Lux Lotus

What To Do This Weekend

Janice Erlbaum's Have You Found Her, the book I'm currently getting the word out about, has been out two weeks and it's blowing up. Reviewers IM me to ask for books! Today alone, Janice is mentioned in USA Today in an intriguing piece on memoirs as a publishing trend, and she has a guest essay at Leslie Pietrzyk's fantastic craft and creativity-focused blog, Work in Progress. Definitely check it out, and if you have a blog and would like to receive a review copy, hit me up. I have a feeling that soon the question will be less Have You Found Her and more Have You Read It.

Another project I'm publicizing, Ludlow 38, continues its exhibition of international art fanzines, publish and be damned. Here's a pretty picture.

It Must Be My Shiny Hair

"Brilliant"? "Sublime"? Mentioning me in the same breath as champagne? Oh internets, you're making me laugh today!

Notes on Walker

This evening I attended a screening of Walker presented by Film Comment at Lincoln Center, because Rudy Wurlitzer is one of my clients and he wrote it. Just before the film began, I met director Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy) and all I could do was grin, which is okay because I am not usually like that! And I am sure he is used to it by now. Walker is so beautiful and strange and prescient and witty and almost steampunk in its charming anachronisms and postmodern touches and maybe definitely wholly from another dimension and essential. I was mesmerized by the performances of Ed Harris and Marlee Matlin and the electricity of the whole endeavor. I've already purchased the perfect soundtrack (composed and performed by Joe Strummer) on iTunes and I haven't even been home for 15 minutes! Most of all, I loved the look and style of the film, naturally, as Wild West meets 19th Century Central America with a dash of maverick chic is so where I'm at right now, sartorially speaking (right this moment, I am wearing a cream and scarlet top my favorite ex bought me when he was in the jungle in Mexico with black tights and skirt and tan suede cowboy boots). I am going to buy the film and study the costume design, which is even stronger where menswear is concerned (the range of ties, cravats, scarves, and epaulets alone is truly astounding). Judging from stills I've seen of another film Rudy wrote, Two Lane Blacktop, I might need to take a look at that one, too. What inspiration for spring!

Superstars

Jen is in The New York Times today, for her charming apartment that I always stop by for a cup of tea when I'm in the neighborhood although that seems rare and I also just realized we live all of ten blocks apart. But we chat everyday! My pal Katherine's place has also been featured. I enjoy seeing how real people live, even when I've seen it; the whole thing reminds me of Tokyo: A Certain Style. Last night at Bookcourt was brilliant. If you're looking for a novel set in the contemporary art world, or in Williamsburg, pick up Jami's The Kept Man today. Do it anyway. I was thrilled to learn that her next novel, a work-in-progress, is set in Nebraska! We have a little crush on the place (blame Timothy). I told her how I had this gorgeous piece she gave me by an artist in her residency out there framed lavishly at L&O and hung so it's the first thing I see when open my door, and she sent me a link to the artist's blog! Janice's reading was marvelous, and I loved the fascinated follow-up questions she got, about Have You Found Her and her process and what it's like to be a detective solving the mystery of your own life. And, surely you knew this post was going to come full circle-- Janice and Jen met on the very first day of high school here in their native New York, and have been singing each other's praises ever since! I am happy to continue the trend.

Windowlicker

For the man who can can...

[Hand Painted Cufflinks, $2997 at Paul Stuart]

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

Last Night...

..was pretty fantastic; I went to a cocktail party for new members of the board of directors of The Writers Room (I am one) and talked with so many brilliant people, like stunning, and of course, the best part was that Anne Landsman couldn't be with us because she's in London for The Rowing Lesson, and people are saying things like "confirms her reputation as a major new voice" in the first line of the review (The Guardian)! Our host for the evening was the quintessential bibliophile ("Try again, fail again, fail better" is etched into the stone of the fireplace) and has an art collection of over 2,200 images of people reading. It started with a serendipitous purchase of works by Jim Dine and Larry Rivers, and grew from there. One of the guests owns the Cornelia Street Cafe, so we chatted about cafes, and that reminded me to tell you, that when I wrote that post on Paris last week, the thing that inspired it (that I forgot) was that Soft Skull Press sent me a book, Paris Cafe: The Select Crowd, that j'adore j'adore j'adore. And then when I came home, there was a superhot photo of the Cornelia Street Cafe on The New Yorker blog. After I left the party, I took a cab down to the East Village to have sushi with a friend, and afterwards, at his suggestion, we bought all the flowers we could carry. It was just that kind of an evening. Tonight, more magic awaits at Bookcourt, where Janice Erlbaum and Jami Attenberg are reading their stories of New York right now. Do join us if you're in the neighborhood. Tomorrow night, the Alex Cox/Rudy Wurlitzer cinematic dazzler, Walker, screens at Lincoln Center. The New York Times called it a "hip, cool, political satire," and noted, "''Walker' is something very rare in American movies these days. It has some nerve." Can't wait. Neither should you! Other things I am enamored of today include the nice weather, the person who told me I had beautiful hair after yoga (excellent proof of the theory that seduction is simply an appeal to one's vanity), Modern British Poetry, Miss Jen Bekman's 20x200.

Image: Untitled #46 from "Stories", by Jessica Bruah.

Windowlicker

If you require something to go with Truman's tuxedo... for at least $10,000+ (which goes to charity), you can own one of several facsimiles (the fragility of the garment required multiples) of the iconic green gown worn by Keira Knightley in Atonement for the fantastic library sex scene. Or, you could snag the other standout look in the film, more accessible in almost every way and boasting its own insouciant chic in equal measure:

[White vintage-style swim cap with strap, $13.99 at Luxury Divas]

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

In Her Eyes

A couple of weeks ago, on a Saturday afternoon after Bottega but before the Frick, I was walking out of Barney's with a friend who I'd just convinced to snap up the perfect Ann Demeulemeester vest for spring (and doused both of us and half the ground floor with an intoxicating cloud of Carnal Flower and Musc Ravageur) when a photographer stopped to ask if she could take his photo for Men's Vogue. It showed up today in Amanda Cutter Brooks' smart blog, In Her Eyes, which offers a fresh yet classic take on menswear, and she singled him out for "the most luxe version of a bomber jacket that I have seen." Yeah, 'tis-- I was there when he bought it: it's Kostas Murkudis from Project No. 8, my absolute favorite store in New York (as regular readers know) and his Martin Margiela scarf is, too. I sent the link to my pal at the boutique and she adorably replied, "I can't wait for your photo with the A Detacher jacket [funnily enough, my Christmas present from Mr. Men's Vogue] and Natalia Brilli hair pins in the next printed Vogue!!" Ha. Paris or Nippon or Russian Vogue, maybe...

My weekend plans include a private sale that another friend is organizing:

"If your Valentine's Day was less than sterling, why don't you join me this Sunday, February 24th, from 2-5 p.m., and choose some sterling for yourself? Clement has sent me beautiful things from Paris – many more pearl and multi-stone bracelets as well as gorgeous hand-painted Swarowski crystal necklaces with striking new shapes and earrings. I'll be serving Mariebelle hot chocolate with lots of little luscious things to go with it. Come for the company! Please visit lottadjossou.com."

Email me if you'd like to attend and I will happily forward you the invitation, with pleasure. It's really gorgeous stuff, so don't be shy!

Thursday Night Dance Party

Goldfrapp covering Klaxons/Grace, "It's Not Over" live.

Le Paris Paris

The perquisites of my job include challenging, intellectually stimulating projects, flexible scheduling, and of course, a heads-up on what everyone else is working on. Lately the mail has been superbon... My friends at The Little Book Room sent along Paris Chic & Trendy, clearly the new pocket-size essential shopping guide. Many of my best-loved spots, A-Z, including Antik Batik, Colette, Pierre Hardy, Repetto, Vanessa Bruno, and Zadig & Voltaire, made the cut, plus I've discovered some new Windowlicking destinations that will have me charging down the lane on my next trip. It shouldn't be too far off considering the reverie that recollecting an oddly memorable afternoon spent in the Place des Vosges sent me into last night (without a Madeleine in sight). Another new obsession that fell out of the mailbox and into my arms is Everloving Records' BIPPP: French Synth Wave 1979-85. It definitely doesn't get any better!