Second Life® Fashion Addict

Semantics Won't Do

2010-09-13T17:32:00.005-07:00

Excuse the lack of posts. Real life has been a bit more.... real.... than usual lately.

I've been thinking a lot about words. Not in the Big Deep Way that say Wittgenstein, Kosuth or Barthes would. Just in my own little way.

I'm struck by the fact that two different people can say exactly the same words and the meaning will be entirely different.

It troubles me. I tend to like absolutes. Shifting meanings make me uneasy, like I can't get a fix on things in my world.

Barthes said, "Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire.”

And then he was hit by a laundry van.

Nikk looks both ways in:

Dress: Kunglers Couture Serina Origami Vine
Hair: WAKA and YUKI, Hair 68
Ring: Paper Couture Water Over Wine
Necklace: Paper Couture Gossamer Bead Necklace
Earrings: Paper Couture Gilded Pearl Fruit Earrings
Bracelet: ~*Fresh Baked Goods*~ Jujubeads bracelet (scripted)
Skin: T U L I Audrey Tone 1 makeup 08 with dark lipgloss 8

Dreams Feel Real While We're in Them. It's Only When We Wake Up That We Realize Something Was Actually Strange.

2010-09-02T10:34:00.005-07:00

You're waiting for a train.

A train that will take you far away.

You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't be sure.

Yet it doesn't matter. Now, tell me why?

Nikk looks to see if the top is still spinning in:

Top: Maitreya Part of Crushed Sweater Dress in Eggplant
Skirt: LeLutka Devon mini
Stockings: Zaara Nishar socks in burnt olive
Shoes: Maitreya Bloom boots in violet
Bag: Baiastice Flowers Bustina bag
Necklace: Zaara Parnini necklace in amber
Bracelets: Zaara Ramya wood bangles
Earrings: Zaara Sarayi wood hoops
Ring: Caroline's Natural gold bead ring
Hair: Maitreya Nimue in Pitch
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 8c
Poses: Olive Juice
Inspired by the movie Inception.

As I Went Down In the River To Pray

2010-08-31T06:20:00.005-07:00

As I went down in the river to pray, studyin' about that good ole way.

And who shall wear that starry crown? Good Lord, show me the way!

Oh, sisters, let's go down. Let's go down. Come on down.

Oh, sisters, let's go down.

Down in the river to pray.

Nikk wants to wash her sins away in:

Dress: Nomine Sookie Gown
Necklace: Dark Mouse Stacie's Necklace in silver
Hair: TRUTH Marissa in snow
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 5c
Poses: Olive Juice

Lyrics from "Down In The River" (Author unknown)

La Tricoteuse

2010-08-24T06:20:00.004-07:00

One of my favorite characters in literature is Madame Defarge in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Based on les tricoteuses, the women of the French Revolution who sat calmly knitting while watching the blood of the executions flow, Madame Defarge is one bad-ass knitter.

Into her knitting, she weaves the names of those who are damned in the approaching days of madness.

In Chapter 16, she speaks of the coming storm: "I tell thee," said madame, extending her right hand, for emphasis, "that although it is a long time on the road, it is on the road and coming. I tell thee it never retreats, and never stops. I tell thee it is always advancing. Look around and consider the Eves of all the world that we know, consider the faces of all the world that we know, consider the rage and discontent to which the Jacquerie addresses itself with more and more of certainty every hour."

Although in many ways, she is the villain of the book, I admire her. She is determined. She is smart. She is watchful. She is passionate and she is patient.

And until the time is right, she is waiting and knitting. Knitting with her terrible code.

Nikk might be knitting your name in:

Outfit: Le Grenier du Chateau Patriot dress
Shoes: Bax Ankle Boots (Le Look group gift)
Hair: ETD Tiana in snow
Skin: T U L I Audrey Tone 1 makeup 01
Scripted Knitting Needles: Knit This Ivory Knitting Needles with Lace (animated)

When You Cut the Lights Out

2010-08-22T09:15:00.005-07:00

Nikk says when you cut the lights out think of me in:

Lingerie: Zaara Sumana Lingerie set in blue
Shoes: Maitreya Chi Chi's in pastel blue
Earrings: /artilleri/ Glitter Love in silver
Bracelet: Fresh Baked Goods Sculputred Sugar silver gem
Necklace: Dark Mouse '50's Necklace in silver
Hair: TRUTH Chelsea in silver
Skin: T U L I Audrey Tone 1 makeup 07 with dark lipgloss 5
Poses: Olive Juice, Just a Pose, Long Awkward Pose

It's Not the Falling, It's the Landing

2010-08-21T10:23:00.009-07:00

Nietzsche famously said, "...if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." But sometimes I don't think the abyss just looks back at us, sometimes I think it calls us, beckoning us to the edge.

Taking the abyss as something literal, that void opening below us, who has not felt that urge? That little voice whispering in our ear as we stand on the edge of the canyon, on the top rung of the ladder, against the railing of an observation deck. That voice saying, "Go ahead. Take that step. Feel what it would be like to fly, just for a moment."

I tell people I'm a little afraid of heights, but that's not quite true. I'm afraid that I'll listen to that voice. Not out of some kind of death wish, but from a desire for that thrill. That same feeling you get as the roller coaster tips over the top of the hill, or as you leap off the high diving board.

That moment when time seems to stop, when you are suspended in the air, flying for one moment before gravity notices you again.

Nikk feels the pull of the edge in:

Dress: LeeZu Mirelle (Platinum hut item)
Shoes: Maitreya Chi Chi's in white
Jewelry: Dark Mouse Abstract Extravagance in Mercury
Hair: TRUTH Lillian in snow
Skin: T U L I Audrey Tone 1 makeup 04 with dark lipgloss 4

I Can't Decide

2010-08-18T07:49:00.003-07:00

I can't decide whether you should live or die. Oh, you'll probably go to heaven. Please don't hang your head and cry.

Oh, I could throw you in the lake.

Or feed you poisoned birthday cake. I won't deny I'm gonna miss you when you're gone.

Oh, I could bury you alive, but you might crawl out with a knife and kill me when I'm sleeping.

That's why I can't decide.

Nikk is really only homicidal if you mess with her before she's had coffee in:

Earrings and Necklace: Dark Mouse Vintage Victorian Earrings and Locket
Watch: Caroline's Rock Candy Watch
Hair: Tiny Bird Nantes in White
Skin: T U L I Audrey Tone 1 makeup 09 with dark lipgloss 2
Shoes: [Gos] Espadrilles in Meadow
Dress: Ivalde/ -L'Abel-, Lilani dress (8/18 69L Humpday item at L'Abel)

Lyrics from Scissor Sisters "I Can't Decide" which you should probably not listen to at full volume in your office or in front of children.

Windswept

2010-08-17T07:27:00.005-07:00

Nikk can see nothing in:

Coat: Digit Darkes Determined Coat in plum
Lingerie: INSOLENCE, Leslie Lavander Ensemble
Stockings: GrueLing Designs- Misfit Fishnets
Bracelets: Dark Mouse Vintage Nouveau bangle
Necklace: Zaara Vanisri in onyx
Shoes: Pixel Mode Kavika Sheen
Ring: Paper Couture Water Over Wine ring
Hair: T U L I
Skin: T U L I Audrey Tone 1 makeup 08 with dark lipgloss 5

Cinema Italiano

2010-08-16T06:53:00.005-07:00

I love Italian movies. Granted, my introduction to cinema italiano was via the newer generation of great Italian films: Cinema Paradisio, Mediterranio, Il Postino...

But I've now come to appreciate the "pink neorealism" and the commedia all'italiana styles of the 1950's and 1960's as well.

These films, with stars like Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, are filled with style and passion.

And really, who couldn't use a little bit more of la dolce vita in their life?

Nikk says ciao, bella in:

Earrings: Burroughs iMix3 DDee Hoops
Bracelet: Eclectica Jazz Chinoiserie bangles
Watch: Caroline's Rock Candy Watch
Sunglasses: /artilleri/ Marla sunglasses in pink
Dress: DPSerendipity Audrey Dress in brown
Shoes: Magnifico Le Plateau in green/ white
Hair: TRUTH Kami streaked snow
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 2c
Poses: Olive Juice, Striking Poses
Location: Cinecitta

A Tale of Two Edies

2010-08-14T10:56:00.006-07:00

There's a woman I visit almost every time I go to New York City. Most people know her as Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes and she hangs on the wall at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In her 1897 portrait by John Singer Sargent, Edith Minturn Phelps Stokes stands confidently, returning the viewer's gaze with a lifted chin and an inviting smile. With her fashion-forward attire and her strong demeanor, she is every inch the new independent woman of her age.

While most people are probably not familiar with Edith Minturn Phelps Stokes, the name of her great-niece may ring a bell-- Edith Minturn Sedgwick, Edie for short.

In the 1960's Edie Sedgwick became a fixture at Andy Warhol's Factory. Appearing in several Warhol films, she soon became the "It" girl of the art and fashion scene. Her signature style-- short hair, dramatic make-up, large earrings, and a sweater combined with tights-- was quickly copied by avant garde fashionistas. On film, she exudes a nervous energy and vulnerability that perhaps hints at her troubled mental state. Sedgwick died of an overdose in 1971 at the age of 28.

On Edith Minturn Phelps Stokes:

Shirt: Le Grenier du Chateau Bicycle Suit
Skirt: ~~Ivalde~~ Arielle White Dress
Shoes: Bax Ankle Boots (Le Look group gift)
Hat: Le Grenier du Chateau Straw Boater Hat
Hair: ETD Tiana in Black
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 5c

On Edith Minturn Sedgwick:

Shirt: Emery Stripped Tee
Tights: GLAM Tintable Metallic Lycra Tights
Shoes: Periquita Funny Girl Flats in Black
Earrings: {JUNK} onyx inlay
Bracelets: Dark Mouse Vintage Nouveau bangle
Hair: TRUTH Peta in Snow
Lashes: [Glow] studio Innocent eyelashes in intensive (for The Dressing Room)
Skin: Curio Gala Petal Winter Coal 2

John Singer Sargent's portrait:
Edie Sedgwick in Warhol's Poor Little Rich Girl:

This Is Just To Say... Will, You Suck!

2010-08-13T05:32:00.007-07:00

Mmm, I've really been looking forward to those plums I bought at the Farmers' Market yester.... hey, wait! Where are they?

Hmmm. What's this note say?

"This is just to say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold"

Dammit, Will! If you knew I was saving them for breakfast, why the hot hell would you eat all of them?! What on earth is wrong with you, you selfish bastard?

This is sooooo typical. Last week, you drank all the O. J. and put the empty container back in the fridge. The week before, you drove my car all day and left it with no gas in the tank. Well, this is it, Will! Why don't you go move in with your buddies Pound and Joyce? I bet they're a real bucket of laughs! They wouldn't put up with any of your produce-stealing bullsh*t, that's for sure! Son of a bitch- now I'm going to have to have a Pop Tart or something. Thanks for that, Will. Thanks a lot!

Nikk thinks maybe she saw some cherries in the fridge in:

Shirt: Shiki Kimono dress halter top
Pants: Zaara Jeans {classic} blue
Shoes: Periquita Silly Wedges
Earrings: Zaara Sarayi wood hoops
Bracelets: Zaara Ramya wood bangles in gold
Hair: TRUTH Kami in snow
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 8c
Poses: Poses: PDA, Olive Juice
Kitchen furniture by Blonde*.

This post very much inspired by this. And apologies to William Carlos Willams, who I'm sure, despite his fruitnapping proclivities, was a lovely person.

In the Outskirts and In the Fringes

2010-08-12T07:32:00.006-07:00

Photographer Diane Arbus established her reputation by capturing haunting images of those typically marginalized by 20th century society: circus performers, nuditsts, transvestites. In her work, there is a sense that she sought to convey the humanity of her subjects rather than highlight their outsider status. She gained such notoriety for her images that in 1972, she became the first American photographer exhibited at the Venice Biennale. While many found her images arresting and highly-nuanced, there were those who found them too confrontational. Norman Mailer once said, "Giving a camera to Diane Arbus is like putting a live grenade in the hands of a child."

Her choice of subject matter may seem strange given her early life and early career. Arbus grew up wealthy in New York City, and her early work was for staid publications like Harper's Bazaar.

Arbus was not only a photographer. She also shared her knowledge of the craft as a teacher at Parsons, Cooper Union and Rhode Island School of Design.

Plagued by depression throughout her adult life, Arbus committed suicide in 1971 at the age of 48.

Nikk looks for beauty in unusual places in:

Coat: Milk Motion fur coat
Sweater: Push Button Industries The Afternoon sweater in Ink
Pants: Zaara Jeans {classic} blue
Shoes: Zaara Ilaida Mojri for shoe fair.
Earrings: Dark Mouse Wood and Glass earrings
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 5c
Hair- TRUTH Peta in Espresso
Camera: Chic Aeon

Meditations on Museums as Music

2010-08-11T11:12:00.005-07:00

Many artists' paintings have been influenced directly by music-- take for example, the works of Whistler, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Haring. But having spent a lot of time in museums, I've decided that each one has its own special rhythm and melody as well.

The Metropolitan, that grand dame of museums, is stately, big, and full of surprises, like a Beethoven symphony. The Met's offspring, The Cloisters, is gilded and ritualistic like a Gregorian chant. MoMA, on the other hand, is more immediate and primal, like Stravinsky.

To the south, the Barnes is didactic and bombastic, like Wagner, while Barnes' rival collector, Duncan Phillips' museum is intimate and full of surprises like a Bartok quartet.

Then there are the twin sisters of the National Gallery-- The East and West Wings. The NGA West wing is linear and repetitive, like a Bach fugue. The East Wing, however, with its unusual angles and changing walls is like a jazz work by Brubeck.

Listen. Listen closely next time you are in a museum. Beyond the murmur of voices and the sounds of people walking through the galleries, you may just hear the faint sound of music.

Nikk muses on museums' music in:

Shirt: Baiastice Kean shirt in black
Pants: Baiastice Kean high-waisted pants in black
Earrings: Dark Mouse Abstract Extravagance in Mercury
Bracelets: Dark Mouse Vintage Nouveau bangle
Hat: Donna Flora Tania hat
Purse: Baiastice Secchiello in red
Shoes: [Gos] DARE bootie in Mono
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 9c
Hair: Curio Gertrude in black

I Like For You To Be Still

2010-08-10T08:22:00.004-07:00

I like for you to be still
It is as though you are absent
And you hear me from far away
And my voice does not touch you
It seems as though your eyes had flown away
And it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth

As all things are filled with my soul
You emerge from the things
Filled with my soul
You are like my soul
A butterfly of dream
And you are like the word: Melancholy

I like for you to be still
And you seem far away
It sounds as though you are lamenting
A butterfly cooing like a dove
And you hear me from far away
And my voice does not reach you
Let me come to be still in your silence

And let me talk to you with your silence
That is bright as a lamp
Simple, as a ring
You are like the night
With its stillness and constellations
Your silence is that of a star
As remote and candid

I like for you to be still
It is as though you are absent
Distant and full of sorrow
So you would've died
One word then, One smile is enough
And I'm happy;
Happy that it's not true

--Pablo Neurda

Nikk is still and absent in:

Dress: Schadenfreude Geraldine dress for Blur installation
Shoes: [Gos] DARE bootie in Mono
Ring: Dark Mouse Abstract Extravagance in Mercury
Bracelets: Dark Mouse Vintage Nouveau bangle
Necklace: Donna Flora Leda necklace in silver
Hair: LeLutka Ninotchka in Arctic
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 9c

Skateaway

2010-08-09T07:17:00.006-07:00

I love skating through the city streets. I play chicken with the trucks and act like a matador with the taxis. It satisfies my deep-seeded need to take risks, like when I was on the roller derby circuit. My skate name was "Dysfunctional Sugarsprinkles" and for someone who sounded so sweet, I could be a real bitch on wheels.

From above, the orthoganals of the streets may look like something from Braque or Mondrian, but as I race through them, I feel more like Boccioni's Unique Forms Of Continuity in Space. I fly through space, becoming one with the air around me.

People think I'm crazy to flirt with death like this every day, but for me, it's the only way to live. What could be better than feeling your heart race and gasping for breath as you make a perfect cut between two on-coming cars? It's almost as good as sex.

I know one day I'll have to give all this up and lead a normal life, but until then, I just yell, "Toro! Toro, taxi!" and off I go again.

Nikk dances around the danger in:

Shirt- Toast Tokyo or Bust
Shorts- VG Denim White Wash
Socks: Maitreya Toeless Slouch Socks in Softs1
Mp3 Player- RC Cluster Playpod
Bracelets: KJ* Sweets and Fresh Baked Goods
Belt- Bare Rose Toy Shop Girl belt
Skates- Skoopf Ultra 2008 Roller Skates
Tattoo- Frosting Ink Cake Hoar faded tattoo
Skin- Tuli for The Dressing Room Gina 05
Hair- TRUTH Layla in streaked snow

Poses- Olive Juice

And a Hi5! to Paulina Oceanlane for the inspiration and general awesomeness.

No Man Knows My Story

2010-08-07T08:01:00.005-07:00

"Sometimes life is ridiculously simple... men want me again. I can see it in the way they follow my movements, not just with their eyes, but with their whole bodies... And I'll admit to this: I am collecting them like gold-plated sugar spoons, one from every state.

This is a difficult story to tell because what's right about what I have to say is only as wide as a tightrope, and what's wrong about it yawns wide, beckoning, on either side. But there is something so sweet about the first kiss, the first surrender that, like the words "I want you," can never mean precisely the same thing again. It is delicious and addicting...

I will tell you about Phillip, who is vast and dangerous, his desires uncontainable and huge...

Christopher is innocent. Very young and wide-open....

Jonathan came here from the Okavango Delta in Botswana; he's tall and hairy and clever and strong....

I'm afraid of what you might be thinking. That I am a certain kind of person, and that you are the kind of person who knows more about my story that me. But you should know this: I could love any one of them, in an instant and with every piece of my heart, but none of them nor the world will allow it, and so I move between them, on snowy highways and crowded airplanes.

I was in New York this morning. I woke up in Phillip's bed. Come here, he's in my hair. You can still smell him."

Nikk walks a tightrope in:

Pants: LeLutka wool pants in black
Shirt: Zaara Isis shirt in wine
Boots: Bax Black Patent
Belt: Coco Wide Belt in Black
Sunglasses: Role Optic, Gala
Bracelet: Fresh Baked Goods Jelly Bean silver gem bangle
Necklace: Zaara Vanisri in onyx
Bag: Baiastice pop bag Warhol
Hair: TRUTH Tatiana in snow
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 8c

Text excerpted from the short story "Symphony" in Pam Houston's Cowboys are My Weakness.
Title inspired by Fawn Brodie's No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith.

I Speak of Africa and Golden Joys

2010-08-06T06:48:00.004-07:00

The Serengetti Plains spread from Lake Nyarza, in Tanganyika, northward beyond the lower boundaries of Kenya Colony. . . They are endless and they are empty, but they are as warm with life as the waters of a tropic sea.

They are webbed with the paths of eland and wildebeest and Thompson's gazelle and their hollows and valleys are trampled by thousands of zebra. I have seen a herd of buffalo invade the pastures under the occasional thorn tree groves and now and then, the whimsically fashioned figure of a plodding rhino has moved along the horizon like a grey boulder come to life and adventure bound.

There are no roads. There are no villages, no towns, no telegraph. There is nothing, as far as you can see, or walk, or ride, except grass and rocks and a few trees and the animals that live there.

Nikk speaks of Africa in:

Dress: Coco Maxi dress in giraffe print
Shoes: *HUB*, Venus Sandals in sand
Bracelet: /artilleri/ wooden bracelet and Yak and Yeti mantra cuff
Necklace: Zaara Karmuka in Wood
Hair: TRUTH Frankie in espresso streak
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 3c

Title is from William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Act V, Sc. 3.
Text is from West with the Night by Beryl Markham.

And From Your Lips She Drew a Hallelujah

2010-08-05T06:51:00.005-07:00

The term "Gothic," at least as applied to architecture, is probably one of the most misunderstood in the field of art history. We tend to think of all things Gothic as dark and macabre. However, Gothic architecture is exactly the opposite- it is light and glorious, representing some of humanities' greatest achievements in engineering and design.

In around 1140 in France, a powerful political and religious figure named Abbot Suger began renovation work on the cathedral at St. Denis. Reacting against the ponderous, thick-walled architectural style of the time, Suger said he wanted the Church to be bathed in holy light. The challenge was how to allow for more windows, which weaken the wall, while still having soaring and heavy vaulted ceilings?

The answer became one of the hallmarks of the Gothic style-- the flying buttress. These external supports carry the weight of the roof and the vault to the ground, allowing the walls to essentially become a skin stretched across the building. Builders could now fill much of the wall surface with stained glass, making the interior glitter like a jewelry box.

Aesthetically, these buttresses also give the building a very organic look. Gothic churches often appear to have not so much been built as sprung from the ground, soaring to the heavens. In pictures, the forms of the buttresses can overlap in ways that appear almost wonderfully chaotic. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge noted, "The principle of Gothic architecture is infinity made imaginable."

Nikk examines the sacred while wearing the profane in:

Dress: Zaara Amala dress in red
Shoes: Maitreya Chi Chi's
Bracelet and Earrings: Fresh Baked Goods Jam Gem Thumbprint Cookie
Hair: TRUTH Chelsea in black
Skin: T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 6c

I Can't Tell What's Right and What's Real Anymore

2010-08-04T05:29:00.004-07:00

Down and out in Vegas with amphetamine psychosis again?

"There's a big... machine in the sky.... some kind of electric snake... coming straight at us."
"Shoot it," said my attorney.
"Not yet," I said. "I want to study its habits."

My attorney said, "If you think we're in trouble now, wait till you see what's happening in the elevators."

My hallucinations were down to a tolerable level. The room service waiter had a vaguely reptilian cast to his features, but I was no longer seeing huge pterodactyls lumbering around the corridors.

"Order some golf shoes," I whispered. "Otherwise we'll never get out of this place alive. You notice the lizards don't have any trouble moving around in this muck."

Nikk is sure that on some level it is deeply wrong to combine Lily Allen and Hunter S. Thompson in:

Dress: Mischief Justa Splash in yellow
Shoes: Nardcotix Ashoka T-Straps in yellow
Earrings: /artilleri/ glitter hearts in black
Bracelet: ~*Fresh Baked Goods*~ Mahjong Tile bracelet (scripted)
Hair: ~MAGIKA~ Bailey Hair in White (color- change headband)
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 5c

Poses: Just a Pose
Text adapted from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.
Title from Lily Allen's The Fear.

And I've Been Putting Out Fire With Gasoline

2010-08-03T04:54:00.003-07:00

No words today. The pictures speak for themselves.

Nikk can stare for a thousand years in:

Lingerie: Hucci Zebra Slip in Blue
Shoes: Pixel Mode Baby Ts in black
Earrings and Ring: Dark Mouse Abstract Extravagance in Mercury
Hair: TRUTH Tilly in snow (streaked)
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 3c

Poses: Olive Juice, Just a Pose, Long Awkward Pose

Chelsea Girl

2010-08-02T06:42:00.005-07:00

This really was a "I had to be somewhere five minutes ago" outfit, but then someone told me it looked really good. He seemed particularly fascinated by the shirt as I recall.

He also told me it looked like I was running off to a gallery opening in Chelsea. Then we discussed how this year all the artists are using Styrofoam, peanut butter and pond scum, while back in 2008, everybody who was anybody was working in bee excrement. And thus, a blog post was born.

I have no idea if this is how other bloggers end up with their ideas. I'm guessing not, but I respect my process and just roll with it. Plus it amuses me to talk about peanut butter, pond scum and bee excrement.

Nikk is avoiding room 115 in:

Shirt: Boing Fromage Musical Geisha Tee
Pants: Zaara Jeans {classic} blue
Watches: Magika Time Has No Meaning
Glasses: /artilleri/ Paula Glasses in Black
Belt: Coco Gift Belt
Bag: Coco Clear Tote in Black
Shoes: Kookie City Wedges in nude
Hair: TRUTH Candice in Snow
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 3c

Poses: Olive Juice
Location: Hotel Chelsea

If You Can't Sleep, I'll Be There In Your Dreams

2010-08-01T11:56:00.003-07:00

Still can't sleep.

I think now I'm so tired I'm actually losing IQ points.

No pithy or interesting post today. Stop by tomorrow. Bring coffee.

Nikk is awake at Are-You-Kidding-Me O'clock in:

Shirt: Yak & Yeti Little Monster
Panties: Hang the DJ! Saturday!
Slippers; Sanu Bunneh Slippers
Glasses: /artilleri/ Paula Glasses in Black
Hair: Marlys Tre Salon Blonde Hair in whipped cream
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 3b

You Can Hear The Sound of The Underground Trains. You Know It Feels Like Distant Thunder.

2010-07-31T07:05:00.006-07:00

I've been wrestling with insomnia lately, and that got me thinking about the most famous insomniacs in the history of art-- Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.

Completed in 1942, the painting was an immediate success and was purchased right away by the Art Institute of Chicago, where it still resides. Hopper himself considered it one of his best works: "It is, I believe, one of my very best things I have painted. I seem to have come nearer to saying what I want to say in my work, this past winter, than I ever have before."

The painting is the perfect statement on the isolation that is part of modern life. These are worn-down New Yorkers, alone in the city and even in the diner. There is no interaction among the figures. There is also no visible way in or out of their space. We are alone on the outside, looking in but unable to gain access.

Hopper was a master of lighting effects in his paintings. (And Thomas Kinkade can go suck it.) Here, the gloom of the street is offset by the bright, almost harsh lighting of the diner.

The Second Life 3D recreation of Hopper's painting effectively shows something easy to miss when looking at the original. Hopper uses an imperfect perspective that draws the viewer's eye back to the figures in the diner. Hopper loved movies, especially film noir, and his use of dramatic perspective reflects this love.

If late at night you are looking for a cuppa joe and want to go somewhere where everybody doesn't know your name and doesn't care, head to Primtings to step into Hopper's painting. Tell them Nikk sent you. They won't care.

Nikk asks you to pass the sugar in:
Top: /artilleri/ Carlita in black
Skirt: /artilleri/ Tiffany skirt in green
Shoes: ETD Starley Pumps Cheetah
Bracelet: Fresh Baked Goods Jelly Tots bracelet in Greyscale
Necklace: SIGMA Jewels necklace for Le.Look
Hair: TRUTH Grace in snow
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 6c

This Whole World's Wild at Heart and Weird on Top.

2010-07-30T06:56:00.008-07:00

I worry sometimes that Sailor and me broke down somewhere on the Yellow Brick Road.

When I say something like that to Sail, he just tells me, "Peanut, the way your head works is God's own private mystery."

He also says that the reason he always wears that there jacket is because it represents a symbol of his individuality, and his belief in personal freedom.

I worry that one of these days the sun's gonna come up and burn a hole clean through the planet like a giant electrical x-ray. But Sail thinks that ain't never gonna happen and anyway, we got dancin' to do.

I swear, when Sail kisses me, it just about sends me over that rainbow. I always say to him, "Cheez Louise! Sailor, baby, you're really somethin'!"

And if he don't let up, I usually tell him, "Uh oh. Baby, you'd better get me back to that hotel. You got me hotter than Georgia asphalt."

Lula tells Sailor to find her some music on the radio this instant in:
Dress: E! Eclectic Apparel & Accessories Slink Dress in Pink
Leggings: Maitreya M*A*ii*K*I Long Leggings in Black
Shoes: Maitreya Virtue in Patent Black
Belt: Coco Wide Belt in Black
Hair: TRUTH Rylan in snow
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 6c

Sailor tells Lula to stab it and steer in:
Jeans: Axe
Shirt: Moonshine
Jacket: Meriken
Boots: Redgrave
Hair: Exile
Skin: Redgrave

A HUGE thank you to Glamouramama Boa of Just a Pose for jumping in with both feet and creating the couples poses. And a big, big thank you to Davey Swindlehurst for playing Sailor to my Lula with infinite patience and humor.

I'd Tell of Nights Where I Could Taste the Salt on His Skin

2010-07-29T06:18:00.006-07:00

"My name is Calypso and I have lived alone. I live on an island. . . A long time ago, I watched him struggle with the sea. I knew that he was drowning and I brought him into me. Now today, come morning light, he sails away. After one last night, I let him go."
-- Suzanne Vega, Calypso

I've always that thought that Calypso got a raw deal in literature.

We know her best from Homer's Odyssey. In Homer's tale, she shows up in line 14:
"Odysseus alone, filled with longing for his return and for his wife, did the queenly nymph Calypso, that bright goddess, keep back in her hollow caves, yearning that he should be her husband."

So basically in Homer's eyes, she's a desperate, lonely minor goddess turned kidnapper. He goes on to say that after many years, the gods force Calypso to let Odysseus go. And that's the end of her part in the story.

Apollodorus is a little kinder to our Calypso in his version of the story:
"[Odysseus] was carried across to the island of Ogygia. There Calypso, daughter of Atlas, received him, and bedding with him bore a son Latinus. He stayed with her five years, and then made a raft and sailed away."

At least here, instead of being crazy kidnapper, she's the abandoned single mother. An improvement, I guess?

What if she could be the hero of her own story instead of a minor character in Odysseus'?

Would she tell of her loneliness on the island until one day a broken man washed up on the shore? Of how she healed him and they spent several glorious years together? Did she help him build the raft that carried him back to Penelope, his wife?

And then after he left, what happened to her next?

Nikk writes her own mythology in:
Dress: Aura Pantiella Dress, patch pattern
Bracelet: /artilleri/ wooden bracelet
Necklace: Zaara Karmuka in Wood
Hair: TRUTH Aradhana in snow
Skin:T U L I Jade tone 2 makeup 2c

Poses: Olive Juice and {flowey}
Location: Las Arenas Rosadas