Pretty Passions
This morning when I was casually contemplating everything I sighed about writing this blog post because it had been yet another uninspiring week in the saga of my boring life etcetera etcetera. However, I now have so much to write about because a lot of great things have distracted me from revision this week which is probably good and bad in equal quantities.
Just Kids
I finished reading Just Kids by Patti Smith last Sunday and it has been on my mind at some point of the day every day since then. I wrote a review (sort of) in my journal and, to be entirely honest, typing is a drag and I could not be bothered so I took photos instead. Hopefully it's legible.
Factory Girl
It seemed fitting that the same day I finished Just Kids I watched Factory Girl. Throughout Just Kids there had been various references to Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick but I knew little about them until I watched Factory Girl. I really liked it but the whole drug thing at the end was a little disturbing because it was put together so well. As people, I don't like Edie and Andy as much as I like Robert and Patti but I do find them fascinating. Although Edie was beautiful and had a difficult life etcetera I think she was a bit dim and kind of annoying. Meanwhile, Andy was very manipulative but he said some wonderful things hence I prefer him to Edie. I just think it would have been so cool to visit Warhol's factory and I loved the film. I have been thinking about that a lot also.
Classic Novelists
I started rereading The Great Gatsby today because I am going to see the Baz Luhrmann adaption on Thursday. I read the novel for the first time around September time last year because I was expecting the film to be released in December but then they pushed the release date back more than four months and I feel like I should read it again. I feel like I am appreciating it a lot more this time. I started reading one of Fitzgerald's Flapper and Philosophers short stories after finishing The Life of Pi on my mum's Kindle when I was on the French exchange because The Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald is free on Kindle so I downloaded it. He is such a brilliant, brilliant writer. His descriptions are beautiful but sometimes I lose concentration. That is something that I find does not happen with writers like Oscar Wilde. I loved reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac and would like to read more of Kerouac's novels. I love Allen Ginsberg's poetry also and it turns out that Ginsberg was friends with Patti Smith. I read Great Expectations a couple of years ago and looking back on it it was good but I felt like there was not enough action in it or even any interesting conversations. After Pip finds out who his benefactor is the rest is sort of anticlimax. Anyway, I like reading novels like these because I think they inspire me when I write my own books. I will probably study The Great Gatsby for English Literature A Level next year. I just hope that all the over analysis that will be forced to do for the exam will not ruin the greatness of the novel.
Britpop
This week's NME has the top one hundred britpop songs. Number one is Common People by Pulp. I have been playing that song over and over this weekend. Second on the list is Girls & Boys by Blur which I don't like as much at all. I'm still undecided as to whether I like britpop as a genre or whether I just like Pulp as a band. The thing I like about Common People as a song is the whole 'us against them' attitude that makes you feel unified. Also it makes me feel a bit more like being a common person because I always feel an intense pressure to be different somehow and I think that sometimes has a negative effect on my life. So maybe I should not feel so pissed off at myself if I ever do things like 'dance and drink and screw.' Steve Lamacq said about his thoughts when the greatest britpop song got to number five in the charts, "the inmates have taken over the asylum" and that sort of sums up why I like the independent music industry because it has the ability to do that.
Fine Fashions
Surprise, surprise: this week's style inspiration comes from Miss Edie Sedgwick. Think stripes and chandelier earrings and really really short black hotpants with striped t-shirts.
This morning when I was casually contemplating everything I sighed about writing this blog post because it had been yet another uninspiring week in the saga of my boring life etcetera etcetera. However, I now have so much to write about because a lot of great things have distracted me from revision this week which is probably good and bad in equal quantities.
Just Kids
I finished reading Just Kids by Patti Smith last Sunday and it has been on my mind at some point of the day every day since then. I wrote a review (sort of) in my journal and, to be entirely honest, typing is a drag and I could not be bothered so I took photos instead. Hopefully it's legible.
Factory Girl
It seemed fitting that the same day I finished Just Kids I watched Factory Girl. Throughout Just Kids there had been various references to Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick but I knew little about them until I watched Factory Girl. I really liked it but the whole drug thing at the end was a little disturbing because it was put together so well. As people, I don't like Edie and Andy as much as I like Robert and Patti but I do find them fascinating. Although Edie was beautiful and had a difficult life etcetera I think she was a bit dim and kind of annoying. Meanwhile, Andy was very manipulative but he said some wonderful things hence I prefer him to Edie. I just think it would have been so cool to visit Warhol's factory and I loved the film. I have been thinking about that a lot also.
Classic Novelists
I started rereading The Great Gatsby today because I am going to see the Baz Luhrmann adaption on Thursday. I read the novel for the first time around September time last year because I was expecting the film to be released in December but then they pushed the release date back more than four months and I feel like I should read it again. I feel like I am appreciating it a lot more this time. I started reading one of Fitzgerald's Flapper and Philosophers short stories after finishing The Life of Pi on my mum's Kindle when I was on the French exchange because The Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald is free on Kindle so I downloaded it. He is such a brilliant, brilliant writer. His descriptions are beautiful but sometimes I lose concentration. That is something that I find does not happen with writers like Oscar Wilde. I loved reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac and would like to read more of Kerouac's novels. I love Allen Ginsberg's poetry also and it turns out that Ginsberg was friends with Patti Smith. I read Great Expectations a couple of years ago and looking back on it it was good but I felt like there was not enough action in it or even any interesting conversations. After Pip finds out who his benefactor is the rest is sort of anticlimax. Anyway, I like reading novels like these because I think they inspire me when I write my own books. I will probably study The Great Gatsby for English Literature A Level next year. I just hope that all the over analysis that will be forced to do for the exam will not ruin the greatness of the novel.
Britpop
This week's NME has the top one hundred britpop songs. Number one is Common People by Pulp. I have been playing that song over and over this weekend. Second on the list is Girls & Boys by Blur which I don't like as much at all. I'm still undecided as to whether I like britpop as a genre or whether I just like Pulp as a band. The thing I like about Common People as a song is the whole 'us against them' attitude that makes you feel unified. Also it makes me feel a bit more like being a common person because I always feel an intense pressure to be different somehow and I think that sometimes has a negative effect on my life. So maybe I should not feel so pissed off at myself if I ever do things like 'dance and drink and screw.' Steve Lamacq said about his thoughts when the greatest britpop song got to number five in the charts, "the inmates have taken over the asylum" and that sort of sums up why I like the independent music industry because it has the ability to do that.
Fine Fashions
Surprise, surprise: this week's style inspiration comes from Miss Edie Sedgwick. Think stripes and chandelier earrings and really really short black hotpants with striped t-shirts.
VILA transparent shirt / Summer top / Uniqlo / Miss Selfridge turtle neck shirt, £18 / Micro shorts / Boutique 9 pointed-toe pumps, £45 / Marc Jacobs , £1,360 / Oasis seashell jewelry / Silver filigree earrings, £56
