Punctuation Police

iChat transcript with Byron:

B: Have you heard of Speculoos? The Dutch spread. I think it's my alternative to NUTELLA!!!!! I had it on waffles the other day and I think I'm all about it. 

L: What is it? I mean, what's it like? 

B: It's like GRAHAMCRACKERS! 

L: Ok what's going on with the overly-emphasized European spreads here? Are those exclamation points really necessary? I mean, choco-hazelnut is pretty magical, but shouldn't you at least save ONE exclamation point for something more pertinent like, say, "BY JOVE! MY LEFT HAND JUST SHRIVELED UP AND FELL OFF!!!"

2011.9

A Space

One of my dearest friends Ham drew this image of our house a few weeks back. I love it. (The house, Ham, and his sketch, all in equal measure.) In fact, I love it all so much I'm willing to overlook the sly hipster comment. 

Update: Ham left a comment about this post that got me thinking. He said, "I'm touched. :-) [sic, you guys know how I feel about emoticons] I sketched the porch and porch roofline while it was daylight. When I ran out of daylight and finished the rest of the house, I lost perspective, which is sadly apparent. Oh well."

The thing is, while the house itself isn't rendered with the same accuracy as a photo, one of the things I enjoy most about the sketch is the way in which certain planes seem to recede aslant as the fidelity of memory is tested. Ham's memory of what our house looks like exists as a wonderful testament to the aqueous nature of even our best recollections. Planes start to shift, angles jut in opposition with reality, the entire endeavor starts to slip, to liquify, to reform, and from the jumble one is able to cobble together a reasonable facsimile, a carbon copy writ by the shakiest of hands: One's own perspective. A memory is ultimately an unfaithful partner to reality, but instead resides as a secondary layer of emotion. 

Which is why I love this sketch so much. Because it doesn't depict our house as it sits on Obispo Ave, but as it exists in Ham's mind (to be fair, the contents of Ham's mind are as catawampus as an Escher sketch, but we'll forgive him of that for the sake of this train of thought). It's a loving tribute to a space that contains memories and emotions and a perspective that is hand-colored by Ham's own experience.

I've quoted this portion of one of my favorite novels too many times to count, but such is the nature of a book that forever redirected the way I thought:

In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. What seems to happen becomes its own happening and has to be told that way. The angles of vision are skewed...The pictures get jumbled; you tend to miss a lot. And then afterward, when you go to tell about it, there is always that surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed. 

While Tim O'Brien is talking about war, isn't it true that he's also talking about love, and memory, and loss, and art, and life? It seemed that way to me as a seventeen-year-old in Honors English and it seems that way to me now. So whether Ham's sketch is accurate or not isn't really the issue, not to me. I'll take the slip n' slide porch and angularly menacing rooftop over a photo snapped with someone's iPhone any day. 

Mulholland

Explored the Hollywood Reservoir yesterday. Perfect day for it, all sunshiny and hot and thirsty-feeling. 

You can probably tell by my lack of posting lately that I'm feeling rather uninspired. Can't seem to craft a decent sentence, take a decent picture, or cobble together a decent list of links to other people's genius. Dog days of summer came early, eh? But that's how inspiration usually works, isn't it? I try my best to harness it and squeeze a drop out in times of drought but the truth is, despite my most disciplined efforts, it's still sometimes merely ebb and flow. 

There's quite a bit of traveling in my foreseeable future, so I suspect after I make it through this creative lull, I'll come back swinging. Photos, words, links, run-on sentences...the whole gamut. 

You'd best be ready. 

Hey-Ho! Let's Go!

Went camping this weekend with a handful of my nearest and dearest, the dearest of which was actually a yellow lab named Winifred. We bonded despite the fact that most of the time she seemed blithely unaware of any physical space I took up (whether in the car or sleeping in our tent), and would heave her blonde self wherever she pleased. On the drive up, I even got head-butted a couple of times. Thanks, Winnie. You're a peach. 

Here are some photos I took of the weekend and those who joined me in the mountains and valleys of Santa Barbara. 

Beth Jones & Glitter Guide

It's been a long wait, but Taylor Sterling (of Sterling Style) has finally launched her new fashion/lifestyle site called The Glitter Guide.  I shot a story with Beth Jones for the Style At Home feature, and I'm thrilled to finally be able to throw some of the photos up here. Click here to read the rest of the story and see more photos. In the meantime, here are some of my favorites:

Celine Resort 2012

It's pretty much useless at this point to make a statement about how awesome Phoebe Philo is because--heyo, preaching to the choir! But really:

YEAH!

See you there?

2011.9

Little Bitta Magic

Went to the Rumble at the Echo last week, and my friend Oliver smartly snapped this photo during one of the sets. It was even better in person, but he did a bang-up job of capturing it accurately. It's  hard to see, but I'm center-rightish, in a hat. See more of his reviews and photos at his blog. 

Inspiration: 6.2011, Rick Genest Edition

LOOK AT THIS GUY.

Incredible.

Photographed by Mariano Vivanco for Vogue Hommes Japan

By Raphaël Ouellet

Raphaël Ouellet

By Karim Sadli for GQ Style UK

By Steven Klein