Ventisei pagine? Grazie mille...

Today's title is not a quotation at all, but rather an attempt at Italian sarcasm. I had my first classes of the year this afternoon, Italian being "il primo." I was assigned 26 (ventisei) pages of homework. Let's all just try to wrap our minds around that for a second. Ok. Moving on.

How I feel about my 26 pages of homework.

On the bright side, my hair behaved itself nicely thanks to my getting it cut last weekend, and it only took me thirty minutes to bus home (it usually takes 50, which is ridiculous because you can drive the distance in 10-15 depending on traffic)!!

Hair cut!

Went for some peach, pink, and gold today...

Did anyone else start back at school today/this week? How's it going so far?

-C
P.S. I'll put my OOTD up tomorrow.

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!!

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

I wanted to be supportive but throw up at the same time

I find myself needing to quote "Gilmore Girls" yet again to come up with a fitting title for this post. A similar feeling to today's quotation is what I anticipated being overcome with yesterday. I spent the day with family, which unexpectedly included one relative's boyfriend (whom I had never previously met). Before you all get the idea that I harbour any negative ideas towards any family member or their plus-ones, let me remind you that I only thought I might have the feeling expressed in this post's title. Luckily, everyone behaved themselves and there was no awkward couple-ness going on.

Potential family drama averted, the group of us had a great time at a local festival, followed by dinner and games. We're definitely a big family for games. I also heard some great music performed while we were out, including one band called "Olenka and the Autumn Lovers," who I'm definitely going to look into further.

Here are some quick pictures of what I generally looked like. It was pretty hot out and we were pressed for time with family visiting and getting to and from the festival, so I don't have nice shots like I usually do. My top was worn in a slightly different way here. You can't see it in these pictures, but I've tied the belt in a bow at the back because I find it cuts me strangely to wear it wrapped around the top in the way it was intended to be. I paired it with some simple white shorts and no jewellery other than the earrings you see pictured.

On the film and literature front, I'm still working my way through Byatt and am halfway through two different movies: "Brick" and "Il Generale della Rovere." All three will be reviewed here upon their completion.

What did you get up to this weekend? Have you come across any great music lately? Let me know!

-C

Standing out as though sugared

Today's title is an adapted quotation from A. S. Byatt's The Shadow of the Sun, which I am currently reading. I found the idea of something "sugared" a pleasant one, evoking sweetness and a sort of frozen brilliance; the arrested beauty of the rose from "Beauty and the Beast" comes to mind. I spent this morning dealing in equal parts with something "frozen" and "brilliant." At my mother's behest, I was out picking raspberries at a local farm. Seeing as this has been the first cooler day for a while, it felt quite comfortable to be out in shorts and a t-shirt. However, this sensation quickly evaporated as the weather turned from just pleasantly cool to pouring down rain. I was totally drenched and chilled to the bone, but at least I have a whole container of fresh raspberries to show for it!

I took this early one just to demonstrate how amazing this mascara is! The flash made the colour a bit stark. Face: MAC select SPF 15 foundation in NW15; Sonia Kashuk beautifying blush in "Flamingo"

Eyes: a purpley-taupe from the E.L.F. everyday basic palette; Lancôme hypôse drama mascara in "Black"; E.L.F. liner in "Brown"

Luckily, I wasn't planning on taking any OOTD pictures outdoors today because the weather would definitely have spoiled that idea before it even got off the ground. Instead, I'll leave you with some quick FOTD shots I took to go with the outfit images I posted yesterday.

Lips: EOS lip balm in "Sweet Mint" (because the lipstick is a bit drying); MAC creamsheen lipstick in "Speak Louder"

Hope you're all staying warm and dry! Do you have any plans for getting outdoors this weekend?

-C

Only my eyes, for your eyes only

Today's title is a combination of a description of this post and the title of a James Bond film/short story (the second, by Ian Fleming). It's another stifling day here and I spent the afternoon at an outdoor cultural festival. My skin is not always a big fan of the hot weather; I have combination skin and the top of my nose gets quite dry thanks to the recent oppressiveness of the sun. Because of this, on days when it's so sticky and hot outside, I typically use a fairly limited amount of makeup, and hardly ever any face products. 

To provide a fresh FOTD (I realize I haven't done one in a while), I thought I'd do my eyes anyway, just keep in mind there are no products on the rest of my face. Also, I have a lot of freckles, which is something I never try to hide. I accrue them copiously during the summer months and absolutely love them!

Eyes: a very pale purple from the E.L.F. everyday basics palette; Lancôme hypôse drama mascara in "Black"; MAC eyeshadows in "Amber Lights" and "Creme de Violet"

I don't wear as much eye makeup as often as I used to. I usually try to during school, but I find that my attempts peter out around second term. I really like wearing it though, so I thought today I might as well! The above picture doesn't quite do justice to the vibrance of the two MAC shades I've used. From what I've seen, "Amber Lights" is a fairly popular colour, so for those of you who use it, you know how goldy-orange metallic it really is. "Creme de Violet" is a very beautiful purple, but I've built it up because I find it fairly sheer otherwise. This might look like a crazy amount of colour to some, but I happen to have what I've seen described as "hooded eyes"; basically, when I open my eyes, I have a small space of eyelid below my crease so it's difficult to see eye makeup there unless I pull the colour up higher. . .

. . . so when I open my eyes, most of the colour vanishes!

I'll be putting up the accompanying OOTD tomorrow, so stay tuned for that!

-C

Unscrewing the stars

From a movie about death and destruction in space, to one centring around an undying Italian love, I've made a bit of a jump in terms of my film choices over the past 24 hours. Surprisingly, or maybe not since it does sound a bit fluffy, the quotation I've adapted for my title comes from the latter of the two. It's actually from a rather romantic speech in the film "La Tigre e la Neve" (or "The Tiger and the Snow" in English). Since I'm studying Italian, I've been trying to give myself some sort of practice over the summer, and I find that film and music are two of the easiest and most accessible ways to do that. 


I had mixed hopes for this particular film; I knew that it was written and directed by (and also starred) Roberto Benigni, whom you may know from the extremely moving WWII film "La Vita è Bella." However, after bringing the DVD home from the library (yes, I am that cool that I rent foreign films from the public library), I read a few reviews of the film online (something I maybe should have done as a peremptory measure) and to put it simply, none of them were positive. "Oh well," I thought, "Italian is Italian, and I need the practice." Boy, am I glad I gave this one a chance. To me, the film was everything a film should be. It was topical without smacking you over the head with irate humanitarian insistence. It was touching without giving you that nearly sick-to-your-stomach feeling a glossy Hollywood rom-com might leave you with. Finally, it was funny. That classic Benigni humour had a wonderful way of tying together the other two big characteristics. His role as Attilio de Giovanni had that sort of quirky sweetness so typical of his characters, but so fresh and genuine that it just dazzles you.


Since I'm hoping this positive review leaves us all in a good place ("spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically". . . who can resist quoting Captain Jack Sparrow?), I thought I would tack a FOTD onto this post. So, this is what my face looked like on the way to see Prometheus last night. If only I had looked so calm and happy throughout, but I rather doubt that! I feel like, for the next little while at least, I'm going to stick in the much more comfortable realm of Italian romance and dream of "unscrewing the stars" rather than travelling to them and being viciously destroyed by aliens. On that note, ciao i miei amici!

Face: MAC select SPF 15 foundation in NW15; Sonia Kashuk beautifying blush in "Flamingo"

Lips: C.O. Bigelow mentha lip tint in "Magent Mint"

Eyes: three shades from the E.L.F. everyday basics palette (sparkly white, peach, matte brown); Lancôme hypôse drama mascara in "Black"

-C
P.S. The font size and spacing on this post seem to have shown up funny after I published it. Hopefully it doesn't bother anyone too much!

Flinging it off like an old shoe

I'm finding that Vanity Fair is a novel full of colourful metaphors. I almost wish I could personally thank Thackeray for the one that inspired my title today; the comparison of casting off a social aquaintance with violently flipping a worn out shoe off of your foot. I suppose that, in the dressing room of life, some days you're the shoe and some days you're the foot. Isn't one of those elements supposed to be obviously superior? You know, like the bug and the windshield. I guess in the foot-shoe relationship there are no winners. Now that I've gotten you sufficiently confused, and hopefully a little amused, let me wander back onto the track this post was meant to take.

The thing I wish that I could so easily "fling off" is having to do almost anything to my hair. I don't have straight hair, nor do I have curly hair. I have a sort of hybrid hair which is about 50% straight-ish, 50% wavy-approaching curly, and 100% thick. Combine this with the length (I'm in the process of growing out a pixie cut) and you can likely see the problem. It looks alright if I straighten it, but this must be done just as it dries, otherwise it's a big no go. Since it is summer and I don't have to make it look too polished every day, I've really been trying to give my hair's curly alter ego a fighting chance.

To do this, I've been using Mark Anthony Strictly Curls, although my hair doesn't exactly curl strictly. This product is classed as a "styling foam," and let me tell you, it feels delightful. It doesn't make my hair feel dirty or crispy, and it smells like lemon-lime. No joke. The scent alone makes me want to believe it will work for me. I've paired pictures of the effect on my hair with a quick FOTD, so if you don't like how I've done my hair, look at my makeup (and vice versa)!

Mark Anthony Strictly Curls

Face: MAC select SPF 15 foundation in NW15; Sonia Kashuk beautifying blush in "Flamingo"

Lips: C.O. Bigelow mentha lip tint in "Magenta Mint"

Eyes: three shades from the E.L.F. everyday basics palette (pale purple, pink, plum); MAC fluidline in "Macroviolet"; Lancôme hypnose drama mascara in "Black"

-C