Richmond Fashion Week Flashback

Monumental Fashion Show from D.J.Granger on Vimeo.

This video was made for the 2010 Richmond Fashion Week finale show by DJ Granger of Silverdrop. A behind-the-scenes documentary of this year's Richmond Fashion Week team is currently in the works. The 2011 Red Carpet Fashion Film Premiere will be held at The Historic Byrd Theater on Arpil 8th. Premiere stars at 9:30pm. $10 cover. You can grab your tickets here!

I need these clothes from NEED Supply Co.

Being the responsible individual that I am I decided to plan out a fake budget based around the hourly wages I'm currently collecting, just to see if a little budgeting would allow me to be able to move out anytime in the near future. I used some pretty basic budgeting percentages from a random website that I can't remember. A basic budget breakdown can be found below:

30% Housing

10% Utilities and other housing expenditures (including renters insurance)
15% Food (at home and away)
10% Transportation (including car loan)
10% Debt repayment (student loans and credit cards)
10% Saving
5% Clothing
5% Entertainment
5% Car insurance and miscellaneous personal expenses

Yeah...Do you see the 5% allotted for clothing? 5%?! No, I can't handle that! I refuse. I have wishlists that need purchasing people!!! One of them being my wishlist at Need Supply Co. I'm currently accepting donations to the Mademoiselle RVA clothing fund =)

Oh yeah, if it wasn't obvious, all photos are from the NEED Supply website (except the first one of course)

Tree Village

This is kinda old but I love it! Dance Gavin Dance is an American post-hardcore band from Cali. If you haven't heard of Dance Gavin Dance and you're into experimental rock you should have a listen.


Dance Gavin Dance - Tree Village from McGVideoCore on Vimeo.

**Short Update! So any fan of DGD knows that they change band members faster than a baby changes diapers. While I thouroughly enjoyed Kurt Travis's clean vocals on the Hapiness album, I never get tired of Jonny Craig's amaaazing vocals and I'm excited to see him with the group again. That being said, the relsease date for their new album Downtown Battle Mountain Part II is March, 8, 2011. I'm going to go pre-order now!

Did You Know?

Richmond has an observatory deck. That's right? Surprising I know. Living here for 22 years I'd never heard of this secret place until about a year ago. If you want to see a view of RVA from on high, all you have to do is follow the yellow brick road until you reach City Hall. It doesn't look it but apparently it's the tallest building in the city. Once inside take the elevator up to the Obervatory Deck and ta-da! You'll experience Richmond as you never have before! I took the picture above from the obervatory deck for my previous local music playlist post. A little busy just now but I'll post up some clearer pics from the obervatory later.

The Last of the Leaves

So it's the last days of fall. The leaves are turning from vibrant hues of orange and yellow to muted tones of brownish muck. But there's still some color bringing life to the outdoors and I plan to soak up all I can get before Richmond is once again turned into a winter wonderland.

Outfit Details:

Black top from Forever 21

Gray trouser shorts from Urban Outfitters

Lace tights from Urban outfitters

Combat boots from DSW

Calling John Connor: Rise of the machines

Photo by A Journey Round My Skull

Just how advanced is our world? We've all seen movies like A.I. Artificial Intelligence and I Robot, depicting worlds in which advanced humanoid robots are created to do our biding. For decades pop culture has encouraged us to imagine a world in which robots can cook, clean, teach, and even fall in love with humans. Japanese pop culture in particular is filled with the imagery of friendly bots in countless anime shows and manga books. Yet, the idea of robotics has always remained a mad scientist's dream of future worlds.

Nevertheless, thanks to recent technological advancements, the world of robotics seems to be leaping straight out of manga books and into the real world. It seems artificial intelligence is not as far fetched an idea as some may think. A surprising number of humanoid robot models have emerged in recent years. While these novel technologies currently serve as little more than entertainment, in time they could prove to achieve a wide variety of tasks in our homes, battlefields, factories, and even space stations.

One of today's top innovations is Asimo, a robot created by Honda. Considered to be one of the world's leading robots, Asimo has the ability to run, walk, climb stairs, and respond to simple voice commands. In contrast, Actroid, developed by Osaka University and manufactured by Kokoro Company Ltd, is one of the world's most human like robots in appearance. The Actroid robot has the ability to create human expressions and moves with smoother gestures than some of it's competitors. (Check out the Youtube video for the Actroid-F telepresence robot. It's designed to mimic the movements of a human being through a webcam. It's intriguing to the point of creepiness when this robot model frowns, blinks, and smiles).

Photo by julialat3

Though realistically the time for truly efficient walking, talking, and reasoning humanoid robots has yet to come, robots are already vacuuming our carpets, heading into combat, and even assisting doctors in medical procedures. Darpa, a research and development office for the U.S. Department of Defense, is working on the development of a number of interesting (and somewhat alarming) new projects including exoskeleton robotic suits for soldiers, insect robot spies, advanced artificial intelligence, and super computers. This organization in conjunction with a number of others including the U.S. Institute of Health and the U.S. National Science Foundation, are also working to create "near human" robots that can independently perform a vast amount of tasks from conducting surgeries to harvesting food supplies.

 A real life C3PO model is currently being developed to match the human intellect. What's the plan? Begin by installing toddler-like intelligence, to be followed by a utilization of programmed learning abilities and human instruction to create a bot that can learn and be taught, just like a human. Merge Asimo's moving capabilities, the realistic look of the Actroid, and the intelligence of a C3PO model into one, and you'll have a walking, talking, free thinking robot within a matter of decades. However, it's most likely that any major implementations of robotics will primarily take place within our militaries before they hit the consumer market.

But perhaps one of the more alarming discoveries was found by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who have taught robots how to lie. Ronald Arkin and Alan Wagner at Georgia Tech were able to achieve this by essentially teaching a robot to play hide and seek. By forming a fake trail of knocked over markers for its robot counterpart to find, their robot was able to successfully fool its counterpart 75% of the time. Is it just me or does anyone else think teaching robots to lie could have possible apocalyptic implications?

Actroid

From a realistic viewpoint, it would be many years before humanoid robots or personal robots would ever be developed, introduced, and adopted by the masses. However with the rapid rate of technological growth, it's becoming far less a matter of science fiction and more a real possibility for future generations. One can't help but wonder if such pursuits may snowball into future problems rather than solutions.

Whatever the case, the race for personal robots is underway and the next decade promises to bring about immense advancements. Thus, it seems we have two options: we can accept robots into our lives with open arms, marveling at the genius of man; or we could side with the likes of The Matrix's Morpheus. I for one think it's time to call in The Terminator savior John Connor. John, if you're out there it may be time to step forward, before things get out of hand!

*While this article may seem slightly off topic from my past blogging topics, it's an interesting one, and one that may very well affect people everywhere, even us Richmonders...Well, ya know, somewhere down the line...

**This article was featured on MookyChic.

Silver Lining Decor

Silver Lining Decor is an adorable shop I found on Etsy, manned by Richmond native Rachel Quint. Silver Lining Decor features one of a kind handmade pieces made from vintage findings including earrings, necklaces, bobby pins, sweater guards, and vintage housewares. Rachel was gracious enough to take a few moments out of her day to answer some of my questions.

How did you get started making jewelry?

I am a child of the 80's so of course my jewelry venture started with the ever-popular friendship bracelets! Eventually my asthetic evolved and over the years I continued making jewelry. I did take a break from it during high school and college. When I started my Etsy shop, Silver Lining Decor, my intention was to actually sell vintage homegoods and fun finds, but I jewelry was always in the back of my mind. I started with a few pieces and just kept going from there.

Share your inspirations.

I love everything vintage: quirky, colorful, romantic, chippy, and old. I get my inspiration from the vintage pieces I find while antiquing. I love the idea of finding something another woman loved and wore many years ago, and turning it into something a modern girl would enjoy wearing now.

What 3 things can you not live without?

I cannot live without my husband, my family(including kitties), and color!! I know color is not technically a "thing" but it is what makes me happy. Beige scares me! I think you can clearly see that in my jewelry designs! I can't really think of a material posession that I couldn't live without if I had to.

 

Without giving away any particular secrets, is there a certain process that you use in creating your jewelry? Such as specific metals/indegredients that you like to utilize?

I can't say that there is a "process". Sometimes when I am out looking for new pieces I can imagine what I will do with it and what it will look like when it's done, and other times I have no idea what it will eventually turn into! Sometimes I will hold onto a piece for a while before it ever becomes anything, I just have to wait for the perfect combination!

Favorite RVA relaxation spot?

My family has a farm that has been in the family for generations. It is no longer a working farm, but when I was younger there were horses and cows. I loved it! There's nothing like waking up in the morning and jumping into a field full of horses. Most everything around it now has been developed, but it still stands as a beautiful piece of property and is my favorite place in Richmond.

Future business plans?

My profession is Interior Design, however I love making my jewelry. I would really like to expand my business and reach out to more ladies who would also enjoy wearing my items, which would include other local and online boutiques. Etsy has been the most amazing thing to be a part of. It has allowed me to reach out to so many amazing people, as well as other incredible talents. I have had so many great opportunities come to me through Etsy.

There are currently boutiques in New York, Kentucky, and Singapore who carry Rachel's jewelry, and she is working on reaching out to local Richmond boutiques as well. In the upcoming months select designs will also be sold through Shop Ruche. Be sure to check out some of Rachecl's pieces in the December issue of Richmond Bride!

You can visit Silver Lining Decor at Etsy to shop today.