A little late for this one tonight, but hey! Your belated Friday Finds.
Watching: This week, I watched The Maltese Falcon for the first time and it was kind of amazing? I can't believe I hadn't seen it before! Also how cute does Hello, My Name is Doris look? I need to see it immediately. In other things I need to see immediately news, Preacher looks so great. I mean, Joe Gilgun! <insert a million heart eyes>. This video of 100 years of men's grooming is super interesting.
Reading: This article on the cult of American Apparel is fascinating and brutal. This one on how social media activates and helps the civil rights movement is too. Ghosts in Japan is dark and giving me brain worms of ideas. This article argues the end of torture porn as seen through Room and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. On a lighter note, this piece on how Joey and Pacey found love on Dawson's Creek is everything plus, y'know, demonstrates writers who grow with their shows unlike some (cough*HowIMetYourMother*cough).
Listening to: The new Adele song. Forever and always.
In Other News: Amy Poehler continues to be my straight up fave. The first look at Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them is giving me so many feels. I can' wait for it to come out.
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Early Harvest
One of my earliest memories is of gardening with my dad. It was back when we still lived in England, in an old farmhouse beside a rotting orchard. Cows would regularly escape into our yard and trample the broad beans and plump tomatoes my dad had nurtured, but it never seemed to truly phase him.
Sometime ago, long before my brother was born, making me just five or six, my dad and I planted a cherry tomato plant. We dubbed it Sophie the Second and let it flourish between the round heads of lettuce and the frayed tops of carrots.
We cared for it and harvested it for years and years until we moved back to Australia when I was twelve. It's one of those odd things that creeps up on me - the memory of this plant and the afternoons I spent with my dad, caring for it with a child's hand. I often wonder if the people who bought that house after us kept them all, or if they dug them up or, perhaps worst of all, left those plants we'd loved to coil and rot.
But that's not really here nor there. What is, is that I spent yesterday at my new house with my dad, and we built me a herb garden in the old laundry tubs that came with the place. It was a really nice afternoon (albeit very hot), and brought back a lot of those good memories of Sophie the Second back in England.
I hope she's doing okay.
Electric Feathers FW 2015
I clicked on Electric Feathers' website mostly because the name is so great - I mean, come on, Electric Feathers - but I stayed scrolling for a good half hour because man, the clothes are great. They've got a wonderful sense of the female figure and manage to both look stylish and crazy good. Plus I'm a bit of a sucker for a good rope belt.
You can view the full collection over on their website.
Honest to Austen: Pride and Prejudice
Whenever my sister and I used to visit my Nona’s growing up, we’d pile in front of the television and go through all of her VHS tapes. While I would lean towards The Little Mermaid or We're Back, my sister would never fail to pick up the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. By the time she was ten, she knew virtually every word, and I'd scowl and then nap on the bean bags beside her.
So it was kind of weird actually reading Pride and Prejudice. I had this intimate knowledge of the story from having halfheartedly watched the series so many times, but when I had to sit down with the physical book at seventeen in my first year of university, I was really surprised by my reaction to it. Because I really, really loved it.
Jane Austen is on fire in this story of love and hate and sisterhood and station. It explores a lot of the same territory as Sense and Sensibility, but the story layers in a much more complex fashion, and each character appears more defined. In the former, the roles of the youngest sister and the mother felt a bit thin on the ground, but Pride and Prejudice really revels in fleshing out those roles and making you love each and every character, no matter how silly or light they might be.
But the real charm is in the Jane/Bingley and Lizzie/Darcy romances which feel electric, even years later. Austen beautifully ties both together and when they unravel (in more ways than one), it's a total punch in the heart. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's a survivor of a story, and reading it, it's easy to see why.
But the real charm is in the Jane/Bingley and Lizzie/Darcy romances which feel electric, even years later. Austen beautifully ties both together and when they unravel (in more ways than one), it's a total punch in the heart. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's a survivor of a story, and reading it, it's easy to see why.
The Adaptations
There have been so many adaptations of this book, it's hard to know where to start. The 1940 film starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier is delightful but barely resembles the story we know and love. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries webseries is a great modern update, but not as great as Bridget Jones' Diary. The 2005 film is pretty good (especially with Rosamund Pike as Jane), but nothing beats that old 1995 one, no matter how many times I've seen it.
Friday Finds
WATCHING
I saw Crimson Peak last weekend and really liked it. This interview with Guillermo del Toro made me like it even more.
The new Aziz Ansari show, Master of None, looks ridiculously awesome.
READING
This article on the history of the psychology of Peanuts and Charlie Schulz is super interesting.
Anything by Helen Garner is a must-read, and this piece about grief, true crime and the darkness in us all is beautiful and devastating.
I am making non-stop heart eyes at these bookish wedding venues.
LISTENING TO
The 50 Best Fictional Songs! I have an embarrassing amount of these on my iTunes. I've got to say, it's a TRAVESTY that there are no songs from Steven Universe and not a million more from Nashville on this list.
Hot Chip covering LCD Soundsystem's All My Friends inside their Bruce Springsteen cover of Dancing in the Dark has been my earworm all week. The new Gwen Stefani song is lovely and heartbreaking too.
I saw Crimson Peak last weekend and really liked it. This interview with Guillermo del Toro made me like it even more.
The new Aziz Ansari show, Master of None, looks ridiculously awesome.
READING
This article on the history of the psychology of Peanuts and Charlie Schulz is super interesting.
Anything by Helen Garner is a must-read, and this piece about grief, true crime and the darkness in us all is beautiful and devastating.
I am making non-stop heart eyes at these bookish wedding venues.
LISTENING TO
The 50 Best Fictional Songs! I have an embarrassing amount of these on my iTunes. I've got to say, it's a TRAVESTY that there are no songs from Steven Universe and not a million more from Nashville on this list.
Hot Chip covering LCD Soundsystem's All My Friends inside their Bruce Springsteen cover of Dancing in the Dark has been my earworm all week. The new Gwen Stefani song is lovely and heartbreaking too.
Friday Finds
In one of those stranger twists of fate, I have two short stories out in two different publications this week, 'Undertow', which is out in the latest Sleepers Almanac and 'Christchurch' which is out in Volume 6 of The Suburban Review. Funnily enough, they're both old stories which went through a LOT of rejection before this point, so it's a thrill to see them in print after so long. Anyway, you should pick them up! Have a read! Let me know what you think.
Otherwise, you should check these out instead -
WATCHING
I am so excited for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It's like Buffy meets, well, Jane Austen, and that is definitely up my alley.
The 50 Best Movie Documentaries of All Time! There's a lot here to add to my to-watch list!
READING
I've long been a bit obsessed with ballet, and this piece on what happens after ballerinas retire is a fascinating look at the devotion it takes to be one and the lack of identity when you can't be one any more.
This piece on the history of female anger is similarly fascinating.
And I am lusting HARD after these new Shakespeare covers. Can't wait to get my hands on them!
Sadder in tone, but beautiful is this piece on the new Final Girls film and reconciling yourself with the loss of a parent.
These Harry Potter costumes no one wants you to dress in for Halloween are hilarious and heartbreaking.
And feel a little spooky this Halloween with these monsters in literature.
Otherwise, you should check these out instead -
WATCHING
I am so excited for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It's like Buffy meets, well, Jane Austen, and that is definitely up my alley.
The 50 Best Movie Documentaries of All Time! There's a lot here to add to my to-watch list!
READING
I've long been a bit obsessed with ballet, and this piece on what happens after ballerinas retire is a fascinating look at the devotion it takes to be one and the lack of identity when you can't be one any more.
This piece on the history of female anger is similarly fascinating.
And I am lusting HARD after these new Shakespeare covers. Can't wait to get my hands on them!
Sadder in tone, but beautiful is this piece on the new Final Girls film and reconciling yourself with the loss of a parent.
These Harry Potter costumes no one wants you to dress in for Halloween are hilarious and heartbreaking.
And feel a little spooky this Halloween with these monsters in literature.
Cabbages and Roses FW 2015
Brisbane's edging into summer and it doesn't exactly make me wish for colder seasons (not yet anyway), but it does give me a bit of nostalgia for autumnal fashion. What can I say? I love a cardigan. This line by Cabbages and Roses is gooorgeous too, and makes me yearn for England countrysides and frostbitten fingers.
You can check out the full line over on their website.
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