Biiicycle, BIIICYCLE

Now reread the title with Queen playing in your head and you'll understand what I was thinking when I wrote it with so many extra vowels. I went to see "Premium Rush" last night, compelled by my love of unique action-y movies, the maze of city streets that is NYC, and my awe and adoration of JGL. Yeah, yeah, yeah, how many times have I tossed his name around? Well, here and here for a start. Anyway, here's a quick review, accompanied by my FOTD when I went to see it.

As far as this particular film, I thought it was extremely well done. My friend and I went into it with the realization that a movie with this premise would either suck, or be completely awesome. I was reassured by Joseph Gordon-Levitt's presence on the cast list; he may do odd movies sometimes, but I find that, all in all, he's made pretty amazing choices so far.

Without giving away the plot, I'll tell you two things I really enjoyed about this film. First of all, one feature was reminiscent of the Robert Downey Jr. "Sherlock Holmes" movies; which I can't stand, by the way. Luckily, this particular production choice is not the reason for my dislike of them. If you've seen the Holmes films, you should recall the slow motion sequences in which the world's most skilled detective shifts into ass-kicking mode and plots out his attack on his opponent move by move. In "Premium Rush," when Wilee (played by JGL) encounters a difficult situation on the street, time slows down and his brain begins its spacial gymnastics in much the same way. There's a great use of what I'm guess are GPS-inspired street views and mapping of possible escape routes.

That brings us nicely into the other aspect I enjoyed with this film. Not only were paths signalled in individual situations, but overlaid on a bird's eye view grid of NYC as a whole as cyclist pedalled at break-neck speeds to their destinations. It reinforced the extreme difficulty of their job as they literally raced from one borough to another, dozens upon dozens of blocks away. It also helped the audience stay focussed and grounded in such a fast-paced film, giving you at least one stable element to latch onto. A little bit of organization in a great deal of chaos.

As a parting summary, I will tell you that "Premium Rush" was extraordinarily fast-moving, no pun intended. Seriously though, if you see it, do not get up to go to the bathroom, do not look away from the screen, do not pass GO, do not collect $200.

-C
P.S. Hair cut this weekend! I'm still undecided as to what I should do with it. . . pictures up on Monday hopefully!!

Elvis and Jim Morrison are bringing chips

Today's quotation is an excerpt from the speech Lorelai gives Rory on what to expect from the over-the-top birthday party her grandmother is going to throw her (from, of course, the television show "Gilmore Girls"). My birthday will not be nearly as exciting as this; who can really compete with raising dead music legends and saddling them with the bringing of snack foods? However, my birthday is coming up next month, so it's been on my mind all the same. I've been spending my spare time looking up weird and wonderful items online in the hopes that I can magically convince my nearest and dearest to purchase them for me. Depending on the item, some of these chances are slimmer than others.

Accessories:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

1. Modcloth's "Urban Adventure Bag": How cute is this bag?! I seriously love it. I think that in general, people will either prefer silver or gold in accessories, and I'm definitely a gold girl. I adore the shiny, over sized studs, and of course, it's coral.
2. Modcloth's "Quote Couture Earrings": Again, shiny, gold, I'm sold. That was a completely inadvertent rhyme. I guess it's suitable in this case though, since I picked these earrings out of obscurity (not really) because they appealed to the English major in me.
3. Figure8Knits' "Nevermore Raven Pendant": This is something quite a bit more graphic and heavy than the fairly feminine jewellery I normally go for, but it's just way too freaking cool for me not to want it. Plus, Poe is amazing.
4. Prefectly Random Designs' "Queen Silhouette": Still heavy, but decidedly more feminine; it is the queen after all. To me, this piece represents power, intellect, and a taste for vintage music. Wait, what? It's because the designer creates her items from recycled records.
5. Spiffing Jewelry's "Sleeping Beauty Bracelet": From graphic to girly now, I love this bracelet stamped with a line from my favourite Disney film. There's also a "Beauty and the Beast" bracelet by the same designer that I think is adorable as well.
6. Anne Curasi's Curious Curios' "Sleeping Beauty Earrings": Still on the Disney train for another minute, I think these earrings are the cutest things ever. I love the original, sketched style of the top two pairs and would definitely be wearing these everyday if I owned them.
7. Meadow on the Ledge's "Wire Kite Earrings": I think these are really sweet and whimsical. They would definitely work really well if I got my hair cut short again. Hmm. . . decisions, decisions. . .

I'm going to save clothing and shoes and anything else I come across for another post. Let me know if you liked this one in a comment please!

-C

The Liebster Award & Nominations

"The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. What is a Liebster? The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome."

I've been nominated by Oanh at Indefinite Style for the Liebster Award. 

The rules are:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs!

Here are 11 things about me:
1. Right now I speak only English fluently, but am learning Italian. After that, I'd like to go back and polish up my French and learn Spanish as well.
2. I've only left North America once, on a trip to Italy.
3. Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday because my whole family on my mom's side gets together.
4. I'm pretty sure the first day of autumn used to be on my birthday (September 21st), but has since migrated to the 22nd. This really cheeses me off.
5. I adore mystery novels and am excited to have recently discovered the neo-noir film genre.
6. I love television shows which demand the contestants/actors display some sort of natural skill, e.g. "So You Think You Can Dance" and "The Glee Project."
7. My father is an artist and graphic designer which has given me very specific tastes in aesthetics. For example, I adored the art deco-inspired posters for the film "Black Swan."
8. Although not a natural-born comic book nerd, I do love Captain America. One of my friends often teases me by sending me .gif images of Steve Rogers' (a.k.a. Chris Evans') backside from the opening boxing scene in "The Avengers."
9. Florence + the Machine is my favourite band, and I am longing for the day I get to see them in concert.
10. As a child, I wished for red hair. I'm pretty much the opposite of Anne Shirley.
11. The most enjoyable sports I've ever gotten to try are fencing, boxing, and archery.

Indefinite Style's Questions:
1. What's your most worn item at the moment? This is between a white ballet leotard-style t-shirt (which goes with everything), and my coral striped shirt from Hollister (I love the fit, colour, everything).
2. Name one place you want to visit. It's hard to pick just one, but a place I'm definitely already planning to visit is Venice, or Venezia in Italian. I'll be travelling back to Italy once I've got my degree and would like to spend some time in the more northern cities, as the last time I went I hit mainly central Italy. Other than that, the Harry Potter theme park, hands down.
3. Favourite store/online store? Forever 21 is definitely the store I most consistently buy clothing from. MAC is the store I'm most excited to be in (I could honestly live in there). Anthropologie is the online store I most frequently browse through, but I've never bought anything from them because I have no money :)
4. Best purchase of the month. My burgundy cords from Joe Fresh. They fit amazingly and were only $19 (Canadian). So exciting!
5. What is one blog that you check religiously? Definitely Cee's blog Coco and Vera. She is one of the classiest dressers I've ever seen, while still having a style which is not unrealistic for the average woman.
6. What is your go-to outfit when you don't know what to wear? Either a nice pair of jeans and a t-shirt with some sort of interesting detail and a bright colour, or the same kind of top with any white bottoms. I've always got to be wearing some sort of rich colour. 
7. What is the newest beauty item you've tried? At the moment, my Sonia Kashuk blush in "Flamingo," which I picked up after reading rave reviews. For a beautiful colour at a really good price ($8 American maybe), it definitely doesn't disappoint.
8. What is your dream job? I would love to work either in public relations or at a publishing house. I love to read, write, and speak in front of people. Being surrounded by literature would be a dream.
9. Name an item you can't live without? I might have to be really arrogant here and say there's really no material thing I couldn't do without. I'm not at all addicted to modern technology, so I guess. . . soap? That's pretty essential, right?
10. What is your favourite season? Why? Definitely autumn, because it's when all the best things happen. School starts (yay English!), it's when I persist in thinking my birthday is (see #4 of things about me), there are fall fairs, crunchy leaves, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and lovely sweaters.
11. What is one thing you wish people knew about you? I think there are very few things that can't be achieved with respect and honesty. I will always act and make decisions based on these two qualities. Also, I once had a fish named Zeus.

My Questions:

1. If you had the chance to style any celebrity, who would it be?

2. What are your favourite physical and personality traits in yourself?

3. Name one distinct phase you went through clothing-wise (e.g. constantly wearing the same shirt, being all about tie-dye [please don't answer that one!]).

4. What is one goal you have for your blog?

5. What is the first thing you remember wanting to be when you grew up?

6. Do you have any odd talents?

7. What is one item you wear (makeup, clothing, or accessory) that one of your family members, friends, or significant other can't stand?

8. In a group of individuals representing cliches, which one would most suit you: the sweet one, the smart one, the funny one, the shy one, the center of attention, the tomboy, the clumsy one, the artist, or the [insert other more applicable cliche here]?

9. Is there a fictional world (either film or book) you would like to be a part of? Which one, and why?

10. Which individual or band (alive or dead, or split up) would you kill (not literally) to get tickets to see?

11. Name one thing that you would love to have in your wardrobe/makeup collection that is totally impractical (due to the limited number of times or places you could wear it, due to price, due to it belonging to a celebrity [helloooo "Thriller" jacket!] etc.).

Nominations:

1. Little girl, big thoughts

2. The Tyrannosaur 

3. The Treasure Chest

4. Nestled

5. EleanorGrace 

6. L. loves to share

7. Obsessed About Beauty and Fashion

8. Sophia x

9. Style Rhapsody

10. Confetti Letters 

11. Betsy Boat 

Thanks again to Indefinite Style!

-C

Call me male-ish

Today's title is a mixed up, me-trying-to-be-clever quotation derived from the first (and oh so famous) line of my current read: Herman Melville's Moby Dick. The real line of course runs "Call me Ishmael." This sentence, and novel as a whole, are well suited to today's OOTD post as my outfit is quite nautical themed. If this isn't really your thing, fair enough, but I happened to love this shirt as soon as I laid eyes on it. These coraly-red canvas boat shoes also happen to be my favourite shoes ever. I tend to dress fairly casually, while still trying to look nice, and these shoes have always suited my needs while being extremely comfortable at the same time.

Skirt & Shoes: Tommy Hilfiger

Relating to the shoes, and my being casual in general, you might have noticed that, unlike the majority of fashion bloggers I've seen, I've never had an OOTD with heels. It's just personal preference really; I've always found the shoes I gravitated towards are fairly flat, but interesting. Luckily, this less typically feminine preference also allowed me to play around with my quotation today, so I'm happy all around!

Top: Joe Fresh; Earrings: Le Chateau

Also, you might be wondering what's going on with my hair in these pictures. It is in fact tied back in a very small pony tail. I'm debating whether or not I want to cut it all off, which is how I used to have it before starting this blog. I've been letting it grow out for many months now (since March or April), but super short hair still holds such an appeal for me. It means using less shampoo, not having to straighten it almost every day, more time for doing makeup in the morning. . . but we'll see how it goes.

I know that while I like wearing oddly patterned cotton shirts, I'm going to be thrilled the day I can wake up and put on a nice big sweater. Are you as excited for autumn as I am?

-C

That's exactly what I'd call it if I had one

Today's quotation is an adapted line from the television show "2 Broke Girls." Some of you are already aware of my quest to find a nice pink nail polish. Well, I've succeeded. I picked up Essie's "Muchi, Muchi," the only thing is, when I looked online to try to figure out which collection this colour came from, I found something odd. I think this might be the same as another Essie shade called "Guchi Muchi Puchi," at least from what I've read and images I've seen. So call it what you will, but this is one gorgeous pink!

Essie's "Muchi, Muchi"

I also received my long awaited piano book in the mail today. Thank you, UPS man! Amazon played a nasty trick on me though; yesterday they changed the status of my order to say that it wasn't going to be shipped until the end of the month or early September. On the bright side, it was that much more exciting when I got it today because it felt like it came ahead of schedule!

Thanks again for the nail colour suggestions! Any other piano players in the house?

-C
P.S. These pictures do show the polish very true to shade.

I have a sock that I refer to as my "good sock"

I don't actually have a sock like that; today's quotation comes from the show "2 Broke Girls." It's funny if you're feeling tolerant of fairly constant sexual humour, but mostly I've quoted it because I've spent the day thinking about money. Not in a greedy Ebenezer Scrooge kind of way. School is coming up on me rapidly now and it's time to start thinking about paying tuition and dealing with student loans. This process elicits from me a "yay" heavily laden with sarcasm.

I've been picking up my required texts for this year AND my copy of Moby Dick came in the mail the other day! I love getting things in the mail, even though I'm still sitting in wait for the piano book I ordered (mentioned here). The push is now on for me to finish what has become my final elective read for the summer before embarking on my school reading list. Right now I'm working my way through Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire. One thing that certainly stands out about this series, whether you've read the novels or watched the films, is the extreme amount of violence; a popular theme running throughout the novels is society's treatment of women. When I mentioned to a friend of mine recently that I was reading this novel, their reaction was surprisingly negative. I thought the reason was perhaps what I have just suggested, the mistreatment of women. I was wrong. My friend's issue with the trilogy was rather the way in which it deals with men's issues; read: sexism against men. This is an area unfortunately often overlooked by scholars and laymen alike, but bringing this point of view into consideration has really helped me have a new perspective as I continue on with the novel.

Besides my literary endeavours, I've also been picking up the odd clothing item here and there. My intention was, of course, to get some new things for fall, but I ended up buying a couple of summer pieces anyway. Hopefully you'll see some of these in OOTDs sooner rather than later. I was planning on taking pictures today as the weather looked promising, but things have clouded over here so I'll save that for another day. If you're living in Canada and looking to do some back-to-school shopping, I'd recommend checking out corduroy pants at Joe Fresh. I pretty much never buy anything from them, but was pleasantly surprised to come across these pants for $19 in a plethora of amazing autumn colours. I bought mind in a dark burgundy, but there's also mustard, dark green, cobalt blue, burnt orange, brown, and black from what I can remember.

Happy back-to-school shopping!

-C

I have to know where you are at all times

. . . especially if you have my shoes on. That is definitely one of my favourite quotations from Gilmore Girls. I must say, I was shocked to find that I had so many new followers (four is a big deal for me, so thank you!) when I signed in today. I realize that I haven't written anything in a little while, so I thought I'd better sort something out quick before you all start revolting on me! Just kidding. That does remind me of a joke my 10th grade history teacher used to tell though; "It was the French Revolution and the peasants were revolting!" Or, almost any other time period in history can be reasonably inserted in place of the French Revolution. The point is. . . hygiene is important? The question mark there isn't me doubting the importance of hygiene, it's me having no idea if there really is a point to that joke except a decent chuckle that almost never gets old.

Unlike me! I've just reminded myself that my birthday is coming up next month. I haven't really been thinking about it yet, but there's one thing I've particularly had my eye on. . .

Grabbed from Google

Or as Mr. Collins would say (in the 2005 film version of "Pride and Prejudice"), it has "captured my special attention." This is the mineralize eye shadow "Magnetic Attraction" from MAC's Heavenly Creature collection. The only issue is that it looks so amazing, I'm not sure I'll want to use it!

In other news, I went to see the film "Seeking a Friend For the End of the World" a couple of nights ago. It's an apocalyptic comedy (I'm on a role with these obscure movie genres, see another in my last post) starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. This wasn't a show I had especially high hopes for, but it was mostly decent, and a couple of parts were even in the "quite good indeed" category. One great thing about it is that it's impossible to spoil the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it! Because it's the apocalypse. . .

Have you seen anything good lately? Have you tried any products from the Heavenly Creature collection?

-C

We're recreating a faux pas!

Watching "Modern Family" has been fuelling me with all sorts of bizarre new quotations, which I love. Today's title is one of those. I can't say I've personally committed, let alone recreated, any faux pas recently, but I have watched a film focused around exacerbated faux pas, a.k.a. political incorrectness, a.k.a. (in this case) racism. I almost couldn't believe that it had taken me this long to get around to seeing "The Help," but then I remember what being a full-time student feels like and subsequently let myself off the hook. 

This really was a great movie, but I unfortunately feel that it may have been over-hyped, and for me failed to entirely live up to it. Don't get me wrong, I saw an interesting plot and fair to excellent acting all around, but it was missing a grit, depth, or directness that would have taken the film to the next level.

I also viewed the 2004 tennis-based rom-com (clearly a popular genre) "Wimbledon." This was another one I'd meant to watch but had simply slipped my mind. I was reminded of it, oddly enough, while watching a men's singles Olympic tennis match, and actually watched the film the same afternoon. I feel that particular day has helped me learn my tennis watching limits and have no desire to see another match for quite some time. Along that vein, did anyone catch the men's 100m sprint final today? How about women's diving? The men's 100m is definite one of the highlights of every Olympic games, but diving is my personal favourite event to watch.

I wasn't going out anywhere important yesterday, but it was hot, and out of sheer laziness I neglected to straighten my hair. My solution for this was wrapping a scarf around my head, which I have decided is not just for long-haired girls!

Scarf: purchased in Sorrento, Earrings: Mexx; Top: Old Navy

I bought this scarf on a trip to Italy; a vacation I was reminded of again today when I began reviewing the language in anticipation of classes beginning in September. You probably think this makes me extremely keen, but consider this: I am one of the few students minoring in the language who don't come from an Italian background (one of my classmates had his own mother for an Italian teacher throughout high school). This will be my third year studying a language which most of the others have been learning over the past 20-odd years of their lives. Plus, they have family and friends (and trips to Europe) to help them practice over the summer. All things considered, I don't really think I'm jumping the gun at all. Unlike Sun Yang with his false start at the men's 1500m freestyle final. Oh snap.

-C

It's because he's a muscular genius

Something very strange has happened recently. I know I mentioned in a previous post my general distaste for the most recent Batman series , but I watched "The Dark Knight" the other day and then went out and bought "Batman Begins." Here are my theories on the reason for enjoying them more this time around:

1. They are best watched out of order. This time I've tackled the problem by starting with the second film.
2. Robin was obviously the best character ever and he didn't make it into the latest franchise so I've been subconsciously boycotting them.
3. Superhero movies are a hit and miss with me. Spiderman: miss. Iron Man: miss. Captain America: HIT! Maybe I should pursue the ones without "man" in the title?
4. As Jay explains in "Modern Family" (which I've just started watching; see last post), Batman is a "muscular genius." I used to write Batman off because I felt that he relied too much on gadgets and not enough on sweet alien powers (although, I oddly also dislike Superman and there's one dude who's all about the alien powers), but I'm starting to get the impact of the whole life story that gets played out in this series.
5. I will basically watch anything in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a somewhat dominant role (see review of "Brick" here). This willingness will truly be tested when I see "The Dark Knight Rises" however, due to the supreme irritation inflicted on me by watching Anne Hathaway. My love for her pretty much begins and ends with her exaggerated "Gueeess not" when Gabbana is not spelt for her over the phone in "The Devil Wears Prada." 

 Also in the category of things that are strange for me to do, I wore red yesterday. Let us scoop up our collectively dropped jaws and move on. This news should definitely rank somewhere between "J.K. Rowling is a billionaire?" and "you can almost smell the Lush store from across the mall" on the scale all things ridiculously uninformative and/or obvious. And nothing against Lush, but if I ever got a job there, I think I might be asphyxiated by the million and two scents in that small, small space. Anyway, yes, I did in fact stray towards coral's spaghetti sauce coloured cousin and I felt that this uncharacteristic dressing choice must be documented. 

Skirt: Old navy; Shoes: Guess via TJMaxx

As well, girls with short hair can do more than just wear it down! Braiding my hair has become a great option for me when I don't feel like pulling out the straightener on a hot day (and when something absolutely MUST be done with my hair because it's way too thick).

Top: Banana Republic

This post was supposed to contain my OOTD (check) and two movie reviews (neither of which was going to be Batman. . . oops) but it turns out that I was not at all at a loss for words! Have you seen "The Dark Knight Rises" yet? What are your feelings about superhero films (such a serious issue, I know)?

-C

Please don't be the spit in my face

Today's quotation is actually a real line, not just an absurdly disgusting request. Yesterday I began attempting to get addicted to something. The something was "Modern Family." A good friend of mine absolutely loves this show and raved to me about it throughout the past school year. We live several hours apart, but I will hopefully be seeing her soon, and at that point I'd like to wow her with my knowledge and up-to-speed-ness of the show she is so crazy about. Aside from introducing me to this wonderful person of bizarre televisional tastes (and a few other things like life skills and an appreciation for higher education), my university has often become "the spit in my face" alluded to by Gloria in "Modern Family." Something always goes horribly wrong with my schedule, special requests, etc. each year like clockwork. At the moment, although I didn't get into a couple of courses I wish I could have, everything's going alright. This makes me very suspicious. It's the calm before the takeawayyourscholarshipmakeyoupaydoublefortextbooksandallyourclassesareacrosscampus storm. Kudos to you if you read that.

Nevertheless, today it has become August. It really does feel like August, too. I was in Walmart the other day and had an urge to buy strangely coloured pens and overpriced notebooks. However, I resisted the impulse since notebooks I don't need yet at all, and I'm pretty sure I always end up with way too many pens and likely still have plenty fresh ones kicking around from last year. The thing that excites me most (not surprisingly) is buying my books. For many people, a Health Sci bound friend of mine in particular, purchasing textbooks is less than thrilling, but for me, it's pretty much Christmas. This is mainly because I don't have to buy books for labs, math, engineering in any shape or form, but actual literature; most of which I will actually enjoy. Buying something new and lovely and interesting because it's MANDATORY! I love being an arts student.

Just anticipating the books in my not too distant future has got me wanting to rearrange my bookshelf. This is perhaps the nerdiest of all nerd pursuits, but I don't care at all. My books have been arranged so many ways by now: by school/non-school, by author, by spine colour, and even once by height. I'm glad that this is a marginally useful insanity as I channel by OCD tendencies into superior organizational methods. At least that's what I've been telling myself.

Tomorrow's post will contain an OOTD and two movie reviews. How is everyone's summer going? Anyone else thinking about school yet (if you're still attending)?

-C