Savage Beauty Day 5

Dress, Sarabande, spring/summer 2007
Cream hand-painted leather

"Women should look like women.  A piece of cardboard has no sexuality."*

Alexander McQueen created so many fabulous pieces, it was actually quite hard to pick just a few to share.  In the end, what I took away from the exhibit is to let your creativity blossom, no matter where it might go.

*Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton, Solve Sundsbo, Tim Blanks and Susannah Frankel - exhibition hardcover catalogue

Savage Beauty Day 4

Dress, Widows of Culloden, autumn/winter 2006-07
Ivory Silk Organza

"I'm an avid follower of the news, and sometimes you just can't take any more war, any more disasters, and you want to remind yourself there's beauty in the world."*

If you haven't already, check out this video on YouTube that Kate Moss wearing a Widows of Culloden gown did for Alexander McQueen fashion show.

*Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton, Solve Sundsbo, Tim Blanks and Susannah Frankel - exhibition hardcover catalogue

Savage Beauty Day 3b

"Bumster" skirt, Highland Rape, autumn/winter 1995-96
Black silk [reproduction from original pattern]

"[With 'bumsters,'] I wanted to elongate the body, not just show the bum.  To me, that part of the body - not so much the buttocks, but the bottom of the spine - that's the most erotic part of anyone's body, man or woman."*

What can I say?  It's hump day!

*Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton, Solve Sundsbo, Tim Blanks and Susannah Frankel - exhibition hardcover catalogue

Savage Beauty Day 3a

Ensemble, autumn/winter 2010-11
Coat of duck feathers painted gold, skirt of white silk embroidered with gold thread.

Closeup of Coat

"You've got to know the rules to break them.  That's what I'm here for, to demolish the rules but to keep the tradition."*

*Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton, Solve Sundsbo, Tim Blanks and Susannah Frankel - exhibition hardcover catalogue

Savage Beauty Day 2

House of Givenchy Haute Couture
Ensemble, Eclect Dissect, autumn/winter 1997-98
Dress and gloves of black leather, Collar of red pheasant feathers and resin vulture skulls by Simon Costin.

Closeup of collar with red pheasant feather and resin vulture skulls.

"I don't think like the average person on the street.  I think quite perversely sometimes."*

*Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton, Solve Sundsbo, Tim Blanks and Susannah Frankel - exhibition hardcover catalogue

A Week of Savage Beauty

Fashion, as many of you know, is a passion for me, and if you didn't know?  You do now.

Last week I braved the heat wave and went to The Met, explored the Savage Beauty exhibit which offered a glimpse into the world Lee Alexander McQueen created where fashion is art, and came back with the catalogue - a hefty hardcover book that's as unique as the designer himself.

If asked for a single word to describe this man's work, the first that comes to my mind is "stunning", which doesn't do him justice.

So, I thought I'd take this week to post pics of some of my favorite pieces, and include the quotes from the book that accompanies them.  Why the quotes?  Some of them struck me personally, even touched on how I thought or even approached writing.

Dress, VOSS, spring/summer 2001
Red and black ostrich feathers and glass medical slides painted red.

"There's blood beneath every layer of skin."*

*Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton, Solve Sundsbo, Tim Blanks and Susannah Frankel - exhibition hardcover catalogue

Help! Someone stop these thieves!

Oh, sorry, I was wrong - they're selling the purses, not stealing them.  At least that's my take on photographer Tony Duran's [music on website that can be turned off] Parasuco ad with 3 so hot they're sweaty guys.

Do I want the bags, no, not really, but I'll peruse one or two to see what they're hiding.

Thank you, Homotography.

What does Summer bring to mind?

Surfers!

Summer is in full swing and that means the guys who rule the waves are hanging out ready to ride.

Me?

Nope, not surfing, but writing it.

What's bugging me right now?

The need many folks have to make it a ebook or book world.  This is usually followed by some reader stating "There's nothing better than the smell of a new book" and "They will never read an ebook".

Never is a long time of missing some real gems, besides, they have the basic premise of the discussion wrong.

It's not an either/or scenario, it's all about AND.

eBooks AND Books.

Format doesn't matter and if it does to you, I'm sorry, but the story is what I care about - however it comes.

Funny Testicle Thought

The Indian With One Testicle

There once was an Indian who had only one testicle and whose given name was 'Onestone'. He hated that name and asked everyone not to call him Onestone.

After years and years of torment, Onestone finally cracked and said,' If anyone calls me Onestone again I will kill them!'

The word got around and nobody called him that any more.

Then one day a young woman named Blue Bird forgot and said, 'Good morning, Onestone.' He jumped up, grabbed her and took her deep into the forest where he made love to her all day and all night. He made love to her all the next day, until Blue Bird died from exhaustion.

The word got around that Onestone meant what he promised he would do. Years went by and no one dared call him by his given name until A woman named Yellow Bird returned to the village after being away. Yellow Bird , who was Blue Bird's cousin, was overjoyed when she saw Onestone. She hugged him and said, 'Good to see you, Onestone.'

Onestone grabbed her, took her deep into the forest, then he made love to her all day, made love to her all night, made love to her all the next day, made love to her all the next night, butYellow Bird wouldn't die!

Why?

OH, come on.... take a guess !!!

Think about it !!!

You're going to love this !!!

Everyone knows...

You can't kill Two Birds with OneStone!!!

AHHH!  S!  You fab chick - love this one :-)

Thoughts on Comfort

Comfort often plays a role in what a woman will wear, but sometimes it's not an issue, such as if you're going for a specific look.  I have a feeling, while fun, a metal bra would not be comfortable - but it is a look where that ideal could be ditched.

A date with the perfect pirate maybe?

TalonArmory is selling these and others on Etsy with the opportunity to sew them onto a normal bra, which means the comfort issue may not be an issue for some.

Hold That Thought! [NSFW]

Okay, I'm holding...

Thoughts from a meandering reader...

The other day I was walking through my local Borders and a book caught my eye.  It wasn't because there were many copies like those around it, there was only one copy left.  The book was small compared to all the others as well, but the cover and title reminded me of another book on my TBB list, Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart.  After briefly flipping through Wicked Bugs, I've added it to my list.

Funny, the covers above are cool and not exactly the same, but similar enough to catch my eye, and nudge me enough to pick it up, flip through it, and remember later to add it to my wishlist.

Along those same lines, the other day I googled 'Greek myths', and a wonderful image popped up.  I had no details about the book as in if it's fiction or non-fiction, who it was geared to, but I do know Medusa is involved and I really liked the cover - enough that I thought to do a blog with it included.  Medusa Island by Stuart and Linda Macfarlane is for children and kudos to them for such fab artwork.

These are just two examples of how important cover and title are to a meandering reader.  The artwork is eye-catching, the title speaks to the subject and is easy to remember.  The latter is important.  If I go looking for a book and can't remember the title, then the interest most likely ends there.

Sad but true, for me at least.

Naughty Thought for Monday [NSFW]

It's hot outside, really hot, but the ManSkin bikini is not what comes to mind when I think of bikinis.

Test Your Knowledge

Since Tuesday I've been posting short Who am I? brain teasers on the Authors After Dark convention blog - yeah, I'm that kind of excited it's just around the corner.

There are 4 Greek mythological figures giving you hints of their background and accomplishments.  Go over and see how many you can guess.  It's a fun brain teaser kind of thing.

I guess this is also a great time to point you guys in direction of the new free Night Owl Reviews magazine.  It's a great issue and I answered Bennet Pomerantz great question of When did You Consideer Yourself a Writer in his A Piece of My Mind: Advice for People Who Want to Write column.

I Want Good Ol' American Football!

You heard me, I want the NFL and players to work things out, and start preparing to give us fans a great season!

Are you with me?

If you're waiting like me, hungry for hot fit players running around in tight pants and wish it were little else, then maybe my short contemporary erotic romance And She Scores! will tide you over.  Even better, all the proceeds go to the American Heart Association, and my heart is crying for some good old American football.

And She Scores! is a part of the All Romance eBooks 28 Days of Heart campaign and is still available.

They've both taken a time out…

Being a lone woman in a mans locker room filled with hard-bodied, sweating, football players would normally be the stuff fantasies were made from. For Sarah Winters, its called work and today her job is to interview the man who stole her heart and then threw it away.

Recovering from what could have been a career ending injury, Patrick Conway should be focused on getting fit, but he isn't. Instead, his mind is on the interview he's about to have with the woman who never came or called to see how he was, despite them having been lovers.

Time for them both to get off the sidelines and back in the game before the clock runs out.

Buy And She Scores! at ARe now

Reading ebooks is easy, right?

Whether through the publisher, ARe, Fictionwise, Amazon, BN, or wherever you like to shop for your ebooks, it's easy to buy them, but what about reading them?

Well, sometimes that isn't so simple.

Recently I bought 13 ebooks from 9 authors and 5 publishers [big to indie] and all were in the same format - yes, my entire elibrary is *.pdf.  Should have been straightforward from there, open and read, only it wasn't.

There are 5 ebooks I haven't been able to read except on my laptop and I have tried a variety of apps - opps, sorry, forgot to mention that bit, I read my ebooks on my iPod Touch.  As an example, 1 of the publishers [the biggest of them all] I picked a few ebooks from and they fluctuated in formatting.  You'd think there'd be a house standard.

This is not good.  I'm not sure I'll ever get to those 5 at this point, but I sure would like to.  I'd also like to feel more comfortable in knowing I can read what I purchase on whatever device I choose!

All that said, the cutie is absolutely loving his Kindle, a device he was completely adamant against owning much less using.  He describes it as "easy".  Easy to buy ebooks, easy to read, easy to take on trips or the backyard.  It's all around easy.

Naughty Thought for Monday

Last week on one of my poultry days I shared a Kobi Levi swan shoe and today I'm sharing his shoe called 'Blow'.

Nothing else needs to be said.

Romance Community Pulls Together

Sadly, author Leslie Esdaile, also writing as L.A. Banks, is not doing at all well.  Fact is she's facing an uphill battle in her struggle with serious illness.  She is absolutely not able to receive visitors, answer emails, texts or phone calls, or receive flowers, and the romance community is pulling together to offer all the support it can.

There's a website suggesting various way to help Leslie and her family with the mounting medical expenses is up and it includes an auction which starts on this coming Tuesday.

Share Your Heart Auction for Leslie On Ebay [here's the list thus far of what's being auctioned off]
June 21-July 1, 2011
Bids begin at : 9 AM EST (6/21)
Auctions end: 9 PM (7/1)

Go, get a goodie, donate dosh, whatever you can do and help ease at least one aspect of this difficult time for Leslie and her family.

Poultry Funny!

Farmer John lived on a quiet rural highway. But, as time went by, the traffic slowly built up at an alarming rate. The traffic was so heavy and so fast that his Chickens were being run over at a rate of three to six a day.

So one day Farmer John called the sheriff's office and said, "You've got to do something about all Of these people driving so fast and killing all of my chickens."

"What do you want me to do?" asked the sheriff.

"I don't care, just do something about those crazy drivers!" So the next day he had the county workers go out and erected a sign that said:

SLOW:
SCHOOL CROSSING

Three days later Farmer John called the sheriff and said, "You've got to do something about these drivers. The 'school crossing' sign seems to make them go even faster." So, again, the sheriff sends out the county
workers and they put up a new sign:

SLOW:
CHILDREN AT PLAY

That really sped them up. So Farmer John called and called and called every day for three weeks. Finally, he asked the sheriff, "Your signs are doing no good.. Can I put up my own sign?" The sheriff told him, "Sure thing, put up your own sign." He was going to let Farmer John do just about anything in order to get him to stop calling everyday to complain.

The sheriff got no more calls from Farmer John. Three weeks later, curiosity got the best of the Sheriff and he decided to give Farmer John a call.

"How's the problem with those drivers. Did you put up your sign?"

"Oh, I sure did. And not one chicken has been killed since then. I've got to go. I'm very busy." He hung up the phone.

The sheriff was really curious now and he thought to himself, "I'd better go out there and take a look at that sign...it might be something that WE could use to slow down drivers."

So the sheriff drove out to Farmer John's house, and his jaw dropped the moment he saw the sign. It was spray painted on a sheet of wood:

NUDIST COLONY
Go slow and watch out for chicks!

HA! S, of course, sent me this one - thank you darlin'! 

And, as for the chick above, that's a Polish Fizzle from the Extraordinary Chickens and Extra Extraordinary Chickens book.  I am not a fan of birds, but love these books, and the calendars are like poulty pin ups!