All this FMA must be bad for my brain.

I kind of dreamed that I wanted to wear this outfit - my new baggy green pleat flares, baggy shirt, blue fairtrade belt - as you do, you know? Outfit dreams aren't up there with hearing voices or anything. (Shirt and blouse are both from Anthro, so I'm not going to bother labelling anything.)

The thing is, I've been getting rather deeply involved in an online FMA roleplay. By FMA I mean Fullmetal Alchemist, and if you honestly aren't familiar with it, here's a wiki for you. It may or may not be harming my brain in subtle ways, especially if you consider that my main character is an Ishvalan man, and here I am - posing in front of the tennis courts, dressed like an Ishvalan man.

Don't believe me? Here's some Ishvalan garb for ya, in a couple of freeze-frames from the anime. See? That's what I look like.

It seems I'm taking the phrase "getting into character" to brand new heights, so help me Ishvala...

On the appropriateness of... stuff.

I fell behind with blogging my remix for three reasons, two of them very sad ones. Firstly, we were mega-busy, one house-guest replacing the other, so even though I found the time to take pictures, editing and blogging them was another matter. That's kind of a pleasant problem, really, when you're having too much fun to want to waste any time in front of the computer.

But then, I suddenly got a text from a friend. There had been a bomb outside one of the government buildings in Oslo, did I know if all my friends there were okay? Suddenly, Facebook was my favourite website in the world, because it let me know instantly that almost all my friends were safe. Almost. One guy, I had to wait several hours to hear from. I almost wept with relief when I saw he was okay.

There was a second tragedy in Oslo that day, an even bigger one - the same psycho who set the car-bomb got away, went to the Norwegian labour party's summer camp on an island outside of Oslo, and opened fire on the teenagers there. Over seventy kids and tour leaders were murdered. The youngest boy was fourteen. There are not enough tears in the world.

The psycho has long since been caught. He calmly informed police that he's trying to start World War III, because he thinks Norway has been "occupied" by non-white immigrants, and that we will all thank him in sixty years' time. I've always been proud that Norway doesn't have the death penalty. Now, I'm not so sure.

But, the psycho aside. There has been more psychotic activity, this time in London. Rioters have ripped this city apart - allegedly out of anger for a man who was shot dead by police, but that was quickly revealed as a lame excuse. What they are doing here is using a person's death to start riots in order to rob shops that sell things like computers, TV's, phones and video-games. Days of riots and robbery, all across the capital. Days of fearing for the safety of loved ones who live in or near the riot zones.

So, in the light of all this evil and mayhem, I felt it would be a bit... inappropriate, really, blogging about clothes and shoes. I finally pulled myself together and uploaded the last of my remix pictures in one long stream because well, I started it, so I might as well finish. Ironically, having such a long break from blogging has made me realise what I want this blog to be about. Comics and clothes, baby. Yeah.

Sorry about this wall of depressing text. Even looking for pictures from the riots, or from the ruins of the Norwegian govenrment building, or the piles of flowers and letters for the dead teenagers to paste in here, feels wrong. One girl was quoted in the Norwegian press saying, "I hope I will never again have to choose between the funerals of my friends." Those words clutch at my heart like desperate hands.

Done, at last!

Beholdens, the last of my 30 for 30 outfits! A little late to the party, but what the hey, better late than never.

This is another outfit I like that I owe entirely to the remix - would not have thought of pairing this dress up with purple stuff otherwise.

I especially like how my necklace ties the whole blue and purple thing together. I paid £2.50 for it on Portobello road, which equates to what, four dollars? Not bad, right?

Whew! Glad that's over and done with for now!

Does this count...?

Does it count as recycling if a) essentially the same outfit, only b) not the same pair of black pants? I basically wore this at the end of my last remix - well, with a wider belt, actually - but it's an outfit I happen to like.

The pictures aren't exactly good, and the location isn't exactly exciting. What can I say, I think my energy was just running out a bit at the end of this remix.

Only one outfit left now. Ironically, I still have ideas for even more outfits I could have made out of all these clothes...

Sort of a Grechian vibe...

That's what I was going for with this outfit - except I couldn't find my brown leather sandals for some reason. But still, with my bun, my white dress and my silver bracelet, I felt sufficiently Grecian to go to the British Museum with my mum.

In the bathrooms there, they have those fan heaters that you put your hands into, and then you watch your skin move around as it blows your hands dry. It never occurred to me to take my bracelet off, but it turned out the thing isn't solid silver after all, only brass coated with silver. And so the bracelet overheated and burned my arm!

It was just a little burn, mind - I yanked my arm out pretty quickly when I felt the bracelet heat up. But yeah, I am officially the most accident-prone person ever...

Pastels and patterns

When I was about seven years old, combining purple and pink was the most exciting thing ever. Obviously things have changed since then, but I still got a little excited about wearing this:

It's just a shame I could barely get any decent pictures - after three days of being photographed by my man, I was all rusty on my good all "press-the-shutter-and-run" technique.

But you get the gist. Pastels and patterns, oh my! If I didn't induce migraines, I'm sure I was responsible for at least one nosebleed - not too shabby, I think.

Radness

Photos snapped on the way to meeting friends in Shoreditch. Same skirt two days in a row, le shock!

But anyway. This map. Radness incarnate. I want to break this graffiti down from the wall and take it home.

I suppose it's kind of topical, too - the England is always bossing poor Ireland around, isn't it?

Up the garden path...

This is my favourite location for pictures. And it may be my favourite outfit from the whole remix, too.  

It's nice to be happy with my photos for a change! The husband didn't do so badly this time, and I'm definitely recycling this outfit later.

Yellow and blue, I used to hate seeing those colours together, let alone wearing them, and now they're my favourite combination. Hence I grin like a lunatic every time I wear them...

"Do I look fat in this?"

I think the answer, here, is a resounding yes.

However, I wore this, and I will damn well blog it, because I'm only human (duh!) and what I wear is hit-and-miss. Especially when photos are taken from above by my bored husband, as if to teach me a lesson.

The irony is that I felt pretty good about this outfit while I was wearing it. Maybe it would've been better if I wore the top the other way (the proper way) around? Oh well.

I so stole this outfit from a dude!

It's a sad fact, but it might just be true. And yes, I'm wearing a skirt, but allow me to explain.

For years, I've been obsessing over finding the uncut version of a favourite childhood movie. Unless you're Russian, Romanian, or, weirdly, Norwegian you may not have heard of the masterpiece that is Rock'n'Roll Wolf.  It's a retelling of the fairytale about the wolf and the goats, with more singing and dancing.

The version they showed on Norwegian TV was heavily cut and re-edited, and I always wondered what was really supposed to happen. But thanks to Polina spending an hour on youtube with me, I've now watched the whole thing in sequence.

So anyway, last Friday I wore this outfit, and felt a bit like, "I've seen this look before somewhere." The grey tights, the animal pattern, the bright orange top... And then I realised - I stole it from one of the Grey Wolf's cronies - this guy, to be exact!

Here is a video, so the outfit can be admired in its full man-tights wearing glory. The lynx is on the far right-hand side, being astonished at the scale of Little Bad Wolf's brain damage. And ironically, this is one of my favourite outfits from the whole remix! As Crash from Crash And The Boys said: I am so sad, so very, very sad.

Dear Valentin Manokhin, I'm so sorry I stole your lynx outfit! Please feel free to come to London and tap-dance on my head as punishment!

So I met Grant Morrison yesterday...

And it was so. Damn. Awesome! I've been a huge fan of The Invisibles since I was a snotty teenager, so when I heard he was doing a signing at Forbidden Planet, I knew I had to go. The queue almost snaked around the back of the building, but I still stood there, for over two hours, weighed down by my bag containing all seven Invisibles volumes, a bottle of water and a banana.

Time was when the staff at Forbidden Planet were nice and friendly people, but times have obviously changed. They kept shouting at us as we queued that you were only allowed to have three items signed, and "one of them should ideally be Supergods" - no joke, that's an actual quote. Supergods is his new book, and it's a massive £20 hardback, so obviously that wasn't going to happen. 

Once it was my turn, I pretended I only wanted one book signed, but after chatting to Grant a bit (and he is the loveliest, most genuine person I have ever met), I asked him if he'd sign them all, and said it would mean so much to me if he could. "Of course," he said, "Just dig 'em out!" One of the queue trolls jumped in and started barking at me  - did I have any idea how long the queue was, and no, I couldn't possibly have more than four items signed. And then I turned to him, gave him my coldest stare and said, "I think that's for Mr. Morrison to decide, don't you?" 

To which Grant Morrison went, "Oooh!" in a rather approving sort of way. And then he said, "I will sign them all - because it's you, Gwen." And sign them he did, and we chatted some more, and it was just the most amazing thing ever. And I am one happy, happy bunny. 

Pared-down

Today was another studio day, and I was kind of worn out after yesterday's adventures (more on that later). So this was kind of a pared-down, easygoing sort of outfit for a low-energy sort of day.

Anyway, I saw the cutest thing in the world today. Spartacus, the studio cat, now knows me well enough that he comes running for a cuddle when he hears my voice - but today, he had something in his mouth.
It was a moth he'd caught, and it was dead - or so I thought. While I stroked him, he lay down and spat the thing out - and to my surprise, the moth stealthily tried to crawl away.

And Sparty stretched out one paw lazily, gently cupping his claws around the moth. Being petted while playing with his prey - he was in cat heaven. He ate the moth afterwards, too. Waste not, want not, right? The look on his face was wonderful - like a human who'd just baked the most successful pie of their life.  

Sweedish Flag

That's what I felt like when I wore this outfit. The frilly bits in the front also give me an idea of what it's like to be a man with a hairy chest.

It's sad when you're happy about the drop in temperature because that will let you wear a certain shirt - a shirt that's been on the 30-for-30 backburner, and that you've been fretting you wouldn't get to wear at all. Total pathetic sadness.

But now I've worn this outfit, the weather officially has my permission to get better. You hear that, clouds? Y'all can go on and part for me now!

Catalogical

I'll admit it straight up - I stole this outfit from the Anthro catalogue, via the Anthro sale. Well, I have different sandals, my belt is brown and my bag is a freebie from the studio in Stokie that smells slightly strange. But still, it's hardly original, is it.

Oh well, I can still live with myself, because I think this outfit looks pretty okay on me. (Also, it saves me tagging the items, yay!) Next time, I'll wear it with my hair down, but it was unbelievably hot, hence the possibly unflattering bun.

I wore this to visit two very lovely elderly gentlemen, who are brothers. The idea was that they'd be able to see me coming from a mile away - as I explained beforehand; "I will be wearing the pinkest skirt you have seen in your life." See, the skirt has practical applications!

Also dropping a curtsey is fun in a skirt like this. It makes me feel a bit like a Disney princess. I love the way it swirls around my legs when I walk, or when I <cough, cough> spin around in the hallway to make it billow. Until I get dizzy.

Green & Blue

Doesn't that sound like a brand of chocolate? Or is it just me being hungry and PMS'ing? Anyways, I reached the point in my remix when I looked at my closet in the morning and went, "I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!" ...this was because I'd have to iron any of the skirts that weren't already in the wash before I could wear them. But then I remembered the Target dress.

I'd got used to thinking of this dress as a very bare canvas that would need to be prettified with coloured tights and lots of bling. But it turns out this thing looks pretty okay as a pared-down everyday-wear kind of dress.

As for the blue and turquoise thing, I added every accessory I could think of. Headscarf, earrings, necklace, ring... I even tried wearing my blue plimsolls with it, but maaan did that not look good. So brown sandals it was. Just as well I didn't have a can of blue spray paint stashed away somewhere, or who knows what I might have done.

Two days, one skirt

So I randomly wound up living in my brown skirt all weekend. I guess that's what remixing's all about, sniffing things and deciding they're clean enough to wear one more time before they go in the laundry basket. 

Outfit number one turned out to randomly match the building we live in, so of course I had to have my pictures take with it in the background. 

My hubby took these outfit pictures, while complaining about how much he hates taking my outfit pictures. Hence the total lack of a smile on my face. 

I wasn't as happy with my Sunday outfit, simply because it was too warm to wear the pink tights I'd been planning for it - so it looks kind of neither here nor there. 

That weird glow on my chest didn't help either. Oh well, at least I wore a cute belt with it...

Sigh

 Again, here was an outfit that got stuck inside our camera. It will go up. Someday. Hopefully someday soon. In the meantime: GRRR.

Colour-coded

As a kid and throughout my teens, I was always told that there were colours I couldn't wear because I was "too pale". What can I say - I grew up iron-deficient in the wettest, greyest little town in Norway. I'm not even sure I can tan. But yeah, colours like yellow, navy blue, salmon pink, coral and turquoise were all off the menu. And those are all colours I love, by the way.

Then I met my husband, who kept saying, in a sort of envious, put-upon way - "Well, of course you can wear that - you can get away with it!" no matter what colour I tried on. And then I realised that actually, while flourescent banana yellow won't do me any favours (except if I really, really need a fake sick note from the doctor), dark and mustard yellows actually look okay on me.

Same with navy blue, and all the rest. Somehow, they bring out my pale colouring in a really favourable way. So now I'm taking part in the Dress Your Best Week that academichic are hosting, and one of the things I'm celebrating about the way I look is my pale skin and general pale colouring. (And my mad, rabid gaze, apparently! ;-P )

This outfit is my favourite out of all my remix outfits so far, by the way. It would be totally work-appropriate if I just added my little black kitten-heels and a pair of tights. I'm also wearing my floral Anthro top backwards today - can you even tell? Ah, but will I wear it inside-out next? Hmm maybe, maybe not...

Blueberry juice

My husband picked this dress out. He saw it in the store and went, "Whoa, that's really nice!" and that was my main reason for getting it when it went on sale. Six months later. Because I remember these things. I'm sad like that. 

Thing is, I never really made friends with this dress, because I felt blocky and clunky in it. That's why I included it in my remix - to get to know it a little better. Adding the short jacket helps outline my waist (I think). And the great thing about an eggshell white dress is that you can pair it with just about any colour and it will look okay.  

I realised something when I was eating my lunch today, and feeling smug about how healthy is all was - a wholemeal salad warp with a bottle of blueberry juice - I matched the juice. Yes, I colour-coordinate with my food now. Because nutrition is important.

Infestation

I wanted to mix things up today and take my picture on the stairs - but that would've meant disturbing this little guy while he was having his lunch...

In other news, we have moths. Which is only sligthly less yucky than having syphilis. So the three little closets that the hubby and I share (1.5 closets each, eh?) will have to be sprayed to within an inch of their life, and hopefully that will kill the moths before they can eat all our clothes.

Doing the 30 for 30 right now has turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise, since I already had a set, uh, set of clothes to wear. Everything else, with a couple of exceptions (track pants, PJ's, all that jazz) has now been packed away in those little underbed storage things. And holy crap, does my half of the closet(s) look empty now!

But weirdly, the emptiness is kind of liberating, because I can see everything at a glance... And I'm just going to leave the rest of my clothes in those storage bags for now, until the damn moths are gone and the 30 for 30 is over. Here's hoping I won't desperately need that raincoat...