luddites on the radio

This was just like in Blow Up

2011-06-19T15:59:00.003-06:00

I started to make this post, with the above title and below tags, and clearly meant to insert some sort of photo. Now I can't remember what that photo was, but doesn't it seem like it would have been a great joke?

My collections

2011-06-05T18:19:00.002-06:00

I'm busy, but here's a puzzle

2011-05-30T17:54:00.002-06:00

what would you use this item for?

PS congratulations, you graduated, yea yea

Staying home blues

2011-05-20T16:03:00.007-06:00

In the last 72 hours I...

Graduated college with more honors and degrees than my brother did (just saying). Ok, so I'm not in this photo because I skipped that ceremony but aren't my friends too cute? They look happy here but really everyone spent the day drunk and crying.

Packed up all of my shit in my like 250 square foot room.

Managed to make it all fit in my 150 square foot bedroom in my parents house and somehow make it look nice. Photographed are my cheesey childhood trinkets, my CD collection, yearbooks, box of letters, box of prints and postcards.

Began experimenting with room fragrance. Here is a terracotta bear usually used to keep brown sugar soft. Put in a dish (with a little water, although I'm not sure if the water is necessary) and add a couple drops of lavender essential oil and voilà at least 24 hours of aromatherapy. A far better solution than spraying roomspray over and over again. I am going to assume you could even coat the bear with roomspray instead of oil (or perfume, if you're a big spender) and you'd still get this lasting effect. While the lavender soothes my soul, I think it would be nice to mix it with something else, probably from Demeter, which is $15 at Duane Reade, baby. Don't touch their new Snickers-inspired shit. Dirt and Wet Garden are both good.

Perfected my Egyptian Princess Look. To go with my flannel.

I AM NO LONGER THE PURITANICAL ONE. THIS IS MY NEW COSMETICS/PARTY BLOG.

2011-05-14T14:21:00.006-06:00

Two nights ago was Columbia University's Senior Ball. I went to Washington Heights and got my nails especially done for the occasion. The purple/black/silver zebra stripe design came to me in a dream.

The following evening I went to Providence for le Bal Oriental. Here I am taking a nap in an opium den. I am wearing a turban, Nefertiti makeup, and a Japonesque shift dress.

do you still have taste aside from a distaste for capitalism?

2011-05-11T15:06:00.003-06:00

A look at ME, then and now.

Then: One of my favorite things in the world used to be Art. I used to like looking at pictures and going to museums, and I was up on all the latest developments of the 20th century!! I particularly liked Egon Schiele, because his art embodies everything meaningful in the experience of the seventeenyearold, such as mirrors

Now: I don't like going to galleries for fear of being mistaken as a pseudo-counter-cultural reactionary. Also everyone else knows more about it than me.

Then: Before I discovered radical feminism, I used to enjoy displaying my body to men because fulfilling their lame romantic-sexual fantasies was a cheap ticket to a MASSIVE EGO.

Now: My current boyfriend gave me a book called "Sex and Philosophy: Rethinking De Beauvoir and Sartre" as a Christmas present three months after we met. Around the same time he also explained to me that he was attempting to explode gender roles in cuddling. It looks like I'm projecting rather a different image. I do still enjoy being manipulative though.

Then: I used to buy "vintage clothing" because I thought it would make me cool.

Now: In pursuit of a minimalist lifestyle, and also in protest against poor working conditions, the death of craftsmanship in the face of mass production, and disposability culture, I tend to limit purchases to extremely expensive objects and old shit.

Then: I used to enjoy reading novels and short stories, partly because it's quite fun, but more importantly because because I was destined to be an artiste!! Poetry is kinda boring frankly, and I never really got the point, but I had to read a lot of that too, if only for appearances' sake.

Now: I don't really read anymore because fiction is self-indulgent, and often doesn't have enough transformative content. However, I read the Daily Mail's "Femail" section obsessively. N.B. for American viewers: this has nothing to do with feminism

In sum:
Then: dilettante
Now: hypocrite

WHICH DO YOU PREFER???

I AM A GROWN UP NOW

2011-05-06T12:41:00.004-06:00

here are the things that have happened since this blog went into hibernation:

college
i finished college
i live in london now
enrolled in masters' degree as private in-joke with myself (not that funny)
i decided to be a lawyer
i turned 21 and then i turned 22
different hair
michael jackson died
acquired semipermanent manfriend
am now only like 90-95% self-involved
rode on bicycles a lot
had a feminist awakening
did lots of cooking

WILL I EVER BE FUNNY AGAIN???

Corky-garde

2009-06-28T10:02:00.001-06:00

"My life is absolutely meaningless. When i consider the different periods into which it falls, it seems like the word Schnur in the dictionary, which means in the first place a string, in the second, a daughter-in-law. The only thing lacking is that the word Schnur should mean in the third place a camel, and in the fourth, a dust-brush."

designs for sports clothes

2009-03-25T21:00:00.003-07:00

Sondei morning

2008-12-07T11:44:00.007-07:00

Important goings-on in life:
1) Paz on plane to America
2) Bhangra basement
3) Euripides
4) Alcoholics Anonymous bigbook. It's incredible.
"Well, that's exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you fo find a Power greater than yourself which can solve your problem." Life without escapism is not life? Bite me.

words and that

2008-12-02T10:49:00.003-07:00

according to my favorite thing ever, wikipedia,

Unlike English, many other languages have traditional terms to denote limerence, like the German Verliebtheit, Scandinavian forelskelse or Russian влюблённость (vlyublyonnost); these expressions may roughly be translated to “fallen-in-love-ness”.

what if countries competed with each other to have lots of words that mean interesting things in the same way they compete to have lots of bombs and stuff? maybe they do. i know about these crazy cats but do they have a similar big round table in washington somewhere with guys going 'we need more words for snow'? if anyone would like to write a short story or perhaps a comic novella about this i am too lazy to do it so go ahead.

I made this video last spring.

2008-11-30T16:03:00.003-07:00

That was a really crazy time for both of us. Am I right , am I right???

new craft idea!

2008-11-29T19:33:00.002-07:00

the best thing godard ever did

2008-05-31T13:15:00.001-06:00

My Summer Vacation?

2008-05-13T04:15:00.003-06:00

Pez are from Austria.

Hi

2008-05-11T14:10:00.002-06:00

If - Fairport Convention

MaLe Or FeMaLe?

2008-04-29T22:21:00.003-06:00

http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php
I consistently scored male on my analytical writing and female on my creative (ie writing where I talked about myself) writing. SEXISTS!

2008-04-16T07:59:00.002-06:00

i think it was a.e. housman who invoked that line in the context of this pome

Iam ver egelidos refert tepores,
iam caeli furor aequinoctialis
iucundis Zephyri silescit aureis.
Linquantur Phrygii, Catulle, campi
nicaeaeque ager uber aestuosae:
ad claras asiae volemus urbes.
Iam mens praetrepidans avet vagari,
iam laeti studio pedes vigescunt.
O dulces comitum valete coetus,
longe quos simul a domo profectos
diversae varie viae reportant.

now spring brings back the warm air
and the fury of the equinoctial heavens
grows silent by zephyr's pleasant breezes.
the phrygian pastures must be left
and the rich fields of nicaea as well.
now the restless mind wishes to wander
now eager feet grow sure with zeal
o sweet fellow travelers, be well,
you who, having set out from home together
now return divided by separate paths

bad translation but it makes me think of my life

my heart hurts as well. i'm overwhelmed.

this is a little cliche

2008-04-15T15:29:00.004-06:00

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

Anyway I've been checking the weather compulsively and my heart is swollen, or maybe it is collapsing on itself. I can't really tell because I have to spend all day (and night!) in the library.

hey

2008-04-11T11:12:00.003-06:00

seriously, what if you took acid and made this cake?

i love you, film forum

2008-03-31T11:47:00.003-07:00

please come to a lot of these with me.

kitsch religious art

2008-03-31T09:58:00.007-07:00

John 1:12

2008-03-26T22:51:00.001-07:00

Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.

I don't know if you noticed, I but I've refused to post until you post. I give in!

2008-03-26T08:23:00.006-07:00

i have been extremely studious the past few days. this has been mildly gratifying but mostly depressing because i see out the window, i know that it is beautiful outside and that i could be making myself a very nice sun tan but instead must sit in the rosecrans reading room and write about the hadith. this should cheer me up a bit:
at least the umma will be pale.

in other news. this is my favorite hadith:
Volume 1, Book 6, Number 319:
Narrated Zainab bint Abi Salama:
Um-Salama said, "I got my menses while I was lying with the Prophet under a woolen sheet. So I slipped away, took the clothes for menses and put them on. Allah's Apostle said, 'Have you got your menses?' I replied, 'Yes.' Then he called me and took me with him under the woolen sheet." Um Salama further said, "The Prophet used to kiss me while he was fasting. The Prophet and I used to take the bath of Janaba from a single pot."
I think I may get myself a menses sweater. I googled menses sweater and it looks like this:
I googled menstrual sweater and it looked like this:

the most beautiful speech

2008-03-04T11:31:00.001-07:00

some days i have lots of work to do

2008-02-26T12:37:00.002-07:00

six more pages to write on one eight verse sura. hooray!

my cozy room

2008-02-24T11:45:00.007-07:00

this is a cool shadow

it came from this

my really cool night table

wall plus lamp

wall plus refrigerator and some door
paz can you do this with your room?
please let's ichat . i am discovering a whole new world with this cOoL built in camera. these are the first photos ive taken in an upcoming series of sexy shots (of myself)
# of cools in the post - 3. i need to develop a larger active vocabulary

don't try to defend it

2008-02-24T06:04:00.002-07:00

i've always wondered if it's possible to control your emotions. other people seem to be able to do it. this is the first flower outside my window, happy spring.

how could you ever move on

2008-02-20T18:59:00.001-07:00

no really its impossible

heres a little bit of old school for ya

2008-02-20T07:25:00.004-07:00

Why is it that young pop stars always feature themselves on their debut single? By feature themselves, I mean, insert their names into the song lyrics where its not necessarily appropriate. Then they rap a verse and give a little flavor of their pop icon persona. I mean, I get it, they want their name to PoP PoW but it's totally absurd. Let's go over this.
Lil' Romeo "Oh Romeo you're the cutest boy I know! I know I know! So let me be your girlfriend" wait it goes on
"11 years old, makin' A's and B's
and these lil mommy's can't keep their hands off me
when you see in the streets holla what's up doc
I gotta a bugs bunny chain wit a matchin' watch
I make you jump like Kris Kross, bounce like Bow
I'm the next generation, I came to lock it down
I'm a little boy, but live a big man's life
I got girls passin' up wanna be my wife
I got grown women wanna be in my life
by the time I'm 18 I'm not gon be nothin' nice
I'm that R-O-M-E-O, after high school
I'm goin' straight to the pro's bounce,bounce"
OK that one is my favorite. That is a fucking incredible song. Better than anything the Jackson 5 ever did like forreal.
Next we have Aaron Carter. Do you remember that smash hit "Aaron's Party"??? He plugs himself a whole lot in that ditty
" The door bell rings cuz the party's here
I'm crankin up the stereo like it's New Years
Walkin' 'round the house like who's Da Man
(Everybody do it like Aaron can)"
" Aaron C's in the house, here we go
Come with it"
I can't remember what Hillary Duff's first song was nor can I remember Lil Bowwow's and that's the extent of my recent pop knowledge. Now I'm talking about 11-14 year old pop stars and not 17 year old like Britney, Avril etc.
What prompted this was that everyone has been singing this retarded song by Miley Cyrus who apparently is the hot new teen celeb. The song is genius in that it isn't catchy and the singer just sounds like a huge loser. Yet she makes sure to identify herself as big loser nonetheless:
" The last time I freaked out
I just kept looking down
I st-st-stuttered when you asked me what I'm thinking about
Felt like I couldn't breath
You asked what's wrong with me
My best friend Lesley said "Oh she's just being Miley""
umm so kids these days identify not with bugs bunny watch and break dancing but WEAK INSECURE GIRLS yeaaaaaahhhh

The tower

2008-02-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

What shall I do with this absurdity -
O heart, O troubled heart - this caricature,
Decrepit age that has been tied to me
As to a dog's tail?

hello sunshine

2008-02-15T14:37:00.003-07:00

happy weekend! perhaps this will make you cheerful (or ill)

hello friends

2008-02-13T19:09:00.003-07:00

saturday afternoon

2008-02-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

computer broke. am thus excused.
last night i went to (two!) frat parties. they are really, really disgusting but i figure it's good to go once a term and see what you're not missing. at least i didnt get roofied.
i have been studying much. aside from an hour spend on the inferno, i have been reading the qur'an all day. i who deny its revelation am the person of the left hand: the fire will vault me over.
communicate. i'm out.

sunday brunch

2008-02-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

larrikin love guy

2008-02-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

snapshot

2008-02-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

remember this?

2008-01-31T16:25:00.000-07:00

do you remember this scandal? this is what i really hate about contemporary art. this painting turned into a very big scandal and following freedom of speech issue. elephant dung or no, there is little good about this painting. i mean, at what point does art become so self-conscious that it becomes kitsch? listen to susan: "the aim of all commentary on art now should be tom ake works of art - and, by analogy, our own experience - more, rather than less, real to us. the function of criticism should be to show hot it is what it is, rather than to show what it means." when art is catering entirely to subsequent criticism its no longer reflective or a recovery of senses. at risd this weekend i went to a party where there were some young men making "noise music". i know pushing boundaries has been important etc. etc. but this seemed to me like some bizarre call for attention. at one point one man put the a snare drum over his head while the friend beat it and shouted "open my ____ (insert various obsene body part)". female audience member screamed "yeah, fuck, rock on!" and gave the rock out sign. i know they were being ironic and mocking people who take that noise music stuff seriouslyy but they thought this display of their own irony & ability to criticize serious noise music kids to be really cool. i mean, once youre being ironic about things trying to be progressive, and simultaneously thinking your really hip, is maybe the most disingenuous and affected display i can think of. what i mean to say is, why can't people make things they sincerely think is interesting? or beautiful? are the pussies? scared of being vulnerable? lack imagination? took too many showers with their mother as a child?

"comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love"

2008-01-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

Unrequited love is theoretically quite uncorrupted. What can possibly shameful in the impulse towards affection. With no expectation of equality or fulfillment of duty, the emotion exists within itself, free of the fear and uncertainty which can taint the circumstanced form of worlding love. Crushes, unworldly, make you wake up in the morning and put clothes on and furthermore your face always looks nice, it's like being pregnant. Everything just sort of goes rosy in a way. Love is always in danger of getting corrupted. Especially when you involve other people, (other person), things have the potential to matter, which is scary. The death of a crush can go basically unnoticed. When crushes get boring they end - i.e. when their aesthetic appeal fades there is not much to stop any emotional element from quietly taking its bow. When love gets boring it is a disappointment.

In ending any emotion we betray past selves. I have begun to start thinking of my life all in one piece like a modern art canvas, all spread out to the sides, no identifiable subject except as I determine it in my allseeingness. I create my own meaning. Novel fodder. It is interesting to think of your life spatially instead of temporally. I.E. the way God sees the world. For example, in a temporal sense, I have spent most of my life engaging in inane crushes. Rather than thinking of all the time I've wasted, I choose to conflate all those crushes into a single entity. Rather than assigning each of those boys individual personalities, causes, effects etc., I choose to think of this crush-entity as a fact rather than a series of events.

pre-islamic poetry

2008-01-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

excerpt from my reading:
Or her mouth is as an ungrazed meadow,
whose herbage the rain has guaranteed,
in which there is but little dung;
and which is not marked with the feet of animals.
-from the poem of antar

lets stop beating around the bush, i'm a teenage girl

2008-01-29T21:52:00.001-07:00

crushes: fun or fucking awful?

early greek pop tune just for you
nikos xilouris - mperde kai mperde

moma yesterday

2008-01-28T11:45:00.001-07:00

I went to RISD this weekend to stay with Adam. It was a very nice time indeed and makes me sortof wish the work I was doing at school was more productive. The way they work is so interactive and everything he makes he can later put into his portfolio. I guess the papers I'm writing now could be theoretically put into a writing portfolio but they're all pretty awful and kindof make me wonder what I got in here for. That thought sounds sadder than I mean it to. Anyway, I went from the port authority straight to the MoMA and this is what I saw. Also, Adam and I made a stop action movie involving screws, spells and Putin and I am very curious how it turned out. BYEEE

mostly so cool

2008-01-24T12:43:00.001-07:00

SORRY NOT COOL, SO BORING
lilla, aka mon homeboy. lit hum 1st & 2nd semester. coined phrase "if you were achilles what would YOU do?" "well i wouldn't kill people if my friend died" "you dont believe you can love a friend that much? huh, interesting"

AND YOU?

eccentricity

2008-01-16T03:06:00.001-07:00

my friends in christ church are buying a cow for christ church meadows. apparently there's a large faction in the college's administration that's been pushing to "bring back animals."

"since it takes three years for a cow to grow, we'll buy it now, give it food and stuff and, you know, amuse it and everything. get it a little wooly hat. then when our degrees are done we're going to have an enormous feast... called the vaccanalia"

evolution of the human species

2008-01-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

ok, so in 1999 i saw disney's "tarzan" in theatres with title track "you'll be in my heart" by sting, and tonight is saw francois truffaut's "l'enfant sauvage". what these films have in common is a young removed from society living in the wild from a very young age. suddenly civilized man comes in and interesting moral questions are raised. what is "civilization"? what is "man"? my question is what is homo erectus. both these characters insist on walking on four legs. now if i'm not mistaken homo erectus came before homo sapien. why should non verbal homo erectus walk on two legs while non verbal homo sapiens tarzan and victor do not? for tarzan there is at least some explanation because he grew up with gorillas and persumably he learned to walk from them. but for twelve year old victor there is no excuse. why is he not walking upright? i don't know. francios, please enlighten me.

(homo habilis, erectus, sapiens neathderthalis, sapien)

obama obama

2008-01-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

My friends

I have not been updating because I have been consumed by politics. I spent the week of the NH primary going door to door in very cold weather begging, manipulating and sometimes convincing old people and lonely 40 year old men to vote for Barack Obama. What a man!!!!!!!!

I have become very good at convincing people to vote for this man. I do it 1. to feel powerful 2. to feel intelligent 3. to make him president. because I really support him.

FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS I CALL THE FOUR I'S AND ONE V. They are:

integrity

intelligence

vision

image

electability. (pronounced ilectability)

STAY TUNED FOR I #1.

HEY!

2008-01-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

fuck this, i'm moving to england!

stand!

2008-01-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

oh my sly i wanna sing your backup vocals

The Bright New Year

2007-12-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

EDIT: humorous yes??????

RESOLUTIONS:
-become thin
-maintain dignity and composure at all times
-study really hard
-every day, in every way, gain the moral high ground
-get closer to Jesus
-part hair on left side
-work on concept album
-work on public speaking skills
-read british newspapers
-stop writing in journal as if i think someone's maybe going to read it or publish it someday maybe
-find something to care about (besides weight loss)
-make sure friends know that i love and cherish them, maybe give them hand made gifts more often
-spend the summer doing something useful and productive like losing weight
-try new drugs
-get really good at texting
-learn the dance from bande a part
-spend less money on alcohol
-stop making lame facebook albums
-write down all revelatory/revolutionary religious and philosophical theories, no matter how sleepy i am
-don't cheat on boyfriend(s)

i mean it!

right so

2007-12-28T21:19:00.001-07:00

I grow old...

2007-12-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

show me the favor

2007-12-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

were searching for a fully oriental addition to our coalition

i acquiesce, i deliquesce

2007-12-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

15. androgynous - the replacements
14. maria spanish rose - jackson c. frank
13. a rose for emily - the zombies
12. blues run the game - jackson c. frank
11. i want her she wants me - the zombies
10. buzzin' fly - tim buckley
9. could they be jealous - young husband
8. yard of blonde girls - micah p. hinson
7. care of cell 44 - the zombies
6. these days - nico
5. first girl i loved - incredible string band
4. sally brown - teddy thompson
3. you're gonna make me lonesome when you go - bob dylan
2. this will be our year - the zombies
1. paris 1919 - john cale

first semester

2007-12-23T23:58:00.000-07:00

most played:
1. the zombies, odessey & oracle
2. stevie wonder, songs in the key of life
3. love, forever changes
4. t. rex, prophers, seers & sages the angels of ages
5. jackson c frank, blues run the game
6. my bloody valentine, loveless
7. the libertines - up the bracket
8. the velvet underground - the velvet underground
what does this say about my state of mind?
probably not much

shit man

2007-12-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

what to get mama k for christmas?
why didnt you & your fam come to our party?

emotions & feelings

2007-12-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

jim & jean - grand hotel (david blue cover)

i'll bet this will be in the next wes anderson movie

home for a bit

2007-12-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

meteques together again, if only briefly

i wish to be japanese

2007-12-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

Fearing Crime, Japanese Wear the Hiding Place
Torin Boyd/Polaris, for The New York Times

Though street crime is relatively low in Japan, quirky camouflage designs like this vending-machine dress are being offered to an increasingly anxious public to hide from would-be assailants.

Deftly, Ms. Tsukioka, a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer, lifted a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine.

The wearer hides behind the sheet, printed with an actual-size photo of a vending machine. Ms. Tsukioka’s clothing is still in development, but she already has several versions, including one that unfolds from a kimono and a deluxe model with four sides for more complete camouflaging.

These elaborate defenses are coming at a time when crime rates are actually declining in Japan. But the Japanese, sensitive to the slightest signs of social fraying, say they feel growing anxiety about safety, fanned by sensationalist news media. Instead of pepper spray, though, they are devising a variety of novel solutions, some high-tech, others quirky, but all reflecting a peculiarly Japanese sensibility.

Take the “manhole bag,” a purse that can hide valuables by unfolding to look like a sewer cover. Lay it on the street with your wallet inside, and unwitting thieves are supposed to walk right by. There is also a line of knife-proof high school uniforms made with the same material as Kevlar, and a book with tips on how to dress even the nerdiest children like “pseudohoodlums” to fend off schoolyard bullies.

There are pastel-colored cellphones for children that parents can track, and a chip for backpacks that signals when children enter and leave school.

The devices’ creators admit that some of their ideas may seem far-fetched, especially to crime-hardened Americans. And even some Japanese find some of them a tad naïve, possibly reflecting the nation’s relative lack of experience with actual street crime. Despite media attention on a few sensational cases, the rate of violent crime remains just one-seventh of America’s.

But the devices’ creators also argue that Japan’s ideas about crime prevention are a product of deeper cultural differences. While Americans want to protect themselves from criminals, or even strike back, the creators say many Japanese favor camouflage and deception, reflecting a culture that abhors self-assertion, even in self-defense.

“It is just easier for Japanese to hide,” Ms. Tsukioka said. “Making a scene would be too embarrassing.” She said her vending machine disguise was inspired by a trick used by the ancient ninja, who cloaked themselves in black blankets at night.

To be sure, some of these ideas have yet to become commercially viable. However, the fact that they were greeted here with straight faces, or even appeared at all, underscores another, less appreciated facet of Japanese society: its fondness for oddball ideas and inventions.

Japan’s corporate labs have showered the world with technology, from transistor radios to hybrid cars. But the nation is also home to a prolific subculture of individual inventors, whose ideas range from practical to bizarre. Inventors say a tradition of tinkering and building has made Japan welcoming to experimental ideas, no matter how eccentric.

“Japanese society won’t just laugh, so inventors are not afraid to try new things,” said Takumi Hirai, chairman of Japan’s largest association of individual inventors, the 10,000-member Hatsumeigakkai.

In fact, Japan produces so many unusual inventions that it even has a word for them: chindogu, or “queer tools.” The term was popularized by Kenji Kawakami, whose hundreds of intentionally impractical and humorous inventions have won him international attention as Japan’s answer to Rube Goldberg. His creations, which he calls “unuseless,” include a roll of toilet paper attached to the head for easy reach in hay fever season, and tiny mops for a cat’s feet that polish the floor as the cat prowls.

Mr. Kawakami said that while some of Japan’s anticrime devices might not seem practical, they were valuable because they might lead to even better ideas.

“Even useless things can be useful,” he said. “The weird logic of these inventions helps us see the world in fresh ways.”

Even some of the less unusual anticrime devices here reflect a singular logic. A pair of women’s sunglasses has wraparound lenses so dark no one can see where the wearer is looking. These are intended to scare off sexual harassers on Tokyo’s crowded trains, where the groping of women is a constant problem.

The same is true of some of the solutions for schoolyard bullying, a big problem in Japan. Kaori Nakano, a fashion historian, wrote a book with a chapter on how to ward off bullies with the “pseudohoodlum” attire. Her advice includes substituting a white belt for the standard black one in Japanese school uniforms, preferably with metallic studs or tiny mirrors, and buying short socks with flashy patterns.

“Japan is so fashion conscious that just changing the way you dress can make you safer,” Ms. Nakano said. “Culture plays a big role in risk prevention.”

Ms. Tsukioka said she chose the vending-machine motif because the machines are so common on Japan’s streets. For children, she has a backpack that transforms into a Japanese-style fire hydrant, hiding the child. The “manhole bag” was also her idea.

Ms. Tsukioka said her disguises could be a bit impractical, “especially when your hands are shaking.” Still, she said she hoped the designs or some variation of them could be marketed widely. So far, she said, she has sold about 20 vending-machine skirts for about $800 each, printing and sewing each by hand.

She said she had never heard of a skirt’s actually preventing a crime. But on a recent afternoon in Tokyo, bystanders stared as she unfolded the sheet. But once she stood behind it next to a row of actual vending machines, the image proved persuasive enough camouflage that passers-by did not seem to notice her.

She said that while her ideas might be fanciful, Japan’s willingness to indulge the imagination was one of its cultural strengths.

“These ideas might strike foreigners as far-fetched,” she added, “but in Japan, they can become reality.”

wudeva, wudeva

2007-12-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

so i don't want to overkill the whole youtube thing, but this is like, really really important.

prophets, seers

2007-12-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

I finally had the chance to listen to Marta's UCL radio show, Feel Good TV Off. I recommend you go there immediately. I had never used online radio before and it is the coolest shit ever (not so much because it is on the internet, but because I don't have a radio and forgot how the radio is like. What is cool about the internet, though, is that you can tune in to your buddies across the Atlantic). You can hear really nice music all day long with no pressure to know what you feel like. Behold their most recent playlist:

Hoooooooraaaayy

Productivity

2007-11-29T01:33:00.000-07:00

Just spent an hour convincing that sly dog Marcello that Kate and I are ex-girlfriends trying to make it work as platonic buddies. Kate got very emotional and had to leave to room. I think we succeeded?

fit or fat

2007-11-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

this is a very good movie scene - i'm not sure if you remember it, paz, but you were very excited about it at the time. it seems the majority of these posts are representations of the ways we wish to boogie though our respective ethnicities seem to restrain our faculties. the only greek i know who can dance is zorba and even that is more of a kick, a thrash and a flop. what do you think of alexis zorba? did you like this book? did you at least like this man?

the way we live now

2007-11-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

i miss you so much. i get home around dec. 11 maybe? i have to stay and work for the oxford union, the worlds most prestigious debating society!!!

bergman 1953 hooray!

2007-11-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

dang yo

2007-11-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

am quite pumped to see this at the neue gallery................mariekee?

NOs

2007-11-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

To tell you the truth

2007-11-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

Hi Paz - As of this morningI am thinking about Fear and Trembling how you were thinking about Fear and Trembling. Sorry I made fun of you! Today I woke up and put on an outfit which people complimented. By outfit, I mean that I was wearing dark colors and a scarf. There must be something wrong with my psyche. Surely something is up. Perhaps I will suspend my education in order to retard my angst. Also, yesterday I swam (slowly)

by the way

2007-11-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

yes:
new york
marina's new bf

no:
los angeles
bf for me

what a streak, ladies

2007-11-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

la strada

yes

control

yes

lolita

yes

the seventh seal

yes

2001: a space odyssey

no

sounds good to me

2007-10-27T02:52:00.000-06:00

hey, i'm having the time of my life by the way. i might fail out of the actual school part, but before that happens, at least i have some good stories. people keep showing me amazing music. last night my friend sammy and i cycled down cowley road and watched young husband, noah and the whale, and jeffrey lewis at a ... pub i guess you'd call it? we sat right up against the middle of the stage, between the amplifiers. and i invited jeffrey lewis to dinner at my house! i can't think a nicer evening. it's kind of funny, i keep on having the best night ever... it has to stop sometime i guess?

i consider the past three weeks of my life a dissociative experience. ie, i am jealous of myself.

i involve myself in consumerist culture just for you, pazzy

2007-10-21T16:04:00.000-06:00

hello!
we will have such fun

double trouble

2007-10-21T07:25:00.000-06:00

like patients in a tuberculosis ward, coughing affectionately across the aisles

new nosepierce, lol!

2007-10-15T21:50:00.000-06:00

Everyone on campus had given me really great positive feedback on it. They say that it makes my cheekbones more prominent, and my eyes more emerald-esque. Some people think I'm vain- to them I say this: Why would you want some 'o that when you can have ALLLLL this?

community service #2

2007-10-13T08:16:00.000-06:00

This is all I listen to lately
The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle

fashion update

2007-10-12T12:45:00.000-06:00

scottish street style (man capris)/albanian street style

corfu street style////////////german street style

hungarian street style////////////athens street style

french street style///////////nautical street style

who wins?

gabo

2007-10-09T23:39:00.001-06:00

i just saw the "love in the time of cholera" trailer... it looks awwful. don't watch it if you like the book. dont watch it at all actually its really unfortunate, perhaps even offensive

first impressions

2007-10-08T10:03:00.000-06:00

everything in england is old fashioned.

woe!

2007-10-05T23:54:00.001-06:00

paz, word on the street is that the only communication you've had with marieke was also about potatoes. what's the deal, man?
look! i finally have photos from this summer! in order that group shots are not all taken at arms length, autotime is the name of the game.

~Feelings~

2007-10-01T22:08:00.000-06:00

I don't need a wife
living the timeless life
If I need a friend I just give a wriggle
Split right down the middle
And when I look there's two of me
Both as handsome as can be
Oh here we go slithering, here we go slithering and squelching on

greetings from land of potato

2007-09-29T03:11:00.001-06:00

hello my friends! england is confusing.

(example of how england is confusing)

i do not know my address. accents unintelligibble.

HERE IS WHAT THEY HAVE IN ENGLAND:
mash potato
boil potato
"confit" potato
roast potato
fry potato ("chip")

but no bake potato... english do not like potatojacket?

woof woof

2007-09-28T17:24:00.001-06:00

paz,
where are you?
what is your phone number?
how can i contact you?
have you started orientation yet?
have you been to a pub?
how is your accent?
what do you feel inside?
i am lonely without you
please contact
artemis

i need you so-o-wo-wo-wo

2007-09-26T09:17:00.000-06:00

goodbye/hello

2007-09-23T12:56:00.000-06:00

so, good bye my (2) friends, i am off to the motherland. christminster! crumpets!
please offer any advice pertaining to my pursuits academic and otherwise (firsts, men) that you might have for me. robert has already supplied many helpful hints, thank you robert.

photographs of dreaming spires to follow
they will be in color to indicate the present

umbara umba

2007-09-23T12:31:00.000-06:00

hey guys. thanks a lot for wishing me a happy half birthday, uh, not.
check this shit out! yes, thats right. by the way, max got tickets to lear and didn't have the sense to bring along his beautiful ex-gf (that's me). what a little bitch.

immorality

2007-09-23T02:07:00.000-06:00

as requested, a list of birthday presents.

parents:
blue bag
acoustic guitar
mandoline
vegetable book
book about mario batali
vegetable cookbook
travel power adapter kit
agenda
chechi also gave me earrings that she thought i would like because they were "vintage" wtf. i gave them back because i could tell she wanted them herself. it's pretty cute she wouldn't admit it.

artemis:
beautiful yeats book
beautiful greek wrappingpaper/paperman (ecological and stylish!)

marieke:
london moleskine
gourmet cookbook
ink renderings of m&p singing the blues: summer 2007 lookbook (i love you marieke)

DC branch:
beautiful joseph cornell book
beautiful new camera which will breathe new life into my documentations!

hasan (cipriani maitre d'):
table next to george clooney & friends

also in (wink wink) attendance at my birthday dinner WERE a country music star whose name we do not know, rachel feinstein + john currin, l'wren scott + mick jagger, and also bianca jagger. wtf. i did not ask for any autographs much to artemis' chagrin.

also that day we saw agyness deyn except marieke didn't cause she's oblivious to all things even when they're neon yellow with 3 neon yellow handlers carrying enormous neon yellow bags and standing across the street from you for the whole time it says don't walk. also we ran into a certain semifamous "romanist" (wink wink) twice, hmm hmm.

l'erotisme

2007-09-22T16:04:00.001-06:00

Il n'y a pas de meilleur moyen pour se familiariser avec la mort que de l'allier a une idee libertine.

rip

2007-09-16T10:43:00.000-06:00

my poor potted plant is dead! i tried to save it. did you know you're not meant to water bonsai?

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

2007-09-08T11:10:00.001-06:00

KING LEAR AT BAM IS SOLD OUT SO IF YOU HAVE AN EXTRA TICKET PLEASE GIVE IT TO ME (THIS IS DIRECTED IN PARTICULAR TO THE SENIORS TAKING SAUL'S SHAKESPEARE CLASS IF YOU ARE GOING PLEASE BEG HIM TO TAKE ME ALONG TOO I WILL GIVE HIM MAD $$$) I REALLY WANT TO GO. THANKYOU!!!

I will construct the chase scene to music you will not hear

2007-09-06T08:44:00.000-06:00

SO here' s what ive accomplished in my new, improved grownuplife (todo lists, melatonin-taking, address books, breakfast, forgetting mobile phone less often etc)

concocted many colorful farmstand delicacies
bought some swingin ethiopian soul music (addis rocks!)
went to painfully hip night spots (good music!) saw no celebrities though
sold my old clothing
tailored my jeans
visited the roosevelt island TB hospital
saw 2 days in paris (3/5 stars, respectable)
saw the french connection (5 stars, kickin!)

ate japanese lunches (good)
ate fashionable ukrainian dinner at veselka (did not agree w. me)
ate soft icecream in brooks brothers, many glared at us.. but then i bought a bathrobe
assisted in the purchase of a scotland-bound barbour jacket
saw donatella versace (+ entourage)
read 2 books: quiet american good, wuthering heights bad! bad!
received much exciting correspondences

also i went shopping. in the saks lingerie departmentthere is always at least one creepy couple to avoid looking at usually an old guy and his younger russian wife holding hands creepily and smugly perusing creepy lacy things that you're not allowed to try on. often the old guy is really proud of himself etc but this guy took the cake he talked quite loudly and mentioned many individual brand names. i never want to hear the words "hanky panky" come out of the mouth of a man as old as my father. really anyone's mouth.

and now i am off to a date at kalustyans! does anyone need cardamom?

You so fine

2007-09-06T07:01:00.001-06:00

I have not been socializing with my peers

2007-09-04T21:30:00.001-06:00

Orientation week was stupid. I made one friend and a few friendlies. At least I got to see Karimah (shout out!) and another day Adam.

Also, seeing Gus & Kate on a daily basis is super nice.

follow the lead!

2007-09-01T17:08:00.000-06:00

Youth,
I have just said goodbye to Facebook for approximately the twentieth but definitely the last time.
In order to contact me send letters to:
5017 Lerner Hall
2920 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
Or telephone me or even come to my room! Surprises are great.
Artemis

WHY WHY YOU ASK WHY

2007-08-31T18:38:00.000-06:00

facebook makes my life hurt
1. i do not want our generation to reach 40 and to be asking each other to coffee over facebook.
2. i do not want the first social interactions of my children to be over facebook.
3. it creeps me out that nothing fun exists until it is documented and posted to the internet.
4. it also creeps me out that people can piece together a pretty accurate picture of my life because of our overenthusiastic facebook usage.
5. what creeps me out the most is that i can do the same to everyone else. not that i really have anything to hide, nor does anyone else, but i think facebook has made us forget about privacy for its own sake. i mean we care about our privacy to some degree but exhibitionist tendencies override impulses towards discretion.
6. facebook is a giant vanity project. it is really embarrassing and also unchristian for me to want to appear cool over facebook by enumerating my favorite bands and movies and still pretending not to care. aah! it is so terrifying! i mean, it is bad that people will broadcast pictures of me to the universe, but it is also bad that i periodically check that roundup of images for ugly ones to delete! i honestly believe that facebook is a sin. that is what i feel and not what i decided, please be quiet artemis!
7. it is terrible how much information there is in my head that should not be there! i am so upset. it is so bad that i know so many things about strangers! wtf is wrong with the world!
8. please everyone i am friends with, delete your facebook!
9. also, let's all place bets on how long this will last while i am in college. i just had this life crisis in which i imagined my children communicating with me over facebook and i knew it had to go!

never never never never

2007-08-29T16:05:00.000-06:00

All the things I want to do when I grow up involve studying chemistry. What to do with my future?

how my summer went like number one

2007-08-28T15:29:00.001-06:00

Here are some of Kate's Lovely photos from our trip! Hooray! First we went to Budapest, where we stayed on delicious Dobrentei utca at a hostel named BudaBase. The hostel owner was a little man who seemed old though he was only thirty with bad teeth and a tiny voice. His name was Gabor. If I acquire a photo of Gabor I'll be sure to share. Anyway:Budapest is a very studly city with many churches. Here we are in an medieval cemetery! Autotime was a very helpful technological feature in this trip. Otherwise, all group shots would have been taken at arm's length.

This couple was perhaps our favorite of the trip. We deem their style "quintessential Europe."

These Scottish brothers made our hearts warm. They called us legends and taught us the phrase "crapchat."

This kid is a crapchat. On the bright side, beer in Hungary is cheap!

Next, we went to Split. Split was boring and we hung out with a desperate chat named Matt. The coolest part about Matt was that he had a really badass scar across his chest from the time he got knived in Rome. It sounded like he got knived for being a douche. Anyway, we left Split ASAP and decided to go to the island of Vis.
On the ferry we sat across from the bartender at the coolest club in all the island of Vis. He insisted we stay in his hometown, Komiza which was a great choice. He wore man capris and when we saw him last, he wore a red shell necklace from which he hung his mirrored wrap around sunglasses. He was the king of the island.

In Dubrovnik, men often wore nautical outfits.

Another titillating couple.

I liked them too.

In Croatia, the house wine was of good value.

We met these three young adults on the ferry to Vis as well. Behold Joe from Montana, and our two Germans Martin and Michel. We found them later in Dubrovnik where they cooked us dinner.

A brief ferry stop in Italy:
UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE.

Two overnight ferries later we were in Greece! For a few days we stayed in an awful corner of Corfu filled with English people's villas. It was not a hellenic time, however we did have hot water in the showers, tasty meals, and my wonderful cousins.
The one in the goggles is my aunt.

In Athens we saw much marble.

This is the tower of the winds. How kind of a fellow tourist to take this photo of us!

On Kate's last night we visited an outdoor cinema. What fun!

Zbogem! Artemis
PS Please give me things with which to decorate my dorm room.

EARLY BIENVENUE & JAMBO (jambo means hello in swahili, you don't know that cause we learned it in kindergarten)

2007-08-21T09:50:00.000-06:00

Dear artemis i think you are coming home soon

i dreamt about you all last night

this is not a made up story, i really did, in the dream i stole your phone on the first day of college so i couldn't reach you. i called you on 535 but all it said was pleeease leeave us a message and i called klove's maman and she got mad, so i was stranded alone with your phone. what does this mean? what i'm asking is, what does it ALL mean???

artemis, it is very difficult for me to socialize with other people. we have to make plans and think of activities. i am probably going to blow them all off.

i would like to maybe take you out for an ice cream

maybe bake you a funfetti cake from a mix with storebought icing

also cook you dinner

that is within my capacity

important developments in my life: summer reading, languor, jello.

see voo plate

2007-08-14T09:27:00.000-06:00

please could someone send a id photo of me in the mail and also on the internet to columbia so that i can be allowed in on the first day of school? otherwise i will never go to college and perhaps fail at life. paz, how are you?

bet you cant...

2007-07-31T14:16:00.000-06:00

guess which ones the model!!!

wow have i been busy! sorry artemis. LUVS YA!! reminds me of our younger days.
so brief summary: heirloom tomatoes, veuve clicquot, throwing up in front of famous people, saw thurston moore in APC, jello, concept album, pining away, trying on all the perfume in bergdorfs, glaring, hat wearing, naked, more pining, mixes mixes mixes, gift giving!

many of you will receive gifts soon... i hope... i made such nice packets-cadeaux and then the lady made me put tape all over them UGLY

omg in europe.........

2007-07-31T09:40:00.000-06:00

i've been wondering for weeks where all the european youth hang out. on the beach sipping wine? no. in a local taverna eating goat? no. on the platia checking eachother out? no! they are here in gnet playing world of warcraft! the horror...the horror!

las americanas say....

2007-07-20T14:25:00.000-06:00

buenas tardes mis amigos. i sit here in internet caffe of dubrovnik. mz trip with kate lovely so far has been incroyable. i am pressed for time so ićd just like to saz that we have encountered extensive crap chat, and that man capris and nautical stripes are v. in here in eastern europe. furthermore, thermal baths and scottish people are the best. bad news: joe (from oklahoma) hexed us with his plague. i cannot stop sneezing and sound like oscar the grouch! uh oh! a bien tot!