In 1994, Pet Shop Boys released the 1994 Comic Relief single, "Absolutely Fabulous". The song started when Tennant and Lowe were playing around with samples from the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous in the studio. They wanted to release a single, so approached lead actors Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, and suggested releasing it as a charity single. The single was released under the artist name of "Absolutely Fabulous". Tennant and Lowe do not consider it a Pet Shop Boys' single release and it was not included on their last compilation CD of singles, "PopArt". The video to the single featured clips from the sitcom along with newly recorded footage of Tennant and Lowe with the characters of Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Lumley).
-Wikipedia
This is just so....my life in four minutes. I even dance that way!
Tomorrow I am going to wear my 90s Spice Girls platforms, you know those shoes with 4 inch platform made from really soft material? Or I don't know, maybe they're little bit more 00s. They are going to look absolutely fabulous, good.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
So ask yourself now: Can you forgive her?
Okay so I'm so sorry for not updating and visiting other blogs for over a week...I've been bit sick and then I went to visit Estonia (Happy Birthday!) and my grandparents were supposed to have internet connection but blah blah the family they are sharing the connection with is renovating. Anyways, they have a new computer and soundsystem and everything, yeah, surely they will need it for their daily online newspaper intake. It's just that my 10-year-old (or is he 13 by now?) cousin is a bit of an computer freak (has been since...3?) and I guess he couldn't live with "old" equipment. Basically my grandparents have better computer and software that I do.
That's the thing with electronics...I really like following the business, who wouldn't get excited from iPod Touch or the Chanel Phone or the format war, really, but buying it is a different matter. I'm just not into that buy-and-throw-away-three-years-later culture, not in fashion, not in electronics. Technology is great - infact everything is so high-tech in Estonia. They have these ID cards that you can load your communal traffic time and other things, and the newest feature is that you can vote in elections without leaving your computer, you heard correct, you can vote for the president online! That's huge, since 90 percent of the population has the ID card, and even if they don't have internet connection home it can be found from even the smallest libraries and so on. I feel so left-out...must get one from the consulate soon....
Hey I hope that above wasn't a major turn-off! Hmm, I guess you wouldn't like the story of how I'm going to wisdow teeth surgery so I'll just tell you what I bought instead. OK first I'll tell you that I'm so pissed off because I don't follow things happening in Estonia close enough. They have this film festival, PÖFF, "The Dark Nights Film Festival" that for the first time had special fashion program, at the end of last year, with Karl Lagerfeld Confidential, Marc Jacobs and Lous Vuitton and YSL document Celebration among others, and I wasn't there. Why can't these things happen in Finland? We do have good film festivals that have partly recovered my love for modern cinema, but now they are missing something. It sucks that this year's DocPoint just ignored all of these fashion documentaries that have came out recently!
Fashion documents rule! I love that I've been part of making one - school project, but it was still something. I want to put it up on YouTube and here but one member of the group doesn't want her name to be shown in the credits...I don't know what's up with that. For myself, I just want to share it with everyone because it took so much time and effort to make that I want more than 20 people to see it, and that's why I don't wan't to put it up with her name cencored because she, like the rest of us, worked really hard to get it together and to leave her uncredited, though it's her will, doesn't seem right. It's a short document, little over 8 minutes or so, and the subject is vintage. We interviewed the owner of Play it Again, Sam, that is one of the best vintage boutiques in Finland. Things that I learned from making it: editing is really hard! It's like being a journalist - you really have the power to make people seem the way you want the way you want them to be seen. Interviewing is really hard! Well, writing the questions is easy - but to ask them! Oh well, where has my self-confidence gone. Hmm, we also used the same font as the Paris Vogue masthead, that was cool. Paris Vogue, or Fabien Baron to be more exact, has changed their lay-out, and it makes my head spin. I'm sure I'll get used to it soon enough.
Magazines, I bought them in Estonia, and also I made my mom buy me books about magazines. And Pet Shop Boys Catalogue and a book about 80s pop. Speaking of 80s pop, me and my mom visited the DM Baar, Depeche Mode Bar in Tallinn (it's not some urban legend), and I'm so happy that I've visited it, who knows if I'm dead tomorrow and if I ever needed to visit 101 places before my death, this certainly was one of them! Oh and the radio was also playing "Go West" by PSB in the cafe nearby where I had good Roiboos tea. I love life.
I was challenged by bambi, to post my favorite fashion quote. I'm going to do a post about them later, tomorrow, I also really want to take time and see what everyone else has been up to, but for now I'm going to end this post with none else than quotes.
"We were never really concerned with being cool. When you're younger, being cool is the most important thing, which tends to mean you just do what everyone else does."
-Neil Tennant, PSB
She's made you some kind of laughing stock
Because you dance to disco, and you don't like rock
- Can You Forgive Her? by PSB
P.S Pictures tomorrow!
That's the thing with electronics...I really like following the business, who wouldn't get excited from iPod Touch or the Chanel Phone or the format war, really, but buying it is a different matter. I'm just not into that buy-and-throw-away-three-years-later culture, not in fashion, not in electronics. Technology is great - infact everything is so high-tech in Estonia. They have these ID cards that you can load your communal traffic time and other things, and the newest feature is that you can vote in elections without leaving your computer, you heard correct, you can vote for the president online! That's huge, since 90 percent of the population has the ID card, and even if they don't have internet connection home it can be found from even the smallest libraries and so on. I feel so left-out...must get one from the consulate soon....
Hey I hope that above wasn't a major turn-off! Hmm, I guess you wouldn't like the story of how I'm going to wisdow teeth surgery so I'll just tell you what I bought instead. OK first I'll tell you that I'm so pissed off because I don't follow things happening in Estonia close enough. They have this film festival, PÖFF, "The Dark Nights Film Festival" that for the first time had special fashion program, at the end of last year, with Karl Lagerfeld Confidential, Marc Jacobs and Lous Vuitton and YSL document Celebration among others, and I wasn't there. Why can't these things happen in Finland? We do have good film festivals that have partly recovered my love for modern cinema, but now they are missing something. It sucks that this year's DocPoint just ignored all of these fashion documentaries that have came out recently!
Fashion documents rule! I love that I've been part of making one - school project, but it was still something. I want to put it up on YouTube and here but one member of the group doesn't want her name to be shown in the credits...I don't know what's up with that. For myself, I just want to share it with everyone because it took so much time and effort to make that I want more than 20 people to see it, and that's why I don't wan't to put it up with her name cencored because she, like the rest of us, worked really hard to get it together and to leave her uncredited, though it's her will, doesn't seem right. It's a short document, little over 8 minutes or so, and the subject is vintage. We interviewed the owner of Play it Again, Sam, that is one of the best vintage boutiques in Finland. Things that I learned from making it: editing is really hard! It's like being a journalist - you really have the power to make people seem the way you want the way you want them to be seen. Interviewing is really hard! Well, writing the questions is easy - but to ask them! Oh well, where has my self-confidence gone. Hmm, we also used the same font as the Paris Vogue masthead, that was cool. Paris Vogue, or Fabien Baron to be more exact, has changed their lay-out, and it makes my head spin. I'm sure I'll get used to it soon enough.
Magazines, I bought them in Estonia, and also I made my mom buy me books about magazines. And Pet Shop Boys Catalogue and a book about 80s pop. Speaking of 80s pop, me and my mom visited the DM Baar, Depeche Mode Bar in Tallinn (it's not some urban legend), and I'm so happy that I've visited it, who knows if I'm dead tomorrow and if I ever needed to visit 101 places before my death, this certainly was one of them! Oh and the radio was also playing "Go West" by PSB in the cafe nearby where I had good Roiboos tea. I love life.
I was challenged by bambi, to post my favorite fashion quote. I'm going to do a post about them later, tomorrow, I also really want to take time and see what everyone else has been up to, but for now I'm going to end this post with none else than quotes.
"We were never really concerned with being cool. When you're younger, being cool is the most important thing, which tends to mean you just do what everyone else does."
-Neil Tennant, PSB
She's made you some kind of laughing stock
Because you dance to disco, and you don't like rock
- Can You Forgive Her? by PSB
P.S Pictures tomorrow!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
I can make you ice cream
That's Lyoka Tyagnereva photographed by Greg Lotus in Vogue Italia's February issue! I hope it arrives next week...and I think what she is holding is a sorbet cone. It looks like the raspberry sorbet you can get from Stockmann Deli that has really prominent bubble gum aftertaste that is also really, really, disgusting but naturally there are other flavors to choose from. Speaking of Kingdom of Shopping, all I want to do in life is to get lots of magazines and eat bucket of mango sorbet, does it offend you, yeah. The Magazines...wouldn't that be a great name for a band too...are waiting for me. Just where to get Nico, because it's second issue should be distributed in Finland? The suspension! Really, there is a slim chance that I might be going to Italy, if I get picked for this school thing! I'm not expecting anything, but it's exciting anyways but right now I'm off like a dirty shirt, to watch Heroes and dream about Mr.Bennets horn-rimmed glasses...
picture scanned by kissmesweet @ tFS
Sunday, February 10, 2008
R.I.P Polaroids
* I guess you didn't notice my inter-linking skillz:( In the opening line click "this" and it will take you to The Boston Globe article, OK. Plus you can also Google things if you're skeptic? I do that all the time. It's great, really, check it out. I chose "the washington post polaroid " and "polaroid shutting down" as my key words and got nice, reliable results.
Didn't see this one coming? Me neither! I always dreamed that one day I'll have a cool Polaroid camera and I'd take cool pictures with super expensive film. That's unlikely now - they've stopped the production of of those cameras and now they are closing down the factories that produce the films. Oh the sadness! And now I want to take Polaroid pictures even more.
It also makes me think about iconic fashion houses and their products that are deemed as everlasting classics. You know, that bag, that other bag, that silk carf, those ballerinas, that blazer....Which one of them will be the first to go? They might be hugely in demand today and it's true that the luxury biz is as popular and common as McDonalds, but the times, the times they are a-changing'.
To lighten up the mood a bit, here are some of my favorites from the NYFW shows for fall 2008.
Alexandre Herchcovitch. This is just really cute and wearable and with nice details and patterns and colours. That is sometimes enough.
Alexander Wang. Modeled by Iris Strubegger, who isn't German like I told you before, but Austrian. Pants, hood, zipper and something furry = will do.
Didn't see this one coming? Me neither! I always dreamed that one day I'll have a cool Polaroid camera and I'd take cool pictures with super expensive film. That's unlikely now - they've stopped the production of of those cameras and now they are closing down the factories that produce the films. Oh the sadness! And now I want to take Polaroid pictures even more.
It also makes me think about iconic fashion houses and their products that are deemed as everlasting classics. You know, that bag, that other bag, that silk carf, those ballerinas, that blazer....Which one of them will be the first to go? They might be hugely in demand today and it's true that the luxury biz is as popular and common as McDonalds, but the times, the times they are a-changing'.
To lighten up the mood a bit, here are some of my favorites from the NYFW shows for fall 2008.
Alexandre Herchcovitch. This is just really cute and wearable and with nice details and patterns and colours. That is sometimes enough.
Alexander Wang. Modeled by Iris Strubegger, who isn't German like I told you before, but Austrian. Pants, hood, zipper and something furry = will do.
Calvin Klein. Maybe I've watched too much C.S.I but that cut on the jacket reminds me of the T-cut they to do dead people when they want to know what's inside. Metallics, maybe.
Rodarte. Didn't enjoy the styling here, or the shoes, but this dress has to die for (literally, as one of the inspirations behind this collection are Japanese horror movies) colour combination.
Y-3. This is so...cooooooooooooooool, in every way.
Must say I really enjoyed certain shows, but not really. They were all lacking that certain something I was looking for - and I think Calvin Klein under Francisco Costa's helm became the closest. I wish I could just touch all the materials in these pictures...to see if they changed my overall opinion.
Pictures from style.com
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Beautiful Knights of 2008
Like in fashion, in music everything is borrowed from the past and re-worked to death in every post-movement, and the fresh ideas are running short. So where to look now? Trend reports tell designers to search into nature and traditions. Musician Lakk Lak (pictured, on the left) thinks this is ridiculous, because nature, as the word implies, is a natural thing and therefore part of our everyday lives. "The whole attitude people have about it is stupid". I have to agree with him. He is part of a Norwegian band called DINOSAURUXIA who, although being cave music, are breathe of fresh air. In fact, they are so radical that they categorize themselves first and foremost as "pop music". So don't worry, there's no over-hyped artsy indie rockers in sight.
DINOSAURUXIA was formed in early 2006, though Sylvester (pictured, on the right), the other main figure in the band, says that "I remember crying for a long time because no one wanted to start it." Sylvester and Lakk Lak have known each other since the new millennium, which is also a hidden symbol of the bands name. They chose it because "the dinosaurs were the beginning and end of everything." Lakk Lak explains further, "Dinosaurs were just large animals that died. They didn't know that there would be humans after them." And when their music is "a dialog with a dinosaur", it closes the circle.
While most bands are short-lived because of the rocky start, DINOSAURUXIA has whole-heartedly believed in themselves and their music right from the beginning. "We were just like…here we go." The no-frills attitude paid off and they soon gained success with their first hit "The Gay Song" that has now become almost legendary. The song proves their lyrical mastermindness with witty lines such as "Like wolf-cubs we can dance/and some day we'll have a chance/ to win the war of gay rights/ and become beautiful knights". To explain the success of the controversial song, Lakk Lak just nods and says,"We performed that song with our souls." The reaction was thankful. The public had spent all their lives waiting for something and now it was here. To quote an avid fan, "I luvit! This brings so many memories from my childhood, i've listened this song since 1983, everytime my life has sucked very muchly and I've wanted to kill myself THIS SONG HAS SAVED MY LIFE and I LOVE IT and it will be played in my funeral coz it gives joy and hope and gaiety and peace to everybody FOR-4!!!".
The eclectic vibe of their songs is achieved with recorded sounds from all over the world, from Berlin Wall to the streets of London. "I'd love to visit the core of the world and the sound of the splashes of hot rubble!" says Lakk Lak. The fondness to recorded sounds is explained with the pleasing outcome. "How could I say it…everything else sounds boring, it has been already used. If you create your own soundtrack, you get the outcome you want. It's better than playing one instrument and waiting the style you want to magically pop out." Other elements in their songs include various instruments, such as the synthesizer, piano, violin, xylophone and ukulele "and all other sounds that wouldn't exist without us". The songs are fairly short but the band reminds that these are only the demos that will grow with time.
The difference between most bands and DINOSAURUXIA is their dedication to keep the references minimal. This means that they will not name any bands that have inspired their music. Lakk Lak is very passionate about this subject. "If you have been living in a cave for your whole life with a company with angry bears, like me, and then you suddenly find the written world; first you discover the books that shall change your views, and then you find out there is tales accompanied by the unbelievable, mind-blowing beats, you go so hyper you would like to jump of the roofs and run and scream and scream so loud that the whole world could explode due your happiness! It is so divine that you wouldn't like to share with anyone. You only want to enjoy that feeling alone, in your own cave, because how could anybody know exactly how you feel? Not a single soul!!!" So instead of name-dropping, the band cites their inspiration to come from everywhere and everyone around them.
The songs, like previously mentioned, are dialogs with a dinosaur. They are confusing sound worlds where everything falls in place in an unexpected way. They make you feel like the end of the world is coming, but it's not a scary happening, more like a big party, a fest of passion that lets you abandon the mundane and second-best things and dance to things that actually have a meaning, they let you to calm down and think about all things deep, in a light way. The songs are not fairy tales. They are other worlds, within a world. Worlds that you can paint to the already existing one without any kind of interfere by the two layers. The new layer is just something you've missed before because of all the distraction. But now it's there. It's here.
And when writing about DINOSAURUXIA, you can't leave out two things: their stage performance and their style. Both are very inspirational and full of energy. Their style is like the bars of their synthesizers: black and white, ranging from monochrome minimalistic black outifts to ethreal piles of white clothing. They make-up choice is glitter, with Make Up Store products and craft supplies being in favor. Lately they've been really into prism pearls, but really have no style advise except one major factor. "Everyone should wear clothes they feel comfortable in" Lakk Lak explains over recent phone conversation. If his vibrant Prada frames are anything to go by, that has to have some kind of truth in it.
Vibrant is an adjective that suits to explaining their stage performance. They were kind enough to play in my 17th birthday back in November 2007, that being officially their first performance. However, some might remember the same collective playing The Gay Song and cover of Depeche Mode's song Goodnight Lovers in a event in certain art school in late 2006. Like then, the response was only positive. The venue, a cosy living room, was transformed into a cave with turning the lights out, adding disco balls and everyone sitting in half-circle. In the dark the only light was coming from their laptop. You couldn't really see them, they blended in with their black outfits - their silhouettes being the only thing to remind you that they were in the room. The whole event was really spiritual. They're music was easy to listen, and enjoy, the sound world really took you over. They made me happy by performing a cover of Ladytron! Guess what song... The clapping was expectionally loud after every song, and they even did an encore. The Gay Song made a great sing along, proving it is a hit.
"We will take over the world" says Lakk Lak, "the world looks colorful" Sylvester adds. When asked about where the direction of the music is going, Sylvester says, "I cannot answer to those kinds of questions." The band has signed with Bebamy Records from London and is featured in a compilation "sirpaleena.blogspot.com 2007", out now. And if everything goes smoothly, their first record is set to come out this spring. The band is busy writing songs for it, but Lakk Lak still finds time for his side project Xylophonetoga, also a signed band for Bebamy Records. World, be ready for some serious action and set your clocks because the boring life you've been having is finally over. And believe me, the Norwegian woods have made them to do everything with dedication. In words of Sylvester, "I've got to do this". Let's not get on his way.
DINOSAURUXIA is featured in a document Vintage, released later this year.
You can download their demos for free from last.fm
and add them as your friends over myspace.
Friday, February 01, 2008
overpowered
Heh why am I so arty. My days are filled with photography, editing and painting. Disgusting. I feel like blogging instead.
I was supposed to do this post about what we are going to see in fw 08/09 runways before the shows start. Well, some NYC shows have already gone online and they have what I was waiting for. PANTS. Or trousers, whatevs. I was seeing them in so many street style pictures and in some pre-fall collections and all these previous seasons have been about skirts skirts, dresses and that equals blahfest by now. Pants are tricky though, it's that much harder to get them fit properly, or ready for the show in the hectic schedule. And the production is more complicated too!
So I'm really happy cause of pants.
Then I'm also hoping to see lots of ballet flats - Chanel HC paved the way and isn't everyone tired of the gigamonstrous shoes already?
It's not over it's not over it's not over yet...
I lasted 10 days with my experiement of buying nothing. Then I discovered that I had money on my account, got a stack of magazines, pair of ankle boots (goat leather...how disgusting seriosly!) from sale, they were from that Mangos collaboration with the Cruz sisters. I also went to charity shop and got nice things like a Mulberry belt and the greatest white button down by Antonio Marras.
I saw Roisin Murphy the other day and enjoyed it 100%. Might to a but fangirlish post about it later. I'd just like to know why everyone on the audience looked crap, including me. I don't know what was up with that? Everyone looked so boring, and not even stylish. Did everyone just get up with the wrong foot or had logistic problems like me? How did everyone have them at the same time? How hard is it to abandon ugly mixes of black and grey just for one night? Okay, I saw this rather stylish gentleman, who looked bit like Dave (Gahan?!?!?!?) and he made me happy.
EDIT // HEHE OMG SAUL WILLIAMS BOOKED FOR ARVIKAFESTIVALEN LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE AND PEACE!!!!!!!!! EVERYONE REMEMBER TO PARTY BUT DON'T FORGET THE IMPORTANT THINGS!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
I was supposed to do this post about what we are going to see in fw 08/09 runways before the shows start. Well, some NYC shows have already gone online and they have what I was waiting for. PANTS. Or trousers, whatevs. I was seeing them in so many street style pictures and in some pre-fall collections and all these previous seasons have been about skirts skirts, dresses and that equals blahfest by now. Pants are tricky though, it's that much harder to get them fit properly, or ready for the show in the hectic schedule. And the production is more complicated too!
So I'm really happy cause of pants.
Then I'm also hoping to see lots of ballet flats - Chanel HC paved the way and isn't everyone tired of the gigamonstrous shoes already?
It's not over it's not over it's not over yet...
I lasted 10 days with my experiement of buying nothing. Then I discovered that I had money on my account, got a stack of magazines, pair of ankle boots (goat leather...how disgusting seriosly!) from sale, they were from that Mangos collaboration with the Cruz sisters. I also went to charity shop and got nice things like a Mulberry belt and the greatest white button down by Antonio Marras.
I saw Roisin Murphy the other day and enjoyed it 100%. Might to a but fangirlish post about it later. I'd just like to know why everyone on the audience looked crap, including me. I don't know what was up with that? Everyone looked so boring, and not even stylish. Did everyone just get up with the wrong foot or had logistic problems like me? How did everyone have them at the same time? How hard is it to abandon ugly mixes of black and grey just for one night? Okay, I saw this rather stylish gentleman, who looked bit like Dave (Gahan?!?!?!?) and he made me happy.
EDIT // HEHE OMG SAUL WILLIAMS BOOKED FOR ARVIKAFESTIVALEN LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE AND PEACE!!!!!!!!! EVERYONE REMEMBER TO PARTY BUT DON'T FORGET THE IMPORTANT THINGS!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
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