)(

Dad: Why do you think they do that?
Girl: Because the companies who make these try to trick the girls into buying the pink stuff instead of stuff boys want to buy. [x]

Love for Love: an anthology of love poems

This book made me fall in love with poetry. I borrowed it on a whim from the British Council library and ended up unable to give it back because I loved it so much (don’t worry, I compensated the “loss” accordingly). The book basically asked modern Scottish poets to choose one of their favourite love poems and then to write a poem as a respond to it. The result is in addition to the classical poems themselves, you get to read a modern reflection on the likes of Pablo Neruda, Emily Dickinson, and Robert Creeley. It makes a fascinating read.

The book is unfortunately gone now. I’ve been looking for it since yesterday in all of my bookshelves yet it’s nowhere to be found. Quite sad about it but I do remember my one of my favourite love poems from that book is one by Robert Creeley.

Love Comes Quietly - Robert Creeley

Love comes quietly,
finally, drops
about me, on me,
in the old ways.

What did I know
thinking myself
able to go
alone all the way.

That was in 2005. It was a Wednesday night and I was just on my way home from church (I explored a bit of christianity when I stayed in Washington). The Barista at Milton Way was cute. He was tall, lean, and had long dark hair. I can’t remember his name now but we talked a bit about music and concerts and how tickets for Paul McCartney had sold out so fast. Then he dared me to drink four shots of espresso in exchange for free coffee every time he’s on the shift. I obviously just had to prove that I wasn’t chicken so I did it. So, that night I holed up in my bedroom with my heart pounding so hard in my chest I honestly thought I was going to have a heart attack. I did jumping jacks, I did some pushups, and I listened to The Killers’ Hot Fuss. None of it works. I was so paranoid I thought of waking up my host-parents and asked them to take me to the hospital. But of course I was too embarrassed. Around midnight I gave up. I went down on my knees and literally prayed to god to just end it quickly. 

It’s hilarious to think about this now but back then it wasn’t funny at all.

Some people never learn. I’m on my third cup of coffee as I’m writing this.

incidentalcomics:

Behind Every Great Novelist (Illustration for the NY Times Book Review)

YESSS RONDAAAAAAAAA

theatlantic:

The greatest humblebrag of all time.

ilovecharts:

Working habits during days before a deadline

-Bartek 

attraversoilvuoto:

David Bowie has a condition called anisocoria, which is the medical
term for unequal pupils. In 1962, aged 14, he got punched in the eye by
his schoolfriend George Underwood, during an argument over a girl named
Carol Goldsmith. George’s fingernail caught David’s eye and dislodged
something. David was admitted to Farnborough Hospital, where it was
found that the sphincter muscles of his left eye were badly torn and he
underwent two eye operations. He has an enlarged pupil that remains
permanently open, giving them an unusual appearance. Contrary to popular
belief David doesn’t have two different coloured eyes - they
are both the same colour. The enlarged pupil only gives the “effect” of
two different coloured eyes

landscapelifescape:

Super Moon in Trondheim, Norway 

(by Arve Johnsen)

angels-and-angles:

I decided the word “beautiful” was trite and meaningless when during my junior year of high school, I saw a sticky note on the women’s bathroom door that said “Smile. You are beautiful.” And instead of feeling inspired or comforted, I just scoffed. What makes me beautiful? The fact that I have to pee? I didn’t think much of it then, but looking back on it now, I kind of find it insulting. Do girls really feel the need to be told by a sticky note that they’re beautiful? Should women who don’t believe they’re beautiful frown? Is our collective self-esteem so damaged that not being pretty has to be remedied by extending the definition of beauty to everyone?

You don’t hear people saying “I believe all men are handsome.” Yet there is no shortage of people saying “I believe all women are beautiful.” Biggie could call himself a “heart throb never, black and ugly as ever” and that isn’t considered mortally damaging. Why? Because he knew he was more than his looks and he was proud of that. But could a woman say she is ugly and not be told she has low self-esteem? And not be repeatedly re-assured by her friends and family that she is beautiful? It is as if vocalizing that a woman is physically unattractive is so incredibly damaging that it nullifies every part of her. That the woman’s self-worth so firmly rests in her physical appearance that her “beauty” must be indiscriminately validated.

This well-intentioned “everyone’s a winner” attitude seeks to include those excluded by society’s restricting views on physical beauty. Instead of rejecting the notion that being beautiful gives a woman all her worth, we have accepted this and “solved” the problem by expanding the definition of the word so no one feels worthless. Even though we like to believe we call physically unattractive women beautiful to fight societal standards, we are reinforcing them by suggesting that beauty should be the primary source of a woman’s worth. A woman shouldn’t frown because she isn’t beautiful. She should smile because there is so much more to her than her beauty.

Yep. There were occasions where I had to tell friends that I didn’t think I was beautiful and that it’s okay, but they’d frown at me, fussing at me, assuring that “you are beautiful’. I told them I know it’s a lie and that’s fine because I don’t measure my self-worth on beauty anyways.

yeahwriters:

Prime reading spot!

ya-lahwi:

SHADE

The best pleasures in life are often the simple things.

Not a problem:

1. John Watson turned into Joanna Watson, played by Lucy Liu. No problem at all. I love her, she’s a talented actress.
2. Johnny Lee-Miller. Love him. He’s a terrific actor.
3. Set in New York. At first I was apprehensive about this because Sherlock Holmes is quintessentially British but after reading the plot summary and some articles, it could work. 

Problem:

1. Based on the previews and articles I read it looks like they change a lot of personal aspects about the characters, especially Watson. CBS removed Watson’s military background and his/her modest look. Elementary’s Watson seems very stylish and wealthy — being a surgeon in NY. Watson’s military background and modesty make who he/she is and to take them away would  mean changing the character — look at Guy Ritchie’s Watson and BBC’s Watson and you’ll see they decide to keep those two things. Why can’t Elementary’s Watson be an ex-military surgeon who got invalided from the war? 
2. Sherlock has tattoos in CBS’ Elementary. I don’t care if he wears scarfs and coats like BBC Sherlock, but things like tattoos..they’re a part of someone’s Identity. Holmes is not a sentimental person and tattoos are usually made out of sentimental reasons and they’re there on your skin permanently. It’s just…Holmes would probably laugh at people who do such things.
3. Timing. The timing of CBS’ Sherlock must feel a bit offensive to some BBC Sherlock fans, including myself. I feel a bit used. To me it feels like they’re producing the series because the market already exists so they can just hop on the bandwagon and enjoy the success. 

In conclusion, let me quote this again:

If you’re going to change the basic tenets of the character, why call the character Sherlock Holmes at all, unless you simply want to cash in on the name recognition?