let's do the time warp again and again please

The other night I went to my first midnight shadow performance of Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was also my first time ever seeing the movie (I don't know how I considered myself a human being before either), and I can say with confidence that I've never seen so many thigh highs in my life. Also, Tim Curry's legs! Why is he not on the cover of every women's magazine with tips on improving your stems ever?

I only started taking pictures at the end so sorry for spoilers but YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT BY NOW ANYWAY even if I hadn't til Saturday night.

Emotion!

Gusto!

Pizzaz!

It was a good fun time, with lots of elbow sex.

And lots of TP-ing of my friend who made the mistake of falling asleep. Then the assholes behind me who stole my prop bag and claimed they "found" it (IN MY HANDS, PERHAPS?) (ok I left it on my seat but still) had the nerve to photobomb this picture. Then I wrote about them on the internet and felt better about myself! Ha-ha!

Also, the photobombing thieves should have had to clean up after everyone, since they like those prop bags so much.

Also, my friends looked rad, and I was like, man, we could totally be a really stylin gang right about now.

Since I'd never seen it before I didn't try a costume, but everyone thought I was dressed up anyway. Like that time my school didn't let anyone wear Halloween costumes but I did anyway because I'm a rebel. and got away with it because everyone thought it was simply one of my outfits because I'm just so QUIRKY!

I went for creepy Virgin Mary/Virgin Suicides vibes because I'm //edgy and because I'm obsessed with this crown Petra gave me in a CROWN EXCHANGE, which I think should become a national event or traveling van or something:

Ain't it a beauty! My eyeliner is Urban Decay and everything else is thrifted. QUIRKY!

rebel.

~independent spirit~

*down 2 earth*

Speaking of cultural stereotypes used in teen magazines to tell girls which eyeshadow to wear, you know that thing I'm doing with Jane? If no, here. If yes, it is happening, I'm just not about to go gabbing about it all the time because then you get trapped in these ideas you said long before the bigger idea gets to become a reality and we don't want that. If "yes, I even submitted and wrote you a great email and sent some stuff I'd worked hard on," I would like to extend a long overdue thank you.

We (me, Jane, and one of our editors, so it doesn't sound all vague and creepy and like we're in some giant headquarters skyscraper somewhere) learned a lot going through those, and I feel extremely lucky we get to hear so directly from the audience what they want to see in this. I should've clarified from the beginning -- this was me expecting everyone to read my mind -- that the submission call was for regular contributors. So without sounding too much like I'm under the delusion that you're all waiting outside the door to our headquarters skyscraper with unbearable anticipation, whenever we want a different point of view on this thing or an artist to feature who does that thing, we still get to look into that plethora of 2000 emails. This also makes me feel very lucky.

Also, sorry it took so long. There were so many! Actually looking at them > saying no without thinking enough just to give a quick response. Also, man you all know how to write heartfelt letters. Is there a way I can be a penpal as like, a job?

Last thing I learned and feel lucky about -- we might end up with the coolest audience ever. Thank you again. It's incredibly life-affirming to know people care about this and want this to happen and want it to be good. We do too! I'm excited for you all to see.

And while we're on all this talk, I guest wrote something over at Jane's site, xoJane. OK, fine, I wrote all those paragraphs just now only so I could promote myself and link you to that post. You got me! It's like that time you got me for wanting to self-promote my foot. If you don't know what I'm talking about you should probably read the post I wrote before you can get in on the joke.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Hi! I just got back from a trip with my dad to New York. It was enjoyable! We stayed here, and I got really angsty and "STOP IT GAWD YOU'RE EMBARRASSING ME IN FRONT OF ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY FLOATING FOUR STORIES UP IN THE SKY AROUND US" when my dad insisted on taking a touristy photo:

(I do a cat eye now, and my cardigan is Soft.)

Perhaps this would've been more acceptable somewhere blatantly meant to serve out-of-towners with a weakness for life-size Statue of Liberty snowglobes, but you're supposed to play it cool at the Chelsea! Stop freaking out about the fact that your radiator is pink! Don't take home those shampoo bottles to make into flower vases! Forget the a slight possibility you might encounter Patti Smith in the elevator! I would include a gif here of JamesFranco saying "be cool" to Lindsay in the episode of Freaks and Geeks where she helps him cheat on a test, but gifs are the mark of someone who spends too much time on the Internet, instead of outside being cool. I was even going to tell you that it is the fifth episode, on disc 2 of the DVD box set, and its official title is "Tests and Breasts," but admitting to such knowledge off the top of my head would also be uncool.

I'm obviously not embarrassed enough of that picture to not post it on the Internet though. Look! I'm at the Chelsea Hotel!!!!!

To redeem myself, here are pictures I took of myself alone in our room, without a parent to blame for their existence:

I was thinking of Twin Peaks for its colors and fall vibes and J.W. Anderson Spring 2011 for the pieced-togethered-ness.

Thrifted tee dress, American Apparel button down, random found gold brooch, patch from Poison Apple Studios, Laura Palmer pin from BookHouse Creations. That's Pennsylvania there on the patch, though I had to take what turned out to be an incorrect guess at the right way to rotate it since I'm not one of those people who can tell you the shape of Pennsylvania off the tops of their heads. (Also, Chelsea's internet was not helping. There's a reason no one ever wrote songs about the wifi at the Chelsea Hotel.) I can't tell you its significance, I kind of just decided it had some kind of witch trials connotation in a way that only makes sense in my head, but I have no intentions of finding out because googling "Pennsylvania" gets you a lot of stuff.

Also, I dyed my hair again! Or, Sheba did. There's something insincere about a false ginger but I'm okay with that.

I've been enjoying self decoration by way of stickers lately, and also rings. Jordan Catalano ring from Flamingo Cupcake Studios, vintage hologram Jesus/Mary ring, and gift from Meadham Kirchhoff.

Like a regular Ray McKigney.

Hand-me-down skirt, AA socks, shoes gift from Rachel Antonoff. (I'm a lucky person.)

P.S. These banana splits with Elizabeth and Laia were really amazing.

a vague and quiet post as i work on summer

Unknown, Jonathan Coward, Meadham Kirchhoff Fall 2010, unknown, Shirlie Williams' bathroom, Meadham Kirchhoff, 1000 Lost Children, the Slits by Anton Corbijn for Zig Zag Magazine, Meadham again, and two unknowns. These all got very lost in my hard drive! Please email me if you can help me with any of the unknowns!

i've got a high school crush on a california girl oh yeah

I'm getting into neon Weetzie Bat summer witch surfer girl skater babe vibes as soon as finals are over. My brains have melted from school and the heat and can no longer think in terms of academics. During my interview test for French my teacher asked what I later found out meant, "What is your favorite dessert?" and I answered what I later found out meant, "I love biology!" So, you know. Summer. Please?

Weetzie Bat, mollysoda, Melanie Dawn Harter, Kerplunk-Punk, Hasisi Park, old Elsa Schiaparelli perfumes, Nicole Levaque, Teen Witch Nicki Minaj shrine, Skate Witches, Etsy but I can't remember the store (help?), Undercover "Alice" dress detail, Competition Skates' Rampage, Gemma Ward by Corinne Day for Vogue UK, unknown photographer, Peyote-Princess, and Peyote once again (her blog and new tumblr).

That's the Curse of Being Young by Hunx and his Punx Big Bad Mean Motherfucker by Girls Summer Goth by Wavves Sun was High (So Was I) by Best Coast Come to the Sunshine by Van Dyke Parks Paradise by the Shangri-Las Dancing Barefoot by Patti Smith Los Angeles by X Drivin' On by the Breeders Punk Rock Girl by That Dog Tapestry by Carole King His Indie World by Mary Lou Lord California by Joni Mitchell Honey by Marine Girls Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter Paul & Mary Indian Summer by Beat Happening After Hours by the Velvet Underground

Download here for your own Shangri-L.A. moods.

alien she

I haven't posted pictures of this...shrine? of mine before because it's almost a bit too precious, but it's so relevant to the vibes in everything I'm posting right now. I am definitely going through a phase with vomit pink and Laura Palmer's Secret Diary and black swans and white swans and girls. It should be noted that I don't equate "girl"with pink and red and bows and dolls and babies, the entire aesthetic is more about mocking those connotations, though I would be lying if I said I never really just wanted to indulge in bows and glitter and sickening cheesiness.

In Real Life terms, it's like how I'm really into high school drama and talking about dumb Taylor Swift ~pwoblemz~ because I love how funny it all is, but I think it's perfectly natural and healthy to sincerely enjoy that stuff too. (Unless you, like Taylor Swift, are well out of high school, in which case, you might want to let go of that grudge you have against cheerleaders.) Obviously, there's much more to teenage girls and the thoughts of such than boys with noteworthy eyeballs, but I resent the idea that such thoughts are, in our culture, considered vapid because they're also considered specific to young females. Larger scale examples of "girl=dumb," or, "what we deem as 'girl' even though a lot of girls don't fit that stereotype=dumb": "Twilight fans are so lame and dumb and sad!" (see also: Justin Bieber fans), "Joanna Newsom's music sounds too delicate, by which I mean, feminine!", and Kathleen Hanna being told that she couldn't be A Smart Feminist who also said the word "like" in the excessive way that is typically thought of as specific to teenage girls.

The fact that "smart" and "girly" have to be mutually exclusive gets in the way for someone like me who would like to go to school wearing an outfit I obviously spent time on picking out or with my classmates knowing that I spend a lot of time writing and thinking about clothes -- since fashion too is considered a "girl" thing-- and still be taken seriously when it comes to class discussions. It's also worth noting that in all the times I've been accused of being an adult posing as someone younger and writing this blog, and considering that we live in a society in which women are not always judged solely based on merit and so criticisms towards women should be examined for sexist stereotypes, I'm going to take a wild guess that some suspicions stemmed from the idea that a teenage girl who likes fashion can't also do something that requires some very basic knowledge. Do you like how I passive aggressively added that in the end there?

With all that said, let's indulge in some bows and glitter, yes?

Jewelry throughout from Meadham Kirchhoff (gifts), joke shop, the depths of our house, thrift stores/flea markets/yard sales, and on Etsy: Flamingo Cupcake Studios, Leafpeople Vintage, and Bookhouse Creations.