when a shoe is, like, sooo much more than a shoe

There's been a recent explosion of conversation regarding my chosen sneaker, the classic Chuck Taylor. Lately, I've seen tons of magazines/blogs ruminating on the cultural, social, political, whatever-ical implications of these shoes. My theory is that this newfound scholarly interest is based on two events: the 100th anniversary of Converse and that little movie called "Juno" with all its hip teens.

Mainstream media is casting a damn sneaker as the signifer of "disaffected youth", "hipster-ism" and "slacker culture." But, um, everyone wears Chucks. I'm not disaffected or youthful or overly hip and prefer "bored and lazy" over "slacker, but I live in mine. Always have, always will. I really pretty much hate all other kinds of sneakers - I'm not even very fond of the One Stars. Or actually even the high-top Chucks. Picky, picky indeed.

I heart my Chucks because:
1. They are comfortable and durable.
2. They are cute with jeans.
3. They are cute with skirts AND dresses.
4. They are cute whether they are just a plain ol' black pair or have some fancy shmancy design on them.

Pshh...and I always get mine for $20 or less.

Alright, so it's fucking fashion and function, and then everyone has to go make some big deal about generations and what it means, maaan. This little blogsy was triggered by this article in the Washington Post:
From Hoops to Hipsters

I'm not going to rehash or confront the whole article, you're smart enough to that on your own. But one thing:

"For all its heritage in hoopsters, the brand subsists on hipsters, which is why the company will soon unveil, without a smidgen of blasphemy, a series of its famous All-Stars and One-Stars with Kurt Cobain's signature and scribbled excerpts from his journals.

The Cobain shoes will sell for the unpunk price of $50-$65, suggested retail; inside of one of the soles is a Sharpie scrawl that reads, a la Kurt, "Punk rock means freedom." From fans of Nirvana this has elicited only slight dismay -- Courtney Love strikes again, etc. From Converse collectors, there are advance orders."

Um, that is just really gross and horrendously cheesy. I had heard about the whole Kurt Cobain/Doc Martens thing, but not this. Journal scribblings? On a fucking shoe?

Yeah, stuff like this really makes it hard to defend being a Courtney Love fan. Can I just pretend Courtney after 1999 never existed?

Whatevs, look how cute the Chucks I'm wearing today are:


In other news: LONGEST FRIDAY EVER.

i'm allergic to cats but...

that doesn't mean I don't think they are wicked cuuuu-uuute! If it wasn't for their damn dander...

Today, I am happy to report on two awww-inducing stories.

First - the "I Heart" kitten. OMGGGG. Kitten so little! Kitten so cute! Kitten has secret message in fur! That spells "I heart Dot"! Kitten's mommy is named Dottie! AWWWWWWWWWW!

The full story

Second - not so much of an AWWWWWWWWWW story, but I just think this kitten is super-duper cute. He is a resident of the new "cat cafes" in Japan - basically, you throw down some money to go hang out with kitties. Anyway, this one is my favorite cutie-pie kitten-face. AWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

The full story

Now that I've made myself vomit-y with cuteness, I'm going to find something to get pissed about and salvage my cynical-lady blog image. Byes xoxo!

Actually, one more thing...

mary janes 4eva

All I want is a pair of silver mary janes. Is that really too much to ask? I had a sweet pair in 9th grade that looked fab with all my babydolls. I wish I could just reincarnate them.

Anyway - Target has these online:



On sale for $13.99! But...of course...they are absolutely not in my size. Damn me for being so goddamn average! Sucks when it comes to sales.

major score

Look what I got last night...$10!



Oh how I love Miss Cho!

Plus a DVD with a bunch of old After-School Specials for $5.99. Oh hell yes!

And and and...my order from Kill Rock Stars arrived on my door-step last night.
Ronnie Spector, Cadallaca, a cheap-o comp, Pussycat Trash 7", Sleater-Kinney poster and bonus Witchy Poo 7". I never really liked Witchy Poo, but whatevs, I like free.

Damn, it was a good day.

zox sux cox

I promise this will be an anomaly to this blog, but I have to this off my chest: I feel like good taste is being personally harrassed by the band called Zox. Holy fuck, do they suck! I'm feeling hatred of almost Dave Matthews-esque proportions. They are a local band that's getting all national-like, but I really had never heard them until the last few weeks (I don't venture very far out of my own little local music orbit). Maybe it's because WBRU* is giving them an unprecedented amount of attention and promotion. Since when does WBRU champion local rock bands during the daytime hours? I swear...everytime they go to the DJ or to a commercial, it's some freakin' thing about Zox. I get it, they went to Brown, they won the Rock Hunt once upon a time, they got signed, and they are playing a KICK ASS show at Lupo's. NEAT. Doesn't deter the fact that they are absolutely HORRID. I mean...just look at them:



"Hello ladies, I play sensitive douche-rock!" (PS: Sweet soul patch, bro.) I have this vague fantasy of running into them in Providence and telling them how much I hatehatehaaate them. But their appearance poses a huge problem for me: they are entirely unmemorable. I would never be able to pick them out of a crowd. Dammit!

I could go on...but I won't. Just one last thing. This lyric really annoys me: "You have to leave the ground to learn to fly." REALLY DEEP. Oh my god, maybe I'm irrational but I hate it, I hate it!

Also, I heard Rusted Root today and it made me vomit-y.

*I know I am torturing myself by actually listening to WBRU, but this week they are playing all their songs from A-Z and I am sucker for any sort of countdown/trip down memory lane. I'll deal with the Zox-trauma for one more day.

dork!

California Town Bans 'Fuck', 'Shit', maybe even 'Damn'