I really like the cohesiveness of these images.  Kind of like they were each dipped into a vat of something.



... the first into a vat of dark polka dots, the second into a vat of dreamy romanticism, and the third into a vat of glitter and patches.  Hehe.  I want to be dipped into a vat of happy awesomeness.  ; )

scout

I was waiting to post these pictures until I came across some interesting quote; oh ACTUALLY I was hoping to watch the documentary on the author one more time to take down some nice things that were said, but I haven't gotten around to it. So here are the pictures -

 Truman Capote as a child - real life inspiration for 'Dill'

 those drawings are beautiful.  Especially if you look closely at the facial expressions.  

 casting call for the role of Scout

 Don't know what this photo above was doing in the documentary ... I feel like I've seen it before elsewhere? 

I really like her zig zagged, unintentionally I'm sure, bangs.

Clinton Street

postcard from Patti Smith to Robert Mapplethorpe




Another Lovely Thing :
Haruki Murakami on seeing the 100% perfect girl one April morning 

A note from Oscar Wilde

This cheered me up ...  

 

 

Oscar Wilde’s letter to an Oxford student on the uselessness of art:

My dear Sir 

Art is useless because its aim is simply to create a mood. It is not meant to instruct, or to influence action in any way. It is superbly sterile, and the note of its pleasure is sterility. If the contemplation of a work of art is followed by activity of any kind, the work is either of a very second-rate order, or the spectator has failed to realise the complete artistic impression. 

A work of art is useless as a flower is useless. A flower blossoms for its own joy. We gain a moment of joy by looking at it. That is all that is to be said about our relations to flowers. Of course man may sell the flower, and so make it useful to him, but this has nothing to do with the flower. It is not part of its essence. It is accidental. It is a misuse. All this is I fear very obscure. But the subject is a long one.

Truly yours,
Oscar Wilde

[VIA]

outfit details:

Oxford button up shirt - Uniqlo

pants - Uniqlo

headband & neck thing - diy with pompoms, feathers, and a bath puff.

I'm not sure what he means when he says that art is sterile.  Or when he says that something is off if it makes you want to take any kind of action...?!  But I do like the overall gist of it and the 2nd paragraph.   It's something to remember.  A flower is pretty cliche and redundant but you never really get tired of looking at one, even if it's the most commonest of all flowers.  Even if your brain doesn't realize it, the eyes are still happy to see it.  Maybe there's an exception to this.  I'll have to pay attention to when and if the sight of a flower ever annoys me haha.

Old Lolita covers

 Late 80s - 1989 : New York

 80s - 1986 : Paris

 Late 60s - 1966 : New York

 60s - 1961: Athens

 50s - 1957 : Stockholm

(found)

Click through the link above to see the complete collection - "185 book and media covers from 37 countries and 56 years"!  The ones I've posted above were my favorites and match my own style aesthetic in terms of how Lolita is portrayed as a person/character.  I DESPISE the covers that portray her as some sort of loose excuse for literary people porn.  Not that porn is bad, but it's just so shallow of an interpretation, and inappropriate for a complex story to just slap some pretty girl in some state of nudity on the front cover.  Like the cover that just has a naked woman on it, or the ones where she is supposed to be the embodiment for some universal concept of lust or desire which doesn't exist and if it does, the cover artist did not capture it.   Basically, it's probably best to not try to give her a face.  It's fun to do that though!  Everyone who loves the story will want to make her look the way they like.  But...that ruins it a little bit for someone, somewhere down the road.

Well the five here did not ruin it for me.  They are so quaint and historical and sometimes cultural!  I especially like the one from Athens and the one from Stockholm.  The Athens one addresses an important part of the story that most of the other covers don't focus on.  They focus more on her youth, innocence, attractiveness/seductiveness, yet a key part of the story was this natural sense of control she had over Humbert ^2.  It wasn't even like she was trying to control him; just who she was and who he was; he felt completely helpless in her presence.  And the illustration from the 60s is so funny because it is sooooo typical to portray a girl looking like that.  Ex: these old diaries from around the same time  -

Full Stockholm Cover: Love the fonts and their colors!

Yesterday's failed smoothie is today's hair treatment

xo

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 outfit details:

Shoes, borrowed from sister: Eric Michael

Tights: Uniqlo

Dress: Thrifted, Topshop

 My favorite thing about the dress besides the classic shape is the deconstructed looking zipper in the back.  I recently sewed the shoulder straps in by about a inch because it was hanging too low and loose on me.  (The dress has been hanging in my closet for ... a year?!  And has been worn ... twice?!)  That's the trouble with thrifting a dress.  The style might be amazing but it just might be a size off from what you normally wear.   Plus, it is worth mentioning that I usually have an aversion to animal printed garments.  It's really not my style.  This dress makes it work though.  Maybe due to the subdued color combined with the aforementioned classic shape (reminds me of the dresses shirley temple would wear in her movies).

 close up of hair and eye makeup.

I really like how my hair gets curly-ish when it's wet.  You would not believe how hard it is though!  Haha, the avocado smoothie dries to a cement-like consistency!  It feels like my hair is going to break off if I bend it.  Scary.  Here is my typical eye makeup combo: a line of black followed by a line of white (sometimes I'll use silver).  It makes me feel wise yet youthful at the same time.  I don't know if my mental state echoes the makeup though!   

close up of lip makeup.

I love painting on a tiny mouth!  It's so funny looking and weird.

Oh yes, so about the avocado smoothie aka happy accident hair treatment.  It is a filipino drink that a friend introduced to me a few years back.  It involves combining avocado, milk, and sugar.  Sounds good right?  We made it yesterday, substituting with soy milk and honey, and it tasted none too great.  =(  So, since my hair has always tended to be dry, and knowing avocado is good for it, I tried it this morning as a leave-in conditioner type thing.  I can't wait to see how it is after I shower.  It took a surprisingly small amount to fully saturate my hair, so I think I have enough for ... maybe 4 more uses?  If it works well I can kiss Lush's avocado leave in conditioner goodbye.  That thing costs like 20 bucks for a small jar!  A single avocado is only a dollar!  I have high hopes for this smoothie treatment because after rinsing the residue off my hands, the skin still had a slightly oily feel to them.  A good sign!  

Illustrations of butterflies by Vladimir Nabokov

My favorite one has got to be the first one.  Geometric shapes are so trendy right now.   I learned that Nabokov's hobby was the study of butterflies.  He proposed a theory about their evolution that everyone thought was ridiculous but which somebody recently proved to be true.  I love it when things like that happen - you intuitively make an educated guess about something but 'technology' isn't advanced enough to prove it until ... decades later!  He also wrote a poem about how the only thing he wants to accomplish in life is to discover and name a new type of butterfly.  Also, when his dad was imprisoned during the war, he went to visit him and brought him a butterfly - he was eight years old at the time.  His dad was the one who introduced him to the 'hobby'.  I don't know if it is appropriate to call it a hobby ~  he seems to have been quite good at it and really serious about it.   He is such an perspicacious person.  Everything about him exudes sensitivity and understanding and amazingness.  I spent all of Saturday drawing butterflies because I felt envious/admiring of his tenacity.  I am currently going through a phase of renewed appreciation for him, Herman Hesse, and Haruki Murakami.  If there were no time, distance, or language barrier, those three could have been best friends.  


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