jeeves & wooster

I'm starting to look more and more like Hugh Laurie. It is perhaps due to my incessant viewing of either A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves & Wooster or House MD at any hour of the day. It is also perhaps due to genes. People used to not be able to tell between Hugh Laurie and my uncle Paul back in the 70s, when Oxbridge was full of exciting things and people. It's the Bailey side coming through I think, right down to the bald patch.

Hugh Laurie:

Uncle Paul with Em:

Me:

I'm wearing: very old and comfy double-breasted coat from Next, Vivienne Westwood scarf, navy Docs from a vintage shop in Canterbury, necklace with the One Ring attached - ring from Tiffany, I'm going on a Fellowship with some short friends of mine.

context, strategic, restorative, empathy and intellection

According to a psychometric test I took (properly, not just on quizilla or something), those are my 'top 5' strengths. I've always been sceptical about any type of test claiming to know me better than I know myself, but this one seems to have caught me out. If I'm not a word-obsessed, backward-thinking, argumentative introvert, what else could I be? It's nice to have them termed as 'strengths', having spent my whole life holding my tongue due to that nasty intellection habit. Reading between the jargon, I think it's saying that I'm good at seeing things objectively, in a different light, able to find the wood for the trees, the most direct solution to problems. I get the 'empathy' one particularly (oh how ironic). Unfortunately I don't have a natural predisposition for sympathy to counter it. I generally have a pretty good idea of how people are feeling and what the possible causes are, but if they just want comforting I'm the absolute worst at it; empathy combined with honesty means I will want to tell tem exactly what they don't want to hear. Sometimes the truth is not the best policy, but in that case I'd rather say nothing than dress it up for their benefit. Concealing things from others always has unintended consequences, like stepping on a butterfly - it could easily cause a hurricane somewhere else...

...yeah I've been ill this whole week. This is what being trapped indoors and toked up on vitamin C with only House to keep me company does to me.

Another Beyond Retro jummy. I always have to obey my shopping list when I go out hunting, and it invariably says "NEW JUMMY WIV CUTE STUFF ON". I bought this because it's like a Green Peace top I had when I was in nursery but lost. If I can find a white-striped jersey skirt I will re-create the whole outfit. Being 3 was fantastic.

Today I wore: pale pink tee from American Apparel, lilac jersey skirt (beth) DITTO, coloured lace belt from Beyond Retro, scarf from my uncle. It says "Made in Cornwall", and is thus a Cornish Scarf.

I'm not a pastel person usually but I, like the whole planet, have been suckered into believing the Topshop Unique 80s vision of Summer 09. Also, beware getting your haircut next to a woman who's just got back from Thailand and is telling a fascinating story about an attractive male clairvoyant and his mysterious eye paintings - me and my hairdresser got so engrossed that neither of us noticed how fast my fringe was disappearing.

"love is the province of the brave"

There are moments in life when you stumble across something, be it a painting, a song, or a particular few lines in a book or poem, that makes you stand absolutely still and reflect on your self and surroundings. This happened to me last year with the song 'Province' by TV on the Radio. The various elements of this song have converged in one place through chance, and the result is a song which speaks volumes to me; the lyrics are the modern equivalent of T.S. Eliot's disillusioned post-World War I poems, the piano has exactly the kind of unearthly timbre which I am constantly trying to recreate, and David Bowie sings backing vocals.

Suddenly, all your history's ablaze
Try to breath, as the world desintegrates
Just like autumn leaves, we're in for change
Holding tenderly to what remains
And all your memories, are as precious as gold
And all the honey, and the fire which you stole
Have you running through all your red-cheeked days
Shaking loose these souls, from their sacred hiding space

However until recently I'd never seen the video, until an idle afternoon last week following a youtube maze I came across it. If possible, I now like Province even more than before.

It's a very simple idea - the woman in military uniform is the main focus of the video, just her singing with a male voice, while the background constantly morphs between images of a forest, birds, cages, planes, planets and stars. She is shot twice by the animals which lurk at the edges with hunting guns, and finally dies. I actually get teary at this video, and an AMV which uses the song with clips from the anime Grave of the Fireflies from 1988, which tells a heartbreaking story of two children orphaned in the firebombing of Kobe in the World War II... I well up just thinking about it. Gah.

After all that, today I wore:

Denim skirt from Next 90s and chopped in two unceremoniously by me, white jumper from Beyond Retro (Great Marlborough Street), burgundy tights from Topshop.

I long for the return of being able to go to school and come home in the hours of daylight.

greys to suit a grey day

I'm wearing: grey tee from American Apparel, denim shirt from Gap circa 1994, checked skirt from Topshop Oxford Circus vintage section, necklace from Granny Tree's jewellery box.

It's gone from cold and snappy to soggy and gloomy in a matter of days. Having railed bitterly against the necessity of wearing long johns every day, I now really miss the blue skies and white frost. The above ensemble is an experiment in grey really, I don't wear it that often but feel like I want to. Christine said I looked "really denim".

i've known true love, and it's called the nikon N60

My uncle had more cameras than he knew what to do with, so he kindly passed on his old Nikon N60 from the 90s on to me.

I thought my digital was a bit on the large side, but this really takes the biscuit. Despite its size it isn't too heavy, not that I really mind lugging cameras around anyway - if you want good photos you will invariably need a sturdier model than a little pocket digital. God I hate those. The ones of the size of a credit card which all look the same and oh my, have 10Megapixels so they MUST be good. Megapixels do not good photos make. In fact, I would argue the opposite. To hell with Megapixels! Give me wonderful photographs! So, I got my first roll of film developed (from my friend Dev's 18th dinner party), and I am head over heels for the clarity and atmosphere of the photos the N60 takes.

I can't wait to snap some more. Watch this space.