Whole Lot of Link Love! 5.9.8

[Delicious image by vir.gen]

With my mother in town this past weekend, the boy-mates parents in next weekend, and a wedding to attend in NOLA the following week, my schedule is a bit jam-packed! I have had little time to update, but I've been keeping up with my reading...

- Thanks to Coilhouse, I have a new favorite blog: Sociological Images. I love the thoughtful posts about things like gender issues, body images, alternative lifestyles, and more, as portrayed in media. It's intelligent and evocative, and while I think there can be a downside to (over?) analyzing everything, I enjoy that it brings these topics up for discussion.

- Nubby Twiglet's post Does Your Stuff Define Who You Are? I love discussions like these, because it really makes me consider what I buy, what it says about me, what influenced me to buy it, and more.

- Similarly, Tricia's post that discusses the symbolism of what we wear, the repercussions of ignorance and knowledge, and more.

- Zen Habits' teaches us how to turn out goals in to habits. That's something I'd very much like to work on, from finance, to better health and time management, and better/greater creative outlets.

- J.K. Rowling shares the Fringe Benefits of Failure to Harvard's most recent graduating class. Some of my favorite parts:

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

Oh my! I just realized that this is my 100th post here at Dramatis Personae. Very lovely.

Lot of Links! Love: 5.14.08

Some quick picks; a few are quite old, but I they're still on my mind!

- On the art of Networking:
The ever-lovely Nubby Twiglet answers my questions on how to network honestly. And from Girl Meets Business, parts one and two of "An Introvert's Guide to Networking." I hate the idea of networking, so I find these articles refreshing and pleasing.

- From the "Not Necessarily Safe for Work" Angle: (From Coilhouse)
White One White: A Photographic Top 10-- a very startling, striking collection of images where white is the dominant color. An excellent study of skilled technical photography and beautiful sense of style.
Isabella Rossellini: Pervert of the Month. In a new series presented by the Sundance Channel, Isabella Rossellini stars in a series of "Green Pornos." Very mind blowing and powerfully evocative (and a wee bit squeam inducing!).

- For those Going Green:
If you're looking for bigger & brighter ideas on how to bring more "Green" in to your lifestyle, without sacrificing your style, Miss Malaprop is passing along Green Chic: Saving the World in Style to a reader at random. The only catch is that after you read it, you have to repost it and pass it along to a reader of your own.

Jennine has a great posts, How to Buy Vintage, which is all the information you can get in a book, condensed to a fantastic easy-to-read piece. While you're there, be sure to check out her new Coveted Shop, which is chock full of beautiful, thrifted German bits and pieces.

-In Case You Missed It:
Tricia at bits and bobbins's post asking Why Do We Wear What Wear. The answers are shocking and insightful, and one day I promise to finish the 400 page manifesto that is brewing in my mind as a result of this question.

Lessons In Hindsight

Une Femme d'un certain age too long ago posted a wonderful & thoughtful post, What I've Figured Out So far. In this, she thinks about what advice she would got back to give her 20 year old self. My personal favorite is 4. You can't fuck someone into loving you.

While it hasn't been long enough to go back & give my 20 year old self advice, there is advice I can give my younger self:

1. It's never as bad as it seems. When in high school, not having any boys like me was the worst; my friend committing suicide shook my world. Then I got to college, and the turmoils of first love were so confusing and consuming. Following that, I was plagued by Hurricane Katrina and moved across country with a boyfriend who dumped me a month & half later. In hindsight, some of these things were sad, but I moved on (well, except for maybe the last point).

2. There are boys who find you attractive, whether they're dating you or not. This can really apply to your gender of preference, but I think in some way, we're never really conscious of how attractive others find us.

3. Don't get ahead of yourself. It's so easy to get ahead of ourselves, start fantasizing and projecting our goals, our career paths, our relationships, all before anything ever even happens. Hell, I was young and idealistic and eager for my dreams to come true. And while it's not bad to daydream, realizing that your actions will irrevocably impair the direction of those is important.

I had some friends, a couple: they were in love; he was going to be a lawyer, she a librarian. They had the neighborhood they wanted to live in picked out, ideas for decorating. Inevitably, they broke up. He didn't pass the bar, had to sell his car and Wii, and she moved out West (and seems to be doing quite well). Their break-up was ten times the messy because they got too far ahead of themselves. They looked so far in to the future, they were ignoring today.

4. Don't shy away from the "less attractive" alternatives.
A very silly example of this: only within the last year, I have begun wearing black-brown mascara. It sounds less appealing that black; the image of black mascara is more chic, glamorous, sensual. But in reality, I now know that, during the day, I look better in black-brown. It's softer, it complements my skin tone more nicely.

This is to say, make sure that the choices you make are genuinely the best choices for yourself. Don't go with something else that may not be as good because you like the image it conveys better. You're more likely to convey that image if you go with the best choices for yourself.

5. Save, save, save. I worked through all of high school and made decent money. And to be certain, there is nothing to show for it. I wish my parents had better taught me the value of a dollar (or that Suze Orman had at least written The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke at that point. This book has been a smart-send to me, I swear; I even contemplate picking up Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny as well, to break those bad buying habits I have).



Any lessons in hindsight you'd like to share, or are there any lessons you learned early on that you're glad to have?

Lot of Link Love: Friday the 7th

- Aesthetics in your organizing? Hipster Book Club seems conflicted and many just say "no."
The strong aversion of the members to organizing books by color strikes me as peculiar, and I can't help but wonder what the deeper reasoning behind it is. Are we too conditioned to accept organizing, especially of books, as one thing (genre, author, size)? Or are books viewed as the antithesis of vanity, and making them such is demeaning to their supposed value?

Some of these comments I found particularly intriguing:

"This might be ok for books that exist only as "accessories" but if you love your books, well, I can't imagine any other way but alphabetical by author, with maybe side groups by genre and then alphabetical by author."

"I think these pictures are appealing, because books are nice and pretty colors are nice, so therefore the combination of the two results in a very, "oooh, shiiiiney!" response. But this isn't terribly practical, and it feels a little demeaning to the books themselves."

"Well, that's the thing - it's practical if you think in terms of color, shape, spatiality - that sort of thing. Give me a book, I can tell you what color it is and then, where it is on the shelf. I can probably sketch the book cover before I could find it alphabetically - and that's exactly what's I'm doing in my mind. Saves me time. Would it work for a city Public Library? Probably not, but then again, it is fun to see which books end up near each other (and then again I don't run a city public library)."

Inspired by the Color + Design Blog

- I'm totally loving The Pin-Up Shop Blog! A modern woman's take on pin-up art. The blog combines the cheesecake and glamour of traditional pin-up imagery, while also discussing modern topics, conflicts, and patterns in pin-up art. Check out pin-ups & Diversity and The Veil Fetish Pin-up, along with The Bare Facts about Pin-Ups.

- This braid twist posted by (Into) the Fray looks amazing & easy. Perfect since I haven't figured out how to french braid around my head yet.

- Itty Bitty Kitty Committee! If you're not subscribing to this blog, you're missing out on some of the sweetest, most charming kitten faces in the world.

- We Love Hijab is an Islamic fashion blog. It's amazing to see the fashion & style opportunities that Muslim women make for themselves, and how unified they can be with American style. Check out these amazing gloves and Project Hijab: Project Runway made for the Islamic lady.

Christmas Catch-up

I've had a lovely and peaceful break: classes are over (forever!?!?), I've been mentally recuperating, and generally taking it very, very easy. This holiday, I've been dabbling in some sewing and knitting, cleaning up a storm (at times), reading a lot of pleasurable books, and it's been a great time.

But don't think, that while I haven't been posting or commenting, that I haven't been reading! It's been wonderful reading everyone's holiday wishes and well tidings, along with their holiday activities and home lives.


In the upcoming weeks, I'd like to redesign the site, so it gives me the opportunity to throw things out there--
- Have I not linked to you, though I read your site? (sometimes I do get bad about updating that!)
- Is there any kind of content you'd like to see on the blog? Though it's still young, I'm still forging and determining what kind of blog I'd like this to be.
- Any other comments or considerations?


Until then....
Here are some Posts I've Enjoyed Recently
- California Carnival Spirit at Coilhouse (a great alternative blog for those missing out!).
- Craftster Craft Challenge-- From Super Ugly to Super Awesome.
- Glam & Tonic's review of the Chanel's pre-Fall 2008 show-- I had to save this one for the lovely hair pieces (or brain cozies as my friends call them).
- Nubby Twiglet's post on Successfully Selling Yourself. This post is incredible from both a professional and personal angle (a post I may get to soon!). Needless to say, it's refreshing to view a person and artist who takes this aspect seriously-- Nubby, I'd absolutely book you at a gallery for your professionalism alone!
- Louboutin + Lynch create Fetish, an art show I'd love to see. Thank, Jennine, for highlighting this evocative and provocative collaboration!

The Sartorialist Debate: Fred versus Cary

I rather enjoy reading The Sartorialist's blog. It's intriguing and engaging to read a man's perspective on fashion, especially as so many men and women both seem to view it as a "woman's realm."

Recently, the Sartorialist put up a debate between the minimalistic style of Cary Grant versus the every man attire of Fred Astaire.

But Sart doesn't rely only on his own intuition and defenses for each man's wardrobe; rather, he calls in the respective opinions of Richard Torregrossa, who wrote The Real Secret of Cary Grant's Style, and G. Bruce Boyer's perceptions on Fred Astaire (author of Astaire Style). While Torregrossa takes his defense of Grant's style to a high by degrading Astaire's abilities of style, stunt, and performance, all three articles bring attention to the oft overlooked style and detailing of both performers.