Yamamba!

Yamamba is a fashion trend among young Japanese women that always fascinated me. Whenever I see images of these over-tanned "slutty" chicks I wondered what make them tick. Starting with the bleached white hair and heavy tan of the "ganguro" girl, the yamamba adds white lipstick, white eye makeup, and sometimes brightly colored contacts, plastic clothing, and eye-catching accessories. Being a yamanba is to be an extreme practitioner of the ganguro fashion. Some yamanba wear stuffed animals as decorations, talk with a slurred speech, and enjoy shiny neon or day-glo colors. The term yamamba comes from a mountain hag, known as Yama-uba, whom the fashion is thought to resemble. Ganguro comes from "black face" or gangankuro that is "exceptionally dark". The deep ganguro tan is in direct conflict with traditional Japanese ideas of feminine beauty, that of the palest skin. They also speak with slang terms and use fashion in an unconventional way, being regarded as the "bad girls" of Japan. Their shorts skirts and platform shoes surely do not help their cause.

If Mariah Carey and Bozo had a baby girl in Japan she would grow up to be a yamamba.

Condoleezza Warho

I got this in my e-mail box and had to pass it along. Too good not to be shared...

Via Bleeding Hearts Club

Sex and The City - The Movie - Chris Noth is Mad

You know what has been ticking off Chris Noth lately? All the wrong predictions in the press about the plot of the Sex and the City movie, based on all of the shooting around town.

"Have you seen the script?" I have. There’s been all this talk of Big and Carrie get married. I’m not going to say yes, or no, but did you see me at the church with Sarah Jessica? No, because I was at the Brooklyn Detention Center shooting Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The pictures everyone’s talking about are me with Charlotte. What does that mean? All I can say is that you people have gotten nothing right."

Via New York magazine

My Loony Bun is Fine Benny Lava!

This is probably one of the funniest things I've seen online in a while and I had to post it here too. The formula is rather simple: take a random Bollywood music video and get it translated - with subtitles - from what you think the words sound like in English. Example: turn your back to the screen and jot down whatever first comes to mind when you hear they sing - and voila! A masterpiece of hilarious non-sense that fits to a tee to what comes out of the performer's mouths. The auteur of this very creative oeuvre, Buffalax, unsatisfied with simply giggling at all those silly dance moves and group routines (and wardrobe), allowed me to ache with laughter watching his hysterical take on Indian cinema. Sample quotes: "Who put the goat in there? The yellow goat I ate", "Someday I sell DNA" and the classic "I'd love to see you pee on us tonight!". I guarantee you will love it too!

Via OMG Blog / Via Lady Bunny

Ché Magazine

Ché is a magazine from Belgium that focuses on straight men and what they’re supposedly interested in. It's based on testosterone-charged laddie's magazines like Maxim, Stuff and FHM and focus on women, fast cars, cool gadgets and sports. Their current ad campaign is nothing short of suggestive and misogynist, portraying women as sex-objects (what's new?) and bad drivers. I must say that the campaign is very visually appealing and their art direction is superb. As a publicity stunt they outfitted several newsstands in Belgium with posters, that attached to it's check-out counters, gave them a quite sexy-funny effect. You can actually buy the "single-guy's bed sheets", with the lingerie-clad pin-up printed on it, from Ché's website.

Kawaii Tree in Leblon

This semi-scary kawaii-looking tree is located in front of Zona Sul Supermarket in Leblon area, in Rio. It is meant to be a kid's playpen, hence the fenced in area and the stuffed toys on top of the padded mat. It reminded me of something out of H.R. Pufnstuf, that 70's hypnotic kids TV show that had big stuffed characters that always looked a bit creepy to me.

Kitty Liter @ Japundit

What else can we stamp sickeningly cute variations of Hello Kitty on? Apparently not much else is left, specially after the HK condom hoax that made some people go hurl. Hum, what about some pink HK fire extinguishers? Just in case the cute plush dolls come to a spontaneous combustion. Or a HK Sanrio microwave? Epson HK Laptop maybe? If you've got the bucks maybe a limited edition Fender guitar for a cool US$22,000. For a little less you may opt for the US$4,250- diamond ring or the faboo “Hello Kitty Collection by Kimora Lee Simmons” convertible pendant/brooch, with the over-abundant use of diamonds, precious and semi-precious stones. US$50,000 will get that home. If none of these strike your fancy you may try the new Hello Kitty vibrator..err..massager shown below. No one will suspect what's that really meant for!

Via Japundit

Sex & The City - The Movie (Spoiler Alert)

If you are as huge Sex and the City fan as I am you might not want to keep reading this post as there is a big plot spoiler here. Charlotte, the lovable romantic Upper East Side perfectionist-princess, whom for so long tried to get pregnant, might get her wish in the movie version of SATC. The shootings started Sep/19Th in New York and she was spotted on a location shoot on 70Th & Lexington sporting a HUGE baby belly! She was standing outside a cafe next to Mr. Big and looked very pregnant. I am elated that she is finally going to have her own baby but wasn't she adopting a Chinese baby when the series ended?

Via New York Magazine Photos via INF Daily

Koons, Slimane & Rams @ Wallpaper

The October issue of style bible Wallpaper gave three guest editors 20 pages each to design and create their own custom cover. The chosen few were fashion designer Hedi Slimane of Dior Homme fame, German industrial designer Dieter Rams and art world's bad boy Jeff Koons. Slimane talks furniture, photography and the fit of his suits with Thomas Demand, Rams lays down the ten tenets of good design, photographed at his home in Kronberg and Koons created a 16-page artwork inspired by his passion for Led Zeppelin.

Via Wallpaper

Antonia's US Movie Debut

This week marks the US distribution debut of the Brazilian movie "Antonia" and it also coincides with the start, this Friday, of the second season of the TV show that inspired the flick.

The movie by director Tata Amaral offers a poetic look at such difficult issues of violence, racism, and sexism in contemporary Brazil with this vibrant and uplifting tale of fourfemale rappers straining to make a name for themselves while performing on the outskirts of São Paolo. Preta (Negra Li), Mayah (Quelynah), Barbarah (Leilah Moreno) and Lena (Cindy) provide back-up vocals for a popular rap act, yet despite their success with the group, the talented female singers know well that they have what it takes to strike out on their own. Since we're not talking Hollywood here but rather the "Third World" and "our" far more ideologically candid approach to cinema, all sorts of female-specific messy real life issues run interference on their creative aspirations, including pregnancy, single motherhood, abortion and compulsive machista womanizing. Also of interest, is that these Brazilian females are actual aspiring performers, which lends additional grit, energy and authenticity to the story.

The Art of Frank Kozik

I first noticed Frank Kozik's work when visiting LA a few years back. A friend took me to this store called Wacko, saying that I would really love it, and he was so right. They have an amazing selection of cool collectable stuff like art books, limited-edition toys, original art, off-beat home accessories, etc. - all housed inside this huge block-wide warehouse.

Kozik was born in Spain and at the age of 14 he moved to the United States and settled in Austin, TX. Credited with single handedly reviving the "lost" art of the concert poster, Frank's creative career grew largely out of his enthusiasm for Austin's growing underground rock scene in the mid-eighties. Starting with black and white flyers for friends' bands posted on telephone poles, his reputation grew as an artist whose work was graphically compelling as well as culturally gripping. His work is well known to devotees of album-cover and concert flyer art. He has produced artwork for musicians such as Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ice T, Green Day, Beck, and many more. Kozik is also heavily involved in the design and production of vinyl toys. He has teamed up numerous times with such entities as Kid Robot, Toy2R and others and is credited with such creations as Smorkin' Labbits, the Hate Dunny, Dr. Bomb and more.

Ikea Hackers @ The New York Times

There is a totally unofficial collective known as the Ikea Hackers. They transform Ikea's affordable furniture, accessories and home goods into unexpected new items, with brand-new artsy looks and purposes.

The reason why Ikea, the 60-year-old Swedish megabrand that has homogenized living rooms from Europe to Malaysia (it now has 265 stores in 35 countries), should be so hackable has everything to do with its price point, style and availability.

They can be do-it-yourselfers and technogeeks, tinkerers, artists, crafters and product and furniture designers, the hackers are united only by their perspective, which looks upon an Ikea bookcase or table and sees not a finished object but raw material. A clean palette yearning to be embellished or repurposed. They make a subset of an expanding global D.I.Y. movement, itself a huge tent of philosophies and manifestoes including but not confined to anticonsumerism, antiglobalism, environmentalism and all-purpose iconoclasm.

Some of the most ingenious hacks are as simple as a $6.99 Ikea desk lamp reimagined as a wall sconce, or stainless steel shelving reworked as a coffee table. A shower curtain can also become a dress. A surfboard and a couple of chairs are reborn into a new table. Plastic bowls are put together, along with stereo parts, to transform into 21st century speakers.

Read more @ The New York Times.

Brad Pitt @ V Magazine

Brad Pitt isn't looking too bad. He is the cover-boy of V Magazine's #49 that was out yesterday, September 7Th.

Pornochanchada - More Brazilian Sexploitation Movies of the 70's

Too many good posters to choose from, but I picked four more iconic images to share with you.
I love the pornochanchada posters so much because of their fun, sexy, colorful images. The lovely Barbarellas, liberated 70's pin-ups! There is a certain tongue-in-cheek appeal to those period illustrations, with the wide smiles and sassy face expressions, not to mention the great font choices and lay-outs too. Naive? Maybe not, but never "hardened" as in most of today's adult industry imagery.

Love all that stuff and have plenty more to share in future posts. To catch up on my original "article" click here.

The Death of Tais - Or Was It Paula?

Breaking news! I just saw these headlines stamped across the gossip rags today. It claims that instead of Taís, the evil twin, that was murdered last week on popular soap "Paraíso Tropical", the actual corpse belonged to Paula, the good twin! Taís would have murdered her good twin sister and then switched outfits with her so everyone would believe that she was dead! And, once again, she took her sister's identity on this "it-can-only-happen-in-a-soap" soap! By the way, Alessandra Negrini is simply amazing playing the dual roles.

My hunch is that this is too crazy to be true as in good soap opera tradition the heroine never dies. It bother me a bit that you cannot escape these headlines, as most Sunday papers also bring these news on their TV magazine reviews. Though I am not a typical soap opera viewer I do watch "Paraíso Tropical" when I get the chance, but I do not like to know the plot with so much advance. The soap wraps up in 3 more weeks and it seems that most of what is about to happen has been announced in the media already. More updates to come...