OK, that’s it! Next year, I’m throwing a big Halloween bash complete with super scary effects like cobwebs, fog, jack-o’-lanterns, tombstones, skulls, and ghosts! I didn’t get to do anything this time so I decided I have to plan something for next year.
If I was in the US right now, I would soooo be trick or treating with the kids!
Happy Halloween!
Images (Clockwise from top left):
{ We Heart It – Grace Ormonde – We Heart It – emmaaaar – We Heart It }
I was encouraged to pick up Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier when I saw it at a bookstore because I had previously read her other book Girl With A Pearl Earring and truly enjoyed it.
Set in late 18th century London, a friendship strikes between Jem Kellaway, a country boy who just moved to the city with his family, and Maggie Butterfield, a street-smart city kid. They try to live their remaining years as children by discovering the city and going through adventures, while experiencing small bursts of adulthood throughout.
Meanwhile, England experiences it’s own turmoil as neighboring France goes through a revolution, the Kellaways, fleeing from the country after a tragic event try to adapt to city life and the children are intrigued by the curious and very private life of writer and poet William Blake, the Kellaway’s neighbor.
Chevalier has a wonderful way of weaving plot lines using real historic characters as some of the main characters in her novel. In much the same way as she did with the artist Vermeer in Girl With a Pearl Earring, Chevalier introduces the reader to the writer William Blake.
With uncanny precision to detail, you are transported to a different place, a different time. The story plays out like a movie in your head, and you live every moment with each character. Right when it gets to the middle of the book, and the action starts to heighten, the book becomes “unputdownable” and you keep turning the pages to learn what will happen.
As far as historical fiction reads go, this is one of the best I’ve ever read. A serious yet delightful book to devour. One that I was sad to finish reading.
It was a star-studded cast, testosterone charged and easy on the eyes. Takers, opens with a team of skilled bank robbers Gordon Jennings (Idris Elba), John Rahway (Paul Walker), A.J. (Hayden Christensen), and brothers Jake (Michael Ealy) and Jesse Attica (Chris Brown) on their way to perform a bank heist.
Upon successfully completing the task, the group decides to lay low and “retire” for a while, until a former member of the group, Ghost (Tip T.I. Harris), approaches them with a new $20 million heist. The team is reluctant to take on the job, seeing that Ghost was recently released from jail, as well as the fact that the job is only days away. What the group doesn’t know, however, is that while they are debating and plotting whether or not to do it, two police officers Jack Welles (Matt Dillon) and Eddie Hatcher (Jay Hernandez) are trying to crack the case.
The movie is entertaining, full of action sequences and strong visuals. However, I had higher expectations for it. It could have been executed better. Some scenes were too short, they could have benefitted from expanding them. There was something lacking from the movie. A certain charm.
Some actors barely got enough screen time. In movies like Ocean’s Eleven, where the whole cast is one big A-List party, everyone get’s enough screen time, whereas in this movie, people like Paul Walker were underrepresented. Zoe Saldana, who played Rachel, Jake Attica’s girlfriend, got as little as 2 minutes of screen time and probably a maximum of 3 short lines.
That being said, I must say the acting was very top-notch. Singer Chris Brown and rapper T.I both played their roles as good as the more experienced actors. Although I must say T.I was given a large number of cheesy lines that made parts of his performance sound too rehearsed.
It’s not one of “the best” action movies, but it’s entertaining nevertheless. It’s one you would take your dad, brother or husband to. It’s also one you would take your girlfriends to, if you know what I mean.
Image: watchmovies
“Baij is a cosmic blend of artistic expressions intertwined with a feistiness for fine designs printed on quality t-shirts manufactured in L.A.”
I’m really impressed with the quality of the design on the t-shirts. I know a couple of people who can rock these tees with jeans and a pair of cool sneakers. I’m assuming the name comes from our local dialect’s word for beige (the color). If so, it’s a nice way of incorporating tradition into modern design.
Update: I was informed that the brand “Baij” is not named after the color like I originally thought. I believe it has something to do with the designer’s name.
via Tidbit Du Jour
I love this photograph. It looks like a Polaroid on which someone drew or painted a ship. It’s a kite by the way.
Image: ashatay
The first pair of shoes I bought in 2010 were Nike trainers. I truly hoped that they would signify my evolution into a more athletic and healthy person. I hadn’t bought any running shoes since… I can’t remember! I don’t exercise, I don’t run, I don’t even walk.. I used to (sporadically) go the gym but that was more than 2 years ago. I was sick of being a couch potato. I needed to GET FIT!
That was in February. Almost 8 months later, and those shoes were collecting dust in the closet. So today, with the encouragement of my sister, I wore some gym clothes and my (new) shoes and headed to the gym!
Operation: Get Fit is now in process. Wish me luck!
Image: We Heart It
So, apparently this age thing is not planning on stopping any time soon, no matter how hard I try to fight it. The number keeps getting bigger, but inside I feel younger by the second! If that is even physically or humanly possible.. I tweeted a couple of days ago that I cried on my birthday last year, and I’m thinking of doing it again this year. It’s starting to become a tradition..
Anyway, to counteract all the negativity surrounding this “day”, I told my friends that I need to be pampered and treated like a bratty seventeen year old (which I swear is exactly how I’m acting these days). First, my sister and her friend are taking me out to brunch to a new place I haven’t tried before. Then, I demanded that my friends take me out to dinner to a nice and cozy restaurant, where we shall eat and laugh like we were still teens. I asked for an old-fashioned cake with twenty seven candles. Not candles with the numbers 2 and 7. I want a truckload of candles on my cake and I want to blow them out like a kid!
On another note, I don’t want to sound like a miserable person, because it’s really not that bad. I can always look at the bright side. I was given 27 marvelous, happy and healthy years to live. I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Okay, I could trade one or two of those awkward teen years, but the rest, I’ll cherish forever!
Happy Birthday to MEEE!!!
I love to sit cross-legged. Actually, it’s not a matter of like or preference, as much as it’s a natural habit. As soon as I’m on a sofa, my legs inadvertently cross themselves on the seat. I’ve been told that this is bad for the knees, so I tried changing my seating habit, and tried sitting upright, or with my legs spread in front of me, like on a chaise lounge, but that didn’t work. I felt too stiff. It’s either cross-legged or legs bent under me.
I need to find a new way to sit, if this is as bad as they say it is..
So, how about you? What’s your preferred seating position?
Image: FrouFrouu
This post is an ode to my favorite ice cream combo of all time: the banana split. I LOVE banana splits. There is nothing more delightful than a spoonful of banana, ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate fudge sauce!
Image: We Heart It
Sewnnews is a series of artwork created by artist Lauren DiCioccio. The pieces in the series are entire issues of The New York Times encased in hand-embroidered cotton muslin. DiCioccio chooses a photograph from the paper, and embroiders it using colored thread onto the muslin fabric.
My work investigates the physical/tangible beauty of commonplace mass-produced media-objects, most recently: the newspaper... These media are becoming obsolete, replaced by the invisible efficiency of various technologies. In some cases, this transition is a good thing... But a hole is left behind by the disappearance of these everyday objects. What will happen when we no longer touch information? When newsprint does not rub off onto our fingertips?
The tedious handiwork and obsessive care I employ to create my work aims to remind the viewer of these simple but intimate pieces of everyday life and to provoke a pang of nostalgia for the familiar physicality of these objects.
The photographs she chooses to embroider are usually strong images that portray “power, leadership or communication”. From afar, the images look like they’re painted, but upon closer inspection you’ll notice that the lines are small pieces of thread. I especially like how she lets the thread hang and tangle, creating a sort of chaotic form of movement..
Lately, thanks to all the many blogs I visit I’ve been coming across many whimsical and fairy-tale looking houses and hotels that I dream of visiting. There’s a Fred Flintstone house, a house inside a hill, and now I can add a princess’ castle to my list!
Rogner Bad Blumau Wellness Hotel in Austria looks like a magical palace upon first sight. The hotel’s roofs, curved shapes and colors mimic our childhood visions of fairy tales. Right in the middle of fields and meadows, the hotel is arranged like a city with various districts. It houses a spa in the centre, and branches out with the rooms, pool, restaurants and other features.
via Black*Eiffel
