Part 1 of Bon Iver Themed Blog Posts

My friend Lilly and I have a long-running joke about how hipsters cannot survive (and attain their hipster-style) during the winter because they can't wear flowy outfits or cute indie skirts....

BUT

I cracked the code.

In order to be a winter hipster... you have to emulate Bon Iver.

It works every time.

1.  PLAID.

2.  KNITS

*let's call this warm core

(like norm core but not)

3.  MORE PLAID

4.  MORE WARMCORE

IT'S LIKE A HOLIDAY THEMED DRUG RUG

5.  WARM CORE + PLAID = EXTREME BON IVER

EXTRA BONUS ROUND:

SOCKS.

- EITHER KNIT OR CUTE AND FLORAL - 

hahah

this was fun

xoxo

gossip girl

jk it's alijah

Teenage Daydream

(dress - rue 21, sweater - thrifted, tights - i don't know!)

Today I ripped my tights and kissed a boy in an elevator.

(I also petted a llama)

My name is Alijah, but I don't feel like myself.

I've always been a person who would always rip their tights, roll my eyes at myself and then walk around anyways.

I'm still that person, but I feel extremely different.

In one week, I've had my first date and first kiss(es), and visited the art museum three days in a row.

I feel like I'm in a Coming-Of-Age movie in the 80s, I've always felt like a character and not a real person, but for some reason this entire week absolutely nothing has felt real.  I really like that feeling though, the feeling of knowing that weird things will always happen and being so aware of it that it's really easy to come to terms with and embrace the idea.

  It's cool to know that you've got people in your life who are honestly there for you and are willing to randomly go to art galleries with you, or walk across downtown to get to high-up places to stare at the city and the mountains until it's dark.

I just feel so lucky.

I feel great, I feel like right now all of my idealistic teenage dreams are coming true

and I couldn't be happier.

xoxo

gossip girl

jk it's alijah

P.S. The title is like playing off of David Bowie's Moonage Daydream it's Teenage Daydream y'know?  :') 

P.P.S. I listened to Bon Iver last night without crying, and I think that's what #truehappiness is.

White Stripes

I wore a lot of stripes today.

Today was great.

School-party/Cleaning

Music Theory Exam...

and a spontaneous visit to the art museum

I think that doing things like this are good for you, not in a weird *good for your soul way*, but in a completely good for your soul way.  I'm definitely not a therapist or a philosopher but I think getting out and doing things spontaneously with your friends is an extremely healing thing.  I've been so so so stressed about homework, exams, school, and BOYS... I haven't had much time to just hang out and enjoy things for what they were.  

This trip to the art museum was fun.

I could definitely appreciate that.

I also definitely needed that.

It's a great thing knowing that you have people in your life who will be alright with you randomly asking them if they wanted to play with puppets in the children's part of the art museum.

Friends are a great thing, art is a great thing, and relaxing and enjoying life is a great thing.

that's all for today, folks.

xoxo

gossip girl

P.S. I called this White Stripes because while I was making this post "Fell In Love With A Girl" came on my 2000s Indie Pandora Station and not because of all of the white striped clothes I wore today.

(it was one of those days)

:')

Fail In Style

Studying in the gallery.

HARDCORE STUDYING.

I woke up this morning and was like hmmmm..... well I could wear sweatpants and be sad and look gross... or I could look cute and put minimal effort into my outfit.

I chose the second one.

I decided that I might as well look cute if I'm going to spend two hours of my existence failing an exam. :')

that's it

gotta go study more!!!

xoxo 

gossip girl

jk it's alijah

Jean Paul Gaultier

(photos  - marcio madiera)

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER SPRING/SUMMER 2007

This is a really interesting collection.

It's interesting because the inspiration behind it is a personification of the biblical virgin mary.

  The original Madonna.

I personally think that the makeup/hair and colors used are on point and the look that this creates with the pieces as well as the halos that are being worn really really really makes it spectacular.

That's it.

hope exam week isn't killing you like it's killing me

(ALREADY)

xoxo 

gossip girl

jk its alijah

The Blogger Is Present

This idea that life should imitate art is a phenomenon among teenagers on social media websites, and most prominently tumblr.  The idea of “doing it for the aesthetic” is not an extremely new topic, it pays direct homage to the Aesthetic movement, and one of it's most known members: Oscar Wilde. Through the internet, all forms of art being available at one’s fingertips at any time of the day.  Due to this fact, many teenagers and young adults are being exposed to more art forms that a lot of other generations simply to the accessibility of the information.  This constant accessibility to art has had a great deal of influence on teenage culture, which is the most recent wave of Aestheticism. 

This has caused a visible increase in teenager's interest in art and social issues, which again, links directly to Oscar Wilde and his views on Aestheticism. He specifically felt that art should be beautiful but shouldn't necessarily take attention away from the social issues that are going on. In Wilde’s The Poets & The People, he talks about the intellectuals ignoring actual people in poverty and continue to write things that are simply hard for people who aren’t part of the literary aristocracy to understand, he specifically criticized a fellow writer for this in his essay. “Mr. Browning is living in the nineteenth century and has no such excuses for banging his intellectual tin kettle while a fourth part of his fellow-countrymen are struggling against poverty, and are weighed down by the gloomy outlook towards the future.” (Wilde, Poets & The People)   

The exact same thing happens on the internet, specifically the platform of tumblr. It's obvious that due to the exposure we have, when world news happens we can't ignore it even if you try, and some people try, this has been combatted with the idea of entitlement with the loose quote of "to be able to have the choice to ignore this is entitlement, just because it's not happening to you and not affecting you it doesn't mean it's not important, stop reflagging pictures of pretty white girls and stop ignoring real life issues [referring to Gaza, Ferguson, and Mexico - as well as Eric Garner & Tamir Rice in recent news]." (unknown blogger, tumblr) This goes to say that a lot of the bloggers on tumblr share the same ideals as Oscar Wilde without even realizing it, the parallels are obvious and interesting. 

The basic idea of the newest version of Aestheticism, which is prominently on the internet, is that things in everyday life, and on the internet are meant to be aesthetically pleasing at all times.  For example, blogs dedicated to posting photos of beautiful things with no posts about political affiliations is a version of the newest version of Aestheticism.  Another example of this could be the fascination with Windows 98 because to some, it creates a sense of nostalgia attached with being younger and not having to worry about politics and grotesque things in the world, and also because the look of the older Windows model is more pleasing to look at compared to the most recent versions of it.

Lastly, the most modern version of the Aesthetic movement correlates greatly with the broader ideals of the first movement, that political influence shouldn’t be paid attention to inside of the art and that the moral side of art was not as important as the actual beauty of it.  Through the vast differences, similarities, and correlations of the different waves of this movements, we can see how the mindsets of individuals versus the majority of the movements differ, and how those mindsets can help to shape the many other versions of the movement, which helps it to be able to be continued. In the future, perhaps bloggers will stop being seen as frivolous, superfluous, and not knowing what they're talking about Art is important, as well as the political and social issues going on in the world around us, and to turn a blind eye to that is wrong because you're not JUST turning a blind eye to it, you're going out of your way to turn a blind eye to it. It's not just ignorance it's a disdainful act against everybody involved.

I Am Always So Confused

It was cold.

Standing outside in the cold at 7am... that's dedication. 

I DON'T WANT TO DO MY HOMEWORK I'M HONESTLY FREAKING OUT BECAUSE I KNOW THAT I NEED TO BUT I LIKE CAN'T GET MYSELF TO DO IT.... I keep getting myself into these extremely high-stress situations, this is why I'm going to die at 23, because of my stress.

I just really am so confused with everything all the time, honestly.

I kinda don't ever know what I'm doing, I just want to sit on my bed and make zines.

I don't want to go to school and I don't ever want to write another paper

(it feels like that's all I ever do - write papers and stress about the ones that aren't yet written)

P.S. FUN FACT - YOU'D BE SURPRISED AT HOW WELL VERLAINE'S EROTIC POETRY GOES WITH MAC DEMARCO SONGS.......

xoxo

gossip girl

jk it's alijah

other fun fact: Clem Creevy is so cool.

The Pizza Underground

If this didn't make your day a little brighter I don't know what else will.

P.S. Sidenote on the last video - I remember one time during Freshman year after Bible lit class a friend of mine (Kaitlin- probably the coolest person i've ever interacted with) and I just sat and watched Andy Warhol's hamburger video.

This is great.

xoxo

gossip girl

jk its alijah 

hope pre-exam week isn't killing you yet :)

Stress

When you're sleepy and stressed and wearing the clothes you wore to bed last night as an outfit.

Basically when you're in sweatpants/pajamas but still wanna be #cute

Last week was so stressful, everything was due, everybody was on edge, it was so intense. 

Two weeks before Exam Week.

Today is Sunday, tomorrow is Monday and it marks day 1 of an equally if not more stressful week

Pre-Exam Week.

AKA the worst two weeks of the entire semester.

They're awful.

This year was exceptionally awful because it's like we got an extra week of hell.

I have so many things due at the same exact time, it's awful and stressful and I just want to stay in bed for the rest of my life, honestly.

(Or at least until it's 2015, but even then things will still be super stressful... will there ever be a real break? - no? - ok)

Jeez louise, my head hurts just thinking about all of my obligations and deadlines.

xoxo

gossip girl

jk it's alijah

P.S. Pray for me for these next two weeks, hopefully I won't be dead or stressed or crying too much