November / December update

The last movie I watched...
The Princess Switch (Netflix)

As much as I love my parents, one of my favourite times of the season is when they disappear off on holiday for a few days and leave me home alone to indulge in one of my guilty pleasures: cheesy Netflix teen rom-coms.  The Princess Switch actually ticks my brother's guilty pleasure box too, in that it doubles as a made-for-TV cheesy Christmas movie; hopefully he won't be disappointed that I watched it without him.  If you haven't seen the trailer for The Princess Switch, the premise is basically The Parent Trap, except instead of separated twin sisters, the protagonists (both played by Vanessa Hudgens, star of wholesome teen Disney movie High School Musical and less-than-wholesome teen exploitation movie Spring Breakers) are mere doppelgangers - one is a baker from Chicago, the other a Duchess days away from marrying a prince.  The set-up for the switch is quick and clumsy - baker Stacy's whole back-story is dropped on us in the first scene, nobody in the kingdom knows what the Duchess looks like because she's "camera-shy" - but the film still has its charm, containing all the sweetness of an old-fashioned Disney princess movie.  A lot of the story was predictable, but it took me a while to work out just how the romantic pairings were going to fall and how the fairytale ending would play out. 

On my record player...
The 1975 - Give Yourself A Try/Love It If We Made It (2018, Dirty Hit)

The 1975's third album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, came out this week.  I haven't yet been able to decide whether I like it or not, although I suspect it'll grow on me, as my copies haven't arrived yet, but the special edition of their Q Magazine cover with a 7" of the first two songs they released from the album has arrived so that's currently on my timetable.  If you haven't heard them yet (where have you been?!), Give Yourself A Try is a noisy, fun powerpop song about Matty Healy's inner turmoil, and Love It If We Made It is a shouty protest song about the global turmoil surrounding him.  Basically, he's managed to cover every subject in the modern world on 2 sides of vinyl, which is pretty impressive.


My November 2018 playlist:

1. thank u, next - Ariana Grande
2. Corrine - Black Honey
3. World In My Eyes - Depeche Mode
4. Only Shallow - My Bloody Valentine
5. Here And Now - Ride
6. Palisade - Mineral
7. Your Silent Face - New Order
8. Herjazz - Huggy Bear
9. The Drowners - Suede
10. Brass In Pocket - Suede
11. Da Da Da - Elastica
12. Sincerity Is Scary - The 1975
13. Having A Blast - Green Day
14. The Ghost In You - The Psychedelic Furs
15. A Change Of Heart - The 1975
16. The Man Who Married A Robot / Love Theme - The 1975

This week in my journal:

My theme this week is sort of a 'teenagers gone wild' thing - there's some freakishly-dressed young people appearing on a 90s talk show, Yolandi Visser from Die Antwoord getting high outside in her pyjamas, and the goth girl skating in platform shoes (which I'm very envious of). 


I usually mention the last book I read on here too, but I've now spent about 4 months wading through The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh and still have 100 pages to go, so I'm not ready to talk about that yet.  However, instead I can offer...

The last book I listened to...
The Letters Of Sylvia Plath (BBC Radio 4 Book Of The Week, 2018)

I'm a huge fan of Sylvia Plath's letters, so I was delighted when Radio 4 did a second instalment of her words as Book Of The Week last week, this time focusing on the later period of her life when she had finished studying and met Ted Hughes (her student years and first breakdown were covered earlier in the year).  Her letters during this period are mostly upbeat and loving: she has a supportive husband, her poems are being accepted for publication and she becomes a mother.  Towards the end of the week, however, things take a dark turn when she uncovers Ted's adultery - the anguish in the letter that opens Friday's episode is gut-wrenching.  She simultaneously is lost and feels that she can't go on, and has days when she realises she must pick herself up and start a new life without him.  The last letter is from right before her suicide aged 30 and is heartbreaking.  I know I've blogged about this before, but I wish she'd carried on and was able to see how much of a hero she is to the women who followed her. 

October 2018 Update

The last book I read...


Coal Black Mornings - Brett Anderson

Over the summer I read John Harris' Britpop book 'The Last Party' and came away with an interest in Suede, whose story makes up part of that book.  At around the same time, I was scrolling through the Edinburgh Book Festival programme and noticed that their singer, Brett Anderson, was going to be appearing to discuss his memoir, Coal Black Mornings.  I had to renew my library card to borrow the book, which I devoured over a few days and adored.  The book covers the story of Brett's young life, from his beginnings in a little council flat with his eccentric parents, through his school and university years, ending with him living in London and finally signing a record deal with Suede after years of being ignored by the music world.  He describes the book as being about failure, rather than the classic celebrity success memoir that we're all used to, and it's full of little details which ground him as a regular person with an extraordinary job, rather than as the otherworldly indie rock icon he can appear as in the press.  I'm too young to remember a lot of what he talks about youth-wise, but I'm enchanted by his tales of time spent living in London in the late 80s and early 90s, especially the treatment of his relationship with Justine Frischmann.
After finishing the book I went to the Festival and saw him talk about it (in a room full of Suede/Britpop people of his generation, that is, twice my age) and had him sign a copy for me, which I'm still a little starstruck about two months later.  I've heard that he's planning to release the next instalment of his story in a year's time and am patiently waiting for it to arrive.

The last movie I watched...

The Lost Boys

When I was 18, I saw The Lost Boys for the first time and then proceeded to watch it every other day for the rest of the summer.  I knew every line, every song, every piece of trivia about the making of the movie.  I wrote about it in film class, pointed to it when asked what my favourite movie was and was basically obsessed by it for a while.  It's been a few years now since I last saw it so last weekend I decided to put the DVD on and find out whether it still resonated with me, and I was pleased to find that I still love it just as much as I ever did.  Having recently watched Stranger Things, I saw parallels between that squad of monster-hunting kids and the vampire-slaying team of Sam and the Frog Brothers who used to irritate me but who I now see as endearing.  I was always drawn to Kiefer Sutherland's David and his vampire gang so that very first shot of them walking around on the boardwalk carousel still makes me shiver.  I still remember what happens but there were little details that had faded from my memory which made it feel like I was seeing it for the second or third time again.  Aesthetically it's still on point; there's the black leather motorbike gang vibe of the vampires, Star's hippy-Stevie-Nicks thing, and I even appreciate and kind of want to emulate the trendy 80s looks that Sam wears.  If there's anyone out there who hasn't had the pleasure of watching The Lost Boys yet, please stop reading and go do that right now!

On my turntable...

Elastica - Elastica

I've listened to this album more than any other over the last few months.  Again, I became interested in Elastica after reading The Last Party (and, to an extent, Coal Black Mornings) and they quickly became my favourite band of the Britpop era.  Their songs are short, fast, sexy and witty, and it doesn't make sense to me that they aren't universally beloved by young women in the same way that Hole or Paramore are.  I'm fairly certain that Justine Frischmann is the coolest woman in the world and it's a shame that they split at the beginning of the millennium because I really want to be down the front at every one of their shows, singing every word back to her.  They reissued this, their fastest-selling, Mercury-nominated debut album, on vinyl last year and I snapped up a cut-price copy on eBay from someone who said there was a flaw in the packaging that I haven't been able to find, so now I have it on my turntable at home, in my cassette walkman at work and on my iPod for those places in between so that I never have to be without it.

My Autumn playlist:

1. Stay Together - Suede
2. TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME - The 1975
3. Elastica - Elastica
4. Suede - Suede
5. Filmstar - Suede
6. Love Interest - Dear Boy
7. Four Out Of Five - Arctic Monkeys
8. Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order
9. I Wanna Be Adored - The Stone Roses
10. Parklife - Blur

Currently watching...

The Good Place

I'm a big fan of Michael Schur's past shows (The Office, Parks & Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), so The Good Place has been on my radar since it started in 2016.  I'm almost at the end of the first of three seasons and find it very charming.  It follows Eleanor (Kristen Bell) who arrives in the Utopian 'The Good Place' after her death, despite not having earned her spot there while on Earth, and her struggle to become a good person so she can escape being committed to 'The Bad Place' where she belongs.  The show is filled with charming supporting characters, like Eleanor's supposed soulmate-cum-teacher Chidi and her philanthropic neighbour Tahani, but my favourite character is Janet, the humanoid designed to deliver goods and information to the residents of the Good Place who isn't quite perfect.  If you like your sitcoms to be a little whimsical and surreal, you should definitely give this a try.

From my journal...

These are the pictures I've used to illustrate my bullet journal this week.  The mood is a little romantic, a little retro, more Valentines than Halloween and a good excuse for me to test out some of the red and pink washi tape patterns I've been saving.  

Update piece: 3 June 2018

The last book I read: Crackpot by John Waters

I do a reading challenge every year and one of my 2018 categories is "a book written by someone you admire" so I chose to read the John Waters essay collection that I've had sitting on my shelf for a while, since I find his movies so entertaining.  It's definitely the book I've enjoyed most so far this year - Waters writes about niche obsessions like Baltimore TV shows of the 60s, tabloid journalism, Z-list actresses and criminals hilariously and even though I tried to limit myself to one essay per day I found it hard to put the book down.  His references are so obscure that for all I know he could have invented William Castle and Pia Zadora (I had to do a bit of Googling) but it wouldn't have mattered if the whole thing was a work of complete fiction.  Immediately after finishing I went online and ordered a copy of his first book, 'Shock Value', and headed to YouTube to watch some clips of him being interviewed on late-night talk shows; I admire him far more now than I did when I picked the book up.

Choice quote (from 'Hatchet Piece: 101 Things I Hate): "I've had it with being nice, understanding, fair and hopeful.  I feel like being negative all day.  The chip on my shoulder could sink the QE2.  I've got an attitude problem and nobody better get in my way."

The last movie I watched: West Side Story (1961)

This one has been a long time coming.  I saw parts of West Side Story in high school music classes, I've seen them pay homage to it on Glee and the soundtrack has been welcome on my turntable, but I'd never actually seen West Side Story until last month.  As I already knew the story and the songs, it didn't feel like I was sitting down to watch something new but it was interesting to finally see the visuals that go with the iconic musical numbers and the faces behind the voices (or at least, the faces miming those voices).  I was a little disappointed to see how white the Puerto Rican characters were, having gotten used to seeing Latinx actors on Jane The Virgin and Orange Is The New Black, but now I'm itching to see a remake that gives those actors a chance to inhabit the roles of Maria and Bernardo and the other Sharks.  I see that Spielberg has put out a casting call and I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic.

On my hi-fi: Depeche Mode - Songs of Faith and Devotion

The album may be the same age as me but it's my favourite of 2018; there's not a single song on it that I don't adore.  I was listening to some of my favourite Depeche Mode singles last night and after putting 'I Feel You' onto the turntable I ended up getting this CD out and playing the full album.  So right now I have I Feel You on the turntable, Songs Of Faith And Devotion in the CD player, and an old mixtape of my dad's of his favourite songs from 1972-73 in the tape-deck - that's a bit early for Depeche Mode and is instead made up of a lot of glam rock and the like: Children Of The Revolution, Ballroom Blitz, Walk On The Wild Side... 

My current playlist:

1. Give Yourself A Try - The 1975

2. Route 66 - Depeche Mode

3. Young & Dumb - Cigarettes After Sex

4. The Dream Synopsis - The Last Shadow Puppets

5. Tammy Faye - Nicole Dollanganger

6. Cherry - Lana Del Rey

7. Black Celebration - Depeche Mode

8. Rose-Colored Boy - Paramore

9. Nothing - Depeche Mode

10. Space & Time - Wolf Alice

The TV shows I'm watching: Orange Is The New Black / My So-Called Life

I finally finished (or at least caught up with) Orange Is The New Black last night, after a couple of years of watching episodes whenever I can get an hour alone with Netflix.  I'm glad the next season is due out this month because I need to know what happens next, especially with Flaca and Maritza!

I've been making my way through My So-Called Life as well, even though it was on TV 20 years ago.  It's regarded as a classic that was cancelled too soon, and even though I'm enjoying it I don't think it lives up to the hype as much as, say, Freaks & Geeks.  I relate to Angela (played by Claire Danes) and I'm especially jealous of her 90s flannel outfits but I can't deal with her parents and how much of an ~after-school teen issues~ vibe it has sometimes.

My journal theme this week: pretty pastels

I'm using this adorable flower collage as my inspiration this coming week.  I've stuck it in my bullet journal, where it compliments the pastel highlighter pens I bought, and I've painted my nails in white, lilac and mint with pink and blue holographic sparkle.  The pale colours and the super-organised pattern feel so peaceful and I'm hoping I can draw on that if I have a difficult day at the office.

Tell me in the comments what things you're into at the moment!

R x

2017

My annual end-of-year list blog post...

My favourite songs that came out this year:
1. Don't Delete The Kisses - Wolf Alice
2. Hard Times - Paramore
3. On Hold - The xx
4. Love - Lana Del Rey
5. Rose-Coloured Boy - Paramore
6. Green Light - Lorde
7. Told You So - Paramore
8. Passionfruit - Drake
9. Idle Worship - Paramore
10. Beautifully Unconventional - Wolf Alice
11. Lust For Life - Lana Del Rey & The Weeknd
12. Sign Of The Times - Harry Styles
13. Coachella - Woodstock In My Mind - Lana Del Rey
14. After The Zero Hour - Wolf Alice
15. Fake Happy - Paramore
16. Revolution - Rat Boy
17. Kill For Candy - Dreamcar
18. Sadboy - Wolf Alice
19. Right Now - HAIM
20. Going Backwards - Depeche Mode

My favourite albums of the year:

1. After Laughter - Paramore

2. Visions Of A Life - Wolf Alice

3. Lust For Life - Lana Del Rey

4. Material Control - Glassjaw

5. AFI (The Blood Album) - AFI

6. Dreamcar - Dreamcar

7. More Life - Drake

8. I See You - The xx

Concerts I went to this year:

1. TRNSMT Festival: Radiohead, Belle & Sebastian, Kasabian, Catfish & The Bottlemen,  The Kooks,  George Ezra, Stormzy, Biffy Clyro, The 1975, Two Door Cinema Club

2. Depeche Mode

3. Paramore/Bleached

4. AFI/Deftones

5. Lana Del Rey

6. The Smyths (The Smiths tribute)

7. Room 29 (Jarvis Cocker & Chilly Gonzales)

8. Cloudbusting (Kate Bush tribute)

9. Taking Back Sunday

New films I saw this year:
1. Baby Driver
2. T2: Trainspotting
3. The Killing of the Sacred Deer
4. La La Land
5. Wonder Woman
6. Loving Vincent

Favourite old films I saw for the first time this year:

1. Trainspotting

2. The Doom Generation

3. Ladies & Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains

4. Kill Bill: Vol 1

5. Kill Your Friends

6. Sing Street

7. The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert

8. Depeche Mode: 101

9. Purple Rain

10. Chéri

Books I read this year:

1. Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

2. Porno - Irvine Welsh

3. Skagboys - Irvine Welsh

4.Kill Your Friends - John Niven

5. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

6. Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson

7. Talk To The Snail - Stephen Clarke

8. The Pact - Jodi Picoult

9. The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

10. The Melancholy Death Of Oyster Boy, & Other Stories - Tim Burton

11. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

12. Top Gear Skin - Richard Allen

13. Geek Girl - Holly Smale

14. Weekend In Paris - Robyn Sisman

15. The Gift - Vladimir Nabokov

Top 5 most listened songs of the year according to last.fm...
1. Hotline Bling - Drake
2. Neon Angels On The Road To Ruin - The Runaways
3. Moaning Lisa Smile - Wolf Alice
4. True Trans Soul Rebel - Against Me!
5. Disco 2000 - Pulp

...and Spotify:

1. Born Slippy (Nuxx) - Underworld

2. Dads Best Friend - Rubberbandits

3. Silk - Wolf Alice

4. Lust For Life - Iggy Pop

5. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais - The Clash

2016 in lists

My favourite songs of the year:

1. All My Friends - Snakehips ft Tinashe & Chance The Rapper
2. Alluria - Dear Boy
3. The Ballad Of Me And My Brain - The 1975
4. Bury It - CHVRCHES ft Hayley Williams
5. Controlla - Drake
6. Desire - Years & Years ft Tove Lo
7. False Alarm - The Weeknd
8. Good Grief - Bastille
9. Greedy - Ariana Grande
10. Hands To Myself - Selena Gomez
11. Hype - Drake
12. I Took A Pill In Ibiza - Mike Posner
13. Into You - Ariana Grande
14. Let Me Love You - Ariana Grande ft Lil Wayne
15. Love Yourself - Justin Bieber
16. Miracle Aligner - The Last Shadow Puppets
17. Needed Me - Rihanna
18. One Dance - Drake ft Wizkid & Kyla
19. Paris - The 1975
20. Pillowtalk - Zayn
21. Revolution Radio - Green Day
22. Robbery Love - Dear Boy
23. Sometimes - Ariana Grande
24. The Sound - The 1975
25. Starboy - The Weeknd ft Daft Punk
26. This Girl - Kungs vs Cookin' On 3 Burners
27. This Is What You Came For - Calvin Harris ft Rihanna
28. Tilted - Christine And The Queens
29. Too Good - Drake ft Rihanna
30. UGH! - The 1975
31. Work - Rihanna ft Drake
32. You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) - Blaqk Audio

Great movies I saw for the first time this year:

1. The Lobster
2. Zoolander 2
3. Joy
4. Kill Your Darlings
5. True Romance
6. The Nice Guys
7. Funny Face
8. The Princess And The Frog

Bands I saw live this year:

1. The 1975, 5 times including their Live Lounge Symphony show and three dates on their arena tour
2. As It Is
3. The Smyths (The Smiths tribute band)

Cool things I did this year:

1. Got promoted at work and made a set of great friends
2. Started a pub quiz team with my work friends and won a few times
3. Discovered a new band to obsess over in The 1975, went off on an arena tour by myself
4. Earned a bronze badge for 2 years volunteering with Shelter
5. Completed the 2016 Reading Challenge I set myself in January

Favourite books I read this year:

1. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
2. Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis
3. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
4. Interview With The Vampire - Anne Rice
5. Valley Of The Dolls - Jacqueline Susann
6. Poe's Helen - Caroline Ticknor

The 5 songs I listened to most this year according to last.fm...

1. Love Me - The 1975
2. Menswear - The 1975
3. The Sound - The 1975
4. One Dance - Drake ft Wizkid and Kyla
5. Robbers - The 1975

...and according to Spotify:

1. One Dance - Drake ft Wizkid and Kyla
2. The Sound - The 1975
3. Desire - Years & Years ft Tove Lo
4. Love Yourself - Justin Bieber
5. Pillowtalk - ZAYN

Favourite purchases and acquisitions of the year:

1. Matte nail polish
2. Matryoshka dolls from Prague
3. iPhone
4. I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it by The 1975
5. Glittering statue of Jesus
6. Pink fairy lights
7. Black crochet/lace dress
8. Platform soled shoes
9. Nude nail polish
10. Shiny silver backpack
11. Rose gold The 1975 rectangle necklace
12. Bullet journal
13. Masses of second hand vinyl and books
14. Super high waisted skinny jeans
15. Sheet music from the BBC Philharmonic's performance with The 1975

New Year's Resolutions:

1. Don't worry or stress about work, accept I can only accomplish so much in one day and that there's no point getting annoyed at the mistakes made by other people because they're probably just doing what they think is right
2. Make sure I stay in touch with my Shelter family who are moving on to other things
3. Take some selfies, use Snapchat filters, have a picture of myself I like enough to use on my social media profiles
4. Keep up quizzing with my work friends and go on nights out with them every now and again
5. Make a friend who loves The 1975 as much as I do so I have someone to talk with about them and someone to go to future tours with

The last movie I saw... 
Bend It Like Beckham, dir Gurinder Chadha

This film was on TV recently when I got home from work and I ended up resurrecting my old bedroom television set to tune in. I've seen this movie before but it was a long time ago and I couldn't really remember what happened; in my memory the two leading ladies ended up as a couple so I was a little disappointed when I watched it back.
Bend It Like Beckham tells the story of Jess, an Asian teenager living in London who dreams of being a football star rather than aspiring to the marriage-and-kids lifestyle that her family expects. She joins a women's team with new BFF Jules (Keira Knightley in one of the roles that made her famous), coached by love interest Joe and has to balance this new double life to hilarious effect. As a culture-clash comedy this film is great; as a rom-com not so much - there's something about Joe that I don't trust at all, I thought he was a bit of a creep and I would much rather have had Jess and Jules end up together. The film also stands up as an early-00s nostalgia piece which pop culture will no doubt be looking back to in the coming years, I know it made me want to go back and watch some of the other movies I liked back then.

The last book I read... 
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

I picked this book up in the charity shop a while ago, not sure what to expect. I saw the movie and it was a bit of a let-down, but I had hopes that a book about records and pop culture and cynicism would live up to what I'd wanted in the film. It all started out well, I thought the prologue was very funny, but the further I got into the book the more bored I was.
The protagonist Rob is a middle-aged record-shop owner who has just broken up with his girlfriend Laura and spends most of the book moping about how terrible he is with women despite believing he isn't a below-average person. He complains about how pop music has ruined his life and how his parents live and how teenage romance worked and how his colleagues behave; there is so much complaining.
Hornby writes about women in a way that only men do: as if we are some separate species that men cannot possibly begin to understand and who are governed by some sort of drive that men apparently do not possess. After reading this book I've begun to notice the ways that men write about women in other books (I'm reading Thomas Hardy right now and it's equally excruciating) and I get the impression that it's going to make reading any sort of romance much less enjoyable for me from now on, so thanks Nick Hornby. I do intend to read some more of his work but I'm not so hopeful - this book is going back to charity.

On my turntable... 
Grease - The Original Soundtrack From The Motion Picture

As a child aged 9 or 10 I was obsessed with Grease. I don't remember how or why I saw the movie for the first time but one of the first things I did was get my mum to dig out her vinyl copy of the soundtrack and record it onto cassette for me to listen to. All these years later the songs still make it onto my playlist and I'll still watch the movie whenever it's on TV.
The soundtrack is spread across 2 discs; the first has all the big numbers (Grease, Summer Nights, You're The One That I Want etc) and the second is mostly full of the rock'n'roll songs from the high school dance and the jukebox alongside some of the songs from the end of the film. It's hard to pick highlights from a soundtrack that the world knows and loves so well (it's the 2nd best-selling album of all time) but I always loved Rizzo's numbers as a kid - Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee and There Are Worse Things I Could Do - and the ones I listen to most now are Freddy My Love and the Sha-Na-Na dance numbers.

My Netflix queue... 
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Orange Is The New Black, Bad Education

 

I don't get to watch a lot of Netflix since my family's subscription is for one screen only and that's the TV in the living room where my parents usually are. When they're out these are the three shows I'm watching.

I started watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt last year as we got our subscription not long after it was released. I loved the first season's brightness and frame of reference but I haven't gotten into the second season so much, maybe because I haven't been able to binge watch it the same way.

I'm only on the first season of Orange Is The New Black but it's been on my watchlist more or less since it started. I get why it's such a cultural phenomenon, I love it so far and I just wish I had enough time to sit down and watch a whole lot more of it.

Finally I watched Bad Education on iPlayer when it was originally released on BBC3 and thought it was excellent so I've been playing it in the background while I scroll through the Internet since it doesn't take up a lot of my attention. It's still as funny as I remember.

My guilty pleasure... 
Spice Girls

I got home from work the other day just in time to see a little documentary about the career of the Spice Girls who were probably the first pop group I ever really loved. As a little girl their single Viva Forever was the first CD I ever bought and I played it on my parents' hi-fi so much that they bought me a boombox for Christmas. I also had a VHS of their music videos, a doll of Scary Spice and who knows what else. After watching that documentary I went straight to YouTube and spent the rest of the evening reviewing all their music videos which led to me buying both of their original albums last night... They are truly iconic in terms of music, fashion and of course Girl Power and I fully intend to channel their spirit from now on.

On my nails... 

This week I'm trying out nude nail polish for the first time with sparkly turquoise tips. They're a little clumsy looking but I'm hoping I can perfect the technique, ideally I'd like the colours to blend into one another but I'm not sure that's possible when painting one's own nails.
The nude polish in question is Rainy Day by Lottie London which I got with a recent Pink Parcel. I usually go for very bright or dark shades so I've never had any desire for a neutral colour like this but I love it now that I've tried it.
The turquoise shade is a Miss Sporty polish called Hypnotic Turquoise which I've had for around a decade and which I've worn regularly over the years, I'm surprised that it's still in use. The glitter is an NYC topcoat which is called Starry Silver Glitter on my bottle but I believe they've changed the name since then. It's made up mostly of tiny flecks of silver glitter with bigger pieces of blue and silver to look like a starry sky and it tied the two base polishes together.


Tech... 
Two months ago I finally upgraded to an iPhone from the basic smartphone I've been using for the last couple of years and I adore it. I have a gold SE which is a smaller phone (I'm not a fan of the very-thin, huge screen phones that a lot of people are using at the moment) with all the power of the iPhone 6 inside. Here are some of my favourite apps and features at the moment:

Cymbal - An app which looks a lot like Instagram but allows you to share your 'song of the moment' rather than post images. You can post songs from Spotify or Soundcloud and listen to snippets from the people you follow. My current Cymbal is Escape Route by Paramore which makes me feel like I'm going on an adventure every time I listen to it. Follow me @Rachii.

iBooks - One of the standard apps that comes with the iPhone is proving to be a good friend to me during lonely lunch breaks and time spent waiting for the bus to pick me up from work. I'm currently working my way through Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy which I was a third of the way through reading between calls when I got taken off inbound duty at work.

iTunes U - i.e. iTunes University, which is the Apple learning hub. Here you can download courses on pretty much any subject and work through them as if you were studying at school. Right now I'm working through a course on The British Invasion in the 1960s as I'm going through a Swinging London phase. It comes from the Ohio State University so it's fascinating seeing UK history through American eyes.

Podcasts - Another of the standard apps. Before I found a job I kept up to date with half a dozen podcasts that I've since fallen behind on but now I have no excuse. I started by going straight to the iTunes chart and trying out the #1 podcast which is My Dad Wrote A Porno and it's been one of the best decisions I've made all year. The show is basically a guy and his two friends reading and commenting on a terribly-written erotic novel that his father has published and it is hilarious, I would absolutely recommend it above everything else right now.

Priority - I decided to take out my phone contract with O2 mainly because of the Priority benefits so this app is a must-have. It offers discounts and freebies in various shops and restaurants, plus free movies and benefits at O2 music venues. I used the app the other day to order Taking Back Sunday tickets while on the bus to work; the future is amazing.

TripAdvisor - I've browsed TripAdvisor to get suggestions for restaurants and things to do on holiday for ages but since getting the app I've been using it more and more. It's an easy way to look at reviews and menus for nearby eating places, find out what the must-sees are in places I'm visiting, and even book hotels which I did for the first time the other day. They send a whole lot of emails with recommendations which is both helpful and a little annoying, plus to rate a place you have to write a review which is often too much effort for me, but I like the idea all the same.

1010! - This is a puzzle game app that I play a lot while I'm watching shows or listening to podcasts, replacing 2048 as my distraction of choice. The game is very much like Tetris although you drag and drop the shapes onto a 10x10 grid rather than fit them into lines from bottom to top. The only annoying thing about it, like most apps, is the ads which you have to watch for war or 3-in-a-row games every time the game beats you.

Finally, a random photo from my aesthetic blog... 

Gorgeous bath bombs at home in a Lush store.

R x

The last book I read...

Interview With The Vampire - Anne Rice

I've wanted to read this book since I was a teenage goth who liked vampires because I liked My Chemical Romance and the opportunity presented itself when I was in a bookshop in Preston stocked with complimentary literature on its last stop before the recycling centre. Never one to turn down a free book, I scooped it up and stuffed it into my backpack which was already full to bursting with tour souvenirs, where it began the next leg of a 40 year journey (the edition I have was printed in 1977, not long after the story was first published).

I saw the movie version of the book a few years ago but couldn't remember too much of the plot; I knew that Christian Slater of Heathers fame conducted the interview, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise played the two main vampires and Kirsten Dunst was an adorable vampire infant, but aside from that I had little recollection. The story is that of Louis, who, over the course of an evening, recalls how he came to be immortal and recounts the major events in his long life. The book is broken up into four parts which relate to the four settings for the novel: firstly in New Orleans where Louis spends the first part of his life, meeting the vampire Lestat and procuring the child Claudia, then moves on to adventures in Eastern Europe and Paris before arriving at the present day.

This is the first of Anne Rice's books that I've properly read, discounting The Taking Of Sleeping Beauty which is an erotic novel she wrote under a psuedonym and which I've never managed to finish. I really liked her descriptive style, particularly in explaining the splendour of the town house the vampires inhabit in New Orleans and the articles Claudia surrounds herself with. It's not an action-packed story of gore like some vampire stories, although there are some gruesome scenes, and I think it's my second favourite vampire story after The Lost Boys. The ending has made me eager to seek out a copy of the sequel which tells Lestat's story and has the added excitement of an 80s rock'n'roll excess setting. Like Less Than Zero, the last book I wrote about, this is another book I saw the movie of first and now need to go back and rewatch.

The last movie I saw...

Behind The Candelabra - dir. Steven Soderbergh

Before seeing this movie I had very little knowledge of Liberace; I knew that he was a cultural icon, a pianist, a homosexual, but not much else. Behind The Candelabra tells the story of the last decade or so of his life through the eyes of Scott Thorson, played by Matt Damon, who became his companion during that period. Their life together seems almost too bizarre to be true - they're lovers but Liberace (Michael Douglas) wants to adopt the orphaned Scott as his son, then he pays for Scott to have plastic surgery in order for him to look like the young Liberace... it's all very weird but oddly compelling. Of course, like in all glittering celebrity biopics there is a sharp turn for the worse, in this case when the star shows signs of ditching his protégé for a younger model, and the movie kind of lost my interest at that halfway point, not picking up again until the ending. My favourite things about this movie were the performance by Rob Lowe as the creepy Hollywood plastic surgeon and the gorgeous costumes and set pieces, particularly in the stage scenes and in Liberace and Thorson's home. The whole place sparkles with so much gold and silver and gleaming white, a look that Liberace refers to as "palatial kitsch" which has inspired me to let more tacky gold and glitter into my life.

On my turntable...

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome

I found this 1984 double-vinyl album in my Dad's collection which surprised me as dance music isn't really his scene, but I'm so glad he bought it because I'm obsessed with it. Hits 'Relax' and 'Two Tribes' have been on my playlist for a couple of years now and I was familiar with the band's notoriety for flirting with sex, homosexuality and violence, but until I heard this album I never realised how important they really were.

Welcome To The Pleasuredome comprises four sides of vinyl which each have a different feel to them - side one is more or less one long side of dancefloor music which sounds like the wildest orgy since the Roman era; side two has the aforementioned hits; side three is more nostalgic with excellent covers of 'Born To Run' and 'Do You Know The Way To San Jose?' and the final side has the huge ballad 'The Power Of Love'.

Listening to this album is like taking the most exciting journey through a hedonistic 80s paradise and the artwork fits perfectly. On the outside are the Picasso-esque portraits of the band and their vibe but the slipcases for the records are my favourite part, combining little logos of hearts and crosses and sperm and bullets with quotes and complaints and a reading list and a merchandise catalogue featuring a jumper I'm coveting despite it being 32 years old. Welcome To The Pleasuredome is probably my favourite old album that I've discovered this year and if you don't have a record player you should definitely head to Spotify and listen to the deluxe version in all its excessive glory.

On my nails...

OPI - Kermit Me To Speak

I haven't taken a photo of my own nails this week because they're not especially exciting, but I'm using this fancy nail polish for the first time today. This shade came to me for free via Pink Parcel and is from the OPI Muppets Most Wanted collection which came out with the movie in 2014. Despite being named after Kermit the Frog it's not green which seems a little strange to me; I'm not sure where the name came from at all.

It's quite hard to work out from the bottle what colour the polish was going to be but on my fingertips it's a sparkling pinkish-lilac colour in some lights and golden in others. It's a pretty colour but not as striking as my usual black or bright coloured looks and I doubt I'll be using it a lot. I can't complain about a freebie though, especially one that's worth as much as OPI polishes are.

My playlist... 

Now that it's summertime I've added some more retro 60s sounds into my playlist alongside new favourites. Highlights:

1. Are "Friends" Electric? by Tubeway Army which I've recently become obsessed with

2. Christian D'Or by Adam & The Ants which is my other obsession song right now, there's something about these post-punk boys with English accents that's doing it for me recently...

4, 22, 30, 36. Songs by The 1975 that fit into the whole 'summer of love' theme 

6. I Wanna Be Yours by Arctic Monkeys, current favourite by them

8, 19, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33. 60s classics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 25, 31, 35. 50s and 60s teen idol hits

21. Blue Moon Motel by Nicole Dollanganger because even though she was on the last playlist I'm still in love with this song

34. Milord by Édith Piaf who was on my turntable last week

A random image from my aesthetic blog on Tumblr...

Ladies restroom at the 2016 Met Gala, themed "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology". Part of a gorgeous set of pictures of ladies in sparkling silver dresses in the bathrooms at the ball looking classy and trashy and a little bit 'palatial kitsch'!

R

The last book I read...
Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis

Less Than Zero is the debut novel by Bret Easton Ellis (who is perhaps best known for writing American Psycho) and I picked it up in a second hand shop years ago following an 80s movie phase where I ended up watching the superbly-soundtracked Robert Downey Jr film loosely based on the book.
The novel follows Clay, a college student who has come home to LA for Christmas and does nothing but get high, attend mind-numbing parties and listen in to the vapid conversations his Valley friends have. There is a loose plot concerning Clay and his former best friend Julian, but the book is more like a list of events detailing the lives of these teens who live a dream existence of wealth and celebrity and excess but are bored by it all.
The idea of a book without any storyline might sound like a waste of time but I loved it; the prose is immersive not only in the way it puts us in that world but in the way it feels like we're rolling around in the mind of the character along with the 'Disappear Here' billboards on the Californian highways and the Joan Jett lyrics from the café stereo.
I definitely plan to read more of Easton Ellis' books, which conveniently are often among those sold really cheap in Fopp/HMV.


The last movie I saw... 
Nowhere - dir. Gregg Araki

Nowhere is kind of like Less Than Zero in movie form - it follows bored LA teens whose only interests are sex, drugs, parties and gossip (in fact some consider it a direct rip-off). The trailer makes it look like an action-packed coming-of-age tale when in fact it's surreal, lurid, neurotic and overall bizarre. The cast of this movie includes 90s icons like Rachel True, Mena Suvari, Kathleen Robertson, Rose McGowan and Shannen Doherty, plus a whole host of other gorgeous kids with piercings and green hair and lipliner.
I first watched it a few years ago and didn't really get it but I'm glad I revisited it because I adored it the second time around. Again, I'm not sure if there's any plot to speak of but the visuals and the Valley dialogue and the casting and unexplainable scifi moments make this film so great that I'll probably end up watching it a few more times in the near future.


On my turntable...
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

I found this record amongst my dad's collection and saved it from storage with the intention of eventually listening to it, which I got round to doing at the weekend. I expected to find it monotonous but was pleasantly surprised and kind of didn't want it to end when the needle was getting closer to the centre.
 I was familiar with the band's legacy and their song Fools Gold (not included on this record) and song titles like I Wanna Be Adored and I Am The Resurrection. I Wanna Be Adored turned out to be one of my highlights, along with Waterfall which is one of those lovely dreamy songs that makes me want to lie in the grass and watch the clouds go by. Add that to the Pollock-esque artwork that looks great on display in my room and it's safe to say this is one album that won't be going back into storage.

Clothes

At the moment my uniform consists of ripped black skinny jeans, comfy band t-shirts, a choker, my leather jacket and platform shoes; I am a cliché.  At work I'm still all about Peter Pan collars and cute dresses with leggings which make me feel like the office princess.

My favourite recent purchase is probably this The 1975 t-shirt which I ordered from Amazon for about £5 because it turns out it's really easy to pick up cheap replicas of shirts Taylor Swift (left) has worn. It's light and sleeveless which makes it perfect for sunny days and also people talk to me about the band when I wear it - I got tricked into re-activating my HMV card the other day when the cashier told me they were giving away goodies...

Although I bought them in December to replace my much-loved creepers, I've recently discovered that there is no outfit that isn't improved by my platform shoes. They were really cheap (£7.99 on eBay and still available), add a few inches to my height, and generally make me feel like the boss in any situation. They probably don't count as workplace-appropriate shoes but they're comfy and weatherproof and go with all my outfits so I don't really care.




On my nails... 


This week I'm wearing one of my favourite looks, glitter tips. I've blogged about how much I love glitter before but I have to state once more how much it cheers me up to see it twinkling on my fingertips (and everywhere else that it lands once it starts to flake off). In this case I used w7 Green Glitter (my number one Christmas colour) on top of my all-time favourite, Barry M matte polish in Espresso, except on my thumbs which are painted in Stargazer's grey shade. They have a dark Halloween vibe which shouldn't be seasonally appropriate but it also snowed last week so who cares? I've been extra careful all week in an attempt to make this look last as long as possible but I know it's only a matter of time before the sparkle will be all gone, so I'm enjoying the compliments and glitter while it lasts.

My playlist... 

The Spotify playlist above is a combination of the music I've recently been listening to on the bus, in the shower and in my bedroom. Highlights:

2, 5, 9, 13, 21, 24, 30, 33, 38: all of my current favourite songs by my current favourite band, The 1975 (narrowed down from a much bigger playlist)

6, 10, 36: adorable love songs by Nicole Dollanganger from her Ode To Dawn Wiener: Embarrassing Love Songs EP

1, 11, 12, 14, 17, 19, 29: current pop songs by Drake, Rihanna, Zayn, Years & Years, etc

23, 31: my two favourite songs by The Sundays

7, 22, 34, 37: selections from the 60s

4: Transgender Dysphoria Blues by Against Me!, which psyches me up for work in the morning but also makes me want to get off the bus and do something more adventurous

28: Animal Nitrate by Suede which gives me much the same feeling, but sexier

3, 26, 35: favourites from Frankie Goes To Hollywood's album Welcome To The Pleasuredome

15, 16: aspirational bad bitch anthems

20: Local Roses, the newest song by Dear Boy.

TV shows I'm currently watching... 

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Love, Angie Tribeca (more on those another time)

A random image from my aesthetic blog on Tumblr...

Debbie Harry in Hairspray; an 80s recreation of the 60s and a movie I need to see.

(This is my first blog of 2016 - pathetic!)

R

2015 in lists

My favourite pop songs of the year (in no particular order)
1. Drake - Hotline Bling
2. Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean?
3. The Weeknd - Can't Feel My Face
4. Major Lazer - Lean On
5. David Guetta - Hey Mama
6. Jack U - Where Are U Now?
7. Taylor Swift - Style
8. The Weeknd - The Hills
9. Calvin Harris - How Deep Is Your Love?
10. Justin Bieber - Sorry
11. The 1975 - Love Me
12. Taylor Swift - Bad Blood
13. Little Mix - Black Magic
14. Fetty Wap - Trap Queen
15. Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk
16. Disclosure - Magnets
17. Hozier - Take Me To Church
18. Ariana Grande - Focus
19. Lana Del Rey - High By The Beach
20. Chvrches - Leave A Trace
21. Kendrick Lamar - Alright
22. Diplo - Be Right There
23. Rihanna - Bitch Better Have My Money
24. Omi - Cheerleader
25. One Direction - Perfect
26. Rihanna, Kanye West, Paul McCartney - FourFiveSeconds
27. Years & Years - King
28. Lost Frequencies - Are You With Me
29. Pvris - St Patrick
30. Ariana Grande - Love Me Harder
31. Avicii - Waiting For Love
32. Brand New - Mene
33. Young Guns - Daylight
34. WSTRN - In2
35. Iggy Azalea - Trouble
36. Phillip George - Alone No More
37. Taylor Swift - Blank Space
38. Glowbug - The Night My Heart Stopped
39. Beyoncé - Crazy In Love (Fifty Shades Of Grey Version)
40. Young Guns - Speaking In Tongues

The best movies I saw for the first time this year:
1. The Place Beyond The Pines
2. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
3. The Punk Singer
4. Big Eyes
5. Birdman
6. Big Hero 6
7. Amélie
8. Me Without You
9. Drive
10. Chappie
11. Inside Out
12. Trainwreck
13. The Theory Of Everything
14. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2

Bands I saw live this year: 
1. Die Antwoord
2. The Blackout at Takedown Festival and four times on their farewell tour
3. The Swellers, on their farewell tour
4. Young Guns, twice
5. Brand New

Cool things I did this year:
1. Got a job and made a whole lot of new friends
2. Went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival twice and saw 11 events
3. Went to the Kerrang Awards and met Patty Walters
4. Followed the whole of The Blackout's last tour with my friends, then survived the next nine months without them around
5. Started my blog and kept it going until the end of the year

Bands I loved most this year:
1. Die Antwoord
2. The Blackout
3. Glassjaw
4. Kids In Glass Houses
5. As It Is
6. PVRIS
7. Taking Back Sunday
8. Dear Boy
9. AFI
10. Young Guns

Favourite books I read this year:
1. Letters Home by Sylvia Plath
2. Not That Kind Of Girl by Lena Dunham
3. How To Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran
4. An Abundance Of Katherines by John Green

The 10 songs I've listened to most this year (according to last.fm):
1. Die Antwoord - Cookie Thumper!
2. Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean?
3. Drake - Hotline Bling
4. Die Antwoord - Happy Go Sucky Fucky
5. Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk
6. PVRIS - My House
7. Die Antwoord - Fok Julle Naaiers
8. PVRIS - St Patrick
9. Culture Beat - Anything
10. The Weeknd - Can't Feel My Face

Favourite fashion/beauty purchases this year:
1. Leather jacket
2. Lush Silky Underwear dusting powder
3. Thick black platform boots
4. Lace blouse with a Peter Pan collar for work
5. FSHNCNCS t-shirt and jumper
6. Varsity jacket
7. Choker necklaces
8. Mavala Mavadry fast drying topcoat nail polish
9. The black lace dress I wore to the work Christmas ball
10. Sequined Christmas jumper

New Years Resolutions:
1. Keep my blog going all year
2. Remain employed
3. Keep a diary
4. Drink more water and wash my hands more
5. Decide what I want to do next