Monday, October 29, 2012

Sartorialist Favorites

Just a few seconds ago, as I was snuggled under the flannel sheets of my TwinXL holed up in my cozy little dorm room  in anticipation of the arrival of hurricane Sandy, I stumbled upon one of my favorite Sartorialist photographs and figured it was about time I posted about The Sartorialist.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Scott Schuman's blog, The Sartorialist, you can read his biography here. All you really need to know is that he obviously has a nice camera, and takes pictures of cool people in exciting places.

When I originally downloaded this image on my computer, I labeled it as"sparkles, different textures, braids and ballerina skirt."

In more detail, here's what I love about the her outfit:
I love her textured crew-neck sweater because it's, like, really interesting texture, you know? Zig-zags, stripes, other patterns that I'm sure a knitter would better be able to define. I'm also a huge fan of dance clothes in and outside the studio so I love the pairing with this tulle skirt; the length of it helps make it more day-to-day wearable (as opposed to a teensy short tutu).  The white (and pink? is her skirt pinkish?)color scheme really allows her to standout among the grey and black background of the car and motorcycle. Those sunglasses just make her look really cool and that messy french-braid adds an air of "This cool look is so natural for me" as well as adding an interesting complexity to her hair, like the patterns in her sweater. Her blue bracelet provides a nice pop of color, as do her lips (is that weird that I think that?). Do you think she's wearing a tinted lip-balm, gloss, or lipstick of some sort?

I think the rhinestones on her shoes are cool but the rest of her look is more exciting to me. 

Thoughts? Anyone love her look as much as I do?

Here's a link to the original post where you can read other people's comments on the outfit, and procrastinate the work that you should really be doing by looking through the archives or "Random Posts."

Stay safe, Frankenstorm is on the prowl!

P.S. I'm still sitting in my bed.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Hypocrisy and War

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but I've recently started to see war and violence as a bit archaic.

A few weeks ago I read about soldier Henry Fleming's battle with fear in Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage and couldn't help but think how unfortunate and hypocritical war is. But actually, how often do parents and teachers tell children to "Use your words?" Growing up children are taught that violence is not the answer yet it's something adults turn to as a solution, I guess, when people won't listen.

It seems like the message they're sending is that when people won't listen, we should hit them.

Any thoughts on the effectiveness of war in conflict-resolution? Or a utilitarian reasoning of the costs and benefits of war or a specific war?


Until my next postworthy thought.