Thursday, September 10, 2009

Failing at eBay

Sadly, my Rage has subsided.
Today I just had a Junior Migraine, which is a Kinder, Gentler version of the All-Singing, All-Dancing, All-Vomiting Major Migraine that I used to regularly get & still do on occasions.
I went home after lunch & got into bed.
I'd love to walk you through my Exact Movements for the rest of today after I got out of bed. But I'll just stick to the highlights.
Activity No. 1. Over a modest dinner of a tuna salad with Persian fetta & baby asparagus, I stoically read the 'Style' section of the Sydney Morning Herald where I discovered that copies of September 2007 'Vogue', which of course has been made famous by the doco of the same name, are now selling on eBay for over one hundred bucks.
I immediately rushed into My Art Room where I have a labyrinthine collection of mags that I use for collages. Would I still have a copy? Or did I throw it out in an uncharacteristic bid to become less cluttered? Or maybe I still have a copy but it's cut to ribbons?

The September Issue wasn't hard to find. It stuck out like dog's balls because of the size.
I eagerly begin flicking through the pages. Almost, but not quite, pristine. Semi-Mint Condition.
How can I become a seller on eBay, I wondered. It mustn't be that hard. But how am I going to manage going to the post office & buying the stamps & sending if off to some far distant shore? That too, mustn't be that hard.
But then I found it. A torn page. And then another one.
My dreams of Sudden eBay Wealth were suddenly, irretrievably over.

I took a picture of my Damaged Magazine just to prove that All This Is True. I've included one of my favourite action figures - Supergirl Whatever Her Name is. She is shoving her entire fist up Sienna Miller's nose, who I didn't think much of in the film. But then again, I wouldn't.
I just loved how Grace Coddington, the creative genius behind Anna & Vogue said that Anna's great strength lay in discovering celebrities made good models that sell magazines. Talk about damning with faint praise. Grace also said that she wouldn't care if they never used celebrities again as models. How fab.

Here's a still of Anna from the film. She looks Almost Saintly.
I'm sure a major part of her allure is that she's a Major Witholder. I hope you know what I mean by this. Because it is getting dangerously close to my bedtime, & I mustn't break my curfew. So I haven't got time to go into it.
But I will. I am practicing to be a Witholder. Actually, I'm being one now.


Oh, before I go, Activity No.2. Before dinner this evening, I spent some time trawling through my 2008 wardrobe remix for flickr sets. Yes, I know. More Rampant Self-Absorption. This one was taken exactly a year ago. I know that at the time I was teaching Gothic Horror, but it's still no excuse for wearing Batwing Sleeves & a Plastic Owl Pendant.

4 comments:

Darla said...

I know nothing about the Vogue stuff but I do like the way you staged Wonder Woman against the magazine cover.

Please explain "major witholder", I know nothing about that either. Maybe I'm one and don't know it.

Darla - who doesn't seem to know much.

Della Street Dreaming said...

Darla - that is absolutely not true. You are v. knowledgeable.
You must go & see 'The September Issue', I'm sure it would still be on somewhere in Berkeley. Apart from the fact that it's a really well made documentary, which seems to be rare these days, it's an insight into this strange world. Also, the main players - Grace Coddington & Anna Wintour are all older women who are photographed in not particularly flattering ways. In fact, they look like their age! It's fascinating to see this.
I'll explain more about witholding later.

Paola said...

I can't remember the last time I flicked through a Vogue, but I found "the September Issue" fascinating. More specifically I found the relationship between Anna and Grace fascinating. I couldn't help thinking that it was Anna's great good fortune to have Grace behind her every step of her editorship.
As for predicting the "celebrities as models" phenomenon...well, they are American Vogue, for goodness sake. Surely that's a self-fulfilling prediction.

Della Street Dreaming said...

I agree, Paola. I felt that Anna acknowledged that Grace was a 'genius', but that Grace didn't respond in a similar way. Probably fed up with all her witholding, snotty behaviour.