Plums

This is one of my favorite poems, about one of my favorite summer fruits.

This Is Just To Say
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

photo by borealnz on flickr

Inception, and stuff.

I just got back from seeing the movie Inception. It was good, I liked it.  The special effects were pretty neat.  I'm kind of a nerd, I like special effects.

The most important question that I had about the movie was answered about five minutes in:

Yes, Leonardo DiCaprio is still a total babe.







He even has the prerequisite ridiculous eyebrows which are apparently necessary in order for me to be attracted to a guy.  Why is it that I only like guys with eyebrows that are out of control?

As lovely as Leo is in this movie, there was another character  who I thought was fantastic.  I couldn't find a picture of Tom Hardy as his character, Eames, but I did find one of him out of character.



About halfway through the movie, I realized why I found his character so charming.  Between his appearance and the playful-yet-dangerous attitude, he reminded me of one of my all-time favorite movie characters-- Michel, from the 1960 film Breathless, played so, so well by Jean-Paul Belmondo.





Such a good movie.

I went to the late showing of Inception, and thus I'm too sleepy now, at 2:09 a.m. , too come up with any insightful comments about the actual plot of the movie.  Off to bed with me.

music for mondays

How freaking cute is this girl?  Seriously.  This is such a cheeky cover of Beyonce's "Single Ladies."



I'm also really, really liking this song by Emiliana Torrini.  Especially near the end, where it gets a little synth-y.

Album Review: Heaven is Whenever, by The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady is one of my very favorite bands.  So when my very favorite band member, Franz Nicolay, left the band, I was kind of upset. And when The Hold Steady came out with their first album sans Franz, Heaven is Whenever, I put off buying it for a few months. I finally got up the nerve to listen to a few songs on Youtube the other day, and I was really pleasantly surprised, so I bought the album. And.... y'know. Here's what I think of it.

One of the things that lead singer Craig Finn was proud of about the album was that it was "less anthemic" than their other albums.  Which is true, it's more complicated.  The first song, "The Sweet Part of the City" is a pretty good opener, doing that semi-nostalgic thing that The Hold Steady does so well.  Not my cup of tea, but still a good song.  Trouble is, I like the whole party-anthem, just-looking-to-have-a-good-time feel that they usually have.  Luckily for me, that's still pretty prevalent on Heaven is Whenever.  The second song on the album, "Soft in the Center," strikes a nice balance between the more complex, soulful sound of "The Sweet Part of The City" and one of the songs from their previous album, Stay Positive, "Lord, I'm Discouraged," and the beat-driven rock of songs like "Sequestered in Memphis," also from Stay Positive.

Overall, I really like Heaven is Whenever. Maybe not quite as much as past albums, but there are a few standout songs:  the previously mentioned "Soft in the Center," "The Smidge,""Barely Breathing," and "Our Whole Lives."  One of the main reasons I wanted to listen to this album was to help me decide whether to see The Hold Steady at the Beacon Theater in October.  I was skeptical because of the band restructuring, and because it's a seated venue, which is really weird for one of their shows.  It tends to curb the amount of jumping around and finger-pointing that can happen.  But after a few listens to the album and reading some reviews of the venue, I'm going to go, because it seems that a small obstacle like seating numbers doesn't stop most people from the aforementioned jumping around.  Yay!

In other ridiculously pretty news...

I am in LOOOOOVE with the Louis Vuitton Fall 2010 collection.  It's beyond gorgeous.  Ladylike and sweet and playful and sophisticated all at once.  Here are some of my favorite looks.















Mmmmm!  Just gorgeous.  And the models are gorgeous, too!  While they're still very slim, what with their being, y'know, models, they're not skeletal.  Surely this can only be a good thing.

Photos courtesy of style.com

summer songs

Summer's almost over.  How strange.  Technically, I don't go back to school for 25 days, but in 10 days I'll be leaving to go to Marissa's house, and then leaving to go to Disney World the next day.  Then we'll be there for 6 days, then I'm going to the Jersey Shore (where I will NOT be engaging in any fist-pumping, pouf-hairstyle-wearing, or stupid-nickname-having) for 4 days, and then coming home for one day to pack, and then heading back to New York for RA training.

That only adds up to 21 days.  I'm not sure where I went wrong.  Oops.

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So, in an act of blatant self-promotion... I've updated my etsy shop!  This update was all pins, made with vintage millinery flowers.  Here's one of my favorites.



I changed my etsy header, too.  I wanted something that not only reflected my style, but also actually showed some of the things that I make.



Hooray for redesigning!

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Speaking of redesigning, you may have noticed that there's a new look over here on the blog, too.  I'm having a mint green moment, I just can't get enough of it.  The background of my new header (the photo on top of the blog) is a photo of me that I originally took to show a headband for my etsy shop, but the rest was done through Photoshop brushes, made by some fantastic people who chose to make them available online for public use.  So, thank you very much to the people over at ObsidianDawn.com, pixelsandicecream.com, photoshopbrushes.com, and pelleron on deviantart.com!  If by some chance you see one of your brushes here and I haven't given you credit, get in touch with me and I'll make sure to remedy that.

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What I've been listening to lately:

• Regina Spektor: 'Some Days,' 'Dance Anthem of the '80s'  and  'Hotel Song'


• Art Brut: 'D.C. Comics and Chocolate Milkshake'


• The Dandy Warhols: 'Bohemian Like You' and 'We Used to be Friends'


• Barenaked Ladies: 'It's All Been Done,' and 'Lovers in a Dangerous Time'


• Cake: 'Tougher Than It Is' and 'Ruby Sees All'


• The Rolling Stones: 'You Can't Always Get What You Want,' 'Don't Stop,' and 'Street Fighting Man'

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I got my hair re-permed!

Basically, I try to look as much like Robert Plant as possible on a daily basis.

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Public Service Announcement: 'Back in the day' is not only an obnoxiously faux-nostalgic phrase, it's also incredibly vague.  Thus, it should not be used in oral presentations to indicate a period in history, whether that be in the time of ancient Rome or in the time of the Reagan administration.  It is not academically accurate.  Thank you.

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The Mickey Mouse ear headbands that Marissa and I are getting for Disney are now in Las Vegas.  How very fitting.  Speaking of Marissa, she recently started a Tumblr where she posts lots of pretty and funny and interesting things.  You should check it out, too, here.

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And with that, I'd better get back to sewing.  I only have 10 days left to finish all the projects I'm working on!  Eeeeep!