A return voyage to India? Nearly. . .

If you've been keeping up with my aggressively optimistic summer reading list, you'll know that I recently read E. M. Forster's novel A Passage to India (first mentioned here). If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll also be aware of the fact that I love word play. I thought that for this post, I could be tremendously clever (not really) and link my previous literary experience to a new NOTD, but you know what they say about the best laid plans. The polish I selected was just not feelin' it today. It went on just okay, and then three nails got almost immediately flubbed (to use the technical term). Rather than persevere, which today, with so, so, so much heat, would likely have just let me frustrated, I instead threw in the towel and wiped my nails clean.

OPI's "Jewel of India"

I'm sure I'll come back to this particular colour of polish eventually, which, by the way, is called "Jewel of India"; hence the opportunity for word play between it and Forster's novel. In the meantime, I'd like to fill you in with a review of the most recent film I've watched: "Il Deserto Rosso." I mentioned this movie, along with a couple of others, in the post immediately preceding this one, so if you'd like to see what will likely be next on the movie review roster, feel free to scroll on down! I'm now thinking of the announcer on "The Price is Right" (it's a long running TV game show if you've never heard of it) telling the next contestant to "Come on down!" Please tell me I'm not alone in my enjoyment of cheesy game shows. Please?

Anyway, back to the film. This movie is from 1964, was directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, and starred Monica Vitti and Richard Harris. If you would classify yourself as a somewhat casual movie watcher, meaning you see movies just for the mindless entertainment of it, then DISCLAIMER: this is not the film for you! If I had not been so committed to seeing this film the entire way through to get the benefit of hearing spoken Italian, I would quite possibly have found myself banging my head against the wall before it even reached the halfway mark. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a horrendous movie by any means. It's just a very artistic film that meets you with odd dialogue, drab colours, and less than thrilling '60s haircuts at every turn. I can appreciate this film as a work of art, but it won't be one of my go-to favourites in the years to come. 

"Il Deserto Rosso" deals largely with the theme of depression and an existential nihilistic mentality which pervades throughout all aspects of the film. If you can watch a clinically depressed woman stagger about in landscapes of poison-spewing factories and lakes yellowed by the ooze of toxic waste, then more power to you. It's certainly an interesting movie, and one that juxtaposes an attempt to find meaning in life with man's own destruction of his environment in a very striking way, but I feel fairly certain that I would have better enjoyed the same concept displayed in a series of photographs at an art gallery (I'm thinking of something along the lines of Ed Burtynsky).

If this concept appeals to you, and you, like me, appreciate foreign films, but would like a little more action and intrigue, I would suggest the 2008 Italian film "Gomorrah." I'm not going to review this movie on here, but if you are interested, it deals with multiple plotlines surrounding the Mafia in southern Italy; one of which examines the effect of political corruption on the environmental decisions being made, decidedly underhandedly, in the country.

-C

I'll shout the name back to you

Good evening/morning/afternoon to you all! Today's quotation comes from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which is really quite a mouthful to say after being used to just calling it "Pirates." I really love the series, and the part I've taken this line from is the argument between Captains Jack and Barbossa in which Jack plans to leave Barbossa stranded on an island in possession of not so much as his own name. Strangely, this bizarre little exchange does hold some relevance for my post. I recently asked you to recommend a few new nail colours for me (preferably for summer, possibly pink). Well, I haven't been out to buy any yet, though I did get a few lovely suggestions, and I decided I'd better just paint my nails something different in the meantime. This came in the form of an absolutely gorgeous red OPI nail polish, which I unfortunately don't know the name of since it's just a mini one my mother gave me a couple of years back. If any of you can recognize it (if you do, you are a nail polish wizard) please feel free to do like Captain Jack and shout the name back to me! Or, you know, leave a comment. Whatever works!

I'm just enamored with this red, which is strange for me because I'm not usually a fan of red. I bought a nice red shirt last month, but other than that, I have no red items in my possession. I'm sure that shirt will turn up in an OOTD eventually, so keep a look out for that! I have quite fair skin (apart from the plethora of freckles) with pink undertones, and I find that a nice warm red works best for me (more yellow-red than blue-red, if you know what I mean?). Anyway, this red has become very near and dear to my heart for actually looking good on me. To make the application of this colour even nicer, I did my nails in between watching the film "Pretty Woman" (I couldn't do it while watching because I hate missing even a little of a movie I love so much). If you want more info as to why this would be such a great experience for me, please check out my last blog post.

A little blurry, but ooooh! Pretty!

A sharper image, but as you can see, not as true to the warmth of the colour.

If you have any more nail colour suggestions, or maybe even a specific colour and movie combo (why shouldn't such a thing exist?!), please leave a comment for me to read!

-C

De nails

My, my, my, this post's title looks almost normal, doesn't it? That's because you're missing the necessary audio accompaniment. This very short quotation is derived, again, from Shakespeare's Henry V. In the scene from which it comes, the French princess, Catherine, is attempting to learn some basic English terms in case of a British takeover. Naturally, she opts for the most useful of words: naming the hand, the fingers, the nails, etc. Obviously I'm kidding about the practicality of studying the names of only a few physical attributes during a major military attack, but I thought that the focus on purely aesthetic qualities wasn't a terrible fit for a blog often centred around clothing and makeup. The real humour of the scene I've described is in Catherine's rough pronunciation of the English words she's taught. . . hence "de nails" instead of "the nails" (in both the Olivier and Branagh film versions of the play, "nails" is also said more like "niles"). Likely not the most politically correct interpretation of the French, but the whole point of the play was to make them look foolish and portray the English as the deserving victors. You can also tell that I'm not trying to insult anyone by proxy since Catherine's English likely sounds equally poor as my Italian when I speak it to my professor in class. I'm sure anyone who has taken grade 9 French can relate.

Now that we've wandered a sufficient distance down the Shakespeare trail, let me get back to the real topic of this post. Nail polish. We love to put it on, we hate to take it off, we pretty much want to maim or seriously injure (phrase cred to Dobby the house elf) anyone who causes it to come to any harm. I've had a love-hate relationship with my nails. They're strong and they grow very fast, which many people of lesser strength, short nails, will no doubt be envious of. The issue for me is that this rapid growth (that sounds a bit gross, actually) makes it difficult to text, play the piano, or accomplish other tasks for which the use of the actual finger pad is required. My solution has always been to just cut my nails as short as I could (without inflicting pain), but I also like to paint them and once they're cut that short, it becomes quite a trial. Getting nail polish all over the ends of your fingers is not a very fun time. Plus, you then have to get the polish remover out to fix everything up and the whole process ends up taking twice as long as you'd planned!

In an attempt to sidestep my previous issues with the clipping/painting of my nails, I've been letting them stay long for a little while, and I'm actually enjoying the change. The only thing now is that I've realized I need new polish. It's not that mine is incredibly old or anything, but I find that I tend to go back to my three favourite colours (Sephora by OPI's "Special Request" and "Opening Night," and China Glaze's "Midnight Kiss") time and again, and I'd really like to try something different. Below are a few of the polishes I'm currently considering. Have you tried any of these? Are there any colours you've been loving that you'd like to recommend (especially if you know of a nice light pink)?

Essie's "Flawless"

Essie's "A Shine of the Times"

Essie's "Mademoiselle"

OPI's "Italian Love Affair"

OPI's "Gouda Gouda Two Shoes"

Julep's "Hayden"

Butter London's "Knackered"

-C