of machismo and Vonnegut the same for intellectualisim. Neither does anybody any good.

And finally done with the book. Um. The Terror and Unpredictability of Nature overwhelms Industry,...

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:39:36 -0700

And finally done with the book. Um. The Terror and Unpredictability of Nature overwhelms Industry, okay. Whatever, Verne.

My book shit list also names ‘Little House on the Prairie’, which I couldn’t even...

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:39:36 -0700

My book shit list also names ‘Little House on the Prairie’, which I couldn’t even finish at the age of nine. Good company for it, I think.

"Tattoos Are No Longer Taboo, Unless You're A Jewish Nana"

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:30:00 -0700

"Tattoos Are No Longer Taboo, Unless You're A Jewish Nana":

Anyone who’s had Leviticus 19:28 (“You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead nor incise any marks on yourself: I am the Lord.”) thrown at them is probably so freaking relieved to have a portion of argument to throw back at their folks, though I think if you’re Orthodox, it still don’t fly.

Despite us being so very not Jewish at all, my mom pulled this on me with regularity. I couldn’t even draw on my hands, what with my body being a temple and shit. Earrings though—that’s okay, ‘cause I’ve got this uterus that I need to prove.

via FourFour. I pretty much covet most of Rich’s t-shit...

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:48:00 -0700

via FourFour.

I pretty much covet most of Rich’s t-shit collection, which I keep up to date on via Pot Psycology.

It’s worth checking out another NJ vacay post of his on an abundance of confederate flag kitch.

"Inventory: enough tins and wine to last me until I’m ready to kill myself. For when I’m..."

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:25:00 -0700

“Inventory: enough tins and wine to last me until I’m ready to kill myself. For when I’m ready to kill myself: a working revolver.”

- The increasingly engaging Damejetsam Twitter (who unfortunately suffered from a hiccup that rearranged the order of some updates).

In the entry previous to this one you’ll see a Twitter of mine, revealing my increasing confusion over the events of Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island. I keep holding one up next to another, for some reason.

My God, they’re doing everything backwards. The Mysterious Island castaways finally tan some...

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:39:53 -0700

My God, they’re doing everything backwards. The Mysterious Island castaways finally tan some leather, but not the rabbits. No. Koalas.

One of the few, perhaps only, images of Chelsea Linehan’s...

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:58:00 -0700

One of the few, perhaps only, images of Chelsea Linehan’s work that I can find online. And I’m not sure it’s even hers

Linehan’s end-of-the-year work at PNCA was by and far some of the best I’ve seen. And it was nothing like the above. The woman had created amazing, tiny little worlds perched atop spindly pedestals, inhabited by creatures made by the logical mind of whimsy.

Paper Lanterns, because the 'craft revolution' will not expand its borders.

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:45:00 -0700

Paper Lanterns, because the 'craft revolution' will not expand its borders.:

Yes, I understand that link-and-share sites like Craft: exist to create a database of know-how. But paper lanterns? Paper lanterns unchanged from the 1960’s and 1970’s craft books they sprung from in badly printed single colour.

This sort of thing is important enough to share with the world.

Beetles are fabulously flash and bling.

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:56:00 -0700

Beetles are fabulously flash and bling.:

The amazing beetle scientist Ainsley S. gives us the opal beetle. Holyshit.