Worth Waking Up For

{Serendipitous Exposure}

2012-01-04T19:18:00.000Z

Here are some photos I took whilst wandering around L'arc de triomphe and surrounding areas in Montpellier, France - where I have the great fortune to be living and studying this year. I intended to capture the old quarter of the Mediterranean city basking in the glow of the sunset. My (usually trustworthy) old film camera, however, had other ideas. I'm still not sure what happened exactly, but the battery ran out and decided to save energy by fusing three images together (can you tell I'm an amateur photographer?!) These photos may look a little shoddy, but when you think about it it's quite a happy little accident to be able to catch several different moments of time onto one image. Thanks to my willing Italian model, Gianlorenzo!

{Lana With Those Lips}

2012-01-04T18:48:00.001Z

Introducing the self-dubbed 'gangsta Nancy Sinatra', Lana Del Rey. And boy has she got one hell of a voice. On first blush, Video Games struck me as a little melancholy, a little slow and not in the good way. 24 hours and a bazillion plays later I was hooked. She's just got one of those soothing voices, not to mention she looks like a Goddess. Her lyrics read like poems:

My, who me, my
Feet don't fail me nowTake me to the finish lineOhh my heart it breaks every step that I takeBut I'm hoping at the gates,They'll tell me that you're mineWalking through the city streetsIs it by mistake or designI feel so alone on the friday nightCan you make me feel like home,if I tell you you're mine

Can't get enough of her videos either, so much style. Who else can make red converse and fake blood look that glamorous?

{This Is A Man's World}

2011-03-30T20:50:00.002+01:00

{A Word A Day}

2011-03-28T20:58:00.003+01:00

Apparently cellar-door is the most pleasing word, or set of words, in the English. I quite like the sound of these ones though...

sylph - a graceful and slender young woman.

euphony - a bearable or agreeable sound.

quixotic - extremely romantic and chivalrous.

crepuscule - twilight; dusk.

nepenthe - something, such as a drink or a drug, capable of making one forget suffering.

exosculate - to kiss fervently or heartily.

lacuna - a blank space or missing part.

euonym - a pleasing or beautiful name.

quarender - a dark red apple.

halcyon - calm and peaceful; tranquil. Prosperous; gold.

soigné - showing sophisticated elegance; fashionable. Well-groomed; polished.

phalerate - decorated; made beautiful.

{She's Always A Woman}

2011-03-27T23:05:00.000+01:00

{Someone Like You]

2011-03-27T22:56:00.000+01:00

{Nothing Is Ever Lost}

2011-03-27T22:31:00.001+01:00

Found: Part 3

Carla Bruni - You Belong To Me

{Tale Of My Two Cities}

2011-02-22T20:46:00.000Z

{Quintessentially Ours}

2011-02-20T23:24:00.001Z

Adele - Someone Like You

Colin Firth - BAFTA Best Actor for The King's Speech 2011

Still from Never Let Me Go - Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield

{From Dateless Days}

2011-02-16T15:37:00.002Z

Greece 2010

{Three words that became hard to say}

2011-02-13T00:24:00.000Z

I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers.

{To Be Continued...}

2011-02-10T22:03:00.000Z

{Home Is Wherever I'm With You}

2011-02-09T15:57:00.002Z

I ventured southwards to my family home this weekend. Having been greatly touched by the sacred, unifying role that food and breaking bread together has in a Neapolitan's life, my friends and I decided to recreate the ambiance with a little Italian lunch.

What We Ate First: A platter of buffalo mozzarella, milano salami and sliced tomatoes beautifully arranged by my favourite blonde friend.

What We Ate Next: Cannelloni tubes lovingly stuffed with meat, garlic, and tomato sauce by my partner in crime and fellow Italian enthusiast.

What We Ate Last: Chocolate and hazelnut torte with double cream not-so-sparingly drizzled on top.

This was all washed down with a (very British) cup of tea and a (very Italian) lie down.

'One of the delights of life is eating with friends, second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends.'

Home by Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros

{A Tale Of Two Cities}

2011-02-09T15:08:00.001Z

Artist and graphic designer Vahram Muratyan has been exploring the intricate dichotomy between the glorious cities of New York and Paris. Here are only a handful of the gems - check out all the prints on his blog.

{I'll get back to you someday soon you will see}

2011-02-01T01:40:00.000Z

Here's Fleet Foxes new song: Helplessness Blues. An absolutely incredible comeback. If you like this song and it's the first you have heard of them, I heartily recommend White Winter Hymnal and He Doesn't Know Why.

Download for free here. Go, listen and be happy!

{Random Acts of Kindness}

2011-01-31T13:44:00.000Z

Video by Todd Bieber

"If there was anything he (Makhaya) liked on earth, it was human generosity. It made life seem whole and sane to him. It kept the world from shattering into tiny fragments. Only a few, quietly spoken words: 'I'll stick my neck out for you.'" - Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather

{Hauntingly Beautiful Prose}

2011-01-25T15:05:00.002Z

Written by Haruki Murakami. Illustrated by Steph Tai. View source here.

{Partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt}

2011-01-24T14:47:00.001Z

Frank O'Hara reading his poem, Having A Coke With You, which is one of my favourites:

It's the little details in this poem that speak to me: 'the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches'. It's a real poem about a real love.

Having a Coke with you

is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt
partly because of the fluoresent orange tulips around the birches
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary
it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be anything as still
as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it
in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back and forth
between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles

and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them
I look
at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world
except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it's in the Frick
which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go together the first time
and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn't pick the rider as carefully
as the horse
it seems they were all cheated of some marvellous experience
which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I am telling you about it

-Frank O'Hara

As a special treat, have a listen to the delectable Don Draper (Jon Hamm's character in Mad Men) reciting Mayakovsky - by the same poet. Such soothing tones!

{Wonder Woman}

2011-01-23T17:02:00.000Z

Most definitely worth waking up for.

http://us.christianlouboutin.com/superball-women-s-flat.html

In the words of Monsieur Louboutin: 'You could outrun any villain in these supheroesque sneakers. Create your own comic book story as you run through the streets in this glimmering limited edition style.'

Now, where's my cape?

{...}

2011-01-21T00:54:00.000Z

{Soul Men}

2011-01-19T21:32:00.001Z

Those voices.

Mumford and Sons - Liar.

Paolo Nutini - No Other Way.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love.

{What's Your Secret?}

2011-01-17T22:11:00.001Z

PostSecret is a website started by Frank Warren, exhibiting 'secrets' put to paper (postcards to be precise) and sent in by the general public. Turns out the general public has a lot to hide! Some are haunting, some angry and some depressing. Others, however, will warm the cockles of your heart.

Updated weekly, this website is one reason why I wake up on a Sunday. (Others include: bacon sandwiches with lashings of ketchup; dress code = pyjamas and socks; tea and toast in bed; meticulous discussion of Saturday night's revelry; Sunday afternoon walks.)

Here are some of my favourite secrets, all from the website:

{Live La Vie En Rose}

2011-01-16T22:29:00.001Z

Listen to Carla Bruni on repeat, especially this gem.

Be blunt and brash with someone, and then charm your way out of an awkward situation.

Ride your bicycle (wicker basket and flowers optional) down to a river and skip stones.

Identify your unique joie de vivre.

Have a pique-nique on your living room floor. Baguette. Cheese. Red wine. Macaroons. Bon Appétit!

{Synesthesia}

2011-01-15T20:22:00.000Z

Synesthesia, literally meaning joined perception, is a condition where people associate objects with a certain flavour, smell or colour. To use this term broadly, I am a happy victim of Synesthesia whenever I taste a particular gastronomical delight or smell a certain fragrance. Even the faintest hint of a flavour or smell will conjure up the image of an old friend's face in my mind, or a snapshot of a remarkable day. Here are my top 5 'Synesthesiastic' sensations:

1. Tomato soup, Ribena or Calpol. I'm really very ill. No school today. Please can I watch TV for just one hour, Mum?

2. Passion fruit sorbet. Gallivanting around Europe with my favourite travel companion. No care in the world, except where to get my next fix of this sweet nectar.

3. Regrettably or not, if blindfolded and held at gunpoint I could identify past loves by a quick sniff of the neck. Unfortunately, this uncanny knowledge of male fragrance leaves me with an overwhelming desire to accost strangers in the street with a thousand kisses. Or a cheeky slap around the face, it really depends.

4. Pimms. It's summer. I'm home. This one comes hand in hand with the smell of freshly cut grass.

5. Tiffany by Tiffany Eau De Parfum. I'm told this intoxicating fragrance is a blend of 'Jasmine, Orange, Iris, And Rose'. However, it isn't the particular combination that enthralls me so. This is the life-long perfume of my American grandmother. Separated by miles and miles of vast open water, one sniff of the good stuff never fails to bring her to my side.

Do share yours!

{Unleash Your Inner Wild Child}

2011-01-14T18:02:00.000Z

'The rules in my room: no fighting except if I say so' - Yours Truly

Maurice Sendak:'Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.'

{Angus and Julia Stone}

2011-01-13T11:26:00.000Z

Allow their honeyed voices to soothe your soul. (Image taken from here.)

Big Jet Plane

Just A Boy

Wedding Song

Saw them at this magical, magical gig just before Christmas.

{Good Old-Fashioned Romance}

2011-01-13T10:51:00.000Z
A little diamond in the rough of eligible bachelors, in blog 'To My Wife' John Januzzi regularly adds to the stockpile of notes for his future (as yet non-existent) spouse.

Sometimes funny:
EMBARRASSMENT I might be really drunk and scream love songs by Olivia Newton John at a very close distance. I’m sorry, but it’s coming from a good place.

Often chivalric:
SUBWAY TRAIN The seat is all yours.

Always sincere:
WHATEVER YOU LIKE My chick can have whatever she wants.

The notes come tinged with an impossible sense of nostalgia for the future, that could warm even the coldest of hearts.

{Marisa - My Italian Alias}

2011-01-12T12:25:00.002Z
Every person deserves a mysterious Italian name handpicked by a rambunctious and bellissimo bunch of Neapolitans. What's yours?

{You Say It Best}

2011-01-12T12:19:00.000Z
'And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.'

Roald Dahl

{AC: What He Wakes Up For}

2011-01-12T12:15:00.001Z
Italian food, English friendship.

{Exquisite Vocabulary}

2011-01-12T11:58:00.000Z
Mamihlapinatapai: a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that they both desire but which neither one wants to start.

Awarded the coveted prize of 'most succinct word in the world'. Beautiful to say, beautiful to hear, and beautiful to experience.