♡ Happy New Year & happy 1st birthday to my blog! ♡
In honour of the new year and my first full year blogging, here's a little list of memorable things this year:
- I moved back to my hometown (6th move in 16 years nbd) - I made new friends & was reunited with old friends - I discovered old & new artists (ex: Swim Deep thanks to Victory) - I drew & wrote a lot more - I sang alone for the first time at a recital (terrifying/awesome??) - thanks to your blogs/my friends/my blog, I developed my style & became bolder (ex: chunky heels like Hannah or patterns like Ellie) - I learnt more about film & visual art - I discovered the diy garage music scene in LA (aka heard of diy garage for the first time ever hehe) - I died on stage (I played Beth in Little Women) - I discovered the music/art scene in my hometown (it was hard to find but once i found one local band it was like a gold mine) - I went to zine readings - I made & traded my own zine (also terrifying/awesome) - My friends & I auditioned AND got into our school's talent show - I attended an entire music festival (for the first time) - I felt like I was part of a community through blogging, concerts, zine-offs/readings - I got my license (aka permit) - I went to a solstice party (post on this soon!)
hat: h&m // dress: forever 21
The title is a lyric from Honey by Swim Deep. Special thanks to everyone who's taken photos for me this year! Thank you all for reading, commenting, it really means a lot. And also thanks for just being your stylish and artistic selves and for going on adventures that I can read about because you've all inspired me so much this year. So all in all, happy New Year & thanks for sticking around or even stopping by!
♡ Here's to many more years of blogging! ♡
Hey guys! Sorry for the hella long hiatus! None of my recent outfit pictures have turned out the way I wanted them to so here are some from February (??) when I was still in sunny California and not freezing cold Canada. *dramatic sigh* shirt: somewhere in new york (gift)//shorts: american apparel//shoes: vans//rings: homemade//bracelets: homemade + gifts
Anyway though, the past four months have flown by so. quickly. Eleventh grade has been so great so hectic so far. I've been reading so much since September, we're reading a total of 24 for school this year... Yes. t w e n t y f o u r b o o k s !
I'm also specializing in cinema and visual arts at school which is a super interesting and hands-on class! We write, film, edit, act, analyze movies, learn about the history and technical side of film-making. I really really love it. We recently watched The Birds (directed by Hitchcock) and sdglf just thinking about it makes my skin crawl... It was a terrific movie, don't get me wrong but I don't think any of us are ready to see birds yet. *hides under blanket in fear* I know it sounds kinda silly to be scared of birds but holy crap man watch it and tell me you don't get the heebie-jeebies!
the special effects are pretty high-tech am I right I also completed and traded my first zine at a zine off which was slightly amazing and slightly terrifying at the same time??? It felt so great to be in a room full of people interested in zines who wanted support and wanted to support people. Plus it was lovely to just have a free exchange without judgement. It really felt like a community and man that felt freaking amazing.
I've also been going to local concerts and zine readings and discovering things I didn't know about my town. It makes me kind of sad though that it took moving away and moving back to be open enough to look for and to find wonderful things here, but I guess that's what growing up is all about. ~life lessons from céline~
I've been casually re-watching Gilmore Girls (I also got my friend addicted oops) and I didn't think it was possible but I actually love it even more than i did when I first watched it as a kid. And that is because I actually understand the literary, film and cultural references now and my family and I have a similar fast-paced humour/dialogue thing that we didn't when I was seven.
Title is a lyric from Twenty-nine by Christmas Island P.S. it's almost my blog's first birthday which is slightly scary/blowing my mind P.P.S I GOT MY BRACES OFF BACK IN OCTOBER!! Are you excited for Christmas or does it still feel like November for you too? Have you seen any good/terrifying movies lately? Do you make zines/love Gilmore Girls? P.P.P.S If you've gotten this far high five man you're the cooliest so have some imaginary brownies and presents! (thank you!)
Begin Again, written and directed by John Carney, is such a wonderful and inspiring movie for so many reasons. Firstly, the concept itself is so original and inspiring. When I saw the trailer this summer, I was sure it was going to be yet another cheesy movie but luckily, it wasn't. Greta's (Keira Knightley) newly famous boyfriend and songwriting partner, Dave (Adam Levine) cheats on her with one of his producers while Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is a recently jobless record producer with his fair share of messes. Dan and Greta meet when her friend makes her perform one of her songs in a bar and Dan's mood is lifted. He offers her a record deal which she initially rejects. Eventually, however, they decide to make an entire album with other bored artists and record it all over New York. I loved the idea of recording it outdoors, all at once, without any editing, keeping the sounds of the city, that it really was all about the music.
Secondly, I can't get enough of the soundtrack. Keira Knightley's voice is beautiful, calm, and soothing, strong yet still relatively quiet -- she doesn't belt, for example. As for Adam Levine, his musical talent is a known fact. Furthermore, the songs are so catchy and make it impossible to not sing and dance along. However, they still manage to feel delicate and intricate without being in-your-face about it. The songs are kind of low-key, they aren't written to be hits, they just stay true to the songwriter. As Adam Levine's character seems to learn, that's just as good and even when people enjoy the pop remixed version, they'll still love the original, less in-your-face arrangement.
Thirdly, the aesthetics of the movie were lovely too. I've always loved New York but this movie amplified my love for it. In the film, Dan says the album will be kind of like an ode to the city, but so is the movie. All the shots are so beautiful, colourful and seem to capture New York so perfectly and effortlessly. The whole movie seemed to have a soft, pastel, low-key vibe, from Greta's clothing to the scenery.
Fourthly, the casting was perfect! I've been a Mark Ruffalo fan since 13 Going On 30 (I still ship it) and a Keira Knightley fan since Pirates of the Caribbean (also still ship it) and Love Actually. They're both so talented and while I know they do put effort into it, they always convince me they are their characters in a seemingly effortless way. The rest of the cast was also chosen very well but Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo seem like they were born to portray Greta and Dan. (Bonus points for having a special place in my heart)
Finally, (SPOILER ALERT) the end made me happy. Despite his efforts, Greta doesn't go back to Dave but Dan and his wife do find their way back to each other. With a bit of help from Greta, Dan revives his relationship with his daughter. Furthermore, despite a very possible record deal, Greta decides to put the album for sale online for $1 that will be evenly shared with the whole band. An incredibly famous rapper Dan discovered in his heyday tweets about the album to his followers (according to Dan the entire world) per Dan's request. As for Dave, it isn't confirmed, but my interpretation is that he realizes his fans love Greta's arrangement of the song she gave him just as much as -- maybe ever more than -- the poppy remixed version, which maybe leads to an epiphany: he's a a sellout. All in all, I really enjoyed the movie and found it really inspiring as well as refreshing to watch a movie that's based on a love of music. I love the movie so much that I wanted to run around my city recording songs. I definitely recommend this movie!
