Monday, February 28, 2011

Need a Hat for Your Man?

Not for his head, but for his penis.

That's right, there are knitted caps for the penis, including this one for Easter [or maybe because your guy resembles a bunny in a different way] on Etsy.

Keep the winter chill out of his pants!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Where's My Head At?

Two stories written and submitted, so now I'm looking at my to-do list at various writing tasks, as in research and actual writing, and it shouldn't surprise anyone reading this that it's wildly varied. So much so, I thought I'd give you a visual glimpse into my brain:


Five different stories, in five different stages of completion, with four different sub-genres/themes.

Lovely!  Variety is the spice of life, at least it is mine as an author.

Anyway, so where am I going next?  The eyes have it, I think.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Another Great Fashion Find

Recently I was looking through a magazine and the fashion being shown was credited to Vintage Luxury.  I was intrigued and, a few days later, went online to seek out more information.

Their store is the Fashion element of 1stDibs.com, which also offers Furniture & Lighting, Fine Art, Jewelry & Watches and Special Searches.  If you love vintage clothes, then this is a treasure trove of delight, and if I had $8,900 I'd buy my dream dress: 

Mariano Fortuny Shell Pink Delphos
italy

Mariano Fortuny shell pink pleated silk Delphos gown circa 1930. Striated white murano glass bead and silk cord trimmed down side seams and armhole. Silk belt stencilled in silver foliate patterns.

As renown specialists in Fortuny, Vintage Luxury is always interested in acquiring the finest examples of Fortuny including entire collections.

Size is flexible due to pleating.

I can put finding this gown into my weird coicidence file.  You see, I was researching Fortuny gowns about 4-5 months ago for a book, and that was when I figured if I knew where one was, I'd wear it to Authors After Dark's Mythos Masquerade in August.  Now I know where one is and it's way out of the budget.

Oh well, but I shall keep tabs on Vintage Luxury, there are other gowns and jewelry that are gorgeous, maybe they'll come down in price.

By the way, AAD registration is going to close soon, have you signed up to go to Philadelphia yet?  No?  Have you heard about where it's going to be in 2012?  No?  Well I can help you with that one - it's going to be in New Orleans, August 8-12!  The hotel is right there in the heart of Bourbon Street and there are some seriously cool happenings scheduled.  I'll be there and hope you can make it as well.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Shall We Surf?

Since Missing in Paradise is in front of me and the hero is a surfer, I thought I'd share some Hump Day Inspiration in the form of fitness model Eric Carlson with a surfboard - nice!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

When 3 of My Favorite Things Become 1!


I love art.

I love fashion.

I love paper engineering.

Put the three together and you'll find the Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave exhibition running from February 5-June 5 2011 at the Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.  The website describes the exhibit best:

Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave is a painter by training, but textile and costume are her muses. Working in collaboration with leading costume historians and young fashion designers, de Borchgrave crafts a world of splendor from the simplest rag paper. Painting and manipulating the paper, she forms trompe l’oeil masterpieces of elaborate dresses inspired by rich depictions in early European painting or by iconic costumes in museum collections around the world. The Legion of Honor is the first American museum to dedicate an entire exhibition to the work of Isabelle de Borchgrave, although her creations have been widely displayed in Europe.

Pulp Fashion draws on several themes and presents quintessential examples in the history of costume—from Renaissance finery of the Medici family and gowns worn by Elizabeth I and Marie-Antoinette to the creations of the grand couturiers Frederick Worth, Paul Poiret, Christian Dior, and Coco Chanel. Special attention is given to the creations and studio of Mariano Fortuny, the eccentric early-20th-century artist who is both a major source of inspiration to de Borchgrave and a kindred spirit.
Oh my goodness, I'm in heaven, and shall make it to this show!  I must!

By the way, Isabelle de Borchgrave is the artist of the show, is also the creator of the Fashion a la Mode pop-up book that I treasure and now see it's out of print.  Sorry, not parting with mine, but there are two books associated with the show:  Pulp Fashion and Paper Illusions, the first I'll pick up at the show and the other is on my wishlist.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Naughty Thought for Monday

Mikhail Baryshnikov is one of the sexiest men to ever exist.  Even if you aren't a fan of ballet, to watch him dance shows a masterful athlete very intune with his body, and sharing what it's capable of doing in a beautiful way.

Gorgeous.

Now to the reason Misha has come to mind:  tights.

Not the same as he or any other dancer wears, but tights all the same.

I saw the picture below, unfortunately don't remember where, but I saved it.  As I used various terms to find the image so I could give the person credit for sparking my brain I unearthed a market I hadn't known existed. 

Men, apparently, need tights - sorry, pantyhose made specifically for men.  There's a fashion magazine for the male hosiery niche called e-MANcipate.net, but I'm afraid I stumbled upon the pantyhose for men section on the Underware Store first and that colored my image of the item in question.  The tights on the latter site I won't show, trust me, it's an image you won't ever be able to wipe out of your head.  I will, however, share this from the male tights page:

Smooth, elegant, silky, all qualities that women have enjoyed for years on their legs but men have been illogically left without.
Thank you to The Art Desk for the picture of Baryshnikov and whomever had the tights pic, um, thanks for letting me know someone actually wanted to wear these modern day torture devices.

Okay, fair enough, but I would have thought of all the things women do and wear, tights have to be one of the most uncomfortable and they've done nothing to improve the product.  Guys, come on, do something about these horrible things.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Best Doggie Hairdos or are they Don'ts?

The fab S sent these to me, yes, there are more, but these are the ones I couldn't stop laughing and querying the owners sanity.

First up is the ladies.


Now for the man missing only his business suit and briefcase, although the hair reminds too much of a bad toupe plopped on an unsuspecting head.


And the young'un of the bunch, which is the saddest of them all.  He's cute au naturel!


Okay, what do you think?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Grammy, BAFTA and Brit Fashion Thoughts

Wow, three events in the space of a few days, and I was totally underwhelmed with them all.  What a pisser.  That said, I thought I'd share a few I liked, although I couldn't find the designers names for them all.  Again, what a pisser.

First up is the Grammy's, known for being outrageous and adventurous.  My favorites at this event were Keri Hilson in Basil Soda [music, grrr] and Naya Rivera.  Fun from head to toy.


At the same time as the Grammy's was the BAFTA's, British Academy of Film and Television, and the mood is elegant.  I liked Julianne Moore in Tom Ford and Thandie Newton in Monique Lhullier.  Color, glorious color, and lush fabrics - yummy!


Last but not least was The BRIT's and the outrageous abounded, but Fearne Cotton in a simple studded dress with red shoes made me smile.  Those shoes said Dorothy from the The Wizard of Oz to me.


I'm ready, bring on the Oscars!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Photos don't always inspire a thousand words...

but they can push me to do something, or not as the case may be.

I will always make sure every chair I ever choose to purchase is not just interesting, but comfortable to use - this one does not look like I could spend much time in it.

Oh, but the man, Oliver Cheshire photographed by Mariano Vivanco for the soon to be released [March 22 2011] book Uomini, does put more than a thousand words in my head.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Location! Location! Location!


Yeah, Marsyas is finished, and I thought I'd share that the story takes place in Ancient Greece.

Thinking back to the four previous stories in the Mythological Messes Redux series, only one [Double Punch takes place largely in San Francisco] has a footing in contemporary times.  Mount Olympus, various temples, residential dwellings, settings out amongst nature and a forge are where most of the important things take place in this series.

A great deal of information is known about what life was during this time and the scenery is also fairly well established, which offers a good base to write a story based in this period.  The series is founded in giving mythological characters a second chance at a new ending and I think from the offer through to the outcome needs to be plausible.  The most difficult part in writing this series is when I needed to take a known site and manipulate it enough to suit the story, without creating something that wouldn't be possible during that period.

Yes, I love a challenge, and you'll have to check out Marsyas when it's released to see how it all turns out.

Monday, February 14, 2011

The Romance of Books

This is no surprise to anyone who reads this blog, but I'll reiterate.  I love books, no matter what format they're in, and so the cutie was given two books for Valentine's Day.  Romantic, right?  I thought so because his TBR stack was low and he didn't get the two latest books from two of his favorite authors for Christmas.  That's love. 

What were they?


Levithans of Jupiter by Ben Bova and Ark by Stephen Baxter

Both are part of a series and can be found in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section, go check them out for your fan of the genre.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Do You Dream of Being a Prince(ss)?

Stephen Friedman Gallery in London may offer you the best chance you'll ever have to be a Prince(ss) - at least for a few minutes and maybe even with a picture to prove it.

American artist Jennifer Rubell has installed a life-sized sculpture [by Daniel Druet, careful, music on website] of Prince William, the future king of England called Engagement. Anyone can go stand beside the figure, place an arm through Wills, and slip a finger into a duplicate of the official engagement ring.

Woohoo, your engaged! Seriously, I hope some guy slips his finger into the ring, and has a picture taken. Wouldn't that be fabulous?!?

Thank you Jennifer Rubell for the picture and fun art installation, plot bunnies abound - anyone else see time travel potential?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Fashion Faux Pas or Putting It All Out There?

Leona Lewis designed a dress and wore to the Justin Bieber: Never Say Never movie premier.  Fair enough.  However, I'm left wondering if she's wearing what she wants, a good kiss, or would this be a fashion faux pas?

Personally, I'm going for the latter, but only because I honestly don't care if she's looking for a lip lock, someone to notice her lips, or whatever the subliminal meaning might be in chosing to slap a puffy set on her chest.  Wait, maybe she's hiding a boob job gone wrong.  No?  Looking for attention?  Maybe.

Beautiful woman, shoddy dress.  Shame.

Sorry, I love fashion, and this was just ugly as sin.

Vent finished :-)

Oh, thank you Skinny vs Curvy for bringing this to my attention, you know which way I voted, and OK! Magazine in the UK for the picture.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Hump Day Reflections


Is it cold where you are?  Need a coat?  I'm sure, if you asked nicely, Justin Woltering would give you this one.

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Want to make a spectacular book?

Then maybe one of Carol Barton's classes, where you learn to make your own pop-up and sculptural books, is in your neighborhood.  Here's her 2011 calendar:

June 11, Free Family Day Workshop, National Building Museum, Washington, D.C., http://www.nbm.org/families-kids

May 7- 8, Pop-Up Workshop, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, [412-261-7003]http://www.contemporarycraft.org/

May 16 - 27, Paper Engineering Workshop, Paper and Book Intensive, Oxbow, Michigan, http://www.paperbookintensive.org/

June 24 - 25, Carousel and Tunnel Book Workshops, Focus on Book Arts Conference, Forest Grove, Oregon (near Portland), Pacific University Campus, http://www.focusonbookarts.org/

July 31 - August 6, Sculptural Books, Arrowmont School of Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, http://www.arrowmont.org/

Fun, fun, fun!

Monday, February 07, 2011

Naughty Thought for Monday


Crocheted urinary tract from Neatorama and I ask why?

That's all, just why?

Friday, February 04, 2011

Our Monthly Entertainment for 2011

as in our calendar, is the Fabulous Frogs by David McEnery.


He makes us smile and shall give us the giggles for the rest of the year!  Now I just need to sit down with 2010's and transfer over the birthdays.  I'm not late, am I?

Thursday, February 03, 2011

SAG Fashion Thoughts

SAG, Screen Actors Guild, is another great award ceremony.  Not to watch, but to feed my need for fashion, and I wasn't disappointed this year.

Most looked great, but I got a kick out of the risk takers.  In black it was Julie Bowen in a Catherine Malandrino sleek one-piece, Christine Hendricks in a long sparkling smoking jacket from L'Wren Scott, and Dianna Agron in vintage vintage Chanel Couture.  On the red side was Sarah Hyland in Max Mara Elegante and Julianna Margulies in Yves St Laurent.  And then Hailee Steinfeld and Jennifer Lawrence brought it all together by keeping it fun, bright, and age appropriate in Prada and Oscar de la Renta, respectively.

My favorite couldn't be narrowed down from three.


Kyra Sedgwick in vintage Thierry Mugler, Rosario Dawson in J Mendel, and Tina Fey in Oscar de la Renta.  All are great dresses and perfectly put together on the ladies.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

It's Groundhog Day, Now What?

PhotobucketA few years ago my friends and I met up at the local diner on Groundhog Day.  One of the Fab 5 brought Clarissa, the stuffed groundhog they just happened to have.

It was a hoot of a breakfast and while we chatted, the five of us decided winter was over.  We'd had enough.  To mark the moment, we put a pair of sunglasses on our groundhog and called it done with a picture.

Well, I'm of the same mood this year.  Winter has been long, cold, and I'm done with it, so out came the picture.  Clarissa the groundhog stayed in her burrow, therefore winter is DONE!

Woohoo!

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Ultimate Plot Point



Plots come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Some are a straight line, others whirl about like they're caught in a windstorm, but no matter what they look like the plot usually hinge on a finite point.  As I was working on the latest WIP, it came to me that the ultimate point of the plotline in this one is hybris [sometimes spelt hubris].  A rare word to think about, but not really considering the piece is a part of my Mythological Messes Redux series, all of which have starting points in Greek Mythology.

Here's a bit more about hybris from Wiktionary:

Etymology
From Ancient Greek ὕβρις (hybris, “insolence, sexual outrage”).

Noun
hubris (uncountable)

1. Excessive pride, presumption or arrogance (originally toward the gods).
2. Unchecked arrogance

Hmmm, are you wondering how hybris plays out in this one?