Lux Lotus

Artificial Life(Style)

I've seen a few mentions lately of the novelty animatronic cat paw (to be released in Japan this April by Bandai), which is either crazy or brilliant or both. I can't say I "get it" per se, but it sure does make me want to go hang out in Tokyo for a while. Two of the suggested uses:

I can't read Japanese but I like to think the caption in the bottom illo says something like, "Dress Like a Cat Until You Get What You Want."

Previously: Catty is the New Black, 2006 Forecast: Purr-fect.

Windowlicker

Shoes are not quite my "passion," doves - one of the hallmarks of my adult life is that I stopped wearing flip-flops to formal events. But I fell under the spell of these beauties while accompanying a friend on a mission for the perfect boot, and their mysterious absence in all the right places (look closely) takes my breath away... I am generally opposed to heels on political grounds (how do you change the world when you're thinking about your smashed toes?) but must admit that I am awfully tempted to go back and snatch up the cherry at the center of gorgeous, surreal, sartorial splendor.

The conceptually-inspired United Nude Mono Eamz Pump, on sale for $100 in several colors and sizes at @ United Nude- Terra Plana on Elizabeth Street in New York.

Windowlicker - from the French for window shopping: faire du lèche-vitrine - appears on Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am EST.

You're So Pretty...

Must acquire: Blythe Style! [spotted @ platinum blonde life]

11:59, Feeling Fine?

Don't be a pumpkin on me, baby.

The Smart Set: February 20-25

In this week's edition of The Smart Set, my round-up of all that promises to be dazzling and sublime, for MaudNewton.com: fifteen reasons to put your face on.

Upcoming: I've been asked to guest-host an event on 3.6, so save the date! Details tk.

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Give 'em Happening

This time last year, I interviewed artist James Wolanin (aka Give 'em Hell) about his work for Ammo City. What's he up to these days? Lots, it would seem. He's gorgeously revamped giveemhell.net, now featuring his work rather luxuriously, started a studio journal called "philosophy of one," and joined an artists' collective that sounds pretty cool... My favorite recent works: Ascension and Birth of Venus 2005, after Botticelli. Yours?

A Place for Placement

Any Buddhist can tell you that the only permanence in life is change, so it's no surprise that nothing good lasts forever! After slightly less than a year of "examining choice in culture," Placement has ceased publishing new content. I admired Eric Tage Larsen's ambition and dedication basically from the get-go, and imagine he only has grander things in mind for 2006 (if possible, naturellement). Definitely go back and take a closer look at the archives; most of the features are truly evergreen, e.g.

• Taste, Form and Design
• Death in Venice: Douglas Rushkoff Revisits the Art of Persuasion
• Fucking in Public Places
• Robert Smithson's Boiling Curve
• Less Cities, More Moving People

Peaches and Meme

Nothing new to see here at the moment, doll, but there are four new posts at Peach in the City.

[ image: william wegman, feathered peach ]

Lux.Links

• It's "St. James Infirmary, New Orleans, music, etc." + "a partial spinoff of Letters From New Orleans" [Rob Walker's no notes]
• "Transylvania Fashion Week" [give me spirit fingers dammit!!]
• SoMA "(The Society of Mutual Autopsy)" A Review of Religion and Culture"
• "Beat woman" [dogmatika] see also: Women of the Beat Generation and Girls Who Wore Black + Lux Lotus Icons: Denise Levertov.
• "russian band Leningrad: Nashe Show ('Our Show')" [videoville]
• Tuesday Night Rock and Roll Dance Party [via jeffrey teuton]

The Meme Project (4X4)

Via Marco, of the stupendously cool AnimaMundi:

Four Jobs I've Had: Media Outreach Intern, Communications Assistant/Media Outreach Coordinator, Publicist, PR Director

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over: My Summer of Love, The Dreamers, The Last Seduction, Anything directed by Craig Macneill.

Four Places I've Lived: New Orleans, New Mexico, San Francisco, New York.

Four TV Shows I Love: Arrested Development, Gilmore Girls, My So-Called Life, The X Files. Honorable mention: Flip This House.

Four Places I've Vacationed: Martha's Vineyard, Lyon, Antwerp, Big Sur. Honorable mention: White Sands.

Four of My Favorites Dishes: Since it's a particularly vibrant recent memory, I'll go with my choices at Danube last night -- Carinthia "Schlutzkrapfen" High Altitude Austrian Cheese Ravioli with Harvest Corn Sauce and Smoked Wild Mushrooms followed by Wiener Schnitzel with Austrian Crescent Potatoes, Cucumber Salad, Mixed Greens and Lingonberries and a dessert of Bohemian Liwanzen with Powidl, Topfen, Plum Ragout and Prune Armagnac Ice Cream. And for the fourth, probably street food -- crepes in Paris or waffles in Belgium, piping hot and hastily pressed to serve in slightly greasy waxed paper.

Four Sites I Visit Daily: Style.com horoscopes, Bloglines.com (where I currently subscribe to 199 feeds) [Did I miss something I should be reading? Let me know.], Economist.com, Tricycle.com (just for "The Daily Dharma").

Plus one that I am adding -- Four Underrated Conversational Topics: Taxidermy, The Moons of Distant Planets, The Politics of Supply Chains, Color Therapy.

Four Bloggers I'm Tagging: Dallas, Tayari, Marcy and Max.
Honorary mention: special Lux Lotus correspondent, Peach in the City.
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