Private Collection: Teen Angst Journals
Life before blogging with five years of journals, dug up and explored.

What I (w)could buy, if I won
Real estate, art auctions and gadget drool, using "The Secret" method of winning.

Looking Back
Late 90s into the early 00s, lookbooks worth speaking about.

Tipping Point: Alexander Wang
Will 2010 be the year that the designer secures his standing within fashion's elite?

The Family, Richard Avedon.
The uncompromising austerity of the plain white background leaves no room to hide.

Invitations Only, Fashion Shows
Arc brings you these show invites from the early 2000s

Netflix Instants: Arc's Picks
Watching without a disc has become increasingly easier, and better. Watch these now.

Fashionable Anagram: Balmain
The creative chaos of a sole visionary is stolen and transformed into a global fashion brand.

Mark Tansey, Push/Pull 2003.

On May 11th, 2010, works from the collection of Michael Crichton will go up for auction at Christie’s in New York. Who knew? The writer of such classics like Jurassic Park and The Lost World had also been a devoted art collector since the early 70s. Among some of the 31 lots are works by Jasper Johns, Pablo Picasso, Anges Martin, and Roy Lichenstein. He was also into the more contemporary artists like Jeff Koons and Richard Prince. He was known for his desire to understand the artist and felt that in some way he was connecting with the struggles of the artist through the purchasing of their work. His own talent was one of quiet seclusion and introspection, so it should come as no surprise that after great success Crichton would enrich his surroundings. But it still does. You never know about those Hollywood types.

Two years after his death, all the works are quite valuable. There are two $7.5m Picasso’s and a $15m Jasper Johns Flag. Should be an interesting auction, and just two years after…

Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum.

I received an e-mail recently from an Austrian artist friend, Kasper Kovitz. He’s been spending some time in Spain and was sending his hellos from Bilbao, where that not-so-good collection is displayed inside the Frank Gehry Guggenheim. He was thinking of the city’s expansion since that molded metal masterpiece of architectural invention was completed. He was telling me that the urban planning of the town was right up there with cities of the Persian Gulf like Abu Dhabi and Dubai. “It’s an interesting city, between beautiful and gritty and obviously very successful at reinventing itself through signature buildings,” he explained. It’s interesting how significant architectural feats can unite and alter a city and at the same time separate it from its own cultural history and still be widely acceptable. It feels like we’re living in a time where new architecture has no connection to a culture or time period. The most extreme visions, ie. Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim in Bilbao, of the future are planted and rooted into a city richer and older than any Los Angeles intersection could ever imagine. Somehow the building is allowed to grow and while it may never blend aesthetically, it does find a way to become accepted by the people who live and work around it, even if they hate it at first. I can only imagine what people will think about our culture hundreds of years from now. Were we the culture that simply experimented and tinkered with history, turning cities upside-down, essentially making anything and everything acceptable?