the coolest man in britain.

Wondering what to do in preparation for the Royal Wedding?

http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2011/04/27/dalek-of-the-day/

Make a 'William and Kate' themed Dalek.

throwback.

Cause we all need some girl power courtesy of TLC.

i'm a husker, baby.

Totally hipster friendly, but I'm kinda into it.

Need a dose of a weirdness/cuteness?

Thought so.

P.S. In case you are wondering the title doesn't really have anything to do with this post except for the fact that it was one of the related video for "Radar Detector" and I liked it.

a retrospective of a retrospective.

But wait, now that I'm writing on this, that makes three degrees of retrospection. Gah, that is way too confusing. Let's just move on shall we?

This is really late because I actually went to the Davis Museum's retrospective of El Anatsui's retrospective (When I Last Wrote to You about Africa) about a week ago, I have been just too busy to get it up here about it. But finally I have some pictures.

First of the all El Anatsui's work was great. I had never heard of the Ghana-born artist before, but he makes really dynamic pieces of art out of all sorts of materials including recyclables, clay, and wood. If you get a chance to see any of his work in person, really do it because so many of the aesthetic details cannot be captured through photographs.

You probably wouldn't have known that that was made of trash, but it was. Also can I just say that the Wellesley Davis Museum's showing of When I Last Spoke to You about Africa was the US debut of the retrospective. Yeah, we're kinda important. (It is Spring Open Campus so I'm in plug-Wellesley mode a little bit, don't mind me.)

My main motivation for going to the show was to see the marvelous designs of my friend and floormate Wendy Chen. She submitted a dress to a contest for recycled fashion that the Davis was hosting, and holy crap, it was awesome. All the entries were really impressive, but I have to say that Wendy's shined the most. But maybe I'm a little biased.  See for yourself.

And now presenting...drum roll...Wendy Chen!

That's right. That bodice is a keyboard. Whaaaaa?

Sorry the colors are a bit off, my camera apparently takes super saturated pictures indoors and when I tried to combat it I went a little overboard.

big pic | small pic

everybody's doing it...

...but I'm going to do it anyways. Coachella style favorites. Here we go:

I don't think I would have the balls to wear those pants, but they are amaaaazin'.

I like the photograph more than the outfit, but still.

But actually those shorts are fucking awesome. And yes fuck is required cause they are that bad ass.

Lucky girls.

want more?

a marathon of a week.

Oh, I am so funny. Not really.

But really this has been a very long week. That is probably why I haven't posted in so long, but now I feel horrible about it. I feel as though it is only getting to get busier, but I will try to stop and blog (the flowers aren't out yet, so smelling them isn't an option). 

Anyways, Marathon Monday was a blast! I had heard about it but being there and standing at the rails was so exciting! Basically Wellesley in the halfway point in the Boston Marathon so just about every Wellesley College students goes out to the streets, which are closed to cars, and cheers with signs and cowbells. The signs are perhaps the best part. Some go tradition, "Halfway there, living on a prayer!", while some express themselves a little bit more suggestively, "Kiss Me! It's my first time!" or "Kiss Me! I'm a marathon virgin!". The whole kissing thing is kinda strange but more wholesome than it sounds. Runners grab girls and kiss them as they pass by. For some girls puckering their lips takes most of their time, while others are more concerned with screaming themselves hoarse. Either way, it is awesome. 

Hope you brought your hand sanitizer.

Everyone comes out for Marathon Monday. Afterwards there is fun to be had in Munger Meadow, where SBOG (the Party Planning Committee of Wellesley) puts on a barbeque and beer garden. It was great, especially since Nat was in the frog suit for a while.

I relish in the embarassment of others. (What? I'm only human.)

Overall just a (especially) great day to be a Wellesley Woman!

i'm sorry now i ever went away.

Great song, one that Mel Torme apparently didn't care for too much. Maybe I made that up though. I remember reading it but I can't find it anymore. May it be stricken from the record then. I'm sure he loved this song as much as I do.

hold on to your kite.

School has been getting extra busy this week and it's only Monday so my posts might be a little less frequent coming up. But I'll try to keep up. I have a lot on my plate though. I mean I saw Madeleine Albright speak on the conflicts in Libya and Egypt tonight so it's not like I'm doing things that are totally unpleasant. She was pretty awesome by the way, so well spoken and biting at the same time.

Anyways I'm just going to share a version of "Naive" which was originally by The Kooks but is covered here by Lily Allen. I love Lily Allen, or her music at least, and think she is talented and kind of a more tongue in cheek version of Amy Winehouse. I have nothing against The Kooks, I saw them my sophomore year and The Morning Benders (who I think at this point is a much better band) opened for them, and I like their version, but I think Allen's acoustic version is a better fit. 

My favorite Lily Allen song is actually a Mark Ronson song which she sings called "Oh My God", which is itself a cover of a Kaiser Chiefs song. I hate the music video (animation and humans is such a weird concept that I just can't get over), but love the song. I know of it because of St. Trinian's, a film about a raucous group of prep school girls being bad asses. You should check it out if only because it has Colin Firth in it. (And Gemma Arterton, and Juno Temple, and Rupert Everett, and Talulah Riley, and Russell Brand before he became annoying omnipresent.)

cinema studies.

I kind of want to live in all these places, they are so beautiful. But I would want them unrenovated. There is so much more character to them when they are in shambles, only ghosts of their past splendor...

Ok enough with the poetic crap. The real reason that I'm not going out and buying an abandoned theater? Besides lack of funds, the ridiculousness of it, and the impracticality, I would say The Phantom of the Megaplex. No, not Opera, Megaplex. This was that Disney Channel movie from a while back. I don't really remember much about the plot anymore, but I remember it totally freaked me out. (I was that kid who couldn't watch anything remotely scary. Even Rugrats was too much occasionally.) And I remember that it had that kid who played Oliver in The O.C. starred in it. Remember him? He was insane in the membrane. God I used to love that show.

Anyways, I digress. Old theaters are awesome. Buying one is now on the life to-do list.

Note: The last picture here is of a movie theater in the town where my dad works. Weird coincidence.

you shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you.

So I've never really been into Bob Dylan. I've always thought of him as one of those artists like Radiohead or Nirvana that a lot of people like and have posters of and all that but don't really know that much about musically or personally. I'm not saying that I don't like some of these bands. I have posters of Belle & Sebastian and The Beatles in my room, arguably two of the most culty bands. I'm saying that I would just feel like it would be cheating to like him without liking all of him, you know? Or am I just completely crazy?

I mean I do like "Subterranean Homesick Blues", but to be completely honest I only know it because of a commercial. Which is shameful, but true (and so evocative of my generation).

Also my stepdad took my mom to a Dylan concert about ten years ago and she left because apparently he was so horrible. So that doesn't exactly help my opinion of him. But this is the woman who lived through the 70s and didn't know who "Stairway to Heaven" was by. So she's not exactly "with it" all the time. But I love her anyways.

But I think I'm going to give it a try. Bob Dylan, hold onto your socks, I'm coming for you.

And who knows, maybe for this girl, times they are a-changin'. (See, I got the puns down already.)


On a completely unrelated note, I am really into Fresh Air right now. The Aziz Ansari bit was good, but this interview was fantastic. It was before Stephen Colbert had the Colbert Report and it is very strange to hear him sound so sincere. But great as well. He's so sweet and intelligent, really gives Jon Stewart a run for his money.

dirty little secret.

I'm always looking at other blogs and seeing the beautiful spreads they showcase and thinking, "What the hell? Is there like some website that you get access to once you have 'arrived' on the blog scene where all these spreads are stored?". Well, you'll be glad to know that I have managed to cheat the system. I found this website, and I'm pretty sure it is the best thing to happen to me in a while. They post current editorials, ads, and campaigns. It's like the Holy Grail of fashion.

So without further ado, some of my favorite pictures from spreads. (By the way this also solves my problem of not liking an entire spread only a couple pictures. Now I can pick and choose. Winning. (Ugh I kinda hate myself for making Charlie Sheen joke but I'm just going to move on.))

Wonderland Magazine. Feb/March 2011.

Playing Fashion. March 2011.

Harper's Bazaar. April 2011.

Vogue Russia. March 2011.

Marie Claire Italia. March 2011.

(aka love this spread)

Marie Claire US. March 2011.

(this too).

too tempting.

Hahaha get it? Get it? Yeah, let's just move on...

I was doing the listening for my music homework and we had to listen to "My Girl" by The Temptations. Now I have nothing against this song, in fact when I was about nine I bought an entire Motown cd just so I could have that one song, but I really wish that "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" had been the song used to illustrate the style of The Temptations. My book describes "My Girl" as a "teenage symphony" which I think is apt, but overall I think The Temptations had much more soul. I don't know though, maybe it's just me.

http://www.solcomhouse.com/images/Tempts.jpg

But really, they were pretty smooth. 

Just check out this video. David Ruffin is like a Motown version of Buddy Holly. What could be better? (Let's just ignore the alleged attitude and drug use shall we.)

get out of the city and into the sunshine.

So I have been crazy busy lately so I haven't had time to show you all the cool things I have been uncovering online or show you pictures from the US premiere of El Anatsui's retrospective. I'm a bad blogger, I know.

In the mean time, please accept this gift of an awesome Belle & Sebastian song. Very summery and sweet. By the way I love how energetic and crazy Stuart Murdoch is in this video. He has always looked really intimidating and kind of like a football hooligan to me but then he comes out and sings this song in this way. So you never know I guess.

And they are singing on Top of the Pops. Super cool. I didn't know it still existed.

And here's an interview with Aziz Ansari from about a year ago with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air. Even without hearing how funny it actually is I can tell how intrigued you are by the concept.