PINKY: December 2009

On Wednesday Mituswa had their big discount day (20% off grocery subtotals). All the displaced Japanese housewives were going nuts, hunting shopping carts down in the parking lot, scooping up mochi rice, Japanese burdock root (as opposed to the Taiwan counterpart), and then a bunch of things no one really needs. The rest of Mitsuwa was not 20% off, but I always leave their bookstore with a magazine. I also picked up volume 21 of NANA. I really need to go over what happened in volume 20; in fact, it's entirely possible I've lost track of NANA so badly that I don't even have volume 20. My mom and I also noticed some other comic books we're clearly missing out on, like Keshikasu-Kun, a manga about an ERASER. He looks angry.

Anyway, I veered from normalcy by avoiding ViVi and buying the December issue of PINKY. It came with a small, cute PINKY x L'Occitane carrying case/pouch. I most definitely picked the December issue over the November issue because of this particular bonus gift, and not so much because November is the dusty past in the fast-paced world of fashion.

I'm not sure I'd buy another issue of PINKY unless Amuro Namie is on the cover because I feel like I get more bang for buck with ViVi (i.e., more pages). Although, I noticed that because there are so many spreads, ads made to looks like spreads, and features, ViVi seems forced to re-feature the same item multiple times throughout one issue. So in the November issue, a Japanese knock-off of the Balenciaga ankle boot appeared like, four times. I found that to be disappointing, but what can you do? It was a good copy at a reasonable price--I would definitely go hunt for it if I were in Japan right now. PINKY feels a little like Diet ViVi, but there are some decent spreads that I'll feature here. You can find scans of the entire issue (and other magazines if you look around the site) here. The following crude scans are my own.

This feature is all about the "AmeKaji" style. "AmeKaji" is short for "American Casual." That is, if you want to look like a casually dressed American, here are a few pages on "HowTo" do it. Their inspiration seems to come from the fall presentation of DSquared--there's Chanel Iman walking that runway in this style on the left page. Unrelated: I wondered what Suzuki Emi was up to these days having graduated from Japanese Seventeen. The answer is that she's plastered all over PINKY, rocking the ubiquitous Kato Miliyah babydoll bangs.

I find the title of this style to be funny, partially because I really do wear flannel, jeans, not-quite-cowboy-but-close-enough Frye boots, and I even recently dug up a slightly baggy blue and white vertically striped shirt from my parents' basement last month (see the very bottom of the left page above). Many of my daily read fashion bloggers based in the States also layer simple tshirts with flannel and pair that with denim and boots of some sort. Maybe if I curl my hair, wear funny hats, and bare my thighs in the freezing Chicago cold, I'll look more like a displaced Japanese girl trying to pull off the "American Casual" look.

I'm just throwing this one in here because I like the black sparkly sweater dress on the second girl from the left. I never got into distressed jeans, but I saw Beni layering some holy pants with lace tights underneath. I can get down with layering. And sparkly sweater dresses in the winter.

What is so frustrating is that these magazines will tell you where you can acquire the featured clothes. I recognize many of the stores, and totally know how to get there. Many of the prices are not totally outrageous. The problem is that I'm HERE in freezing Chicago........and with many papers to write and grade [T_T]

Mounted Memories Sports Memoribilia Show

Baseball season is over, but the pursuit of baseball cards continues. Yesterday we attended the Mounted Memories show out at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. Part of the highlight was an opportunity to meet Carlos Quentin. Mordecai had the added bonus of meeting Gary Carter, a hero of the victorious 1986 Mets. This was a good week of meeting stars!

Gary Carter

First we met Gary Carter, who was very friendly. Mordecai introduced himself as a Long Island native, so they exchanged some words about that and the Long Island Ducks. Supposedly, Gary Carter is known to be particular about what he signs and for how much, though you wouldn't get that impression from actually interacting with him. Mordecai explained to me that it might be his agent who is picky. I took a picture of what seemed to be Gary Carter's Agent.

Sweatpants!

While in line, you can catch glimpses of other famous people who are greeting fans and signing things. We saw Rollie Fingers to our left, so I tried to snap some non-blurry pictures. This is the best, clear view of his famous mustache. Johnny Knox was signing things to my right, but his facial hair wasn't as interesting. He did have some powerful eyebrows. That's about all I can remember.

Carlos Quentin

While in line for Gary Carter, I saw Carlos Quentin come out from behind the curtains. He is so rectangular! His head is also kind of boxy! He may have had a bone spur in his foot and subsequently contributed to the White Sox failing this past season, but if you haven't noticed, he's also the tall, dark, and handsome type.

Here is Shaun with CQ. Notice Quentin's Chris-Getz-like shirt. This shirt isn't bad, but someone needs to dress athletes more regularly, especially for signings. What's that red trim on his shirt? Anyway, look at Quentin's impeccable eyebrows! Look at Shaun's GRIN!

When I met Alexei Ramirez and Chris Getz, I was star struck, but I think I may have been more star struck meeting Quentin. I have the impression that Quentin is a bigger star than Alexei, perhaps only because he is physically bigger than Alexei. I just kind of stammered and floated about in front of him until Mordecai took our picture. By the time it was Shaun's turn to get his ball signed, I lost my opportunity to shake Quentin's hand. Mordecai reports his handshake was a little moist, but firm. I missed out! Shaun asked about his plantar fascitis; Quentin said it's a lot better. Luckily, Mordecai doesn't seem to be attached to having Quentin on his fantasy team. The Poppersteins will gladly take him into the family next year!

Others

I like this portrait of the rest of the card show gang--Dan, Joe, Bryan. Dan got a box of basketball cards, Joe got a bunch of loose jersey & auto cards, and somehow, Bryan is uninterested in cards (!!!). Someone needs to get that boy a box of cards and experience the thrill of the chase. Maybe he's not into chasing things, though. I've only seen him excited about Kobe Bryant, Rock Band, and playing softball.

Mordecai noticed an empty box labeled "Mets." It appears the box was for pink mini helmets. For the ladies, perhaps? Maybe this is a good time to segue into a few words on my experience as a female at the card show.

Since I began collecting cards last spring, it's become apparent that many card stores do not have a big female clientele. This is not surprising, but what does surprise me a little is that people are quite vocal about a girl coming into their store, not merely there to accompany their male friends. I'm not bothered by this or anything, but I find it interesting that people are not at all shy about the matter. In fact, I like collecting these little experiences. If there was a photo capturing the essence of each one, I'd try to make cards out of these anecdotes.

So yesterday, the old man collecting ticket stubs at the entrance made a few remarks about why I was there and jokingly/creepily said he wanted to see me after the card show. Later on, while perusing $5 jersey cards, the vendor came over to me, Mordecai, Joe, and Shaun and he said to me, "I'm sure you had to drag these fellows to the card show!" I said that yes, they were kicking and screaming about it. At another vendor's set-up, Mordecai and I picked out a few cards to purchase and I went to pay. I reported to Mordecai that the vendor gave us a $2 discount. Mordecai said, "Yeah, that's why I made you go pay." (Hmm. How can I exploit Mordecai to get insignificant discounts?)

Maybe none of this would happen if I looked more like the Greg Olsen woman. This lady wearing a Greg Olsen jersey was as wide as she was tall, thereby being pretty much completely round. For some reason she was sitting by herself on the ground next to the escalators by the empty entrance of the convention center. She looked like a fat stray cat, contently lounging in a place where she didn't quite belong. Later I saw her with what seemed to be her family, and they looked like they appeared from the mountains, but wearing Greg Olsen jerseys. But I guess I wouldn't have my little anecdotes to collect, so I will continue to bumble about these card shows, letting Mordecai think we're getting $2 discounts because I paid for the cards. Yes, surely, those four Mike Piazza cards from the 90's are worth $11.

Dan Aykroyd in Chicago

While going through the coupons from the Chicago Tribune last Sunday, Mordecai and I came across an advertisement for an event at Jewel, a local grocery. Dan Aykroyd has been behind some vodka called "Crystal Head Vodka," so he's on a publicity tour signing bottles at liquor and grocery stores, apparently. I actually have not seen "Blues Brothers" and I was too young and scared to understand "Ghostbusters." But I decided to put grading aside to attend this event because last winter, I took a course on Marxism with Charles Mills, and we watched "Trading Places" while eating Thai food. The Marxist analysis of "Trading Places" kind of went over my head, as did the financial specifics of the plot, but this movie nevertheless has a special place in my heart. Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" has never been put to such great use. I think Mozart would be impressed.

My mom took me to Jewel after class on Monday. She was mildly annoyed at the prospect of having to wait in line for an hour, so she went home and then picked me up later. We walked by this trailer truck thing and I thought maybe this was Dan Aykroyd's tour bus?!

There were a couple of Ghostbuster groupies hanging by the side of Dan Aykroyd's tent, content to just watch their personal hero in action.

Wait for it, wait for it...

His hands were so soft and doughy! I told him I watched "Trading Places" in my Marxism class, and he laughed. We'll likely never know whether he was laughing at me or with me. That's fine with me.

I have to say, it always feels odd standing in line waiting for an extended period of time for something or someone famous. Most people tend to become chatty, and most conversations are more or less open for anyone to join in on. Many people strike me as quite unremarkable despite the fact that they are so willing to open their mouths and talk to everyone about anything that comes to mind. Anyway, I have a hard time not feeling awkward talking to strangers even though I know we obviously have at least one interest in common. Suffice it to say that there was one inane, bro-y man behind me, and an overly chatty and tedious wedding singer in front of me. Was it pure coincidence that the bro-man had hired the singer two years ago for his wedding? Yeah, no.

Halloween 2009

"Hi my name is Rachel Berry, and I'm here to sing 'On My Own' from the seminal Broadway classic, Les Mis."

Since no one really understood my "costume" (I even had my raincoat on as protection from slushies), the other interpretation of my outfit was "Japanese schoolgirl." I really liked the outfit though (complete with knee high socks and my loafers), and kind of wished we wore uniforms in high school. But only kind of.

Another noteworthy costume: Burger King. He even brought and shared $1 double cheeseburgers! It was funny to see the Burger King sway and dance to music while drinking wine straight from the bottle.

Last but not least, here is Joe as a World Phucking Champion!

Chicago, early 80's

Fall Fall Fall

Yesterday I busted out the penny loafers. I wore them with a black dress and tights; I looked like I was either a week early for Halloween or like I attended a funeral. All I did though was go to my piano lesson, drop by the baseball card shop, and play Animal Crossing which as usual ended up in a nap. At night we went to see UFC 104 in Jonny's basement, so in case someone died, I was prepared to mourn right away. I've seen a man convulse as a result of not the breathing kind of choking, but the blocking-blood-flow-in-a-major-artery kind of choking. I forgot who he was, but I think it was the guy with a gigantic samurai tattooed on his back. Other UFC banter: Lyoto Machida looks like a manga character. I like how he shifts and twists his hips, like he's dancing, but really, he's preparing to kick his opponent. He was the one receiving most of the leg-beat downs yesterday, but whatever, I didn't have to mourn his or Shogun's surprise death.

Also, there's Mordecai locking his door in a new coat from Zara. He seems to be a fan of the epaulets. Why does he have more luck at Zara than I do?

These photos were taken on my iPhone with an app called Toy Camera. Sometimes I walk around with my Canon G9 and/or Sony W300, but end up taking pictures with my iPhone most of the time because of convenience. This is sad, but perhaps it's a sign that some giant companies need to start getting beyond-Toy-Camera creative.

Happy #Glee Day!

Wednesdays are my "day off." I have nowhere to be except in front of reading material and a computer, presumably typing away at something. But today...the weather was so nice, and the forecast predicts plunging temperature later this week, and my mom called me to play. Outdoor suburban mall, OLD ORCHARD, IT IS!

As usual, I made my Zara rounds, found things I liked and decided not to buy them. Astute. I wanted to see if there were any G.H. Bass penny loafers at Nordstrom, originally a shoe store. I have been eyeing penny loafers for about a year now, but was worried about what to wear with them. I have no such problems now with the spirit of Rachel Berry and Emma Pillsbury following me everywhere I go, whether it is my own closet or Forever 21 or J. Crew. The problem with the Zappos and the G.H. Bass website is that the black patent leather ones are "coming soon." Well, how soon? Today's high was 70F, but we are facing the impending doom that is late fall and early winter weather. All of a sudden, we will find ourselves in a snowstorm like the Patriots did last weekend against the Terrible Tennessee Titans, but we will not be victorious like Tom Brady & Co. (59-0? FIVE TOUCHDOWNS IN ONE QUARTER? Really?)

Instead of classic Bass loafers, I came across these black patent loafers by Cole Haan, featuring some of that comfy Nike Air, ON SALE! Like, almost 50% off! My mom egged me on to get these. And so, penny loafers and I are reunited for the first time since about 1991. I used to put pennies IN the shoe, not in that little slit at the tongue. Now I can dress like Rachel Berry as a 25.5 year old! HAPPY GLEE DAY!

(If you can't tell, I wrote this soon after episode 9 of Glee aired.)

Creatures

I got this "Cute Creatures Dotted Dress" at Forever 21 the other day. There are rabbits, unicorns, cats, mushrooms, and an unidentified blobby creature (not pictured) wearing a hat on it. I like to think that Emma or Rachel would wear something like this. I also discovered warm, soft, striped knee-high socks made by Hunter to wear with my wellies at Akira on State Street.

At the Water Tower, there was an ad for Glee by the bathrooms. Yay, Glee!