The Duke Spirit

Yay, these guys are my discover of the week, they are cheering me up.

Sort of The Kills/Siouxsie & the Banshees/Howling Bells-esque

Songs I like so far
- Dog Roses
- Cut across the Land
- This Ship was Built to Last

p.s. Chris you wanna post something back to me so I don't feel like I'm talking to myself? hehe, thanks babycakes <3

Ugly little Recession Boots

It really hit me that I am JOBLESS today, and soon will be living off 1/3 of what I'm used to living off (till I find a job)
I've been looking forward to my annual purchase of Yummy-and-Perfect-and-Expensive-Winter-Boots sooo much!


But I came to the conclusion that this much needed boot-fix is simply not feasible this year :( so, I swallowed my pride, went to Number One Shoe, and bought an ugly cheap pair :(


...okay they're not UGLY, actually I'll admit to kind of liking them, it's just that now they'll serve as constant reminder of what I CAN'T have, a sort of "na na nanana" in my face ever day. Sucky.

So, I then went out and bought myself my weekly bunch of fresh flowers (please see photo, aren't they beauuuuutiful?) thought this would cheer me up.

Before realising, this is probably one of those non essentials that I need to cull and this bunch will have to be my last for a while.

Oh it's all so sad!!!!!!


Am trying to look on the positive and hope to take up the following activities:

- Baking my own bread (unfortunately I don't have the little black boy in the picture to give me a hand so am going to have to master this one all on my own)
- Cultivating my very own herb and vege garden, yum
- Making my own chutneys (to have on my own home baked bread)
- Distilling my own wine???

Okay probably not.

But I AM just going to be more wholesome, homely and resourceful

I like a good challenge! :)

Just :/

Dear diary,
I got made redundant about an hour ago. I am drinking a beer. It helps

:) and :/

:)
- Paul Bettany
- My Mum
- Jersey Caramels

:/

- Overused media terms..."at loggerheads" anyone?
- Pumpkin these days (it's gone all bland and watery and flavourless compared to the pumpkin of old. why!?)
- People commenting on their friends holiday/OE photos on Facebook "I'm living vicariously through you!!" or something to similar effect...I don't know how often I've read that.

:D and : / vol 2. again.

:D

-Autumn leaves
-Junky diva cocktail rings that rule
-Living off veges, fruit, water and all things that are good all week to counteract five days of gluttonous indulgence

: /

-Lame facebook captions to justify superfluous self-taken photos: "drunk" "boozed" "lol" etc etc
-Recession stories. Half the sunday star times was about the recession. Ya killing me.
-Recession induced inertia

No Miracles Here

My religious views are simple: I don't believe in organised religion.
I know faith can have a good effect on some peoples lives etc, I just feel the whole us-against-them / my-god-is-better-than-your-god attitude that comes with organised religion is divisive and responsible for a whole of of the problems in the world. As Socrates pointed out, we know nothing. Fact. We actually don't. There is no one in this world qualified to say what is holy and what is not because no one actually knows. Anyway. I don't want to get too deep and heavy here, I just got thinking about the subject after coming across the work of Glasgow artist Nathan Coley. He looks at religion in his installations, or, more specifically, "explores the ways in which architecture and public space can symbolise systems of social and political value, as well as religious belief".

Old churches are very beautiful, amazing, etc, we went to enough around Europe to to appreciate them, of course. But it's just so strange to think that decades were spent building these incredible structures in aid of something that is so untangible and has never been proven / backed up etc. It's all in the faith of words that have been passed on for generations. I find it bizarre.

Wow. That's definitely enough deepness for a hungover sunday night.
You can see more of Nathan Coley's work here

Current poignant ciggie/tea songs

"I'm Not Done" - Fever Ray

"Half Asleep" - School of Seven Bells

"Eyes on Fire" - Blue Foundation

:) and :/

:)

- Tortellini (current hangover-comfort-food obsession)

- Bali in less than a month

- MGMT playing on my birthday

:/

- Random bouts of adult acne. SO UNFAIR.

- Paying for Parsley

- Having no idea what I'm doing with my life

Treehouses

Every since I was little, I have fantasised about living in a treehouse. When I attempt meditation, which is very hard for me because turning this mind off seems nigh on impossible, my quiet place is a treehouse. Filled with white duvets and cusions and the smell of jasmine.




I hope one day to marry a man with the smarts to build me a decent treehut I can have as my quiet place, because perhaps living full time in one may not be so practical.

Such great stuff. For the meantime, I'll have to be content with a hammock in the tree outside. Still pretty good stuff.

I stole this

I (appropriately) took this from the Fluro Mag blogspot (http://fluromag.blogspot.com/)

so true.

Hummus Makes me Comfortable

Hummus
Breakfast Places
Arrested Development
Apple Products
Girls with bangs
Scarves






I've been on stuffwhitepeoplelike all morning, I love it (liking/loving stuffwhitepeoplelike should definitely be a stuffwhitepeoplelike entry) 

Above are a few of my favourites, teehee.

p.s. the new Cookies & Cream Mallowpuffs are amaaaaaazing. Go get some.

Miniature Love

I absolutely love miniatures and everything they stand for. I also love tea, pretty tea cup + saucer sets, and everything they stand for, too. Naturally, it was with great excitement I discovered these little beauties.
Mini + Tea + Jewellery = Swoon.
The earrings are possibly a bit kooky for my tastes, but they’re mini so therefore fun to look at. I'd totally roll with the necklace and the ring though.

The Time Travelers Wife

*To further reinforce my un-indie taste in films*

Am such a sucker for a good love story (which is problematic considering my most common DVD buddy is NOT - "No Liss, it has love in the title, ick, NO")

This is one of my faaaaavourite novels (of the Oprah's Book Club variety, naturally) and it's being made in to a movie! but not till August!? why? why do things take so long?!

Eric Bana is a babe.

Good music / Bad music

Today a lovely little box filled with brand new CD’s arrived on my desk for review. Among them, some pretty shit ones, including a full album of techno remixes of Kylie Minogue (how I imagine hell on earth might sound), Rod Stewart Unplugged and some dude from Matchbox 20. But! There is a diamond among the rough, in the form of the new Mint Chicks album, Screen. I listened very quickly before and can tentatively report it sounds cool; a bit more pop and less punk than their previous stuff. This is not a bad thing.
But I’m no indie-cool-kid that only likes “acceptable” music such as the Mint Chicks. There is a CD hidden in the pile that is totally appealing to my bad tastes - a compilation called Songbirds (imaginative), featuring tracks from “the most beautiful female voices of our time”. Part tragic, but mostly awesome, it’s got some old favourites like Where Have All The Cowboys Gone (Paula Cole), Who Will Save Your Soul (Jewel) and Crucify (Tori Amos). There’s even Cher and Luka by Suzanne Vega! Rad.
I <3 my new task as review editor. All music is good music as long as it is free music.

People often ask me (okay nobody has asked me) ...

"why a picture of confetti as your banner?"

This is one of my favourite photos of our/my travels...and as cheesey as it may sounds I like to think it represents those times: friendships, adventure, celebration!

I took it as we were skipping out of our backpackers in Rome on our first night out, filled with wide-eyed fresh-off-the-boat joi de vivre :) In amongst the cobblestones at the front doorstep were thousands of pieces of cutely coloured bits of paper, a little remnant of someone's celebration early that day, whatever that may have been.

In that moment it was the most perfect/appropriate thing I could have seen and it made me all warm and fuzzy, Here's to many more Confetti Moments in life <3

:D and : / vol 2

:D

-T-Rex. I’ve been listening to it everyday for a good two months now and I see no need to stop.
-Notorious – the movie about Biggie. My teenage love for old-school hip hop has been reignited of late.
-James Franco’s stoner dude character in Pineapple Express = stoner babe.
: /

-Highbrow movies. There’s a time and a place, but right now I’m off the thought-provoking and intellectual shit in favour of good-rubbish like Superbad, Sixteen Candles (gold) and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
-The term credit-crunch. When we said it over dinner last night it planted a seed in my mind to buy a crunchie bar on my way home.
-Procrastination with not getting winter shoes repaired. Come on now.

New levels?

It's a Monday and 15 minutes ago (at 4:15pm) my boss offered me a glass of wine, I said yes.

IT'S 4:15 ON A MONDAY! WTF

Now I am tipsy, and I feel like a loser.

Oh well, it's Chris-coming-down week! it's special times yeees?!

I'm not in Love

I remember us listening to I’m not in Love by 10cc on vinyl when we were about 16, and, at first, thinking it was a beautiful love song. You know, just judging by the music and tone etc. But then we listened, like reeally listened, and realised it was in fact one of the cruellest songs ever written. Seriously, these lyrics are such “you-won’t-be-needing-this-anymore-ripping-heart-out” type material. Evil! That said, I had an occasion in which I could have sung it recently.
Anyway – read it and weep:

I'm not in love, so don't forget it
It's just a silly phase I'm going through
And just because I call you up
Don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made
I'm not in love, no-no
(It's because...)

I like to see you, but then again
That doesn't mean you mean that much to me
So if I call you, don't make a fuss
Don't tell your friends about the two of us
I'm not in love, no-no
(It's because...)

I keep your picture upon the wall
It hides a nasty stain that's lyin' there
So don't you ask me to give it back
I know you know it doesn't mean that much to me
I'm not in love, no-no
(It's because...)

Ooh, you'll wait a long time for me
Ooh, you'll wait a long time

Shatner Shatner Shatner

As I lay horribly hungover on my couch watching the Shortland Street omnibus (which for some reason doesn’t seem quite so shit condensed into a Sunday morning as it does during the week) and Lissy was pining over Rob Pattison YouTube clips, little did we know it was a momentous day. It was International Talk Like William Shatner Day. Or should I say Talk . . . Like . . . William . . .Shatner . . . Day.
Maurice LaMarche, who calls himself the third most prominent William Shatner impressionist, has posted a video clip on YouTube declaring March 22 as International Talk like William Shatner Day. Yesterday was Shatner’s Birthday.
Three points I’d like to make:

1)Isn’t Shatner a hilarious word? The more I type it, the more I laugh.
2)Shatner was a vintage semi-babe.
3)I fucking hate him on Boston Legal.

:D and :/

Hmmm third blog post today, I'm really getting into this aren't I? I love Monday's <3

:D

- Christine coming down in 2 days

- Chocolate slice from the bakery warmed up in the microwave (OMG, it's why cold winter days were invented)

- Discovering Fever Ray (dumb name, cool music)

:/

- Describing something as "funky"

- My love and enthusiasm for the gym dissolving before my very eyes at a very concerning rate

- People walking too slow in front of me, yes I'm a fast walker but everybody else should be a fast walker too

Vintage Babes

Dear Diary, I'm currently in the grips of an intense celebrity boy-crush.

Is this sad? a little bit pathetic maybe? yep probably. Normal 24 year old woman behaviour? probably not. But bugger it, I don't remember the last time I had one, it's harmless, and I have zero interest in anybody in real life right now so why not have an unobtainable never-gonna-happen star crush huh? Youtubing interview clips of him really is a fun and enjoyable way to pass the time on a Sunday morning when I can't be assed doing anything of any real productivity, everything on TV is crap and it's too early for Fidels and everyone is still in bed (damn early rising) I think I've done this 3 times now, hmmm actually maybe it's 4. When I get around the 10 mark THEN I'll call it a day. (shut up, I can stop any time I want)

This also got me thinking about other celebrity crushes I've developed in the past. Remember theeeese dreamboats Chris??

Anticipation Vol. 2

Joy! Happiness and Joy! Grizzly Bear's new album is out soooon May 26, hurry up!

I hope it's awesome, surely it will be? Horn of Plenty was definitely in my top 5 "soundtrack to London" albums, so they must deliver, they just must.

(Interpol are also recording new album but must not build too much anticipatory excitement juuusst yet as there's no release date, we wait we wait)

Anticipation

As much as I believe in the philosophy of living in the present moment, I'm awfully bad at wishing time away with anticipation for things to come. Case in point: Wellington Trip! The Kills gig! Just. Can’t. Wait. It’s too hard. It’s still two days away but I’m already planning rides from the airport and 6.25pm drinking start times. My outfit and my earrings. Pre-flight showers and hair straightening schedules. Loser? A bit.
Now all the fine details have been covered, I just need to write the 10 million stories I have lined up before I finish work on Wednesday afternoon. Damn you present moment.

Beatlejuice

It’s been a hard day’s night . . . and I’ve been working like a dog. What I would do for some tasty Beatlejuice! Haha! This is awesome.

Where The Wild Things Are

Ooh! One of my favourite childhood books, Where The Wild Things Are, is being made into a movie! This is so exciting. It’s being made by Spike Jonze, former husband of Sophia Copella, former boyfriend of Karen O and current boyfriend of the ultra-neat Michelle Williams. Incidentally, he’s also a very talented man in his own right, being director of amazing music videos for Bjork, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beastie Boys etc, etc (sorry Liss I know you think Beastie Boys make the Worst Music Ever.) Anyway. I have high hopes for his adaptation of my childhood love. And how cute is this still from the movie?
Um, this blog seems to have got off to a really cutesy start (Mr canvas face, Mr google caterpillar, now this? Hmm). This wasn’t on purpose.
We’re not usually quite this cute, but we have our moments.

Hungry Caterpillar!

Cute!...why does Google look like this today?

Mr. Blank Canvas

There is nothing more worrisome to me than this sight...

Even though nothing makes me more happy, content and me-ish than when I'm creating, this scariest-of-scary big oblong thing sitting in the corner of my room fills me with a very real sense of dread.

Must.get.over.creative.block

Exhibition in 3 months...uh oh

(am actually feeling chipper and excited about it overall but just not this minute, when scary oblong feels like he's out to get me)