My Summer Pick

White Lace/crochet

Relatively speaking, summer is the season that fashion matters less. Sure, colors, cuts, and prints change every year; but for me, summer is really about staying cool, and look feminine. Summer is probably the only season that I want to look romantic, soft, or even girlish. So despite fashion, that's a guiding line for my summer picks. I'm extremely pleased that 3.1 Philip Lim's spring 2009 collection meets all of my requirements!

White lace/crochet, whether in the form of dress, shirt, or skirt, always look cool, folk, vintage, even though recent designers have tried to make it more modern by giving it geometrical cuttings. Plus, I can't think of anything else that works with golden jewelries better!

Jane Birkin's white lace dress is bold and deadly sexy!

Boogie Nights have always been a fashion inspiration. I watched the movie again today, and man, they all wear white lace/crochet--both men and women! It also turned out that my memory had fooled me, this O.D.ed chick was not wearing a white lace shawl. But still, everything on her still looks fashion today!


And at last, this is my white lace shirt.

Timeless Look 3

John Shea in the movie Missing (1982)

The not-so-well-known movie in 1982 features the missing of American journalist Charles Horman in Chile after the military coup there in 1973, starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, and John Shea. While depicting the coup historically, the movie also shows contractions and connections between two different generations and those between the conservatives and the liberals.

The movie gives pretty impressive looks to different characters in the 1970s: Jack Lemmon, the father, always wears tight and a little bit short suit pants, as guys did in the 70s; Sissy Spacek's cardigans and dresses were apparently influenced by the hippies; John Shea's look, I think, is the most timeless one.

It's hard to find a clear photo of Shea's look online. This photo roughly shows how it looks: blue shirt, black tie, light khaki casual trench coat, and brown/chocolate pants. The colors work so well together; and he looks young, casual, but still professional.

You can watch the movie on Youtube, but the colors do not show very well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmNKBhvcn0Y&feature=related

OK, to prove the look is timeless, let's look at several other more "contemporary" looks .



Blue+ different brown/khaki/chocolate is a very classic combination for men's wear.


Pictures from The Sartorialist

（转载）好久才来

Article from: The Economist, May 16th-22nd 2009, pp. 90-91.
Translated by: SHIT HAPPENS

Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of WIlliam Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love. By Thomas Maier. Basic Books; 384 pages; $27.50.


上世纪50年代初期，当William Masters还是华盛顿大学的妇产科副教授时，他想要查阅图书馆里一本关于性生理学的教科书。没门。那本书被认为是色情书籍，因此只有正教授可以查阅。事实上，即便图书管理员偷偷地把书装在棕色袋子里借给他，他也从中学不到什么。在这本Masters和他的研究搭档，Virginia Johnson的新传记里，作者生动地描绘出，在那个年代，人们对性器官几乎一无所知。

自上世纪40年代以来，以另一位美国学者Alfred Kinsey为首的学者开始研究人类性行为。但是Kinsey是从社会学而并非医学角度进行研究的。他报道了人们描述的对自己和他人进行的性行为。但他没有调查任何这些性行为是如何进行的。而Masters和Johnson所进行的试验，则是大胆、严格、甚至奇怪的。在试验中，女志愿者头戴纸袋维护尊严，同时以“尤利西斯”自慰；所谓“尤利西斯”，是一种用树脂玻璃制成，内装摄影机的电动自慰器。数百对夫妇身上被接上电线，在严密的监控下行房。Masters和Johnson的第一本书，1966年出版的《人类性反应》记录了超过12000例高潮。《美国医学协会学报》毫无讽刺意味地感叹：“为什么这项研究现在才来？”

Masters和Johnson的研究粉碎了弗洛伊德女性性生理的理论：阴蒂高潮并无卑劣之处。他们的研究发现，不同于男性，只要方法正确，女性多次高潮是完全可能的。在第一本书之后，Masters和Johnson开始着手研究治疗性功能障碍。在这里，Masters承认，并无医学背景的Johnson女士贡献最多。今天针对夫妇性生活不协调的对话及抚摸疗法大多源自Johnson女士的想法，而Masters的生理学研究帮助了伟哥及类似药品的研发。

在他们合作的早期，已婚的Masters要求离婚两次、抚养两个孩子的Johnson和他发生关系。他辩解说这是为了避免之后会发生诸如他和病人发生关系的更严重的错误。为了保住工作，Johnson同意了。到1970年，情况发生了改变，此时的Masters已不愿意失去Johnson这个研究伙伴。Johnson女士即将与研究所的一位富有赞助人结婚，而Masters为了阻止Johnson离去，火速地和妻子离婚。第二年，Masters和Johnson结婚。Johnson同意结婚的动机不明，因为他们并不相爱；而她声称当她嫁给第一任丈夫时，她也并没有爱上他。1992年，Masters突然决定是时候更换研究伙伴，他因而与Johnson离婚；不久，Masters与分散多年的儿时恋人结婚，他一度以为该恋人半个世纪前抛弃了他，而后来意识到事实并非如此。如果这个故事有什么教化意义的话，那就是正如曾经神秘的性器官一样，人的心灵如何运转至今仍然是个谜。

（转载）新红牛可乐含可卡因？

Source: TIME http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900849,00.html
Translated by: SHIT HAPPENS

大约一年前，著名的咖啡因能量饮料红牛的制造商决定开发一种碳酸饮料，并将之毫无悬念地命名为“红牛可乐”。这名称似乎暗示“红牛可乐”也有和红牛一样的提神功效。但是有没有可能这款号称“100%纯天然”的可乐的功效是由别的原料中产生的呢？德国官员担心他们已经找到了答案--可卡因。因而现在，他们已经在德国六个州禁止销售红牛可乐，并有可能推荐全国禁售。

“（北莱茵-威斯特法伦州的健康机构）对红牛可乐进行了全面的化学检测，并在其中发现了微量可卡因，”德国联邦政府消费者保护部食品安全署署长Bernhard Kuehnle周六告知德国媒体。根据这项分析，每罐红牛可乐中含可卡因0.13毫克，这并不对人体健康造成严重威胁--你至少要喝12000升红牛可乐才能感觉到它的不良影响--但这极少量的可卡因也足以让人忧心了。本周三，专家们将发布他们对红牛可乐的研究报告，而Kuehnle所属的食品安全署也预定届时公布对红牛可乐的最终处理决定。

红牛一向对其新可乐的配方不加隐瞒。古柯、小豆蔻、可乐果的图片作为几个重要的“天然”原料被列在他们的网站上。然而红牛公司坚持宣称，作为调味剂的可卡叶，只在移除了其中非法的古柯碱之后，才被用于饮料之中。“去除古柯碱的古柯叶提取物在全球范围内被广泛用于天然调味剂，”针对德国政府的公告，一位红牛公司的发言人宣称。尽管古柯碱只是古柯叶中所含10种生物碱的一种，并且只占古柯叶化学构成的0.8%，世界反麻醉剂组织要求安第斯山脉地区以外的世界各地移除古柯碱。

同时，在地球另一端深处安第斯山脉的玻利维亚共和国，人们对红牛可乐的纷争嗤之以鼻。古柯是安第斯文化的基本组成部分之一；多年以来，玻利维亚人试图说服世界其他民族除非经过复杂的化学程序被加工成可卡因，古柯叶本身并不是毒品。自己也有种植古柯叶的左翼总统Evo Morales，曾经亲自争取古柯的合法地位，当他出境访问时，他经常在各国领导人及媒体前大嚼古柯叶。“试问，（红牛可乐）没有移除古柯碱，那么全球上百万人有人因为喝了它而生病或被麻醉吗？”Yungas地区的古柯种植领袖Dionicio Nunez说，“我们一直都知道古柯是无害的。也许现在其他人也该明白这一点了。”

在德国，红牛发言人坚称在美国和欧洲，红牛可乐和该公司其他含古柯提取物的饮料均达到安全标准。另外， 一些专家在为红牛可乐辩护。纽伦堡市生物制药研究院院长Fritz Soergel告诉《时代》杂志: “基于红牛可乐中这么微量的可卡因成分就禁售它是没有科学依据的。”他还说：“红牛可乐中的甚至并不是可卡因本身。我们的试验发现它只是一种可卡因的不活泼的退化物。如果你仔细检查其他饮料和食品的成分，你将会大吃一惊。”

当然，在现代碳酸饮料的发展史上，古柯叶早就有一席之地了。其中最著名的例子是，19世纪可口可乐的原始配方中就含有未经加工的古柯叶。20世纪初，可口可乐公司宣称他们只使用退古柯碱的古柯叶；今天，他们拒绝回答他们是否还在使用任何形式的古柯叶。

但问题是古柯和古柯碱不仅是健康问题，还涉及到法律问题。自1961年以来，未经移除古柯碱的古柯叶不允许在安第斯地区以外使用--安第斯居民几个世纪以来都通过咀嚼古柯叶或以之泡茶来抵抗饥饿和疲劳。目前只有世界上少数公司有权进行古柯交易，大多数是移除古柯碱的制药公司。其中最著名的是总部在新泽西州的Stepan化学公司，据报道，该公司为可口可乐提供加工后的古柯叶。

然而，没有人知道红牛可乐使用的古柯叶从何而来，又是在哪里被加工处理的。红牛公司没有对此发表评论。而红牛可乐的制造商，澳大利亚食品公司Rauch Trading AG则很快恢复《时代》杂志他们不允许评论该饮料。同时，在玻利维亚，人们为红牛承认使用古柯叶而大感兴奋（因为可口可乐一直回避这个问题）。讽刺的是，红牛可乐并不在玻利维亚销售，但当地居民称，这是一个大好机会让人们了解，不管含不含古柯碱，古柯叶都是无害的。

译者的话：这则故事和国内近日“王老吉含夏枯草”的争论有所关联。食品安全是个全球问题，但和网络上不乏王老吉支持者一样，古柯的利用也算是一个“甲之蜜糖，乙之砒霜”的绝好例子了。

Timeless Look 2

I love Patti Smith. And I have to say the cover of her album Horses is the most timeless cover I've ever seen.

Picture from http://blogs.lexpress.fr/cafe-mode

The last kind of movie you should watch with your boyfriend

So guess what? The last kind of movie you should watch with your boyfriend is love movies!

Let alone the fact that most guys don't like the "chick flick" thing; unless you and your loved one are a happy couple like in the love movies--unfortunately, most of us are not--love movies could create a lot of awkwardness; or even endanger your relationship.

As women, we like to think, compare, and then think again. A love movie, essentially, is a combination of plots which we can reflect on our own relationship and make comparison. Well that creates troubles. Because men don't like you to do that. I don't even know why. But let me be cynical: they don't feel comfortable talking about certain things in your relationship because they know the truth is painful?

Last night, I watched He's Just Not That Into You with my boyfriend. It's not a great movie, honestly.
But it's fun to watch other people make mistakes in their relationship. As the movie went on, I started to regret my decision. It's one thing to listen to my boyfriend praising: "Scarlett Johansson is hot!" or commenting: "Many guys fear that they will meet the one they really love after they get married." But it's another to wonder: really? would you dump me for Scarlett Johansson? Will you meet someone you really "love" if one day we get married?

I know it sounds crazy, but once the thoughts started, it's hard to stop them. During the rest of the night, I tried to start the conversation several times. My boyfriend, apparently not interested, paid no attention to my questions. His aloofness almost got me angry. So the night ended with me going to bed unhappily, without my questions being answered.

I know my questions would never be answered. But I blame the movie for giving me a bad mood. The conclusion is, you can watch all kinds of movies with your boyfriend: horror movies, war movies, sci-fi movies, comedies, or even sometimes, pornography, but DON'T watch love movies with him. It makes you doubt, and doubts make you crazy!

High-thigh boots in the 1960s

Thight-high boots are hot now--they were forty years ago.

Local news cameraman aiming his camera at fashion model Donyale Luna, seen from hips down, who is wearing thigh-high leather boots as local women enjoy fashion show.

Location:	Sydney, Australia
Date taken:	1967

Image and Introduction from LIFE Images.

Why Miss Chanel's Look is Timeless

1. 宽大的棉制裤子+腰带

2. Turban

3. Pearl necklace, of course.

Timeless Look

Coco Chanel and Serge Lifar


Miss Chanel's casual yet polish look does not date at all!