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Monday 24 September 2012

Please hang up and try again


I have a street style blog and as a rule I don't interrupt people who are talking on their cell phones or texting or browsing other interactive devices to ask them for a photograph, which limits my style pool considerably - tech devices are everywhere. The other day on the "up" escalator at a high-end fashion retailer I was almost squished by a man who momentarily lost his balance while he was navigating a riveting website on his full-sized laptop perched on the sliding rubber handrail. I think he expected me to apologize to him for messing up his keystroke rhythm as he fell back onto me.

You can imagine how thrilled I was when O showed me this wonderful item he found at an online store specializing in ergonomic design.

It's a portable laptop stand. My favourite feature is the hood which fully conceals your head, but I think perhaps the manufacturer should consider adding wheels to the device and mounting a webcam on the front so that while you are wheeling down the street, walker-fashion, you don't have to interact with the environment AT ALL! Simply, you will see the street ahead of you on your laptop. Imagine the convenience - no more annoying sidewalk chats, no more online seconds wasted, no more irksome sunshine!

When I go out on my daily inspiration walks I see potential buyers everywhere. If I didn't already have a profession, I bet I could make a bazillion bucks selling this revised product. I'd call it the Pro-tech Walker (I should trademark that name). Do you know anyone who could use this miracle device?

In fact, the product, as is, is designed for photographers who shoot digitally on location and other such professionals, which sounds very useful. I just needed a good rant and this product was easy pickings.

Finally, here's a peek at what I wore today. It's not a proper outfit photo because I'm a supremely tired of me, me, me. Just seeing me in a photo makes me nauseous. And I've been doing my spring cleaning...


Details: vintage haori; up-cycled thrifted nightie four sizes too big, worn inside-out with lace trim removed; thrifted flare girdle yoga pants (aaaaa!!); boots, retail; fingerless gloves, Canadian Tire automotive store bought with fingers on; thrifted wool indigo beret, and; magic voodoo pendant (everything O gives me is magic).


This week should get better. Things are getting sorted out. I hope you are all partying at Patti's Visible Monday. I'm just plain too tired to join today, but I most certainly will stop by to check out the goings-on. Do you ever get sick of seeing yourself in photographs?


29 comments:

  1. Tired? You still manage to look utterly inspiring and fabulous! I want to see that voodoo pendant up close and personal!
    Don't even get me started on people's attachment to technology, my biggest bug bear is seeing a band and half the audience is standing in front of me filming the gig on their phones.
    Hope you feel more energetic soon. xxx

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  2. I loathe the amount of technology and the lack of personal interaction...but then I sound like a Luddite and an old lady.

    Yes! I get tired of seeing pictures of me, which is why I photograph my cat.

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  3. You are SO awesome! I love a good rant, and this is certainly a prime peeve of mine! I suspect I could sell a few of those devices too....
    Now, shame you are tired,darling, but you still seem to have some sparkle for us, and I'm grateful!
    I don't particularly get tired of myself in pix, but I do reguarly get tired of myself in general, especially when I'm acting like a total peri menopausal DORK!!! Hahahaaaaaaaa!
    XXXXXXXXXXX

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  4. I love the art in everyone of your outfit posts, and I think myself lucky to have you in my life.
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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  5. Yes!!! I do get sick of seeing myself in photographs. As a matter of fact, I don't even like having my picture, now all of a sudden since I've started blog I take pictures weekly. What's up with that?
    Anyway, you look great Melanie and should never tire of seeing yourself. I always look forward to seeing what you've come up with, so keep taking pics.

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  6. I am often utterly bored with myself - in pictures and in life!

    Now about you... I hear your rant and I raise you a 'Yes AND PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY WHILE YOU ARE DRIVING, YOU MORONS!'.

    I think you look utterly splendid - magical? Sure! Hope you are less tired and more inspired soon.

    Sarah xxx

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  7. This is so funny that you mentioned being sick of our own photo. I'm right there now. I don't know if I'll ever feel the inspiration to post again. I'm totally bored with it for myself right now. I still enjoy reading other style blogs, but for myself I'm bored to death taking my own photo. There's so many things to get interested in and I suppose my passion has migrated for now.

    I love the idea for this laptop accessory. Wouldn't it be nice if they could also come up with something like this which also displays traffic and/or the road ahead so we can keep ourselves plugged in even while we're driving?

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  8. It must be something in the air, because I have become supremely tired of seeing my own photos on my blog, although apparently other people haven't which is a good thing for me. "YES!!!!" to the portable tech rant - on the campus where I work, everyone is walking and texting, or walking and talking on their phone, and some days I have to fight the urge to trip them or push them into traffic. I love that photo of you sitting on the floor!

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  9. I love how you turned a rant into a hilarious product placement!

    Yes, I am a bit weary of my own countenance. I was thinking of using your face on my blog for a while? Or maybe Trudie Styler (love her style too). Maybe we should have "Masked Monday" for a bit of a change-up?

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  10. More photos of you!! Your readers demand it.

    Love the black and white palate. Very Parisian.

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  11. Well. I just think the Kiss of the Drunken Spiderwoman drained the energy right out of you...for now. All that excitement, clamor, glamor, and the paparazzi - no wonder you're feeling photo-shy. Nevertheless, you look superb (as you just can't help it) lounging about in your b&w artiste ensemble. Carry on.

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  12. So funny -- I love your little cartoon at the top of the post. And since I know precisely the escalator you mean, I have a really clear image of that fellow riding it, completely absorbed in his laptop screen (couldn't help thinking of my daughter, at about 3 or 4, getting her boot chewed because she got to close to the escalator's stair edge -- it's nasty of me to think it would be funny if that guy's expensive shoe got chomped, right?)
    And yes, I relate to the narcissism ennui . . .

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  13. Oh quite the opposite. I'm the photographer in my family and there are hardly any photos of ME! Do I even exist? I leave a trail of crumbs behind. That being said, Melanie, you,look so chic in these photos that it gives me inspiration to turn the camera on myself. A Japanese night gown. I WANT one of those!
    Connie*

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  14. Don't you dare stop taking photos of yourself! (Ooh, I'm bossy!) You may be tired of your own image, but your readers are not. I know what you mean though, sometimes, I think all my photos are pretty much of a muchness and a bit dull. Still inflicting them on the public though!
    Love the outfit, and totally relate to your rant. Disconnect occasionally, people!
    PS. I went to a 40th birthday party of a friend's husband, who surprised him by singing to him. As she sang her beautiful, loving song, from her heart, he held his phone up in front of her face to film it. Talk about missing the moment... xxxx

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  15. Why do you say you are sick of yourself? you are beautiful and so stylish! come on Mélanie!
    I never get sick of myself i think i am beautiful, ha!ha!ha! i am so full of myself;)

    Ariane xxxxx

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  16. I'm feeling a bit like you and Joni at the moment. I continue blogging because I'm still working on my style and I feel like I'm using it as more of an outfit journal for myself. I do love looking at other blogs for inspiration though.
    A nightgown! You're so creative! I love it and it looks great. I have a big oversized white shirt I didn't know what to do with and was considering re-donating....now I might have to rethink that.

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  17. Yup. Seems downright (am I allowed say this?) masturbatory. But the crazy thing is, WE don't have to look at YOU ad nauseum, so it's relief to see your fabulousness when we're sick of our own narcissism. Your outfit really is extraordinary and I want to wear it verbatim today. Please don't stop posting outfits; I need my fix.

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  18. Oh yeah, that hooded thing is hilarious. Now that I'm working more from home, I try to escape when I can. I went to a coffee shop yesterday and almost everyone was absorbed in their laptop. No communication, no eye contact. Very sad, really. It's changing the world.

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  19. I think that sometimes our desire to capture the moment comprises our ability a bit to be in the moment. I still loving taking my picture and seeing how I look in my clothes but its the connection that it allows me to have with all of you that makes it really satisfying.

    I so enjoy your posts, your style and your rants:)
    XXOO
    Krista

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  20. Love the creativity and layering in this, would totally try going couple of sizes up - hope we can pull this off though... Don't even get us started on the technology issue, its just sad that people would rather bury themselves in that than human interaction. We can't get enough of you Melanie :)

    xx
    5th&6th

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  21. Such a funny post Melanie. You are very right. It has all gone a bit too far. Perhaps you should break your own rule and do interrupt to ask for a picture. At least for a little while it will bring people out of their trance. You also take brilliant photos when you don't feel like it. I love the one of you sitting on the floor. In a gorgeous outfit I must add. I can totally relate to you not wanting to be on the photo all the time. I feel the same way, which is why event photos are perfect opportunities to feature myself just once a week in not such a self-conscious way. My blog is definitely meant for others to enjoy and give them inspiration so I try to focus on them, but I think women still like it when they see me once a week in an outfit which is why I will stick with that. I certainly enjoy yours!

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  22. ooh technology, I love it, but not walking down the street using my phone. My pet hate is seeing people walking through the woods listening to music as the sounds of nature are too abhorrent to them. Anyway, I don't really get sick of seeing myself, perhaps because I'm very vain or just starting to enjoy my face for once in my life. You look great, the whole outfit is just so cool. Don't get sick of being in photos, we all like to see you even if you don't xxx

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  23. I blame the spring cleaning, which is enough to wilt even the most committed narcissist. It'll pass! Or I hope it will - I'm with TFB Megan as a demanding reader. Even if it doesn't, I'm okay with all of the queasy, floor-puddled / only a little dancing yoga pants outfits you can muster. (This is a yoga pants outfit? Spectacular! Awesome square-toed boots!!!)

    For a large proportion of the masses, it seems experience has lost its meaning unless filtered through technology, i.e. concert-via-cellphone-cam, drifting away from in-person conversation to attend to texting-conversation, all of which I find even more irritating than pictures of myself.

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  24. Oh!!! This is totaly cool!!
    Really love this look! You look like a cartoon character :)

    The hat is just great!!!!

    Ben

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  25. I love that top photo pose and I love how much fun you have with your wardrobe. It is a joy to visit your blog and see your latest fashion spreads. Keep having fun . . . life is too short for anything else. Connie :)

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  26. Melanie your post made me laugh...I thought i was the only one who got to the point of nausea with seeing photos of myself! Even the searching through to find a good one is too time consuming...I do so tire of me as subject matter! But I am always so happy to see you my dear!

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  27. I don't ever get sick of seeing you in photos. Or of reading your writing. Even the description of your outfit, some of which I can't even comprehend, is riveting. Have become obsessed with finding a nightie to wear inside out. Thanks, Melanie!

    Seriously, I think you should have photo-jacked the dude that couldn't be parted from his laptop for the length of an escalator ride. Or, uh, accidentally tripped him...

    I DO get tired of me in my own photos, and lately, of my own closet. But I think there is something I'm supposed to learn from taking outfit pics, and it's not just not to be so matchy-matchy. It does make me a little more accountable when I want to slide back into wearing Mom jeans and a sweatshirt to work. It also reminds me to get a hair cut.

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  28. Fingerless gloves. Well, aren't we Karl Lagerfeld. No, we are not. Because neither of us would never wear hats just because someone told us we looked silly when we were 8 years old. Sigh. Poor guy.

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  29. Ooooh don't be tired of you, you are zingy and bloody wonderful!xxxx

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