Al-Kowt Festival

(click to enlarge)

"Saudi's have Janadiriyah"; the American University of Kuwait is bringing it "Kowt Style."

Finally, something actually being done to collect, archive, and remember our culture- the Arabian Heritage Project at AUK are right on spot.. 

As a fan of everything cultural, and traditional, I will definitely be there. 

I hear there will be live performances- sea bands, and bedouin simulations- as well as exhibits by leading traditional and cultural centers in Kuwait. 

Be there or be square? 

xx

Baroque

Share too much on the Net?

The Internet is not as impersonal as it was; everything about it has gone personal it seems.. 

Social networking sites have popped up endlessly, people are uploading their pictures, telling people what they are up to, some people publishing pictures of what they are wearing, others discussing their life stories online and so on.. 

Which makes me wonder? 

Is that good? 

Is that acceptable? to share everything with people you partially know? (**some people don't have limits you see, and update their statuses every second, some even in their sleep it seems-how many times have you seen a "X is sleeping" on Facebook?) 

It seems like it's acceptable in this part of our world- hey almost everyone is on Facebook or twits it seems- but when you dig a bit deeper you'll see that the majority disapprove and are judgmental.. 

I don't know where i stand to tell you the truth, I'm pro being connected with your friends, and finding new forms of communication as well as expressing ones self be it on blogs,etc. but I'm against this minute by minute update/spilling your life out for others to see and follow.. 

I will read your status updates, I am guilty of clicking on "wall to wall" to follow conversations (**hey who isn't on Facebook?), but I am bothered and feel sorry for people who seem to be living in Facebook/twitter/msn/whatever.. 

I was an avid Facebook fanatic one day, but it started wearing off as soon as Facebook became a social obligation, in which you had to accept that random acquaintance that added you and whom you don't know anything about apart from the regular greetings in social circles, and whom can now check you out and look up on you from time to time whilst you don't even know their phone number in real life.. 

Blogging has turned impersonal as well as random people came up to me and told me they loved my blog- a compliment i cherish, but one that has made me feel uneasy at times. 

Others read and translated some posts into other things- i still don't know what to tell you the truth-, some attempted to explain the occurrence of my posts and random tidbits in my life; it's so funny, yet sad that people delve deep into a couple of stringed words and random sentences typed up on the internet.. 

If I have anything personal to say, I'd rather call up my best friend or share it with family; for what would possibly make me want to share things with a fairly judgmental crowd of strangers?  

Be Careful what you reveal and spare us all the details, 

xx

Baroque 

Guerilla Style.

Literally.

Christopher Kane has gone all "Gorilla's in the Mist" on fashion in his ready to wear Summer collection with the dresses that you see above.. 

Perhaps he was channeling Jane Goodall and better educating the fashion crowd about the environment, animals and our impact on them? 

Perhaps he had planned to debut this line in Halloween but encountered the financial crisis and had to send it out now? 

Or better yet, maybe he was trying to create a trend? *pun intended* 

Net-a-porter dub the dresses, "Directional party looks"; I say "حسافتك"/such a shame Christopher your disk adorned dresses were phenomenal, what a flagrant misconception when it comes to direction. 

You should have gone that way  ----->

I'll give you one of those horrendous "Planet of the Apes" dresses for your thoughts (**if they haven't sold out on net-a-porter already), 

xx

Baroque

Ps. Life is a four letter word with endless possibilities. 

Photo Credits: Net-a-porter

Oxymoronic Advertising?

Sometimes in life you find yourself doing something that is on the exact opposite direction/spectrum of what your objectives are, just to find yourself reaching your objectives through un-orthodox means..

It doesn't mean that your actions are bad, or that your motives changed; it just means that they may be located on the opposing path to your objective, it's like taking a left turn when you had to take a right, but ending with a road that winds its way directly to the place you wanted to go, be it a short-cut or a long way.. 

It's not the "Road Less Travelled"; it's the road you wouldn't have thought about taking, it's like beating the pedestrian path instead of driving the car to that far place, where you might never reach on foot, but end up finding a train station and taking that train cross country which turns out to be quicker than taking the car.. (**Food for thought?) 

Here's an example of advertising that could seem to have gone wrong on so many levels but ended up doing it's initial objective- a Colgate Advertising Campaign that gave kids sweets and ice-cream instead of telling them about the harms of sugar to their teeth and the whole cavity talk.. 

But guess what? 

They took that never before trodden path of thought, and made the wooden stick in the ice-cream and lollipops look like a toothbrush to remind them to brush after every meal/sweet snack.. 

Clever, no? 

How many times have you taken the unorthodox path, and found yourself succeeding? 

Something along the lines of dare to be different? 

If everyone was mainstream, we'd never have different paths- thereby being stuck in traffic all the time, 

xx

Baroque

Ps. "تمي"

Photo Credits:  Scary ideas

Stick a Bottle to the Gutter; Water Collection Style

Designed by Evant Gant, this phenomenal yet very basic design won the "Design for Poverty" competion that Yanko Design-one of my favorite websites about conceptual out of the box yet functional designs- organized. 

Basically, this design for a water collecting invention would rid third world countries and populations from unhygienic  water collection practices that have negative externalities be it on the health or well-being of those unfortunate people, but also make them able to better store this water in a fairly cheap and environmentally friendly way. 

According to Evant, " The RainDrops system simply allows people to adapt standard plastic bottles to an existing gutter system to collect rain water. This changes water storage from the most to the least expensive part of the system. These are much easier to clean and replace than larger storage units. The repurposing of these plastic bottles will also give value to many bottles that are otherwise headed for landfills. Another large benefit to using plastic bottles as a water collection system is that it fits in nicely with the process called SODIS, which uses a combination of the suns UV rays and heat to remove pathogenic microorganisms that cause disease." 

How clever is that? 

And to think such a simple design has the ability to save millions of people from polluted/disease infested waters resulting from poor hygiene collecting processes. 

Now if someone would just be able to design pressure cookers/fryers that can work on our summer heat without having to use electricity or gas? 

We'd not only be conserving energy a la electricity, but also make those people in "Tarsheed" a bit happy (**Kuwaiti Government Energy Conservation Campaign that goes wild in summer with the increase in use of local electricity due to air conditioning and poor conservation tactics that are not tolerated by the weak energy/electricity supply in Kuwait due to insufficient planning on the electricity sector's side).. 

ترشيد/ Tarsheed, "صوتي وصل؟"

xx

Baroque

Photo Credits: Yanko Design and The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Luella goes all "شاي الضحى"

Luella went all prim and proper this season- Spring RTW 2009- with a selection of classical tailleur/"تيور" with a twist.. 

Tres modernized and injected with a dose of youth, her tailleurs are the perfect genteel and sophisticated addition to one's  summer wardrobe; a good wear to all those formal conservative events such as that random "شاي الضحى" or formal diplomatic event thrown by older relatives or higher authorities.. 

It's a good way of looking lady-like without showing any signs of frumpiness/grandma-tic inclinations.. 

All of a sudden, I feel like going for high tea; scones, crumpets and lattes galore. 

Yes, pun intended- I'm the one having a latte as everyone sips on their tea at tea-times at the Lanesborough; my excuse? 

Anything drowned with milk tastes exceptionally better,and I'll take coffee over tea anytime. 

Luella Lady wishes and latte dreams, 

xx

Baroque

Ps. Counting down to endless tea-times. 

Photo Credits: Style.com

Seeing things "In Her Choos"

I'm a big fan of fellow blogger- N from In My Choos- and it's not just because I actually know her (**for if you did, gosh! you'd adore her),  mais au contraire she has this way with fashion blogging that others seem to lack.. 

She's not mainstream in any way and transfers her ideas and fashion beliefs through witty snippets that nail fashion down to a beat; she always blogs about the rarities in fashion, the things not all fashion bloggers headline as soon as it's out like that must have bag or jacket.. 

She writes about the artistic end of the Fashion Spectrum, the eye-opening things that you find seeping into your conversation with friends which make them ask you "How did you know that?" and in which you reciprocate a simple link- the "In My Choos Blog".. 

I read this recent post on her blog recently which really caught my eye and answered my "Is Fashion Art?" question; as well as touching upon that "Fashion is for people that are superficial a la "ناس فاظيين" phenomenon that most people who are "امهتملين"(people who look like they just came from the Jurassic era and are not even dressed averagely as one of my close friends puts it)..

Those people snub everything that has to do with fashion and dismiss it as frivolous..

As "N", says Fashion is a "non-verbal cure of telling people who you are."

True. 

For don't people always almost judge on first appearances?

Also, isn't communication according to Mehrabian, a renown professor of Communication, 7% from spoken words, 38% from tone of voice, and 55%  from body language.. 

To sum it all up, isn't body language after all, your outer appearances and outer gestures-fashion included? 

I salute "N" and her Choos. 

xx

Baroque 

For more info: Click here to read N's perspective on Fashion and Art. 

Ps. Incentives are needed for motivation. 

To my little brother and Lego Lovers out there,

Put your lego blocks to use like Udronotto and recreate masterpieces from those simple playthings. 

The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck

Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol

The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci

The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci

American Gothic by Grant Wood

Classical magnum opuses that have been canonized in Art, but twisted comically and "lego-lized" by this brilliantly creative Artist. 

Such a refreshing breath of fresh blocks? 

xx

Baroque 

Photo Credits: My Modern Metropolitan and Udronotto's Flickr Set dubbed Copie D'Art.

"Khaleejesque Webzine"

We're still waiting for that unified currency and railway system in the GCC; I guess this will have to do till then.. 

We, Khaleeji States, Bloggers, Readers and Citizens,  share so much be it culture, traditions, past or future and yet are not as well connected or coordinated for that matter..

I introduce to you "Khaleejesque:"

“Khaleejesque” is an upcoming lifestyle webzine that revolves around everything hip and happening in the Arabian Gulf Countries. 

“Khaleejesque”, a reflection of the Gulf transformed into an online magazine is a one click portal that features everything there is to know about the Gulf, what’s bubbling in the waters, what’s getting singed in the sun, where the gang is loitering at today, and what all the girls in the mall are carrying now. Okay, not so much mainstream, but a fairly accurate indication of everything that’s going on.   

We will cover the latest restaurants, fashion, boutiques, spas, art galleries, exhibitions and include special features and editorials; basically an inside scoop of everything “Khaleeji.” 

But to do all that, we need you- fellow bloggers, freelancer writers/photographers; basically people who like writing, know how to write, and are willing to write short articles, cover events, and contribute to “Khaleejesque.” 

If you’re up for it, drop us a line at khaleejesque@gmail.com, with a CV (don’t freak out, we’re not asking you to professional, just tell us if you’ve had any freelance or writing experiences) and preferably a copy/example of anything you’ve written recently, and no supermarket lists don’t cut it;  send us blog posts, a couple of paragraphs, anything that shows that you can put sentences together.

"خليجنا واحد و شعبنا واحد؟"

Such a bright idea; I'm backing it up 100%.

xx

Baroque

Ps. Countdown to employee empowerment. 

I'm no Sartorialist..

But, I had to snap a picture of this fashionista in the making in Tokyo.. 

Me and my sister were so blown away by her, we asked her mother what she was wearing.. 

Coach shoes, a cute flouncy dress, a small Coach bag slouched to the side, her mother's mini fur stole wrapped around her neck like a scarf, the cutest ear muffs, and a classy navy blue princess cut coat.. 

She was too cute to even describe.. 

This made me remember the days when my mother would dress us all up in the cutest matching outfits, and parade us with her wherever she went..

It's not so often that you see kids those days really put together,

Casual-ness and the re-emergence of Jeans, has killed those once cute coordinated outfits which made little girls look like little princesses,

"ليت الشباب يعود يوما"

scratch "شباب" , and insert "طفوله"..

xx

Baroque

Ps. Stop racing my thoughts.

Nb. For fantastic snaps of street fashion, consult the actual Saratorialist's blog.

If Chandeliers could grow on trees?

We'd have something as amazing as this; and maybe dub them"Chandelier Trees?"

"The Cloud Chandelier shown was made for KENZO's headquarters in Paris. It was inspired from KENZO's approach of ephemerality, lightness, and the explosion of colors. Made of steel structure, wire mesh and 3,000 cut crystals, the tree is surely something to behold" -Alice from My Modern Metropolis

Summarized in one three letter word; Wow! 

Designed by Andy Cao, who says, "It's never about the design (about his work), it slowly evolves-places that I've been to or dream of going to- from imaginary to actually becoming a place. I'm not interested in putting meaning in my work, but creating a spacial experience for the viewer." 

Don't you just love knowing what inspires those creative junkies? 

I wish I was that inspired.

It's absolutely stunning, it seems like it's a chandelier in an icy crystal palace somewhere snowy and cold yet beautiful; very Ice-Queen-ish a la the Ice Queen in The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe..  

Perhaps, he might be inspired to create a Palm Tree Chandelier, something better suited for this region? 

xx

Baroque 

Ps. Nay for home-stay. 

Photo Credits as well as Info: My Modern Metropolitan 

Britney Spears Baby

Britney Spears stand aside, this kid can totally rock.. 

I've decided to actually listen to the song post seeing this on youtube, I never knew that singing a Britney Spears song could be so effortlessly cute or even seem fitting for a 3 year old..

She's so adorably hip for a 3-year old + she has the song down to a beat! 

Don't you wish you were 3 years old again?

xx

Baroque

Now you see it, Now you don't.

I've always been a fan of souvenirs, in fact every time I go to a foreign country I have to buy something that reminds me of it, often a small statue, picture or symbol of that country.. 

Micheal Hughes, takes it to a different level, he takes pictures of those landmarks, but with a twist; replacing that landmark with a cheap souvenir.. 

Ironically it's made him famous, with his photos splashed out not only on the internet and most specifically his flickr account, but also in magazines and what not.. 

What inspired him to do this? 

"I noticed coffee cups from a shop near the Statue of Liberty had the statue printed on it, so I poured my drink on the floor, and positioned it in front of the statue. Since then, taking the pictures has developed into a hobby and a passion to the point where I have been taking trips recently just to photograph a souvenir next to its landmark."

Eiffel Tour

Disneyland

 

NYC Taxi

Egypt

Abbey Road, London

Big Ben, London

It's true; "Creativity has no bounds"/or a perimeter for that matter.. 

xx

Baroque

Ps. Several strategies, fleeting time frames.

Photo Credits: My Modern Metropolis, and Micheal Hughes Blog. 

F(x) of Music

Using the ever so fab "Stumble Upon" (**it's basically a website that allows users to literally stumble upon things, it's like shuffling through songs but instead of songs, you shuffle websites, based on pre-set preferences that stumble upon asks you; so based on your interests you get the most random websites ever.. ), I found this picture.. 

I love it.. 

So true.. 

It's a passage from a book, if only I knew which book.. 

In my opinion, the internet can also help achieve that release too..

You disconnect from reality to a certain extent,  and connect to another world almost.. 

Don't you just love thought provoking yet ever so true facts, quotes, or pictures? 

I know I do.. 

xx

Baroque 

Ps. Don't ever disconnect.