The Dandy Warhols

Last night I was fortunate to attend The Dandy Warhols concert in Sydney and I also bumped into some lovelies who performed at an event I went to the night previously.
My favourite part of the night was not only when the lead singer exhaled and said 'Aahh.. I love the smell of marijuana' But also when they played Bohemian Like You and some of my other favourite songs. There's something magical about looking to the person next to you beaming as you both sing the lyrics to your favourite songs. It kind of made the whole audience feel connected.. in a way. I don't really know how to describe it, but it was such a lovely evening.
I also think I may be in love with Courtney Taylor..

In memory of this wonderful evening, I will post some of my favourite Dandy songs

collars

I've been so envious of collared dresses this season, mini dresses, shirts with cute-sie collars.

all images tumblr

Nico

This evening I was fortunate enough to have a lovely dinner with all of the volunteers that worked for Pine Street Arts Festival. We discussed what high-school in the 90s was like, feminism and above all power female figures. The person who I was talking to inspired me to look up and read about Nico as she is such a powerful and key female figure.
So here is some 80s Nico

If I was to describe my music taste...

Today a boy at my school found my ipod that I left in a classroom. Resulting in an email sent to the entire student high-school describing my music tastes. Why he included my guilty pleasures I do not know.. 

the boys behind me won't shut up and I can't concentrate on pretending to read John Steinbeck

When I was little I completely detested the colour pink. I refused to wear pink dresses that seemed to be chosen for me purely because of my gender. Now I don't really have such a distaste for any colours put together correctly (ha I sound like such a fashion fag) However I do remember at the age of 9 officially declaring that blue was my all-time favourite colour, and I can't say that's changed.

Today mum made me shave my legs

Today I attended a zine fair at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) It was really great because I saw a bunch of kids I'm on the youth committee with and a bunch of staff I knew from being an art whore. I ALSO recognised a guy I worked with for the Pine Street Arts Festival who was selling zines, so I bought an anti-monarchy punk zine from him and he gave me some free mini zines.
I wore a beige corduroy skirt which I LOOOVE, a sheer button-up top that I tied at the bottom, granny loafers, my dad's socks and this rad sparkly red cardigan I bought yesterday.

In the photo above I'm holding a few of the zines I bought today: A zine about Allison Mosshart and facebook weirdos, a vegetable colouring book filled with celery puns, a zine on 80s teen culture and movie reviews and a weird astrology zine about aries and the mayan calender (Yeah, I don't know why I bought that either)
I also managed to buy a zine on riot grrrl and feminist culture that came with a poster entitled 'Tough Titties'

Now I'm going to eat peanut butter toast, drink tea and watch charmed. l8erzz
- Alexa

Why I'm relieved Daria didn't lose her virginity

The year is 1997. The film Titanic had just been named the most popular released film of 1997, Brook Lee is crowned 46th Miss America and it is two years after Gangsters Paradise is named the number 1 song of September 14th 1995, my birthday.  

In the midst of all these riveting events, MTV was trying to catch on to pop culture's latest fad and renew it's name as one of the most 'on the pulse' go-to teen channels of the nineties. 

What came out of this was a teen show called Daria. The show aimed to capture the life of high-school through the eyes of a teenage girl, mirroring other popular shows of the decade (My So Called Life, Buffy etc.) which also reflected hormonal, angsty teenage girls as the main protagonists. 

The character Daria Morgendorffer in which the show is named after, was a character on the popular TV show Beavis and Butthead. Why Beavis and Butthead was popular is beyond me.. every-time I've tried to watch a segment of this show of gurgling stoners, it makes me feel like I'm missing out on the 'humour'. Kind of like how I feel watching Two and a Half Men...

An early appearance of Daria on Beavis and Butthead

Daria's time on Beavis and Butthead was short lived, however the creators had always meant to create a spin-off show of her... or so interviews with the creators have claimed. 

What saved the show 'Daria' from an untimely demise was Daria's unique character. The show reflects high-school life with perfect satarical preciseness, highlighting popular stereotypes such as the air-head jocks and cheerleaders, greasy teenage boys who always seem to be completely unaware of the fact that their subscription to Pro-active has expired and vapid self-conscious sisters. 

In the midst of all these stereotypes, Daria provides the show with a cynical view on high-school life with her quick-witted comments matched up with her perpetual sarcastic tone of voice. She created an almost normality to the weirdness of high-school and created a hero-like character that made the 'out-casts' of high-school feel okay. She was a heroine of the weird kids of high school, which is why I appreciate her so much as an inspiring character.

The character Daria reminds the audience to take a few minutes to think of high-school in a more comedic light, unlike the overly dramatic interpretations of high-school represented in popular teen drama's of the time.
The show was a refreshing take on a mundane part of life and it was very important for the themes of the show to remain relevant to teenagers as it was important for the show to maintain it's aim to make light of the fact of 'growing up'

Throughout the 5 seasons the viewers are audience to Daria's personal development. She is faced with issues such as body image, how to keep your dignity and avoid contradicting your morals, how to deal with stressed dad's that obsess over over-ordering too many sausages and becoming addicted to technology. As the season's progress, the themes that Daria faces mature. Where Daria was once going bright red at the sight of her best friend's brother's smooth voice and guitar skills, she was now  going on dates and worrying about whether to commemorate relationship anniversaries or not.

I feel as though my Daria has been lost within the last season, where is the cynical teenager that once mocked doting teen couples? and WHY IS SHE WORRYING ABOUT HER VIRGINITY.

In the end of Season 4 Daria acquires a boyfriend. This was not an issue to me as Tom seemed to be an extension of Daria's personality and provided a nice back-story to many episodes. Tom's character reflected Daria's humour and if I didn't know any better, I would think that the pair could take over the world with sarcastic comments and a very refined taste for pizza. The relationship didn't seem to affect Daria's independent personality and I was glad to not see her develop into the whiny girlfriend like a similar character in the series, Brittany (who embodies just that quality)

However, later in season 5 Daria completely ignores all of her values and morals and questions her VIRGINITY. Now, why do I make such a big deal of this? Yeah Daria is a teenager and has a boyfriend and has been with him for a while and is supposedly expected to have lost 'it' already to him for just that reason. And I do understand the writer's decision to write in a story-line highlighting just this supposed 'issue' or expectation on teenage relationships, but Daria isn't like that! She's meant to spit and mock even the thought of kissing a boy or fulfilling any expectations society has put on her as a teenage girl.
Story-lines like this do the exact opposite to accommodate the under-dogs of high-school life and do more to appeal to the percentage of stereotypical teenagers. This story line seems more like a plot that the stereotypical cheerleader and jock of the show (as portrayed by the characters Kevin and Brittany) would fit, and less of a story-line that Daria would involve herself in.

After a while of self questioning, Daria decides she is not ready to conform to society's expectations of her and goes back to being cynical and sarcastic to all topics involving reproduction. Her decision is admirable, however I do give the writers a big thumbs down for this story line, they should leave the topic of sexually activity amongst teens to 90210.

- Alexa

Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me

 In Celebration of my recently acquired Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack on vinyl, AND an addition of 3 Rolling Stone issues which makes my collection.. about 7 issues altogether? I think I'm starting to form a bond with the owner of the vintage shop I love so dearly.
As of now I own Rolling Stone issues 1986 (February, December & November),1987 (Jan/Feb, August & December issues) and Rolling Stone August 1990... Does that make me a crazy cat lady but for music magazines.. I hope not. I also hope to acquire the Rolling Stone issue of Groupies. Not that you care.. this stuff is important to ME okay!

Anyway, in celebration of all goodness I will post this dazzling recording of Sweet Transvestite.. mmm men in fishnets

My boots can talk!

Early Exposure

The first time I ever heard this song was at a kind of secular  jewish club I used to go to when I was younger. We would have sleepovers and all stay up watching old 80s comedies and eating pizza. The leaders were always eccentric senior high-school students and had very interesting ways of waking us up in the morning. The first time I remember this song being played was when the leaders put it on full blast through the speakers till all the kids woke up.
I just remember thinking 'what the fuck is going on, what the fuck is this song?'

MERMAIDS

Last night I attended a screening of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film: On Stranger Tides. I remained skeptical as I am not one for heavy doses of 3D and FX, however the movie did have some redemming qualities. 

IT HAD MERMAIDS IN IT! MERMAIDS!!! 

At the sight of the fish-people hybrids, I squirmed in my seat. I feel as though a fascination with mermaids is one of the only things that have been embedded in my psych from childhood. 

It also didn't help that the lead mermaid was Gemma Ward, a well-known Australian model. 

Pirates mermaids!!

Did you know that in Disney Land in the 70s they had a submarine ride going through a Disney Land lagoon? They hired women to dress as mermaids and basically lay around in the sun, playing harps and brushing their hair. 

Rose Mcgowan appreciation post

let's all appreciate 90s Rose..  lengthy blog post coming up soon

Nowhere 1997

I am a girl, HEAR ME ROAR

This film kind of makes me wish there were forums like this where I could meet interesting teen-feminists in Sydney. There's a Slutwalk coming up, so maybe that will encourage riot grrrl's to emerge and enable me to see that there is more to Sydney teens than the OC and Gossip Girl!

People who are better than Lady Gaga

In the past couple of years Lady Gaga has become one of mass hysteria. With the media every two weeks featuring images of the character flaunting the latest 'outragous' garment or controversial music videos, one has
to question whether this amount of attention is called for. In my experience, people are all too willing to praise her and label her as revolutionary.
This is where my problem is.
To me, there are many people who came before Lady Gaga, who both represented all that she stood for. So therefore Lady gaga is not revolutionary, or original. Her 'original' ideas have been done before, as most themes in popular culture.
I do however admire the power she has managed to harness over the media. By targeting the 'outsiders' of society, she has been able to create a market that not only welcomed 'strange' ideas but made people who felt undermined by popular culture feel included.. because well, no one had ever liked weirdos before Lady Gaga obviously.
My issue with Lady Gaga also is because a lot of her 'out-there' fashion or musical ideas had been done before, and she isn't even referencing them or giving any previous musicians credit! For god sakes! If you're going to steal, at least do it POLITELY!!!!
for once I would like to hear her in an interview talk about how much she admired these musicians and promoted them if anything. It frustrates me the attention that she has been getting over these artists listed below. However, I do understand part of her popularity lies within the fact that the music she makes is a direct representation of popular music these days. But not only does she get attention from making music with repetitive 4/4 beats and beeps, but she is just as known for her music as she is for her 'outrageous fashion style'
In this post I hope to reference the people who came before Lady Gaga and were able to do exactly what she does.. just better (in my opinion)
ROLL THE CLIP!

People who are better than Lady Gaga
Bjork

Nina Hagen

Nina Hagen and the Club kids.. which leads us to the next people who are infinitely better than Lady Gaga

Club Kids

And finally.. David Bowie