Go to the Met

This weekend I had the opportunity to see Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Met. I must say, the exhibition is not to be missed for anyone who is interested in fashion, art, or spectacle. As a visual arts administration student, I have mixed feelings about the exhibition, but I'm pretty sure that everyone should see it.

Despite some reservations I have about the exhibition design, and the fact that it was so quickly put together after the designer's untimely death, leading my cynical side to be suspicious of the museum wanting to capitalize on tragedy, as a general viewer I was into it.

Having known nothing of McQueen's work before entering the first gallery, I was instantly drawn in by the over-the-top atmosphere created by the music and lighting. The exhibition resembles an amusement park attraction with sets borrowed from the Phantom of the Opera. Normally I resist this type of exhibition display, looking for environments that do not upstage the art. McQueen's work, however, can not be undone by anything and the setting only contributed to the museum experience.

The exhibition is going on through August 7. You really ought to see it.

And my inclination to collect strange and beautiful objects has me coveting the exhibition catalog. Someone buy it for me.

This was the birthday card that I made for my niece Izzie last year. This year the plan is to be bigger and better. Less princess, more fairy.....

I will let you know how it goes.

<3

This is the most recent card I made. It was for my friend Lucille's birthday. I recently learned how to make envelope linings and it is the most exciting thing that has happened in some time.

Things got hot this week

Apparently it is Summer now in New York. I believe it all began this past Tuesday.

I am hesitant to welcome this uncomfortable change in weather but at least I can wear my favorite sunglasses more hours of the day and have an excellent excuse to do some shopping for more appropriate attire.

I also intend to use this transition as an opportunity for transformation, of this blog and my attitude. I often feel best and most alive when doing something creative so here we go. Here it is. This is what I do sometimes...these are things I make sometimes....

Missing

So very much has happened within the past two years. I have moved from city to city. For a girl who lived in one city until she was 24, changing cities twice in two years is big. My brother and his family brought me to San Francisco and grad school at NYU brought me to New York. Although I was not that excited about San Francisco when I was there, I miss it dearly now. New York is not living up to my expectations. I am not even sure what they were anymore.

I am struggling with living in New York. It is a very lonely place and it is difficult to deal with the fact that everyone seems to be competing for everything. Maybe that is just my perspective, but every time I walk out the door of my apartment I must prepare to compete for room on the sidewalk, the subway, the elevator, an internship, a job. It is exhausting.

I am not prepared to write-off New York completely. I have not been here long enough to come to such a drastic conclusion. I just need to find an anchor here. Something that is mine. Hopefully that happens soon. New York often reminds me of a club that refuses to let me join. I am not sure what I am missing but I am confident that the fault is mine and not New York. My hope is that one day something will just click and I will be at home here.

For now, absence makes the heart grow fonder and that has never seemed more true than now and my longing for all the things that make San Francisco what it is and different from New York.

I would like to publish a new post. It has been over a year since my last post. March 7 2009 I moved from Cincinnati to San Francisco and (yes I am about to be so cliche) my life has never been the same. Knowing what to say has been difficult.

Prior to my move I had a job that put me in front of a computer, bored out of my mind and with all the time in the world to read gossip blogs, Facebook stalk to my heart's content, and obsess over celebrities. I voluntarily turned my world upside down and left behind my home and boring job and sought adventure.

This decision brought with it so many surprises and lessons. So much has happened it is hard to explain. I have grown up. I have been tested in many ways.

In a few months I will move to New York. I still can't believe that is happening. I really don't know what to say about anything. I still can't come up with a new post. Something has happened to me.

An Appeal to One Miss Carrie Bradshaw

Dear Ms. Bradshaw,

I would like to first state that I am a very loyal fan of yours. I have looked to you for inspiration in many aspects of my life and you are an icon to me in more ways than one. I can quote excerpts of dialogue from your show as it runs through my head on a regular basis. And yes, I even have a Carrie Necklace, except for mine says Alicia. That being said, some recent news regarding your future has come to my attention and I can not continue to sit back in silence and watch you make another horrific error.

Upon hearing that a sequel to the film about the lives of you and your three BFFs is to be made, I have been beside myself with apprehension and anxiety. This is a development about which I have given a great deal of thought in recent days. I have come to the conclusion that this is something that I will not support, nor should you. I am reminded of when I was a little girl watching movies like The Little Mermaid and The Wizard of Oz, becoming incredibly stressed out when the beloved characters continued to make the very bad decisions I was so desperately willing them to reconsider. No Dorothy, please for the love of God, just stay in Munchkinland. It seems safe enough, apart from that Lollipop Guild. I am begging you Ariel, just stay a mermaid, so much cooler under the sea. I always stopped the movie after they made these bad decisions, thus sealing their fate for the next hour and a half to one of doom and gloom. The fact that things would work out again in the end was not incentive enough for me to watch the debacle unfold. It is also similar to my aversion to much reality television as I can not stomach watching people embarrass themselves. I am afraid, dear friend, that this is what you are about to do.

Sequels, unless predetermined before the release of the first feature, are a blatant insult to artistic integrity, and would be a grave disservice to your character. You deserve much better than this. I understand the business side of making a sequel and extending a franchise. The first film was largely successful at the box office, and I am not so naive as to think that the money coming in from various angles would not motivate a sequel. But at what price was the success of the first film achieved? What is the real cost of making a sequel to this rehashed and spit up mess?

As an ardent fan of yours I did go to see the film in theaters three different times and I also own a copy of the DVD. (Trying to be supportive) I find it to be an enjoyable enough movie, however one that is completely void of anything relating to the original concept of the series. When the first film was released last Spring, I was among its most zealous cheerleaders. Pom poms and megaphone in hand, I had faith that the film would carry on the same ideas and characters as the show. After I saw the movie I continued my support for it and ignored any concerns about the deeply unrealistic plot and actions of the characters. However, after hearing this news of a sequel I can no longer conceal my disappointment and regret at the events that supposedly transpired in the lives of you and your friends, all of whom I adore.

The concerns, I have until now kept to myself, are similar to those of most everyone who saw the film. These issues are all mostly to do with the complete and total overreaction of every single character in the entire film and the complete and total lack of rational thinking and behavior. The story developed with an incredibly anemic plot based on nothing but escalated reactions to very trivial happenings. The following are examples of this phenomenon that occurred in the film: Steve slept with someone else and Miranda was Hell bent on never forgiving him ever again, never ever again! Smith worked too much and Samantha loved herself more than she loved him and therefore she left him. (yeah um..ok.. whatever, moving on...) Charlotte accidentally swallowed water in Mexico and was subject to a most embarrassing and highly unnecessary incident, which, quite unfortunately was her most memorable part in the film. And Big had a bout of pre-wedding jitters for two point five seconds and you, Carrie, completely flipped your shit and lost all sanity and sense of reason as you proceeded to beat him down with your flowers in the middle of the street and then cut off all ties with him completely and totally.

(Deep Breath....regroup)

While these events are realistic and believable enough, as they can happen in the world somewhere, they do not seem to fit the previous behaviors of you or your friends. You are all far too sophisticated for such base attempts at humor and drama.

With this bit of history in mind, my appeal to you, your creators, portrayor (new word! apparently), and stylists is as follows: please for the love of all things Cosmopolitan and Manolo Blahnik, do not let this sequel work its way into existence. Do we really need to fervently tear open this perfectly gift wrapped package yet again, and rip the tissue to pieces to just then shove it in the same package and tie it again with the same old worn out bow? I for one, do not need to see what happens to you and your friends, I have already found peace with it and moved on, as I think should you, with the satisfaction that you have a very lovely life.

(I can see already, as contracts have been signed, that there is no getting through to you, and yes I will go to the theater to see this train wreck)

I wish you all the best and have misplaced hopes for a decent script at the very least.


Disheartened and Defeated,

Alicia