Carousel -- Week Ending 16th January 2009
[ 15 January 2009 ]
James Jean (above!) is amazing!
Thom Kerr is my new best friend. We had dinner in a treehouse last weekend & he just happens to be an incredible photographer. Check out his ladies & fantasy work, swoon-o-rama!
My friend Peter, a fashion designer & all-round creative person living in New York cut down his email checking to twice a day, & reports back on what changes it has incurred in his life. His blog is good too, you should subscribe, he is very interesting with some great insights!
Aries Spears is absolutely hilarious. Check out the bottom right-hand corner of his site for his impersonations of LL Cool J, Jay-Z & DMX. They made me laugh so hard I could barely breathe. “Pawdan me I had ta laff at that!” His Jay-Z laugh is uncanny & all that stuff about LL Cool J makin’ it sexy was unbelievably funny.
Rachel Hills wrote an article about the fear of dating for Cleo & she featured me in it!
“New Zealand born blogger and proud non-dater Gala Darling, 25, who recently moved to New York, suggests making the process a bit more unpredictable. “You can turn the date into some kind of adventure, which makes things much more fun and less intimidating. After all, if the two of you are experiencing something novel and different, that makes you feel less inhibited and self-conscious – you can just concentrate on having a good time.”
“Darling says a picnic, meeting at 2am on a fire escape or going chocolate taste-testing are great ideas. “You can do whatever appeals to you, just be sure to make an effort. It’ll help you form a more sincere bond, and if all else fails, at least you’ll have a good story to tell.” And in that spirit, we’ll see how I go in 2009.”
Russell Grant does Youtube horoscopes every day. He is odd but kind of endearing in his strange, messy way. I am a SoulGarden girl from way back but Russell does a great job & he is my second port of call if I ever feel I need it!
Leading thinkers offer predictions of ‘next big thing’ from the Telegraph. Radiotelepathy? Um, YES!
If your ring finger is longer than your index finger, you were exposed to more testosterone in the womb, meaning that compared to most people, you are more confident & viligant, happier taking risks & have fast reactions. Apparently! My ring finger is longer than my index, how about yours? & do you think there’s any truth to it?
Part two of my interview at Good Prattle is up!
I love New York, & conversations like this.
Paris Hilton cracks me up. Case in point: 1 (“eat your heart out Meryl Streep”!). 2 (“she really is too much”). 3. She is just so fantastically ridiculous, I’m all over it.
Amber wrote a guide to Auckland for visitors to NZ! (I totally concur with Unity Books, World Deluxe, Raw Power, Tanuki’s Cave & Rakinos!) The rest of her blog is pretty neat too, I subscribed!
Sheila Bocchine (above!) is a pinhole photograher & she does super work.
Scouting New York is a cool, interesting blog from a New York-based location scout, with lots of good pictures & random loveliness. (I saw this!)
Creative workspaces courtesy of Martha Stewart.
Gavin Strange (aka JamFactory) is awesome. He’s a designer from Bristol with an affinity for good hip-hop & great taste! I actually discovered him through Flickr, he made a graphic using some lyrics from a Doomtree track, & I contacted him to say what a great job he’d done! Anyway, I dig his blog (which he should update more) & he designs sweet shirts, which, at only £5 a pop, are almost essential buying.
By the way, have I linked here before?! Offbeat Bride is the ultimate resource for fabulous, unconventional brides. (P.S. Congratulations, Yasemin!)
Jessica emailed me on Wednesday to tell me that January the 27th is Lewis Carroll’s birthday! She pasted this from some random location, & it sounds like fun! (She also signed off Hope your day is sparkling, but not in the lame Twilight vampire boy way & it made me laugh!)
January 27th is the birthday of Lewis Carrol, author of ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. Alice fell down a rabbit hole into a place where everything had changed and none of the rules could be counted on to apply anymore. I say, let’s do the same: January 27th should be the Annual LiveJournal Rabbit Hole Day. When you post on that day, instead of the normal daily life and work and news and politics, write about the strange new world you have found yourself in for the day, with its strange new life and work and news and politics.
Let’s have a day where nobody’s life makes sense anymore, where any random LJ you click on will bring you some strange new tale. Let’s all fall down the Rabbit Hole for 24 hours and see what’s there. It will be beautiful.
E. Jean’s Dope Astrology is nutty but sweet. Like a Snickers bar. “Completely made-up omens which will probably come true”, ooh yes!
Photoshopped Subway Ads Get Exposed In Berlin. So funny, I love this!
Harmony Korine on Letterman, he is so awesome. “How you doin’?” “Nice.”
Free cosmetics — this is not a joke!
My sweet friend from Wiscaaaaansin, Leif Brostrom, has good music taste, & what’s better is that he likes to share. Yay! Click his name for lots of links to free mixes.
Strategic Change: how to reinvent your personality, from Psychology Today.
The Prescription for Self-Doubt: Watch This Video. Thanks, Mr Ferriss. This is good too: The Power of Less: Changing Behavior with Leo Babauta.
Okay, so it seems like I watched a lot of good videos this week!
& again!
Lantern festival.
Where the hell is Matt?
(Thanks, Sarah!)
Katt Williams: Every Day I’m Hustlin’.
Ohhh this made me laugh so hard.
Robin Williams on Whose Line Is It Anyway?
An oldie but a goodie.
George Carlin: “Pro-Life Is Anti-Woman”.
Consider yourself warned!
Love letters & feather headdresses,
Tags: carousel Add Gala on Twitter!
yayyy my video is up :P i love carousel!! it gives me something to do and look at!!! since ive been looking at gala im addicted to blogss!!
xoxo
Checking email twice a day? I’m intrigued! I find that if I let it go too long I get really overwhelmed to see so many messages all at once but I’m totally interested to see what he says about this. Thanks for the fabulous links-I’m off to read!
Lantern Festival is my favorite February holiday! (Up yours Valentine’s Day!) Did you know the Chinese write their wishes for the new year on these lanterns before they light them and send them off into the night sky!? Best.idea.ever.
I LOVE the hooping videos— the way they move, they make it really seem so effortless, as if the hoop were moving of its own accord.
beautiful painting! i’ve had a lot of wine and that stimulated all my senses.
I fell in love with James Jean last year and his pictures usually flank my laptops wall paper, I especially love the Prada works.
Also love the “Where the hell is Matt?” clips, I saw him on Oprah once and thought that it was a great idea that he had!
Lots of awesome links to check out this week! Thanks Gala!!!
xo
all the pics you put are great! :)
I LOVE Who’s Line is it Anyways…when I was in exchange program I saw two episodes eeevery day, those guys made me happy (plus, IronChef went after that show…that made me happy too xD)
Thanks Gala :D I love to check your blogs on fridays because of Carousel!
If you like Carlin,
then you MEDICALLY NEED Bill Hicks!
before anyone starts complaining about the Carlin video, I say rock on! ;) also, I loved almost every link this week. yay!
ps: ...sweetie? why does it say 2008?
Those hoopnotica videos were so cool. I really like how creative they were with it.
WHHHOOOOOOA! The hooping looks deliciously fun! GREAT LINKS! The James guy was KOOL!
k0mmissar — I love Bill too!
Eliza — Oh GEEZ, that’s what I get for posting before I take my vitamins. Thanks, I’ll fix it ;>
Ahhh mega carousel, brilliant! Thanks so much for the love and the link. xx
I’m loving all the photos this week! And Robin Williams on Whose Line is pure GOLD!
this is possibly my favourite carousel ever; bookmarks a go-go! and the george carlin clip is brilliant :D
Hey! Settle down there! To be fair, the lame Twilight vampire boy is pretty darn hot… (for a young’un)
;)
www.nthread.net/
more Nubby’s stlye but AMAZING!!! enjoy
Wellll….my ring finger is longer than my index finger on my right hand ONLY because there is an extra bone in that finger.So in my right ring finger I have 4 joints instead of the usual 3. Wonder what that means?! :)
Hoopnotica! I’ve been obsessed wit them for about a month now. I hate exercise but then I discovered this and I cannot get enough. I love finding new passions!
Gala, I think EVERYONES middle finger is longer than their index finger. Try shortening your middle finger to match then index. Doesn’t it look strange? I can’t recall ever seeing anyone’s hand that looks like that. Lovely list today!
Sam Bard — RING, not middle! Tsk tsk!
I’ve loved James Jean since he began doing the covers of the Fables comic books. He’s the best! I’m glad someone else has recognized how amazing his art is.
Wow that longer ring finger thing sure is interesting. Mine is longer than my index, not a lot but there is a length difference.
That overheard in NYC was hilarious! I even imagined one of my boys saying it XDD.
The Where the Hell is Matt? video is awesome! Have you seen the outtakes? They are just as good and the commentary is funny as hell. I was LMAO through the whole video.
Thanks for answering my email so fast! I should’ve used the search better before emailing you (Gala’s Guide to Asking Questions n_n). Still thanks a lot!
Kisses.
Tunacupcakes – It means you’re part faery! Faeries are well-known for having extra joints in their fingers. : )
KATT WILLIAMS.
Oh MY God.
He is HILARIOUS. My boyfriend introduced me to the comedy that is Katt Williams.
And I so just sent him the link to this post in an IM.
“GO LOOK AT WHAT GALA POSTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
oh man, i never expected to see katt williams on your blog but i’m glad i did. totally awesome. :)
Thanks so much for the FREE cosmetics link. Now I have to make a plan of attack to see how many stores I can hit in the shortest amount of time. Yipee~
Those are some beautifully geeky adbusters over in Berlin – love ‘em!
After watching those hooping videos, I went downstairs and grabbed my old hula hoop and started hooping. So fun, it gave me so much energy! I definitely need to make that a routine now.
Also, I love that “Where the hell is Matt?” video, so inspiring.
Thanks a bunch for another great link round up!
My ring finger is longer than my index finger…YAY!
go us!
xx
I was watching that Kat Williams video for the first time a few days ago, too! You must have been following my YouTube trail…Kat is TOO hilarious.
Hmm, what if you have one ring finger that’s bigger than your index finger … ?
Now that asymmetry is going to bother me!! Haha
Carousel! Love all your picks (: Your work its been very inspiring for me.. I’m actually getting my hoop tomorrow and start dancing all around my room!
I love Who’s Line ! I laughed through that entire video, my face hurts now. Much better use of time than job applications.
And, you know Leif ?! I went to high school with him. It was the craziest thing to see him mentioned as your good friend. I had no idea about his blog, but free music, and good to boot ? What’s not to like ?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of George Carlin’s stand up- he’s one of my heroes now!
Russell Grant always used to scare me because he was on a breakfast show when I was younger.
Also, I love Jam Factory’s stuff :) I have one of his Droplets sitting on top of my iMac
Thanks for the shout-out Gala! Have you tried doing it yet?
I’m really with you on the dating. All my first dates have always been activities. I’ve never been a fan of dinner/lunch dates by themselves, it’s uncomfortable. You need distractions, especially when the date goes south.
My last first date I took the girl on a tour of new york (even though we both had been living there for years) on one of those double decker tour buses, we pretended we were tourists, complete with plastic cameras for the both of us. Worked out well!
You did watch a lot of good videos this week.
Oh, my GOD do I miss Who’s Line! Surprisingly that’s one I haven’t seen! Great memories. Of course, my dogs barked every time the “door bell” rang. Damn dogs.
Oh, and that Paris Hilton sure can be a hoot, can’t she?
HA! I said hoot!
Great links this week!
(Could I have used anymore explanation points?! Look there’s another. What can I say, you fill me with explanation and excitement [And in the strictly not strange way]! {Corn alert})
P.S. I read the Twilight sign off on your Twitter the other day while I was in the library and burst out laughing. Needless to say I got a few looks.
that ring finger things is really interesting! i had already heard some other stuff about the implications of having a longer ring finger:
1. men usually have longer ring fingers while women usually have longer index fingers. men are exposed to more prenatal testosterone.
2. a longer ring finger also seems to be linked to autism. there is a theory that a high level of testosterone in the womb might cause autism. this theory also states that autism is an extreme form of the so called male brain which is more good at systemizing while the female brain is better at empathizing. btw the scientist who came up with this theory is simon baron cohen, the cousin of sacha baron cohen or ali g.
3. there have also been studies stating a correlation between a longer ring finger and homosexuality.
i am not sure if all of these theories are still considered valid but i still find it fascinating how the length of ones fingers can be linked to many seemingly unrelated personality traits. a little creepy i think.
oh and both my ring fingers are longer than my index fingers.
My ring fingers are longer (only slightly) than my index fingers, but I don’t know about being more confident! I’m vigilant yeah, but not sure if it’s to do with having long ring fingers! Hmm… I’d be interested to test this theory somehow!
I love some of those photos by the way!
I used to love Whose Line is it Anyway, and although I preferred the British version, the Robin Williams episodes were amazing!
The finger-length thing is very interesting. My ring finger’s longer than my index finger too, and I think I would count those traits as amongst my best.
The photoshopped ads are great too, awesome carousel this week!
Of course Carroll is an Aquarius. I think I will celebrate like this:
www.polyvore.com/27th_jan_lewi… :)
BRISTOL! Whooop! represent! – Gala, if this encourages you to give Britain another try, DO IT! Skip London and come to Bristol!
I LOVE Offbeat Bride, it’s like, my guilty pleasure! (Not that there’s any harm in gathering a little inspiration and preparing!)
I love that you linked Offbeat Brides, I’m getting married in the summer and they’ve really been an inspiration in my planning. I wish I’d discovered them back when I got engaged last winter!
I’m thrilled to know about Lewis Carroll’s birthday—I can’t believe it wasn’t already marked on my calendar! But it makes me wonder what I should do to celebrate—take pictures of naked little girls in his style? Mmmm, perhaps not…maybe just a small tea party where guests take turns reading aloud from his Jabberwocky poem.
Hi Gala… I have an unrelated-to-carousel question to ask you. Recently, I started a blog of my own. It’s more of a personal space for now, but I do make it public so I can share it with friends. I want to start off on the right foot right from the beginning, especially when it comes to giving people credit where credit is due. Could you please fill me in on the proper blog etiquette when it comes to using images and sharing links that you found on someone else’s blog? I would assume for images, you should contact the person who originally posted it and ask for permission to use the image… but what if the image comes from a site for say, a large corporation, and you’re picturing one of their products? I’m curious about sharing links, too. Let’s say, for example, that I wanted to show my friends the offbeat bride link that you shared, but I discovered it through your blog. It would seem only right that I credit you for making the discovery in the first place. You’ve probably written about this sort of thing before, but if you could direct me to the place that I could find that information, I’d be very grateful!
Oh my god, Cosmic Brother/Boyfriend #2 used to write for Dope Astrology! I’m going to try to get him to do some writing for my new blog (http://kissmyname.blogspot.com/)— especially after we go to the E. Jean party in NYC in a couple of months! There’s some reunion for people who used to write for her website, and he got invited, so I’m going with him, ahaha. Stoked!
I LOVE ARIES SPEARS!!! God I miss him so much from when he was on MADtv…
...and now the show is ending too. but it got bad after he and debra wilson left.
Love the videos! And Tunacupcakes, you must have AWESOME fingers. How unique!
Free cosmetics? Hooray!
I haven’t noticed anything about the ring finger phenomenon. I fit with most of the description except the quick-to-action part. I don’t do well in rushed settings.
Gala,
There is a hula hoop variety type show in NYC tonight…hopefully I can see all these cool moves live! I am sooo getting one of those traveling hoops…brilliant! Thanks so much!
I think you’ll love this flickr stream: www.flickr.com/photos/hello_na…
it’s full of amazing cupcakes!
have you seen herzog’s documentary encounters at the end of the world? i think you’d ♥ it; there is a guy in it whose ring finger and index are the same length… :o
ohmygod, I just spent 2 hours browsing offbeat bride. that site is GOLDEN.
dont tell anyone. hahah.
Lovely set of links, especially the hoopnotica ones. I’m seriously contemplating the idea of taking up hooping very soon! Love it. Here’s my small set of links for this week:
aestheticthoughts.wordpress.co…
Enjoy!
Those Harmony Korine videos are so dope, that dude my laugh a ton when I blogged ‘em. Crazy motherfucker he is.
Oh, I said it before, I’ll say it again, my man Gav is fucking DOPE.
Hey Gala love Carousel this week. Lots of good vids. I forgot all about Whos Line.. that episode cracks me up. I like the UK version better with Clive Anderson as the host.
Oh and after all your hooping vids I think I need a hoola hoop! I used to have a pink and white candy cane style one and an old school wooden one when I was little :D
Found this site cursebird.com/galadarling just a bit of fun but you were ranked 175th in the world. Nice job hehe
xx
Cyndee: gasp I always knew I was a faery of some kind! Do pixies count? I should do some research on this. :)
Valerie: Thank you! I used to never really like my hands because they look like child’s hands and my knuckles are a weee bit knobby. I much prefer smooth “alien” fingers. I’m also double jointed in my thumbs and fingers. :)
I love Kat Williams! He is just so funny. I always watch his shows on Comedy Central. And Whose Line… is funny too.
The origins of Rabbit Hole Day can be found here: crisper.livejournal.com/26562…. It’s one of my favorite holidays… :)
George Carlin was, and still is, a hero.
Carlin is so rude, and yet so amazing.
And I want a hoop now.
Thank you for this huge Carousel! I’ve been visiting this practically every time I come online & checking out something new xx