RE-GROUPING : james tagliani, evelyn lee, timothy johnson, absinthe and me

just a night out at cafe absinthe,
where the best burger in town comes with
gruyere cheese, aioli, heirloom tomatoes,
and a healthy dose of humor.

i love these guys.

james and evie and i kept each other afloat at old navy,
and they have become touchstones for tim and i in this transition of ours.

plus, they FUNNY.

tim's new toy, the volvo c30 -

hey,
every boy needs a rocket.

and tim's is FAST.

in a good way.

never mind.

gris means gray -

no big trend appearing here,
i just LOVE gray.

it's a universal unifier:

from flawless burberry prorsum trench,
(can't you just FEEL this?),
to the finally seductive victoria's secret campaign:

there's finally some romance to the brand,
not so pussycat doll
as bardot lushness.
branding is weak, but photography is lovely . . .

which brings in the boys:

this is blake kutcha.
i've shot with him numerous times for old navy,
he's very all american, and as sweet as hell.
seriously, NICE with a big N.

this shoot of him in gray briefs,
well it's a whole 'Nother side o the boy.

and this gratuitous shot of the guy who plays kirby on lipstick jungle:

because he has gray shorts on,
that's why.

follow me, people, i won't steer you wrong.

let's travel a bit?

the four seasons hotel, i THINK milan,
with grisaille wallpaper,
literally screens of gray paint, printed in layers to create depth and shadow.

and the gray light of the four seasons lobby in prague:

i know,
HOME.

and the perfect violet gray hue
on a vespa in manhattan:

tim and i once painted a home entirely in this color, every room,
based on the vermeer galleries in the louvre.
it was one part violet,
one part gray,
one part camel,
and that made all the difference.

it was the ultimate neutral,
and it was called
eminence.

look it up.  it works.

"MOON" smithers, a true story -

so, this was on televisions worldwide the morning i was born.

pre-empting, of course,
the inevitable coverage of my arrival,
much to my mother's, my grandmother's, and my chagrin.

july 20, 1969
the day the first men landed on the moon.

the same day my grandfather,
eager and helpful,
a huge frank herbert and isaak asimov fanatic,
semi-insisted that i be named
yes,
"moon".

thankfully,
my mother was a "red wine/gin and tonic" girl in the sixties,
not a "hemp/weed" girl,
more jackie O than peggy lipton.

hence,
gregory LANDIS smithers
(i dropped the gregory when i was 19 and interned with three other "greg"s).

but you can feel free to moon me anytime.

do i LOOK like a good girl ?

well, do i?

addition without subtraction takes time -

me:

plus this one:

equals
seventeen years.

rocky, rolly, passionate, and changing all the time.

for everyone who asks me how,
i just say
"there's no answer.  there's just tim."

solve sundsbo and parrots. it's not a riddle.

ok, check this out.

solve sundsbo, one of the world's most exquisite fashion photographer,
just had an exposition of his work.

supermodels?  fashion?  behind the scenes?

non.

parrots. 

this is why i find fashion addictively fascinating.  it is art exploding ever outward, reaching and retraining the mind to see every single thing it encounters in some new way.

have you ever?

pretty girls, all in a row (anne hathaway) -

a post in  homage to the girls
who sometimes
get it
SO right.

ms. anne hathaway :

dreamy.

impractical, effervescent, and perfect

that is a gown.

now go get yourself one.  you deserve it.

grrcrrl -

sleep brings bliss.

RE-GROUPING - tess roering and foreign cinema

gawd,
we love foreign cinema.

we could move into the space, the food is consistently great and changes daily,
(though the curry fried chicken might have to stay on the menu on fear of death.)
so it's only natural we keep returning.

this time, waiting for our old colleague tess roering.

my chic boy,
and the deadly "last temptation, up":

it's pomegranate,
it's tequila,
it's deadly.

tess agreed:

google face recognition acknowledges landis' celebrity ties -

so google just launched some new features on it's sites,
including a form of face recognition on picasa.

i was intrigued, but also kind of skeptical.
we've all been here. 

"is this (tree) landis?"

no, idiot, it's a tree.

but, they did a damn good job.  for instance, not only did it accurately pick out and group my sister lauren's face, but of the three possible names, hers was the first in the "suggested" category:

 

 

it also,
miraculously,
grouped ME with my distant cousin,
VICTORIA BECKHAM.

seriously, people.  no prompting on my part.

me = vicky.

just saying.

the six chicest things about september -

ONE : zac posen during fashion week, 

looking better than his own collection.

TWO : the new model cards for

connor b and matt egan.

and no, no queens in the whole deck:

THREE : victoria beckham,

in a highly controversial dress,

at the launch of her new perfume.

i think, divine:

FOUR : a new doggie waste bag package.

with the most obvious headline, ever:

FIVE : marc by marc's new ads for his sunglasses.

one of those "why didn't anyone else think of this"

kind of ads:

SIX : the "return" of the sartorialist.

some had found his photos getting a little stale,

a little predictable.

perhaps the surge of the spring 09 shows have re-ignited

our favorite street fashion guerilla:

"part of your world . . . "

every once in awhile you gotta get a little
sing-a-long on.

little mermaid style.

evelyn got the tickets,
we all got the goodie bag,
and in the middle of singing along at the top of our lungs
(it's insanely cathartic, trust me on this.  a little disney soothes what ails ya . . .)
and costumes
(it's the castro.  everyone dresses for an event.)
we escaped rather nicely for two hours.

MOTTO TUESDAY - fear is the little death

sometimes,
you just gotta hand it to Red. 

she wears the cape, she speaks (or sprays) the truth.

i used to love the mantra that characters in frank herbert's DUNE
would chant to ward off fear:

"I must not fear. 
Fear is the mind-killer. 
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. 
I will face my fear. 
I will permit it to pass over me and through me. 
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. 
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. 
Only I will remain."

in the end, the only thing holding us back from ourselves,
is ourself.

grr is the color of roses -