Comme des Garcons

I'll go easy today and post some pretty stuff, with some ear candy.

It'll give you a beautiful mind vacation while you work/relax this Saturday afternoon.

First, a song:

Sebastien Tellier - Roche (MiM0SA remix)

The theme today is sexy androgynous clothing 

Impeccable tailoring, soft and rich fabrics, casual country-escape wear...

Stuff you'd like to have on a weekend away, or a weekend wandering Parisian streets...

And then lovely tuxes, crisp dress shirts, 

and slim suits that if worn correctly could make any girl weak in the knees regardless of your sex...

These Julbo sunglasses are so interesting. 

They're kind of Sky Captain and Sporty Play Boy mixed into one.

 

I saw these shoes in a shop in Switzerland. I have no idea who they are made by, but they're beautiful. 

I want them for myself!

This leather travel bag is from Forzieri. 

Isn't it sweet? And there is a duffel bag, and a toiletry case (which is SO nice)...

I really love old maps, and anything that has an old world feel has a certain appeal for me.

 But then again, I'd probably end up buying this one, because it's classic and more versatile.

It's the Pineider 1774 ebony Rugato calfskin Boston bag.

Alexis Mabille had some incredible bow ties a few years back.

I think this outfit kicks ass. Look at all the detail!

I guess it helps that the jacket is my favorite colour, and white and light blue never go wrong for me. 

Notice the bow made of roses in her hair?

Bye for now! Happy Weekend!!

Reading is good for Braining

Good afternoon blog people! Get ready for a nerdy read:

I've picked up a second book.

I'm presently reading "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens as chosen by The Book Club

but it's a super busy time and 

I don't want to go too far into it without the accompaniment from the other Book Club member

So

I'm also reading "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie, which is something I've always wanted to read.

The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Muhammad.  The title refers to the so-called "satanic verses", a group of alleged Qur'anic verses that allow intercessory prayers to be made to three Pagan Meccan goddesses: Allāt, Uzza, and Manāt.

{image of Allāt, Uzza, and Manāt}

This is all really interesting to me since I like mythology and symbolism, so I'll cut all of this part short and avoid digressing to other topics.

In the United Kingdom, the book received positive reviews. However, it sparked a major controversy when Muslims accused it of blasphemy and mocking their faith, and lead to Rushdie being sentenced to death by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei.

{source: Wikipedia}

 When I read a novel I make a list of the words that are unknown to me so I can look them up later.

If I cannot actually DEFINE a word I will still look it up.

One of the words that I found in The Satanic Verses was "Gazal":

"Gibreel, the tuneless soloist, had been cavorting in moonlight as he sang his impromptu gazal..."

I looked it up. The spelling is GHAZAL and it is a kind of oriental lyric or poetry, usually about love, the loss of love, or of an erotic nature, written in recurring rhymes.  

The form is ancient, originating in 6th century Arabic verse.

So then I wanted to know what a Ghazal sounded like. 

Of course, Wikipedia is my friend so here is one for you to enjoy. 

This Ghazal, written in English, observes the traditional restrictions of the form:

Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell tonight?
Whom else from rapture’s road will you expel tonight?

Those “Fabrics of Cashmere--“ ”to make Me beautiful--“
“Trinket”-- to gem– “Me to adorn– How– tell”-- tonight?

I beg for haven: Prisons, let open your gates–
A refugee from Belief seeks a cell tonight.

God’s vintage loneliness has turned to vinegar–
All the archangels– their wings frozen– fell tonight.

Lord, cried out the idols, Don’t let us be broken
Only we can convert the infidel tonight.

Mughal ceilings, let your mirrored convexities
multiply me at once under your spell tonight.

He’s freed some fire from ice in pity for Heaven.
He’s left open– for God– the doors of Hell tonight.

In the heart’s veined temple, all statues have been smashed
No priest in saffron’s left to toll its knell tonight

God, limit these punishments, there’s still Judgment Day–
I’m a mere sinner, I’m no infidel tonight.

Executioners near the woman at the window.
Damn you, Elijah, I’ll bless Jezebel tonight.

The hunt is over, and I hear the Call to Prayer
fade into that of the wounded gazelle tonight.

My rivals for your love– you’ve invited them all?
This is mere insult, this is no farewell tonight.

And I, Shahid, only am escaped to tell thee–
God sobs in my arms. Call me Ishmael tonight. 

-Agha Shahid Ali-

The sun sun dance

I had a couple of requests for some background stories from my photo shoot pictures.

On our first day of shooting in the Dominican we were taking pics with the sun directly behind me. It gave a really nice halo and glow in all of the other shots, but in some, like this one, it's rays went directly into the lens of the camera, giving it this really lovely glowy effect. 

It wasn't intentional and I guess it's kind of blinding, but I thought it looked pretty cool!

{photo by Vasko Photography}

YUM!! French Fries!!

Meddle not in the affairs of the dragon; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Thoughts from the Nebula

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Kahlil Gibran

Sweets for my Sweet

I really love baking things, and I like rainbows!

Therefore I liked my friend Aret's blog post about his attempt at baking a

Rainbow Sprinkle cake a Party Rainbow Chip cake 

but everything went wrong!

To read the whole entry, click HERE!

And to see my PREVIOUS post about PIE BAKING click HERE!!

Those pies were SO delicious!!

yum!

"Today's blog post shall be about food!" 

proclaimed Andy at 10:30 a.m.

Below is a photo of my plum cake. Half is gone already because it was yummy.

It's best to use Italian Free-Stone Plums because they are smaller and the flavor is more concentrated. 

My Oma has a plum tree in her back yard that makes the BEST plums ever and they're only ready in September...

And here are the Rice Crispies that my friend Barb made for my Kindergarten themed birthday party. She decorated them with marshmallow and Fruit Roll-up ghosts.  

When I was in New York (and blonde, so you know it was a while ago) I had these super cupcakes from Baked By Melissa

And I am SO lucky because my friend Dayna is ALSO a baker and has HER own bakery

called Bite Me Bakery and it is HERE in TORONTO! WHOO HOO!

That's it for now! I hope I've made you all very hungry!

It's a gloomy day in Pizzaville...

I sit here working.
I've been sitting for a long time,
so long that I've sunk into my chair, and become one with it, as if my body has slowly grown roots into it's fabric.
s-i-g-h

What do we like to do when we feel unenergetic and couch-potato-ey?
Watch cool stuff online! YAY!
So here, my culturally curious friends, is a film called

"Sita Sings The Blues"

It is a story about Sita from the ancient Sanskrit book, The Ramayana. 

Read about Sita and The Ramayana by clicking on the links.

(i love wikipedia)

The creator, Nina Paley, has very interesting ideas about the
distribution, copyright, sharing, archiving, and showing of her animated film

Here's the link to her website to read more!

And here are some beautiful pics that have been in my computer for a while.
I added in some other fabulously ornate religious imagery as well.

HAPPY TUESDAY!

McParrot News

I'm getting a lot of e-mail and friend requests on Facebook and all sorts of traffic directed from my blog and my website.

It's kinda cool! 
And I'd like thank everyone for their letters and kind words,
for their friend requests, comments, and follows on the blog!

My stats indicate a CRAZY amount of hits per day.

If you would like to join my Facebook fanpage click the link over there to your left! 
**please note, I don't accept friend requests to my personal profile**

Now I have to get familiar with it. How does a fan page work?

Updates later, and in the meantime, I hope everyone is having a kick-ass day!

OMG! Shark Attack!!

Sunday Night Musings

As I sit here pondering life 

with my Cookies and Cream Haagen Dasz, and my mug of red wine, 

I wonder why there is such a lack of cookie to the cream...

Hmm...

Tonight I'm going to post tons of fun fashion pics...

but of what?

hats?

gowns?

lingerie?

 Maybe I'll go with a 1950's theme, as this has been the topic of discussion lately, 

and since i have SO much of it in my files... 

Women looked like presents back them. At least they seem that way.

Maybe I can scrounge up some old pics of myself from 2005 or so when I used to dress like a pin-up.

I'll start off with this one, because it's awesome. Imagine wearing this in the summer to a picnic?

In Sex and The City the character of Charlotte always looked so proper and put together.

The following outfit is subtly sexy (my favorite type of "sexy"). 

The dress is there, but not there. Almost falling off her, kind of disheveled... 

And I can imagine the way the fabric moves when she walks, very flowy and soft...

I have SO much of this lovely vintage lingerie at home. My next shoot should be total 1950's boudoir.

And speaking of lingerie, I might as well post this one. 

I dare you to tell me that the translucent trench coat is NOT unbelievably stunning. 

Seriously! If you saw some gorgeous woman wearing that would you not lose all sense of space and time?

Onwards.

Vintage bathingsuits are essential to happiness. I have several of these too. 

So many photo shoot ideas.

Well, I could just keep going, but it's time for a Wii break... And time for another mug of red wine. 

(and I have no old pin-up pics from 2005, I'll have to wait until I am home and can post them up).

Happy rest-of-the-Sunday people!!

Sparkly Afternoon

My afternoon shoot with Kris Josef.

I know a lot of people in Facebook Land have seen these, 

but all the people in everyday internet land have not. 

So, here they are!

Make-up, hair, styling by ME!!

And because I always love to post a song with my pics, here's an awesome sexy track. 

Stellamara - Prituri Se Planinata (NiT GriT Remix)

I'm off to a meeting! Later alligators!

Captain Underpants

I love fun underwear.

 Undies from www.superherostuff.com

To all the people looking at this and saying 

"Those are MEN'S underwear!"

the reply is a slow and patronizing

"Yes. Yes, they are"

You see, men can go out and get cool underwear with superheroes on them. LUCKY!

And look what else they have!

 

A SPIDERMAN SNUGGIE!! Whaaaaaat?!?!?!

Could you imagine going grocery shopping in that thing? Haha!

(the photo of me was by Rob Dutchin)