I thought thin was in

My September Vogue is so enormously fat, it didn't even fit in our mailbox. I have to go pick its tubby ass up at the post office.

Goodbye, sweet girl

We'll miss you, Miffy.

I Know You're Always With Me

My grandmother died when I was eight years old. She was young, not yet 60 years old, and the cancer took her quickly. I was too small to understand, though I remember small pieces of what she was going through. I remember her and my mother driving to Mexico for some experimental treatments with me laying down in the back of my mom's gold 300ZX. I remember a long chain with a pendant that she would suspend over food - if it swung left and right like a pendulum, the food was ok for her to eat, but if it circled, it was unhealthy. I remember visiting her in the hospital just once and being frightened at how thin she looked.

While she lived, my grandmother was a strong woman - some would go so far as to say intimidating. She was petite, but carried herself with grace and strength. She had a hard early life and had terrible luck with men, so she learned quickly to become self-sufficient. She made many of her own clothes and taught my mother to sew as well. Finally, her hard work and drive paid off, and she was able to open her own business. Once she began doing well, she stopped sewing with such frequency and instead went shopping. I remember at least one pair of tight black leather pants, and many pairs of high heels. Things were great for a while, and then she got sick. After she died, my parents and I moved into her house. Her clothes and shoes were too small for my mother and too large for me, so my great aunts (her sisters) took everything from the old, hand-sewn dresses to the new designer shoes.

What they left was my grandmother's sewing machine. She bought two identical machines sometime in the 70s: one for herself and one for my mother. When my parents moved from her/our home in southern California to Virginia, my mom's machine came upstairs, but my grandmother's remained in the basement.

This past Christmas, mom and I packed up the machine, and I brought it back with me to New York. It sat for months tucked away in the corner of our bedroom, as I had no idea whether it would work, and even less of an idea where to take a 30-40 year old Bernina for repair.

A few weeks ago, I decided to give it a chance. Having never wound a bobbin without my mother's supervision, getting the machine properly set up and threaded was a challenge. I held my breath as I did some test stitches, which came out perfectly, as though the machine had only been purchased yesterday. I happily altered my shirt, thinking all along of how much this little machine has seen in its long life.

(Fashionably) Late

So I'm a little late to the party on this, but I don't usually pay much attention to accessories (aside from shoes, of course).

Alex + Chloe are L.A. jewelry designers with a slightly aggressive yet undeniably cool twist. While they offer sterling and 14K, their black acrylic and oxidized silver designs are the true show stoppers. All the cool kids probably layer the shit out of these, but I am neither particularly cool nor a kid, so I'll keep it to one pendant at a time.

I'm in love with the (velociraptor?) claw in black, and at only $48, you really can't go wrong. Shown here is the Coco is Dead - Knife Fight necklace, which is no longer available on the main site, likely due to copyright infringement. Luckily, Coco is Dead can be found on eBay!

My So-Called Post

This weekend while Luis was playing Magic, I plopped myself down for some quality time with our DVD player. As I flipped through our binder, I considered Crouching Tiger, Amelie, and The Last Unicorn before deciding on one of the greatest, prematurely canceled TV programs ever.

Do you remember seeing your first episode of My So-Called Life? My mom and I watched it together and both really enjoyed it. We never quite got my dad into the game, as he had been burned before by my insistence that 90210 was "reeeeeeeally good."

So what was it about MSCL that was so amazing? It spoke directly to teenagers about teenage issues in teenage language. Hair flips and bitten lips came to mean more than their accompanying dialogue, and there was more weight in an awkward silence than in any other interaction. Kids drank and smoked, lied to their parents, and made out in the halls. Friends betrayed each other and shifted alliances for petty reasons, and enemies found common ground in the girls' room.

Perhaps MSCL was too real, and it frightened parents and the network into clipping its wings. Fortunately it is now available on DVD for future generations to enjoy - I know my nieces will be getting these sets as gifts when I think they are old enough.

What are your favorite MSCL episodes and moments?

- Krakow pulling a Cyrano and writing Jordan's love letter to Angela.
- The entire Boiler Room episode (remember Buffalo Tom?)
- The Christmas episode with Juliana Hatfield which makes me cry every time.
- Saying "Go, now. Go!" along with the opening credits.

Proenza update

I just received the two Proenza Schouler for Target pieces I talked about last week, and they are SO cute. The skirt is all sold out on target.com, but the dress is still available in the purple bubble print and navy blue.

I'm glad things are running true to size, because I also ordered this adorable green top last week. And while I was at target.com, I couldn't help but check out this laptop case by your friend and mine, Isaac Mizrahi. I love how obnoxious it is - can't wait to carry it!

If You Could Do Anything...

What would you do? If money and location were of no importance, what would you do for a living? I would...


Become a pastry chef
It sounds like such a cliché, but ever since I was young I've loved to bake, and have always been told that I'm good at it. Wouldn't it be amazing to be responsible for everyone's favorite part of their meal? Granted, the hours and the pay are terrible, but perhaps the personal satisfaction and pride in your work would more than make up for it. As you can tell from my Argentine flag cupcakes, I've got a long way to go in the piping skills department, but my heart is in it 100%.


Be a fighter pilot or an astronaut
As a teenager, it was my big dream to go to the Naval Academy and become a top fighter pilot. Specifically, I wanted to be the first woman to fly the Harrier AV-8B. For various reasons, it didn't work out as planned, but I still think of how great it would have been. As for the other career listed in the heading, well, who doesn't want to be an astronaut?? If I got a phone call right now that said come down to Florida for training, I'd be all over that.


Train horses and give riding lessons
I love riding, and can think of no more comfortable seat than a saddle. To the left is a picture of me circa 1984 or so learning the fundamentals of dressage. How great would it be to be on a ranch, working each day with a horse until you finally earn his trust? Then you can share your knowledge with others, training the next generation of horse-crazy girls to do the same.

Looking for Temp Work?

I've got a great agency to recommend. Luis' friend Tracy passed their info along to me, and I've had nothing but positive experiences. In my ignorance, I thought that temp jobs were a dime a dozen, but I've come to find out that agencies never call you and don't follow up. Leafstone is an exception, and I'm happy to give them my full and earnest recommendation. Happy hunting!

Leafstone Staffing (part of the CORESTAFF group)
www.corestaff.com
212.921.4900
1156 Avenue of the Americas, 3rd Floor

Does Hat Hair Have You Singing the Blues?

Then try this on for size.
Frederic Fekkai's Winter Hair Lift-Define-Shine Styling Compact (what a mouthful) claims to combat the two major winter hair woes: flattened roots and fly-away ends. For only $25, the cute little compact will easily fit in your purse or maybe even jacket pocket, if you're a dude and care about this sort of thing.

A diversion

I am really trying not to turn For the eye into a fashion blog, because I know many of our readers are straight dudes who couldn't care less. Still, I hope you will permit me a few posts now and again...

Let's talk about John Galliano. His Spring 07 couture collection for Dior well and truly melted my face off. Inspired by Madame Butterfly (and who isn't!), he returned to the interplay of form and color for which he is so well-loved, taking a turn away from his recent hyper-aggressive work. This aqua and yellow dress is the garden party attire of my fantasies, and what is couture really but an expression of the imagination? This neutral gown evokes a progressive Victorian lady, and a red and black gown makes me want to shout, "Konichiwa, Toreador!" Finally, who could not love this bride? She's all softness and form at once - romantic and sentimental with an stimulating origami twist. This is a gown for a woman who wants to be a pretty princess on her wedding day, but is unwilling to abandon her intellect and her strength to do so. Had I all the money in the world, I couldn't buy a more perfect gown.

Proenza Schouler for you, and you, and you!

If you love Proenza Schouler as much as I do, you were no doubt thrilled when Target announced that the boys would design the next GO collection. Also, you were no doubt concerned that you would never make it to Target in time to beat out all the fashionistas (aspiring and hardcore alike).

Never fear! When I read this post on one of my favorite new blogs, I knew there was hope. Sure enough, I just ordered two pieces from the line pictured here, which should be in my hot little hands within a week. Yes, I'm missing some of the visceral thrill of wrestling other gals for my new clothes, but I can always wait for the next H&M collection for that.

Speaking of which, did anyone else find Viktor & Rolf's latest H&M line terribly disappointing in person? I was so psyched about the photos, but when I went to try everything on, I couldn't find anything with a decent cut. Such a disappointment after my phenomenal success with the Lagerfeld collection, and I know lots of girls who love Stella's stuff. Who's next, I wonder? (No, Madonna does NOT count.)

Is it just me...

or does Luis look a lot like Sam Talbot from Top Chef?

I'm so sad that Sam was knocked out of the final, as he was my favorite to win the whole damn thing.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

Poor Luis. Yesterday he made the ultimate sacrifice for me - he gave over an entire Sunday afternoon and evening to the watching of Pride and Prejudice, the BBC miniseries.

All the ladies reading this know exactly what I'm talking about and why it is so fantastic. Most of the men are, I'm sure, living in blissful ignorance. Allow me to enlighten you.

First off, it's just over five hours long.

Wait, come back!

So it's a little long. So what? It's an extraordinarily faithful adaptation of one of history's greatest works of literature. It also has Colin Firth being all sulky and verklempt, and a veritable parade of questionable English beauties. (For those who have seen this: how on earth are we supposed to believe that Jane is more lovely than Lizzie? At least the latest Keira Knightley remake cast a beautiful girl in the role!)

Even if you have never read the novel, or, like Luis, lump all the Jane Eyre/Pride and Prejudice/Sense & Sensibility/Wuthering Heights novels together, give this one a try. Luis did, and his manhood remains intact. Trust me, the woman in your life will thank you.

Come join the Black Parade!

So Liz loves My Chemical Romance, and has for about a year now (has it been more than that?). I'd heard a few of their songs on the radio, and thought they were ok, but she just fell in love with their teenybopper style, :-). Anyway, she eventually bought their first big album, "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge", and made me listen to it, and I thought a lot of it was cool, but not exactly my stilo. This week their second album, "The Black Parade", came out, and man was I in for a reevaluation...

In short, The Black Parade rocks. It's got intensity, it's got catchiness, it's got melody, and it's got kick-ass sound. They draw heavily from bands like Queen (and even Pink Floyd on one song [Mama]), and I think they show a lot more maturity/versatility than one their first album, which might be why I like it so much. I listened to it like 3 or 4 times in a row at work on Wednesday, and a few more times since then. It's got so many awesome songs: This is How I Disappear (my personal favorite), The Sharpest Lives, Welcome to the Black Parade, House of Wolves, Cancer, Disenchanted, Famous Last Words, etc.

Anyway, Liz and I both highly recommend this album, even to those people who didn't like previous MCR songs or have just never heard them. You can actually listen to the entire thing for free on The Black Parade's official website, so you have no excuse, :-)!

Hugs,
Luis

Four weeks to awesomeness!

Yep, it's been a while. Sue me, :-). Liz and I have been pretty busy with work and life in general, so that explains the lack of updates (but it doens't excuse them, hehe).

By far the most major development since you last read us is that we're taking Intro to Japanese at NYU's School of Continuing Education. It's two hours, once a week, so it's not incredibly time-consuming (though our homework has been taking progressively longer every week). Today will be our fourth class, and I think we've actually learned quite a bit! We know a handful of useful expressions, have learned 15 hiragana (the character set used mostly for Japanese words, as opposed to katakana, which is used for foreign words/expressions), can count, know the days of the week, the months, etc. It's obviously still confusing, but so far so good!

The main thing I wanted to share with everyone is that in just under four weeks Guitar Hero 2 comes out. Yup, you heard me right, :-).

The main songs of the game have been confirmed, and there will be 8 tiers with 5 songs each, for a total of 40 songs. There'll also be 24 unlockable bonus tracks, and unlike the first Guitar Hero these won't be all indie rock bands that we've never heard of. I hope to be pleasantly surprised by most of them! It's a bummer that there won't be Led Zeppelin or Metallica in the game (licensing issues, though I guess there's a chance that there'll be some song of theirs in the bonus tracks, but maybe that's hoping for too much), but I'm quite happy with what we're getting (the list was officially announced yesterday, though some tracks had been announced piecemeal):

1. Opening Licks
Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
Danzig - Mother
Cheap Trick - Surrender
Wolfmother - Woman
Spinal Tap - Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight

2. Amp-Warmers
Kiss - Strutter
Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
Police - Message in a Bottle
Van Halen - You Really Got Me
Kansas - Carry on Wayward Son

3. String-Snappers
Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
Alice in Chains - Them Bones
Iggy Pop and the Stooges - Search and Destroy
Pretenders - Tattooed Love Boys
Black Sabbath - War Pigs

4. Thrash and Burn
Warrant - Cherry Pie
Butthole Surfers - Who Was in My Room Last Night
Mathew Sweet - Girlfriend
Rolling Stones - Can't You Hear Me Knockin'
Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine

5. Return of the Shred
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name Of
Primus - John the Fisherman
Sword - Freya
Thin Lizzy - Bad Reputation
Aerosmith - Last Child

6. Relentless Riffs
Heart - Crazy on You
Stone Temple Pilots - Tripping on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Stray Cats - Rock This Town
Allman Brothers - Jessica
Jane's Addiction - Stop

7. Furious Fretwork
Anthrax - Madhouse
Living End - Carry Me Home
Lamb of God - Laid to Rest
Reverend Horton Heat - Psychobilly Freakout
Rush - YYZ

8. Face-Melters
Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot
Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
Dick Dale - Misirlou
Megadeth - Hangar 18
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird

There are a bunch of tracks I don't know, but in just a day I've been able to download almost everything I didn't already have, so I'm currently listening to my GH2 playlist on iTunes with 36 out of 40 tracks. Yeah, I love this game that much (and it's not even out yet!).

Additionally, there was a GH2 demo disc available with the November issue of Official Playstation Magazine, so I obviously got that as soon as it came out. It included four tracks (on all four difficulties): Shout at the Devil, Strutter, You Really Got Me and YYZ. All of them were fun to play, and YYZ was a real bitch on Expert (I managed to just get through the solo and finish the song on my first try, but it wasn't pretty). The big surprise were 3-button chords, which I knew about, but they still take you by surprise when playing a song for the first time. I think they only appear on Expert, which means that the progression is probably as follows:

- Easy: only use the first three buttons (Green, Red, Yellow)
- Medium: add the fourth button (Blue)
- Hard: add the fifth button (Orange)
- Expert: add 3-note chords

It's apparently also possible to play Co-Op mode on the demo, which lets the second player play either bass or rhythm guitar (depending on the track), but you need a second guitar, so we haven't been able to try that yet.

Can you tell I'm excited? Liz is, too, but I don't think quite as much, :-). A potential problem is that Final Fantasy XII comes out on October 31st, so that means that as soon as GH2 comes out a week later the two will be jockeying for my attention. Since the FF series are my favorite games ever, but GH quickly became my second-favorite, I'm curious to see what'll end up happening...

Not much else is going on right now, other than that my sister finally found an apartment out in Park Slope. It's official: the Newman invasion of NYC is in full effect!

Ok kiddies, back to work. You'll definitely be hearing more in the weeks to come...

Luis

P.S.- by the way, what are people doing for Halloween?

Guess who's back...back again...

Yep, I'm back from Argentina, and at work again. Le sigh, :-(... I had a good time down there, though it was a bit stressful to be around the paternal units for two weeks. They're moving to an apartment in downtown Buenos Aires, and leaving the house I grew up in (which makes total sense, since my sister Victoria and I both live here in the States, leaving just the two of them). Consequently I had to go through a TON of old boxes and stuff, letting them know what to throw out, what to keep, what to give away, etc. For those who are interested, here's a selection of pics. Captions are in Spanish, so if there are any burning questions just let me know.

Last Friday afternoon I got to go to Atlantic City with work again, this time to the Trump Taj Mahal (last year we went to The Borgata), and it was a pretty good time. We were supposed to go to Mohegan Sun instead of A.C., but apparently rooms there are worth $300 a night, and only $70-$75 at the Taj (it was still huge and pretty nice). Oh well, the four seasons of Mohegan will have to wait! I lost $100 at the Blackjack tables, but I played for a solid two hours, so I got my gambling fix without ending up too far into the red. My coworker Roman ended up down ~$200, and Robert ended up down $120, so I guess I ended up alright, :-).

The other newsworthy item is that, after about 5 years, I decided to shave off my goatee. I did it on a whim this past Saturday afternoon, after getting back from Atlantic City, and I've regretted it ever since, sniff sniff. Here is end result (I tried posting one of the photos earlier, but apparently it doesn't always load).

While I don't hate it, per se, I much prefer how I look with the goat. I think it really suits my face. Oh well, it'll be back in a week or two, so it isn't really that bad!

Ok kiddies, back to work, since there's a lot of it.

Hugs,
Luis

Goin' down to the deep, deep South!

Hey kiddies,

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I'll be hopping on a plane down to the deep, deep South, a.k.a. wintery Buenos Aires (I can't say I'm too bummed about it being winter, :-)!). I'll be down there until Labor Day Weekend, but if I'm inspired I might try to post something. In the meantime you can expect a long overdue review of our dinner at Morimoto, as well as a review of our recent dinner at Babbo. Liz can't come with me this time (she doesn't have the extra vacation days, and a bunch of deadlines are right around the corner), so she'll be holding the fort while I dine on fine steak.

Hugs,
Luis

Our little chubby is famous!

So Liz has a knack for taking some great photos of Conan and Fosse, especially in the past few months. After some gentle prodding and reminding, she submitted one particularly awesome/cute pic to StuffOnMyCat, a really cool/funny website that I discovered sometime last year. Well whaddya know, it just got posted!

Just try and tell me that this isn't the cutest kitten you've ever seen:

Some of the comments that this pic got:

- "Gorgeous kitty and great photography."
- "Spectacular picture! The eyes are so expressive! Wonderful!"
- "Oh what wonderful composition in this pic, the wooden floor, the curtain, the "I'm going to play or pounce" expression on Conan...it all comes together into a masterpiece. It belongs on the wall."

Ah, the life of a proud parent, :-).

Luis

"Yes, I should like to think so, too."

Last Saturday Liz and I rented a car and headed out to Long Island for the Nine Inch Nails concert at Jones Beach Theatre. What a show, folks...

We got great seats through The Spiral, and were in the eleventh row of the orchestra pit, pretty far towards stage-left, but still with a pretty awesome view. Despite the fact that the temperature was in the 80s, once we got to our seats we were freezing, since we were right on the water and the breeze was absolutely ridiculous. It was nice to not be all schvitzy and such, but it sucked because after about ten minutes of waiting we were both all goose-bumpy and cold! Fortunately it occurred to us to head over to the merchandise stand and get some new shirts to keep us warm, hehe. Liz got an olive-green NIN hoody, and I got a sand-colored NIN t-shirt. Good times.

Peaches started her show on time at 7pm, and played for half an hour. We sort of felt sorry for her, since she was only playing to a partially-full venue, but whatever, she rocked anyway. I hadn’t heard any of her stuff before, and while it’s not my favorite thing in the world she put on a fun, energetic show, being extravagant and oversexed all the way through. I think she’s getting a bit old for the costume she chose to wear: a short leather one-piece that seemed a bit too small (after one song she said, in response to the audience’s applause, “My camel toe thanks you”), and underneath it a hot pink bikini. Still, mad props to her for being ballsy and entertaining.

Bauhaus was next, and they did not disappoint. They started around 7:45pm, and played for just about an hour. I didn’t know what to expect from them, but Liz was über-excited and said I’d love them, and I heard from my co-worker Inacio that they’re really good live...

Peter Murphy waltzed out wearing an awesome blue velour suit with an old-school tie and tuxedo shirt. You could tell he was going to be very theatrical, and a true showman. Their guitarist, whose name escapes me, was wearing tight leather pants and a white fur vest with poofy shoulders. Their bassist and drummer looked pretty normal, surprisingly.

After their first song there was a pretty big ovation from the crowd. Once they quieted down Peter Murphy looks at us and says: “Yes, I should like to think so, too.” Awesome.

Their set was:

• Double Dare
• In The Flat Field
• A God In An Alcove
• She's In Parties
• Adrenaline
• Severance
• Silent Hedges
• In Fear Of Fear
• Endless Summer Of The Damned
• Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores
• Stigmata Martyr
• Bela Lugosi's Dead

I can’t remember which songs I particularly liked (since it’s so hard to hear the lyrics to most of them), but I was very pleasantly surprised, and really enjoyed their set. They of course closed with Bela Lugosi’s Dead, their biggest song, during which a creepy chick in a medieval robe just stood on stage under a white light and looked scary. Why was she there? No clue, it’s Bauhaus, :-).

Some other funny/interesting moments included Peter Murphy dry-humping their guitarist, said guitarist absolutely rocking out on an alto sax during one of their songs, and Mr. Murphy using a big bamboo pole to give roses to a few lucky ladies in the audience…as well as one of the security guards. Definitely an entertaining fellow!

After Bauhaus the NIN roadies began setting up, and a little after 9pm an awesome light cage (no other way to describe it, really; it was a grid of bars that were actually light tubes that had tons of little lights on them) descended, and Trent and co. came out onto the stage and went right into “Somewhat Damaged”, from The Fragile. It was a great way to start the show, since I hadn’t heard this song played at either of the other two NIN shows we went to in the past year.

One of the coolest things about this show was the lights. The MSG show had a great lightshow, but this one blew it out of the water. There was the previously-mentioned light cage (which also conveniently provided Trent with something to hang onto for dramatic effect, hehe) as well as the huge diodes at the rear of the stage. There were also copious amounts of smoke, though the sea breeze at the venue made it hard for the smoke to really stick.

The setlist was:

1. Somewhat Damaged
2. You Know What You Are
3. Sin
4. Terrible Lie
5. March of the Pigs
6. The Frail
7. The Wretched
8. Closer
9. Burn
10. Gave Up
11. Help Me I'm In Hell
12. Non-Entity
13. Only
14. Wish
15. La Mer
16. Into The Void
17. The Big Comedown
18. Dead Souls
19. Suck
20. Get Down, Make Love
21. Down In It
22. Hurt
23. The Hand That Feeds
24. Head Like A Hole

After “Dead Souls” (a Joy Division cover) Trent gave a little speech, where he said that 5 years ago he was in the worst place he’d ever been in his whole life, and that he wanted it all to end, but that he made it through because of us and wanted to thank us all for supporting him. It was nice to hear him say that (even if he probably gives that speech every night).

The only songs that he generally plays that we didn’t hear were Reptile (that Liz doesn’t like much, anyway) and Something I Can Never Have. It was AWESOME that he played Down In It and La Mer, which were definitely the highlights of the evening for me, :-), as well as old reliables like March of the Pigs, Wish, Head Like a Hole, Hurt, etc. I was sooooo hoping that he’d do “The Great Below” right after La Mer, but alas, it was not to be… No matter, though, as a great time was had by all. The NIN logo they had on the light cage after Head Like a Hole was pretty sweet, too.

NIN is definitely the best live band I’ve ever had the pleasure to see, since they’re always so incredibly tight, whether it’s Trent’s vocals, Jeordie’s headbanging or Aaron’s crazy antics (after the show he came over to our side of the stage, unplugged his guitar and threw it into the water! The security guards had to make sure that no one jumped in afterwards to try and retrieve it!). We’ll definitely go see them every time they come to the NYC-area (though Trent said that this will be their last tour for a while, since he wants to work on their next album).

Summing up: awesome venue, awesome opening acts, awesome show. You can see all the pics I was able to find here.

Luis

Argentina vs. Serbia-Montenegro

Wow. Just wow.

I decided to "work from home" this morning to watch the game, and boy was it worth it. It was probably one of the best games I've ever seen, though it wouldn't be hard to argue that it was completely one-sided, and as such not "good" at all. Serbia looked decent coming into this, having only barely lost to the Netherlands last week, and a 6-0 result is something that not even the most hardcore Argentine fan would've predicted. Nice surprise, ;-). Argentina's second goal is also pretty much the undisputed best goal of the World Cup (so far).

Argentina and the Netherlands have now both qualified for the knockout rounds, and the outcome of their match next week is irrelevant at this point (other than for national pride, obviously). My guess is that there'll be lots of subs playing, to keep the stars ready for the Round of 16.

What a good way to end the work-week... Vamos Argentina, carajo!

Luis