Friday, February 29, 2008

New scarf knot

You can tie it in a knot, you can tie it in a bow.

(image via Wardrobe Remix)

Sparkle motion

Friday Random Ten

Despite patently false accusations about last week's random ten, this is a straight list of the first ten songs my iPod selects in shuffle mode. No skipping the embarrassing tracks.

1. Pieholden Suite - Wilco
2. Dismantled King Is Off The Throne - Felt
3. Into the Woods - Evangelicals
4. Crabcraft - Bjork
5. Hopin' She's the One - Shoes
6. (I Want You) More Than Ever - The Clientele
7. Phantasies - Stephen Malkmus
8. Rrrrrrright - Deerhoof
9. In a Certain Place - The Ladybug Transistor
10. Mosquitos - The Mosquitos

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Shake it like Jello

The holiday scenario with my family is always the same. We do things buffet-style, serving ourselves from the casserole dishes and bread baskets jumbled on the counter. And in the middle of all the food is always one unappetizing, quivering Jello mold brought by my grandma.

Now, my Grandma Jules is generally a hip lady. She says things to me like, "Navy is really big this season, huh?" and "I just love that Cole Haan." But when it comes to culinary crazes of the 1950s, our tastes diverge. Her classic Jello mold is filled with cranberries and shredded carrots or coconut or something. It's very holiday-cheerful and adds delightful color to the spread on the counter. It's just... disgusting. We'll each scoop a small spoonful of it onto a corner of our plate, and then end up burying that spoonful under the wild rice or something to make it look as if we've eaten it. Everyone knows it's disgusting, and no one wants to hurt grandma's feelings.

I know similar scenarios play out in every family, every holiday. My friend Gracy claims that her father always serves himself heaping portions of her Grandma D's Jello concoction because he actually likes it. But of course he'd never go as far as to make it himself. When I was little, my mother would make a seven-layer Jello (see above, top left) to take to church potluck picnics and the like. Even she has ceased making this recipe.

So I wonder: When my grandmother's generation is dead, will the Jello mold be on the road to extinction?

Maybe. But I'm predicting right now that there will be a Jello renaissance, and the molded, quivering dessert will make its triumphant return to trendiness. If it could happen to high-waisted pleated shorts and sex offender glasses, it can happen to anything. Don't give up hope for the Jello mold.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Fun with the EPH high-score board

A very productive Saturday night:

That's Hanez my way, honey.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Friday, February 22, 2008

Deep pockets

I wasn't a big fan of Sweet P's final look on Project Runway, but I noticed and loved the big pockets that went all the way to the hem of her dress:



I feel like I've been seeing these part-of-the-dress pockets everywhere lately, from the Perth street fashion blog...



...to the fashion week shows. Here's Alexandre Herchcovitch:


I like. Think of all the stuff you could store in those pockets!

Friday Random Ten

1. Born Under Punches - Talking Heads
2. Symbols and Maps - Circulatory System
3. The Mohican Antler-Yard Alphabet - Kleenex Girl Wonder
4. Life's a Gas - T. Rex
5. Strange Little Neck of the Woods - Fruit Bats
6. One Sunday Morning - Langhorne Slim
7. My Cousin Kim - The Gun Club
8. Winter Wooskie - Belle and Sebastian
9. Lovesick - Tuscadero
10. Uptown - Prince

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Shoulder shimmy!

This one's for you, Lara. You're a store-bought woman.

Sometimes I want long hair

...so I can wear it in crazy topknots like this:


(image via The Vintage Society)

Mounting a horse is difficult in yards of crushed velvet

Oh, Stevie!