It's all about the hair
England's football captain, David Beckham, unveiled his new hair style, a "Mohican", at 10 Downing Street, to the pleasant surprise of the Prime Minister and the British media, yesterday. Applause could be heard from fashionistas all around.

Who cares that he's fit to play in the World Cup? Hair is more important!

Diesel
Am I the only one who's disturbed by Donald Diesel, the denim brand's new mascot? Was there a concerted effort on the clothing company's part to make him as creepy as possible?

Lunch Vox with John Bartlett
The American designer discusses, inter alia, his alma mater (Harvard University), the gym, Colt models, NYC and, of course, fashion with the Chic Happens bitches of Hint Mag... très amusant.

Clones
I bought tix to see Attack of the Clones next Thursday evening.

Advanced ticket sales have been available for more than 2 weeks now, but only one Thursday session has been sold out. I guess Phantom Menace has made people v. apprehensive.

Gotta be certain...
Kylie broke up with her L'Oreal model boyf, James Gooding. I guess he wasn't worth it.

On not v. related news (although she and Kylie are now often compared), Holly Valance has debuted at no. 1 in the UK.

Quote of the week

People who eat white bread have no dreams.

Diana Vreeland (1906-1989). Legendary fashion editor for Harper's Bazaar.

Fashion crystal ball
Every fash mag and newspaper tries to do it. So, I thought I'ld summon my inner Diana Vreeland and give it a try as well - fashion predictions, that is.

Here is a lil' list of what I'ld think people would be seeing a lot of (apart from the usual suspects, such as denim and stripey shirts) in the forthcoming months in Sydney (and every other world city with wannabe fashionistas):

1. Corduroy. This versatile, "worker's" fabric is gonna be frayed, distressed, painted... you name it. It's gonna be the new denim. You heard it here first, so you know where to find me eating my words in 6 month's time.
   
2. Lace, tassles, beads, studs, ribbon and string. No, I'm not describing the equipment needed for a pleasurable S&M session, but a look which the girls (and some boys) will be running with. On tops, on bottoms, but particularly on the waist. Those chunky leather belts are gonna get a slight makeover...
   
3. Bum cleavage. Hip-huggers are gonna go lower, and that's just on the guys. Not just the domain of plumbers and construction workers any more. For the right effect, people will need to go commando (nothing is worse for a fashion clone than to have a pair of dowdy undies exposed). Soon, there'll be guys lining up for Brazilians!
   
4. Poor boy caps. On girls.
   
5. Peasants tops. They're everywhere. 'Nuff said.
   
6. Rainbows. No, it's not a new generation of queers bringing it on and in your face (although I wish it was), but girls with multi-coloured belts, scarves and jewellery.
   
7. Early 80's. Tight funky T's and flairs, for example. It had to come back sooner or later...
   
8. VPL. Tight hipster pants on guys going commando would mean a return of the "visible penis line".
   
9. "Ethnic" lounge wear. First, there was the gypsy look. Now, the fashion monster has re-exploited North African Arab wear, including *shudder* kaftans (hideous creations on normal people), tunics (Jedi knight tops to most people) and paisley prints (the trend from Prada that reminds most people of "grandpa's pajamas").

It's not me, but my misaligned mirrors
Eureka! I believe I have found the root cause of all my dissatisfaction (with every facet of my so-called life, including my inability to gain weight, due to my Roadrunner metabolism; my inability to save, etc... ) - bad feng shui.

The other week, Liz mentioned to me how she was reading a book on feng shui. In a bid to apply theory to practice, she discovered that her bedroom was spatially misaligned. So, in order to correct the cosmic error, she papered her mirrors (or something).

After giving me the basic do's and don'ts, I thought I'ld unleash this new-found (bare) knowledge on my own room. To my horror, I realised that my own bedroom was in complete cosmic chaos, as well. So, I moved everything around - my bed, chairs and desk...

Time will tell if this new arrangement will bring me better fortune... God, I'm bloody gullible!

Google
Google has a blog...

Reloaded

The first one is about birth; the second one is life; the third is death.

... the cryptic remark made by Keanu Reeves, in relation to the Matrix trilogy. There's a brief look (with photos) at the making of Matrix Reloaded in Time.

Filming of both sequels will wrap in Sydney in July. Part Three is called Matrix Revolutions.

The way we were...
Warning: Self-pitying navel-gazing ahead

It's 6 years since I left high school. I went to one of those all boys private schools*, with their faux English traditions, entrenched homophobia, illustrious history of famous WASP alumni and intense predilection with high achievement. Of course, if you weren't one of those brilliantly-minded scholars or talented (it's relative) sportsmen, there was an implied notion that something was wrong with you. I never went to a "normal" school, since I started out at its preparatory school when I was 6. Thus, I developed an incredibly distorted world view and a v. large inferiority complex, during those years.

Surely, those folks, who argue that a private school education is the best preparation one can give to a child for the real world, don't actually live in the real world. Personally, I'm still in the process of uncoiling 12 years of instituted repression.

Anyway, the reason for the reminiscing: I met a bunch of ol' school buddies for a barbie over the weekend - a small reunion of sorts. Even though almost all of us still live in Sydney, I hadn't seen most of the guys for 12 months or so. Ironically, it took Will from Brisbane to arrange for all of us to meet. Hopefully, our next get-together won't take so long...

PS In the class of 1996, the tally (to my knowledge) of openly gay "old boys" is 4 out of 178.

* I have refrained from mentioning the name of the school to avoid any potential future threats of legal action, taken against me. It has actually happened to a couple of old boys from my year!

Chicka-chicka bow-wow...
Have you ever thought that the background music in some blue videos was so much more interesting than the visuals? Well, Fluffertrax has a small collection of porn soundtracks (exclusively hetero, I'm afraid), where folks can download and listen to such music, without the distracting visuals and annoying sound effects.

Graduation
It doesn't seem like much, but it is so so sweet to see the words "Degree Status: Awarded" in my Graduation Details (on New South Student Online). It's the best news I have seen in a while (yes, my life is that boring...).

I can finally see the finish line now and I'm giddy with excitement!

PS. In relation to the Transnational Litigation mark, I friggin' got a Distinction (83)! Thank God for grade inflation in American tertiary education - I don't think an Australian professor would have been so lenient.

...Go round and round
How cute! The old nursery rhyme The Wheels On The Bus has been recorded by an artiste, called Mad Donna, to resemble the Willim Orbit produced Ray Of Light. What was originally produced as an internet joke, a couple of years ago, is currently rocketing up the UK pop charts.

According to TOTPs, the song has appeared on the compilation "Mother Goose Rocks", a collection of children songs done in pop style!

Mwahh mwahh*
In the grand tradition of former Neighbours stars, such as Kylie and Natalie Imbruglia, comes another actor willing to try it out in the music charts. Holly Valance (a.k.a Felicity "Flick" Scully) has produced a competent pop offering, titled Kiss Kiss. It's a reinterpretation of Tarkan's 1997 Euro-hit, Simarik (a sensational song for some hip-shaking).

Will Holly become the next Ms Minogue or will her musical foray go down in a flaming ball of crap (RIP the singing careers of Jason Donovan and Craig MacLachlan)? My bet is on the latter.

(* my onomatopeic interpretation of a kisses, darlings)