TAG SALE COSMOLOGY

Collin’s Wares

He displayed ‘em this week at Handmade Music Night hosted at Etsy Labs, including this cutie:

More info and pics at Create Digital Music (first and last pic of collin’s stuff) and Make.

See more of Collin’s work at Narbotic.net.

Geeking Out

The Brother From Another Planet (1984)

Watched this movie last week and it had some pretty strong moments. Ultimately a hodgepodge of different ideas and plotlines, it touches upon racism, classism, and alienation, among other things. The story follows a humanoid slave who escapes from another planet and crash-lands on earth. He spends his first night in agony at Ellis Island and then rides a barge to Harlem. He stumbles into a bar and some of the patrons sympathize with him and help him find a place to stay. There is a really great scene where the woman providing room and board (Randy Sue) blabs on and on about her life, her failed relationship, and her burdens while The Brother largely ignores her and bonds with her small son instead, healing the scrape on his knee.

The Brother appears mostly human but is set apart by a few factors. He can’t speak, though he can understand multiple languages. He has the power to heal things and people by touch, and he also has a kind of psychic sense of touch. Oh yeah, and he has cartoonish feet with three large toes and long toenails. And he can take out one of his eyeballs temporarily. In one scene he puts it in a potted plant to act as a surveillance camera; later he puts it in the palm of a drug lord’s hand in order to show him the effects of his evil empire.

Back to the plotline… really there are quite a few things going on here, so instead of trying to make sense of it all I’ll just mention a few highlights:

- The Brother finds a kid dead from an overdose and takes the needle from her (his?) arm. He then eats the drugs he finds in the kid’s pocket and inexplicably puts the needle into his own arm. He then embarks upon a crazy trip with a dreadlocked dude with a super heavy accent and poetic timbre as guide. They come across a man engaged in a passionate dance in which he throws himself against a storefront gate and acts out his primal emotions.

- Two white Men in Black trying to track down the escapee are portrayed in a series of comical scenes. They are seen gulping beers, moving awkwardly in unison and swiping cookies. Unfortunately these humorous actions don’t really mesh with the rest of the movie; fortunately, they helped produce the should-be classic line from a regular: “White folks get stranger all the time.”

- Second best line in movie: “You were great in bed last night but you have to do something about them toe nails.” – Songstress Malverne Davis to The Brother the morning after

- Arcade champ girl “Ace” portrayed by Samantha’s best friend from Sixteen Candles (the one who found out about boys paying $$ to see Sam’s panties).

- Two Ivy-League types from the South get lost in Harlem on their way to a conference at Columbia University. They end up in the bar and since The Brother can’t explain to them how to get to the subway, they get tanked. Hours later, when they are sufficiently sloshed, the bartender comes to collect their cash and provides subway directions. Silly but amusing nonetheless.

- Amazing moment when The Brother stumbles upon others like him while running from the MIBs. They’re quite a motley crew.

- And finally, the opening sequence, when The Brother is in his capsule or ship and it begins to malfunction. Cool use of super low budget effects.

Interpret as you wish

I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but I’m gonna see where it takes me.

Into the Wild

Y’all have probably heard about the new movie Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn, based on the book by Jon Krakauer. The book was very moving, and a few years ago I made a song using some of its themes. I also made a music video for the song. If you haven’t peeped it, you can check it out HERE.

Hopefully the movie will earn Kraukauer more attention from a wider audience. Most of his writing deals with outdoor nature themes, including Into the Wild and Into Thin Air (about a tragic Everest expedition), but his most recent novel Under the Banner of Heaven deals with the history of Mormonism and is AMAZING.

Also see:
Into the Wild song page
New movie trailer
Buy the Book

New Space Uniform

I’ve been looking at a lot of Star Trek suits lately, and they’re kind of classified based on whether they’ll be used on duty or recreationally. This ensemble isn’t quite formal enough to be duty wear - it’s more or less casual. It might be worn by a student, a worker (more of a service type job than that of a commanding officer), or perhaps simply a citizen, as collin suggested when he saw it.

I started this shirt probably about a year ago and put it aside, becoming discouraged. I revived it and finished it, combining it with my old Danger Mouse costume pants and some white dance shoes that I just knew would come in handy for something.

See more related content in my Fashion Statement Flickr set.

Take Time

New favorite song = Take Time by The RFD. Read a brief review and see album info here at Show and Tell Music and then click on the audio link.

First African in Space

I was googling “space fashion” when I came across this website about the first African in space, Mark Shuttleworth. He’s an entreprenuer from Cape Town, South Africa. Unfortunately this isn’t breaking news - Mark was welcomed back to capetown after his historic mission on June 10, 2002. Not sure how much has been added to the site since, but it’s fun to poke around and see pics of the self-described Afronaut and his fellow crewmen. The site’s oddly organized; if you’re confused check out About the First African in Space Project on the bottom left of the main page and the About Mark page.

William Ware Theiss and The Lorraine Covenant

Whew, did I take a crazy trip last night down the information superhighway! It all started with a search for more information about William Ware Theiss. I had recently bought this book The Star Trek Compendium from local junk store The Vortex and had noticed that most of my favorite costumes from the original series were designed by him. Via a link on his Wikipedia entry, I found a page with some examples of his work that was put up by a friend of his. He was known for creating sexy costumes by exposing parts of the female body that had not really been seen on television before.

From there, I explored the rest of this woman’s website, entitled Mehri’s Mountain. Here I found a number of enjoyable features, including Stark Trek episode reviews, info and memories of cats past and present, and most notably, information about The Lorraine Covenant, a feminist group to which this woman belongs. In their creation story, a goddess is surrounded by an awareness that is sparks of energy that vibrate and spin, reflecting her image. The image becomes a mirror, and her reflection becomes an opposite. She loves her reflection and dances with joy, singing the universe into existence.

I love this story because it tells me that it’s ok to love your reflection - that it is in fact, natural and healthy to love oneself. This seems like a much more loving and accepting tale than that of Narcissus, a constant warning that should you gaze too long, you’ll drown in your own reflection. I understand that of course a person can become too self-obsessed, but the Narcissus warning comes down on me so hard that I end up averting my eyes way too often. Let’s be proud of who we are and unafraid to admit it!

On a related note, I realized that the reason I’ve been avoiding my studio lately is that I feel guilty wanting to just make clothes and costumes when I go there, feeling somehow that it doesn’t count as work or as art. I’ve been blocking myself from doing what I feel like doing. Why fear it? Instead, I want to try to have faith that if I follow my bliss it will lead me back to that blocked place and bust open the door.

DON’T DO IT