Links to Ponder While I Wander

Hello, Dear Readers!

Forgive me for writing another 'wandering' post, which generally means I may be MIA for the next little while. I'm still trying to figure all this blog stuff out, especially in terms of timing. I do work a regular 9-5 job during the week, plus I run Call Her Alaska Vintage on the side, and I also edit/write descriptions for podcasts for an ESL website (called Culips, if you are learning English or know someone who is, you should check them out). So sometimes I get a little overwhelmed. There is another Junction Flea coming up next Sunday (the 9th), so I'll be a busy bee preparing for that this week. So, I will set some sort of a schedule for this blogging thing. I am thinking that once a week, a different day each week (so that I can continue with the Monday's Child theme) may be a better idea, so that I can really put some thought and effort into each post. That Coney Island post took quite a bit of time, but was a fulfilling post, so I think the posts will be more rich, thought-out, and substantial this way. Sound good? This one will sort of be a hodge-podge, and then I'll start going on a schedule after the Junction Flea is over.  

Nygårds Anna

All of the latest Nygårds Anna collection should be in my closet right now. *blink blink*. Dammit. The clothing is beautiful in an organic, Orwellian mining-town way that also pushes the boundaries of modernism. The textures, fabrics, and flow are all natural -  but the cuts, patterns, and fit of the pieces are very avant-garde. It's hard to marry tradition and progression and end up looking so organic and unprocessed, but this collection does it beautifully. 

AND the photos from the latest look-book, shot by photographer Carl Bengtsson, should be on my wall, as well. I mean, seriously. Are you kidding me with this gorgeousness??? 

Flight of the Conchords

The Flight of the Conchords have a new song. And not only is it hilarious, it's for a good cause. And I get goosebumps every time I listen to it. There is an option to donate as well, if you wish. 

The xx

Ok, I will leave you with some music. The xx is coming out with a new album on September 10th/11th, but they have released a single called Angels. Enjoy, and I will be back soon!

TUESDAY'S LINKS ARE FULL OF GRACE

Hello, Dear Readers!
It's been quite the busy past few days, especially for Call Her Alaska Vintage. Here's a sneak peek at what I've been up to...

I'm so excited. And so very grateful for my wonderful models, makeup artist, and of course, my photographer. More to come....

The Lost Generation

I've always been partial to 'The Lost Generation' when it comes to literature. Writers of post WWI were disillusioned with the exuberance and happiness of the materialistic, salacious, and bawdy jazz age that immediately followed a devastating war - a war which shattered the belief that good, virtuous character would be rewarded. Good men, strong men, either came home from the war shattered, broken, and hollow shells of their former selves, or they didn't come home at all. The roaring 1920s which rose out of the ashes seemed to them a dangerous façade, an illusion of contentment and happiness that was sure to implode into a million tiny fragments whose reach would know no end. A small group of writers in Paris, mainly Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway, reacted to this pretence of jubilation and fortitude by eschewing the florid, affected writing style of Victorian literature and writing searing satire or dispassionate, detached, stripped-down prose based on action instead of emotions. This literary movement was also happening west of Paris. In America, writers like TS Eliot and William Faulkner were writing poetry and novels like The Waste Land and The Sound and the Fury. The titles say it all.

I recently watched Woody Allen's movie Midnight in Paris, and fell in love. Nowhere had I actually seen the characters of the Lost Generation portrayed with such vividness and accuracy. Granted, sometimes their characteristics may have been a little affected for emphasis on their perspectives and dispositions, and sometimes the less than savoury aspects of their lives were downplayed (especially the intensely tumultuous relationship between F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald), but for the most part it gave me goosebumps to see what I imagined them to be coming to life onscreen. If you haven't seen it, you should. If only for the aesthetic of the 1920s jazz age in Paris (eeeep, swoon). And there are more than just literary legends evoked. Cole Porter, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, and Josephine Baker also make appearances.

Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald c. 1921; The couple portrayed in Midnight in Paris. Wonderful likeness, no?



If I could travel to any place, during any time, 1920s Paris would be it. Le sigh....

That's all for today, Dear Readers!!

TUESDAY'S LINKS ARE FULL OF GRACE

Hello, Readers!
Here are Tuesday's 'Full-of-Grace' Links. If you missed the concept post, Tuesday's links are about art, music, film, and life's other pleasantries...

• These wedding photos are so, so pretty. I want the bride and groom's farm, too.
• Patti Smith covering Nirvana??? Yes, please. 
• This is one of my favourite blogs. If you don't know of it already, peruse it. It's a brilliant concept.
• Obsessed with this song, and the style of the singer.