July 30, 2005
Indie Rock Girls (part 2)
Yesterday, I described the problem some of my friends were having distinguishing between indie rock girl style other non-mainstream styles like punk or goth. It is easy for me to tell them apart, but it is difficult to come up with a definition. It is like trying to define the word "the": you know the word and can use it, but it is a bitch to define.
My friend Thomas had a good observation yesterday on a defining characteristic of indie rock girl style: they will be wearing at least one peice of vintage clothes along with one brand new modern thing. It is important to note that the vintage piece will be from the 20's-80's, and will usually be an actual old thing, not a reproduction old thing from Guess or someplace. If there is no vintage peice, but the clothes are modern and cool, the girl may still be indie-fied by cool hair or something, but she will probably look more like an upper-tier mall girl or a Democrat. If all the clothes are vintage, the girl will probably look like she is dressing up for Halloween or something. You have seen girls dressed like this, and it is not too good. In rare cases, she may avoid the Halloween look and just look completely crazy. This can be a very high-tier indie rock look in my opinion, but is very risky and usually only works if the girl is super hot anyway.
Ok, in installment 3, I'll find some pictures and talk about the girls' indieness (or lack thereof). See you then.
July 29, 2005
Fiery Furnaces / What I Mean by "Indie Rock Style" for girls
First, watch this video of Tropical Ice Land by the Fiery Furnaces.
http://www.beam.tv/beamreels/reel_player.php?reel=qtvQJjDFxY&file=rFgyTtPHmv
Lately I have had a few conversations about what an indie rock girl is. This is a super-tricky thing for me to define, but being as these are my favoritely styled girls in the universe, I always feel compelled to try. I think when I mention anything about being kind of "alternative" or non-mainstream, people automatically picture some kind of punk girl with pink hair or something, which is not always what I have in mind.
Eleanor (the girl in the video) is the perfect epitome of indie rock girl style to me. Check the relaxedly curly hair with super defined bangs: indie. Check the purple shirt with the raised up edges on the shoulder: indie. Check the fur coat with the loud scarf: in-die.
Notice how she looks kind of non-mainstream without looking anything like a tattooed, studded-belt, spiky hair punk girl. But at the same time, notice how she looks nothing like a sorority girl or standard mall girls. That's indie.
Sometine soon I'll do a more complete comparison of different girl styles. But until then, Eleanor (in this video) will be my default definition of the kind of girl style that I'm into. Check it!
July 26, 2005
Alizee: Yes!
A while ago, I posted a .gif of a girl doing a hypnotic gyrating dance. (might as well repost it --ed) 
I found out that the girl is French pop music superstar Alizee. Check out this fucking video of Alizee working it in concert.
http://shermix.free.fr/videos.php?id=alizee3
July 11, 2005
The Official...
The label on Kemp's brand 2% milk now consists of a cow in an "Uncle Sam" top hat with fireworks in the background. Ok, it's stupid, but not devastating. To get to that level, you need to read the caption: "the official milk of the fourth of july".
WTF?!??!?!?!!
This is a phrase that makes ZERO SENSE. I had always been under the impression that the phrase "Z: the official X of Y" had a specific meaning: Company Z had paid organization Y to use their brand of X exclusively. This could be something that makes sense, such as "Gatorade: the official sports drink of the Dallas Mavericks". I mean the Mavericks do need to drink something when they come off the court, so Gatorade pays them to only use gatorade. Then Gatorade is the official drink etc.
This can also be a more ridiculous pairing, like "FTD: the official florist of the NFL". It is hard to imagine that the NFL, as an organization, sends a lot of flowers. Still, I can imagine the NFL having the power to institute a company-wide policy of not using any other florist for their official flower sending.
What the hell does it mean to be the official milk of a day? Did the CEO of the 4th of July sign a contract restricting all milk consumption on his day to Kemp's? Or was Kemps the only milk served at any "official" 4th of July celebration? Either way, I am glad I was in compliance, I'll tell you that much.