Girl Trophy for Excellence in Female Stuff

Tonight's quotation comes from the show "Parks and Recreation" (still watching and loving) and is just as vague and hopefully funny as much of my life. My weekend ended up being pretty great. A friend came from out of town to visit and the highlight was watching "Jumanji" together. I think that might actually be the greatest movie ever, just don't tell "10 Things I Hate About You" I said that. Somehow "Jumanji" is just equally great every single time I watch it, plus Robin Williams is probably one of my favourite actors ever. Between this film and "Hook," the movie-watching aspect of my childhood was pretty great.

You know, 'cause no posts the last two days.

This week I'll be seeing something a little more serious. Or, as serious as a cult film/TV series can get in the eyes of a society who has basically left it to the nerds. That's right, I'm talking about Star Trek. No matter how you feel about the following surrounding this series, the most recent film (2009) had a lot of amazing aspects that I think almost anyone who enjoys actions/adventure movies would appreciate. Anyone planning to see it?

-C
P.S. New OOTD up tomorrow!

That's kind of a weird way to describe me

Today's title is from the TV show "Parks and Recreation," but we'll get back to that in a minute.

Do you know what I thought when coloured jeans started becoming a thing? Nope. Not "nope" as in "No, you don't know," but rather "nope" as in "I am not ever going to wear those." Based on my last two posts (pink and lavender jeans) I'm guessing you can already tell that I've changed my mind about that. I'm afraid that I've now actually gone in the complete opposite direction and become obsessed. No. Yes. Maybe, with one pair in particular. I want these pants from American Eagle so badly. Partly because they aren't jeans (HA! They're khakis!), so I can fool myself into thinking I need them, and partly because they are the colour of a creamsicle.

Anyway, my feelings about these pants sort of mirror my relationship with TV shows generally. When a show starts to become popular, I'm likely far from interested. But after my friends wear me down over months (or years) by constantly talking about how great the program is, I typically give in and try it out. Sometimes this doesn't end well and I am simply destined to never like the show, EVEN when I stick it out and watch the full first season ("Modern Family," I'm looking at you). Today I started watching "Parks and Recreation" and I'm not loving it so far, but I'm going to try to push through once again. Luckily, this show only has six episodes in its first season so I'm actually already halfway through! I'm also supposed to watch "Community," which I'll be attempting after "Parks and Recreation."

Have you watched either of these two shows? Are there any programs that, while popular, didn't seem to live up to their hype for you?

-C

It's like having a perfect haircut every single day

Today's quotation not only expresses what I'm sure is many people's aesthetic utopia, but also comes from the show "Gilmore Girls." I know I quoted this series a lot last year so I'm going to try to avoid it this time around, but I couldn't resist today since I am personally really looking forward to my next haircut (see previous post). Because this won't be taking place until Sunday, I didn't want you to feel starved for photographs until then, so today, let's jump into nail polish. (Not literally, because, you know, the thick sticky texture, not to mention the smell.)

So tiny!

My mom purchased this teeny bottle for me from Sally in the States (we do also have these stores in Canada, however). So teeny is it (5.3ml), apparently the company felt that it did not qualify for a name. This irritates me more than it probably should because I feel like the name is really what sells nail polish to me--after liking the actual polish colour, of course. Anyway, it's an amazingly pretty periwinkle blue and I loved it right away. Most of the affection I felt was probably linked to the fact that it was the same colour as my favourite crayon as a child. Please tell me this is not a weird thing to have a favourite of?

To the product itself. As you can see, I don't have it on my nails in the picture. This is because I applied it during exam season before I had time to work on the blog, but the product ended up being such a stand-out that I felt like it still deserved a mention after it was off my nails. As in, I lazily put on just two coats (normally I do three, plus top coat) and it somehow looked incredible for almost a week and a half. I can hardly believe it myself, but I definitely want to try another colour of Sally's home brand nail polish to see if the suberb quality is consistent, or my bottle is just magic.

I'm heading off to the library soon, absolutely starving for reading material! Which colour or colours are you looking forward to wearing on your nails this spring/summer?

-C

It's like walking a tightrope

This evening's (it is evening where I am) quotation come from the television show "Modern Family." If you read my last post, you may be able to guess that I'm using the simile to reference my forecasted experience with the Italian language this year: something for which you need a piece of rope, a long stick, and a willing carnie. Just kidding. But humour is a useful tool for dealing with stressful situations sometimes, so heck, why not?!

Anyway, included in this post is my first day back to class OOTD. It doesn't comprise anything I haven't worn before in a post, but I figured I put up pictures anyway because, #1 everyone likes to look at pictures, and #2 it'll get me into a routine of OOTDing during school.

Top seen here; skirt seen here

Hair cut: brand new! Not available in stores.

-C

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

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

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

The poet in the grip of the divine madness

Today's bizarre quotation is taken from my current read: A. S. Byatt's The Shadow of the Sun. I'm feeling a bit in the grip of "the divine madness" myself as so many crazy and wonderful things have been happening lately! I've been getting through this novel at a slow, but steady rate, so hopefully I can present all of you with a fresh book review sometime next week! Speaking of books, I put in an order on Amazon today. If you've been reading my posts for a while, it should be fairly transparent to you that I am an equal lover of fashion and literature. Although I major in English at university, I don't set books aside come summer holidays. I've been plowing through my reading list this year and have already managed to complete 10 novels (Byatt's will be numero undici [#11]). However, school is not nearly so far away as it was two months ago (funny how that works) and I'm starting to turn my attention back to mandatory readings and textbook lists.

From Amazon I ordered one novel I know I'll be reading in my fall American lit course: Herman Melville's Moby Dick. This thrills me on so many levels. First of all, you know how I love a good classic; Faulkner, Hemingway, and James have all made appearances on my reading list so far this season. Second of all, I love the television show "Gilmore Girls" (more on my obsession here) and ordering Moby Dick takes me back to the very first episode of the series. Rory is in the middle of her first awkward conversation with Dean (how many times does she end up saying "cake"?!) and as the topic swings over to books she tells him "[she knows] it's kind of cliché to pick Moby Dick as your first Melville. . ." Besides the fact that I needed to buy this novel for school, I felt instinctively better knowing that it had the Rory Gilmore stamp of approval; even if it is a cliché.

The other book I bought is actually not for reading. "A book not for reading?!" I hear you exclaim, "How can it be so?" Well, I'm also an avid piano player (saying "an avid pianist" will just never sound quite right to me) and I was in need of some new material. What I'm about to tell you may make some of you cringe, but bear with me and I'll explain. I bought the piano book for the "Breaking Dawn: Part 1" soundtrack. I know this is not exactly a best-loved series of books or films, but to clarify, the soundtracks compiled for these movies are typically AMAZING. I kid you not. As in, the musical selections from these films introduced me to both Florence + the Machine and Muse. According to Amazon, I shouldn't be getting either of my books for a good three weeks, but at the risk of calling them dirty liars, I find my orders typically arrive much sooner than that.

I'm planning on hitting up a great little festival in my city tomorrow, so I should have a fresh post complete with OOTD sometime this weekend. I would put it up straight away, but I have family coming to visit as well, so my blog may have to take the backburner for a day or two.

What are your plans this weekend? Do you get overly excited buying books, or purchasing anything online for that matter?

-C

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

It sounds just disgusting enough to be fabulous

Today's bizarre quotation comes from the TV show "Gilmore Girls." I realize this series hasn't actually been on television for several years now, but a few months back something made me think of it so I've been re-watching all of the seasons. It's actually incredible how much I want to be a Gilmore. Sadly, even if this were a possibility, I don't think I'd be accepted into the clan due to my general distaste for all things coffee; Starbucks' "pumpkin spice latte" may be helping me combat this issue though. Only time will tell.

Note the coffee cups.

In book news, I finished reading William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying this morning. I found it an extremely interesting read, but it's definitely one that I'll need time to think over. Some research would likely help as well since I really feel as though I didn't understand it entirely and am definitely not above seeking out the opinions of those that might have. Next up on the reading roster is Henry James' short novel The Turn of the Screw. I haven't started it yet, and I'm planning to wait to do so until tomorrow. Then I can sit outside in the sun which will hopefully help me be less freaked out by the story (I'm not sure what the novel's effect on me will be yet, but I'm hedging my bets). I can't directly apply today's quotation to James' novel, but allow me to slightly adapt it by stating that The Turn of the Screw "sounds just [creepy] enough to be fabulous." Mr. James has yet to let me down, so the forecast is looking pretty good.

Have any of you read it? Do you ever step outside your comfort zone with literature/film/television or do you find yourself falling back on old favourites? Between this ghost story and the Gilmore antics, I seem to be doing a little of both at the moment.

-C