I'm not sure exactly when my enthusiasm for butts began, but it goes back as far as I can remember. As a young dancer, I was often referred to as "duck-butt" and "shelf-butt" by our resident costume lady/annoying stage mom. I think she was just jealous because her daughter didn't have one. Rather than be embarrassed, I chose to embrace my bum, and in doing so I developed a habit of embracing the bums of others as well. My elementary school years were spent butt-bumping, butt-smacking and even at times butt-squeezing. Why, you ask? Shock value... humor... it's funny, no? Well, funny it may be, but I've learned it's not always the most appropriate behavior. I've since taught myself to control the impulse to smack, and now choose to channel my posterior enthusiasm in a much less tangible... much more visual way.
I don't know what it is. There's just something about a bare behind that really gives me the giggles. After all, every rear end does have a wise crack! (sorry, sometimes I can't help myself) No, but really... butts are truly amusing, don't you think? Everything about them... the smooth and squishy "cheeks," the strategically placed "crack." This must say a lot about my sense of humor... is there a name for this?
This little boy is simply too cool for words...
You must imagine my absolute excitement when I found, in the children's isle at Barnes & Nobles, a book entitled The Day My Butt Went Psycho!. Like any 8 year old boy, I (not quite 20 at the time) nearly wet my pants with excitement. The title alone had me drooling with anticipation. How brilliant! After flipping through and reading several passages aloud to my mother, I skipped to the check-out counter to buy the coolest book of all time.
"An epic tale of one brave boy and his crazy, runaway butt. Can Zack save the earth from butts gone berserk? Can he defeat the biggest, ugliest, meanest butt the world has ever seen? More important- will Zack and his butt ever find true happiness?"
It's really so entertaining. The first page warns, "If you are a parent or a teacher or even if you're just over 18, put this book down now! You won't like it. You won't understand it. You will be totally grossed out by it." Hmmm... I wonder what this says about me? I encourage you to and go and play the "Move Your Butt" game on the publisher's website!
Did I mention I've been thinking about getting a tattoo?!?!
And a photo from one of my favorite artists... Spencer Tunick... famous for gathering thousands upon thousands of bare butts in one place at one time and capturing it all on film!
Earlier this week, while browsing through a very mediocre wanna-be antique store, I came across one of the most entertaining (perhaps more so transfixing) toys of my childhood/adolescence, the Bop It. My mom insisted that mine was somewhere in the garage, but at $2 I couldn't bear to leave it on the shelf. I of course had to give it a practice run, just to make sure all the parts were in working order, and found myself immediately hooked. I fondly recall my Bop It days, during which "Just one more round!!!" was a phrase that frequented my vocabulary. Needless to say, I've decided to start boppin' it again. I'm a few years out of practice, but I'm confident I can train my way back to the skills I had during my Bop It glory days. The thing about this game is that it becomes terribly annoying to anyone within listening proximity, who isn't invited to play. So one either must play when he/she is entirely alone OR convince some friends to join in the fun. Luckily, it has several playing options, one of which is the group "pass it" setting. Even when I play on my own, I like to use this setting because that "pass it" beat is just so darn catchy! If you haven't already got it stuck in your head...
You might be surprised at how many people have posted videos of themselves doing this... or not... I was...
I've been thinking about inviting some friends over next weekend just to catch up after a long summer of jobs, vacations, adventures, etc.... and now I know I MUST. Board games are great, but I'm pretty confident my new Bop It will be a real hit! Until then, I figure I ought to practice every spare moment I get... like this girl...?
Just this morning I came across this magnificent blog/site, Awkward Family Photos. I can't get enough of these images! Professional family photos, in general, have always seemed pretty ridiculous to me, most likely because only few of my family exist. Actually, probably only one that I can think of, and it was taken nearly 20 years ago for a church directory. Perhaps this shortage of family photos in my life has something to do with the fact that my parents were/are divorced... but I prefer to think that it's more a matter of taste. They had sense enough to know that this genre of professional photography is beyond cheesy, and at times darn creepy. And here's proof... no commentary necessary...
What?!? I think this might be the most frightening of them all, ha!! As for the others, I think they speak for themselves... I'm starting to think photos like these are the reason I fear being photographed...
"Let the boomers have their 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Let Generation X commemorate the 15 years since Kurt Cobain shot himself. For Generation Y — those born roughly between 1980 and 2003 — it’s the pop culture of the late ’90s and early 2000s that makes them wistful.... Even though nostalgia hits every generation, it seems awfully early for 28-year-olds to be looking back. One possible explanation, say authors who focus on generational identity, is the impact of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The political and economic climate of the late ’90s had been as soothing as a Backstreet Boys ballad: no wars, unemployment as low as 4 percent, a $120 billion federal surplus. "
Maybe so... or perhaps it's just that the pop culture of our childhood years was just so darn cool! We can't help but long for the mere memories of such sheer goodness! Blame it on politics, if you must, but I still can't get enough of that loony film Space Jam. The theme song, sung by the Quad City DJs, was practically the anthem of my 2nd grade year (before MmmBop took it's place in 3rd)! You know the song I'm talking about.... "Everybody get up, it's time to slam now.... we got a real jam goin down..." I could keep going, for of course I know every single word... but then again, so do you.
How anyone can hear that song and sit still is frighteningly puzzling to me. It is the ultimate dance tune... just singing it in my head gets my heart pumping! So, this summer, when I caught my cousins (10, 13, and 15) sitting in front of the TV, just SITTING on the couch, while the opening theme song blared through the speakers, "Work that body, work that body, make sure you don't hurt nobody!", you must imagine what pain I felt. How could they hear this and not jump on the furniture in a dance frenzy?!? I sure couldn't!! While the kids sat, motionless, in front of the screen, my mom (a loyal Space Jam fan as well) and I gave ourselves quite a workout shaking our tails to the song!
The best thing, by far, about Space Jam is the music. I have absolutely no idea what's so cool about Michael Jordan talking to basketball playing looney tunes and alien monsters... not much if you ask me... but when paired with such an incredible soundtrack... it's really something special.
For some reason I couldn't find a working version of the theme song music video... or the song... LAME
And in case you aren't up with children's pop-culture of the mid-90's...
As a child, I always seemed to have a thing for boys with bowl cuts... seriously. The hairstyle, while it was rather popular in the 80's, was definitely on it's way out during my elementary school days of the mid-90's... but a bowl cut always managed to find its way into the classroom. Not until I was much older did I realize why this hairstyle was called by such a name... I always called it a "bold" cut.
These days, years after the perceived extinction of the bowl cut, such a hairstyle would most certainly be considered "bold." My first 21st century bowl cut sighting was last summer, I believe, at a Tilly and the Wall concert. Guitarist, Derek Pressnall, sported the child-like do, and really pulled it off, if I must say so myself. He looked like a big 6 year old jumping around up there on stage... simply couldn't resist it. this is the only image I can find of Derek sporting the bowl...
But now, a year later, I'm finding that bowl cuts are no longer only for childish dudes, but also for enviously fashionable females, particularly those hailing from Denmark. As I was scanning the archives of the Danish street style blog, GadeMode, I quickly discovered what a trend this hair style has become among these gloriously chic and stylish Scandinavians. If I were one to mess with my hair, I'd definitely give this cut a go... but I'm not... so I'll keep on admiring. And perhaps I'll have a bold buddy who'll let me mess around with his/her hair! I've mastered the mullet (arguably so), but now I'm thinking it's high time I add this to my repertoire.... anyone feeling BOLD?!?!
I'm not much of a blog reader. Sure, there are the few I check on a daily basis, and of course those belonging to my dear family and friends, but rarely do I find anything that has the power to captivate me for hours on end. I find myself yearning for inspiration, hoping to find blogs that I know must exist, such as one solely devoted to fabulous storefront displays... it's out there, right? I hunt for links posted by bloggers whose taste I admire, but seldom find anything that grabs me. Until I happened upon desire to inspire... This design blog hosted by "an Australian and a Canadian hoping to inspire the world one room at a time" is just what I've been needing in my life. With several image filled posts a day dating back to January 2007, just digging through the archives is enough to keep me entertained for weeks! I've been scrolling through the archives for a week now, and I've only made it back to July 2008... still another year and a half to look forward to!
Kim and Jo (the Australian and the Canadian) feature rooms of all aesthetics... all of which manage to inspire them, not to mention their countless readers, in some profound way. They praise the stylists and designers, the photographers and architects... everyone who goes into creating fabulous interiors. With an interior of my own in the works, this blog has really got me thinking about what I can do to maximize the space that I have. These images, in particular are serving as inspiration.
photographer, Emma Lee
designer, Thomas Jayne
Thomas Jayne, again
designer, Melissa Rufty... I'm a bit too color shy to actually do this, but there's something special about the whole package
Kim, of desire to inspire... the perfect vignette
an image from Domino mag
designer, Kate Fine
I NEED these stools!
In the very near future I'll give you a peek into the innards of my own home. I keep putting it off because it's not "finished," but I'm starting to realize that there's no such thing as a finished interior. One of the many things my mother has taught me, especially over the past few years, is that there's no reason a room should be stagnant... it should be alive... evolving to fit it's resident's needs and tastes.
As a child, I seldom partook in the typical baby doll activities such as playing pretend family or pretend school. I thought it futile to try to talk to something with plastic appendages and cotton fluff innards. Instead, my baby dolls functioned as miniature models. I dressed them in real baby clothes, some of which could be found on my own body back in my infant days. My assortment of barbies donned outfits I could only dream of wearing some day. I arranged them in rooms created in my makeshift Barbie mansion (a bookshelf, what else?!) and they just sat there, until I decided it was time for a new outfit or a change of scenery.
Since those days, I've developed a growing fascination with dolls. In high school, while browsing a the crafty hot-spot, Hobby Lobby, I came across the happiest little kewpie doll that I simply couldn't resist. At $2, I of course had to have him. He found his home on the dash of my car, and lived there for several years. I became known for this nameless naked baby. "Why Lauren?" my friends would ask. "He just makes me so happy!" was always my response.
I was thrilled to find this gloriously tattooed kewpie at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art several years ago. It was part of a show featuring various works from Mexico. This piece in particular is by the Mexican artist and tattooist, Dr. Lakra.
I also was known for my "swinging baby earrings." I went through a phase of goofy jewelry making. Baby dolls were, of course, a prominent theme. I sold these cuties on ebay for a mere $5. I'm thinking I ought to make some more... and, yes, my hair did look like this, once upon a time. This growing fascination quickly turned into an antique baby doll obsession. I'd scan second-hand stores for quirky additions to my ever-increasing collection. Here's how I have my favorites displayed at the moment. Sure, they may at times be slightly disturbing, but I simply cannot resist their charm!
P.S. Does anyone know where I can get my hands on a jacket like this?!?!
"An epic tale of one brave boy and his crazy, runaway butt. Can Zack save the earth from butts gone berserk? Can he defeat the biggest, ugliest, meanest butt the world has ever seen? More important- will Zack and his butt ever find true happiness?"
