Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bye, hiatus, london, noel gallagher, oasis, paris, ryan adams
Blah. For no reason (kinda?) I am feeling a whirlwind of emotions about everything and nothing at the same time. Ryan Adams and Noel Gallagher are the only two men I want in my life, ever [well hypothetically; hopefully it does not turn out that way in the long run -shrug-]. Speaking of Noel Gallagher… Oasis has brought back Live Forever, Roll With It, and My Big Mouth in the setlist. that’s so legit, and the night isn’t even over yet! BTW It’s a huge sin that I will be in the UK when Oasis are playing Manchester and I will not be attending. That goes against my religion essentially.
So on that note, kids, I will be HERE:
until the 13th/14th or something.
Hopefully this trip will be good and will take my mind off whatever. This post makes no sense and I am rambling. Have a good June.
while I’m gone, you can chuckle to yourself over the fact that I’m missing a serious opportunity.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: brussels, cinema, film, leonard cohen, london, music, paris, penelope cruz, photography, roman polanski, self, self portrait, tom waits, vicky cristina barcelona
I’ve been busy obsessing over the most disjointed random things/people in the world. That’s what I’ve been busy doing instead of blogging on this shit.
1. Leonard Cohen. It’s because every time that doc Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man is on Sundance I watch it. It changes my life every time. I always love Leonard Cohen because he gets you at all points in your life. And as I’m going through a whirlwind of dullness and mood swings and everything, he is making the most sense. He tends to make sense a lot more than most people do. Something about Cohen’s voice and words and presence is just comforting. I almost wish he was my father.
2. Penelope Cruz. I would do the little accent mark but I have no idea how to. I finally saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona and she blew my mind. She’s just so sickeningly beautiful and amazing. I think I might add her to my extremely short list of people I’d go gay for. (and btw, the movie was really good too, but I’m biased since I love anything by Mr Woody)
3. Self portraits. I’ve been taking too many of them.
(me and Edith, I tried very hard to get her into the photo)
4. This fucking Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 USM Image Stabilizer lens. I NEED IT IN ORDER TO SUSTAIN MY LIFE.
I was playing around with it when Madelaine and I bought her new camera yesterday. It has the best focus of any lens I’ve ever had my hands on. I’m going to try and find a cheaper one somewhere (ebay? reliable y/n?) before I leave in 15 days.
5. Obsessing over the fact that in 15 days (give or take, too lazy to calculate exactly) I’ll be in London, Paris, and Brussels. Yeah. WHAT!? Thank GOD. I don’t even know what to do with myself. We basically have no plans for anything. I can find my own way around London by now so Madelaine just plans on following me around to places that are for sure hits, and then just hanging out. and then eventually celebrating her birthday by doing something dangerous and stupid most likely. Maybe I’ll try and see the family. Who knows. The only plans for Paris is the Louvre, so I can cry and recreate the race in Band of Outsiders while trying to not get kicked out (oh and look at epic art pieces, of course). I might try and visit the Cinematheque Francais so I can weep. No plans for Brussels at all except to get Belgian chocolate.
6. Tom Waits. I am going through a serious musical rut where he is basically all I listen to. I would marry Tom Waits.
7. and last: ROMAN POLANSKI. I finally got around to watching that documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. I love him so much I refuse to believe he’s a pervert, but it’s obvious he got his groove on with that 13 year old girl, what Humbert Humbert would call a nymphet (that reference was necessary). She wanted it though, I guarantee it. Who wouldn’t want to get it on with a young RP?… Like, come on girl, just admit it, stop tormenting this little man’s soul. He’s a genius, a god of his art form, let’s allow him to frequent our country again and continue making spectacular films…. give it up girl!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 1960s, arctic monkeys, barack obama, bob dylan, cinema, daniel day-lewis, film, france, guy bourdin, idealistic bullshit, iraq, jean-luc godard, jeremy irons, joy division, lolita, manchester, music, new york city, noel gallagher, oasis, paris, paul thomas anderson, photography, politics, richard avedon, stanley kubrick, survey, the rolling stones, versailles, whoa, woodstock, wtf
I found this and I thought it would be a good thing to fill out on here. It’s Sunday and I have time to do nothing aka this blog entry. Honestly, this is so difficult I don’t know how accurate it will be. Bear with me, I promise you this is interesting.
Name 5 People that Inspire You the Most:
Well this is hard, I think I’m going to choose 1 person from different areas of my interests… you’ll see.
1. Barack Obama. Could that be any more cliche at this point, but it’s true. America has never felt like home to me, but as soon as I got involved in politics and heavily involved in the Obama campaign it started to feel like home. The entire process just made me feel American; and as soon as he got elected I wasn’t ashamed anymore to say it. Maybe when I travel this year I’ll talk loudly in my obnoxious accent without feeling ashamed. I mean, you all know how I feel about this man so it’s useless to talk about it anymore 
2. Richard Avedon. Easily my favourite photographer of all time (he might only POSSIBLY compete with Leibovitz, Mick Rock, or maybe Furmanovsky for favourite). I felt ridiculously uninspired in photography over the last 6 or 8 months until I came across his book Performance in Barnes & Noble. I had a fucking epiphany looking through it. I think the way he captures people on film is something only very, very, very few people are truly good at. He is the ultimate master of studio photography. I honestly get emotional looking at his pictures. I just think he’s incredible.
3. My friends. Meaning my true friends. Most of them don’t live here. Most of them are in the same situation as I am, hating where they live and using art to escape mentally from some type of prison. The people that are reading this are probably who I’m talking about. Most of them take amazing pictures and inspire me every day. They are the only people I know that ask me what’s up with me, that ask me what’s going on, that give me music recommendations and can talk to me about anything. People around here are just waiting to talk, my other friends are just waiting to listen. And that alone is inspiring, to know that there are at least SOME people like that in the world.
4. Jean-Luc Godard/Stanley Kubrick/Paul Thomas Anderson. I can’t pick one. Godard for increasing my love for cinema and breaking all the rules. Kubrick for making a good majority of my favourite and (and what I believe to be) best films ever. And Paul Thomas Anderson for making There Will Be Blood, that introduced me to cinema and the art that it is.
5. Noel Gallagher. As lame as it sounds, this man is inspiring to me. He isn’t a poet and I don’t really think he’s an artist. Some of his lyrics are flat out ridiculous. Who cares? Noel is a hope that you can do anything you want to do. Absolutely anything (this actually kind of relates back to Obama; is there a theme going on here?!). You can get out of whatever situation you’re in and you can really make a living doing the only thing you know how to do and the only thing you love the most to spend your life doing. I hate the people that tell you you can’t do things. Wtf? Of course you can. You can do absolutely anything and part of the reason why I believe that is because of my freakish love for Noel.
Name 5 Songs You Can’t Live Without:
1. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division. I don’t even know how to talk about this song. I think it’s fucking magic, and that’s about all I can say on that.
2. Don’t Look Back In Anger - Oasis. Okay picking 5 songs is impossible. I could go with essentially any Oasis song except “Little By Little” and listen to it every day for the rest of my life and never get tired. I don’t know what this song is about and I don’t give a fuck. It’s almost the best. I have like, 25 versions of this song or something. I’d take any one of them.
3. A Certain Romance – Arctic Monkeys. This is the best song of the last decade. Don’t even bother arguing with me.
4. Like A Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan. Picking a Dylan song was nearly impossible but I think this song is necessary on anyone’s list of 5 songs you can’t live without.
5. Tumbling Dice – The Rolling Stones. This was my first “favourite song ever.” The Stones are still the best band from the ’60s hands down and this is from the best (yes, you heard me, THE best) album ever made, Exile on Main Street. No other Stones song is as good as this. It just makes me think of hanging out with Mick Keith and the Boys in the French Riviera in the summer of 71 just kickin back and making the best piece of music ever. Whoa.
I don’t know how I just picked those. I can’t believe I didn’t have room for a Smiths song or “(Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister” by the Stone Roses. I know if you asked me tomorrow my answers might be different (bar the first two songs). I was always kind of against claiming a song/songs as your favourite/s. Setting apart 5 minutes of music as better than millions of other songs always got me.
Name 5 Places You’d Go to If You Could Time Travel:
1. Paris, 1968. Or Paris at any time 40 years of before. Seeing a film in Paris in the ’60s was an experience. My favourite thing ever is 1960s Paris. You know. I don’t need to explain. Jean-Paul Belmondo. That’s all I’m saying.
2. Woodstock, 1969. Before I got really into all the music I’m into now, classic rock was my thing. Those songs were my jams. Anything pre-1975 was just out. There was no way I was even going to think about listening to it. So, if I could go to Woodstock, get as high as a kite, and watch Jimi Hendrix, I don’t know what I’d do. It would be too good to even handle it.
3. Late 18th Century Versailles. I would go and somehow be a royal and get in with the whole Marie Antoinette crowd. That entire period fascinates me. But of course I would only stay until the revolution. I would get out of there before the shit hit the fan.
(yes I know that’s from the film, my friends, but come on, if it was ANYTHING like that, tell me you wouldn’t want to be hanging out with her).
4. 1960s New York City. You know where I’m going with this. Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick, the Velvet Underground, ???Bob Dylan???. In one of my previous posts I told you that I love this period but I don’t know anything about it. I would love to witness this in person.
5. 1980s Manchester. I would see the Smiths perform live. Necessary. I love that band so much. I would give my fucking first born to see them live.
5 Things You Hate:
lmfao. This is hard for me. I hate so many things. I’m not going to give you an explanation on why or else I will just get really, really infuriated.
1. Indifference. that is what I hate the most.
2. The Jonas Brothers/Miley Cyrus (they are one in the same).
3. When you’re drinking a big class of water and you have to tip the glass a lot and the ice cubes come crashing down on your face.
4. Jessica Alba
5. Not having all the clothes I want. This is what I really hate at the core of my being. Also not having the money to buy a Hasselblad. I fucking hate that.
5 Moments You Regret:
Ohhh shit, that’s deep. I really try not to regret. But I think all human beings regret about 5 things in their lives. I’ll write more trivial things for this one.
1. Not being in Grant Park, Chicago when Barack Obama won the 2008 election. I could have been, you know. Life’s about living, and I was too concerned with school, getting there and getting lost or being too far away. Chicago isn’t that far and I should have been there.
2. Being born a few years too late. I can’t really think of why, there are always so many times when I’m like “if I had just been born a couple years earlier…!” Nevermind.
3. Not taking as many risks as I should have.
4. Quitting my job. I kind of want it back. I’m skint.
5. I am not writing this here.
5 Names You Would Name Your Children and Why:
1. Liam. It wouldn’t be after Liam Gallagher so don’t get any ideas. I think Liam is a great name. I keep hearing it more and more which is odd. It’s so Irish, I fucking love it. My mom’s side would love me for that one.
2. François. I would do it, don’t dare me to. After Truffaut. Plus this name is just ballin.
3. Edie. I guess ever since I heard of Edie Sedgwick I always thought that was SUCH a cool name. It wouldn’t be in tribute to her or anything, I just think it’s a great name.
4. Anderson. I think Anderson Cooper has like, the best name ever. Anderson!? Like, are you kidding!? I love that name. I guess if I named my kid that I would say it was after a previously mentioned director in this entry. You don’t fuck with any Andersons.
5. Alright I need another girl’s name (obviously if I ever had a kid I’d want a boy). Er… Well… Let me think. Nothing ordinary. Girl’s names tend to be awful. Got it. Lucy. After Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.
I also think that CLAUS VON BULOW is the best name of all time. But I couldn’t name my child that because it would be child abuse.
5 Things People Might Find Weird About You:
Just five!?
1. Whenever I’m in church (no, I don’t go to church in my free time, whenever I have to go in school) I always follow the big chandeliers on the ceiling down to see who they would fall on if they fell. Am I a sadist? Probably.
2. I think a LOT of old guys are hot. I’m talking like, 50-60. I think Jeremy Irons is the hottest person ever, and I’d hit it now even though he’s 60 years old. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t. I think a lot of people harbour these thoughts. Actually it’s probably just me.
best looking old guy award. I honestly love that old-guy-intellectual thing. AND look what he’s wearing in all of those! asdfjkldsfjsdsklfgjeklrsjdtg. I’d take him over his (hot) son any day, btw. But let’s look at him when he was young and dashing (he still is, but even more), please.
Irons is Lolita is just about the best thing ever.
3. Another old-guy-intellectual I find INCREDIBLE and INCREDIBLE-LOOKING is Daniel Day-Lewis. I don’t know what about DDL is fucking hot, I can’t pin point it and I don’t want to.
and he is my favourite actor of all time.
4. I always think about food poisoning when I’m not eating at my house. Any other place I eat I think of food poisoning.
5. This probably relates to the last one, but I am terrified of throwing up. TERRIFIED. I haven’t done it in like, 8 years. I am absolutely horrified of it.
And Finally, 5 Things You Want to Happen in the Next 10 Years:
can these be idealistic?
1. We’ll be out of Iraq. There is no question in my mind. I just need it to happen. Now. 2 more Americans died today, this is getting ridiculous.
2. The United States will stop relying on foreign oil and use much alternative energy.
3. I will move to Paris or London with my hot boyfriend and never see anyone from this place ever again. 
Yeah.
4. I’ll be fucking rich.
5. The world will agree to abolish nuclear weapons. This won’t happen, but I like to be delusional.
WOW. Now that was difficult. I hope you all do that. it would be interesting to read. Let’s end on this note.
a shot buy Guy Bourdin. I was looking at his photos last night. Inspiration.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: amorphous androgynous, anthology 3, franz ferdinand, jaguar shoes, london, music, paris, paul weller, psychedelia, the beatles, the black keys, the jam, the killers
One of my history teachers said something really relevant to our class a few months back. How I just thought of it again, I have no idea. Now, Lesnau is not the most philosophical person in the world (i.e. “you know… there is another way to stop drunk drivers from driving. it’s hard to drive without any arms.”) but he said something that struck a chord with me. He said that if you want to do something, just go for it. Especially when holding a job is so fickle anyway, why not just try something you want to try. Worst thing is you fail and you learn from it. Too bad there aren’t more people telling us things like that every day.
I have nothing to post about today that’s of any interest… But I’m getting really attached to this blogging bullshit, so I kind of feel the need to sporadically update it. I’m in a weird mode right now, listening to all this random music. I listened to so much of the Beatles Anthology 3 over the last couple days it was scary (you NEED to buy that. even if you’re not a big fan of the Beatles or you have no money, INVEST IN THAT!!!!). that and that psychedelic compilation A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Mind (Space Volume 1) by the Amorphous Androgynous (you probably all know where I heard of that one).It is truly psychedelia at its best and it has a couple of really great Donovan tracks on there I had never heard before. and more acid induced rambling. Besides those… I used to LOVE the Black Keys but I totally forgot about them/lost all their music that I had on my transfer to the macbook. I’m listening to their new album. I highly recommend it. It’s so bluesy and old school and generally great. If anyone’s interested I can send it your way. Also listening to the Killers’ new album, not too impressed with it. There are a couple songs on there that I find absolutely appalling, but a few more are pretty good. The new Franz Ferdinand album, however, is enjoyable. Apparently it isn’t out yet but I got a hold of it, who knows. I always loved Franz… I feel like it isn’t cool anymore to like them and I don’t know why. I might just be making that up. My pal Guy Eppel did the single’s artwork. It seems like it’s a pretty solid piece of music here.
You know, I was just thinking about this so randomly but, when did it become a sin to be a smoker? I’m not a smoker. I’m not saying I am. But I swear to god, the next time I see an anti-smoking commercial I’m going to blow up. I don’t see the big deal. You know, the only reason alcohol is legal isn’t as condemned is because it’s used in the church. What kind of crap is that?
I’m going to link you all to my awesome friend Victor’s band/collaboration/musical experiment thing JAGUAR SHOES. The first two songs that come up on the playlist are my two favourites. Hope you enjoy ‘em.
I’m listening to the Jam at the moment. what a solid band. I adore Paul Weller. seeing him live was so great. He is the modfather. He always looks SO fucking cool and amazing as well.
That photo looks freakishly like the other one I just posted.
Oh and by the way, this is where I’m staying in London in the summer. It’s more south London than I’ve ever spent a good amount of time in, so it should be interesting times.
awesome, no?
No idea where I’m staying in Paris yet. honestly I think the best plan is to just show up, locate Louis Garrel and/or Gaspard Ulliel and tell them I need a place to stay. Sounds like a good plan to me.
within the span of the next 5 months I will have been back to London and Paris, and to New York. and then moving to Chicago. something tells me this will be a good year.
Anyway, this update is really unnecessary (and unnecessarily long) and no one read that. I think I’m off to the used book store that I’ve never been to that’s like, 3 minutes away.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cards, drawing, friends, holidays, london, noel gallagher, paris, school, travel, UK, wtf
I kind of forgot about writing in here for a few days.
I went back to school yesterday. It was appalling. The entire experience. School is so pointless to me at this point. And that for me is the hardest thing to do, go through something you don’t want to when there is absolutely no purpose to it.
I don’t know what to blog about. Does anyone else hate the ‘b’ word?
OH HERE’S SOMETHING. I’m going back to London. For the first time in two years. In June. My best friend’s parents are taking us and we’re using their friend’s flat. It’s 10 minutes walking distance from Hyde Park. I can’t even deal with that awesome. And well, the plan for about a year was we were going to spend a fortnight in Paris. But I can deal with being in London and commuting to Paris a couple times. Wow. I need to get all the info about it and let you all know what it looks like. This news is the ONLY thing getting me past finals.
In other news, Patrice sent me this wonderful thing in the mail:
a homemade holiday card. It made my day
And in other other news, Abby drew Noel. And it’s fucking incredible. LOOK AT IT BIG.
This post has been utterly useless. I hope you are all doing fantastic.
