I love fashion.
But perhaps I should explain myself, because it isn't a label or trend love. I just admire the way that certain people just look so asthetically stunning, even in the subtlest of ways. A perfectly cut suit, a well-hung dress, an air of sophistication, a sense of fun.
And if there is any group that knows just how to pull it off, it's old men, they simply know how to wear clothing better than anyone else, be it experience or attitude or simply instinct aquired over a lifetime. So I present to you the fruits of my daily purusing of The Satorialist, my favorite source of fashion inspiration/entertainment simply because he knows that style extends far beyond the catwalk.





a mailman with some wicked kicks.

I am a fan of his blazer.

works for Ralph Lauren, not actually homeless.

a painter, and he's rocking the look.

this lighting is amazing.

this is how to ride a bike.

Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.
Michael Burke

So summer's here and I [unfortunatly] am still jobless. Which means I have more free time than a Real Housewife. In anticipation of this i have a stack of books a mile high waiting to be read, re-read, or finished. And here i present them to you for your own reading pleasures;

House of Leaves



This book is a beast.
I can really think of no more appropriate way to describe it.
I bought this book at the recommendation of the man at the bookstore who wears the slightly-too-short ties. He couldn't give me a summary without "ruining it" and simply summed it up as "awesome." So after a quick glancing over, I took it home with me and became engrosed. If you are looking for something lighthearted and fun, put this right down. This book requires concentration, patience, and a healthy dose of curiosity.
if you're curiouse for more, there are plenty of online forums to discussing the book. Just do a quick Google search and you're likely to find plenty.





Pride and Prejudece and Zombies



"An expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone crunching zombie mayhem"
As a counterbalance to House of Leaves, I picked up this little number in San Francisco. You've likely heard of it, and I'm here to officially recommend it to you. The musings of the english elite are far more entertaining when sprinkeled with gore, mayhem, and the undead. Plus, there are pictures, and really how can you go wrong with that. Plus, next time you watch the movie, you'll be on the edge of your seat waiting for Kira to kick some major zombie butt.









The Phantom Tollbooth


Recommended to me by our very own Stephanie, this book comes with nothing but praise from everyone who has read it. And I really can't explain why I have yet to read it, except for possibly my childhood fixation on reading only long winded "Classics" that would make me seem smarter, {for the record, the message of Gullivers Travel's was far above my head, even though it wasn't above my reading level.]
Perhaps when I'm done with the book I'll be able to track down a copy of the movie to compare.








The Elegence of the Hedgehog


It's rare that I find myself so interested in a book based purely on the jacket summary, no recomendations, no reviews, no flashy display.
Translated from French, it is a novel about a chubby and cantencorus hotel concierge and a young, meek girl living on the fifth floor who hide their true personalities until a serendipitous coustomer from Japan checks in. The cover proclaims it is an "international bestseller", and i have few doubts that it will live up to these expectations.











A Confederacy of Dunces


"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this infalliable sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
One of those classics that they didn't have time for in school, but will inevitably make me feel just that much smarter to refernce in conversation. It sounds uncannily similar to the vastly under-rated Luke Wilson movie Idiocracy, though I may be entirely wrong in this assumption. Either way, you can't go wrong with a Pulitzer Prize.












Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This beauty has been hiding on the shelves of the philosophy section of the bookstores for almost forty years now. It has come to be one of the best selling philosophy books ever, and is published in over 27 languages. And to clear up a few points, it's not really about Zen or Motorcycle maintence. It is however the story of a man and his son on a 14 day cross-country motorcycle trip. Along the way, a bit of bonding and a bit of philosofizing is interspersed with all the adventure such a motorcycle trip entails. pne of my favorite books, full of scribbles, stains and tears, and just waiting to be re-read.







So there you have it, a [short] list of books on my to-read list. Hopefully I was able to turn you on to something new. If you happen to have read all of these, touche.

I should be writing a bill for pro euthanasia right now, and packing a ridiculous amount of things for next week, but of course I'm not. Instead I'm typing out twenty songs I've been playing over and over again this month for no particular reason (well partly because I don't want to finish this bill,) and none of them involve Michael Jackson. Sorry.

But yes, some of these like Zee Avi and Regina Spektor, I love waking up to in the mornings. They start of my day in a cheery way.

Regina Spektor's new album "Far" is so adorable. I've always loved her work.

Read the review! (http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/regina-spektor/far/26895/)

Listen! (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105518205)

Something about her having such a rich family history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_Spektor) makes her music even more unique and special to me then it already is.

And I love how its called anti-folk. I just love it.

Others like Caves by JM and Fleet Foxes, I've been memorizing on the piano so i've been hearing those lately.

I have about 30 ish cds in the car from the library, two of which are the full John Mayer and Belle & Sebastian albums so they've been playing around my head.

The others are just an eclectic mix I've been hooked on and revisiting for no particular reason. :]

1. All 'Cause of You - The 88

2. Honey Bee - Zee Avi

3. Soft Shock - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

4. I'll Believe In Anything - Wolf Parade

5. Gender Bombs - The Stills

6. Letter To Noelle - Something Corporate

7. Folding Chair - Regina Spektor

8. House of Cards - Radiohead

9. Amsterdam - Peter Bjorn & John

10. Wind in the Wires - Patrick Wolf

11. No Such Thing - John Mayer

12. Quiet Houses - Fleet Foxes

13. La Llorona - DeVotchKa

14. Coney Island - Death Cab for Cutie

15. The Canals of Our City - Beirut

16. Famous Flower of Manhattan - The Avett Brothers

17. Caves - Jack's Mannequin

18. Her Tea Leaves - Iron & Wine

19. All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands - Sufjan Stevens

20. Step Into My Office, Baby - Belle & Sebastian

finished this today. it made me want to hop in a car, drive away, and leave my little city behind.

it's such a lovely book with a great perspective on life tied into a an adventure.

i'll always be the type of person to want to strap on a rocket and fly off somewhere, and right now, i think john green is a genius for incorporating the whole idea of 'paper towns.'

the two little words have such meaning after reading this.

Paper Towns.

it'll be something i'll be thinking about when i step onto the airplane tomorrow.

So Michael Jackson was confirmed dead at 3:15 today. My condolances to all of his family and friends, may the media leave them room to properly grieve their loss.

The thing is, I heard about his death at 2:30 today, 45 minutes before the traditional news-media confirmed it. It scares me how fast news travels sometimes. It isn't nessecarily a bad thing, we are the most informed generation in history, but it's just a strange new means of learning news. I first heard about it on Facebook, then i got a text, checked it on TMZ, confirmed it on MSNBC... and now it's finally being repoted on CNN.
Just the fact that i get my news from Facebook -a social networking site- first is a strange feeling. It's almost like we don't need the media anymore, we're back to word-of-mouth news, just thousand times faster than it used to be back in the day. I just think we're all going to have to be careful in this new world order.

Weird days.






We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
Joseph Campbell

I'm talking of course of the infamous sprite rainbow cake. No eggs, no water, no butter. Just sprite.

It sort of reminds me of something that would jump out of a dr.seuss book.

It's plainly the oddest, most delicious thing I have ever eaten. I'm planning to make it tomorrow and I'm a little nervous it'll turn out looking like poop. What will happen, is that I will end up mixing too many colors together (like I used to do all the time in art school when I was little on a palate and it would turn out black or something instead of purple...) 

Ah, well I'll eat it if no one else will.

You know how people would bring a cake for one of their friends on campus for their birthdays? And a few forks to share with people? Well I'm always the one pigging off another person's cake. So it's about time I learn how to make this for myself.

Description:

This cake is suitable for many occasions:

• A child’s birthday
• Your mom’s birthday
• Coming out to your conservative parents
  • If you’re a lesbian, they’ll be thrilled that you won’t be forgoing your feminine kitchen duties.
  • If you’re the kind of gay dude who makes cakes for your parents, they were probably on to you anyway.
• Coming out to your conservative parents on your mother’s birthday
• Your friend’s jam band CD release party

But check it out. :] http://www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake

My name's Sami.
I am the boy that lived.

I enjoy a whole lot of things, many of which will surely be mentioned in the near to distant future.
But if you want to know about me, this is about all you're going to get:
I will always claim Santa Barbara as my hometown, and the central coast will never cease to awe me. I watch more movies than most, almost every Sunday morning i will find a movie on TCM to watch, which i guess you could say makes it a sort of religon for me. I like listening to people's stories, and I tend to talk too much when I am nervous. I take my tea naked, and my chocolate dark. I enjoy stars and constellations and meteorites and most especially the moon.

When I grow up I want to be a traveler, a designer, a mother, a reader, a wife, a volunteer.
As for when it is that i'll grow up, we'll just have to wait and see.




“Life is a lot like jazz.. it's best when you improvise.” George Gershwin

I'm sure that internet blogs won't change the situation half way around the world. But I have a lot of feelings about the current events going on in Iran. Especially the so called vote-rigging and the safety of the rioters that have been going on. 

All I can say is is that Ahmadinejad calling the holocaust a "big deception" is absolutely ridiculous. Not only that, but the political ideologies he believes in, namely his stance on "liberal regimes" can really be summed up in the words, how the hell did you win? 

There is no way. 

But people are putting too much emphasis on Ahmadinejad for what he said, and not what he's doing. No one's even focusing on Mousavi.

I appreciate the fact that Mousavi is claiming victory and celebrating anyways though. So optimistic he is.

This election is a huge deal in terms of human rights and liberties. It truly shows that under the worst conditions, people still stand up and fight for what they believe in. In this case, their vote. And it's not even the Iranian people. All over the world, images of "Where is my vote?" have been transformed into "Where is their vote?" and the color green (if you didn't know, it is Mousavi's campaign color, mistaken for the color of rebellion.. well I guess you could say it is at the same time,) has been sported all over. What I mean to say is, it's nice that the world takes notice over the issue of a country's election when it involves a true (ish) democratic vote.

Stay safe Tehran, the whole world is praying for you.

More info? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Iranian_election_protests

15 things that have made me a super happy child the past few days.

15. Lush Ocean Salt Scrub

We were recommended this product by the coolest person ever. He had an afro, wore man capris, and a purple and pink checkered shirt, and smiled a lot. We asked him if we could use it as a face wash and he pulled out his license from when he was 16 and started describing to us about his “T-Zone.” He made a lot of gestures with his hand while he talked. He said “girl please” a lot. By that point, he could sell me anything and I was willing to buy it. I wish he could be my best friend.

(P.S. This is a great product.)

14. Specific song listening in socal:

Daylight-Matt and Kim, A Setting Sun-Grand Archives, A Simple Twist of Fate-The Format (Bob Dylan cover), No One Does It Like You-Department of Eagles, Beach in Hawaii-Ziggy Marley, This Simple Life-Sherwood

13. John Gildea

I love this kid. We have good texting conversations.

 

Me: Polaroid effects.

John: Oh… it sounded dirty.

Me: Lomography? Yeah it’s the study of dirty things done in the bedroom. A lot of it.

John: Hothothothothothothothothot. :D

 12. Sun Dried Tomatoes

Went to a cafe called 85 degrees in Irvine. Deliciousss.

11. The Pacific Ocean

I used to live next to it, but the sight still amazes me every time.

10. British tourists

They stood behind me. A British couple. And they said "Honey, where's the pram?" And I laughed.

9. Getty Museum

Other than finding out Chairlift was scheduled to play the next day :( I had a great time. Really really really really really good art, ranging from 13th century manuscripts to 16th century Italian portraits. Lovelovelove.

8. Obama swatting flies

:]

7. Taking of Pelham 123

Travolta still has suave.

6. Farmer's Markets

I also saw a bagpipe redheaded Irish and a mat sitting sitar player. Amazing music it was.

5. The Spanish language

I'm glad I took three years of Spanish because I was actually able to navigate my way around San Diego through the Hispanic districts/order off the menu. I liked the second one.

4. Diana F+ Lomography Camera

I just need to figure out how to use it now.

2. Twitter/ichat/skype

Yes I jumped on the bandwagon. 

twitter.com/sykchan.  ichat: stephanieykc. skype: stephanieykc.

I love it though, because I can talk/stalk Michelle Ahronovitz. Which is what I like to do all the time.

1. Southwest Airlines

They have the best flight crews. For an instance, when telling me to secure my seat belt they said, "The seat belt should be fastened like J Lo's pants, low and tight around your slender waist." Made my week.

Salutations!


So Sami and I decided to start off this with a little history of both of us so you can get to know us slash why we're typing a blog in the first place.
I feel odd typing the first post to a joint blog.

I would include pictures but as for right now, I am stuck in a suspiciously warm hotel room in Los Angeles with terrible internet connection and therefore cannot do much. They do play very good music though. And have comfortable chairs. And a great coffee maker. I like this.
Moving on:


My name is Stephanie.
I like to write alot. I like to read a lot. I like to drink chai tea lattes a lot.
I listen to music a lot. I play music a lot.
I like to travel a lot. I like to photograph things a lot.
I like laughing a lot. I like being silly a lot. And being inspired a lot.
I believe in world peace a lot. And Obama a lot. :)
I like all my friends a lot.

A lot of times I get frustrated with life and type meaningless notes that everyone seems to like a lot.
I find a lot of useless but interesting information on the internet.
I see and experience a lot of what the world has to offer. I try share them through a lot of words.
Therefore I write a lot.

I'll be writing about things like music, literature, food, traveling, people, events.
And about life, and how satisfyingly difficult it is.
But mostly about news you should know, places you should go, things you should do.

I won't be surprised if you aren't interested in what I have to say. It's just nice that someone is reading, and perhaps agreeing or disagreeing to what I think.
Opinions are a lovely thing.

Stephanie