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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Fashion Diary: Technology meets Fashion Week

Gossip, first impressions, trends in the making, celebrities and style setters.

This is shaping up to be the season when the runway comes to you.

Hundreds of designers will present their fall collections during the monthlong runway circuit that kicked off Wednesday in New York and ends in mid-March in Paris with a stop in Milan along the way. And although the runway shows used to be exclusive events -- closed to all but select editors, store buyers and stylists -- fashion houses increasingly are extending the reach of their blockbuster productions by using the Internet.

For several seasons now, fashion show attendees have been taking their own amateur video and photos and posting them online using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. So it was only a matter of time before designers got on the bandwagon. Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and Dolce & Gabbana are among those who have experimented with bringing their runway shows to the digital space.

New York Fashion Week: BCBG Max Azria, Cynthia Rowley explore the urban jungle

The urban tribal aesthetic we saw last season at Proenza Schouler and Balenciaga is starting to turn up in the fall collections in New York this week.

First, it was at BCBG Max Azria on Thursday morning, where neutral-colored, draped silk dresses in geometric cuts were shot through with blocks of vibrant blue and yellow.

And it continued at Cynthia Rowley, where models had bright color woven into their hair and the band Preacher and the Knife struck a tribal beat.


New York Fashion Week: Could Ohne Titel be the next Donna Karan

The most exciting thing I saw on the runway Saturday was the Ohne Titel collection. Bringing a new kind of cool to draped silk, velvet and washed leather separates by working them with athletic mesh and knit, designers Flora Gill and Alexa Adams challenged the boring vernacular of office suiting.

Could we be looking at the next Donna Karan?

The designers, who met at Parsons School of Design and have stints at Helmut Lang and Karl Lagerfeld between them, launched their line in 2011, and they have been on an upward trajectory ever since, garnering nominations and awards from the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation and the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

For fall, they worked in a palette of black, moss green, sand and pewter to create a number of separates that could find a place in any woman's wardrobe -- lean, asymmetrically cut soft leather and ribbed knit jackets, cropped shearlings, combo leather and knit leggings. Their version of the suit was a moss-colored silk blazer worn with silk pants that were slouchy up top, spiraling into ribbed knit at the bottom of the legs.

Although they cited the 19th century as inspiration, there was nothing retro about a techno collage, multicolored mesh dress, a sand leather and silk cowl neck top or a silk drawstring skirt with black leather front pouch pocket that brought motocross to mind.

After all, these are clothes for women on the move. And let's hope this is the collection that brings this label to a wider audience. In Los Angeles, Ohne Titel (German for "untitled") is stocked at Zainab and Satine.

New York Fashion Week: Rising star Prabal Gurung needs to stay grounded

For some reason this season, Prabal Gurung was anointed the new kid to watch. When he staged his first runway show in the Tents on Saturday, everyone was there -- department store buyers, magazine editors, even a celeb or two.

Why? Who knows. Oprah's a fan, the designer has a quirky name (pronounced Praa-ball) and a cute face, he grew up in Katmandu, started his career in India, and was design director at Bill Blass for five years.

Sculpted coats and skirts in camel, black and white wool cashmere with curvilinear seams had a Blass feel to them, but a bit too much bulk, and the floating panels, peplums and double layers weren't incorporated well enough into the designs.

One-shouldered silk gazar dresses, distinguished by sculptural ruffles, didn't feel that special either.

The best look -- a motocross-inspired minidress that was a patchwork of metallic oxidized lace and wool faille. Too bad he didn't stay focused on that technique a little longer.

Interview with Author Ayun Halliday!

Today I am very pleased to introduce you to author, zinester, and all-around creative genius, Ayun Halliday. Ayun is the Chief Primatologist of the East Village Inky zine and the author of four self mocking memoirs: The Big Rumpus, Job Hopper, Dirty Sugar Cookies, and No Touch Monkey! And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late. She is also the non-illustration half of the picture book Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo, and the forthcoming graphic novel Peanut. The latest addition to her increasingly eclectic oeuvre is The Zinester’s Guide to NYC. She lives in Brooklyn with her children, India and Milo and their dad, the playwright Greg Kotis, of Broadway’s Urinetown fame (the only Broadway show I ever saw and I saw it twice!). I have been a subscriber to her zine for years now and I suggest you become one too!

Welcome Ayun! I’m so happy that you are launching your blog tour for your new book with Mira’s List! It’s been great to follow your career over these last few years. My first memory of you was actually in the mid or late 1980s, seeing you perform with your husband, Greg Kotis at Chicago’s Neofutarium in Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes with the Neo-Futurists. I loved that show and was a regular. Since then, you have moved to New York, written several books for both children and adults and have a successful on-going zine called The East Village Inky. Can you tell us what motivated you to move from acting and improv work to writing? Does it have to do with you becoming a mom? Would you mind telling us a little about this trajectory?

You pretty much nailed it right there. If I’d been acting on Broadway, I’d have had greater motivation and resources to hire a babysitter. Low budget theater takes a lot of time and energy, and adding baby care logistics was way more than of a headache than I could handle. Too Much Light was an integral part of my identity, but there was no way Greg and I could’ve continued as we had been when there was an exclusively breastfed baby at home in a 340 square foot apartment that cost double what we’d been paying in Chicago. We had three cohorts at the time, and none of them were into resurrecting the show in September, when our summer break would’ve been over. So, I was never in a position of having to make the decision of whether or not the show would proceed without me.

Even so, shortly before India’s first birthday, I had myself a nice bit of existential meltdown. We had traveled to Glasgow for the wedding of fellow Neo-Futurist Karen Christopher, and, in order to claim our travels as a business expense, we signed up to participate in a performance workshop she was teaching at the Center for Contemporary Art. I was really excited to be back in a creative community, making art, making new friends... The plan was for me to have India on my lap, and then Greg would hold her when it was my turn to perform. Twenty four hours in, with her squawking, and throwing her bumblebee rattle to the ground at every opportunity, it became apparent that this was not a workable idea. It was, in fact, a poorly thought out imposition on the other participants. I dropped out. Greg continued.

The other participants were really nice, but never got to know me, and kept talking about what a good wife I was, so sweet, showing up at lunchtime with the baby...this diminished identity did a real number on me. I needed to find a creative project that could take shape within the parameters of taking care of a one-year-old, and reach an audience of strangers, as Too Much Light had. That’s what led to the creation of the East Village Inky. I started work on it immediately upon our return from Glasgow, and it’s still going twelve years later.

The switch to writing wasn’t really a switch, as much as a turning away from other activities that had shared the stage prior to my becoming a mother. It’s a common misconception that the Neo-Futurists do improv, but in fact almost all of the short plays in Too Much Light are scripted. Maybe not ‘carefully’ scripted. A lot of them get written on the bus on the way to rehearsal. Years of cranking out short plays on a weekly basis primed me for banging out a zine while the baby napped, whenever and wherever that blessed event occured.

I thought a lot of your career path the past few years had to do with struggling to be a mom AND an artist, something many of my readers deal with too. Anyway, one of my favorite books by you is Job Hopper. I hear a lot of whining sometimes from young people I know about how annoyed they are that they have to take some stupid job in order to support their art. Well...I guess I hear it from geezers like me too! I always just say, “Suck it up—you should read Ayun Halliday’s Job Hopper!” I too had a million jobs—I've done everything from cleaning toilets for evangelical right-wing Christian families to working at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo in an office, surrounded by potty mouth parrots. For fun, can you make a really fast list from the top of your head of some of the jobs you had to take in order to support your addiction to making art?

Sorry - there’s no top of my head left after mining that raw material for the book, even if a lot of jobs from that period are but glancingly mentioned in its pages (to be fair some of them only lasted a day). Instead, I will make a list of the jobs I wish I had had:
Pediatric echocardiogram technician
Museum educator
Massage therapist
First ammendment street vendor
Korean bathhouse attendant (ladies only)
Bike mechanic
Bookstore clerk
Comic book store clerk
If only etsy had existed back in the day, I would go back in time, do anything to get myself hired on there - what a cool place to work!

Ayun, I hate to tell you but I’d had two of your dream jobs! Museum educator and bookstore clerk. I think my dream job would be an ice dancer who could sing opera. Maybe in my next life.... So I always think of you as one of the best grassroots guerrilla marketers around when it comes to getting your work out there. Would you mind telling my readers a few things you do to spread the word about your books and artistic projects?

Wear myself down to a frazzle, you mean? Eschew housework? Spend so much time on the internet that I get tennis elbow? I try to stay mindful of the fact that anyone who is helping me publicize my books or zines is doing me a major favor. If someone mentions the book on a blog, I send a message to thank them. I treat college newspaper reporters with the same respect I would show a New Yorker editor...perhaps one of them will grow up to edit the New Yorker, and THEN their old pal, Ayun Halliday, will start showing up in its pages (hopefully paper will still exist).

I am increasingly mindful to extend that courtesy to the people who turn up for my readings as well. My latest project, the Zinester’s Guide to NYC is an interesting case, because I want to do bookstore events, so the bookstores will stand behind the book, but how does one do a reading for a guidebook? For its release at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, I basically threw a bunch of stuff at the wall, and prayed something would stick. I played Pomp and Circumstance while reciting the names of all the zine publishers who had contributed listings and illustrations so those who were present could receive their complimentary contributor copies, diploma style. Then each of them recited their favorite listing, which was kind of a hot mess because none of them had seen the finished book before. Thank god we have an index. We had a mini zine fair. My favorite part was the peformance of eight original songs inspired by the guidebook, courtesy of various members of the Bushwick Book Club.

It seemed like everyone who showed up had a really good time...at least they got something more than a garden variety reading. That three ring circus approach helps as far as getting advance publicity too. Our next event on November 30 at St. Mark’s Bookshop features an opportunity for audience members to bring their own zines in for consignment, and grill the contributors about all things zine related. The one at Bluestockings on December 5 is a vegetarian potluck. Anything to rise above the herd...

With the holidays looming, I’ve decided to take it to the streets. Literally. It’s kind of scary...nothing like a crush of disiterested shoppers gliding past a table set up with your blood, sweat and tears to make you feel like a loser. Of course, having all the major publishers reject your second children’s book can make you feel like a loser too. That experience has reawakened a bit of my Little Red “Fuck you! I’ll do it myself!” Hen sensibility. India was a cigarette girl for Halloween one year. I’m going to co-opt the tray that once held boxes of candy cigarettes, load it full of ZG2NYCs and try my luck with the tourists waiting in line at the Empire State Building and the half price ticket booth in Times Square. It’s scary, but it’s not like I’m trying to sell them something they don’t want and/or need!

And today, on a whim, I droplifted a couple of copies in the travel section of the Barnes and Noble across the street from Lincoln Center. Why not, you know?

Wow, you are the anti-thesis of some slacker writers who expect everything to be handed to them. I really admire your enthusiasm and innovative approach to marketing your books. Do you have any great advice to first time authors? Feel free to use that much-adored phrase we all know and love from EVI. Personally, I do believe it sums it all up!

Dare to be Heinie? All right. Maybe one of your readers can tell me what it means. A travel blogger in Australia just asked me that question, so with your permission, I’m going to cut and paste what I told her... that tennis elbow’s starting to act up a bit:
“The best advice I can give is to cite something the late monologuist Spalding Grey told Tricycle Magazine, that he started performing the autobiographical monologues that garnered a lot of recognition for him because he “got sick of waiting for the big infernal machine to make up its mind” about him. I’ve never had much of a gift for going after success in a traditional, mainstream way. Starting my zine, The East Village Inky, is what led to my first book contract and it sustains me creatively during periods when things feel like they’re starting to run off the rails. Writing is only part of being a writer. You’ve also got to get it out there, particularly if no one else seems interested in doing it for you.”
I totally agree, Ayun. I simply don’t understand how someone can spend hours, weeks, months and years working so passionately on a project and then when it comes time to spend the energy to find an agent, send out queries, write something for a blog, put oneself out there, they refuse or complain. In this publishing climate, they will simply perish, in my opinion.

So any great advice to mommy writers and artists, i.e. ways in which you keep your sanity and find a balance between the demands of motherhood and the demands of your creative life?

Anyone who would diminish your experience of motherhood can get stuffed. I hate that term ‘momoir’—you can hear the sneer with which it was coined! Don’t get caught in flame wars in the comments sections of the parenting blogs either—it’s a highly contagious toxin that will devour your precious writing time. For those whose children are still in infancy or toddlerhood, take heart in the fact that they do grow out of it. (By the same token, savor and document this period, because they do grow out of it.)

For me, having children turned out to be a real bite in the ass. Back when my creative time was limited to the always unpedictable hour or two India and then Milo conked out for a nap, I had only myself to blame if I blew it. It was a completely balls- to-the-wall, carpe diem type situation. Now that they’re both in school, I’m not nearly as disciplined. Maybe I should have another baby...

One of the things I LOVE about the East Village Inky (and, as you know, I have been a subscriber for years) is all the advice you give about amazing and authentic places to see in NYC, not to mention great places to eat and things to do for free. Which brings me to your new book: The Zinester's Guide to New York City. Please tell our readers a little bit about your book so that they will be so excited, they will run out and get it right after they finish this interview.

And here I thought I was doing that with my description of the Housing Works event!
The Zinester’s Guide to NYC is a low budget, highly participatory, anecdotal, illustrated guidebook that costs less than a movie ticket here in its city of origin. Quite possibly the last wholly analog creature of its species. There’s a cheese store listed in the Art Supplies category. And Stephen Colbert said it’s the guidebook he’d use if he could still still walk the streets of New York among his People.

Thanks for joining us today Ayun and I wish you the absolute best luck with your new book and all your future endeavors! Dare to be Heinie!


Check out Ayun’s website for her books and projects and don’t forget to order her latest book for the holidays!
http://www.ayunhalliday.com

Sonali Bendre and Prachi Desai at Oral B Promotional Event - Photos

Sonali Bendre and Prachi Desai at Oral B Promotional Event
Prachi Desai at Oral B Promotional Event
Prachi Desai



Katrina Kaif & Farah Khan Promote Tees Maar Khan at Radio Mirchi - Photos

Katrina Kaif & Farah Khan Promote Tees Maar Khan at Radio Mirchi Mumbai
Katrina Kaif at Radio Mirchi
Katrina Kaif & Farah Khan

New York Fashion Week: Jason Wu, a case of outsized ambition

Jason Wu's fall collection was a case of outsized ambition. On the one hand, menswear-inspired separates strayed too far from the designer's comfort zone. On the other, couture-inspired Chantilly lace ball gowns (some with padded hips) overwhelmed his tiny, poorly lit runway.

Daywear fell flat with boxy jackets in too-heavy mohair, fold-over-waist pegged trousers and unremarkable draped wool plaid skirts. Only his cocktail dresses hinted at what could have been, the best in a blush-colored gauze that looked like spun sugar.

New York Fashion Week: Alexander Wang, the coolest thing in N.Y. fashion

The zipper sunglasses, the studded-base handbags -- Alexander Wang is the coolest thing in New York fashion right now. And this season, he let loose his tough 'n' trashy aesthetic on the men's suit.

Although we've seen this exercise in deconstruction many times before (Jean Paul Gaultier, Junya Watanabe), Wang gave it his own pseudo-Goth night-crawler spin with the addition of velvet thigh-highs and lace-trimmed swallow-hemmed dresses. (And let's not forget his more accessible price point.)


Sunday, November 28, 2010

MAHA international 2010

skang aku dh wat keputusan untuk buat lagi satu blog.
utk aku lepaskan perasaan.
bila aku tertekan, aku perlukan teman.
skang, DIARY.ONLINE teman aku.
aku takut nk bg org bacelah. sumpah takut.
tp blog ni "F E TALKING ALONE" maseh berjalan cm biasa. teruskan follow n bace k!


oke, skang mood aku nk bazir duit. aku mahu shopping!
sumpah! xtipu! 
jom2 shopping. pastu main ice skating nak.? hehehe. 
pastu kan kte g MAHA inernational 2010. nak x??
aku teringin giler ni nk g.
MAHA 2010 kt serdang. nmpak cm best. ley tengak kambing. hehehe.
kwn ley la dtg ye. sbelum terlambat.
dibuka dr 10pg-10mlm.
26 nov - 5 dec 2010.
sape nk g roger2 lah aku. ley aku follow. bhahaha



p/s : alamak. gtg! aku nk balik brunsfield walau xde org kt umah. tdo sorg nmpaknye.
link blog baru aku ::::: chentahatykusampaimaty.blogspot.com
baibai kwn2.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

PENJENAYAH TERHEBAT ::: BentongKali

aku tgok KES baru2 ni kt TV3. terkejut gak lah. baru tau ni. *yela, aku batak.
sumpah aku xpernah dgr, xpernah tau pasal dy. tu yg excited nk tulis pasal dy.
tp gmbr dy xberanilah nk tunjuk. takut aku yg mimpi ngeri nanti. huhuhu
Bentong Kali dahulu yg pernah mencetuskan keganasan dan kerisauan rakyat malaysia. 
dimana menjalankan aktiviti jenayah yg perrhhhh! mmg dahsyat lah weh. 
bayangkan lah, sepanjang dia hidup ni kira2 16 kes pembunuhan yg berlaku. 
eleh, suke2 dia je nk bunuh org. dia ni lebih kurang spesis Botak Chin la. 
tp Botak Chin era 70an. Bentong Kali era 90an. 
*naseb aku time ni baby. hehehe

PROFIL

Nama: P Kalimuthu 
Gelaran: Bentong Kali 
Lahir : 22 Januari 1961
Asal : Bentong, Pahang
Keluarga: Anak kelapan daripada 11 beradik




Bentong Kali yg terlibat dlm kes2 jenayah spt, menagih, mencuri, dan sertai kongsi gelap cina. 
time 2 umur dy 14tahun. kecik2 lg pandai dah wat keje jahat. *insaflah.
pd umo 19tahun, dy dipenjara dan kemudiannya dibebaskan. 
yg peliknye, di bangga. dia ckp org yg terpilih je ley masuk penjara. 
dan kne tahan byk kali pon dy xkesah. wat dekkk je. *sumpah pelik sgt.
dh tu, dy bunuh ikut suka dy. bile dy marah dy tembak lah. 
dah tu, dy xmaen tembak jarak2 jauh ni. pistol dekat je ngn org yg dy bunuh.
*manusia bapak segala kejam.! emo plak aku kan.
bygkan lah, dy wat keje bunuh2 ni dr 1991 smpai 1993. liat betol nk ditangkap.
lgsung xtakut polis. giler2!! haha.
poster belambak. kt tv, radio sume hangat ckp pasal kes ni.
smpaikan, polis tawarkan rm100,000 sape yg dpt bg mklumat smpi tertgkap nye dy.
tp ending nye, dy mati gak. mmg best lah kan.
dy dan 2 org kuncu dy mati ditembak polis di kepala kt umah dy. 
amanlah terus negara kite time tu. hahaha.




p/s : hati2 lah wahai org2 diluar sane. org kt sekeliling kte kemungkinan adalah penjenayah.
ingat, jgn salu kuar sorg2. pandai2 jage diri oke. 

Kim Kardashian New Year Eve at Tao

Kim Kardashian New Year's Eve. This New Year's Eve I'll be celebrating at Tao in Las Vegas.


Kim Kardashian out from LAX Airport

Kim Kardashian was spotted leaving her Beverly Hills home on Friday afternoon on 26 November 2010.



Sabatini White Women’s Summer Fashion 2011

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Fashion 2011 - Women's Designer Clothing

Sabatini White Women’s Summer Fashion 2011