Goals for 2012

First of all, I can't believe it's 2012.  And I can't believe it's been so long since I posted to my blog (only 3 posts total in 2011)!  I love how a new year feels like a reset button has been hit, and it's such a great time to make some small improvements.

One of my goals going into this new year is to post a new entry at least 3 times a week.  Some others are:

--to continue to redefine the style and offerings of Frost, and to list 5-7 new items a week
--to re-establish my fitness routine after my mandatory six-week postpartum rest (my second little boy Mikko was born on New Years' Eve)
--to get some new poetry written (it's been ages since I wrote a new poem) and keep submitting it to journals; my most recent work to be published was in the Winter 2012 edition of Amethyst Arsenic


So those are the things I'll be working on this year!  What goals do you have going into the new year?

"Dead Sound"

The first time I ever heard The Raveonettes was one summer at least 5 years ago (probably more like 7) when a local TV channel was using "That Great Love Sound" to promote some summer shows, and from there I bought every album they had out, and every time a new one came out, I bought it at my local record store. Each subsequent album has been deeper, darker, and more unique than the one before, and I find myself always in the mood to listen to The Raveonettes. I've been thrilled by both of their shows that I've had the pleasure of attending in Boston. It's hard to choose one favorite out of so many excellent songs, but one of them has been "Dead Sound" ever since Lust Lust Lust came out. This summer, late one night I was sitting in my apartment watching the video, and it just took hold of me in an incredible, unforeseen way. I hadn't written a poem for months. Part of being a mum and not having a lot of mental free time, I think. But that video, and the song played over and over till it was the landscape of my mind, inspired a poem I now love. Here's my Raveonettes-inspired poem (and I actually have one going inspired by "Black/White").


Dead Sound
Cyndle Plaisted Rials

Your ghost edges flicker into view
as you dance with jerky hip swings,
languorous neck rolls, side to side, all the way
around, curtain of dripping hair
whipping your cheekbone, drowned, the guitars
fuzzed and fading into backgrounds
of a dark moonlit ocean, sweet retro
harmony in a fast-moving car.

This dance is your last hurrah among the living,
your bluish hand twisting the knob
for more sound, vibrations that even your emptiness
might conduct. Your desperation is water-like
drifting in and out of your dark bones
as you flail with unstudied transparent grace.

Your face is white like the moon
even here in candlelight, and it's unclear
if you're been pulled under by accident
or in soft submission. Either way the rhythm of waves
took you, splashes of salt still cresting
your sharp cheek.

Tuesday Playlist: Dark Electro Brooding

(The perfect visual representation of this playlist)

I would love to share my playlists so you could listen to them right here, but since I've been finding so many great songs on RCRDLBL.com a lot of the things I'd like to include aren't available on playlist.com. I do know that most of these songs are findable on YouTube, so you can get a listen of them there!

This is one of my favorite playlists for late night creation marathons. It's dark and moody with some goth and shoegaze vibes: plenty of fuzzy guitars, the occasional synth, general gorgeous listlessness punctuated by desperate outbursts of emotion--enjoy!

Dark Electro Brooding Playlist

"Beat and the Pulse"--Austra
"Mild Confusion"--Tamaryn
"Little Kids"--Deerhunter
"Black/White"--The Raveonettes
"Public Pervert"--Interpol
"Rainbow Girl(Glasvegas Remake)"--Giana Factory
"Hidden Systems"--Bright Archer
"Roommates(Remix)"--Now, Now
"Advice & Vices"--Chelsea Wolfe
"Another Likely Story"--Au Revoir Simone
"Get Away"--120 Days
"Dry Ice"--Pure X
"A Time To Be So Small"--Interpol
"Leave"--Whirl
"Apparitions"--The Raveonettes

In Love With Fictional Characters

I know I'm a little late to the party, but thanks to my brother, I have become totally wrapped up in the Showtime series Dexter starring Michael C. Hall. My brother gave me the first season on DVD, the twelve episodes of which I finished in days and then quickly purchased the second season. The photo above is from the opening credits, which I ALWAYS watch, just to see this expression. Needless to say, I am fascinated, and it's all because of the title character. I can't help but be thrilled to see Dexter Morgan himself every time I watch a new episode. The story line is riveting and everything (seriously I can't stop watching it), but my brain is the brain of a poet; I have been known to spend a lot of time fixating, yearning, pining, and longing. It's my nature. I mean, if we didn't get hung up on things, what would we write about?

I had to take a break from Dexter since I only have one Season 2 episode left and the third season hasn't arrived in my mailbox yet, so I popped The Phantom of the Opera into the DVD player again, and that led me to muse on the subject of arresting male leads and the commonalities among the ones I adore. Certainly the Phantom and Dexter aren't the only fictional men that have struck my fancy--Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights springs to mind, and I'm sure there are many others.

Some or all of these factors are present in my ideal fictional man (and let's be real, my actual man as well): he's intense, brooding, and misunderstood; has a dark and mysterious past that has scarred him whether physically, emotionally, or both; he's villainous, but his nefarious deeds have parameters(of course he would never hurt the object of his affection--he might rough her up with some passionate love-making, but never injure her on purpose); he wears a mask in front of most, but the object of his affection eventually gets to see behind it, showing him that he is worthy of love . . . Add some rakish hair, a sullen brow, and a strong body, and there's the man to captivate me!

And it certainly isn't just me. The popularity of the Twilight series, of which I have not been a huge follower, is certainly due to the fact that in general, women seem to be intrinsically drawn to a mysterious, broken man with a core of hidden radiant goodness; you just have to be the One to open your eyes and see it.

Being that special woman, the One who can accept the man as he is when no one else has. . . that's central to the whole idea. I like to think it's separate from the trap of trying to change a man--in this case, you know the guy is damaged and you want him anyway (so badly)! Plus the whole package comes with a hefty weight of tension, and women like tension, do they not? It's emotional foreplay. It's intimacy and intensity with a deep river of romanticism running through it, and there's the core again, this time not just being the One, but feeling the one-ness with that lonely, lonely man. Yes, it's all quite melodramatic in truth. I have never shied away from over-romanticizing anything.

But being in love with a fictional character is just too difficult. I think a lot of people transfer those emotions to the actor, thinking that he must be that brooding, broken man, but I know the truth. It's worse than day-dreaming about an actor. Dexter is an illusion--just words on a page or a portrayal on film, and what could be more hopeless than that?

Poem

First an aerialist.

A woman so light
she looks like a dewy petal floating
down from the gathered rose of the big top.
Palest pink satin
and sequins. How sure they are
she’s going to
--but to think it would be to wish
it to happen. She swings and tucks, her grip
loosens from the bar

a man swings out in an arc
from the wings, from the dark
to catch her
in that heavy
breathless
pause

the long split-second where it seems sure
she’ll descend to the dusty floor, a crumpled
flower part. But he catches her. How is it
possible that he holds her so certainly?
Does he falter, inwardly, ever? We know
he does not falter. He is her very young
father. They swing and let go and somersault
in tandem
to the ground, movements reciprocal
as they bow. Rubes assume only
they are lovers as he palms
her lower back and they disappear
into shadows—no one does
anything to contradict their assumption.

New Felting!

Felted Neck Warmer--Antoinette Gold and Blue on Etsy

I was pretty productive this weekend with the felting! I made 4 new pieces and added some to another one I had already worked on. The four new pieces are all on the ide of the one above. Of course they never come out exactly the same, which is most of the fun! I had a ball making them, and I love how many ways they can be worn. If you don't know already, I really like to make pieces that are versatile/convertible! I'm thinking I may have to make myself one of these, and I hardly ever keep anything! Check out the other new handmade items just listed at Frost on Etsy!

I can't wait to buy some more felting supplies! They are the most fun to browse through on Etsy, all those gorgeous colors and textures and all the ways to combine them. . . heavenly! I'll probably wait for some more sales before I go drop a big chunk of change on new supplies--I still need to get a new flyer for my spinning wheel because my son broke my current one! :(

And yes, I am totally procrastinating on packing things to move. It really shouldn't take that much, because so much of our stuff is already in boxes, but it's just so not fun! Oh, well--better sooner than later, because my husband has to work this week, and I don't want to be doing it with just Sage! :)

Neglect

Wow, I have been an absentee blogger lately! I have been working on some new fall items though, after reading up on the Pantone picks for fall 2010! It's such an awesome resource for designing; I can't believe I didn't know about it till this spring!

So here's a new item that I really love:


Freeform Crochet Collar by Atelier Frost on Etsy

I did a new turquoise cotton one the other day--just haven't photographed it yet. It's been too sunny for my taste. I also have some lovely new colors in a pretty standard design of mine. I've also got some stuff rolling around my head for some convertible/layering garment pieces. We'll see how that goes.

I'm also collecting things and packing for the move! I am NOT looking forward to that, but luckily most things, besides supplies and clothing, are already in banana boxes for the sake of storage here. I acquired a wonderful vacuum, toaster oven, bed spread, bathroom stuff, and more today, which was great! It's going to be nice to have all that space!