Genius for hire, apparently

Heard today that The Village Voice has canned Lynn Yaeger along with other staff that have worked there for decades. A braver mag better grab her as her droll, clever and uncompromising fashion column is the rare sort of voice we need MORE, not less of in these homogenized times.

edited to add: Smart people at New York magazine snapped her up.

personas

Illamasqua is a drool-y, theatrical new makeup line in the UK. Alex Box is the incredible makeup artist who is their artistic director. God knows when we'll get it in N. America, but the stuff looks sensational and the products have marvellous names like Salacious, Test, and Daemon, so ask your friend who's next going to London to get it at Selfridges!

Watch Alex Box's tutorial on the smoky eye. A northern accent makes '...Sex' even more-so.

The Site

I unearthed a great ratty paperback a couple of months back. "The Site" by Melisand March had an era-appropriate (1989) metallic-embossed cover of a fanged and bloody face bursting out of a glass and steel building. I grabbed it because I do so love a modern haunting and was in the mood for some 80s horror.
It was very well-written - complex, with deep characterisation. Obviously her first book but the writing of it sprang from a series of coincidences and a natural passion for buildings which demanded the story be recorded.
She's disappeared from the world of writing (and perhaps the world in general)...but the buildings were real. Here's the site itself - where terrible things occur - 277 Park Avenue, New York City.

Too much for Italy...

...which has banned the new print ad for Tom Ford eyewear. My only argument is its lack of subtlety - which may be what TF was going for...

das leben der anderen

...the lives of others.
Currently reading 'Stasiland', written by an Australian journo who spoke to East German people about what the everyday was like - afterwards. No longer having an informer for every 6 people. No longer being watched. How would you get used to that?

the jefferson institute

Freaked me out as a kid, and still provides a good chill. Wonderfully feline Genevieve Bujold tracks comatose patients to the concrete-stark Jefferson Institute, where they're being stored with an elegant pulley system and then harvested...

seventh tree

Such a beautiful new album from Goldfrapp. Prancing clowns, a taste of The Wicker Man, softer than the last two albums yet no less sharp. Deepens and improves with each spin.