Saturday, August 21, 2010

NORTHERN SOUL


first off i would just like to say that i looooove roisin murphy's voice. it pretty much ranks up there alongside beth gibbons of portishead and billie holiday. then again she is a huge northern soul fan, as testified by her busting some crazy dance moves on this video. i reckon she probably grew up listening to motown which explains where she got that smooth, buttery, soulful voice of hers. anyways, i want to go to a northern soul party and learn how to do twirls, high-kicks, splits, one hand dips and sweat twenty pounds away. minus those extra-wide leg raver pants of course. unless i'm getting down with tom hughes on the dance floor. then i really wouldn't give a fuck what i was wearing cause i'm probably gonna end up tearing it all off anyways.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

THE ART OF THE STEAL








i was in tenth grade when i first developed my sincere love affair with art. i have my art teacher ms. root to thank for that. she wasn't just my teacher, she was a dear friend.
when i was little i was always drawing, and making things with whatever i could find. never really thought about art since i was just a kid living in manila and manila isn't really a cultural arts center of the world. but i was always amazed by painted pictures. i didn't really connect anything important with it, i just knew i liked it. that all changed when i was sixteen living in toronto and i saw the barnes collection at the AGO.
dr. albert barnes was notorious for shielding his collection from the rapidly growing art market. he didn't believe art was a commodity or an investment to be considered for its profitability in the future. its real value was never how much it was worth, but how much it means. as a result he built his own foundation which housed some of the most important works of early modern art and started a school to teach students the real value of art.
according to his will, his collection was never to leave its home in merion, about four miles away from philadelphia. the collection should also never be reproduced for he believed that it stole the integrity of the work and that the barnes foundation was first and foremost a school and not a museum. not a tourist attraction.
dr. barnes passed away in 1951, and over the years his beloved building which housed his collection fell into disrepair. lacking the money to fund the much needed renovation, the trustees made the controversial choice to tour the collection around the world and allow the works to be printed to add more revenue to feed the work in the building.
toronto was one of the only six cities where the tour was to stop. so obviously my much beloved eccentric art teacher was all a buzz with excitement. for a good month all we did was study the collection. it was during those lessons that i got to know renoir, monet, matisse, soutine, and modigliani among countless others. i understood how these pictures, pretty by today's standards, were so revolting back then. how the courage and talents of all these artists changed art and inadvertently, changed how we see everything else.
when the day finally arrived for our day long field trip we waited with the thousands of others in line. you were only allowed an hour to view the collection, and with so much to look at, we were all planning our course of action. that however was a failed attempt. the minute we walked in we were greeted by renoir's la-sortie du conservatoire and to see something you've been studying in books for a month in person, it literally stops you in your tracks. i can still remember going from one room to the next. the first time i stared at gauguin's monsieur lou lou. i just stood there, wondering what ever happened to that little boy. and at the very end to see matisse's joy of life, not to sound corny, i kinda had to hold the tears back.
i grew up a lot that day. my eyes were never the same again. till now, i compare every exhibit i go to with that day. i look for the same feelings, i look for the same sense of awe. i look for my younger self. the one un-tinted by the biases that comes with age.
a few weeks ago i watched this documentary called "the art of the steal". its about the barnes foundation. in the winter of 2011, against the wishes and will of dr. barnes, the entire collection (which has been recently valued at a staggering 23 billion dollars) is to be ripped off its home in merion and moved to a new museum in the heart of philadephia under the premise that with the new gallery the collection will be admired by millions more people (and obviously bring revenue and attention to the city that ridiculed dr. barnes and his collection when he was alive). unfortunately, for ninety percent of those people who will walk through the doors of the new museum, it will just be another destination to check off their tourist map. they'll never feel the way my sixteen year self old felt.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

DIETER RAMS





there are times when i wake up and the first thing i think about is COFFEE! not because i'm hung over (although the need for coffee exponentially increases after a heavy night of debauchery), but i do enjoy the ritual of coffee and cigarettes in the morning while i peruse the paper.
i have been thinking of investing in a coffee maker for quite some time now, but after repeated attempts to find the perfect one, all i ever find are all these hi-tech monstrosities. do they really need all those glowing LED lights and six million buttons? why complicate your already complicated life with unnecessary functions on everyday household electronics? designers need to take a lesson from dieter rams and realize that simplicity in design equals efficiency. which is why some of his creations which are forty years old have stood the test of time and have even found a place in the permanent collection of MOMA. MOMA people! they have picassos and pollocks there!
the coffee maker with the black handle in the first image is up for sale on e-bay for a mere forty dollars on a buy now option. i'm going to have a coffee party when it arrives. i'll probably also spoon it for the first couple of nights and obviously be bouncing off the walls.

Monday, August 9, 2010

7 DAYS A WEEK


looking at the mtwtfss weekday lookbook is seriously like looking at my closet. which makes me extremely happy because it vindicates my wardrobe which i've been having a hard time dealing with as of late. since being unemployed, it meant things like fashion, which includes magazines (sad face), had to take a back seat to more important things such as rent, food, cigarettes, and booze. the last time i went shopping was in the philippines. and that was six bloody months ago! i just cant wait to get a proper job so i can go on a fashion bender and have wallet hangover. but anyways, this lookbook is making this heat even more unbearable. i want to wear something else other than a tank top and cut off denim shorts. i've never missed my jeans and doc martens so much my entire life. i'm actually looking forward to wearing something with a sleeve!

p.s. if i had a vagina, i would totally dress like the girl.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

CHARMED


i am so ridiculously endeared with this collection. after so many seasons where menswear have been defined by quite an aggressive aesthetic, it was so refreshing to see something somewhat naive, non-confrontational, and to put it rather bluntly, soooo fucking cute! this collection to me is like a french bulldog puppy. i just want to hug the shit out of it.




photo: style.com