alien braids

at sartre class. i have derailed discussion regarding transcendence of the ego, because i am not getting it. the writing is awfully pedantic. cassandra just braided me up. had no idea she would go for something so complex. it doesn't visually pop because my hair is dark, but i really like touching the silky ridges. i want someone to do my hair up every other day. it feels very 'warrior.'

honestly, this class wasn't going to go well regardless of how sassy i talk. half the people here were drunk when i arrived, and i was punctual.

another nice thing; now i've got cassandra's work on my head, her hands made this. she's locked in. that gives me a proud feeling, a friend feeling. R.Kellz, i get it.

blonde wig alert!

80s dress with ruching and sheer sleeves, vintage rhinestone necklace

i really like all of shua's brush strokes

http://crowthepainter.tumblr.com/

i think some fashion-lipo happened. i don't need it, but i'm not mad at it.

this dress is sexy as all get-out, and has some awesome gathered hip panels.

and that neckline!


(label is BB Collection) 

Smell of Rain or Poem of M.

by hoang hung

i was thinking of this poem two weeks ago and tore my house apart looking for it. there were papers everywhere, piles. (my roommate hates when that happens. the pile-making is avery unfortunate alanna thing.) i had insomnia, i didn't sleep, i was texting poetry friends from back in the day and asking them to rack their brains, given only an impressionistic description of this poem, which i haven't read since 2003. i think it was raining the night i went digging through all my papers, and i was miserably crushed-out. the next day i scheduled a trip to michigan, in large part so i could access the boxes of books that i have in storage.


now i have it. here it is. something so precious and rare, on a single piece of paper. given the lines i remembered, what i could recall about the poet, his imprisonment, i could not find it on the internet, through i racked my brain and returned to google with new words, day after day. the first time i heard it, a teaching guest of kevin coval had brought it to word wide, in the basement of the chopin theater. i do not remember the writing prompt that followed it, because i was so floored by the rawness and clarity of the lines. the gratitude that can hardly be felt in the memory of such despair.


the urgency that i felt, looking for this piece of paper, makes me realize how essential poetry is to me. songs disappear when they fall out of favor, and poems have no popular hold, compared to something singable. but i could not reconstruct this, could not convey this feeling. it is a poem with cow dung, cement floors, metal roofs, and rain -- it is not fancy and the speaker is anxiously insecure in his love.


reading this, i think about the terrors of prison, of exile, of the limits to our knowledge and understanding. this could be a poem about orpheus and eurydice. it is a poem about ineffability and "the odor of tears."

opera

http://crowthepainter.tumblr.com/

vintage skirt suit by christian lacroix, suede and plastic pumps by miumiu

what you can't see, with the poor lighting, is that the suit is a navy brocade, covered in scrolled hearts. the collar is petal'd, and there is a false/inset vest. the vest has a sweetheart decolletage, and gilt buttons that bear the CL imprint.

listening to a lot of opera the past couple days. standouts: don giovanni, tristan and isolde, tosca.

ขอขอบคุณคุณ (thank you)

if that title is wrong, i blame google translator.

my roommate came back from thailand today and he brought me goodies! fluoro-jellies in an adorably conservative silhouette, a jade ring, and a carnelian bangle. even the gift bag is gorgeous. people who present me with shoes are on a whole 'nother level of intelligent.

noah collects masks. this is not a gift, but i wish it was, because it is crazy-dicks-awesome.

game of thrones (jello map)

i haven't been watching Mad Men this season, but i will eventually catch up. however, i have been entirely on top of Game of Thrones, which is awesome and fucked up. (how is it possible that king joffrey gets evil-er with every episode?)


anyway, i am visiting my mom in michigan and it is not much of a fashion event, but i am having a great time with my kitty. also, my mom made all these jellos, and that's weird. some of them are jello that she threw in a blender with pearsauce (like applesauce, but not). how is she going to eat all these jellos?


so i made a map of the Game of Thrones world, using these colors. it is kind of a shit map, but that is where imagination comes in -- and Microsoft Paint. i do not have Photoshop. (i know.)


so enjoy. i also posted this to twitter, and it's already been RT'd four times. my dreams of going viral.....!

threat or men

looking for poetry in an article from the Chicago Reader, i used newspaper blackout technique; meaning via excision. the original article uses the word "creative" (or derivatives of it) 11 times within a total count of 1214 words. the article is about Tumblr as a threat to creativity. (i have already pointed this out to the author.)

anyway, this isn't about a public shanda -- this is about bad poetry! my own! just saying, look, i self-imposed a kind of crazy limit. it would have been more fun if there were more action words, more adjectives, more metaphors.

the first draft

(with line-breaks -- as i would read aloud)

threat or men:

what's really new

_______

allow the accused

culture.

argue for an 

uptick

above his core

assert a way of

attractive

without explanation.

for instance,

predict that an entire generation

is dwarfed

by moths.

i draw back

music about mere

conversation and control --

but demonstrate

remix of instincts

satisfied with reproducing

energy

large eyes and

weirdo icons

employ serendipity to project

and collage

histories

among the modes of

found sound.

you started

in the sample method

the notion that transforms

forests

into the outline of a story

the untold edge

often praised

for failure.

who didn't combine

drug

and long-haired,

but philosophy employed bleeding.

the cabal behind the big beat.

the Song

is responsible

the same way

raw material is cut

and rearranged in fashion.

knock out disillusion.

the piano with nothing.

even an artificial world

might have a point,

guided by replicating

and recombining its past.

defined as something that leaves

little Visions.

the new Zeus

of broken verse followed

my eyes

to chaos.

a fervor to swell

sui generis.

found by searching for words

like "blue" or "water"

and

mix tape

in a Voice of 100-

acre unearthed dances.

they struck directly

into the head.

the first material knowledge

to musicians

is one

ear.

time out

part three of the punishment series. sometimes kids need to stand in the corner and Think About What They've Done. fairly benign. usually this just filled me with rage though, not remorse.

found this dress at buffalo exchange in austin. it's from the 80s. the label is Linda Segal for Ashley.

JOSH CROW

dress by Linda Segal for Ashley, heels are Marc by Marc Jacobs

wiggle frock

i am still on a self-imposed media blackout for MadMen, but it's hard, because people want to talk to me about it. (because i turned all them onto it.) just been too busy for a sit-down, and it'll be easier once half the season is up and i can watch several episodes at a go.

still, in honor of the long-anticipated fifth season, here is some faux-vintage. Shua and i worked on some real vintage pieces that will hopefully be ready to post soon.

crow the painter

dress is SHE by Cindy Brown. rubber peeptoes are Vivienne Westwood X Melissa

alt shot, to give a slightly better view of the collar construction. the tailoring is sleek.

shibori rave

super-adored this dress, and paid through the nose for it. i've only gotten to wear it a couple times, because there's no toning it down. last time, i wore it to a noise show at happy dog. sweat was flying and beer was spraying in the smoke-choked room, but if you can't have get down in such a fun-looking mini-dress, what's the point?

jack mccoullough and lazaro hernandez are the coolest partnership* in american fashion.... and i always covet their work. the proenza schouler runway for FW2012 was gorgeous and high on immaculate embroidery.

shibori-print tank dress with pailettes, neoprene, and pleated chiffon

credit where it's due

daria werbowy in vogue 

Proenza Schouler runway S/S 2010

*except for maybe laura and kate mulleavy, who run more dreamy than rad

come-uppance

i definitely got spanked, but i'd take a licking over a lecture any day.

http://crowthepainter.tumblr.com/

lanvin x h&m, wool and patent pumps by bcbg max azria, stockings by AA

instamax X kola

noah is still loving his new expensive habit -- his instamax camera. now that he has a pack of kola color lenses, there's a twist. in a few days he'll be heading to thailand, and he's got to work out the kinks before then.

as opposed to instagram, which makes everything look old-timey without any risk, this is really on the polaroid level, and sometimes the exposure is off. the richer-pigment lenses cancel out the flash. (we should try using the filters with my elph.) 

mom & me & louise

balance AND flexibility

cultural appropriation bullshit

outside the tortilla factory on wolcott

cowboy stance