a few goodies

So... I should be working. But the boyfriend is writing a magazine article about the All Tomorrow's Parties show we attended in Tokyo, and if it gets accepted my photos will be published with it, which will change where and how I post them. So they've all been corrected and prettified, but I can't put them up yet. I've also gotten a huge head start on my work for next week, so I'm kind of in a holding pattern. I could be cleaning, but, yeah, no. So I've spent the morning out playing in blogland, and found treasure!

I've been searching for a good Korean street style site for a while. They have a way of complimenting their bodies' natural shapes that would never work on me, but is cool nonetheless. So, I was stoked to discover Sushi and Silk! She's just gotten started but she's already better at braving the cold weather than I would ever be. My favorite shot so far. It's a great example of the puffy jacket/awesome boots style that I see all the time here. It also shows the boisterous, friendly personality of Koreans once you get through their shy exterior. Good job!

Also, a beautiful alternative to the image glut on a lot of sites, Crying Feather. They have just a few well-composed shots that have such texture and mystery they make me want to throw out my whole portfolio and start again. Well, maybe not the whole thing. I think I'm just in those restless, last-throes-of-winter doldrums and these photos are squeezing out the final drops of winter melancholy.

Last but not least, I want this bad. However it's a custom, one-of-a-kind piece, and my sewing machine is back in the States. So, that ain't happening.

So now, clean, go hiking, clean, go hiking, ...laze about some more? Decisions.

P.S. - what I love and hate about fashion. What a gorgeous freaking dress! What a stupid freaking hat! A wedding or the set of Conan the Barbarian? Which BTW, I totally love. Again with the vacillation.

Intended Purpose

>I was going to do a post about a newly discovered site that I've been loving, but I thought rather than do that every time I discover something, why not just include a list of sites I like on my page. (So that's why every blog has that...) So, viola! In super-original alphabetical order, look to the right for I'm sure what will be an ever-growing list of fashion/photography/music/culture/travel/art sites I love.

But the site I want to talk about is worthy of discussion, so back to the matter at hand. Being faced with something so interesting and complex as another culture on a daily basis makes you want to talk about it all the time, which can be difficult, because people in other cultures talk about culture in different ways. Americans tend to ask direct questions and want direct answers. It turns out, this is not the only way to do things. (All those years of being brow-beaten with topic sentence, body, conclusion has affected my brain!) Individual personalities affect conversations more than culture in my experience, but I notice even the most outspoken of my Korean friends will eventually defer and agree on subjects I know they feel strongly about, in the expectation that I will understand, by body language and other cues that their culture has trained them to pick up, what they're really thinking. Unfortunately, I mostly don't and it can be confusing. So I used the internet for its intended purpose (no, not dirty pictures), instant access to information. I tried to look for insights into Asian culture written by Asians. There's plenty of whining out there written by other expats who are having culture clash problems, but that's not really going to help me. So, I stumbled on Disgrasian. It's great, loads of cultural discussion, written by some feisty Asian-Americans, with a good smattering of humor and bad language. (...and it's even helped me figure out a couple of things!) My thanks to the ladies holding down the fort back Stateside, and keep the good stuff coming.