It's Supah Swank

"You’ve never had a big sister and you need one. Look at you. You’re a Boy King. You’re a foot..."

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:11:05 -0500

“You’ve never had a big sister and you need one. Look at you. You’re a Boy King. You’re a foot smarter than the smartest kid in the class. You’re blessed with inspiration. You must know this by now. You must have sensed it. Look, if you think we’re wrong… if you think Mr. Hopkins should honestly get paid more than Mrs. Chadwick, then I respect that. But if you think we’re right and you won’t speak up because you can’t be bothered, then God, Jed, I don’t even want to know you.”

- Mrs. Landingham (Two Cathedrals)

(via brklyn)

(via bananak)

Photo

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:21:38 -0500

pococurante: Book designs by Coralie Bickford-Smith Rarely...

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:44:11 -0400

pococurante:

Book designs by Coralie Bickford-Smith

Rarely have I wanted anything quite as much as I want these.

On getting your news.

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:57:52 -0400

dearcoketalk:

Dear Coquette,

Where do you get your news? Growing up, I watched both my siblings reach a phase where they realized that the major news resources are heavily biased, so they jumped to the independent, conspiracy-theory-laden end of the spectrum and started eating it up just because it was different. As a result, I checked out altogether. I figured all news is biased, so why bother?

I know I’m not exactly helping the situation by asking someone else to spoon-feed me a news source I can trust, but I’m 22, and I’m tired of feeling sheltered and stupid. I don’t want to be willfully ignorant, but I know I’m naive and don’t have the critical thinking skills or instincts to know when a reporter is full of crap. I’m afraid that I’m the type to mindlessly buy whatever I’m told. How do I get my head out of my ass?

Congratulations. The very fact that you’re tired of feeling sheltered and stupid means you’ve already pulled your head out of your ass. The real trick now is to make sure you don’t shove it up someone else’s by blindly trusting any spoon-fed news source.

Instead, you have to start trusting your own capacity for rational thought. Learn how to analyze the media. Ask questions. Challenge assumptions. Check sources. Most importantly, don’t get distracted by a little bias. Media bias is harmless when you can spot it, so quit whining about your naïveté and sharpen those critical thinking skills.

If you need a jumping-off point for becoming an independent thinker in the face of mass media, go pick up copies of “Manufacturing Consent” by Noam Chomsky, “Understanding Media” by Marshall McLuhan and “Letters to a Young Contrarian” by Christopher Hitchens.

Read them, reread them and then read them again. They may frustrate you at first, but don’t give up. Every time you hit an unfamiliar reference, light up Google and learn something. Remember, it’s not about what to think. It’s about a way to think.

I promise, you are capable of clear and independent thought. You don’t need to be spoon-fed anything. Once you trust in your own ability to analyze the media, you will be able to consume any source of news, chew it up, and spit out all the bias and bullshit.

Do I really need to add more? Media literacy in this country is absolutely atrocious. We need to start teaching this early. It can’t wait until high school or college. Let’s get second graders to start analyzing Dora. Establish the framework for critical thinking early, and build upon it.

Photo

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:33:09 -0400

This seems to have become little more than an archive of my...

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:12:35 -0400

This seems to have become little more than an archive of my adventures with upholstering, so here’s the most recent project.

It’s the desk (by which I mean an old door on some legs) that was in the picture of the last project, but I’ve covered it with leather-like vinyl. Which—I know!—is so cheap and sometimes tacky, but it’s so much better than the hideously textured white door. It smooths everything out and took maybe thirty minutes. I’ve never been terribly happy with the way the door-desk turned out; I loved the amount of surface area, but something never seemed right about it.

Apparently, I just hate white desks.

Dear Coke Talk: On personal privacy.

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 23:42:40 -0400

Dear Coke Talk: On personal privacy.:

dearcoketalk:

Ok, I’m bisexual and I just can’t find the words to tell my mom. Almost everyone expects me to be gay, but they don’t quite know yet. I just feel uncomfortable not telling my family and I just simply can’t find the words to break it down and tell them. Should I fear about what they will say or…

Just finished my weekend reupholstery project. It’s the...

Sun, 22 May 2011 23:19:55 -0400

Just finished my weekend reupholstery project.

It’s the chair from here, and obviously I didn’t deviate too far from the first reupholstering, but the color is more neutral and the old had become really disgusting.

So this time I used Scotchguard!

Photo

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 23:14:12 -0400

This may be tantamount to sacrilege, but I prefer American Coke to Mexican Coke.

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:30:43 -0400

This may be tantamount to sacrilege, but I prefer American Coke to Mexican Coke.

"The CW is definitely more calculated in its youthfulness and courts controversy more in a quest to..."

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:34:01 -0500

“The CW is definitely more calculated in its youthfulness and courts controversy more in a quest to be seen as hip. But to assert that the quality of shows has dramatically declined is disingenuous. Sure, 90210 isn’t anything like the quality of Angel, but something like Nikita goes ahead and destroys a show like Seventh Heaven or even Roswell.”

- Emma (after I asked her to comment on the quality of shows on CW and The WB)

Video

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:29:55 -0500

Marina Abramović and her lover/collaborator Ulay performing...

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 10:35:46 -0500

Marina Abramović and her lover/collaborator Ulay performing Death Self. This performance consisted of the two artists seated in front of each other, connected at the mouth. They took in each other’s breaths until all of their available oxygen had been used up. The performance lasted only 17 minutes, resulting in both artists collapsing unconscious to the floor, having filled their lungs with carbon dioxide. This personal piece explored the idea of an individual’s ability to absorb the life of another person, exchanging and destroying it.

nowmybutthurts: the final chapter of the lady dior.. well i...

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:09:22 -0500

nowmybutthurts:

the final chapter of the lady dior.. well i guess there are four of them. this one directed by john cameron mitchell, starring marion cotillard.. and a lot of other familar faces

After going through a two week period of ick, my hair is back...

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:46:53 -0500

After going through a two week period of ick, my hair is back and I feel again—at least to the extent I’m capable—like an adult.

Nicki Minaj goes on the attack, but who's the real target? [Capital New York]

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:43:35 -0500

Nicki Minaj goes on the attack, but who's the real target? [Capital New York]:

A week or two ago there (I don’t know, I haven’t had an internet connection for a week) was a lot of kerfluffle about Nicki Minaj and her Out cover, which… Okay, yes, she is maybe sort of co-opting the gay community and being a little less than spectacularly consistent about it, but when isn’t there co-opting? The Eminem *stuff* is just sort of silly. Yeah, “faggot” pops up, but he also suggests that he tied some girl up and pissed on her for Kazaa-ing some of his tracks, which is possible, but given what I’ve heard about him as a father it seems…dubious.

I think she does legitimately care about the “gay community,” however you’d like to interpret that, but I think it’s like this article suggests: she just has trouble with consistency in what she’s saying/rapping/face-making. And it’s not just with this. She’s said repeatedly that she wants to avoid being too “sexy”, but then she gyrates off, tits all akimbo.

But really, does any of this even matter all that much? She makes weird faces, has absurd wigs, and makes funny sounds. And really, isn’t that what everybody wants from their pop music?

Dear Coke Talk: On ayn rand.

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 16:28:34 -0500

Dear Coke Talk: On ayn rand.:

dearcoketalk:

HELP. I’m talking to an Ayn Rand bot. He’s an intelligent human being for the most part, just one of the many that have been sucked up into her selfish little vaccuum of self important motives. What is your opinion of Ayn Rand? What would you say to someone drinking her kool-aid? Much…

It’s apparently that sort of day. I’m on my third...

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:41:36 -0400

It’s apparently that sort of day. I’m on my third way ‘round the soundtrack and it’s making me feel old because it’s probably been ten years and it feels just like it was maybe two weeks ago.

And my god, that telegram would have cost him like £500.

Really?

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:03:00 -0400

Because several gay people kill themselves because they experience what everybody else experiences, but because they’re gay, their suicides happen to be highly publicized because it’s a current cultural meme within the popular media because the midterm elections are coming up and gay rights are a big issue, we’re all wearing purple?

Hurray for equality.

Photo

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:08:09 -0400