i'm a cultural creative. what are you?

okay. i couldn't resist posting this one. the subject matter might not be frilly but...oh...who cares about rules anyways? this one's about your "worldview." enjoy. and i promise: i will be judicious. i will not become the online test results poster on this blog. scout's honor. You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 81% Idealist 75% Postmodernist 63% Romanticist 44% Existentialist 38% Fundamentalist 31% Materialist 19% Modernist 13% What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com

"an nua!?" (what's goin' on? in taiwanese)

greetings from taipei!!

i finally got a break to type out a hello and greet my favoritist bloggers on the planet! i've been trying to quickly catch up on the latest postings, while longing to get back so i can finally share what i've accumulated in digital media this past week and a half.

thus far, i'm excited to share a nice dinner i had last night at this "incense tea farmhouse" where I had an overnight stay. let's just say that a huge sachet of oolong tea was involved with a hot, full-body soak. accomodations were nice.

i'll also be meeting up with high school/family friend of mine who came back to taiwan to pursue his dreams in acting/singing/pop stardom in taiwan. he's had a modicum of success (commercials, a tvshow as a supporting recurring actor of an ensemble cast, etc) and is looking for a new agent these days. it will be fun to post a pic of our little rendezvous in taipei (i'll surely append a link to some internt foto of him as, ergh, whatever character he was playing)...or perhaps i'll do it here!

(he's the guy on the bottom, furthest on the left)! or check him here.

until we meet again fellow frillseekers!

Speaking of Orlando Bloom

and he reads!

I think we need a nice juicy issue to stir up controversy on frillseekers. Anyone? Anyone?

Again with the ironical tee shirts

I'll be brief. I can deal with these: http://www.glarkware.com/ .

See, I Y irony.

I'm just smarmy, hold the pretension

I watched "East is East" twice this past weekend. Pretty much just for Chris Bisson*.

Believe it or not, this was the least dorky photo I could find (doesn't it look like he is slightly drunk at 2.07am on a Friday night somewhere in the painted-cinder-block halls of my most fair and beloved senior-year manse -- Hallowell?) , though he is quite the soap star in the UK. His hair is much prettier in the movie. I also find it endearing that he has a case of photo-generated-sometimes-lazy-eye, just like moi. Which is quite funny considering I used to be cross-eyed in pictures when I was a wee one.

...and I've taken to watching The Apprentice again. Pretty much just for:

Come on, wouldn't you? He's like Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana and Omar Sharif all in one obnoxiously-cocky-Mensa-certificate-plus-chip-on-shoulder-touting package.

*OK, and for the cute little kid who plays Sajid saying "Get stuffed" and also for Archie Panjabi's "Ini Logon Ne" dancing scene. Seriously, it has its problems, but watch the movie!

what? me? smarmily pretentious?

Today in the NYT magazine William Safire, the cranky curmudgeon, writes about three phrases that I keep trying to use, but am never sure if I am getting them right.

1. "If you will": Not my favorite of the lot. Safire says it means "I am going to say this, and you may not like it, but that's just too bad, so here goes".

2. "So to speak": This phrase is a way to distance yourself from the trite phrase that you know is cliche but are going to use anyway. I wonder if it is somewhat interchangeable with "as they say" as in "Furonda's chances of winning ANTM are, as they say, tenuous at best"

3. "As it were": my favorite one, and best said in a British accent, if you can do it. Safire says it is a signal of something "contrary to fact" or not to be taken literally. This is still fuzzy for me. I thought of it more as a phrase indicating that we are inserting information that we can know only in hindsight. I'm having trouble coming up with a good example. "Duke's current lacrosse scandal is, as it were, a litmus test for race relations in the South". Does that work?

All the phrases fall under the category of differentialisms-- ways to make yourself sound humble or clever while actually being "smarmily pretentious". Rhetoricians call them metanoia or correctio.

Bon Voyage to J!

J is leaving for Taiwan today! She'd better bring back some pics (or least descriptions) of the food she gets to eat there!

In other news, everyone on Top Model sucks booty, pretty much. Worse than every other season. Why are they keeping Brooke and telling her walk is fierce and ish? I cannot believe they got rid of Leslie before her. Anyway. I think my picks are Danielle and Joanie - I really want them to do well, but they'll probably be axed soon. I like Sara(h?) and Furonda as well.

And count me among the impressed with Tyra for that little turntable move she did. I guess that's why she's the boss-lady!

"fear fashion"

"Fear Fashion"

I couldn't resist. A perfect "frillseekers" entry. My buddy umar got into the Los Angeles Times' weekend lifestyle magazine, "west." For what you might ask? His scarf. He's a charismatic artist guy...and a downtown denizen. I guess it was inevitable...he is ascending toward his desired mantle as avant-garde hipster tastemaker. :-) Read the article for yourself. Curious to know what you think of the article.

swag, baby, SWAG.

Bergdorf Goodman and Barney's were quite generous to us on our trip to Sniffapalooza.

For a moment, Starbright Oogi and I could see why Paris Hilton et al do what they do at Sundance and such.

We were enamored of:

• Ambra di Venezia Body Cream
• The Different Company Jasmin de Nuit
• Manolo Blahnik candle
• Limited Edition Summer Stella by Stella McCartney (especially the bottle!)
• The whole Caron boutique/temple (aka precious jewelbox of a store)
• The intensely pretty beauty floor at Takashimaya (aka "Tak")
• The friendly and fun staff at Alcone who kept a great attitude though their power was out.

in case you cared to know

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (10% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

"Ironic" tee saturation point

I have reached it.

I discussed these tee shirts with my brother yesterday. I forbade him from buying any except maybe the dinosaur one. I am appalled at some of the utter cheese he mistook for humor.

I can deal with some amount of pre-fabricated vintage-style items (brother-of-Zuppe suggested Knight Rider tee shirts, which would RULE) but this ... this I cannot stand. Also, a lot of them are just not funny, and questionable in terms of ethnic/racial imagery.

Patti White once said that postmodernism explores the concept of the "photocopy without an original" (yes, BRILLIANT) -- these tee shirts are exactly those photocopies, except that they are the photocopies people make of their own butts when they are drunk.

They are f-ing trucker hats in tee shirt form -- why don't people freaking recognize?!

In other news, I continue to by mystifed by the term "emo". Of course, I consulted Wikipedia, forthwith (when did Wikipedia come about as the wonder that it is?) It answered some of my questions, and could quite possibly make me interested in listening to rock music again. Of course, it piqued my interest in bands from 15 years ago (because Fall Out Boy scares me a little and Dashboard Confessional scares me A LOT), and I may have to read this book to ease myself out of my G-Unit phase.

european pretty boys?

So a friend made me a CD mix for my birthday and it has all these Euorepan artists I had never heard of. He says that he learned of them when he was in Germany for a year. Although I should head to bed since I have to get up god-awfully early to go to a high school to do some observations, I spent some time image-googling some of the boys on the mix. I don't know how to post pics yet, but let me know what you think if you have a chance to google them as well. Jenks Lekman & Sondre Lerche. (Oh, and their music I do like...)

Oh, another question while I'm on the topic of music, I also got a $25 Tower Records gift card. Any CD recommendations?

So I met some of Aging Cowgirl's friends this weekend....

We had several interesting conversations about democratic governance, briefs vs. boxers as signifiers of modernity, and the attitudes of today's activist youth.

We also made Easter eggs and watched a Derrida documentary. Well she did. I made it through about five minutes.

Also, I'm sad to see the demise of one of my very favorite wacky celebrity couples. Let's try to remember them at their best, shall we?