Best of the Best

"that was just a dream, good morning:
regurgitate the stars and the soot"
- Ana Bozicevic
A Kind of Headless Guilt Emerges

"He fell in love like a woman
in the folded arms
of a drying sweater"
- Mary Ruefle
Matthew Brady Arranging the Bodies

"I
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness"
- Allen Ginsberg
Howl

"The salt sparkles like an arctic church.
I have to blink against it all."
- Kiki Petrosino
Mustang Bagel

"A tin flask empties
itself from asking, the shadow's last chance
now wasted in some chandelier's dim lust."
- Greg Sellers
Shy Boy

Listen Up

With 48 studio albums, compilations and collaborations recorded to date, Brit music superstar Elvis Costello, released his twenty-ninth studio album National Ransom November 2. As his second collaboration with music mogul T-Bone Burnett, National is a seemingly disorganized blend of bluegrass, blues, Broadway and vaudeville, but is stitched together seamlessly with Costello's rich, witty and beautiful lyrics. Each evocative song is assigned an exact place and time ("A Drawing Room in Pimlico, London, 1919"), moving through the years and tying each song to the next. Permanently filed away in my Top 10, is "That's Not the Part of Him You're Leaving" and "You Hung the Moon," both of which capture heartache, beauty and juxebox grit. Thougha fantastic leap from his New Wave-y pop from years past, National is a striking album of heartbreak, hope, happiness and pure Costello.

I almost wish we were butterflies

I want to fill my room with a thousand cut paper butterflies

All That Glitters is Gold

I'm never one to wear much else than black, but I do appreciate a pop of color here and there. Typically, I prefer blues and reds, but something both the fashion world and I agree on at the moment is gold. Whether a swipe of eyeshadow, or a pair of nifty oxfords, gold is my new go-to pick for that certain "pop" my wardrobe desires.

Do You Dare?

Sexy. Striking. Bold. Brazen. I'm talkin' lipstick, red lipstick. Put on the modern map by French make up brand Guerlain's cleverly named "Ne m'oubliez pas" (Don't forget me) in 1870, the classic color has endured the decades of fashion ups and downs, always finding a way into the cosmetic cases of women everywhere. Reintroduced in the 50s by Revlon's Fire & Ice and then widely popularized by music/beauty icon Madonna in the mid-80s, red lipstick was given the gold seal of staying power. This season, I dare you to find your perfect shade (there are so many on the market) and swipe it on thick. Be daring. Make a statement. With your friend Red, you can never go wrong.

Tape Master

Hailing from Russia and working out of Philadelphia, Mark Khaisman utilizes his architecture design background to create unconvential tape "paintings." Using layers of brown packaging tape and diffused light, he constructs startling realistic portraits, scenes and still lifes. If I only had $33,540...