NE ftw

I DID wake up and go running and did power yoga and practiced Hindi and altered and cut out a dress for tomorrow's adventures! funtimes!



I also went to FHE at the Singles' Ward per Melissa's request. I was avoiding b/c of some expected awkwardness, but said awkwardness was nowhere to be found and it was actually a blast.



After FHE I had a hot date w/ Melissa and some Sonic slushes and we gabbed and had a wonderful time. I love my Nebraska peeps hard-core^max. I get settled in in Provo then I grumble a/b leaving, but then I'm quickly reminded about the awesomeness that is Lincoln, NE and its dwellers.



Here's a fun foto (and now I google search something random to put below).

ya 'member when Herbie was cool?

So I had a completely lazy, boring, mind numbing week last week. But now that my sister's wedding reception is over I can plan my summer! I'm not getting a job b/c I'm only home for two months. I'm sure I'll do some babysitting, but other than that I'm free to have a "Jane Austen" summer, i.e. I have no responsibilities other than refining my "accomplishments". I need to make myself a schedule otherwise I won't ever get anything done. I think it will go something like this.

8am wake up; half hour of yoga (to limber up if I do do any photoshoots this fall)
8.30 breakfast and scriptures
9. shower etc.
9.30 hindi
10.30ish sew
noonish; lunch
noon.30-3 sew/watch bollywood
3-6 art of some sort (collages this summer?), or practice horn or piano
after dinner: be social w/ sarah or others.

I think that looks pretty good.

four things. BW: Chak De! India

All the possible people I could think of have no contacts w/ the Karan Johar shoot. Fish. It would be SO perfect!
I watched Chak De! India today. Absolutely phenomenal. I enjoy a good Indian sports drama w/ a scruffy, flat fronted, aviatorified SRK over Hoosers any day.
I made myself a jumper yesterday. It's super cute. I over corrected my shoulder asymmetry so it slants, grrr....
I plan to sew, watch movies and learn Hindi all summer.

BW: SRK & Kajol in San Fran!!!

Shah Rukh and Kajol, my two most FAVORITE Bollywood actors (SRK b/c hey, he's SRK, and Kajol b/c she's SO gorgeous and Indian and family-centric) are in San Fran RIGHT NOW filming Karan Johar's (one of my most favorite directors (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kal Ho Naa Ho) and SRK's personal costume designer for some reason) newest movie (My Name is Kahn)! Can I change my NE ticket for a San Fran one? Local Indians have been trying to track down the shoot to get a glimpse of the actors, but they haven't found them so far. I'm sure I could...

I was thinking, even before I found the above out, there are a TON of Bollywood shoots in the U.S. Dostana was in Miami, Hrithik Roshan's newest is in Las Vegas, the SFL fashion trip to New York saw a wedding shoot earlier this spring; I could totally find a North American shoot to intern w/ next year even! Then I could make friends and get to India sooner. So fun! Now I just need to get a Bollywood in that can get me a position.

UPDATE: I might have the connections needed to get a wardrobe position on this shoot!!! Mary, who I work with/for might know some big costuming union/guild/association lady that would know about the shoot and would have enough clout to get me an interview or application or something. W/ my resume and the recomendations from top BYU officials, I would have a good shot at this! I can't stress how HUGE of an opportunity this would be, never mind the huge names that involved (did I mention Shah Rukh Kahn as the most recognized face in the WORLD?! and that he and Kajol starred in the longest running movie in the WORLD?!! and that, well, there are just a lot of pros to this situation).

UPDATE UPDATE: Mary's contacts were only in LA, but if I can find an address or phone number she's willing to recomend me, but Indian phone numbers do no good when they're in the U.S. already! And when I can't call India from my phone!

I'm coming home!!!

On Friday!



Isn't that exciting?! I haven't really been thinking about it too much. My life's just been going and going on the same way for two months that it's kind of weird that I won't be in Provo soon. I like Provo, I like college. I like the pace of life right now. Work is enough work, school is enough school, I get plenty of leisure time. I don't want to start again w/ the hectic-ness of Fall semester in 8 weeks. Oh well. It has to happen sometime. I love my major and my life right now!!!! Like I've mentioned, I get paid to preserve antique clothing! It is so fulfilling, and educational. I've learned so much from Mary and Jayne Anne. I love to learn!!! I can't wait to take the History of Costume class in the Fall where I'll be able to think of actual garments I've handled when I learn about gigot sleeves and the shoulder seam shift of the 20s (pre 1920 shoulder seams were behind the natural shoulder, also, hangers weren't used until the 20s!). I'm going to miss the costume shop working too b/c poor poor Marth is going to be all alone, and she's my new costume shop bestie. She's great.



I'm half way done w/ my undergrad everyone!!! I'm actually becoming a costume designer and constructor! I finished my lined jacket in Advanced Clothing Construction today. I'll post some pictures later. It's so BALLIN'!!! Brown wool w/ brown/blue/white plaid accents (kimno gussets, upper and under collar BOUND buttonholes, covered buttons, welt pockets). I made a Vintage Vogue pattern. It turned out AMAZING!! I'm quite the little seamstress. I expect high marks. But yeah, that gets me interested in construction, the antiques get me interested in costume history and historical construction, I'm interested in hand work like beading and embroidery, I'm interested in Theatre costuming because it's more real and attainable, but I'm interested in film costuming because the medium reaches more people and the costumes are more honest. I just want to try everything!





Anyway, I might be able to help out Melissa this summer, otherwise I'll just be working for Colette the last weeks before Fall starts. I'm planning on a lot of sewing, designing projects, and working hard-core on my Hindi. I've been setting aside what I need to pack and I keep having to tell myself that it's not cool at night in NE. It's ALWAYS hot. Oh my poor cardigans. I don't care though, I'm bringing my shawls.

Shelby out.

Himalayan Festival

Haleh, Becca, Susan and I went to the Himalayan Festival at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork on Saturday (http://utahkrishnas.com/main/page.asp?id=23). It was AMAZING!! I got a wicked awesome shawl (seen above) and we ate yummy food. The entertainment was fantastic. Divya Narayanan performed with her students. She was great and her students were the cutest, chubbiest little brown babies! The costumes were excellent. My favorite part was Rasika Kumar, a very good Indian dancer that must have been at least 5'9"! She was so fantastic. She performed for about an hour and was just amazing! We learned about Indian dance in the first half of theatre history so it was fun to see it live. She wore dancing bells and stomped and the stage boomed and it was great. Again, her costume was fantastic. I appreciate Indians because they aren't ashamed of less than 'perfect' bodies. Older women rock their saris even after having kids and losing their figures, if they had one to begin with.

Earlier on Saturday I worked on some sewing homework, then I met Whitty and Davey Boy for lunch at Ikea. That was an experience. It makes me want to stop moving from place to place and settle down just so I can buy furniture. I laughed heartily at Whitney's broken foot. haha.

After the Himalayan Festival Susan, Becca and I watched Pardes at Susan's until 1.30. It was along the DDLJ vein. It was nice to watch one of SRK's earlier ones after realizing how old he's getting in Rab Ne. He needs to stop smoking, his teeth are getting pretty gross. But anyway, I'll always love a slightly chubby, baby-faced Shah Rukh defending the one he love's honor. Of course from this movie we learn that Indian Elders are crazy, only the grandma has any sense and all Americans will rape you. You can tell where Indian priorities lie when the movie ends with the lovers hugging their fathers and not eachother. Overall, a nice film. Tell ya what, SRK is so hot in his vests and sports jackets w/ no other shirt, or his GIANT newsboy caps ;).

Watched Rab Ne again w/ Ames for one of her classes. I can't get over how amazing the costumes and transformation is. I love it I love it I love it! Not such a fan of Anushka Sharma, but SRK shines.

I'm slowly but surely working my way through the Hindi alphabet w/ my new Teach Yourself Hindi program I got. It has a book and CDs to listen to. Each chapter introduces a new concept by having you follow the soap opera-ish life of a Delhi family.

What I do in a day & BW: Devdas & Jodhaa Akbar

With the antique collection we take a garment out of it's muslin. We vacuum the inside and outside (one person holds there fingers over the vacuum so the garment doesn't get sucked up and vacuums while the other makes sure all the crevises are open). After we vacuum the thing we put it on a dress form, describe it to Jaynne Anne, who puts it in the computer, I take pictures of the front, profile, back and details, then we find a box to put it in. We find the appropriate layer to put it in (based on type of textile) and put down a sheet of acid free paper. We stuff any sleeves or shoulders, put down cushions of paper where we need to fold the garment, tag it, cover it, shut the box, put it away w/ a sticky not reminder that we need to print a label and put the box away. That's how we preserve our antique collection. It's actually pretty fun, when I'm not drunk w/ exhaustion. Did you know that the dust on a garment can be more harmful than bugs? b/c the dust a) attracts bugs b) has acids that eat away at the material.
BW:
Are you kidding me?! Devdas, starring Shah Rukh Kahn, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. Devdas (Kahn) returns from a ten year absence to his childhood sweetheart Paro (Rai). There marriage isn't allowed so she marries and he becomes an alcoholic. A famous courtesan, Chandramukhi (Dixit) falls in love with him and tries to nurse him through is love pangs.

Not going to lie, I didn't like this one AT ALL at first. Granted the costuming and dancing are magnificent, Madhuri Dixit is killer, but Paro and Dev act like stupid tweens and in the first 2/3 they're completely unlikable, but not in a good way. I just wasn't able to empathise and understand why they did the stupid things they did. Of course Chandramukhi is the whore with a heart of gold whose life sucks. In the first 2 hours nothing really happened, basically what I said above. The last hour was pretty great though. Somehow I suddenly felt sorry for everybody instead of just rolling my eyes out of my head over all the melodrama ("I'm an OCTOROON!" but not in a good way Genevieve). It was just a very self destructive film, and yet I cried at the end. The opposite of a lot of Bollywood movies I've seen, it was slow at the beginning and picked up at the end. Overall though, absolutely beautiful. I think I cried at the end b/c of the ridiculously amazing billowing sari.

Jodhaa Akbar
The Moghal (Muslim) emperor (Hrithik Roshan) in the 16th century marries an Indian (Hindu) princess (Aishwarya Rai). Of course there is intrigue and falling in love and 3 1/2 hours of Hrithik Roshan being ridiculously good looking. The production value was FANTASTIC. We're talking like 1000 extras in one song! Since it was period, well more like since it was Bollywood, the saris were magnificent, the extras were dressed to the nines and all the men wore hats that looked like marshmallows. There were elephants and pretty pillows and bangles and so forth. The story was good, the love story was excellent, Jalal (the emperor) was vituous to no end. Of course it was a good movie, but I found myself not liking it as much as I should. It was almost TOO epic. I'm really leaning more towards the Rab Nes and Swades-es of Bollywood I guess. I love the real life (Martha would put quotes here) stories that break into song more than the epic romances recently. SRK in Swades and Rab Ne just strikes a lovely chord with me, not that I don' t greatly enjoy 3 1/2 hours of Hrithik.

BW: हिन्दी (Hindi)

I've decided to teach myself Hindi, at least until I can take Hindi 101 Fall of my senior year. I've been reading up on it a little online and it already makes more sense, like I guessed that "hai" which they say at the end of a lot of sentences, was something akin to a present or past tense verb like sein in German, or -ed in English, and I was right! "Hai" is "is". I'm so cool! And I always got confused about ladki (girl) being pronounced lar(w/ a roll)ki, but turns out there's a "d" in Hindi that's most like an "r" w/ a little "d" at the end.

I was watching a conversation w/ SRK and Anushka Sharma (my age, grrrr) on the Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi extras and she kept switching from Hindi to English while he spoke in Hindi. At one point he chided her and told her to speak in Hindi. She tried so hard, but slipped back into English and he'd remind her again, and eventually he was correcting her Hindi and helping her w/ her sentence structures. She'd get a lot of Hindi out and slip in English words, and he'd tell her the Hindi words. It was funny. Eventually she got so flustered she stayed in English and he spoke in Hindi. By the end they were both speaking English. Pretty handy for me. They mentioned DDLJ a lot, but I still can't for the life of me pronounce the full title. It's not easy like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Something (Kuch) is (Hai) Happening (Hota)) or Main (I'm) Hoon Na (Here Now).

Anydoctorwho (which club I should pay more attention to since I'm now the president), that's all. A lot of Bollywood babble my family doesn't appreciate. Oh! Also, Urdu is Pakistani Hindi, so Ali could toats help me out. I'll put a "BW" in front of entries I guess that are more that 70% Bollywood so you don't have to bother if you don't care, you uncultered swine.