On The Eve [Shop Free September Update]....by pemora

On the eve of the finale of my Shop Free September initiative, I feel very very excited.  Before I tell you all the things that I really want to buy (yes, I know that defeats the purpose), I wanted to take a moment to be a little reflective.  Because, well, wasn't that the point of all of this?

1. It is very hard to keep my promise.  I totally cheated.  Twice.  The 1st time was on FNO, when I stood on a very long line, for a very long time, with very high wedges on a cobblestone road all to see Rachel Zoe.  ADJ from Green Eggs and Glam was with me and when we decided to hop off of the line (because some skanky model-looking chicks cut about 2/3 of the folks in the line and I was quite hungry and it was obvious that Ms. Zoe was not going to see us) I realized that I could no longer feel my toes.  At all.  And suddenly my awesome red rose jacket was being molested by fabulous gay boys and I had to take very deep breaths to even take 1 step.  I am not even sure how we ended up in the JCrew, but once I saw some flat shoes, I was sold.  So, yes, I bought them.  I'm sorry.

The 2nd time was when I ordered a crapload of clothes for my son from the Gap and saw that there was a cute sparkly bracelet in my shopping cart and did nothing to remove it.  I just pressed 'order' and called it a night.  I have no excuse for that one.

2. I shop because I am bored/jealous/anxious/happy.  Give me an emotion and I'll give you a reason to shop.

3. I miss receiving packages in the mail.  Actually, I used to miss it.  I don't really miss it anymore.

4. I buy a lot of crappy, trendy, poorly-made items.  When I started "shopping from my closet", I realized that the pieces I love the most are all of my thrifted items and my more "luxury" pieces (JCrew, people. So not luxury, but luxury to me).  I need to not buy little things on a daily basis and save my pennies for nicer items.

5. I am a pretty boring person when I am not shopping.  As I realized during my sister's twitter campaign, I have very little to say when I am not buying things.  When did this become an integral part of my persona?  Why did I let shopping define me?  I used to read books and take walks....ok, I never took walks, but I used to read.  A lot.  I have totally let shopping take up huge chunks of time, that I should rededicate to the things I love.

That being said, I want to buy the following things.  Don't hate me, I am a work in progress.

American Apparel

Spotted Moth

shopbop

RIP 2pac....by pemora

Today marks the 14th anniversary of the death of Tupac Shakur.

I must admit that Tupac's death did not hit me as hard as Biggie's.  Maybe in part because I was totally into the whole East Coast/West Coast shenanigans and felt that I just HAD to like Biggie.  The other part was that the one-two punches of their deaths left Biggie's feeling much more serious and scary.  And, I think, the last reason is that I, like many people, kinda believed that Tupac was alive + kicking it in Cuba (have you heard that theory?).

It wasn't until very recently that I truly realized what a loss 2Pac's death has meant to the hip hop community.  I  was reading some of his lyrics and had to pause because he was saying some ish that was deep on so many levels.  And stuff that feels oh so relevant, even after over a decade of time had passed.

But I think what truly gets me about Tupac is that I could have this revelation about how deep + profound he was, and yet, my favorite song of all-time is "I Get Around".  Yes, the feminist in me is slowly dying, but I bet she is doing a damn good booty jiggle.  I love this song.  Don't hate me.



PS: Shop Free September has been hard.  Today was pretty darn stressful + I came home, excited to purchase something pretty + wonderful.  Alas, nada.  So I poured myself a glass (ahemredplasticcupahem) of wine and called it a night.

RIP Fat Beats....by pemora

Even though I am not a DJ (but I do know some pretty cool ones: check here and here), I have always had a love for vinyl records.  There is something exciting, precise, and energetic when holding an LP.  In fact, my best friend gave me my favorite birthday gift to date when she took one of my poems and wrote it out on BIG's 'Juicy' LP.  How awesome is that?

This is why I was particularly saddened to hear that Fat Beats would be closing its doors and focusing on its online store.  Even though all of my music is purchased through iTunes (or given to me by jayare + DJ Shakez), the idea of a place like Fat Beats was comforting.  It always felt like this cool nugget in NYC, a place where hip hop heads could gather and discover new sounds/groups/individuals.  In my mind, there was a hip hop mafia that would meet in a secret back room of Fat Beats, that was only accessible when pulling on Grand Master Flash's 'The Message'.  I have a vivid imagination.

I was happy to get to visit the NYC store a week before it closed.  I hope you enjoy the photo tour.

Throwback Thursday....You Can't See What I Can See

Sometimes you just wake up the morning with a song in your head and you have to play it on repeat.  53 times.  That is what happened today.  No rhyme or reason to wanting to hear this song, just did.  *shrug*

Although, I must admit to always having a super duper secret crush on Heavy D.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World [review]...by IMTHATDUDE

Scott Pilgrim vs the World
by IMTHATDUDE

This one goes out to MissDTM -

Dopeness... almost. Scott Pilgrim vs the World (SPvW) was real close to being just plain dopey, but made me laugh enough to take it out of the realm of kitsch. SPvW was wholly imaginative and original; it’s no wonder my artsy (sorry, I know a lot of you don’t like that term, but I think people would be confused if I called you all the “A-word”) friends loved this film so much with Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shuan of the Dead) at the helm. Wright also co-writes SPvW with Michael Bacall (Bookies) based on the work of Bryan Lee O’Malley.

The title character is played by Michael Cera (Superbad, Juno), but at this point one wonders whether he is actually acting… food for thought (don’t think too long…okay, you should be done by now… quit it!). Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Live Free or Die Hard, Death Proof) plays Ramona Flowers, Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) is Stacey Pilgrim, Ellen Wong is Knives Chau, Aubrey Plaza (Parks & Recreations, Funny People) is Julie Powers, Jason Schwartzman (who I think is kind of hilarious despite the fact that he owes me $12 plus interest for having to sit through the Darjeeling Limited) is Gideon Graves, and Kieran Culkin (McCauley’s brother, but I defy you to tell me the difference) is Wallace Wells. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) also makes an appearance in this flick as the Todd the Vegan.

IF YOU MUST KNOW:

The story is simple. Scott (Cera), a 20 something nerdy jobless guitar player, is dating Knives (Wong) a uniform wearing high-schooler - it’s totally cool though because they haven’t done anything yet, so he’s totally not a perv. He’s just – ummm – what’s the word… “PREvert” (you know, a burgeoning pervert). Basically he’s somewhere between this…



and this…



Anyway, Scott has recently had his heart broken by his previous girlfriend and clearly has some serious emotional baggage as he has to deal with the fact that his ex has now obtained some pop-star Avril Levigne type success and is about as ubiquitous as a Lady Gaga joint. Anyway, Scott stumbles his corny ass upon the mysterious Ramona Flowers (Winstead) who comes with a little baggage of her own. Well, she kinda comes with a set of baggage. A slew of Ramona’s exes have banded together and in order for Scott to date Ramona, he must defeat her seven evil exes in battle.

I know, I know. This aint Atonement – be grateful. SPvW takes on a videogame-esque feel as Scott faces the evil exes and battles them for the right to date Ramona. I can’t tell you too much more than that except this was wildly imaginative and surprisingly funny. Even the fake thugs in the theater were cracking up, but you also have to pay attention. Wright (that’s the director, stay with me people, we’re almost there) finds a way to make this movie utterly entertaining without making it totally annoying. That is a major-MAJOR accomplishment given how gimmicky it is. SPvW gives you guitar solos AND kung-fu fights straight out of the old school gamers’ archives along with Batman type special effects (60’s TV Show Batman, not “Why so serious?” Heath Ledger/Christian Bale Batman). How many movies can you say give you guitars, jokes, kung fu, and video games and even a little Bollywood? Yeah, I said it. There’s a little bit of Bollywood thrown in the flick, just for good measure. ASIDE: That was one diverse and progressive a$$ Canadian town.

So… funniest stuff to look out for are the little popup information bubbles, almost anything Kieran Culkin did (that sleep texting thing is pure comedy), and the battle between Scott and the Todd the Vegan. “Chicken Parm’s not vegan?” Young and old people (by old I mean north of 35… What? I kid), knuckleheads and chuckleheads alike all found the movie funny. I think you will too – but I think it falls in the category of movies that once I’ve seen it, I don’t need to watch it again for a really really long time.

That Dude gives SPvW: 3.5 (although I’d like to add another ½ for that chicken parm line)

RATING SYSTEM:

1. They make crap this pure?
2. Couldn’t be more under-whelmed.
3. Not too shabby, I won’t ask for my money back.
4. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good./Worth the 12 bucks.
5. Why are you reading this and not seeing this movie? Jackass.

Throwback Thursday.....Cool Like That

I just finished watching a documentary on BET entitled 'My Mic Sounds Nice: The Truth About Women and Hip Hop'.  I might write more about my thoughts/feelings about the documentary, but what I have really been thinking about is how beautiful Ladybug Mecca is.  I know she was a bit of a crackhead for a minute, but I think she is truly stunning now.  And I distinctly remember wanting to be her (right down to being in a jazz/hip hop group with 2 other dudes) when I was in high school.