joi, 22 ianuarie 2015

The return of the Dandy

It's been a few weeks now since I saw Beau Brummel, a really really interesting movie:

and I finally understood how the English and any other nation for that matter got rid of the powdered wig and excessive make-up; especially when speaking about men. We know all, however, that with women there's entirely another story.

Well, if you do not find the inclination, or if you just don't have the time to watch the whole movie; I will say that it is basically the story of the main character, an influential friend of the King George of Britain, who has a flawless style in fashion and is the first one to brake the ice and let go of the awful (I must say) fashion of those days. Complete with a delightful nude portrait of one of my favorite actors - James Purefoy- the British gentlemen take style lessons from Beau and thus learn how to impeccably groom themselves and wear wonderful white shirts and black suits.

Recent not so exotic events in my humble experience have made me look around at our modern man, and I just couldn't stop and wonder if maybe the Dandy has returned, but in a manner characteristic to our own age and time.
If you'll pay just a little attention to most of our young men, let's say between 16 and 25, we will find out that recently they have their hair very well groomed, with elaborate coiffures:
so if you ladies out there thought that you're the only ones losing your precious time on the hair stylist's chair, think again. Don't fret, though, since it looks like their coiffures are more elaborate then our own, but they are also fewer than us; so we might still have a chance.

I think I don't have to accentuate very much the fact that the number of men who wax and have their eyebrows plucked is increasing as we speak....

Speaking purely of their aspect; and while I am completely going to avoid the behavioral issues; I am last talking about clothing. Here the age range is way larger; and men have always been preoccupied with their looks; but it seems to me that there are more and more, and even teenagers and young men fall now in that same category.

borrowed picture of Mr. Jamie Campbell Bower from mortalinstruments.org
Forgotten are the days of the long t-shirts and baggy trousers, now we get to see more derriere than we would really care to. However, I'm not going to be hypocrite and say that it displeases me entirely. When well put together, a pair of tight jeans will look awesome, even though I might watch them with a pang of jealousy. Because yes, many guys will look better than we do, my dear girls, sorry to burst your bubble...

 So, am I wrong? isn't this the return of the Dandy? Just to make a point, I've even looked it up in the dictionary:
dandy
ˈdandi/
noun
  1. 1.
    a man unduly concerned with looking stylish and fashionable.
    So, I guess I'm not really that far off; and of course I can't stop wondering how women like their men nowadays. I, for one, believe that a little bit of polish ( :D ) never did anyone any harm.    

    Bisous!

marți, 13 ianuarie 2015

Greek Mythology reinvented....or "The Goddess Test" Series by Aimee Carter

      During the course of our lives, we come to meet hundreds of people, sometimes we like them and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we remain friends forever, sometimes we argue and go on our way, and at times they pass us by unnoticed...
      Partly through our families, through school, through our jobs and last through our interests or hobbies like we use to call them, we come to understand people, and see how they change, evolve or devolve throughout their lives; all we have to do is be attentive. People change throughout their lives, what used to impress and interest them during childhood or young adult days might no longer be interesting on the long run. This is the natural course of our lives, and we go with the flow, even if we do not want it; often not even realizing we have changed substantially over the years.
      I haven't been modest about my "hunger" for reading anytime and with every chance I got. This space is not much different from my real life, what you see here is exactly how I am in real life; as I have one priority, and that is to live as intensively as I can, and reading gives me that something extra that's always keeping me on edge, making me want more. (how geek-ish that sounds, right? ) And I have not changed much along the years when it comes to this. As I used to read books that were too difficult to me when I was little, now I tend towards easier ones, sometimes alternating with material of insight, requiring more thought and understanding than usual. However, my taste in subjects hasn't changed that much along the way, we could say it only broadened, still encompassing what I used to like, but adding more to it with every new exploration in the world of the written word.
One of my first loves as a child, when it comes to books of course, was a book named The Legends and the Heroes of Ancient Greece, and this love will surely not fade away with time; as I still enjoy every new interpretation of these themes. I used to read and re-read all the books that I could get my hands on, and once I've discovered the wonderful world of internet movies, I couldn't stop watching every movie and every new or old variation on the theme.
By simple chance I stumbled upon a new series of books last summer, The Goddess Test Series, and the first book really caught me in the action:



It is such a nice experience to see that old stories come back to life, under the skilled pen of a modern author, who not only brings a breath of fresh air to this old subject, but by doing so she attracts the young public, making their acquaintance with the old myths, whom they would otherwise maybe never be attracted to.
A young girl (best possible heroine - to- be, right?)comes back to her native town with her sick mother, wanting to dedicate herself to the last few months her mother still has to live; but meets a strange and dark boy (who other than her lover-to-be, right?). She is surprised, to say the least, that he has "special powers" and bit by bit falls in love with him. It turns out that these powers come from him being a Greek God, but I'm not going to spoil it for the ones who want to read the books, they just have to find out for themselves; or read about the books on another site. I like my stories to be fresh, surprising, and the worst you can do is spoil the action for me.
Anyway, the second book in the series is :



and it brings Castor and Pollux on the front stage. Packed with action, this book gives you the thrills just by the dynamism of the story, our heroine, Kate Winters is already finding herself married with the powerful god in the first book, but she helps the twins above get away from her mysterious, sad and beautiful husband..... and I will say no more!

Next book,

 

brings the Titans into the limelight! Like I said before, these books are all about the action, dynamism makes you want to devour as many pages as possible, and even though the subject has been filmed and written on for so many times; Aimee Carter still manages somehow to give it such vitality that I was really surprised and impressed at the same time.
The beautiful and mysterious hubby is kidnapped by the only one who can do it: the King of the Titans (how well are you doing in Mythology? who was he...?? should I tell you...??) ...well... Cronus of course (the one who ate his and his wife Rhea's children, remember?); but yet again, I will only divulge that more and more gods get involved in the action, while Kate has to prove again and again how devoted she is to her hubby.



Risking to sound to corny, I have to yet again praise the choices Aimee Carter made when writing these books. If she had put this action in the first book, surely she would have lost a great deal of the suspense and intrigues, but bringing up the action that had happened before the action of the first book in this one, right before the last books of the series, was really a wonderful twist of action.
Managing to link the action from the first books to the characters of the gods as we know them from the initial Legends; like Aphrodite's unfaithfulness to her husband, Zeus' cheating on Hera with every chance he got, Hermes being the real god of lies that we have come to know from the legends of our childhood, and so many other details that give these books extra points from me, makes me just want to recommend the series as a fresh take on a very often reinterpreted subject.

Last of the series:



 Inheritance takes us a nudge further into the new-created story, as Carter raises the stakes in the action of her books, gets Kate pregnant and so much more, but this is also to be read by those who liked the previous books, not wanting to be the one that spoils all the fun for them.

With a love story in the  foreground, and the Greek mythology as a background, these books are surely recommendable to teenagers; but I really don't see why an adult person could not enjoy a little bit of easy action, and let himself or herself be surprised by the creativity of the author in the nice plot of the series. After all, reading is meant to be fun, right?

Wishing to all those that I've managed to convince a great reading, and fulfilling my duty as a correct blogger, I would only like to add that all the photos above belong to Amazon.com, they are even linked to that site, one click away. 

Bisous!



luni, 12 ianuarie 2015

of new beginnings...

It's been a while...

Only I know how many times I've opened this page..starting with a few words, then hit the Delete button...
Not because I didn't have anything to say (because I always have something to say!), but because I needed a change. That's why I changed the aspect of this blog, because I needed a change; it didn't inspire me anymore. Not being inspired by something means, in my vision, having to change to something else, something fresh, and new and inviting...and throwing out the old things that didn't stimulate anymore. Kind of selfish, I know, but that's the only way to move forward for me.
And what better time to start afresh, then in January?  I can think of no better, or more inspiring setting.
So, let's start again on this journey, with renewed forces and fresh ideas, brushing aside all that's dull and uninteresting, annoying and unpleasant. Let's remember what we truly love and whom we truly want to be, and work in that direction, looking back just in order to see further more clearly and to know which path to take.
So, let's put a step in front of the other....
source: www.rideasia.net
and step on the bridge....we have no idea where it will lead us, or how the journey will end...but we'll be taking on life...one step at a time.

Bisous!