They forecast snow today

I have so much work to do, but I feel creatively wiped out. I know I can get it all done, so I'm not worried, just a little frustrated with myself. I want a cup of hot cocoa and a day to watch crappy movies from the 70s. Recently I've been trying to finish The Baby on Netflix, but my boyfriend keeps falling asleep before it's done. It's been three nights, and we still haven't finished it. It's pretty much one of the creepiest psychological horror movies I've seen, it just doesn't get any weirder than The Baby.

jean jacket - found among my boyfriend's high school clothing, so free; doc marten's thrifted when I was 16; bdg jeans - buffalo exchange


dangly heart earrings - dollar store bought a million years ago; glasses - thrifted (and yes, they're prescription, I can't see shit without them)


bracelet, express angora rabbit hair shirt - thrifted

This shirt makes me feel furry like a cat. I bought these jeans a few days ago, I don't know why cos they make me look short. I'm just desperate for more jeans. This is why I originally stuck to skirts, they're just easier to buy and fit into.

Back to movies, another great psycho-horror cult film I've seen recently is Monkey Shines. If you love animals you'll probably commit suicide after watching it. Both of these movies feature a incapacitated man with psychos acting on his behalf. I wish they still made movies like this in earnest.

Victorian Wildlife

So Valentine's Day is coming up. Do people celebrate this holiday? I mean, do you truly 'celebrate' it, or do you just use February the 14th as an excuse to eat a lot of chocolate? Well that's actually OK, cos there isn't even a religious tradition behind Valentine's Day. There is no one guy the day is named after, and while the Catholic Church has records of several Saint Valentines, none of them were martyred for love-related reasons; in fact, there really isn't much of a historical record of any of them. Valentine's Day was something Chaucer and other poets in his day made up as a plot device for the courtly love genre.

But no matter. There are still traditions associated with Valentine's. The Victorians, for instance, knew how to celebrate a hoax holiday: make everything lacy. So if you love fashion and want to celebrate Valentine's this year, I suggest watching Picnic at Hanging Rock, made in 1975 and directed by Peter Weir. It's the most beautiful film ever made.

A digression

I spent most of my childhood watching weird movies by myself and having lonesome spiritual epiphanies in their company. My parents never restricted what I watched, so I ended up watching a lot of stuff that was probably inappropriate for my age. For instance, I was completely obsessed with horror movies between the ages of 7-10. My favorites were The Fly (even though it almost made me throw up) and Candyman. I would probably let my kids watch this stuff. They didn't make me wet my bed, and I'm not a mass murderer or anything now.

But I think there were some movies I saw when I was a child that were so beautiful, and their beauty so emotionally captivating, that they traumatized me. These films made me believe there was a perfect, glimmering mystery behind every moment in life. I became convinced that I would grow up and live an enchanted, bittersweet fairy tale. I prepared myself throughout childhood to face tragedy and romance, not responsibility and boredom. In other words, sometimes movies are so good they make you lose all faith in reality, and you grow up to be a dreamer.

This is one of those movies that can do that to you. I first saw Picnic when I was eleven. It came on TV, and I had no idea what it was. The movie begins on the morning of St. Valentine's Day, 1900 in an all-girl's boarding school in rural Australia. The girls and their teaches visit a mountain called Hanging Rock, stab a cake in honor of Saint Valentine's, and some of them go hiking never to return.

Perhaps this doesn't sound romantic enough for you. If you have a heart (and you should, it's Valentine's Day, man!), it'll take your breath away. Just watch the opening here. Listen to those pan flutes! Soon enough you'll be wearing a corset and reciting poetry with ribbons in your hair, too.

But the best part of this movie is the haunting mystery at its heart.

It's about the force of nature over mankind, and girls blossoming into women, and repressed sexual urges. It's about things you'll never know in waking life. You have to watch it.

And I suggest doing so in full Victorian garb. Maybe your boyfriend will like it? Or maybe you should just dump him after all. You have less than two weeks. Get started now.

Reality Bites - The Truth Behind 90s Fashion and Other Deep Stuff

Today I put on a movie I've already seen a million times while flipping through channels in my youth (watching the same movies over and over again is my only true hobby): Reality Bites. I was weirdly obsessed with Gen X movies as a 10-13 year-old, and I watched so many of them all the while feeling rather dismissive of their message. I mean, it never seemed to me like it was really worth all that angst if you're choosing between a) being a weird loser your whole life while hanging around with a bunch of wacky friends, or b) selling out and becoming a rich bazillionaire with a BMW. Neither of those ever seemed like a bad option, or at least it's not that hard a decision to make.

But that's basically the plot of Reality Bites: Winona Ryder has to choose between Ethan Hawke (hunky depressive loser-jerk) and Ben Stiller (career-minded boring nice-guy), who are stand-ins for the larger cosmic options (be cool or sell out). None of it really makes sense (Winona doesn't sell out cos, like, sex with Ethan Hawke is too awesome and MTV is consumerist crap or something), but there's a lot of great 90s fashion material to be discussed. See below.

She wears nothing but crap the entire movie. In a good way. The last screen shot is of her when both Ethan and Ben give her pledges of undying love. And she's wearing a grayish t-shirt and some jeans. Winona Ryder was reportedly drawn to doing Reality Bites because she was looking "to wear blue jeans for a change" after doing some period pieces. Wish granted. She also gets to wear one of those vests that were invented in the 80s for future first grade teachers to wear forever.

But let me just state for the record THAT I LOVE YOU WINONA. And that she and Ethan Hawke would have made a hotter celeb couple to me than Johnny Depp and Wino Forever. This movie is worth existing just for the pairing, honestly.

Oh, I forgot to mention Janeane Garofalo plays Winona's best friend. Janeane's character is a manager at The Gap, which, if you don't remember, is a retail clothing store that was a big deal in the 90s for reasons I'll never quite understand.

She's definitely my favorite in the film. The movie doesn't clarify, but her character seems to have an obsession with the 70s. Below are screen caps of her room. At one point in the film when she is angry with Winona's character, she slams her bedroom door shut in Winona's face and starts blasting "Burn, Baby, Burn (Disco Inferno)" by the Trammps. I want to be this woman some day.

I already have the amazing circular glasses. (Check out my profile pic for proof.)

For our final look, here is a scene with Swoozie Kurtz, who plays Winona's mother, portraying left over fashion from the 80s. I love that her short sleeves are rolled up and that there are shoulder pads on that t-shirt. So uncalled for.

Maybe I didn't convince you that Reality Bites is worth watching 400 times, because it isn't, but I really did get something new out of watching it this time. First of all, the 12-year-old-me was right: the 90s was a magical innocent time when it was fun to be angsty cos there was nothing better to do. I am now that post-college Winona character, but I don't have a choice; my generation is told to take what it can get. In the first scene of the movie, Winona gives a speech to her class as they all graduate college, and she says that the answer to their generation's problems is "simple," but that she doesn't know what it is. She's right: it was simple, but she didn't know what it was. It was actually the Internet. It was a great boost to the economy in the years that followed the movie's release.

So here's to the Internet, folks! I'll continue to try to make it as a web designer/Etsy shop owner, but I'm kind of waiting for the outer space market to open up so I can diversify my business(es) into the intergalactic economy. Yknow. Vintage alien apparel. ...OK JK REALITY BITES, BYE.