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& The Lover                                                                                                                                   & Grief                                       of Justice            of Fire         



Thursday, June 28, 2007

My sister came over the other night and helped me take some really nice pictures of the jewelry that I had made. I've already shown pictures of some of the jewelry but she is a much better photographer than I am so here and taught me some tricks about takig pics of stills and accessories so hopefully I wll be taking better pictures soon. A good trick she showed me when taking pics of jewelry is to put the jewelry against a white background in plenty of good lighting - try putting the jewelry on white A4-sized paper if you don't have any white backgrounds available and take pictures in daytime (morning light is best, I find). We also draped the coin bracelet I made over a perfume bottle and the result is really cool and fashion-y. So here are the pictures below: enjoy!



Above are the chinoiserie earrings I made my sister, taken in a much more flattering shot here.



And this is the coin bracelet that I made. I really wanted a coin bracelet and some coin jewelry, you know, something very ancient Roman-like although as you can see here I could only find Chinese and English psuedo coin charms. I wasn't too sure about it after I made it, though, but the more I wear it the more I like it. It's a good thing I can slip it over my hand because I didn't realize until after I made it that it was really hard to do the clasp without someone helping. That's one thing to always keep in mind while making jewelry.



This is another picture of the coin bracelet, draped over the Davidoff Echo perfume that Sheryl got for me last year for my birthday pressie.



And once again, here is another picture of my dragon earrings, or in this case, one of the earrings.



Here is the turquoise bracelet that I made for my sister out of turquoise beads and pale green crystals. The heart-shaped toggle clasp is really cute but I'm not too sure about it as I have a feeling it's really easy to undo by itself while you're wearing it.



This bracelet of white turquoise beads and small transparent glass beads is as yet unfinished because we need more beads for it. I'll wait for my sister to chose what she likes to add on as this bracelet is for her too.

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Today was such a windy day. I got two really cute new skirts on Monday - a high-waist black skirt and the prettiest green skirt ever - which are really awesome for all occasions - office, party or just hanging out - which I will post pictures of soon if I manage to get good pictures and if they will load properly on my computer! Anyway, yesterday was warm enough to wear the high-waist skirt but when I looked out the window this morning, I just knew the green skirt, though the material is a little thick, just won't be enough to stand against the cold. Everything was flapping today in the wind, not to mention the rain. Brrr!

Back to shopping on Monday: I also went to check out the Supre store in the city, the first time I ever set foot in that store since it opened this year and practically caused a frenzy amongst all female shoppers. I wasn't too impressed, though, nothing much caught my fancy and everything looked way expensive. I think they hacked up the prices because I don't ever remember the Supre store in Belmont ever being that pricy. Just as well, I really shouldn't be shopping! :p

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007



I just found out that Belgian supermodel Anouck Lepere will be marrying British Dazed and Confused magazine co-founder and editor Jefferson Hack!

I didn't even know they were a couple!

One thing I must say for Jefferson is he certainly can pick 'em. He used to date Kate Moss and is the father of her child, Lila Grace. And Anouck is another one of my favourite models - I love her, especially after seeing her in the Hugo Boss Deep Red perfune ad. Granted, that was partly because I love the colour red but I really like that she has a strong, beautiful look.



Can't say that much for the actual smell of the perfume, though. When I tried it at the store, it just reminded me of the fever medicine that I had to take as a child and which I really hated, so no go there.

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Monday, June 25, 2007

Out of Africa Controversy



I bought the June issue of Vogue because of Keira Knightley on the front cover (and also the Best Dressed Girls of Summer thing but that didn't live up so much to my expectations). But love Keira! She's just so gorgeous I can't get tired of looking at her. She really lights up the screen. And there's not so much media overkill on her so I don't get tired of her the way I got tired of Mischa Barton.

I did think though, while flipping through Vogue on the bus home, that the whole African photo spread was, well, how do I put it? I was a little disturbed by the photoshoot, not to mention that photo of the poor baby elephant that had to endure getting a Louis Vuitton blanket on its back! (cry of a million fashionistas going "I envy that baby elephant getting an LV blanket on its back!" Yes, very well, but from what I read of Keira's account of everyone having to run to catch the poor thing to tie a blanket around it, the baby elephant wasn't very enthusiastic about its brush with designer fashion). I soon found out on the Internet that quite a few people weren't very happy about the whole Africa shoot either. I got the picture above from Ghanaian designer G. Kofi Annan of the Annansi Chronicles website and I think he puts it into words best the way I felt about the photospread. To read his opinion on the spread go to his website and just scroll down and click on fashion, then you'll see it further down the page. His blog is pretty interesting in itself - I might put up a link to it in my sidebar when I have the time.

Are we being too harsh on Anna Wintour (the editor of Vogue in America, for those of you who don't know)and Keira Knightley? I doubt very much Keira had a lot of say on how the photo shoot was planned, we can look to Anna and her fashion editors for that. And when you look at the way they got the Maasai herdsmen to stand around Keira for an "Out of Africa" type photo shoot, it kind of reminded me of the way they did a Vogue bikini on the beach photo shoot a few years back where leggy models (I think Karolina Kurkova was one of the them) in bikinis were surrounded by a lot of surfer-type boys who basically did the same thing the Maasai herdsmen did - stand around the models like live props. I do agree very much with what G. Kofi Annan said in his post on this shoot - "...you’d think that with all the resources they have the editors can find a creative way to tie in the Africa theme ... But it just goes to prove how the perspective of Africa in popular culture is so limited."

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Book Review



I've just finished reading two books that I've been wanting to read for some time: Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear and Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. Well, actually I got through perhaps halfway through both books and then I did something I usually never do - skip right through to the end to find out what happened.

I don't know why I didn't really enjoy both books - maybe it was just because I didn't feel like reading those kind of books at the moment but decided to borrow them from the library anyway because, well, I've always wanted to read them. Lol! Silly, no? Perhaps it was because in both books, all the women kept getting put down and beaten by the men. I really didn't enjoy it even though it highlighted how brave, courageous, indomitable, etc. the women were in spite of all their trials. What I really wanted was a heroine who would just stand up and kick some ass and teach those silly men what's what. And the one woman who got a man to listen to her (Guinevere in Mists of Avalon) had been dishing out bad advice. What bad luck!

Sidenote: This is the exact same reason why I don't enjoy certain romances. I really hate reading about men breaking women's spirits, even if I know the women are going to bound right back and the men will probably end up getting broken in the end (unless it's the hero and then he will bounce right back too). Thank goodness for those romances where the heroine is super-fiesty and doesn't required getting embarassed and dominated by the man to fall in love with him!



Nevertheless, for those looking for plenty of plot - these two aforementioned books definitely had it. There was plot everywhere, dozens of intrigues (mostly in Mists) and plenty of obstacles (abound in Clan of the Cave Bear). But I just couldn't get into either of these books. Oh, well. The first time I picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, I couldn't get into it either. I put it down, then picked it up later and got way hooked. Same for Glenna McReynolds's Chalice of the Blade. And they're both interesting for their own ways - as a lot of people probably know, Mists of Avalon is the retelling of the King Arthur story and Clan of the Cave Bear has a lot of interesting stuff about prehistoric time and the ways of the Neanderthals. It says in the book, that Auel impressed a lot of anthropologists and the like with the extent of her research on prehistoric times, although I read on Amazon that the book, being written around 1980 isn't so accurate anymore since further research has disproved/proved lots of theories about those times. Still, I like the book for its information on botany - very interesting.

So - while I didn't feel very enthusiastic about these two books (which probably has more to do with just my particular reading mood at the present than the quality of these two books, which are highly-acclaimed bestsellers) I still recommend them to others. Read and tell me what you think!

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Friday, June 22, 2007



One singer whom I am really liking these days is Amy Winehouse, a British soul and jazz singer. I love her voice, her songs, her style. I also like the fact that she's so fiesty! Her new album, Back to Black, is really awesome too and you should check out her music videos.

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Winter Wear

The weather is getting much, much, much colder these days and I have actually finally turned my heater on and even got out the electric blanket (which is more like one long strip that goes in the middle of the bed than a proper blanket). I thought of heading out today to do a little shopping for warm clothes now that it's so cold but it's gray and gloomy today and also raining so I doubt if I will.

I've been going through fashion blogs again, looking for inspiration for winter, since I haven't yet gotten the knack of styling it up for winter, I always feel it's so boring! Most of the time everything's hidden under the same old jackets. But I did come up with some stuff I like and I found this - the cutest fox jacket ever!



I really love how the fox goes around the collar and drapes down at one side like that. I doubt very much if I could find something like that in stores here or even afford it though! And I love how her hair matches the fox. I hope it's faux, that's all I'm saying!



Another type of winter wear that I'm loving at the moment is billowing sleeves. It looks really comfy and can be worn over other layers of long sleeves without causing that constricted rumpled-sleeved look. I haven't found anything like that yet but then again I've been avoiding the shops lately because I didn't want to spend money! I'm in the mood to shop a little now though. But I really shouldn't buy more jackets - I've got plenty of good jackets from the last couple of years and it's only a matter of mixing and matching with other clothes and accessories to give 'em a fresh look.

Both pictures above are from The Sartorialist blog (link on sidebar).

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Sunday, June 17, 2007

The Darkschunt Top Ten Book List

I can't remember if I've ever put up a Top Ten Book list which I've been meaning to for ages but has been putting off. I've thought about it so often that I can't remember if I really had done it before or whether it's just been in my head. Anyway, I went through some of the archives and it doesn't look like I have, but anyway this Top Ten list comes with book cover pictures so enjoy!

These are by no means the only books I love or will ever love but they are the ones which I really love now and that I think I will always love. They are the books that I keep thinking of in my mind and that are or were really huge influences on me. They run to all kinds of genres, because I don't think that there can be only one good genre in books, all genres have their amazing points, yes, even romance. So here we go, my top ten favourite books at the moment, not in any particular order...

1. Dangerous Love by Ben Okri



I think Okri will forever be one of my favourite writers. The Porn Star first recommended me to read Famished Road, another of Okri's books. Hesitant at first, I came to really love this book. I picked up Dangerous Love later, in a secondhand book shop and I love it just as much as Famished Road, they're both special in their own ways (come to think of it, I also picked up Famished Road from a secondhand book stall). This book in particular that I have is incredibly special to me as there is a message written in one of the first few pages, it was a gift to someone else, from someone who obviously loved it dearly as well and was deeply influenced by it. So I know this book had once been very cherished by someone and that made it all the more special. So, I can't wait to read more Ben Okri.

*Note: I listened to Angel Gabriel by Lamb over and over again while reading Dangerous Love, which I recommend to everyone too!

2. Water Touching Stone by Eliot Pattison



I cried when I read this book, that was how sad and touching and poignant it was. I can't really say enough for this book but that you should all read it too. This is actually the second in a line of books featuring Pattison's hero, Shan, after The Skull Mantra. I've only read The Skull Mantra and Water Touching Stone so far, but I suspect Water Touching Stone will always be my favourite.

3. Sunshine by Robin McKinley



This is for those who like a good vampire story. I only wish I had this particular book cover. My copy has a boring old cover of the side of a house with branch shadows flickering over it. Not as cool as this one.

For more on vampires, read on.

4. Dreamstone by Glenna McReynolds



Like I said, all genres count and romance is one of them. But I think that everyone should read Dreamstone just for her amazing descriptions and vivid imagination (and no, I am not just referring to the romance and sexual parts. Although those scenes were pretty damn good too). Dreamstone is the second book in a trilogy, actually, with The Chalice and the Blade being the first book and Prince of Time being the third. Everyone I know who has read the book seems to love The Chalice and the Blade the best but I myself preferred Dreamstone. Maybe it's because I really like the characters of Llynya and Mychael and the fact that Llynya is a really strong woman who fights well.

5. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Novel by Susanna Clarke



I think this book speaks for itself. Once again, I wish I had this particular book cover. My copy is the red cover with the silver raven in the front, it was the only one they had at the bookstore.

6. Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery



I read L.M. Montgomery when I was a kid. That was after the Anne of Green Gables TV series came out and my sister and I were nuts about it. I think Pat of Silver Bush is my all-time favourite, though, along with the sequel Mistress Pat. Magic for Marigold comes a close third. And until today, I still enjoy reading those books, so yeah, they're really awesome.

7. Night World by L.J. Smith



Oh, wow, these books of L.J. Smith's were a major influence on my high school days! Night World is actually a series of books that Smith wrote, they were my absolutely favourite of her books, followed by the Forbidden Game trilogy. I wasn't too fond of The Vampire Chronicles, maybe because I thought Elena was kind of a snobby bitch. Smith doesn't seem to have stopped writing books shortly after the Night World series. Does anyone know what's happened or if she plans to release any more books? If so, I want to know!

8. Agatha Christie



I just can't name which is my favourite book by Agatha Christie since I love them all, though some more than others. So I just decided to put a picture of the cover of one of her more famous books: Murder on the Orient Express, which was also made into a move with a lot of famous old movie stars in it.

9. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson.



"We can't stop here! This is bat country!!"

10. The Magus by John Fowles



I think I've mentioned this before that it took a while for the Lost Smoker to get me to read his copy of The Magus, mainly because it had a hell scary front cover (to me, anyway) and I did not want that book in my room at night when the thing in front might come to life and, I don't know, sit at the foot of my bed and bare its fangs at me and laugh like a hyena. I had enough to deal with the TV at the foot of my bed, where the thing from the Grudge or the Ring or one of those Japanese horror movies might come crawling out of any day. Anyway, after some time, I grew brave and borrowed the copy and always placed the book front-cover face-down during non-reading periods and ... I was really glad I read it. THIS BOOK WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. It sure as hell changed the protagonist's life anyway. (the guy in the book, not me). It may have changed my life but I'm still not sure in what way. Anyway, the cover you see on my blog is still not the creepy cover of the Lost Smoker's copy but still I've come to conclusion after searching through Yahoo images for a relatively benign picture of the book that all book covers for this book are creepy. Don't let it deter you from reading this book though, wrap the cover in brown paper if you must. This is one of the most interesting books ever.

Has anyone noticed there is a theme with book covers running through this particular post?

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Jeans, jeans, jeans

I am supposed to be writing letters and stuff today, but I am doing what I do best: procrastinating. So instead of doing what I should be doing, I'm flipping through various fashion sites (I'm so into fashion blogs now, especially streetwear, because these are the best: people are always at their most creative in real life, not in photoshopped magazines, and when I do have the time, which may be today since I am procrastinating, I will put up the links to some of my favourite fashion blogs) and working several nonsense quizzes and so on.

And then I came upon this site which gives you a quiz to determine your perfect jeans. They came up with 71 pairs of jeans which are supposed to be my perfect fit - which is really more than a girl can ask for, since it's always so hard for me to find jeans that fit me perfectly (or fit me perfectly for more than a day without suddenly growing baggy on me). Unfortunately, I'm not really in a jeans-buying mood lately, since I'm swaying towards the soft feel of pants these days, so I won't buy any of these jeans at the moment and thus will not be able to tell any of you if these jeans really are my perfect fit. But if I ever do want to buy jeans again, I will definitely look up this quiz again.





Here are three of the 71 pairs of jeans that are my fit: From Top to Bottom: DKNY Stretch So-Low-Lita Jeans, Calvin Klein Stretch Straight-Leg Jeans, Baby Phat Rhinestone Belt Jeans.

Take the test at Zafu.

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Saturday, June 16, 2007

Here's a little announcement for Circley Square, she has two new websites up now, called Super Couch Potato and Tone Deaf Critic, which offers TV and music reviews and news. I'm having a little trouble putting the links in this post but I have put them up on my sidebar, along with the other links so go visit her and support her and link on to her too! Muah!

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Friday, June 15, 2007

Birthday Babes
Happy birthday to Potatoes whose birthday was yesterday! Hope you had a great time at Sky Bar. I wished I was there to celebrate with you and CircleySquare and everyone else! And to gossip about how you-know-who lost his shopkeeper!

It's also my housemate's birthday today. A friend of hers brought a cake over at midnight from Michel's Patisserie. I have to say I'm not too impressed with the cake, I thought it was rather tasteless but then again I think it was a sponge cake masquerading as some kind of chocolate cake so maybe that's why.

It's not Sheryl's birthday but she's over in Canada right now and trying to get used to the big city life and find an apartment and scour for hot guys (of which, so far, she reports there are none) so let's hope she settles in soon and prepare the way for us to come and visit her and paaaarty!!!

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

The Duchess got me to join Facebook because Sheryl had pics of us from our last time together in Perth. Going through Facebook reminded me of Friendster and I logged in today and added some new pics and stuff. Then I went through my friends' profiles and gosh! Look at y'all. You're all so beautiful! Everyone's grown up and gotten even more gorgeous than ever and it's so amazing how we've all matured and become these amazing people. I am so proud of you, guys! Hugz!

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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

I got Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors out of the library this weekend and read it in two days. I would have tried to space it out over a few more days but I just couldn't put it down. It's a collection of short stories and I really enjoyed them. The innocent be warned, though - there's quite a bit of sex in these stories, which you wouldn't have expected after seeing that innocent-seeming picture of his on the inside of the book cover. Then again, he was a "young journalist" when I was barely one years old so I imagine he probably isn't as young as his picture makes him out to be now.

One of the things I liked best was that he had so many stories in this book - everytime I finish one, I was pleased to find out there were more. Now the book I really want to get my hands on is American Gods but since the library doesn't have it, I'll probably have to get one of the bookshops to order it in for me.

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Meanwhile, back in the Treasure Workshop ...
I finally uploaded my pictures! So this is a picture of my brand-new bracelet...but I'm not completely pleased with it because the last green stone at the left end has fallen apart - just sawed itself into two on the wire. I think it was the way they punctured the hole in the stone but all the same I am very peeved. It's supposed to be a semi-precious stone and I don't know all that much about stones but aren't they supposed to be pretty tough? So there is one stone less and the crimp is visible but other than that it's still all right. The colours don't show up as well as they do in real life but it's a nice shiny stoney bracelet. :)


And this is a picture of the butterfly necklace that I made for my sister ... as you can see, it's similar to mine because we both got the same butterfly pendants but she has requested a leather cord for hers.



And these are the earrings I made for her:


They are selling something like these in the malls ... I saw it the other day, we must all be buying from the same bead-sellers. But they had nice wire wrap loops connecting the beads to the ear-hooks whereas mine are clumsily done loops because I haven't got the hang of it yet! Oh well, practice, practice, practice ...

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Friday, June 08, 2007

Had a nightmare last night. I didn't want to clean the house. Don't make me clean the house!

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It's been cold lately but I'm still refraining from turning on my heater. Yesterday was REALLY windy and I was glad I wore my little black gatsby cap that I only got for about $4.95 or something. I bought it when I was going through a time where I was thinking maybe I shouldn't get any more of these because I have a Kangol one from England like years ago when Kangol was really popular and a cute pink checkered one from Hong Kong recently but I still wasn't too happy with either both of those and thought that maybe my face shape doesn't suit those kind of hats or something.

But I couldn't pass up this little black one because it was so exactly like what I always wanted and it was so CHEAP so I thought "what the hell" and bought it and wore it a couple of times before putting it back on the cupboard. (It's kind of like the one above which Keira Knightley is wearing, except mine doesn't have the stripes and not so stiff.) Anyway, after I got my hair trimmed and shaped recently, I put it back on and hey, it looked pretty fine after all. So I've been wearing it a bit lately and it's great when it's windy and cold so hooray!

Speaking of fashion and the like, the other day I saw this old woman, a real elegant woman, wearing a long red coat. I don't know what the material is so I can't describe but it was like something you usually only see grande dames in New York or something wear, and it was a bright red. Anyway, it looked good on her, made her look elegant, and she stood out amongst the crowd. I wished I had a camera and dared to ask her for her picture.

Another classy woman in red too: I was on the bus, maybe on the same day or the day before. And this woman got on the bus with her two little kids. From where she got on the bus and the way she was dressed and certain things like that, you can tell she's not rich or anything but she caught my eye because she had class. She had red lipstick and just the way she had of pinning up her gorgeous dark hair and the way she was dressed, you could tell she was one of those rare women who just has that innate sense of class and style, you know? They are born with it. You can tell no matter where this woman goes, into a Prada shop or a thrift shop, she'll know just what to pick that will suit her exactly. She was wearing this red dress and I think a red coat too, though not bright red like the old woman in the paragraph above. And she was really beautiful too. She wasn't totally made up or anything, except for the red lipstick and you could tell she was a woman who took the time to take care of herself. But she was really beautiful, like beauty that you are born with. Like she could be model or actress beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off her in the bus.



I've been reading Agatha Christie novels - again, I had the good luck to find a story of hers that I haven't read yet! And the people in her book, particularly the girls and how they are "smartly dressed" reminds me of Emma Peel from The Avengers (the British TV show, not the Marvel comics!) and how I loved her clothes - plus, she's got beauty, brains and can kick some ass! I saw the series when Diana Rigg was acting in it and she's my favourite of the actresses who played Emma Peel. She was also in that James Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but I don't like her character there so much. Emma Peel and John Steed (played by Patrick MacNee)- one of my favourite TV couples! I got the picture above from the website Mrs Peel...We're Needed! on www.dissolute.com.au/avweb/

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