Stuck on Repeat: Lykke Li

Lykke Li - "I'm Good, I'm Gone"
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"I'm Good, I'm Gone" by Lykke Li



"Little Bit" by Lykke Li

Canada: Day 5 From Jasper to Banff / Athabasca Falls

After spending the night at Hinton, we explored more of Jasper's sights.

ATHABASCA FALLS









Athabasca Falls is one of my favorite locations within the two parks because the views of the waterfall are gorgeous. The water flows out into a lake, where puffs of foam float (I was told that this foam contains contaminants, but they're still pretty to look at). Interesting to note is all of the warning signs posted: if you fall in, you will die because the water is extremely cold and you will have hypothermia within minutes.

Juxtapose the powerful energy of the waterfalls with the serenity of the lake:



View from the lake of Athabasca Falls - one of my favorite shots, the milky glacier water looks ethereal.



A short 15 sec clip of Athabasca Falls

Canada: Day 4 Jasper

Canada's Jasper National Park is full of unspoiled natural beauty. It's connected to and north of the more-traveled, older Banff National Park, Canada's first national park. I had read that travelers enjoy Jasper more than Banff because Jasper has less visitors and is less developed than Banff. The central town in Jasper, while much less developed than Banff, still offers plenty of shops and restaurants and also appears very well-maintained. The fam was surprised at how commercialized the town was, but it was nothing in comparison to Banff.



Doesn't this look like a place where you'd have a conversation with God?
Pyramid Island at Pyramid Lake



Beware of idiot tourists!



Medicine Lake



Maligne Canyon



A black bear sighting! Mama bear was eating berries, while the baby cubs ran away. It was amusing to see how people react around a bear sighting. Rather than stay ten bus lengths away, everyone inched closer with their cars. There was a massive traffic clot as people parked their cars every which way to get a closer peak at these elusive animals. I saw one man leave his car and approach them for better pictures, as if the millions that he had took in his car weren't enough (and he had parked right in front of them). Tourists climbed on top of their cars, my mother perched on top of the sunroof, it was quite an experience.

Canada: Day 3 Kamloops

After a day of shopping in Vancouver, the fam was ready to journey eastward toward Kamloops, where we would spend the night. The drive was beautiful - lots of mountains, trees, rivers and lakes. Since I could not drive (the car having been rented), my time was spent finding choice music on satellite radio. I have to say, I was not impressed with satellite radio. Maybe it was because of the limited number of channels, but there were only a few channels of music that the whole family could listen together, mostly pop and oldies. And what we all soon discovered was that the same new Jonas Brothers hit or Miley's #1 song kept replaying over and over. Oh god, the horror.

So after abusing our ears with enough replays of "7 Things" and Fall Out Boy's "Beat It", we permanently fixed the radio dial on oldies.

Kamloops, while not the small town I imagined, looks more like a sprawling mass of suburbia. There really isn't much to do here. We went to the Oriental Gardens Restaurant, which offers Japanese and Chinese cuisine. I was wary of the themed appearance of the restaurant's exterior, which should have been a giant warning sign, but the fam was really hungry. We ordered several Chinese dishes and they were terrible. The meat had a strange texture, and the food did not look freshly prepared.

Spotlight: Laura Laine

Laura Laine for Zara (see more of her illustrations on the Zara website under Inspiration)

I recently came across Laura Laine's fashion illustrations on the Zara website and instantly fell in love with the mood and movement of her misshaped characters. One of the most striking features of these figures is their hair, exuding energy with overpowering volume and fluidity. Bodies are strangely contorted, with hunched postures and elastic limbs. These girls' ghostly expressions contrast with their animated bodies, attesting Laine's strength in depicting dynamic bodily form.

To see these characters dressed in the latest fashion is mesmerizing. Tiered ruffle dresses billow beautifully. Trouser jeans skim legs gracefully. The clothes emphasize, rather than overpower, the lines and form of their models. Laine skillfully plays with colors, textures, and patterns.

See Laine's online portfolio here.

Read an interview with Laura Laine here.

See her work at an upcoming exhibition in Los Angeles! Laine's work, as well as the work of many other talented artists, will be shown from November 7th to the 29th at the Thinkspace Art Gallery. For more information, click here.