Wanderlust.

Athens, Ohio's "Boogie on the Bricks." View from the south side of the street. Basically like a college street party except the general 21+ crowd gets beyond buzzed on craft beer and jives to daddy rock.

Achtung, I am one step away from finally getting my college degree. I turned in my final paper for my writing and rhetoric class around 7 a.m. today, then blacked out from my iced-coffee fueled all nighter. On the bright side of things my online Shakespeare class will be done in 5 weeks, I somehow found a way to squeeze a little money out of this small town by babysitting two kids, the Etsy store is finally open, and I have all the time in the world to prepare for my move, discover new music, and do a little bit of traveling (on a budget).

Speaking of traveling and music, feels like it's been over a month since I last been to a show (and therefore suffering a dry spell). Being chained to schoolwork was a great way to save money - enough to make it out to these following shows. (Still pretty bummed to have missed Wiccans, Milk Music, and [just now] the Backslider/Disciple of Christ duo these past few weeks.) Hope to see some of you guys out there. I'm looking forward to doing some reviews + photo recaps of these shows (linked for info/ticket vendor):

7.26 to 7.29_ Chicago birthday
7.30_ KVLT V: INTO THE DARK. DAYLONG FESTIVAL feat. Teengirl Fantasy, Pictureplane (!), Gatekeeper (!), Todd Pendu (of Pendu NYC), Textbeak, Funerals, I†† & more @ Double Happiness, Columbus, OH. adv. $10 tickets here.
8.2_ Cold Cave, Austra @ The Grog Shop, Cleveland. $12adv/$14door. Tickets here.
8.3_ Crystal Castles @ Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH.
8.9_ ICEAGE, The Men, White Walls, Unholy Two, Scavenger @ Carabar, Columbus, OH. FUCKING FREEEEE SO DON'T MISS THIS OHIO (but damn that means I have to miss the soon after Avon Ladies show, blech)
8.13_ MAD DECENT BLOCK PARTY feat. Dillon Francis, Dawn Golden & Rosy Cross, Bosco Delrey, Kito, Reptar, Lunice, Benzi and Curren$y @ Wicker Park area, Chicago. FREEE
8.19_ bye Ohio

Gatekeeper is entrancing live and I feel like I'm in some sci-fi underworld every time I hear their stuff. The video above is from their set at the Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn. I'm not hard to spot in that video: I'm the one getting my dance on. Particularly excited with this dance marathon and my little break with the astounding bill for the Carabar show. That will spark an exciting overview of booze-fueled fun. As far as the Mad Decent Block Party, Chicagoans looking to gyrate against the August heatwave and are down with moombahton should hollar at me, my crop top, and my air horn. That's not completely set in stone, but I certainly don't want to miss this.

Edit: re-opened my Netflix account now that I'm less occupied. Two thumbs down to the extra charge for DVDs (first world problems); thumbs up to my fattened instant queue dashboard. Which reminds me, I need to check out Spotify soon because everyone's raving over how it's the music of Netflix... yes?

Synthspired

Modes des hommes_ printemps 2012

ACNE
Highwaters mean that this man's down to dance, and I love that in a man.


ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
Not going to lie, the composition of patterns and textures reminds me of the outfits you can pick and choose for your Sims character. Most of the individual pieces in this collection are great, though I think only someone like Matthew hitt could flaunt a plunging neckline like fresh money.


ANNE DEMEULEMEESTER
Someone took my goth love to the countryside and he got all romantic on me.


BALENCIAGA
Balenciaga's inimitable streamlined cuts = guaranteed sartorial orgasms.


BAND OF OUTSIDERS
The blue steel on this runway was so bright that shades were obligatory.


COSTUME NATIONAL
Before the boys become men. A playful take on menswear staples showing that you can't take the punk out of the boy.


DIOR HOMME
A few words: thank God for Kris Van Assche.


JIL SANDER
Not too sure how user-friendly the body bag would be in frantic times, but from the front slicked hair to the patent leather oxfords?! Sehr wunderbar.


LANVIN


MOSCHINO
CC'ing the Trouble and Bass DJ crew.


RAG AND BONE


RAF SIMONS
You think Simons was looking at Crispin Glover's "Clowny Clown Clown" video on mute and blasted Daft Punk's "Brainwasher" while making this collection? That aside, let's direct our attention to the PRETTY FUCKING AMAZING finale.



Mind-sweeping.(GQ's Tumblr has a better video.)


YOHJI YAMAMOTO
For editorial purposes, this is a pretty cool collection. Let's just say Yamamoto did an immaculate job with casting on this one.


YVES SAINT-LAURENT

My overwhelming affinity for menswear and beautiful men has made wonder why I am not a gay man. This visual recap of what struck my fancy is weeks old, I know. Couture week has passed and now we're sitting pretty at Berlin's week of mode, so I'm going to attempt to catch up then later flair my hands in the air, grab some coffee, and take a long drag of some of that adult candy.

All runway images from GQ style.

Die Mode und Die Sprache.

Tomorrow, I will work on setting up an Etsy store for my pieces. Over the weekend, I have made another version of the denim takeover buttonhole shoulder bag. (Whew.) As if I have not repeated myself over and over again, updates will be posted on Austyana.blogspot.com. Keep it evil.

For some reason I decided to go on Youtube and teach myself German via Speedyconkiwi. Her video tutorials are very easy to follow and she often supplements her lessons with cultural insights and pronunciation suggestions, which I find very helpful.

For some reason, Miss Kiwi apparently gets a lot of flack for her videos and I don't know if it's because of her lessons, her tendency to be a broken record on updates (just press pause or move on to the next video), or the fact that in the first few videos she looks like the ghost of the long lost high school nu metal fan.

That aside, she's amicable and genuinely interested in dishing out the basics in conversation, pronunciation, and articles. In turn, I'm quickly picking up the German language (though its similarities with French and English may have helped greatly), asking myself "wie geht's dir" and counting up to 30 in my sleep. +1 to her.

Gimme Gimme Your Hands Gimme Gimme Your Minds.

Currently writing a paper on how I perceive myself as a writer. Easier than it sounds - it's like looking in the mirror naked and telling the world how I perceive the faint stretch marks along my butt crease. (Actually, I'd rather do that.) Two more weeks of this, then I can finally cackle my way out of college with a diploma.

Anyway, here I am in front of the Williamsburg bridge, a couple blocks down from my future residence. In a month, I will not be there via Photobooth.

Been keeping an eye on fashion week for the men and couture collections. Once I find some time, I'll compile a photo collage of what has caught my fancy.

Oh also, made a small shoulder bag during the holiday weekend.

Last.fm Scaicha

Very cool.