$ so tall that my barbie's gotta climb it

it's no surprise that finally, an ... eccentric Barbie doll has been born. 

with the development of a new tween generation - you know, the ones that text, play on their iPads and tumblr post non-stop, in addition to incessantly watching those horrible MTV shows like Skins, Teen Mom, Teen Wolf? I don't even know anymore...but kids today are different than those of the '90s and prior. their interests are different, trend-based. and this is where Barbie steps up her game, tattoos and all. 

wow. she's more bad ass than me.

Tokidoki always puts out the most vibrant, off-the-wall fashion accessories & toys which make the brand a perfect partnership for Mattel/Barbie, in my opinion. though this doll comes off a bit Jerseylicious meets Courtney Love circa 1990whatever, the fact of the matter is that kids these days aren't dressing a far cry from this. I'm almost positive you can find a similar outfit (minus the glitter platforms) worn by Disney channel actors.

the tattoos and pink hair make this Barbie a product of her time. the fact that children are idolizing Nicki Minaj nowadays (hello, Sophia Grace!) who contributes greatly to our culture shift in style, fashion & music, I don't understand the assaults poor tokidoki Barbie is getting.

ultimately, this is a collector's and limited edition doll, so most of these are probably in the hands of people over the age of 18, who could give 2 shits about her punk style. plus if you're going to name Barbie's cactus-dog pet "Bastardino," even more of a reason to release this as a doll for adults.

due to so much controversy with parents whining about the possibilities of their precious daughters wanting to get tatted up after playing with tokidoki Barbie, Mattel was forced to issue a statement which follows:

“Barbie has been dressed by more than 70 fashion designers over the years.  From Versace to Vera Wang, Tarina Tarantino to Christian Louboutin, Barbie has sported an endless array of styles.  Many of Barbie’s most pop-culture couture outfits have been designed for the adult doll collector.”

knowing myself years ago as a pre-teen, if I were growing up today no doubt this doll would 100% be on my xmas wish list. but in hindsight, if you're a parent, would you really spend $50 on a collector's edition doll just so your bratty tyke can play with it? (I've had experience with my prized Spice Girls dolls being abused by little cousins...I learned my lesson)

child/teen actors that take rides on the crazy train should be more of a concern to parents rather than a plastic toy doll. I'm no psychologist, but I can bet the actions of real life people that your kids love & watch everyday on tv & film have a greater impact on ruining their future in comparison to a pink-haired Barbie doll.

see more tokidoki Barbie greatness here

don't want to talk. all i hear is noise.

my cousins and I standing by the shore...well, the San Francisco Bay...

can I just tell you all about how obsessed I am with Empire of the Sun? since their uberly stellar coachella performance, I cannot get enough of these guys and have no idea how I ever lived without their music prior.

I felt compelled to post this song because I just got great news in the mail regarding a big white envelope sent to me by a university in New York, enclosing an acceptance letter to their grad school program. !!! I do have much to think about and have heard a slew of opinions and words of encouragement but since I have a couple weeks to turn in my decision...right now, all I hear is noise (but don't get me wrong...I'M SO EXCITED)

"standing on the shore"

c.o.a.c.h.e.l.l.a.

best weekend of my life.
in sum: walking miles in the blazing sun and dirty desert ground for hours, blisters, sunburns, and extreme weather changes from 100 degrees to 60. no sleep, lots of calorie consumption, people watching (i.e. fanny pak, rob kardashian, whitney port, lo bosworth..), discovering new and amazing music, dancing like no one was watching. 5 minute showers, wearing the same outfit twice (do not judge me!), taking zero pictures - literally, dying cell phones, and getting lost in the sea of crowds. jamming to the best live music and seeing some of my favorite artists which I've loved since my childhood, and experiencing all of this with my friends (in addition to making new ones) was priceless.




day one: cold cave, skrillex, a-trak, afrojack, kele, marina and the diamonds, the black keys, kings of leon, robyn, boys noize





day two: erykah badu, glasser, yelle, chuckie, laidback luke, mumford & sons, animal collective, empire of the sun, arcade fire





day three: wiz khalifa, nas & damien marley, jimmy eat world, death from above 1979, duck sauce, the strokes, kanye west



images via pitchfork media

unpierced

as some, or none, of you may know I have zero piercings on my body. yeah, you read that right. ZERO. unlike every other asian mother out there, mine never pinned me down to a chair at the mall to get my ears pierced. however, now it seems as though all the lost years of having a daughter without pierced ears caused strife and occasionally she'll say "you'll look good in earrings" or something along those lines.

so here I am, turning 23 in half a year still without piercings - though I did dabble in a little rebellion as a sophomore and got my nose pierced but that lasted for a good year or so. in the working world filled with cubicles and briefcases, it's taboo to have visible piercings in unconventional places like your lip or eyebrow so those are out of the question.

living so long with bare ears has made dressing up a ton easier, as I don't have an extra body part to accessorize. of course, I can opt to wearing just one pair of earrings a day but what's the fun in that? so the million dollar question is: will I ever get my ears pierced? perhaps... but just so I can wear these from Chanel:
 



besos.

eyes of violet

R.I.P. Elizabeth Taylor
the essence of beauty, character and talent




photo via bonnie leigh

rationalizing the Oscar's

The 83rd Academy Awards were held Sunday night, Feb. 27. Millions watched but ratings were incomparable to previous Oscar shows. There was a reported 10 percent decrease in ratings to 2010's (viewership was at 41.7 million, while this year's was 37.6 million), despite the show's efforts in ringing in a younger viewer pool by having James Franco and Anne Hathaway host. "Producers have developed the idea of making this year’s Oscars a ‘visual journey through movie history’ and should be hosted by ‘young and energetic actors,'" the IBTimes reported.

While their efforts fell short, and both received harsh criticism for their highly awkward hosting skills, it is still unknown why the response to the show was so bleak. Is the answer in capitalism? In sociological studies, Max Weber argues that capitalism is a rational system in the sense of being calculating, efficient, reducing uncertainty, and increasing predictability. Using capitalism to describe the Academy Awards is a loaded term but the underlying factors in creating a show that has a specific target audience far from what is normally expected is intrinsic of good marketing and PR, both consumer capitalist industries.

Weber developed four types of rationality, but the one I am interested in is formal rationality, under which "we are not left to our own devices, but rather we use existing rules, regulations, and structures that either predetermine the optimum methods or help us discover them." Formal rationality paved the way for institutionalized structures like bureaucracy, whose systems are intended to make an individual's life easier, more efficient. However, they have become so entrenched and so immovable and inflexible that the individual is trapped and controlled by them.

At the Oscar's last week, young adults were presuppositioned to watch because its hosts would be the youngest in history. Is the their method for vying a younger audience a rational tactic? If so, it worked because according to Reuters, the night kept 95% of their young audiences, ages 18-34, tuned in.

Fusing the young with the old actors is touching, and taps into the background of each actor's craft - young actors are here because the old have paved the way for them. Halle Berry acknowledged this in her presentation of Lena Horne, for instance. However, I don't recall Franco or Hathaway introduce each film category in its historic context. The presenters did. If young Hollywood isn't able to embrace and present the classics, then what was the point?

This ploy for 20-somethings to watch an awards show they normally wouldn't is similar to one form of formal rationality, calculability. It involves means that are "calculated, counted, and quantified." At the Oscar's, the primary concern was to draw in the quantity of viewers, not the quality. Perhaps producers rationed the calculability of young viewers in casting Franco and Hathaway, since 80% of the nominated actors and actresses are over the age of 30. The youngest nominated actress was 14 year old Hailee Steinfeld, while the youngest male actor Jesse Eisenberg is 27. So long as a younger host can keep viewers entertained, it doesn't matter who is or who isn't nominated. Quantity over quality.