Halloween

This year I've decided to dress up for Halloween. The past few years I've bypassed any type of costume-wearing in favor of just carving a pumpkin, passing out candy to kids, watching "scary" movies, and celebrating Fall in general by baking all kinds of goodies. Ah, us Americans, we love to eat, but we REALLY love to eat as soon as the weather starts to get colder. Maybe it's a hibernation instinct that kicks in, something from the pioneers of yore? Speaking of stuffing our collective faces - I've only just recently learned about the tailgating parties that go on for football games, and I had no idea how extensive they were. I know - I'm an American and have yet to go to a football game. But in my defense, both of the universities I attended did not have football teams, and my dad was more into going to baseball games anyway, so I never received the indoctrination that so many other Americans seem to have had. But apparently there are people that just tailgate outside of the football stadium and don't even bother going to the actual football game? Crazy.

Anyway, so Josh and I have randomly been talking about what we would be for Halloween this year if we dressed up. We mostly do this when we watch a movie that provides us with a good source of inspiration, and we find ourselves wandering around quoting things to each other the rest of the day/week/month. And over the past few months, there has definitely been one movie that we've been quoting more often than usual. Yep, it's this one:



So this is who Josh and I are going to be this year. I've never really been one for the "sexy" costumes - sexy kitty, sexy nurse, sexy teacher, etc., etc. I think the last time I dressed up I was a tree, and I made myself this elaborate headpiece, complete with leaves, branches and everything. I remember that at some point a drunk man at a party I was at wandered up to me and admiringly said, "Wow, you made that? You are like, Martha fucking Stewart, man." Which I found funny b/c there actually was someone dressed up as Martha Stewart at the party, although she was rocking a "Martha in jail" look complete with a ball and chain.

So I hope I can do this costume justice - and by that I mean remember enough quotes from the movie to carry me through the evening, as I'm sure people will make requests for them. We shall see . . . .

I love these shoes

These are Clarks Wallabee shoes. I've been waiting to find a pair on sale for awhile, and finally did. My sister was with me when I bought them - she said they look like "grandma shoes." I don't think so, but perhaps my grandma tendencies are taking over and I don't know it. I did after all buy a pair of purple orthopedic loafers at a thrift store. But they were purple. And $1.00.

In any case I think these shoes are some of the most comfortable ones I've ever worn, and I think they're cute. So there.

so sorry

I've totally been neglecting my blog. I do have a lot of reasons why, really, I do.

Namely:

1) Josh and I have decided to try and buy a place here in SF. We've gotten a real estate agent and everything, and have started going to open houses. Yes, I know, we're crazy.

2) I've been so caught up with joining Twitter and Facebook that I have been spending more time there, reading other people's tweets/updates and trying to figure the whole social networking thing out. So I guess it's best to say that I've been more outward-looking than inward-looking lately?

uhhhhhhh, and that's it. Ok, so maybe that's not a lot of reasons. But there they are, plus there is also my general reluctance to go anywhere near a computer on my time off since I'm on one all dang day at work.

So what have I been doing with my spare time then, you ask?

Reading stuff like this:



Yes really. And Josh even went and picked up this book for me from the library - he risked others seeing him checking out a book with a cover like that . . . in public. Is that true love or what? In my defense, I had NO IDEA that the cover was that . . . sexual. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. To be fair, the book isn't that bad - there is actually no bodice-ripping type of stuff in there at all - I mean, there's barely even a kiss. So if anyone ever checks out this book based on their interest in the cover, they'll be really disappointed.

And why am I reading stuff like this, you ask? I've been trying to find more "adult" vampire-y/werewolf-y/supernatural-y stuff to read since the Twilight series frustrates the hell out of me, so this book was one of my experiments. It seems that once you go more adult with this stuff, the cover of the novels also get more, er, adult. No innocent red apple on the cover here, folks.

I've also started watching the first season of True Blood on DVD. And I like it! Even Josh likes it (though I suspect a lot of that has to do with Anna Paquin running around in short-shorts). I think it helps that this HBO series has the same writer as the one who did Six Feet Under, too.

In other tv news . . . .



OHMIGOD. Season 3. This Sunday. I know, aren't you excited too?

Yes, Target is awesome

It looks like one of Target's next guest designers will be . . . . Anna Sui!! I am very excited! I guess the line is inspired by the TV show "Gossip Girl," but since I have yet to watch the show, all of the references to the characters are lost on me (uh, I guess there is a slutty character?). In any case, lots of the pieces look like they are going to be pretty darn cute, which means I'm going to have to battle it out with all the other Bay Area people who love good fashion on the cheap. In the past I haven't been quick enough - I was fortunately able to grab one of the last button-down shirts from what remained of Alexander McQueen's stuff, but had no such luck with any of the dishwear/kitchen things that Orla Kiely had done.

But seriously, look how fun/adorable some of these are:

">







images are from The Cut, and I first found out about this via Anh-Minh's post.

Addendum

Oh one thing I forgot to mention about the Twilight movie - I just wanted to say that I felt really sorry for the kid they had playing the Jacob Black character. I think he was wearing some of the worst hair extensions/wig that I've ever seen in a movie.



It kinda reminded me of this:

Yes, they totally gave him Conan the Barbarian hair. C'mon hair and makeup people - it's the new millenium! No more bad 80's long-haired wigs for men!

On Twilight, The Movie

Ok, so I finally watched the movie version for the book that I found frustratingly so-so. And well . . . it came as no surprise to me that the movie ended up being so-so. In a weird way it kind of reminded me of the latest Star Wars movies - the acting seemed bad and overly melodramatic, even wooden at times, but I wonder if that is more the fault of the lines the actors were given than their acting talents (watching Natalie Portman slog through the love scenes in the 2nd and 3rd SW movies was extremely painful, especially because you
know the girl can act). So when you are making a movie from a book where the writing isn't that stellar (in my opinion), it's not like you've got much to go on for the movie. Here are my thoughts on a few things about the movie:

1) Rob Pattinson as the lead vampire d'jour, Edward Cullen. There seems to have been much debate over having him as the lead in the movie - apparently there are some "Twihards" that totally hate him, but whatever. I mean, it isn't often that the main characters of movies-based-on-books look like how I pictured them when I read the book (ahem, Tom Cruise as the vampire Lestat in "Interview With a Vampire" - seriously, WTF?!). But I thought Mr. Pattinson was a pretty good choice, given that he is very good looking and very pale - which if you've read the book, are pretty much what Edward is. Granted, there were a few times where I think he was supposed to be showing the "pain" he felt to be around Bella and he just looked like he had bad gas or was constipated. So maybe Mr. Pattinson was taking the "show, not tell" thing just a wee bit too far there, and needs to work on his grasp of "less is more." ha

2) The movie soundtrack. Lame. Made a cheesy movie even cheesier. All the rock guitar solo noodlings in the background of "serious" scenes, and the use of "rock" songs in the background in general . . . meh. It felt like it was done with a heavy hand, as in "ok, now it's the scene where they are playing baseball, so cue that AWESOME song which totally emphasizes how they are BAD ASS VAMPIRES!" I laughed a lot during the movie b/c of the music.

3) Other characters. I found the villains to be hilarious. Dreads, the standard "bad guy ponytail," shirtless, wearing a giant fur capelet, what? All of these guys were described in the book as looking like they were hikers, but in the movie they looked like they had just come from the mall. And the rest of the Cullen family - meh. Again, not much to go on with the lines that they had (or lack thereof). And as for the main girl who played Bella, this is the one part of the book that I felt improved. She didn't come across as annoying on screen as she did in the book. But I'm not sure if that's kudos to the actress or to the screenwriter for editing down the book. ha

So overall - it is a funny, cheesy movie with a hot guy as the lead (and hot guys in supporting parts). Total boy eye candy, so I guess I can understand why so many teenage girls are into it. Oh, and the whole "vampires sparkle in the sun" thing? Uh, it just came out weird in the movie. But then I'm not sure if there's a way where you could make a person "sparkle" in a movie without it looking insanely lame.

Chomp Chomp

Via The Sartorialist

OMG! Where can I get a pair of these? And do they make them for women, too?