The Spirit Animal House has officially closed up shop!

For the rest of 2008, at least. Let's all cross our fingers, hooves, wings and paws that it will open up its doors once more in a year's time, when we un-"leash" SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE PARTY II: THE PAJAMA JAM upon the world.

This is just a little note from your favorite fashion-blogging wolf, sea turtle and scrappy kitten-cat letting you know that we've decided to play Secret Santa on y'all- all raffle prizes are in the mail! Please drop us a line and tell us the story of that magical morning when you checked your mail and received some awesome raffle prize that you totally weren't expecting!

We are proud to announce that we raised almost SEVEN HUNDRED BONES for our charities; watch out for some serious Ed McMahon/giant check-style surprising in the coming weeks.

And last but not least, Thank you x a billion to everybody who bought a raffle ticket, donated to the raffle, came to Spirit Animal House, and helped us set it up. Without you, we would have died.

In Pictures: Spirit Animal House!

Spirit Animal House lives! Just kidding, but we do have some lovely pics of our party to share with you, courtesy of photographer Martha Burzynski. We're surprised she even got these because it was super-dark in there. (Nothing like some bright lights to harsh on the swanky vibe!) If you want to take a gander at more Spirit Animal House coverage, Racked did a sweet little write-up of the party as well, and there are more photos of more pretty things there. Enjoy!

I made all these little origami animals. There were more! I can make an origami fox in my sleep now:

+ Continue reading "In Pictures: Spirit Animal House!"

The Spirit Animals Have Gone Hibernatin'!

Spirit Animal House...what can we say? It was a damn good time! You missed me in my seasons-old Marc Jacobs dress, Liz in pigtails and cowboy boots and Laura Jane doing pretty much the best raffle emceeing on earth fueled on adrenaline and a shot of Absolut Pear. We debuted the products of our origami skills, people won lots of prizes and bought lots of pretty things at the mini-market, we gave out gift bags to lots of folks and raised a lot of money for our pet causes! We're still recovering from the party -- we're letting our spirit animals go into hiberation, and we ourselves are going on a little blog vacation -- but will be back to our regularly scheduled programming by next Monday, when we promise to go back to avant-wack attacks, musings on the curious state of Chuck Bass' hair and other assorted random pop culture obsessions.

Thanks again for all those who came by, bought something from all our gorgeous vendors, bought a ticket for our amazing , shambolic, completely nutty raffle, saw the bands, wandered in and had a good time!

And extra special thanks:

Our mini-market vendors: Clarabella, Dangerous Mathematicians, Sodafine, Artists & Fleas
Katie Rose and Paul, our DJs
Speck Mountain, who played a lovely set
Ver Sacrum
The staff at Pianos
All our friends who guarded over the raffle ticket bag when we asked them, held onto our wallets, helped us schlep, and were just generally darlings all around
All the designers, artists and businesses that donated goods for the raffle
Everyone who came
Everyone who came and said hi!
Everyone who bought a ticket to either of the raffles
Everyone in the world who is cool and inspiring and nice and fun to be around

xo Kat, Liz and Laura
nogoodforme.com bloggers and Spirit Animal Rescue League

PS - The nogoodforme.com signature cocktail is a TOO GOOD FOR YOU: a white wine spritzer with a shot of amaretto.

It's Here: Spirit Animal House!!

Ladies and gents, we are really just beyondwordsexcitedandampedandpsyched: today is our party and we hope you can be there!

Need a little primer? Miss the last three weeks of nogoodforme.com? Here's the full slate of happenings tonight at Pianos in NYC, starting at 8pm!

MINI-MARKET
We have an amazing group of vendors (Charm School Design, Clarabella, Dangerous Mathematicians, Sodafine, and, squeaking in at the last minute, some peeps from Artists & Fleas) selling some small wares in the upstairs space as part of our Indie Fashion Lounge. Starting at 8pm.
----> WHO'S SELLING WHAT

EVENT-ONLY RAFFLE
It's $5 per entry ticket into our event-only raffle, where partygoers can win prizes from the likes of Mociun, Habitude, Laura Dawson, Feral Childe, Asli Filinta, Popomomo, and so, so much more. Everything will be on display upstairs at the Indie Fashion Lounge, but you can peruse beforehand via the Internerd:
----> SEE THE PRIZE BOOTY YOU COULD WIN

PERFORMANCES BY SPECK MOUNTAIN AND VER SACRUM
LJ's own Ver Sacrum takes the stage at 10:30pm with their special brand of torch folk, and then we are proud to present Chicago's very own Speck Mountain at 11:30pm, who will bring it all down with their beautiful, moody dream-pop.
----> SAMPLE Ver Sacrum
----> SAMPLE Speck Mountain

GIFTBAGS!
It's not a party without swag and we have got some! The first 20 or so peeps for the music performances will get a deluxe gift bag featuring eco-booty from folks like Naturenvy, Lily Lambert Fragrances, Mixed Chick, Eco-Me and (cross your fingers that the stuff gets here ontime) John Masters Organics. The first 20 or so people who buy a raffle ticket will get a not-as-deluxe-but-still-nice gift bag! (Sorry, it's hard to explain!) Mucho thanks to the following for their kind donations on this front -- show them some love!
----> Naturenvy
----> Eco-Me
----> Lily Lambert Fragrances
----> Mixed Chicks
----> John Masters Organics

OUR SIGNATURE COCKTAIL!
Dudes, what other blog would take it upon themselves to create a fun new drink? Try a Too Good For You and kick up your dancing shoes! Want to know what it is? You'll have to wait till it's ready for its closeup at Spirit Animal House!

PLUS! We'll have snacks, candy and cake (free!), the music will be fabulous, the dudes will be cute and the ladies will be super-fine. Do you really need anything else? Ditch that lame Fashion Week afterparty with grumpy anorexics and failed models and come to Pianos tonight for a bubblin' good time! If you can't be there, send your spirit animal -- we'll take good care of it, we promise!

And remember, the whole shebang's a benefit for BARC, PAWS/LA and ARK II! And if you can't be there, you can still buy a raffle ticket for the Internet raffle, on sale via Paypal till the end of the night:

Down to the Wire: The Spirit Animal House Raffle!

Okay, folks, Spirit Animal House is just about to drop and, yeah, you know the drill: get a raffle ticket soon! The deadline is Tuesday, September 9, 2008 at midnight Pacific time for the internet-only drawing, and tickets are only available through Paypal for that; the event-only raffle is, duh, event-only and you gotta get your fanny down to Pianos on Tuesday night to take part in the actual Spirit Animal House party, where those raffle tickets go for $5. Yeah, I know, we've been chattering about our prizes for what seems like ages now, but what can we say? Check out the full roster on our raffle prizes page (we've got a few more, believe it or not, straggling in), be visually stimulated by our prize collage below...and then buy a ticket! Last chance is today!

Amazingly and overwhelmingly, we gathered over 70 prizes for the Spirit Animal House raffle! We thank ALL the amazing designers, artists, authors, and business owners who donated a prize out of the kindness of their hearts and their tenderness towards animals -- after all, the proceeds from these little babies go to Brooklyn Animal Resource Center, PAWS/LA, and Animal Rights Kollective in Toronto. We look forward to helping some happy kitties, puppies and the people who love them, and to finding these lovely objects a beautiful new home:

Spirit Animal House's Eco-Fashion Superstars: Mociun, Popomomo, Habitude & Andira International

Because we're not satisfied just helping out the animals a bit, we Spirit Animal House-dwellers are also trying to do a little good for Mama Earth with our soon-to-go-down charity raffle. To that end, we've selected some serious eco-fashion superstars as four of our featured designers - going clockwise from top left there's Mociun, who works with sustainable fabrics and awesomely hand-designed textiles to produce gorgeousness such as this dress (as well as the 3 t-shirts Brooklyn designer/Bowie-lover Caitlin Mociun also donated to Spirit Animal House); Popomomo, creator of this to-die-for organic-cotton sundress that's very much like the sunshine-cupcake-yellow wonder Laura Jane modeled in our Sodafine Fantasy Shopping Spree a little while back; Andira International, a very special label that not only prints their tees on eco-friendly fabrics but also supports rainforest communities by donating a tree to a child involved in Kids Saving the Rain Forest for every item sold from their Rain Tee collection; and Habitude, who gave us this lovely kimono pieced top and produces all of its organic- and sustainable-fabric-based apparel domestically (and, FYI, I very nearly picked up Habitude's organic hemp/silk double-v tie-back dress to wear tonight at Spirit Animal House, but then I didn't, and now I'm still coveting it quite madly).

Don't forget: Today's the last day to buy your $2 raffle tickets online, soooooooo...hop to it!

Love: Laura Dawson

Laura Dawson started off as a stylist in the music industry and began her Brooklyn-based line in 2002. Since then, she's been featured all over the place, including mentions in Lucky, NYLON and other cool places. It's easy to see why her work's been getting tons of attention: her dresses, tops and bottoms are all youthful, kicky and eye-catching -- and pretty much guaranteed to get you all sorts of "I love that dress!" refrains when you're out and about at night. I love how her designs have a lot of clever detailing and favor unusual shapes and silhouettes, but they're still on the urbanely clean tip, making them completely wearable and enduring beyond the current season. City girls will love Laura Dawson, but so will funky librarians, studious rock stars and other gloriously contradictory creatures -- she's very versatile, and it will be exciting to see her grow and expand as a designer. We're so psyched that she is kindly donating her zebra dress to our event-only raffle drawing at Spirit Animal House this Tuesday night at Pianos -- this would be one of the top prizes I'd choose for myself, personally, because it's really just the best thing ever. You can be there to fight me for it, or you can just buy a ticket for the internet raffle and avoid reckoning with me 'cause I'm super-tough and will throw down.

Imaginary Shopping Spree: Feral Childe, tons of killer t-shirts

Feral Childe brooch

I have this tendency to think anything with the word "feral" in the title is just about the coolest thing ever, so you should know that I am naturally predisposed to think the world of Feral Childe, the fashion label based in good ol' Brooklyn, NY, where their work is locally produced. Feral Childe was born out of a flourishing friendship between Alice Wu and Moriah Carlson, two hyper-creative, industrious people, and their work has developed a reputation for combining playful, whimsical details and motifs with spot-on silhouettes and tailoring. We are pleased, psyched, overjoyed and amped to be offering an artful brooch from Feral Childe as part of our event-only raffle at Spirit Animal House! This little charmer is not just a cool accessory, with a lovely stone animal festooned with shiny, happy ribbons, but it's practically a one-of-a-kind work of art. And if Lady Luck bestows upon you a winning ticket at our raffle on Tuesday, it could be all yours. (Kat)

TEES PLEASE: The Raffle Edition!

I love t-shirts. They are perfect. I love t-shirts so much that I had to invent an entire Ultimate Fashion Challenge to stop myself from wearing them every single day of my life forever! But one day, the Ultimate Fashion Challenge will be over, and I can return to my happy and peaceful t-shirted existence of old. If you are the type of girl who loves to rock a t-shirt and/or a dude, you'll be really stoked to find out that we have about seven trillion of them in both our online and IRL raffles! The Quiet Life is the brainchild of ex-skate rat/skate brat Andy Mueller, and I'm personally hoping that Michael Showalter will show up to Spirit Animal House so that he'll win one of Andy's Ts and look really hot in it to me. I'm also hoping that Sho will attend for other reasons (to give me a hug?), but whatevy. We also have some really pretty organic t-shirts from eco-designer Alena Hennessey, whose designs are always whimsical, dreamy and totally animal-centric, which we obviously love. And lastly, Toronto, Ontario's own Ziliotto Designs have kindly donated two adorable chien t-shirts, which would especially rule to win if your very own spirit animal happened to be a petit chien! But mine isn't. Mine is a CHAT.

And, as ever:

Spotlight on StyleDetox.com (and a coupon code for readers!)

The indie online boutique Style Detox was started up by a former music industry publicist in San Francisco, and the link to music shows through its indie- and rockabilly-influenced inventory and jewelry selection. There are dresses that would make an early Gwen Stefani salivate (including a checker picnic print halter dress so cute that it makes me wish I could wear gingham without looking like a dork), and super-cute quirky jewelry selections. The site also carries a carefully selected collection of vintage items of all sorts, and best of all -- everything is super reasonably-priced! Which also means, I've noticed, that things sell out fast, so my advice is to pick up what you want when you can. There's no excuse not to, especially since Style Detox is offering a coupon code for 10% off for nogoodforme readers: just enter nogoodforme10 at checkout and let the magic happen. (By the way, this coupon won't expire, like, ever! Fire at will!) They also donated some adorable jewelry to our Spirit Animal House charity raffle, so clickety-click on the little button below to buy a raffle ticket for a chance to win these (and many, many other wonderful things!)

Love: Asli Filinta

Asli Filinta is really our kind of lady and the type of designer we love to discover and support. She is from Turkey, which is the country that is third on my list of places I really, really am dying to go to. She loves music and art and lots of things D.I.Y.; her designs are beautifully fun and joyous and life-affirming and gleefully non-conformist; it's impossible not to wear her wonderful accessories and clothes and not be full of optimism and excitement and buoyancy. When I picked up our Asli Filinta prize from Dernier Cri for our Spirit Animal House party event-only raffle, I flipped my shizzit in the best way possible -- her hats and scarves are so beautifully made and insanely, beautifully quirky, you pretty much would freak yourself out in the best way possible just by wearing this. Take, for instance, this white straw fedora with a feather and an elephant applique, so outrageously adorable that it would put all the hats at the Kentucky Derby to shame. It's basically perfect for that girl whose inspired by equal parts Zelda Fitzgerald and Iris Apfel:

We also picked up two super-fly scarves that will make everyone on the street bow down at your cuteness, should be lucky enough to wear them:

Seriously, I kind of pass out from the fabulousness from it all. It just makes me happy to look at -- imagine how you'd feel wearing it! I envy the lucky winners who get to pick these babies out at our raffle drawing on Tuesday. Maybe it will be you? Lucky bastards...

Love: Sarah Wilmer & Felix-Gabriel Smith & Sarajo Frieden

I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but guess what? On September 9th, nogoodforme.com is hosting a party called Spirit Animal House. Over the course of the past week of my life, I have had precisely one non-Spirit Animal House-related thought- it was, "I wonder if it's true that sometimes Venus Williams purposely loses tennis matches to Serena because of weird psychological sibling business." But besides that time I thought that about the Williams sisters, nope, sorry: in the wild world of Inside Laura Jane's Head, it's Spirit Animal House or nothin'.

Luckily for me, SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE is the coolest thing that ever happened in the history of time, and there is heaps and tons and dollops and bounds and miles (and etc.) of awesome stuff to think about. One thing I used to think about in my pre-Spirit Animal House existence was art. In my new life, I think about art as it relates to Spirit Animal House. Which is highly preferable to no art at all!

All you awesome people (to whom I owe my firstborn child) who will be attending The Actual Event have a shot at winning what I like to call The nogoodforme.com Ready-made Art collection. If you're anything like me at all, you aspire to one day actually own real art. If you're anything like me at all, you are too broke to afford even a piece of the crappy Mom-style art they sell at suburban non-art galleries. You know, watercolors of cottages and things like that. If you're anything like me at all, you are attending Spirit Animal House and will be purchasing several raffle tickets, which cost less than the price of ONE DRINK. And, if you're anything like me at all, you are presently hoping to high heaven that your raffle ticket may pay off into winning some cheap, brilliant, hot CONTEMPORARY ART.

At left, you will see an absolutely gorgeous and appropriately animal-themed photograph taken by Sarah Wilmer, a Brooklyn-based music, fashion and fine art photographer who once took pictures of me dressed up as Claudia Kishi. Sarah's work, though diverse, is tied together by a fantastically spooky, haunted mansion-y aesthetic and a lot of expertly-accessed shadows and darkness.

We are highly stoked that Los Angeles-based illustrator Sarajo Frieden was able to contribute one of her Burning Dresser linopresses (seen at right), which I have coveted for a long, long year (ever since seeing it on the ReForm School website, upon which I Imaginary Shopping Spree thrice-weekly, or maybe septa-weekly). I love this print because it balances scrappiness and elegance with a level of panache I could only dream of. A lot of Sarajo's work looks like textiles, and probably should be, and probably will be.

Last but not certainly not least is an original contempo-psychedelic (I just made that term up!) illustration (seen above) by Felix-Gabriel Smith, who is totally going places and has some of the best dude style I've ever seen in my life (just so you know). Gabriel's work sort of looks like the cover of Odessey and Oracle by the Zombies collided with Galaga and a meteorologist's e-mail inbox.

And of course, our Internet-only prizes are still available for your acquisitional purposes, and you can do so by clicking the handy-dandy Paypal button below.

Have a lovely Spirit Animal House! Oops, I mean day.

We only want to see you laughing in the Purple Rain

I'm still mega-ly coveting every last item featured in my modcloth.com-centric Imaginary Shopping Spree post from a few months back - I mean, dag, how great would the Pan Am bag look with the apple shirt?? As Bill Murray in What About Bob? would say: Gimme gimme gimme, I need, I need! Anyway, cutie-pie modcloth was kind enough to donate this adorable umbrella by Finnish label Marimekko to the Spirit Animal House charity raffle. It's called Purple Rain, which is probably the hottest lyric-referencing umbrella name I can think of - although if I were to invent an umbrella I'd probably call it something like "It Never Rains in Southern California, Except in January and February When It Rains Kind of a Lot and It's So Fucking Annoying." "Purple Rain" is a little bit catchier though, probs.

P.S. This one's event-only, but please do treat yourself to a few $2 raffle tickets and the chance to win one (or more!!) or our other fabulous prizes.

Love: La Familia Green

I was psyched to write up paper goods company La Familia Green because they're based in my old stomping grounds of Chicago, IL, and therefore it allows me to expound upon on one of my pet theories: everyone in Chicago I know is incredibly literary and writerly and creative in the least pretentious way possible, and I think because it's so brutally, harshly cold in Chicago in the winter that you never leave your house, which gives residents an entire season to read and write and basically dwell in the vast beauty and trickery of words. I have been considering at least a part-time return to Chicago within a year or so (to be closer to horses, family and to pay cheaper rent so I can save for my thesis film), so I just may be able to test out my theory. And if I do, I will probably stock up on lots of notebooks at stationery from La Familia Green and send lots of letters to people saying how much I miss NYC and how it's so damn cold in Chicago, waaaaah. Because I'm a wuss. But wouldn't you love to get a note on cards and letter stock with such charming, clever, humorous designs? The best thing is that all cards are handmade in small quantities, so each little piece is like a bit of art. For our raffle, La Familia Green were kind enough to donate a tote, card set, some buttons and a particularly brilliant journal whose cover is made out of an old VHS copy of The Breakfast Club -- which you can win by buying a raffle ticket for our prize drawing. (I'm particularly fond of the luchadore button.)

Spirit Animal House, the Mini-Market: Charm School Design, Clarabella, Dangerous Mathematicians, Sodafine

We're super-stoked to announce the stellar mini-market line-up for our little Spirit Animal House event! As one of the main attractions of our "Indie Fashion Lounge", the sexy geniuses below will be live and in person at Pianos on Tuesday night in the swanky upstairs room, swilling a cocktail or two and selling a few of their wares. We've got a nice range of sellers, and ladies of any aesthetic persuasion (and the people who love them) should be able to find a charming addition or two to add to their arsenal of sartorial splendor. Read up on 'em below, check out their websites and contact them if you have any special requests, questions or just want to show them some love. And of course, come to Spirit Animal House this Tuesday at Pianos, where the Lounge kicks off at 8pm upstairs. Bring your fuss, feathers and dancing shoes -- and your wallets, too!

CHARM SCHOOL DESIGN

Who: charm school design: fanciful headwear and jewelry
What's selling at Spirit Animal House: feather and flower headbands and clips, range $25-$75.
Forms of payment accepted: cash or check!
Questions? Requests? Want a sneak peak? charmschooldesign@gmail.com or etsy site: charmschooldesign.etsy.com.

It's always a bit of a risk to say someone's the first to do something, but I reckon that Alita Edgar is certainly one of the feathered headband pioneers -- she's been making them for ages, and her work has recently been featured in the likes of NYLON. Certainly, in a now-crowded field full of cheap or poorly made imitations, Alita's work stands out for its quality and thoughtful design. Anyone I know who worn one of her headbands always gets a huge passel of compliments, they're that charming and unique. You can pick one up at our Spirit Animal House party; Alita's also kindly donating a pheasant feather cuff to the event-only raffle that night, which you can win if you buy a ticket for $5 (at the event, sorry!)

CLARABELLA

Who: Clarabella, supporting the best in independent accessories design... Shoes, Jewelry, Handbags.
What's selling at Spirit Animal House: Shoes from Tashkent by Cheyenne, Leather goods from Tracey Tanner, Jewelry by Nicole Gagne, Bags by Kristen Aronsson and much more!
Forms of payment accepted: Cash and Credit Card
Questions? Requests? Want a sneak peak? www.clarabellanyc.com, any questions email: erin@clarabellanyc.com

We've shown Clarabella lots of love before and are huge, huge fans of Erin Whelan's boutique, which is chock-a-block full of feminine, modern jewelry, bags, shoes and accessories. It's starting to create a buzz, having recently been written up in the likes of Daily Candy, but we've been fans for ages and are psyched Clarabella's been getting all this attention. Erin's also a charmingly lovely lady herself, and you can meet her in person at the Spirit Animal House party where she'll be selling a lovely assortment of things, including some Tracy Tanner accessories I've had my eye on for awhile. Clarabella is donating a lovely Andrea Brueckner tote in coral to our event-only raffle.

DANGEROUS MATHEMATICIANS

Who: A clothing boutique for smart and sexy women, which carries Dangerous Mathematicians label clothing, select European clothing labels, and jewelry by independent New York designers. New lingerie section offers stylish and affordable lingerie.
What's selling at Spirit Animal House: t-shirts, Dangerous Mathematicians corset-belts, lingerie (from underwear to bustiers) and clearance items (including clothing, hosiery) $10-$100
Forms of payment accepted: Cash and credit
Questions? Requests? Want a sneak peak? info@dangerousmathematicians.com, www.dangerousmathematicians.com, (212) 460 5356, or come to the store at 176 Rivington Street. They open at 2 pm Wed-Sun.

Besides having probably one of the coolest names ever for anything, Dangerous Mathematicians sells elegant, playful clothes and smartly sultry lingerie in their Lower East Side boutique. It's all perfect for that smartly dressed girl with a bit of a racy side, and you can sample DM's wares at the Spirit Animal House party, where owner Karen will be selling all sorts of accoutrements for your inner sensual intellectual. Karen is also kindly donating a Dangerous Mathematicians T-shirt and a garter belt with stockings from her lingerie section for our Spirit Animal House event-only raffle: ooh la la!

SODAFINE

Who: Sodafine boutique is Brooklyn's finest source for eco and indie and local designer wares including clothing, accessories and footwear.
What's selling at Spirit Animal House: assorted t-shirts ($20-$40), accessories by Purldrop ($30-$50), artist illustrated pocket mirrors ($7), mi-spa roll on perfumes ($15), Valerian cards and stationery ($3-$6), Happy Owl glass pins ($9), sprout studio earrings ($15-$35), Brooklyn Novelty totes ($20)...
Questions? Requests? Want a sneak peak? info@sodafine.com, http://sodafine.com, (718) 230-3060

Ah, how we love Sodafine! There's so much cool stuff in this little Williamsburg retail gem: why don't you check out our Fantasy Shopping Spree we did at Sodafine for yourself and see for yourself? We are psyched that Erin Weckerle from Sodafine will be there in person and selling some of her favorite small wares at Spirit Animal House. She's also kindly donating a Sodafine gift certificate for some lucky person to win at our event-only raffle -- good luck deciding if you want to apply it to an amazing Bahar Shahpar top, or a Popomomo dress, or a Cecilia Prado frock or...or...or...

Spirit Animal House Booty: Snoozer Loser totes!

We've shown our Love for Snoozer Loser before, and we still stand by every word we wrote: they're geniuses with the hand printing, and their floaty, relaxed designs are rendered in the freshest, prettiest colors and designs. Snoozer Loser are expanding into totes and such for the fall, and lucky for us, we scored two to give away as prizes through our Spirit Animal House charity raffle benefiting animal-related charities like Brooklyn's own BARC. Aren't they beauties? You can win them, of course, by doing the old clicky-clicky on the button below and buying your fine self a raffle ticket or two. You can win a bunch of other very cool things as well. Trust us, you have nothing to lose -- you may win a beautiful objet, and you absolutely will be helping out a kitty or puppy or two.

Love: Josh Jakus

Unlike the Canon of Great Art, which is totally boring, the Canon of Great Design is as exciting as Helter Skelter, and I mean that. Great design is actually, literally as exciting as the song "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles. I don't doubt that in fifty years time, Josh Jakus will be the latest inductee to said Canon (which, for the record, probably includes some William Morris chairs or something, Anni Albers' paper clip necklace, the spaceship that went to the moon, and the Dyson vac). I also think that in fifty years every single bag will look like the Josh Jakus UM bag: backpacks, briefcases, suitcases, Judith Leiber sequined clutches, etc.

As per usuelle, nogoodforme.com is totally ahead of its time. Fifty years before UM bags become ubiquitous, we've already got one under our belts, and, because we're really amazing sweethearts, we're giving it to YOU, and then we're giving the money we make from giving it to YOU to the bereft animals of three entire urban metropoli!

Just clickery-dickery dock on the convenient little button sitting beneath this sentence, fork over two dollars, and you will probably win the Josh Jakus UM Clutch, or maybe ONE OF THESE THINGS or maybe ALL OF THESE THINGS! Whoa! I bet you'll totally sweep the raffle.

FURTHER PROOF THAT JOSH JAKUS IS A TOTAL GENIUS:

Jezebel Stationery: Correspondence for the Vagabond Heart

I became infatuated with Jezebel Stationery's paper wares because of the gorgeous use of silhouettes, but I fell in love with the Brooklyn-based company for the poetic names and titles it calls its t-shirts, tote bags and note cards. The look of Leigh Batnick's work is classical and rooted in traditions like old photography and 19th century silhouettes, but there's a fresh, modern twist to the actual scenarios and images depicted. Lovers of vintage, language and vintage language will love the nods to the Gilded Ages of past, and those with angelic poets in their hearts will fall in love with the words inscribed. Listen to the names of the items Jezebel donated to our Spirit Animal House event, and you'll hear how the words are just as imaginative and beautiful as the designs themselves:

(left to right: "one day blanche birthed a mad, bad bibliophile" organic cotton tee; "dear virginia, an odalisque on a payphone" tote bag)

(left to right: box of cards: "waltzing matilda at the cafe lovely" box of cards, and "for louise moon, fragile as fingernails" box of cards)

Keep an eye on Batnick -- not only is she now selling their own jewelry, but she's also launching an interior design branch in 2009 and is working on a capsule collection of dresses. If it's anything like her cards and t-shirts, it is sure to be full of a straightforward grace. Needless to say, you can get a jump on your Jezebel fix and get a chance to win the tote or the card sets by buying a ticket to our Spirit Animal House raffle. (If you're dying for the shirt, you have to come to the actual party!)

Deck your neck! Hot chains from the Spirit Animal House raffle

I'm a total necklace-aholic; I couldn't care less if my ears and wrists are forever left bare, so long as my neck's decked out in lots of lovely charms hung on some pretty piece of metal. If I had my druthers, I'd keep every last one of these gorgeous pieces from the Spirit Animal House raffle all to myself - but I'm quite sure that Kat, Laura, and all the animals of the world would frown on such thievery. And who can stand the sight of a frowny cow or duck-billed platypus? For smiles all around, clickety-click the PayPal button down below and get yourself some $2 raffle tickets. All the little critters will thank you profusely, I'm sure.

Top row: Sex Slider necklace by Ach Ach Liebling; bunny necklace by the ever-awesome and animal-loving Frozen Peas Accessories (whose Rotten Tooth necklace I'm soooo smitten with right now); the Ms. Pacman dogtag from Tiny Armour's Pacman Fever collection.

Bottom row: Danielle Petrosa's Pattie Boyd Ceramic Necklace (geniusly double-sided, with Pattie & George Harrison on one side and Pattie & Eric Clapton on the other); Stephanie Simek's Single Eyelash necklace; and feather necklace from the fabulous Miss KK Miss KK.

the nogoodforme.com interview: Nut and Bee! OMG!

One thing I can safely say I'll never get over is my childlike preoccupation with baby animals. I'm a total sucker for cuteness; sometimes I feel a bit nerdy about it, but then I reflect upon the heaps of satisfaction I have derived from the existence of wee lil' "aminals" over the course of my twenty-three years, and the only emotion I feel is GRATITUDE.

Short only of Lisa Frank puppies and my longtime love Pochacco on the MAXIMUM CUTENESS front (and not by very much!), New Zealand's Nut and Bee has been charming the Helter Skelter out of me thrice-weekly since I first discovered its existence this past August. Nut and Bee illustrator Annette Lauder is insanely prolific (she's kind of like the nogoodforme.com of the cartoon-animalsphere!); anyone with any interest in cuteness at all whatsoever NEEDS to add her Sketchbook Sweeties blog to their Booksmark Bar ASAP. Every couple of days, Annette gifts the world with a new Sweetie: my personal favorites of late are Panda Takes A Tumble (oh, who am I kidding? This lil' guy makes Pochacco look like Christopher Walken!) and my latest and greatest style inspiration, Miss Fruit Hat Surprise.

Annette has also adapted her super-charming drawings to fulfil more practical purposes: her website sells adorable and affordable lettersets, notepads, recipe cards, and MORE!

Lucky-ducky for nogoodforme.com, Spirit Animal House donees PAWS/LA, ARK II, & the Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition, and most of all, YOU, Annette has kindly contributed some highly precious goodies to the Spirit Animal House Raffle!

(at left: Cloudkin sticker set; at right: Magnolia Snooze notepad)

(set of 8 Warmosaur write-on labels)

As always, all you have to do to save some animals and win some cute prizes is CLICK HERE:

Super-sweet Annette is clearly the type of gal who understands the importance of a spirit animal! Click behind the jump to find out about how she built Nut and Bee into a business, why she digs John Lennon, honey, hibernation and more (including some really killer fiction recommendations)!

+ Continue reading "the nogoodforme.com interview: Nut and Bee! OMG!"

Love: Be.True Jewelry

The world keeps on spinning, spinning, spinning, and even in the face of deadlines, monster madness and the upcoming apocalypse, we here at nogoodforme HQ keep gathering prizes for the Spirit Animal House charity raffle. Our latest choice lovely is a pretty little sterling silver necklace from Be.True. Designed by Gin Bartlett, Be.True features jewelry rendered in beautifully clean, contemporary lines, which highlight the often exquisite metals and gems each piece is made out of. There's a nice sense of balance with each item in the line, and it's all crisp enough that it works with a variety of aesthetics. It's jewelry that's made so you can wear your heart on your sleeve: direct, straightforward, yet often tender and emotional. Be.True also has their own charitable giving campaign -- purchase a "Be" cuff or necklace and a donation will be made to a charity or non-profit chosen for that month by Be.True. Be.True has a substantial eco-friendly component to its company and is making more and more jewelry from recycled silvers and golds, so keep your eye on them on the sustainable front as well.

The necklace that Be.True so kindly donated to Spirit Animal House's charity raffle is a lovely silver chain with a 1" wide pendant that reads "LIVE." There's also a darling teeny sapphire encrusted in the pendant; it's very light and delicate and serene. It's available for some lucky winner to run off with, so buy a raffle ticket or two in support of our favorite animal charities like BARC, ARK II or PAWS/LA and cross your fingers that we pull your name out of our fedora!

Buy a raffle ticket to win the Be.True "LIVE" necklace:

Heavy Rotation: Our Favorite Animal-Themed Songs from Blonde Redhead, Nirvana, Ver Sacrum + More!

When nogoodforme.com has a theme, we really commit and go full-out, to the point where only budget and time constrains the wilder shores of our collective imagination. Naturally, Spirit Animal House not only demands a time, place, setting, and festivities -- it demands a soundtrack as well. This edition of Heavy Rotation comes to the rescue, curating our favorite animal-themed or -named tracks ever. What can we say? We told you we were committed...

Bonnie Prince Billy, "Wolf Among Wolves"
I was all psyched and set to slot in the Cure's "Love Cats" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran as my Heavy Rotation selections this week, thinking it would make things all bouncy and punchy around here. But then I realized I'd be failing in my duties as nogoodforme's official Bringer of Darkness by going against my own musical instincts of melancholy and Gothic pastoralism. So instead, yes, I give you one of my most favorite songs by someone who is probably my favorite bard of darkness, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, aka Palace, Palace Songs, Palace Brothers or, more simply, Will Oldham. Labeled as a sort of Appalachian or folk throwback at times, Mr. Oldham transcends cultural milieu and is instead a genuine poet whose melodies and lyrics haunt with a deeply bleak yet beautifully idiosyncratic view of human frailty. (And he's sometimes just really weird.) "Wolf Among Wolves" is from my favorite Will Oldham-associated record, Master and Everyone, an album so austere, fatalistic and anti-romantic that it's actually incredibly Romantic. I saw him perform this song at a solo acoustic show at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall in 2003 or something like that, and it was an utterly singular experience. I looked all over for a recording from that show, but alas -- it refuses to be found, so you'll have to make do with the studio version, which is pretty stellar anyway. (Kat)

Blonde Redhead, "Equus"
Wolves! Horses! Geez Louise, Kat, yr so predictable! Yeah, whatever, I know a quarter of you reading this already know and love this track, and about a third of the rest of you will come to love it. That's what happens with this band. Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino is one of our bona-fide Style Icons and a fellow equestrian as well. Those who know the provenance of Misery is a Butterfly, the album from which this song is taken, will know exactly what a testament to adoration "Equus" is. This track is great because it bridges BR's more recent "kinder, gentler" sound with their earlier tendency towards more aggressive, arty post-punk kind of stuff. "Equus" cascades into rockitude; it's like a love song for when you dig someone so much, you're ready to jump out of your skin 'cause you're so impatient to be with them. I can't think of anything more romantic, really, other than if some dude were going to buy me an Arabian steed of my own. Or a constellation. Now that would be insanely romantic. If you want to communicate a deep and abiding love for someone and are kind of beautifully grandiose, you can't go wrong with the cosmos. (Kat)

Nirvana, "Very Ape"
The only reason I picked this song was the other day I was walking down Sunset at sunset, and "Very Ape" came on my iPod and I listened all the way through for the first time in forever and just went "Duuuuuuude...." God, it's so good! Why do I sporadically forget that Nirvana was SO GOOD? It used to be the only thing I ever thought about. Anyway, despite the title, this song has nothing to do with animals, so here's a quick list of animal-centric songs I probably should've posted instead: "Musik and Charming Melodee" by Mary Timony (or basically any Mary Timony song ever written), "Hey Mama Wolf" by Devendra Banhart, "Who Could Win a Rabbit" by Animal Collective, "Tread Water" by De La Soul, "Yertle the Turtle" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Beautiful Horses" by The Blood Brothers, "Takoma the Dolphin is AWOL" by The Mae Shi, "Dance Like a Monkey" by New York Dolls, and "So Many Animal Calls" by Q and Not U. I'm happy to not have picked "Land" by Patti Smith, however. That would be so cliche. (Liz)

Tanya Donelly, "Goat Girl"
Ever since that time I went to the petting zoo in 1984 and a goat ate my Bugs Bunny doll, I've been under the assumption that all goats are assholes. But if the charmingest sweetheart in all of indie-rock history identifies as a "goat girl," then surely that can't be the case. Maybe goats are just misunderstood. Maybe I'm a goat girl too! I certainly get that sick little twinge of nostalgia for heartbreaks past when Tanya sings the line about "I wanted a lion but I ended up with a man who wanted a gazelle." Who hasn't been there before? Let's never go there again! Hooray for goats! (Liz)

The Beatles, "Hey Bulldog"
I like this band a lot. They're really charismatic, and from England. They wrote nice pop songs. This song comes from the Yellow Submarine "songtrack", which I imagine is the Beatles album that people are least familiar with. This song was originally titled "Hey Bullfrog," but during recording, Paul McCartney started barking without warning, and it was so damned cool of him that even John Lennon had to concede and turn his first frog-themed song into his first dog-themed song. It is tied with "Martha My Dear" for my favorite dog-themed song by the Beatles. I think Paul McCartney's spirit animal would probably be a jaunty little Scottish terrier; John Lennon's would be a white cat. George Harrison's would be a falcon or possibly a stag, and Richard "Ringo Starr" Starkey's would be a mini-gnome who looked and acted exactly like him. Ringo's not a very spiritual guy. I like this band a lot. (Laura)

Ver Sacrum, "Rabbit, Run"
First and foremost, it is necessary to put it out into the ether that Ver Sacrum are totally going to rock SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE. It's actually sort of alarming how tight we are. I hope you can all be there! And I mean ALL OF YOU. Every single last one of you. I'll buy a beer and a biscuit. So, this song is not really about an animal; it's about a fictional ex-high school basketball star named Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. However, the song's opening lyric references the Easter Bunny, who is, in fact, an animal, not just a depressed Middle American linotyper. You could even say that the Easter Bunny's mystical powers afford him the title of Ultimate Spirit Animal. How pertinent! (Laura)

Love, Love, Love: Thelma Design

Obviously, myself and my fellow nogoodforme.commers Kat "Wolfchild" Asharya and Liz "Possibly a Sea Turtle?" Barker are stoked to high heaven about the impending radness of SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE. I think it is safe to say that we are the three most excited people on the entire planet right now, except for Barack Obama in the wake of finding out about Sarah Palin's sinner of a daughter.

Things recently became EVEN MORE EXCITING over on our end since finding out that Thelma Bjork Jonsdottir, our resident Icelandic Headdress Designer of choice (okay, it's official: there is nothing cooler to be in this world than an Icelandic Headdress Designer), is contributing the insanely magically mind-blowingly fantastically beautiful headdress seen below to our wicked-amazing SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE RAFFLE!!!!

Tragically for all you non-New Yorkers, this headpiece is one of our hyper-special event-only prizes, which I'm sure you can understand. But luckily for all you non-New Yorkers, you can totally address the intense misery you are presently experiencing by impulse buying, like, FIFTY raffle tickets right now!

All you have to do is click this button:

There! You did it! Don't you feel loads better now?

And to all the New Yorkers out there who, like us, are counting down the nanoseconds until Tuesday, September 9th (Wait- what happens September 9th? I forget. Oh, right! SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE!!!!), good luck! I'd be jealous of you for winning this gorgeous babe of a headband if it wasn't totally obvious that one day Thelma will be my own personal headdress designer. She'll live in a treehouse in my backyard, with her spirit animal (an Arctic Fox), and I will never have to face this world bare-headed again.

PS: If you're so inclined, check out the interview Thelma did with us a few months back! She is one of the best nogoodforme.com interviewees of all time

nogoodforme Superlatives: A Spirit Animal Primer

I don't know how spirit animals became such a "thing" at nogoodforme.com. I have a feeling it has something to do with Keanu Reeves' reference to power animals in Thumbsucker -- one of the most gemlike performances ever in the entire Keanu canon, I may add. (He should always play a New Age orthodontist, if you ask me.) A spirit animal, in case you are too lazy to Google it, is born of a connection between human beings to the earth in which all of nature and her creatures exist within a continuum, interdependent upon one another; each animal teaches human beings their own particular type of power and wisdom. A spirit animal may make a physical appearance in your life; it can also pop up in your dreams. Either way, spirit animal wisdom says you should take all appearances of animals in your life as a sign and learn about that animal's nature and see how its lessons and values can be applied in your life. A few other things about spirit animals:

In other words, you may have an entire spirit animal posse -- you could be, like, the P. Diddy of spirit animals, with a whole entourage of totems hanging out with you at any time. If nogoodforme.com were a Spirit Animal House, indeed, this would be comprise ours. (And isn't that above illustration by Tara Bursey completely dope? Hell yeah, it is!)

Wolves and horses

Wolves: I used to really hate dogs and all creatures canine-like. This is mostly because when I was four, my drunken next-door "neighbor" used to let his big German shepherd chase me when I got off my school bus, laughing uproariously as his dog used to bark, snarl and nip at my little Strawberry Shortcake sneakered heels. (Aside: I hope this neighbor rots in hell one day.) But I've come around to dogs, mostly because of an ex's gorgeous part-Akita part-wolf dog (Bella, I miss you!), and now I really am into wolves, which are the largest of the wild canines. I like wolves because they are quite misunderstood as animals: usually saddled with a vicious reputation, they are actually quite shy and secretive and stick to their own packs rather than deal with human beings. Within their packs they are highly social and very bonded to the other wolves; they all work together to hunt, tag-teaming and working in close formation, and they care for one another's young. They are highly evolved communicators, and they have incredible endurance, mostly because they rarely waste their energy on impossible endeavors (a lesson I think we all should learn nowadays.) To know about wolves is to learn how to exist as an individual within a closely bonded community, to be able to be yourself while still valuing loyalty and love and to work within that community to achieve common aims. A wolf teaches one to speak up when boundaries are trespassed, and to listen to your instincts and premonitions. Wolves find their own paths through impossible thickets and the darkest forests, are fiercely loyal to their mates, and derive strength and intelligence from being unseen and hidden away. Wolves are independent free spirits, but don't mess with them, because chances are there's more than one of them -- and they all have each others' backs.
Horses: I have to mention horses because of my great and abiding passion for riding. There's really nothing more in the world that I love to do, and my only real goal in life is to be able to have a horse farm so I can take care of as many of them as I can afford. (Okay, it's not my only real goal, but it's like the one I want when I'm a grande dame.) Lots of girls go through a horse thing when they're young, but I came back to horses after years and years of living in cities and missing a deeper connection to nature and animals. Riding is really the most Zenlike experience, and it's ten times better than Pilates in building your "core" or whatever the hell they call it. But whatever, horses are truly special creatures -- they incarnate strength, sensitivity, endurance, high spirits, speed, and power, and they teach you to run free on your own path in life. Trailblazers and others who are intensely driven and filled with great purpose and energy have horses as spirit animals, and horses give pride and fortitude to those who choose to go different routes in life, who love adventure for its own sake and who choose to live boldly in a life where nothing is certain for long. And did I mention the equestrian uniform? Nothing is ever more perennially fashionable. (Kat)

A SCRAPPY, RUNTY ADOLESCENT BLACK KITTEN-CAT NAMED KNICKERBOCKER

Any time I meet new people, I find it exceptionally handy to have the TOO GOOD FOR YOU interview questions at my disposal. They are possibly the only icebreaker in the world more engaging and efficient than the ever-hilarious "How much does a polar bear weigh?" which, let's be honest, is a downright winner. The only downside of the TGFY Qs is that they are SO awesome and incisive, certain low-confidence parties tend to flip out from internalized pressure to come up with recorded history's cleverest explanation for why they think John Lennon is a cool chap.

HOWEVER: whether they've consciously pondered it before or not, every single human on the planet instinctively knows exactly what their spirit animal is. This is because "having a spirit animal" is the most essential truth of the human condition. Just ask Philip Pullman! He's so damned obsessed with Spirit Animalism, he wrote His Dark Materials, an epic Secular-Humanist-young-adult-sci-fi-fantasy trilogy set in a parallel universe where all people are constantly accompanied by a "daemon"- a living, breathing embodiment of your soul in the form of an animal. Your "daemon", among other things, is the opposite gender of you, LOVES YOU and TALKS TO YOU and HELPS YOU THROUGH THE SHIT OF IT and HANGS OUT WITH YOU and IS YOUR BEST FRIEND but also IS YOU. Is that freakin' heaven or what?

Be it a daemon, spirit animal, messenger guide spirit animal, power animal, familiar or whatever-the-hellnimal, mine is named Knickerbocker (Jane-Faulds) and he is a SCRAPPY ADOLESCENT BLACK KITTEN-CAT. I have known this since I was a losery and highly-tortured 14-year-old Emily the Strange Incarnate, and I saw Knickerbocker (the Obvious McObviouserson runt of his litter) at a pet store, pestering the Helter Skelter out of his sisters and bros, and, in my sweet Knickerbocker, I saw myself.

WHY I AM KNICKERBOCKER, BY LAURA JANE FAULDS

1. I am a cat. I am self-involved, bored, hard to please, moody, an introvert/extrovert, mischievious, curious, and infinitely satisfied by the rewards of said curiousity.

2. My soul is decidedly pre-teenage. In feline-ebon terms: I fit in somewhere between cutesy-wutesy kitten-pie (which I was, once), and sly, dahhhhk, unfuckwithable grown black cat (I am banking on the hope that one day both Knickerbocker and Laura Jane will grow to be sexy, seductive and mysterious adults).

3. I am a scrappy alley cat. I am a dirty little fighter, and I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

4. LJF=TRA (Total Runt Archetype). Touch as nails, goofy as sin, talks a big game, falls down a lot.

5. I physically resemble a black cat.

At some point in my life, I will settle down, and I will adopt the runty black cat of my dreams. But I won't name him Knickerbocker; I'll name him Sam the Sham. There can be no real Knickerbocker. THE REAL KNICKERBOCKER IS LAURA JANE. (LJ)

The sea turtle (or maybe a sea horse)

According to previous posts on nogoodforme, my spirit animal is either David Lee Roth or Jennifer Herrema's hair, neither of which is very much like a sea turtle. And when Kat and Laura did the nogoodforme self-portrait as power animals earlier this year at Sodafine, they made me a cute little bunny rabbit, which is awesome and adorable. In some ways, though, sea turtles are like the opposite of bunny rabbits, at least if you think about the whole tortoise-and-the-hare fable. Lately I'm trying to get more into the serene, slow-moving, go-with-the-flow sea-turtle way of life, rather than that stressy jumpy rabbit-y thing (and maybe you don't think of rabbits as very stressy creatures, but I'm mostly working with the Winnie the Pooh archetype here). Turtles are patient, which I am not in the least but certainly aspire to be. And turtles probably don't drink way too much Diet Coke and iced coffee, another quality I'd very much like to adopt (though not any time soon - at this point in my life I'm completely comfortable with my caffeine addiction). I do totally have a shell, however. I think my spirit animal's shell would be lots of lovely colors, like cerulean blue and dandelion yellow and hot-pink and emerald and indigo, all mixed together in some beautiful swirly-whirly design.

And just five seconds ago I decided that my alternate spirit animal should be the sea horse, mostly for silly reasons (e.g. sea horses are pretty; I love the song "Sea Horse" by Devendra Banhart), but also because - in the spirit animal realm - sea horses are about confidence and grace (two things a girl can never get enough of).

Oh and I'd like to point out that in that same post in which I picked David Lee Roth to be my spirit animal, I also named Logan Echolls as my patronus. So I think for nogoodforme's next big bash, the theme should be patronuses (patroni?), and we should all learn how to do the patronus charm and maybe rent out a few dementors to ward off. And we can get the Weird Sisters to play and Jarvis Cocker will become BFFs with nogoodforme and he can guest-blog for us and maybe sometimes we'll even let him fill out the Snapshot. That would be the most. (Liz)

nogoodforme Superlatives: A Spirit Animal Primer

I don't know how spirit animals became such a "thing" at nogoodforme.com. I have a feeling it has something to do with Keanu Reeves' reference to power animals in Thumbsucker -- one of the most gemlike performances ever in the entire Keanu canon, I may add. (He should always play a New Age orthodontist, if you ask me.) A spirit animal, in case you are too lazy to Google it, is born of a connection between human beings to the earth in which all of nature and her creatures exist within a continuum, interdependent upon one another; each animal teaches human beings their own particular type of power and wisdom. A spirit animal may make a physical appearance in your life; it can also pop up in your dreams. Either way, spirit animal wisdom says you should take all appearances of animals in your life as a sign and learn about that animal's nature and see how its lessons and values can be applied in your life. A few other things about spirit animals:

In other words, you may have an entire spirit animal posse -- you could be, like, the P. Diddy of spirit animals, with a whole entourage of totems hanging out with you at any time. If nogoodforme.com were a Spirit Animal House, indeed, this would be comprise ours. (And isn't that above illustration by Tara Bursey completely dope? Hell yeah, it is!)

Wolves and horses

Wolves: I used to really hate dogs and all creatures canine-like. This is mostly because when I was four, my drunken next-door "neighbor" used to let his big German shepherd chase me when I got off my school bus, laughing uproariously as his dog used to bark, snarl and nip at my little Strawberry Shortcake sneakered heels. (Aside: I hope this neighbor rots in hell one day.) But I've come around to dogs, mostly because of an ex's gorgeous part-Akita part-wolf dog (Bella, I miss you!), and now I really am into wolves, which are the largest of the wild canines. I like wolves because they are quite misunderstood as animals: usually saddled with a vicious reputation, they are actually quite shy and secretive and stick to their own packs rather than deal with human beings. Within their packs they are highly social and very bonded to the other wolves; they all work together to hunt, tag-teaming and working in close formation, and they care for one another's young. They are highly evolved communicators, and they have incredible endurance, mostly because they rarely waste their energy on impossible endeavors (a lesson I think we all should learn nowadays.) To know about wolves is to learn how to exist as an individual within a closely bonded community, to be able to be yourself while still valuing loyalty and love and to work within that community to achieve common aims. A wolf teaches one to speak up when boundaries are trespassed, and to listen to your instincts and premonitions. Wolves find their own paths through impossible thickets and the darkest forests, are fiercely loyal to their mates, and derive strength and intelligence from being unseen and hidden away. Wolves are independent free spirits, but don't mess with them, because chances are there's more than one of them -- and they all have each others' backs.
Horses: I have to mention horses because of my great and abiding passion for riding. There's really nothing more in the world that I love to do, and my only real goal in life is to be able to have a horse farm so I can take care of as many of them as I can afford. (Okay, it's not my only real goal, but it's like the one I want when I'm a grande dame.) Lots of girls go through a horse thing when they're young, but I came back to horses after years and years of living in cities and missing a deeper connection to nature and animals. Riding is really the most Zenlike experience, and it's ten times better than Pilates in building your "core" or whatever the hell they call it. But whatever, horses are truly special creatures -- they incarnate strength, sensitivity, endurance, high spirits, speed, and power, and they teach you to run free on your own path in life. Trailblazers and others who are intensely driven and filled with great purpose and energy have horses as spirit animals, and horses give pride and fortitude to those who choose to go different routes in life, who love adventure for its own sake and who choose to live boldly in a life where nothing is certain for long. And did I mention the equestrian uniform? Nothing is ever more perennially fashionable. (Kat)

A SCRAPPY, RUNTY ADOLESCENT BLACK KITTEN-CAT NAMED KNICKERBOCKER

Any time I meet new people, I find it exceptionally handy to have the TOO GOOD FOR YOU interview questions at my disposal. They are possibly the only icebreaker in the world more engaging and efficient than the ever-hilarious "How much does a polar bear weigh?" which, let's be honest, is a downright winner. The only downside of the TGFY Qs is that they are SO awesome and incisive, certain low-confidence parties tend to flip out from internalized pressure to come up with recorded history's cleverest explanation for why they think John Lennon is a cool chap.

HOWEVER: whether they've consciously pondered it before or not, every single human on the planet instinctively knows exactly what their spirit animal is. This is because "having a spirit animal" is the most essential truth of the human condition. Just ask Philip Pullman! He's so damned obsessed with Spirit Animalism, he wrote His Dark Materials, an epic Secular-Humanist-young-adult-sci-fi-fantasy trilogy set in a parallel universe where all people are constantly accompanied by a "daemon"- a living, breathing embodiment of your soul in the form of an animal. Your "daemon", among other things, is the opposite gender of you, LOVES YOU and TALKS TO YOU and HELPS YOU THROUGH THE SHIT OF IT and HANGS OUT WITH YOU and IS YOUR BEST FRIEND but also IS YOU. Is that freakin' heaven or what?

Be it a daemon, spirit animal, messenger guide spirit animal, power animal, familiar or whatever-the-hellnimal, mine is named Knickerbocker (Jane-Faulds) and he is a SCRAPPY ADOLESCENT BLACK KITTEN-CAT. I have known this since I was a losery and highly-tortured 14-year-old Emily the Strange Incarnate, and I saw Knickerbocker (the Obvious McObviouserson runt of his litter) at a pet store, pestering the Helter Skelter out of his sisters and bros, and, in my sweet Knickerbocker, I saw myself.

WHY I AM KNICKERBOCKER, BY LAURA JANE FAULDS

1. I am a cat. I am self-involved, bored, hard to please, moody, an introvert/extrovert, mischievious, curious, and infinitely satisfied by the rewards of said curiousity.

2. My soul is decidedly pre-teenage. In feline-ebon terms: I fit in somewhere between cutesy-wutesy kitten-pie (which I was, once), and sly, dahhhhk, unfuckwithable grown black cat (I am banking on the hope that one day both Knickerbocker and Laura Jane will grow to be sexy, seductive and mysterious adults).

3. I am a scrappy alley cat. I am a dirty little fighter, and I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

4. LJF=TRA (Total Runt Archetype). Touch as nails, goofy as sin, talks a big game, falls down a lot.

5. I physically resemble a black cat.

At some point in my life, I will settle down, and I will adopt the runty black cat of my dreams. But I won't name him Knickerbocker; I'll name him Sam the Sham. There can be no real Knickerbocker. THE REAL KNICKERBOCKER IS LAURA JANE. (LJ)

The sea turtle (or maybe a sea horse)

According to previous posts on nogoodforme, my spirit animal is either David Lee Roth or Jennifer Herrema's hair, neither of which is very much like a sea turtle. And when Kat and Laura did the nogoodforme self-portrait as power animals earlier this year at Sodafine, they made me a cute little bunny rabbit, which is awesome and adorable. In some ways, though, sea turtles are like the opposite of bunny rabbits, at least if you think about the whole tortoise-and-the-hare fable. Lately I'm trying to get more into the serene, slow-moving, go-with-the-flow sea-turtle way of life, rather than that stressy jumpy rabbit-y thing (and maybe you don't think of rabbits as very stressy creatures, but I'm mostly working with the Winnie the Pooh archetype here). Turtles are patient, which I am not in the least but certainly aspire to be. And turtles probably don't drink way too much Diet Coke and iced coffee, another quality I'd very much like to adopt (though not any time soon - at this point in my life I'm completely comfortable with my caffeine addiction). I do totally have a shell, however. I think my spirit animal's shell would be lots of lovely colors, like cerulean blue and dandelion yellow and hot-pink and emerald and indigo, all mixed together in some beautiful swirly-whirly design.

And just five seconds ago I decided that my alternate spirit animal should be the sea horse, mostly for silly reasons (e.g. sea horses are pretty; I love the song "Sea Horse" by Devendra Banhart), but also because - in the spirit animal realm - sea horses are about confidence and grace (two things a girl can never get enough of).

Oh and I'd like to point out that in that same post in which I picked David Lee Roth to be my spirit animal, I also named Logan Echolls as my patronus. So I think for nogoodforme's next big bash, the theme should be patronuses (patroni?), and we should all learn how to do the patronus charm and maybe rent out a few dementors to ward off. And we can get the Weird Sisters to play and Jarvis Cocker will become BFFs with nogoodforme and he can guest-blog for us and maybe sometimes we'll even let him fill out the Snapshot. That would be the most. (Liz)

Love: Allison Daniel Designs

As an instinctual minimalist, I'm starting to understand why people love accessories so much, especially as I delve deeper into the niche of jewelry, handbag and shoe designers. After all, accessories are almost guaranteed to fit you all your life, no matter how your dress size may fluctuate, and there isn't as high of a level of anxiety around baubles and bijouterie as there is around something like pants or jeans. (Seriously, how often do you say, "This necklace makes my hips look wide?") Jewelry lets you be playful, fanciful, angstful, mean-ful, graceful and all sorts of -fuls, and there's often so much beauty and creativity in its design that you really do feel like you're collecting art. Which is why we're psyched to bring you this necklace from Allison Daniel, which (of course) is the latest booty we've scored for you to win in our Spirit Animal House Charity Raffle. Allison Daniel is actually the brainchild of Allison Moses, a NYC-based designer who has been making jewelry since she was a young lass. (The "Daniel" from Allison Daniel is her husband's first name -- isn't that sweet?) She studied at RISD before college, then went onto a design degree at American University and did time at Fashion Institute of Technology. Well-trained with a solid eye for detail and proportion, she brings a high level of skill to her intricate pieces, and her work has a remarkable stylistic diversity -- she can do everything from ornamental romantic to whimsical hippie to haute preppy. (I'm betting her fleur-de-lys necklaces will show up on "Gossip Girl" -- if they haven't already made an appearance on the show.) But no matter what, it's all incredibly charming and rendered in beautiful antique golds and silvers, often hand-dipped in pewter for that heirloom-worthy feel and custom-made for the beautiful likes of you.

For Spirit Animal House, we've got a gorgeous, gorgeous necklace with a beautiful leaf pendant from Allison Daniel that, yes, you can win, if you buy a raffle ticket. It's a longer-length necklace and just perfect for the fall -- the leaf and gorgeous brass-y finish reminds me of serene forest walks with the sunlight glinting through branches in the afternoon. It's feminine, it's bohemian, it's substantial and it's seriously covetable -- I keep taking it out of the box and go "oooh" over it a few times a day. As per usual, proceeds from the raffle go to our favorite beloved animal charities, and you're guaranteed to get something unique and beautiful and well-chosen with love and affection -- because we like you so much and enjoy feeling like weirdly girly Santa Clauses at the end of summer.

Look at the level of detail on the leaf -- you can see the little leaf veins!

Want to a chance to win this? Buy a raffle ticket or two and this little beauty could be yours:

Love: Allison Daniel Designs

As an instinctual minimalist, I'm starting to understand why people love accessories so much, especially as I delve deeper into the niche of jewelry, handbag and shoe designers. After all, accessories are almost guaranteed to fit you all your life, no matter how your dress size may fluctuate, and there isn't as high of a level of anxiety around baubles and bijouterie as there is around something like pants or jeans. (Seriously, how often do you say, "This necklace makes my hips look wide?") Jewelry lets you be playful, fanciful, angstful, mean-ful, graceful and all sorts of -fuls, and there's often so much beauty and creativity in its design that you really do feel like you're collecting art. Which is why we're psyched to bring you this necklace from Allison Daniel, which (of course) is the latest booty we've scored for you to win in our Spirit Animal House Charity Raffle. Allison Daniel is actually the brainchild of Allison Moses, a NYC-based designer who has been making jewelry since she was a young lass. (The "Daniel" from Allison Daniel is her husband's first name -- isn't that sweet?) She studied at RISD before college, then went onto a design degree at American University and did time at Fashion Institute of Technology. Well-trained with a solid eye for detail and proportion, she brings a high level of skill to her intricate pieces, and her work has a remarkable stylistic diversity -- she can do everything from ornamental romantic to whimsical hippie to haute preppy. (I'm betting her fleur-de-lys necklaces will show up on "Gossip Girl" -- if they haven't already made an appearance on the show.) But no matter what, it's all incredibly charming and rendered in beautiful antique golds and silvers, often hand-dipped in pewter for that heirloom-worthy feel and custom-made for the beautiful likes of you.

For Spirit Animal House, we've got a gorgeous, gorgeous necklace with a beautiful leaf pendant from Allison Daniel that, yes, you can win, if you buy a raffle ticket. It's a longer-length necklace and just perfect for the fall -- the leaf and gorgeous brass-y finish reminds me of serene forest walks with the sunlight glinting through branches in the afternoon. It's feminine, it's bohemian, it's substantial and it's seriously covetable -- I keep taking it out of the box and go "oooh" over it a few times a day. As per usual, proceeds from the raffle go to our favorite beloved animal charities, and you're guaranteed to get something unique and beautiful and well-chosen with love and affection -- because we like you so much and enjoy feeling like weirdly girly Santa Clauses at the end of summer.

Look at the level of detail on the leaf -- you can see the little leaf veins!

Want to a chance to win this? Buy a raffle ticket or two and this little beauty could be yours:

Love: Virginia Johnson

After five long and arduous years spent abroad, braving either -4357485 billion degree winter days in Montreal or intense societal pressures to "network" and "make connections" in New York City, I am as happy as a mutated clam in Lake Ontario to be back in my hometown of Toronto. Toronto is by no means the greatest city in the world, I think it would be most appropriate to bestow that honor upon Tokyo, Marrakech or Savannah (Editor's note: I have never been to any of these cities. That statement is a "best guess"). Nevertheless, Toronto is a fantastic place to be in 2008. IT IS SO HAPPENING! It's chill, the perfect midpoint between large and small (I think they call that "medium"), super-supportive, affordable, has good vegan food, and has finally attained its twenty-year-long goal of becoming a World-Class City.

I am really excited by the heaping bounds of creativity that I see in the output of Toronto artists and designers these days. It's so nice to finally reside in a place that nurtures its artistic population, and where members of said population nurture and support one another. Virginia Johnson is one of my favorite fashion designers in the world right now, and I am SO PROUD that she hails from Toronto, which, for the record, is pronounced Trawna if you're from here.

After spending this weekend on an organic farm, I have been thinking a lot about all the brute force and highly-involved processes that go into the production and creation of pretty much anything. What I love the most about Johnson's designs is that these processes are highlighted and honored in the aesthetics of her end products. Her printed fabrics and textiles are perfectly flawed; Johnson is inspired primarily by organic patterns and shapes (pebbles, birds, animals, flowers, etc.), so her collections tend to have an Impressionistic, Art Deco-y feel to them. She works with yarn, viscose, knits, jacquards, and Austrian merinos- I LOVE that her fall collection actually looks like fall! I find that the differentiation between fall and spring collections can be pretty much nothing (except for maybe using pastels rather than muted tones), and I find it highly comforting to see clothing that looks so cozy and functional. VJ's autumn collection is really perfectly-suited to going on an apple-picking date with Michael Showalter, which is my big goal for this impending October.

Virginia has a really delightful little shoppe on Toronto's hopping Ossington Avenue (it's at 132 Ossington, to be precise). Expect an installment of nogoodforme.tv to be filmed there sometime before this year is done. Personally, I think I might die of a broken heart if I don't get to be wearing Virginia's tweed pullover (as seen below) in any context at all, even if it has to be imaginary.

Showcased below are some of my favorite items from Virginia's fall collecksh:

But the most exciting thing of all about Virginia Johnson is that she has super-kindly donated a turquoise fish-print scarf to the SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE RAFFLE, which you could totally win! I am presently holding onto said turquoise fish-print scarf, which is totally annoying because I want to wear it every single day of my life, but can't, because I'll probably spill food all over it and ruin the raffle for everybody. However, I selflessly took some time out of my day to show you what an awesomely versatile article of clothing this scarf is:

Isn't it gorgeous? Don't you want it? Wouldn't it make your life SO EASY? Well, my babies: it can be yours. Good Luck, Good-lookin'!

Love: Undesigned by Carol Young

Undesigned by Carol Young calls this pretty-pink frock "Soy Jersey Reversible Angel Wrap Dress in Bubble Gum," but I like to call it "Becky Stark in the video for 'Open Your Heart' by Lavender Diamond." Don't you wanna feel just like Becky Stark in the video for "Open Your Heart" by Lavender Diamond? Of course you do! And because we're all about making dreams come true, nogoodforme's including the graciously donated wrap dress in our Spirit Animal House raffle. This one's gonna be an event-only prize, but all you non-partygoers can still have your shot at goodness like Bonspiel's bunny bag, Blood is the New Black's No War for Heavy Metal tee, and Frozen Peas Accessories' animal-adorned goodies by getting yourselves a $2 raffle ticket (or two, or three, or four). Click!

If you're not familiar with Undesigned by Carol Young's elegantly urban and eco-friendly collections, do peruse her online store as soon as humanly possible. I'm completely swooning over the Wing Cowl Dress (available in light-heather-grey organic cotton or black bamboo), and those Bamboo Denim Ciao Shorts (marked down to $70 from $140) are so perfect I've gone past swooning and onto "dying a little bit on the inside, but in a good way."

Love: Beard & Bangs

Spirit Animal House Fortnight continues! Out of all the ten hundred trillion aspects of Spirit Animal House that fill our respective hearts with joy, excitement, and hella positive vibes, the most inspiring is that we've gotten to form really awesome relationships with artists and designers who we've respected and admired for, like, ever. It's pretty amazing to wake up every morning to an e-mail inbox teeming with kind and supportive words from people whose work I've adored for ages.

One such example of this "if only eighteen-year-old Laura could see me now!" phenomenon is Brooklyn-based design duo Beard & Bangs, alias Mark Kane and Doris Ho. It is particularly important to note that Beard & Bangs win Laura Jane's unofficial gold medal for "best brand name EVER". The B&B moniker comes from Kane and Ho's most prominent hair-oriented traits; it makes me wish that Kat, Liz & I had taken a similar approach to naming ourselves, but actually, scratch that- all I can really think of is "Long Hair, Longer Hair & Short Hair," which is decidedly less catchy.

I find Beard & Bangs' designs engaging primarily because of the elegance and refinement they've been able to inject into the oft-scrubby, oft-grubby sartorial entity we call The T-Shirt. All tees displayed below (there are more up at B&B's online shop) would look totally chic and/or sleek paired with, say, slim black trousers and Miu Miu lightning bolt boots- you could rock that shit at a business meeting! Though I'd personally be more likely to capitalize on B&B's gentility by using their tees to dress up gnarly jeans or running shorts.

So, now that I've outlined two very doable suggestions for how you can rock a Beard & Bangs t-shirt, you really have no choice but to (metaphorically) march on over to our Paypal shop and BUY SOME RAFFLE TICKETS!

And not only are all you lucky little duckies eligible to win any one (or two! or three!) of these hot tees, you also have a shot at winning one of two Beard & Bangs LIMITED-EDITION LETTERPRESS CARD SETS! (my three personal favorite cards are displayed below). Though I kind of hope you don't, because I kind of hope I do.

PS: I think if I saw a dude walking down the street wearing Beard & Bangs' morbid-chic Death to Counterfeit t-shirt, I might ask him to marry me on the spot. And I don't think that would even be an irrational choice; I bet any dude who'd choose to wear that t-shirt is my kinda man. We could even sport matching Death to Counterfeit t-shirts on our fourth date or whatever! Oh, wouldn't it be nice.

PPS: The ever-diverse Beard & Bangs have recently released a limited-edition 7" vinyl pressing of Romantically Stoned by the beguilingly moody-broody Jodienda, which I am listening to right now and totally adoring. Check it out!

Love: Beard & Bangs

Spirit Animal House Fortnight continues! Out of all the ten hundred trillion aspects of Spirit Animal House that fill our respective hearts with joy, excitement, and hella positive vibes, the most inspiring is that we've gotten to form really awesome relationships with artists and designers who we've respected and admired for, like, ever. It's pretty amazing to wake up every morning to an e-mail inbox teeming with kind and supportive words from people whose work I've adored for ages.

One such example of this "if only eighteen-year-old Laura could see me now!" phenomenon is Brooklyn-based design duo Beard & Bangs, alias Mark Kane and Doris Ho. It is particularly important to note that Beard & Bangs win Laura Jane's unofficial gold medal for "best brand name EVER". The B&B moniker comes from Kane and Ho's most prominent hair-oriented traits; it makes me wish that Kat, Liz & I had taken a similar approach to naming ourselves, but actually, scratch that- all I can really think of is "Long Hair, Longer Hair & Short Hair," which is decidedly less catchy.

I find Beard & Bangs' designs engaging primarily because of the elegance and refinement they've been able to inject into the oft-scrubby, oft-grubby sartorial entity we call The T-Shirt. All tees displayed below (there are more up at B&B's online shop) would look totally chic and/or sleek paired with, say, slim black trousers and Miu Miu lightning bolt boots- you could rock that shit at a business meeting! Though I'd personally be more likely to capitalize on B&B's gentility by using their tees to dress up gnarly jeans or running shorts.

So, now that I've outlined two very doable suggestions for how you can rock a Beard & Bangs t-shirt, you really have no choice but to (metaphorically) march on over to our Paypal shop and BUY SOME RAFFLE TICKETS!

And not only are all you lucky little duckies eligible to win any one (or two! or three!) of these hot tees, you also have a shot at winning one of two Beard & Bangs LIMITED-EDITION LETTERPRESS CARD SETS! (my three personal favorite cards are displayed below). Though I kind of hope you don't, because I kind of hope I do.

PS: I think if I saw a dude walking down the street wearing Beard & Bangs' morbid-chic Death to Counterfeit t-shirt, I might ask him to marry me on the spot. And I don't think that would even be an irrational choice; I bet any dude who'd choose to wear that t-shirt is my kinda man. We could even sport matching Death to Counterfeit t-shirts on our fourth date or whatever! Oh, wouldn't it be nice.

PPS: The ever-diverse Beard & Bangs have recently released a limited-edition 7" vinyl pressing of Romantically Stoned by the beguilingly moody-broody Jodienda, which I am listening to right now and totally adoring. Check it out!

Imaginary Shopping Spree, Spirit Animal House Edition: Melanie Auld, 31 Corn Lane & SwanDiamondRose, Ayumi Horie

Melanie Auld Park bag

Melanie Auld is an accessories designer out of pipin' hot Miami who was on my radar for awhile for her pretty-yet-sharp jewelry -- pieces like her charm hoop earrings or turquoise keychain necklace have plenty of charm, but the designs have enough bite to keep them fun and just a touch funky. (I always like to imagine that people looking at her dagger earrings go, "Oooh, those are sooooo pretty! Are those...[leaning in closer, eyes widen]...daggers?") I was lucky enough to catch a press preview of her fall line, and I'm excited to report that she's branching off into a handbag line, which is just as well-crafted and "ooooh"-inducing as her bijoux. The materials are buttery and posh, the hardware tasteful yet eye-catching and their designs keep in mind how busy city girls practically live out of their bags all day, boasting plenty of pockets and compartments. We are totally stoked because Melanie was awesome enough to donate one of these bags to our charity raffle -- my favorite, the elegant Park bag in a lovely light grey, which has a fancy Chanel-like chain as well as a beautiful design embossed into the body. (The bag itself will be lighter than the one shown below.) It's luxe, posh, gorge and all manner of fashion superlatives, and you'll want to hold onto it for years and pass it down to your future daughters -- that's how bellissima this bag is. You can bring it to fancy occasions, of course, but it's also great to wear out at night with your skinny jeans, cropped jacket and little boots this fall as well. And you can win it for the price of a raffle ticket, you lucky ducks you. I'm totally jealous. (Kat)

To buy a raffle ticket for a chance to win this Melanie Auld bag:

Cures for the bad-bag blues

I need a new bag so bad, so bad. My friend's cat ate my favorite bag (not, like, consumed it whole, but just sort of gnawed on it a bit so it looks ratty and awful), and I tried shopping around for a new one last Friday with NO LUCK. In lieu of trolling the entire scary Interweb for a replacement satchel, for now I'm just gazing adoringly at all the lovely bags that our lovely Spirit Animal House donors are lavishing upon us. Behold, from left to right: SWANclothing straight midi tote by SwanDiamondRose and 31 Corn Lane's Hearts and Horses Shoulder Bag and Squiggle Stitch Shoulder Bag.

I want them all, yet encourage you to try to steal them away from me by clicking on that cute little PayPal button and buying yourself a raffle ticket right this second. Buena suerte! (Liz)

Ceramics of all shapes and sizes by Ayumi Horie

I wish that I was grown-up and rich and successful and lived in a sprawling, haunted, ivy-covered mansion in Savannah, Georgia with two dogs, three cats, Sho, and a pair of impish boy/girl twins (who would always look sort of like this, only more avant-wack). I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Cancerian; nothing in the world is more appealing to me than the prospect of a Southern Gothic palace to call my own. I love fantasizing about how I could apply the principle of Total Design to my insanely sick abode. Eames chairs, baby pink KitchenAid mixer, a library with one of those ladders on wheels, Josef Hoffmann cutlery, a psychedelic bedspread, and, most importantly, kitchen cabinets teeming with Ayumi Horie ceramics. I'd eat cereal out of my rat bowl, light cigarettes with my goat match striker (actually, never mind- I hope I've quit smoking by the time I live in my idyllic Southern mansion), and only ever drink coffee out of my goat & whale cups (as seen above).

I don't know if my Savannah fantasy will ever become a reality, but at very least, YOU might get to live out my ideal coffee-drinking situation. We are so very lucky to have two handmade Ayumi Horie cups that YOU COULD TOTALLY WIN! Ayumi's ceramics are all hand-crafted utilizing a process called "dry throwing" that I will probably never be able to wrap my head around, unless I move to upstate New York and become her intern, something I am seriously considering doing.

Hey, dudes: if you win the raffle and donate your winnings to me, your karma will be off-the-chain AMAZING. Just kidding- it's all for the animals. Give it a shot, brothers:

Spirit Animal House: THE RAFFLE IS OPEN!

Welcome to the nogoodforme.com Spirit Animal House Fortnight: two weeks of SAH-centric coverage so we can tell you all about the multitudes of style righteousness that will culminate on September 9, 2008, when a large group of very fun, very cute people will converge upon Pianos at night to celebrate their inner totem with drink, song and hopefully some dancing and making out! Yeah!

Now, I know some of you won't be able to make it to our soiree, so we decided to spread the wealth of good times and open up most of our charity raffle to anyone anywhere with a PayPal account. (There will be a few prizes that are event-only, and tickets for those will be $5, available at the event only.) For the small price of $2 an entry, you could have a chance to win some amazing prizes. How amazing? Why don't you glimpse a few of them here? (We'll keep adding to the page, so keep checking in -- although you can trust us to tell you ALL ABOUT IT, I'm sure.) They've been donated by the incredible likes of Habitude, Mociun, Blood is the New Black, SwanDiamondRose, Melanie Auld, Frozen Peas Accessories, Danielle Petrosa and so, so many more. Proceeds from the raffle go to Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (NYC), PAWS/LA (Los Angeles), Animal Rights Kollective ARK II (Toronto), so it's for a good cause. Satisfy your inner gambler and court the favor of Dame Chance! You have till September 9th to get your tickets and enter the raffle drawing to win. Good luck!

Look! Some of our prizes (l to r): Melanie Auld Park bag, Danielle Petrosa Pattie Boyd necklace, SwanDiamondRose tote.

Heavy Rotation: Speck Mountain, Spiritualized, 10CC

This week's installment of Heavy Rotation is the kind of drift-y, mellow thing that's perfect for summer's exit. As always, it's on our homepage there on the far-right column, waiting to be used, abused and enjoyed in your quest for late-afternoon cubicle entertainment.

Speck Mountain, "Stockholm"
Once you hear this lovely wisp of a song, you'll realize why we were so stoked when Speck Mountain kindly agreed to be our main entertainment for our upcoming Spirit Animal House soiree. Often described as "space rock" or "dream pop," I think they just make beautiful music, with guitars drenched in echo and reverb, melodies so spacious you could sleep inside of them and vocals that often get compared to Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval in their beauty and serenity. Please, take a listen, and of course you should catch them live at our party. Did you get the subliminal message there? Come to our party and see Speck Mountain. You'll have lots of fun. Yes, you will. (Kat)

The Walkmen, "On the Water"
The Walkmen and I have this really tortured yet sexy relationship that involves me disavowing them for some half-ridiculous reason or another -- and then getting sucked into their ineffably soulful dudeness over and over again. It's like that horridly hot boyfriend that never quite lets you go; they keep hanging around, filling your head with dark, sinister thoughts, and you can't quite shake them off because they're so bloody attractive. Their latest record, You and Me, is really, really, really good: it begins sleepily and subtly, and just hooks you with its commitment, its spooky guitar work and the increasingly craggy vocals of Hamilton Leithauser, one of my longer-running rock crushes. The cover of You and Me is my fall wardrobe inspiration as well. Isn't it nice when everything comes together? (Kat)

Spiritualized, "I Didn't Mean to Hurt You"
I saw Pineapple Express twice on opening weekend and loved it madly and wished very much that I were a dude, just so I could star in bromantic comedies disguised as stoner action movies and get rescued from burning buildings in slow motion while the last two minutes of this song play so bombastically and gloriously. But I'm not; I'm a girl; oh well. Also, the morning after my first Pineapple Express viewing I figured out the secret to making "Paper Planes" sound like the best thing you'll ever hear in your life, but it's classified information that I'll only ever give away if you buy me at least three cocktails at Spirit Animal House. (Liz)

The Smithereens, "Blood and Roses"
My new favorite radio station plays The Smithereens a lot, and whenever "Blood and Roses" comes on I think of (1) how next time I visit the fam I really should head down to the basement and dig up my stepdad's vinyl copy of Especially for You, just to feel cooler about myself, and (2) that bit in Romy & Michele's High School Reunion when the teenage version of Janeane Garofalo's character sneaks behind the school to smoke a cigarette between classes. Watch here and dig on her proto-grungeness. (Liz)

10cc, "Wall Street Shuffle"
Since you have all waited so patiently for two long and harrowing weeks between Heavy Rotations, I've decided to treat you to something extra special as a reward: it's called "Wall Street Shuffle" and it's the best song of all time. This song cured me of my fear of dancing forever: pre-"Wall Street Shuffle," I was a total wallflower and felt too shy or nervous to wiggle even my baby toe in dance-centric situations. Post-"Wall Street Shuffle", my life is pretty much They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, only with more dancing. I'm even dancing right now. I always dance and write nogoodforme posts at the same time: it's just how I roll. It's just how I shuffle. Also, you really can't beat finance-themed lyrics in pop music. The Beatles know this, Matthew Friedberger knows this, Laura Jane Faulds knows this, and apparently so do 10cc, the greatest band of all time. Be cool on Wall Street, folks! (Laura)

The Rutles, "Piggy in the Middle"
The only thing in the world more endlessly satisfying than a great Beatles song is a great fake-Beatles song, or perhaps a great Kinks song, but I think a great Kinks song probably qualifies as a great fake-Beatles song as well. (Dear Ray Davies: If you read nogoodforme.com, I'm sorry if that statement hurt your feelings. I love you and think you're a genius. Last night I was walking to the train station drunk at two in the morning and listened to "Shangri-La"; it blew my mind. We're cool, okay?) If you maintain any sort of interest in the Beatles at all whatsoever and haven't watched The Rutles yet, you're only cheating yourself. Every fake-Beatles song on the soundtrack is pretty much as good as a real Beatles song, which is exciting because it's sort of like life graced you with a brand-new Beatles album you've never heard before, which is obviously too good to be true, which makes sense, because it isn't true. It's a Beatles parody record. Oh, and: this is SO my favorite installment of Heavy Rotation EVER. Enjoy! (Laura)

We're Obsessed: Spirit Animal House Updates, Usain Bolt, Post-Vacay Detox

Spirit Animal House!

I think you should just mentally prepare yourself for a blitz of constant references to our Spirit Animal House party coming up in a few weeks. It's hard for us not to be excited, especially because we have some very super-fun things planned, and the good ideas keep rolling in from the massive emails and marathon teleconferences that we all have with one another in all the planning and anticipation! Really, have you checked out the raffle prize list already? The possible loot you could practically steal (with a few raffle tickets and a bit of luck) includes stuff from peeps like Mociun, Undesigned by Carol Young, Blood is the New Black, SwanDiamondRose, Popomomo and much, much, much more; it's starting to feel like we're some weird girly version of Santa Claus or something. And the music by Speck Mountain and Ver Sacrum is going to be so dreamy and the drinks are going to be fabulous and the people there are going to be insanely hot and friendly; I can tell, because so many people we've contacted so far have been incredibly, unbelievably awesome and supportive. Oh, and I can't neglect to mention that it is a rare, rare event that Liz, Laura Jane and I, being the far-flung girl gang that we are, physically co-exist as a troika in the same room within the same timeframe. This alone is incredibly exciting for me, and I predict something crazy will happen, as it usually does in the grand tradition of girl trios a la Destiny's Child, Charlie's Angels and the Powerpuff Girls. (I can at least guarantee some insane amounts of giggling will be done, and I bet there will be some drunk-dialing and/or prank-calling.) Stay tuned for details as they roll in; I'm practically living, sleeping and breathing this event. It's enough to MAKE ME WANT TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME. (Kat)

USAIN "LIGHTNING BOLT" BOLT

Oh, the Games of the XXIX Olympiad! My general stance on the Olympics can best be summed by the following witticism: The Olympics: they're better than NOlympics! The upside of it being Olympics-fortnight right now is that at least there's something on TV besides Everybody Loves Raymond reruns; the obvious downside is that when you're Ca-freaking-nadian, you have to deal with your entire country constantly moping and sulking because America has fifty trillion more medals than us. Our inferiority complex is really out-of-control; Canadians love calculating the medals-to-population ratios of Canada vs. the USA. Apparently when you do that, it proves that Canada actually has way more medals than America. Go Canada!

But what is really important about this particular Olympiad is the beguiling and ever-absorbing presence of Jamaica's Usain "Lightning" Bolt. Let's just cut to the chase: I'm madly in love with him. Also: he's kind of the coolest person ever, and I mean that genuinely. He's cooler than Keith Richards by, um, two hundred entire meters (traversed in 19.30 seconds, of course). It's really fun to watch him run races because he's SO MUCH faster than everybody else: he always jogs for the last little bit of the race because he's so far ahead of the pack. And then he breaks the world record! What the hell is that about, Bolt?

Bolt is also a bit of a ham, which I love in a man. He's a Leo, obviously. He has this really cool double-armed point thing he pairs with a dazzling grin anytime he sees a camera on him- that shit drives me wild! It seems to me that professional athletes may very well be the most boring people on the face of the planet but for chartered accountants (if I hear the phrase "My Olympic Dream" one more time I'm going to shoot someone), so it's amply refreshing to be graced with such bold-faced star quality in a jock. I'm sure even Simon Cowell would agree that Bolt has been blessed with a triple dose of the X Factor.

Bolt's newfound celebrity really makes me wish I had my own television show so that I could interview him. I think we would have a lot of fun together! He seems about a million times chiller than that jerk Michael Showalter who never called me back (Sho: He's Just Not That Into Me); according to his Wikipedia entry, "his character is frequently described as laid-back and relaxed." Awesome! Seriously, if I were Lindsay Lohan right now, I'd ditch Samantha Ronson's bony ass and shack up with this Golden God ASAP.

Usain Bolt is also mad fly and SUCH a Style Icon. He runs every race wearing metallic gold Pumas; I would personally kill for a pair of those bad boys! All's I have to say is that Usain Bolt wholly epitomizes the nogoodforme.com-branded concept of TOO DUDE FOR YOU. But he's the exact perfect amount of dude for me. (Laura)

Post-Vacay Detox

I just got back from a late-summer's holiday in Massachusetts, which means that - in addition to spending lots of Q.T. with many of the people I love most on Earth, attending the lovely wedding of a lovely friend, and buying seasonally inappropriate scarves on Martha's Vineyard - I consumed an excess of caramel-flavored Dunkin Donuts coffee, the best profiteroles I've ever had in my life, a perverse amount of Twizzlers, and many other sugary things that are super-yummy but NO GOOD FOR ME (and not that kind of "no good for me," man). So now, to counteract all the evil sugar molecules probably wreaking inflammatory havoc on my body at this very moment, I'm going all health-food-bonkers and stuffing my kitchen with many dark-green leafy vegetables, hiziki, and a Yogi Tea that's got lots of cleansing herbs like burdock root and psyllium seed and dandelion. For maybe five seconds or so I actually thought about doing a juice fast, but then I decided that that would most likely result in my going bonkers for reals, so nevermind. And I might even get all indulgent and head to Dtox for something ridiculous/fantastic like the Norwegian Seaweed Wrap or Ayurvedic Sea Salt Scrub, if I'm feeling really wild.

(FYI, I've already completed the traditional "psychic detox" regimen, which basically involves crawling into bed after arriving home very late from the airport, enjoying a few sips of wine, and watching Laurel Canyon till I fall asleep. I saw that movie twice in the theater right before I moved to L.A., and I still get all goosebumpy during the gorgeous opening credits.)

Oh, and here's the seasonally appropriate scarf I spoke of: I'm excited for when L.A. drops to the icy lower-50s/upper-40s this winter and I can wrap it around my head and pretend I'm the Snow Queen. To the right: All Saints Way in Boston's North End, where I got those profiteroles I'm still dreaming of. (Liz)

We're Obsessed: nogoodforme.com presents SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE: a night of music + art + fashion, 9/9/2008 @ Pianos, NYC

Kat, Liz and Laura Jane are pleased, proud, stoked, frenzied, delighted, honored and deliriously excited to announce SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE, the latest, greatest, and decidedly most fabulous step in our quest towards Total Media Domination. SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE marks nogoodforme.com's entry into the wild world of bash-throwing, and promises to be the Western Hemisphere's most unforgettable soiree since Truman Capote's Black and White Ball.

SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE, kicks off at 8 PM on Tuesday, September 9th at NYC's Piano's. It will feature live performances by the amazing Speck Mountain and LJ's own Ver Sacrum, as well as the long-awaited unveiling of nogoodforme.com's signature cocktail, lots and lots of dancing, avant-wackdom in droves, hot dudes, cute girls, and a raffle chock-full of killer prizes from Sodafine, Frozen Peas Accessories, 31 Corn Lane, and many, many more! (All proceeds will be split between Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition, PAWS/LA and ARK II; please contact us if you are interested in donating)

All important info can be found over at spiritanimalhouse.com, and we will continue to keep you posted on the details as they pour in!

In short: BE THERE, OR BE REALLY, REALLY SQUARE.

We're Obsessed: nogoodforme.com presents SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE: a night of music + art + fashion, 9/9/2008 @ Pianos, NYC

Kat, Liz and Laura Jane are pleased, proud, stoked, frenzied, delighted, honored and deliriously excited to announce SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE, the latest, greatest, and decidedly most fabulous step in our quest towards Total Media Domination. SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE marks nogoodforme.com's entry into the wild world of bash-throwing, and promises to be the Western Hemisphere's most unforgettable soiree since Truman Capote's Black and White Ball.

SPIRIT ANIMAL HOUSE, kicks off at 8 PM on Tuesday, September 9th at NYC's Piano's. It will feature live performances by the amazing Speck Mountain and LJ's own Ver Sacrum, as well as the long-awaited unveiling of nogoodforme.com's signature cocktail, lots and lots of dancing, avant-wackdom in droves, hot dudes, cute girls, and a raffle chock-full of killer prizes from Sodafine, Frozen Peas Accessories, 31 Corn Lane, and many, many more! (All proceeds will be split between Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition, PAWS/LA and ARK II; please contact us if you are interested in donating)

All important info can be found over at spiritanimalhouse.com, and we will continue to keep you posted on the details as they pour in!

In short: BE THERE, OR BE REALLY, REALLY SQUARE.