Boredom Combat: Summer Calendar Edition!

Without much further ado, kids... SUMMER'S FINALLY HERE!
The freedom is wonderful-- but at the same time, very pressing. With all that spare time, boredom creeps in much more easily. How to beat it? Never fear, Boredom Combat is here!

JUNE
14: The NYC Food Film Festival hits Long Island for the second year. Don't be afraid that the movie will make you hungry-- you'll be able to eat whatever's onscreen after the viewings! Come early for a cheesesteak party! (New York, NY)
15: The Fourth Annual Renegade Craft Fair sweeps New York for one more day at McCarren Park! Get rare shit from over 200 vendors, free food, and hear some sweet DJ action. (Brooklyn, NY)
21: The Coney Island Mermaid Parade is today! Watch King Neptune and the Queen Mermaid take over Coney Island, and stick around afterward for the ball, where there will be live performances, sideshow acts and burlesque from the hottest ladies in the east coast! (Brooklyn, NY)
23: Topshop Wants Your Rubbish! From here until the 29th, get active with Topshop's eco-fashion activities. Do it live in any store in London, Manchester, Dublin or Glasgow-- or go online. Click on the link above, and have fun!
28: Central Park is hosting a HUGE water fight at Sheep's Meadow, 65th & 65th, at 1pm! Spread the word, but don't really, because then, it's even better. Wish I could go... (New York, NY)

JULY
2: The Henley Royal Regatta starts today, giving you the chance to rub elbows with aristocrats and attend a tried-and-true event that's made global history. (Oxfordshire, England)
3: Highly-buzzed and critically-acclaimed dark comedy The Wackness hits New York and Los Angeles theaters today.
8: The Los Angeles Zoo stays up late tonight. Come for the tropical atmosphere, stay for the Latin/Jazz music. (Los Angeles, CA)
9: For those who miss the summer of love, don't miss a free performance of the classic hippie musical Hair! at the Theory flagship store at the corner of Greenwich and Gansevoort. (New York, NY)
11: Journey to the Center of the Earth comes out... in 3D! Come on kids, do you have anything better to do?
12: Missbehave hosts another fab party! This time, come down to Union Pool and watch Nina Sky, Queen Majesty and Radio Rose, not to mention get cheap beer, free tacos and some Nikita swag. (Brooklyn, NY)
17: FIB (Festival Interacional de Benicassim) begins! Get that weekend in Madrid started out right! Prepare to catch musical vets like Siouxsie Sioux, Morrissey, Spiritualized, and at long last, the triumphant return of My Bloody Valentine. (Madrid, Spain)
18: The Dark Knight finally flies into theaters! Come to the midnight show and dress up, and don't forget to have fun!
19: The Pitchfork Music Festival rolls into its second day. From here to the 20th, bands like Animal Collective, Jarvis Cocker, !!!, Spiritualized, Bon Iver and El Guincho will play. (Chicago, IL)
22: The Los Angeles Zoo stays up late again! This time, check out World Music Night. (Los Angeles, CA)
25: D-Fest begins, and it's bigger than last year! Come here to see acts like The Roots, The Disco Biscuits, Phantom Planet, Apples in Stereo and a cavalcade of celebrated local acts like Callupsie and Here is There. (Tulsa, OK)
26: Studio B hosts the Desilicious Bollyburg Bash! Prepare for Bollywood to invade Williamsburg. Ashu, DJ Bobby and DJ Ipek will spin. (Brooklyn, NY)

AUGUST
1: Lollapalooza begins! Catch a performance from some favorites of mine like Mark Ronson, Gogol Bordello, CSS, Spank Rock, The Kills, Black Lips, Uffie and many, many more! I'll be at home, jealous. (Chicago, IL)
8: Pineapple Express, Judd Apatow's latest opus, stumbles onto the big screen! Hurrah hooray!
29: Towelhead, Alan Ball (writer of American Beauty, Six Feet Under)'s directorial debut, comes out in theaters. This is one I'm very excited for.

More to come soon, perhaps!

Sincerest Imitation: Liela Moss's gloves

Liela Moss of my favorite band, The Duke Spirit, just always looks cool. You can't really say otherwise-- especially not this year. Since before their Neptune tour, Moss has gained a lot of fashion courage, and people have noticed, namely The New York Post, who did a story on her style.

"I love Kiki de Montparnasse (for their gloves, not the cock rings)," Moss insisted in the brief-- and of course I, as a devout lingerie aficionado, felt compelled to research said gloves.

Chick's got taste-- these babies are badass. Here's the foxy pair I can most likely picture Liela sporting:

Kiki de Montparnasse driving gloves are a steep $275, but if it doesn't change your interest, you can hit them up right here.

Read the Post article and get more Duke Spirit fun here.

Novelty Treasures!

I was reading the Missbehave blog and came across this badass pepper spray ring.

Originally put up as an essential for a booty bag, this ring not only protects you with a shot of mace-- it looks fly as hell, too. It's functional with a trigger and safety and looks hot. Could help you get a man and help you protect yourself if he's bad news. I wants one!

Pick it up here for $29.95!

Reflections: Gossip Girl, Season One

Oh, Josh Schwartz. It's been a helluva season. Totally sucks it's over now and we'll have to wait out the summer for more goodness, but you know, it was a good one. Without the dramatic tension that made The OC so damn laughable, and certainly so easily parodied, it's been well-established that Gossip Girl can hold its own without the constant stoicism and brooding glances. And it was about damn time, I like you better this way, Schwartzy (mind if I call you Schwartzy?)!
Anyway, enough about how much I love this show and how easily it turns the most mature women into screaming girls. It's time for some reflections.

The whole Georgina thing went out hella fast. I thought there'd be some insane buildup or something-- I like what happened, but it ended so abruptly, and of course the audience got what they wanted, so a lot of the advertised focus was thrown out in the first half-hour. Something felt kind of missing there.
I really like Blair and Chuck, but I'd miss the bad Chuck too much. Good for him that he went for that decorator chick who looked like Lydia Hearst (come to think of it, was it?). Damn, he's hot, too. I didn't think that for awhile. I'd fall for that upfront seduction.
This certainly wasn't a season finale I hated at all. I love how they try to play up the drama, but never too intensely. As much as skeptics would deny it, this show is incredibly classy (doubting me? Compare it to its supposedly more sophisticated counterpart Sex and the City, latent with cheesy dialogue and comparisons of good relationships to Manolo Blahniks), and in its own way, runs like real life. All the shit on the show happens in the real world, even the whole never-getting-carded-in-clubs thing. But Gossip Girl sure as hell doesn't make a big deal out of their, well, big deals. Blair's pregnancy scare lasted like a quarter of an episode, you know? It just kinda flows. I love that.

But, this season put aside, here are some small predictions for the fall return of Gossip Girl:

• The Lily/Rufus thing won't end easily, I don't think, even if they say so. They seem to have that whole eternal-lovers things going on and I don't think Mr. Rockstar will get over his first love so easily. He'll probably get hella ass on that tour, too, which could maybe help him forget his dream girl.


• Chuck will return to his old self, but of course the feelings for Blair will remain. There'll be that whole sexual conflict allll over again.


• Speaking of deja vu, chemistry could very well reoccur between Nate and Serena...?


• Blah blah blah, conflict between Ms Waldorf and Jenny, blah blah, don't care, I hate Jenny anyway.


• Oh, and I hope they have an episode about voting come November! Kinda like how they had an SAT episode the week of the SATs, which was weird for me, considering I've never had something going on in a show going on for me at that very time. They so should have a voting episode.

Overall, it kinda seems like all the same stuff is going to happen again. But then again, Gossip Girl never fails to surprise.
I can't wait!

You'll hate me for doing this,

XOXO
Lolita Hazed

(Sorry! It was inevitable!)

Dahl by Alison Kelly for ALTER

If you're in the Brooklyn area this Thursday, don't hesitate hitting up the unveiling of my girl Alison Kelly (of Project Runway 3-- the cute Alice-in-Wonderland look-alike, pictured below)'s new line for Alter, a brand in Brooklyn.

ALTER
109 Franklin St (at Greenpoint Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11222
May 8, 2008 @ 7-10 PM

Open champagne bar! Meet Alison Kelly and see her bomb collection before everyone else gets to!

I don't know about you, but I would so go if I could. But, seeing as I'm not in New York, I cannot. Take advantage! Get some free bubbly! Rub elbows with my favorite Project Runway contestant ever!
It'll sure beat my Thursday plans.

Tough Love: Uffie "Robot Oeuf"

Feels like awhile since we've heard from Uffie, doesn't it? Her debut album with Ed Banger Records, rumored to drop this year, seems to be delayed further and further with each passing day. It also seems she's ditched her first music partner and seemingly eternal paramour Feadz for some guy named Andre.

In spite of chick's recent absence, Ed Rec 3 just hit the interweb, and with it, a new Uffie track titled "Robot Oeuf".

My thoughts? I don't know. I'm very apathetic towards it. It's repetitive as hell, and sort of lacks the quirky fun earlier tracks of hers had. It doesn't sound very Feadz-y at all, either-- Uffie is probably doing this on her own, and on her own she may be taking herself a bit too seriously. That's what it sounds like on this new song.

It's not the Uffie I fell in love with.

Uffie, you know I adore you! You kick ass. I been lovin' on you since late '06 and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. But really, where did the fun go? This is too... I don't know. It's too anorexic club-hopper for me. It doesn't feel right.

I'm only saying this because I care.

Y, Lolita Hazed

Hear it for yourself and make your own opinion:

Download: Uffie "Robot Oeuf"