Fitting Boxes

Recession or not, its time to bite the bullet and hit the shops with a deflated wallet for some desperately needed essentials!

Luckily stores are in permanent sale mode but as a cautious shopper I still like to try before I buy. That's the beauty of ready-to-wear.

I still hate the dreaded fitting room though.
Often a tortured honesty box of questions and reasoning, the environment itself is part of the problem.

Doors or curtains- the ultimate pretense of privacy. Whether its calico, velvet or a solid cubicle door, it never stops pesky and bored sales assistants from trying to entice me out.

Mirrors or lack of them! Once when trying on a salmon dress in an ill-lit tight cubicle, I concluded I could pass for a skinless sausage- pale pink is definitely not my colour. Suffice to say, I didn't buy it.

Without a cubicle mirror, its a complete guess. Another ploy to entice you out of the fitting room to see the result in the large store mirror and involve the sales assistant.
Next shop please!

Hooks can be rare or plentiful.
In Farmers' revamped fitting rooms, there are slogans above hooks as an organisational tool for the flustered shopper. "Definitely", "Maybe" or "Next Time?" are a rather cynical ploy.
I'd like it better if they added a "What was I thinking?" hook. I'd be tempted to put every hanger on it to start with.

Lighting makes a difference to how you look- tired, puffy or annoyed or all three. It also reminds you what kind of shop you're in and the price tag, the brighter big chain store or the low and atmospheric boutique.
A small mercy is the bigger the store chain, the bigger the "honest shopper" sign detailing the maximum of 3 garments in rooms at one time and camera surveillance.

Try before you buy = take it or leave it. At the end of the fitting session you can walk out, put them all on the reject rack or make polite comments to the assistant that it didn't suit. I love ready-made.

I'm not sure though if I'll ever get over feeling like I've tried to get changed in a sleeping bag, just to expand my wardrobe.

List maker

I have to admit I'm a notorious list maker.

1. Write to S,V, A +R
2. Pick up shoes
3. Buy blank CDs
4. Go for run
5.

I love to-do lists and have one for everything conceivable, but on the flip-side don't want my life dictated by them.
I'd go crazy if success was measured by actually completing one, all that pressure to complete 1001 things before I die or turn 30. Day to day life wouldn't be fun anymore.

Continual lists seem to drag out those painfully mundane tasks.

My only respite is the promise that once this is done, then I can do something I really want to do.
All manner of things are conjured up from such a promise, but the lists/day-to-day existence go on forever.

Still there is a great sense of achievement, when you finally cross off that dreaded task which has hanging over your head for days or months.

It's all about organisation and the need to plan, if only that came pre-packaged with a bonus follow-up genre, we could end procrastination!

Mala Noche

We were in a flurry last Tuesday. Takeaways, tap class and then a movie.
The local film club were showing Gus Van Sant's 'Mala Noche'.
Each year, we buy a three pass ticket and randomly choose three films from the entire year's programme.

Shot in black and white, 'Mala Noche'-translated as Bad Night follows Walt, a liquor store attendant and his unrequited love for a Mexican hustler.
Set near Skid Row in Portland, we follow these characters in battered cars, old apartments, immigrant boarding houses and the grimy streets.

The dialogue was sparse and a mixture of Spanish and English. Scenes focused on expressions and the sudden movement of the characters as they ran up stairs, drove cars and sat contemplating.

I started to focus on the framing of the shots and position of items in scenes during the slow periods. Suddenly there would be an explosion of action on scene bringing you back to the plot. Especially liked the hand-written credits over the main actors playing up to the camera.

Looking forward to our next chosen movie, 'The Architects'.

Escape Portal

I've been on a reading frenzy lately. Every spare moment captivated by the printed page as the story twists and turns. Missing my bus stop, tuning out traffic, talking and even the TV- basically the outside world.

When reality gets too gritty, there is nothing like an escape. I've been wondering if its possible to escape reality fully.
Could we live in a detailed daydream, believing our situation is perfect? But then who are we really fooling, others or just ourselves?

In the book 'The Virgin' by Erik Barmack, the main character, Joseph reinvents himself for a reality dating show. Unfortunately he can't quite carry off the new and improved version 'Jeb', but he makes an interesting comment about lying.

"First, you need to believe the lie. And then you need to wish the lie into being, even if the lie is awful and you may want it erased a few seconds later....Liars hide nothing. We don't hedge. We believe what we say."

Lies always seem to unravel (in books and movies at least). Once the mirage is over, what is left. No wonder there are so many distractions out there, you really can take your pick.

Say its Friday night, the DVD store is busy with people browsing- keen to be entertained and waste a couple of hours.

Libraries always seem busy during the weekend. So you start browsing for that interesting book and digest every fictional synopsis. It draws you in, you want to know what happens, you're sold!
Sometimes I find all these mini summaries overwhelming when tired. I realise I don't care about any of the characters, they are all melodramas about someone else's life.

Maybe that's why its easy to cross the line between reality and imagination, it is someone else's drama/problem/situation not your own.

Immersing yourself in their lives for a few moments, a couple of hours or the weekend ends by closing the book,using the remote or just tuning out.
Shame real life doesn't come with its own pause button while we daydream.
It could come in handy.

Exploring Art 2