Unsolved Mysteries

I grew up in very large house, with dark wood floors, jewel toned upholstery, and grandfather clocks.  I will never forget the sound the hanging bells made as I ran through the foyer, across an Oriental rug, to the bottom of the staircase; regardless of my efforts to quiet my steps, the clock always chimed a daunting hello and its woodwork, capped with two ornate horns of wood, produced the unmistakeable apparition of a devils crown.

Children innately form superstitions and fears, petrified of monsters in the closet and under the bed and “boogie men” hiding in depths of any darkness.  No mother would wish it upon herself or her child to instill such ideas, yet somehow, we all successfully devise the same superstitions and not-so-fantastic fantasies to slow the tick of the hands at night.  

Enter Are You Afraid of the Dark, Unsolved Mysteries, even Scooby Doo-  television shows which serve to confirm early suspicions, refute reassurance from mothers, and inspire new consternation, all within a thirty minute time slot.  

I stayed up past my bedtime for the duration of the program, but well into the night in its wake.  I thought of the cases described in Unsolved Mysteries - described with such validity, so strong in their evidence, but lacking restitution. 

Open cases, unfinished business, daydreams, nightmares, apparitions, superstitions, fear, fire, danger, desire, questions, qualms, love, lust, liasons, mysteries never to be solved but always pondered in our young and trusting minds.

Unsolved Mysteries - the once solo project of Jon Lynn and now accompanied by Colin Alexander and Bryan Keller, is a band that boldly sites the name of our epic and nostalgic program, and honors it well.  High energy, capricious, light but heavy, whimsical and yet dark- like the cases which kept us awake long after the credits, Unsolved Mysteries plays over and over again in our heads and seems to appear everywhere we turn.  Looming like the monster under the bed, watching like the spaceship up above, appearing on the scene like orbs in a family photograph.

Last weekend we filmed a music video for their song You Only Live Once.  

Starring long time best friend Jon Lynn, with California dream second camera Kevin Phillips, 2010 favorite partner in crime director Ryan Dickie, and boundless contribution from our talented friends, we spent the weekend shooting the video throughout some of our favorite spots in Brooklyn.  It is amazing to work together with this group.  We have come a long way, guys… .

Check out Unsolved Mysteries here:

Myspace

W Magazine 

NYLON Magazine 

and watch for the video soon!

So good.

Covert Cameo 

Fame

Friends

Fellows

So many posts in the queue.  Soon I swear!

xo

Isn’t elegance forgetting what one’s wearing?

I have recently become acquainted with the amazing Mike Anderson. (<—— CLICK THIS LINK I’M SERIOUS!)

Below is a video shoot I wardrobe and makeup styled yesterday, (with the wonderful Ryan Dickie as DP!).

I’ll post the finished product soon, but that is all I am going to say for now.  Otherwise, where is the suspense?

So far, I am loving 2010!

All encompassing loss, including my words…

Backspace is the only key which I seem to successfully employ this morning.  I will write about the fire, I will write about the damage and devastation, I will I do promise, I just will not do it today… .

(note the above dresses worn by Sarah in the SoftSpot music video)

The Christopher Pike Book Club

At my childhood beach house, on a shelf below flip flops encrusted with sand, the entire series of Sweet Valley High novels stood carefully catalogued between two pelican book ends.  Even more so than our reprimand for forgoing doormats, tracking sand and shells across newly polished floors, my sister and I were routinely scolded for our choice in fiction.  These teenage dramas, frivolous accounts of the lives of two painfully ordinary high school twins, (affectionately coined “valley girls”) were ghostwritten and therefore so full in their abundance that our guilty pleasure could flourish into a substantial full time hobby.

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, the sisters around which the entire series is based, traveled with us to swim team, music lessons, ballet class and theater rehearsal, sometimes smuggled in the bottom of book bags and others, blatantly displayed open and an inch from eyesight.

I was fortunate, as an infant, to have an older sister adamant in teaching me how to read.  Later in my development, she cared very little if I could whistle or tie my shoes, perhaps at the time too focused on my proper use of my newly acquired verbal repertoire.  Erin instilled an appetite for language so severe that today, she as a linguist and I as a writer and bibliophile, surely give credence to her early instruction.  Regardless of her conviction and eloquence in her dialogue, even at such a young age, Erin was nonetheless guilty of one impenetrable vice: Sweet Valley High.  From cover to cover, they provided a glimpse into a world so far from academia that, according to my father, they might actually lower our IQs.  We thought of these books as a vacation and a guilty pleasure.  Today, I think of the titles with an overwhelming remembrance of youth.

I recall these books with the same nostalgia and affection that I am sure many associate with Christopher Pike’s young adult series of thriller novels.  With titles such as Bury Me Deep, Road to Nowhere, and Fall into Darkness, these books demand covers with nothing short than the embossed and dripping, neon fonts and kitchy illustrations that they have come to earn as their most defining characteristic.

Enter Body Holographic CHRISTOPHER PIKE BOOK CLUB.  Enter the most talented group of artists and filmmakers I know.

Above are stills from the most recent short, based on an interpretation to the cover of Pike’s “The Witch” by director Terry Duthu, with musical collaboration by Colin Alexander and Kevin Phillips. (Click here to view)

I strongly suggest following the link and taking the time to view all of the films.  Whether it be Goosebumps or Sweet Valley High, Hardy Boys or Christopher Pike, I urge you to recall your childhood right of passage by way of sub par literature.  Recall the covers, the characters, the priceless dialogue and memories of an era that today, at best, we can only aspire to replicate.

luke baker

I first met Luke Baker when I was working for David LaChapelle and at the time, living in his West Hollywood home.  As a single girl occupying a three bedroom house, I was subject to entertain the occasional random guest of the studio.  Without failure, each visitor posed as an opportunity for a new friendship and at the very least, an interesting number of days to follow.

To this day, Luke refers to me as “Molly Myspace”, a name which although pronounced in the same quirky and posh British accent I can easily recognize as Luke’s, sounds as foreign and distant as the life I once lived in southern California.

Luke was flown to Los Angeles from New York City as a hairstylist for a Sky Vodka shoot we were producing at the studio.  This was the first of many visits, most notably his arrival to style the hair for our Elton John music video, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. (Notice me on the floor in the polaroid above, dazed and lifeless but not without a flawless Isadora bob.)  I went on to wear this wig on several other occasions, my favorite being, (at the request of David,) at his gallery opening at the Palazzo Reale Museum during Milan Fashion week in ‘08.

Over flutes of champagne and relaxing in the jacuzzi after several long days of shoots, Luke spoke to me as a mentor and gave advice regarding my future that I still recall and cherish to this day.  When I last saw him, he advised me with a similar wisdom regarding the state of the industry as affected by the current economic crisis.  He advocated perseverance, endurance, and most importantly, hope, and last night when I saw him for an impromptu hair cut, his current portfolio served to sanction this advice.

His work is featured on several upcoming covers of W Magazine, as well as Pop, and somehow I’m sure this is only the beginning of an incredibly climactic success in 2010.

I arrived at Luke’s apartment last night with a hairstyle so overgrown that I could not even salvage it with my impenetrable go-to: hair gel and a marc jacobs clip.  Desperate for his expertise, I sat down before the mirror and as he combed my hair with a large paddle brush, I interrupted his inquiry of what I wanted with an almost abrasively urgent “do whatever you want”.  He is an artist, and an extremely talented one at that, and I consult him with only the greatest of confidence and trust. While he worked, I admired his current covers and delighted in his recent stories of success.

I left Luke’s apartment with an overwhelming enthusiasm for his well deserved good fortune, a favorite new hairstyle, and again, a mind full of wisdom from a genuinely wonderful friend.