Category: Humor

Britain, Humor, Links, Weekend

Weekend Links

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
― Henry James

Hi ducklings! It was the 4th of July for American minions this past week (NPR tweeted out the Declaration of Independence and got some…confused responses), and this weekend in PRIDE in London. We have a houseguest in situ, more coming next week, and Katarina and I are scheming for a visit in August. The sun is blazing, the river is high, and politics were only typically bad this week. Let’s celebrate some summer, shall we?

This profile of one of the One Direction boys (the one you probably don’t remember the name of) is poignant and kind of lovely.

Say it with me: “women’s fiction” is just…fiction.

Great. Just ******* great.

Bitch magazine rounded up a bunch of podcasts you should be listening to. I can personally recommend about half of ’em.

SUPER NOT GREAT, TEAM.

I will be donating to this cause.

Well this was…devastating.

It’s rare that an agony aunt letter affects me, but this is one of those occasions.

#distractinglysexy is trending and it’s great.

Album of the week: Something to Tell You, by Haim 

Favorites, Humor

Five Things I Loved In June

“Green was the silence, wet was the light,
the month of June trembled like a butterfly.”
― Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets

Another month down, another batch of things to love! Here are some of the things that made me happy this past June, tell me what brought you some joy in the comments.

Wood Sage and Sea Salt, by Jo Malone. Jeff bought me a long coveted bottle of this scent for my birthday and I’ve been wearing it nonstop ever since. With notes of citrus, wood, herbs, and salt, it’s the furthest thing in the world from a sweet floral. Perfect.

 

American Gods, on Starz/Amazon. This series is weird, uncomfortable, fascinating, and beautifully designed. The concept is theoretically simple: gods are real and engendered by human belief. As subsequent waves of people have come to the Americas, they have brought their gods with them, but as times have changed and different belief systems waxed and waned, the influence of these gods has also shifted dramatically. So what happens when different groups of people have brought different interpretations of the same gods with them, or when new “gods” come along to claim human time and attention? What good is being immortal when you have nothing to do? What if other gods existence come at the expense of yours? A mixed conversation on religion, immigration, faith, death, and flawed people, I’ve been lapping this show up with a spoon.

 

All the Single Ladies, by Rebecca Traister. This book (which I took in audio form) explores the history of unmarried women in American life, starting in the colonial period and taking things straight up into the 21st century. Through research and public history, Traister synthesizes (and rarely judges) how religious, secular, and cultural mores have always found ways to include, exclude, ignore, encompass, puzzle over, cow, fear, and generally fret about un-partnered women. Meanwhile, single women have always been a major force in American life, though their contributions haven’t always been sung from the rooftops,

Ellis Faas lip gloss. The idea behind this line is that the best and purest red lip is the color of…human blood. Weird, yes, but the pigmentation? Ace.

 

Vintage shopping in Paris. I keep promising a post on it and I will get this up soon (though first I need to repair damages from the Photobucket debacle) but in the meantime, let me just say that discovering a half dozen new vintage shops and coming home with some genuine treasure was a highlight of the trip. And provided some much needed beauty therapy!

Humor

Ugh. Stand By.

PSA post for all and sundry. Photobucket, my previous 3rd party image hosting platform has (very suddenly and without any warning to me) apparently decided to pull this service and charge several hundred dollars to reinstate and use it moving forward. I’m not going to be doing this, and will have to find another place to store my photos.

Unfortunately I have several years worth of blog content and images connected to this platform and switching it all over to a new host and correcting now broken links is going to take me a lot of time. And an awful lot of swearing.

In the meantime, if things look a little wonky around here for the foreseeable future, that’s what’s up.

Humor, Links

Weekend Links

“In our gardens the fruits are fast reaching perfection; all esculent plants are in full use; the rich juicy black currant is ripe, and the gooseberries are full almost to bursting. Ripe strawberries nestle under every leaf…. Now is the season for bathing, whether in river or ocean. How delicious is a plunge in this thirsty weather!”
 – Eliza Cook’s Journal, 1850 July 6th

Kittens, we’ve made it halfway through 2017, rejoice! We’re having a fairly sedate time at home this weekend getting the house in order and possibly hitting up a few markets if we work up the energy to leave the flat after deep cleaning it. Only time will tell. American minions, enjoy the long weekend and UK minions, let’s hold hands and remember that August Bank Holiday is just around the corner!

Paris2

The American President managed to derail press coverage on one of his signature pieces of legislative action by being a creepy old misogynist. Again. And of course no one is doing anything about it.

I for one, am super over his obsession with women and our hemoglobin.

These ladies, however, are speaking up.

Geez, guys, sliding into Atwood’s world of speculative fiction wouldn’t even be hard…how’s that for the icy hand of terror?

I expect every child of PBS and every Trekkie to do their god damned duty and subscribe!

If you need a dose of goodness and self-love, let me direct you to this video of Lizzo in concert. A couple of months old, still perfect.

This dog brings me joy.

Tom and Lorenzo did a pineapple edit for summer, and we must all thank them.

I’ve been promising myself new glasses for months. Help me choose!

Album of the Week: TLC (Deluxe), by TLC

Humor, Links, Weekend

Weekend Links

“Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.”
― Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays

Genuine question for my friends of a certain age (aka, at least older than me): has summer always been a season of carnage and I’m just waking up to this at 31 years old? From terrorist attacks and hate crimes to (another) uptick in the senseless killings of people of color in the US, every summer of recent memory for me seems…charged in some way. And the past few weeks are starting to feel like the beginning to yet another season of it.

More positively, I’m glad to say that this weekend is somewhat lowkey. I’m catching up with friends, brunching with my husband, doing a spot of shopping for the both of our work wardrobes, and exercising. We’re on a health kick and, while I’m hating every minute of it, it’s already been pretty good for us. Damn it.

Here are your links, tell me your weekend plans in the comments!

Another attack in London, this time the terrorism directed at the Muslim community. Violence begets violence and the argument of “they started it” is both a two year old’s excuse and woefully inadequate in the face of thousands of years of history. But faith leaders like this? They truly are doing the lord’s work, whatever the lord you believe in looks or sounds like.

Of course, after typing the above, there was another attack in Paris.

I’d love for my hair to cooperate enough to try any of these. But my follicles are laughing at the mere suggestion.

Let’s face, when the world ends, you’re going to need to have had your “look” thought out.

Nothing is new and this fashion conspiracy theory has merit as far as I’m concerned.

The least surprising thing in this story for me is the idea that Steven Bannon fat-shames Sean Spicer. Meanwhile, prospective laws are being crafted behind closed doors and the White House is refusing to allow the press to ask questions in public. Seems super legit.

This semi-famously gay Mormon dude gets it.

Speaking of, it’s actually rare that Mormon news crosses into the mainstream but Elna Baker perfectly expresses my feelings to this Facebook kerfuffle.

One month to go.

An exhibition I will definitely be hitting up at some point this summer.

I am a disappointment to myself. 17%. I’m amending this by the end of summer.

There is not a single kerfuffle of any sort he’s currently going through that doesn’t not lead back to his big mouth saying idiot things for stupid reasons. Time and time again, he bluffs, he’s called, and he doesn’t have a hand. I understand populist rage and resentment, I understand the appeal of outsiders, I understand the appeal of trolling. I do NOT understand how this man convinced millions of people he was their champion, much less a strategic, thoughtful, or rational human being. A month of scrambling, lying, and frantic attempts to shift the media conversation away from a twitter threat he shouldn’t have made based on leverage it turned out he didn’t have, to try and silence a man he shouldn’t have fired because he was grumpy that he looked bad in the press. The wound is ALL self-inflicted.

You get what you vote for, people. Also, this anonymous farmer sounds like an ass.

Album of the week: Evolve, by Imagine Dragons 

Humor, Travel

Four Days in Paris Part 3

“I love Paris in the summer, when it sizzles.”
― Cole Porter

We couldn’t have had better weather for our Paris trip and in spite of liberal application of sunscreen, I still managed to burn my neck and shoulders. However, it was all in the cause of vintage hunting and I did come home with treasure, so I begrudge my extra dose of Vitamin D nothing.

This vintage shop sells by weight!
THIS gem is getting its own post so stand by.
I flirted shamelessly with some hand inked fashion prints from the 1910s on this street, but I’m pleased (re: pissed) to say that financial virtue won the day.
This is almost the closest we got to the Eiffel Tower this trip, and I don’t fee bad about that.
We were treated to an impromptu concert whilst at lunch on our last day.
Snail sighting!
So charming I might actually die from it. An overdose of loveliness.

Friends, Humor, Travel

Four Days in Paris Part 2

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

We had next to no agenda in Paris, except to enjoy the company of Caitlin and her darling husband Jose, see one museum, and eat as much French food as possible. I’m thrilled to say that by this account, our trip was a stunning success. I gained about a million pounds (all due to cream and butter, so zero regrets there), and I was so pleased to spend time with friends who are so generous not just with invitations, but with wisdom, humor, and GREAT stories.

On our second day, while Caitlin shopped til she dropped (go check out her blog for some of her posts on Paris fashion, where to shop, and general notes from the road–she’s on a full travel campaign this summer!), Jeff and I took in the Musee D’Orsay and wandered some streets for some beauty therapy.

Apparently Hemingway loved this place, so of course we had to wander by–for Jeff’s sake.

This place was a bar, wine shop, library, book store, and “literary salon” all in one, which is about the most French thing I’ve ever seen in my life!

Feminism, Humor, News, Travel

Four Days in Paris Part 1

“Cities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman, and New York a well-adjusted transsexual.”
― Angela Carter

I’ve been putting these posts together for a while now, and the day I was going to post the first part of the story, there was another attack in Paris. The information of this us still being pieced together.

The city of light is a resilient old girl, just as London is a crusty old guy, and both are holding it together spectacularly. And yet. It does feel like there are people who want to rip it to shreds because it’s beautiful and (at it’s best) it an be seen as a symbol of people getting along in spite of forces trying to rip it apart. Sometimes failing miserably, but still trying.

There’s a reason people fall in love with Paris. It revels in beauty and thought and language, which is dangerous to the harsh and the narrow. It’s sumptuous and gauche and luxurious and wretched all at the same time. It wears its age and its history well, and it doesn’t seem to be ashamed of even its own darker moments. It’s easy to love and so I think it must be easy to hate too.

It’s not surprising to me that Paris is considered female or feminine in its language or its characterization. It’s not safe to be beautiful, disappointing, sexy, boring, interesting, complicated, conflicted, contrary, romanticized, fetishized, put on a pedestal, found lacking, found transcendent, loved, or hated. Paris is all of these things. I’m always glad when go and I’m sorrowed that I or other people have to second guess whether or not it’s safe to right now. We need her romance and charm and pleasure and sober history more than ever.

Humor, Links, News, Weekend

Weekend Links

“If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe and Aloysius in a good temper…”
― Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited

Hi, kittens. It was another rattling week of news and the general sense of overwhelm continues. Between acts of violence, tragedies, media shenanigans, Twitter-happy trigger fingers, ongoing debate or outrage over American legislation, grumpiness over British politics, and goodness knows what else, there was a lot to absorb.

On the personal front, work continues to plug along and the benefits of my Paris break seem to be sticking around. I put to bed a yearly budget, sat down with some creative pals, am back to working on some of my 101/1001 goals, and Jeff is acting a personal training and nutrition coach as we try to get back to being healthy. You may imagine how the last bit thrills me.

Here is a nice batch of links for you, some funny and some serious, to help kick off your weekends. I’ll be at the gym. Crying.

I mentioned this last week, but this summarizes why the Comey Hearing had so many specific overtones to women.

HIDEOUS.

Summer street caller response prep.

There’s little I love more than a good disruptor story, particularly in the world of beauty!

When I first saw this story, I legitimately thought it was satire. It’s not.

Shut up and take my money!

Seriously, just take my money. I mean it.

Alas, poor J. Crew.

Having said that, I appreciate the kitsch quotient in this sweater.

After multiple mass shootings this past week, which were all horrible, let’s talk about it and some facts around it. Also, here’s an overview of the mass shootings of the last 18 months. In fact, here was an overview of all the shootings that happened that same day.

I indulged in some major vintage scouting while in Paris but at the moment, a lot of easily accessible vintage pieces are not from the eras or decades that I like and so I sat on my hands on all cases but one. But it got me in the mood to read more about vintage, so this article was right on target!

This piece from the Columbia Journalism Review is nicely thought provoking.

Album of the Week: How Did We Get So Dark, by Royal Blood

Humor, Travel

Summer Bucket List

“London is a riddle. Paris is an explanation.”
― G.K. Chesterton

Any good holiday will impart a little bit of wisdom and our half week in Paris provided plenty of teaching moments to leaven the hedonistic pleasure of good food and good company. I got to reflect a bit about the last year, what we’ve been able to do, and what we’d like to do more of in the near future. It’s been a big year–in some ways a rough one, but a good one overall. It got me thinking of what I’ve managed to do and what I want to do more of in the foreseeable future. More on this later as my thoughts coalesce into something more cohesive.

In the meantime, here’s a zero pressure bucket list I came up with for the summer, based on some of my swirling ideas

May we all be as content as this Parisian shop cat.

Travel more–we’re thinking Greece as a couple and I hope to have a bit of a jaunt with a friend if she’s able to make it across the pond.

Buy new glasses.

Get another piece of furniture for the house. And plants that I won’t easily kill.

Read a new heap of novels, both trashy and classy.

Finally get that call with my bank scheduled to kick off the proper investment and savings plan we’ve been talking about for months.

Do another month long blog project.

Lose some weight. I’m typically wary of goals like this, but I’ve decided to just acknowledge that I’m going to work hard on some health and fitness goals explicitly.

Catch up with some long lost pals.

Knock out my audiobook goal.

Leave the office at a sensible hour most days.

Go to more movies.

Throw some kind of party or get together.

 

Do any of you have a summer bucket list? If so, what’s on it?