Vogue Italy Extreme Couture Supplement Sept 09
view the rest here.


Ok and this random picture of my brother that I think is super great so I'm just putting it here
His band: The Black Jackets

H & yuM

I just caught a glimpse of H&M's new promotional images-- and what really caught my attention was this plaid on plaid move with the shirt and the tie
I really appreciate that someone thought of that!

Besides the plaid on plaid... RYAN THOMAS is lookin flyyy and so are the rest of these ensembles (also ft. Andres Velencoso Segura)









Things that came up today:

• Jay-Z's obsession with Caesar
• "Forever" Drake ft. Kanye West, Lil Wayne, & Eminem
• War portrayed in movies (misguidingly) in artistic form
• "Straight-edgy" (hahah)
• Mad Men Season 3 Episode 3- Open Thread
  
• “People are often unreasonable and self centered: forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives: be kind anyway. If you’re successful, you’ll win some false friends and some true enemies: succeed anyway. If you’re honest and frank, people may cheat you: but be honest anyway. What you spend years building, someone can destroy overnight: build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous: be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow: do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough: give the world the best you’ve got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, its between you and God, it was never between you and them anyway..." - Mother Theresa

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You may say you're not artistic

After man's ability to reason right from wrong, the thing that sets him apart from animals is his ability to produce art and culture. If one were to argue that other animals have consciences, then art and culture would reign as the definitive difference between us and them.

Whether or not an individual might see his or herself as artistic, creative, etc-- I have still yet to find someone who doesn't at least appreciate some aspect of the arts and of culture. And at the end of the day I believe most people yearn to create, whether they believe they can or can't.

So I thought this was a pretty spectacular concept in making that venue available. (Music fanatics should appreciate the video too-- the music overlay is pretty sweet.)

"Body Paint" Installation at "Clicks or Mortar", March 2009 from Memo Akten on Vimeo.

The "Body Paint" installation here, done by Memo Akten, is created by the public as the virtual canvas interprets their motions and gestures into an orchestra of colors producing an evolving composition.

This reminded me of an earlier public forum art project done in London that ran until July 14th, where over 30 pianos were placed in various locations (streets, stations, public spaces) around the city for the people to bust out in spontaneous recitals. The project had a touching and beautiful effect, "increasing a sense of public spirit in a city which often feels cold."

Anyway,
on my next birthday, instead of posting a good wish on my facebook (which you are of course still welcome to do I still really appreciate that)-- make me a birthday card, sing me happy birthday
your inner human being will appreciate it ;p





Things that came up today:

• automatic vs. manual
• lap desks
• roasted salsa
• plain yogurt
• studded leather jacket from Twenty8Twelve a/w 09 collection
• "I Hope You Dance" - Lee Ann Womack
• Company at UCLA's Spring Sing '08 - Biochem
• are you getting your fiber

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Your own personal jesus Tribute

I guess I've never explained why this blog is titled "Your own personal jesus", and before I go on with the body of this post I think it's best that I do explain.

Well it's no suprise, given that there is a link in the side panel dedicated to black and white photography/portraiture, that I am a fan of such. The collecting began with books, magazines, newspapers, etc.-- all the sorts of tangible things, which were limited then by how far I could walk or reach out my hands. Then came the internet and my hands, all our hands, began stretching further than they ever imagined.

On one of my occassional photohunts I came across an amateur blog, all written in french, black with a grey courier font. The only English on the page was the title of the blog, "Your own personal jesus."

It was here that in terms of what I had been looking for, I very well found my own personal jesus. I dont know who this person was and where she or he had collected their pieces-- but of all the portraits and photos I had ever found these were undoubtedly my favorite. Not only were they my favorite but something about them also made them just, the best.

Maybe it was the mystery in the subjects... Serge Gainsbourg, Elodie Bouchez, Gina Gershon... no one I'd really heard of at that time, six, seven, (eight?) years ago. Even when I did know of these subjects, like Vanessa Paradis, (I think I was searching for portraits of her specifically when I found Your own personal jesus) something about the exclusivity of these pictures, with their depth and unique quality, laid out in such simplicity, and to be found on something so seemingly easy as an amateur blog site... made the entire experience something I really treasured. If only the world were like this.

And I still believe in many ways it is.

So anyway,

I loved Your Own Personal Jesus, it was like I had stumbled upon someone's secret royal dumping ground, where someone was simply...yet stylistically, openly yet somewhat covertly, and just honestly sharing what they found interesting, inspiring, and "cool". They weren't trying to keep ahead of the newest trend or trying to start the next one, trying to sell you "cool"--although I don't mind that. It just was itself, which at the end of the day, we can all agree is infinitely cooler. So yea, all that it wasn't made Your Own Personal Jesus, to me, everything that it is... or should I say, was. I think it was about three, four (or five?) years ago when I clicked that favorite and familiar bookmarked link and one of those horrid "ERROR" notifications came up. I searched all around the web with different variations of Your Own Personal Jesus only to come up with a million different references to Depeche Mode. My own personal jesus had gone

to leave me with "Your own..."

my own.

So as a tribute to all that was Your's and all that I took from it as mine, here we have again Your own personal jesus.

So anyway, I am finally led to the intended body of today's post,

Black and White portraiture.

Marlene Dietrich

Things that came up today:

• Breakfast before cardio vs. Breakfast after cardio
• Nelly - "Ride Wit Me"
• Franz Ferdinand - "Lucid Dreams", Chester French - "Beneath the Veil", Francesca Battistelli - "Free to be Me", Beirut - "Elephant Gun"
• Rachael Yamagata
• kokology
• Canon EOS Rebel T1i
• Trader Joe's Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seeds
• Grand Puba - "360 (What Goes Around)" via KanYeUniverseCity.com