Friday Links: 1/26

I turned 22.5 yesterday and today I have an exam that threatens to destroy all that I hold most dear. I’ve been studying since I woke up at 5:30 am. (Approximately five hours ago). There are about three hours left. It’s panic time.

Here’s what’s happening online:

• Kate DiCamillo (author of Because of Winn-Dixie, and others) on why children’s books should be a little sad.
• You can smell when someone is sick. Here’s a case where a woman was able to identify Parkinson’s patients by body odor, some even before they were clinically diagnosed.
• NBA = ballet? Check out these beautiful unplanned synchronized moments.
• Hedi Slimane takes over at Celine, replacing Phoebe Philo. Not a fan of this development.
• An ode to the pre-teen bedroom, complete with bead curtain.
• Ann Curry may have a baby crush on Stephen Colbert but I have a baby crush on Ann Curry.
• First there was athleisure. Now there is bath-leisure.
• Screen Junkies casts the It sequel– the prestige, the popcorn, and the provocative versions (the latter featuring Jared Kushner).
• Full cast and vague plot details have been announced for The Incredibles II and I am salivating.
• This webcomic is my current (as of yesterday) obsession and I’m narrowly avoiding bingeing it instead of studying. It’s sold out but if you buy it in book form it comes with a plush. Here’s the author/illustrators tumblr for more info.
• Phantom Thread is the last big Oscar nominee that I haven’t seen. Here are some of the films from which director Paul Thomas Anderson drew inspiration (including Rebecca!) and an amazing short film featuring under-the-radar lead actress Vicky Krieps.
• One thing I really like about this capsule wardrobe article in particular (among the seeming billions out there, which get a bit very repetitive) is the recognition that, because everyone’s style is different, so will everyone’s capsule wardrobe be.
• What is Scandinavian style and why is it gaining so much traction globally?
• Living for Colbert’s imitation of French President Emmanuel Macron. It starts around 2 minutes in.
• In case you’re wondering what I’m doing here in France, here’s a video featuring some of my classmates.
• And to round out this rather fashion-focused week, Kate Spade succulent sandals.

Late (Again!) Links

No preamble. Down and dirty style.

• Fortnum & Mason has a superbly beautiful (and fittingly spendy) Rare Tea Wooden Advent Calendar. All I can say is “GIVE ME THAT FUDONG WHITE PEONY KING!!”
• Remember dying of dysentery on the Oregon Trail? Well, now it’s a computer game and you can be a yoga instructor.
• As a seltzer lover, I came to the right place.
• Just some photos of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, the only celebrity couple that has ever mattered.
• Can we move my next raw materials exam to 9 pm?
• This might be my favorite HONY post ever. This man is the person I aspire to be. I’m ready to be illumined.
• I want this book.
• Sephora’s got a cool new campaign featuring its own employees.
• A quick video with Charlotte Olympia, she of the near-masterpiece footwear (plus bonus puppies!).
• Call me crazy, but I like What’s Happening Down There.
• Find someone who spits water on you the way Jon Stewart spits water on Stephen Colbert (and vice versa).
• Do you play that game where you imagine the stories of strangers you see? If so, this is the Instagram account for you.

Friday Links 8/11

Firstly, thank you for helping me reach 60 followers! I’m very touched that people enjoy reading this blog enough to submit to a never-ending influx of post notifications.
Also I’m picking up my Visa today. And maybe finishing up my tour of the Greater Boston area vegan pizza scene (i.e., three restaurants).

Also also, I may have broken my toe this morning. This has been a summer full of walking into things and burning myself on heating elements. And cooking, but I guess that goes with the heating element part.

So what else is new?

Everything I Know About Being Resilient I Learned from Shoes

Okay, so that title is clickbait, but I must say that I am continually impressed by the durability of a pair of good shoes.  If you were recently in college, you may know of the wardrobe staple that is fondly referred to as the ‘frat shoe’, i.e., the shoe attractive enough for going out but humble enough for crowds, overwhelming heat, and contact with foreign substances (hopefully only alcohol).

Compared to some of the things my shoes have been through, the canonical frat shoe might as well be taking a walk in the park (I’m really trying to avoid the footwear puns but it’s so damn hard).
Here’s a quick list of the worst things to which my shoes have been subjected.

Thoughts on Seasonal Shopping (and a Wish List)

If there were a spectrum, and on one end of the spectrum were the people who are completely and utterly bemused by the obsession with and idolatry of French women, and on the other end were people reading Parisian Chic and How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are, I would be much more on one side of the spectrum than the other.
So take this post with a hefty pinch of francophilic salt. Or sel, if you will.

I think I mentioned recently that I read somewhere or other (probably Who What Wear, honestly) that les francaises (I’m too lazy to do accents, shoot me) keep a wardrobe of basics and then limit themselves to five items a season (Spring/Summer being one, Fall/Winter being another) to revitalize their options.  Obviously, a hard and fast rule is not going to adequately encompass a nation’s worth of spending habits, but I thought it was a worthwhile concept to consider.

When my family’s financial status improved and my anorexia-derived self-denial cleared up (i.e. the period following my sophomore year of college), my spending increased.  And now I have many lovely things that I really value and appreciate.  And while I still enjoy shopping (very much) and have things I want, I’m also strongly recognizing that there are ways I would rather spend my time, a heavy shopping habit is expensive, and I don’t want my belongings to increase significantly (if at all) beyond what I have.

I would talk a bit about Marie Kondo, but I think that’s a post for another day.

Current Trends v. Practicality

This is a topic that’s been on my ‘Blog Ideas’ list for a little while, and I realized that as the seasons change, tackling it is becoming a now or never sort of thing. Time waits for no one. Soon enough, the trends I don’t like now will fade out and be replaced with other styles I find similarly distasteful.

Not that there aren’t trends I don’t like- I simply find a bemused feeling of fond irritation to be my natural element. And that’s how I feel about the obsession with hygge, so let’s begin.