Waiting for the Jamboree: Charles Phoenix

Charles Phoenix grew up in Southern California in late 60s/70s, developing soon an interest for 50s and 60s cars. When he moved to LA, in 1982, he stumbled upon a box of old 35mm family and travel slides in a thrift shop. Of course collecting other people old slides became an addiction, soon translated in something original.



At today, Charles Phoenix is well known as an humorist and entertainer, but most of all, he is known for his live comedy retro slide show performances that point out both the iconic and ironic side of popular history.




He also organizes a series of retro school bus field trip tours around Downtown Los Angeles, the Disneyland Tour , that prove that the similarities between Downtown Los Angeles & Disneyland are staggering!




Last but not least at all, his colorful coffee table books that celebrate the 50's Kodachrome era of American road trips, Hawaii (I want this one so bad!), Las Vegas, Southern California and the Pomona Valley east of Los Angeles are a must.

Tags and Awards

Tags. I'm really bad with this kind of things! Lately I was tagged two times and I also received an award from two lovely ladies, Polly Farthing and Poke Salad Annie.


The first tag was about listing six things that make me happy, the second one about listing 10 things you don't [and might not want to] know about me.
I feel a bit guilty, but I think I'll break the rules a little (as per usual...) and list just three things "of each kind".

So, the odd numbers are things that I love/make me happy, the even numbers are for things you don't know about me...

1.
This picture, surely my favorite, of Anna Karina and Jean Luc Godard:


2.
My favorite english word is "dandelion", followed by "knickers".

3.
This city:


Photo: Scott Schuman.

4.
My grand-grandfather had six siblings and three of them moved to US at the beginning of 20th century. At today, I know I have some long lost cousins in Rochester, NY.

5.
This video/song, cause melancholy could be a nice feeling and Kermit is a genius:



6.
There are four people with my same name on Facebook.

Portrait of a Blogger

I really like to look at those portraits certain bloggers often receive from their readers/artists. Some of them are really well done but most of all I adore how different two views of the same person can be...

Beyond the amazing series of blogger portraits from Igor + André I already wrote about months ago, here are some of my favorites. I had them saved in my pc for so long I missed some of the artist's names...I'm sorry, but if you know who they are just leave a comment and I'll edit the post

Portrait of Queen Michelle


Portrait of Alix


Two portraits of Susie Bubble



Portraits of Jane and Tavi by Danz



Tavi, again, by La Robotique


Portrait of Rhiannon by Aya


Two portrait of Sandra by Annika Bäckströms and Lady Thirty .



Elinkan by Annika Bäckströms

Between The Covers

If you're in London you can't miss Between the Covers: Women's Magazines and their Readers , an exhibition that charts the evolution of women's magazines from the 17th century to the present day, showcasing some of the most influential and innovative titles and telling the stories behind their success.


Women change and magazines reflect this change, we know it has always happened but it's amazing to have a direct look at all this, facing troubles and needs women had had during the last 300 years, from home economics to cheerful gossip!





The exhibition is due to run until August 29th at The Women's Library, London Metropolitan University, 25 Old Castle Street, London E1 7NT.
Entrance is free.

Waiting for the Jamboree: 50s Italian Summer

The Talented Mr Ripley is not one of my "cult movies", but I like it.
My favorite part is obviously the idea of that perfect late 50s italian summer that's everywhere in this film. Stereotypical or not - I mean, that's probably what a 50s italian holiday could be only if you are a rich 1950s american girl, minus the homicides of course - the outfits are great!






They always make me think of my all time favorite pret-à-porter collection: Prada S/S 2004.



The movie was also recently featured on Who What Wear Daily for their Currently Channeling section


I want everything!

Sometimes They Come Back

Spotted today on IMDB: some new Mad Men photos...

These are promotional pictures, I suppose:






but these below come straight from the first episode of season 3, titled Out Of Town, that will be aired in US on August 16th...I can't wait for this new season; hopefully it will be aired soon here in Italy too!


Oh, Don... ;-)


Also I almost fainted when I watched this video tour of the costume department...

Shop The Cupcake Wardrobe!

Last week I was looking at my closets realizing I have too much stuff and I definitely need to do a little purging. I don't plan to buy a new closet anytime soon, so I thought it was a good idea to pass some of items to someone else...

The always amazing Jennifer gave me the idea of a sister blog where I can sell some of my preloved clothes, so...here it is!

Just click the icon below (you can find it in the side bad too) to shop The Cupcake Wardrobe :-)