Living A Double Life

I should have better things to do—but I have to admit to splurging an excessive amount of time and attention last week on an Italian confection strangely titled Baby. It's about a bunch of kids in Rome who deal with domestic strife and school bullies by selling drugs, getting really wasted and "seducing" older men with their youthful beauty.

Baby gives you the perpetual, skin-crawling reminder that you're sitting and staring at young women's bodies, enjoying the way you can set foot into their lives and then turn away when the scenes do not interest you any longer. Oh my god. Chiara. Chiara is so hot.

The series has a contagious misery, and may remind you of your younger, brasher, more energetic self. Here's another fact: It was inspired by the real-life Baby Squillo (Baby Prostitute) scandal, in which a group of young girls became involved in a prostitution ring. In many of the episodes, sex and teenage romance get mixed up without much effort and I never stop to examine what it is exactly about these narratives I find so satisfying.

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Where Bad Space and Good Music Collided

My first apartment was in Malate, and calling it “small” would be generous. I lived there with two girls and one guy, and to this day, I genuinely don’t know how we all fit. It felt like a magic trick. Or a health hazard. We were a musical mess. One roommate lived and breathed ’70s classics. Another was permanently blasting Korn and Slipknot. One survived solely on cheesy love songs. And me? I was floating somewhere between new wave and folk rock, pretending that made sense. Somehow, despite the noise and the chaos, we all lived together in this weird, mismatched harmony. No murders. No lawsuits. A win, honestly. My music taste now is nothing like it was in my twenties. Not even close. But I’ll always be grateful to Jacqueline for introducing me to this song in particular. It was playing when I woke up from a very memorable sleep in 2002. I was 21, half-awake, probably confused about life, and that song stuck. It still hasn’t let go.

The Adorable Sculptures of Yen Yen Lo

These images are from a series of wall sculptures created by Yen Yen Lo . Here you can see her intricately textured ceramic pieces, looking downright adorable. Yen Yen Lo's eye for the unique and whimsical is delightful. Apparently they are not intended for kids under 16. Fifteen-year-olds cannot be trusted with fragile stuff. Get them a Funko Pop instead.

Irene Saputra's Colorful Stitched Pieces

Embroidery is nowhere near forgotten, and in fact, it's experiencing something of a resurgence as artists around the globe are putting their own unique spins on the craft. Indonesia's Irene Saputra is one of them, and more than 45,000 people on Instagram already follow her. Handmade from colorful threads stitched onto fabric, Irene's embroideries begin as original illustrations. What I really like about her stitched pieces is that some of them are meant to be worn. Look at an array of her handiwork!

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