tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88634505886787160472024-02-08T17:52:40.896+00:00Shanghaied CharlotteRight. Please find below scraps of vaguely amusing culture things that crosses my wary path as well as the odd bit here and there about stuff, plus my occasional meanderings.Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-56784650341253351842013-08-11T09:45:00.000+01:002013-08-15T17:17:39.032+01:00Veering off High Street KenThis week I ventured twice into West London's cultural heart with friends. First to tiddly om pom Proms. I don't know a huge amount about classical music, I wish I did but sometimes it is just lovely to sit back and listen to something beautiful. I got a pair of tremendously cheap seats sitting right at the back in the Alps to Holst's Planets. The tickets were only £7.50 each so the argument that the art form is elitist is redundant, besides good old Auntie is screening this years season on television and radio. I love The Planets, having only ever heard it on my tinny laptop hearing it at The Royal Albert Hall is something else quite entirely. Mars made we want to invade France or something.<br />
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I only did realise there and then that the middle section of Jupiter sounds suspiciously like I Vow To Thee My Country, which to me thoroughly explains why they use it on on sentimental TV adverts.<br />
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My second outing to that part of the woods wad for an outdoor (this is England, it was under a waterproof tented construction so it was essentially indoors) of Breakfast at Tiffany's in Holland Park. Free Häagen Dazs, nom! Is it bad that sometimes I watch films just for the clothes, because the Givenchy in it was deliciousness? I absolutely love that film. I think it was. the best thing that Audrey Hepburn ever did. If you watch too many of her films you come to realise that she is playing herself in a different circumstance. Nonetheless she is glorious in BaT. There was some talk a few years ago about a remake starring Keira Knightley but nothing has been mentioned as of late that I'm aware. I wonder how close to Truman Capote's original novella it will be or if it will stick to the same romantic lines that the Hepburn version did?<br />
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<br />Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-16228494721970550102013-08-05T19:00:00.000+01:002013-08-05T19:00:01.066+01:00Game of ThronesI've bitten the bullet and have started reading the books.<br />
Hello geekdom, it's been awhile!Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-11174219859319184242013-08-04T20:14:00.002+01:002013-08-04T20:19:23.050+01:00Hampton Court ShoesWhen the summer weather is so fine, there is nothing I prefer more than a wander around a creaky old building of notoriety. Hampton Court, marketed as the home of Henry - don't marry me or you're for it - VII (and y'know later less BBC period drama inspiring monarchs too) beckoned. I'd been told that the Tudor kitchens would leave a lasting impression, but I have never really been one for social history - or the history of what the people used to eat - so found it really only vaguely interesting. I enjoyed the banqueting hall and chapel much more, partially because they were aesthetically much more pleasing. I like pretty things.<br />
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I did love <a href="http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/andrea-mantegna" target="_blank">Mantegna's</a> Renaissance masterpiece <a href="http://www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace/stories/Mantegna" target="_blank"><i>The Triumph of Caesar</i></a>, as all who know me will testify that I am both an art geek and classics freak. Thankfully, yet also sadly, the exhibit had very few visitors when I went so I got to drink the procession in in relative solitude. Mantegna was the first painter to become famous, in the modern sense, outside of his own city. The lack of footfall for such splendid and historical importance made me think of a documentary I had seen by the late art historian and critic Robert Hughes, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KgOZaQK4Hg&list=PL4DD45A0A7460535E" target="_blank"><i>The Mona Lisa Curse</i></a>. I feel this may warrant a post of it's own at some point.</div>
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<a href="http://www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace/stories/palacehighlights/Secretsoftheroyalbedchamber/Default.aspx" target="_blank">The Secrets of The Royal Bedchamber Exhibit </a>was quite interesting, although I had noticed some foreign visitors, who have no need to have knowledge of the throne's succession over the last 400 years or so, struggling somewhat as the exhibit to an extent assumed that the visitor would be able to jump across time as easily as walking into another room. I was very grateful of the chance to lie down on the giant mattresses provided at the beginning of the exhibit as by that point my silly shoes had started to rub. The film, cleverly being shown on the ceiling, imparted very little clever knowledge. </div>
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In all truth I can get quite snobby about museums as I always assume that average person must be aware of history to a much greater extent than the curator presumes and that the public are being treated like children (same goes for most TV documentaries).</div>
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All in all a lovely day was had, I bought some pear drops, wandered round the gardens, paid through the nose for a sandwich and saw the early modern tennis courts. Being unpatriotic though I have to say that I preferred visiting Versailles...</div>
Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-28760321910519451182013-07-18T22:25:00.000+01:002013-07-23T10:46:09.484+01:00SuperstitionI like to thing I'm a rational human being. <strike>Wait who am I kidding, I'm a woman</strike>. For the first time ever I read my Tarot Cards. I am terrible for magpies, shoes on tables, touching wood and my horoscope in the Metro (which is pretty good), so I thought I should add to my repertoire. Although I wouldn't <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2363917/Palm-surgery-rise-Japan-people-seek-alter-lines-improve-fortune.html" target="_blank">mutilate my palms...</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sheldon and Astrology</span></div>
Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-44119305190237421852013-07-17T22:13:00.000+01:002013-08-15T17:18:21.521+01:00Tube Music:or how the Muses sound on the UndergroundThe tube station that I commute through plays classical music through their loudspeakers. Supposedly this is a dispersal tactic to stop loiterers. What has the Western world come to, well Kanye West's burgeoning Messiah complex... Anywho, I'm waiting for the day when I get to hear a bit of Purcell or Holst going down those terrifying escalators that feel like you're descending a precipice. They, and the awfully cramped (and now sweaty, thanks British weather gods for coming through this year, we'll hold barbecues in your honour!) are more than enough to make one loiter.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Told you I'd gone all Regency)</span></div>
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Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-38933078112386005222013-07-16T20:10:00.000+01:002013-07-16T22:15:41.171+01:00The Bling RingI have a crush on Sofia Coppola. I fell like a tonne of bricks for her after <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU0oZsqeG_s" target="_blank">Lost in Translation</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WjsqVwWyrI" target="_blank">Marie Antoinette</a>. I think maybe it's the colours in her films, and Bill Murray. So it was somewhat inevitable that I would wind up in a multiplex with an extortionately priced packet of popcorn to see <a href="http://theblingring.com/" target="_blank">The Bling Ring</a>.<br />
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I have an odd relationship with celebrity culture. I almost feel ashamed for buying a copy of Glamour, believing instead that I should spend my time better employed, like knitting, reading stoic philosophy or charity work, but I do buy them. Call me Mary-Sue. These magazines spend pages, made from some poor unfortunate tree, to tell me that I should love my body and then have a larger number of pages with adverts for the liposuction that would allow me to keep a boyfriend, get that job and the happy self-respect I truly deserve. I don't like myself for it, but I could see why those kids did it: a celebrity and their life is already public property so why not take their private property too. You're almost entitled to it, they have so much already. And besides they're famous so they aren't real people. It really is a tale of greed. Greed and consumerist fantasy, where objects positively define you and you allow yourself also to be defined and thus objectified by them. Yet theft is theft and stupidity is stupidity. But seriously who leaves they house habitually unlocked...</div>
Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-8816320858347864492013-07-16T19:09:00.000+01:002013-07-16T19:09:00.318+01:00SherlockEveryone's favourite functioning sociopath is on iPlayer again! Oh Benedict, those cheek bones. I don't care that it is a repeat, it's that good and it shall have to sustain me until the next series. I <i>need </i>to know how he survived the Reichenbach Falls. <div>
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00m5wm9/Sherlock_Series_2_A_Scandal_in_Belgravia/">http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00m5wm9/Sherlock_Series_2_A_Scandal_in_Belgravia/</a></div>
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I fully intend on a unlikely day mid-week to go to the Sherlock Holmes Museum, although getting in without being aggravated by tourists may outwit me. I have always loved watching Holmes, it's something me and my Granny are inclined to do together. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISpuTNxZVck" target="_blank">Jeremy Brett</a> holds a small corner of my sentimental heart, partially because he was so very dashing as Freddie Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady.</div>
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I also should get round to reading The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles to knock them off my list.</div>
Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-30779196073514372172013-07-15T19:32:00.000+01:002013-07-15T19:32:00.307+01:00Bibliophile Challenge: 1<a href="http://shanghaiedcharlotte.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/being-beaten-by-book-and-being.html" target="_blank">So the challenge begins!</a> I've looked at the list of 1000 books that everyone should read by everyone's favourite lefty rag and I have only read the following:<br />
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Categories are: <span style="color: #cc0000;">Comedy</span>; <span style="color: #e69138;">Crime</span>; <span style="color: #f1c232;">Family & Self</span>; <span style="color: #6aa84f;">Love</span>; <span style="color: #45818e;">Science Fiction</span>; <span style="color: #674ea7;">State of the Nation</span>; and <span style="color: #a64d79;">War & Travel</span><br />
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<li><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><i>Lucky Jim</i> by Martin Amis</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><i>Flaubert's Parrot</i> by Julian Barnes</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><i>Zuleika Dobson</i> by Max Beerbohm</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><i>Bridget Jones's Diary</i> by Helen Fielding</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Wind in the Willows</i> by Kenneth Grahame</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time </i>by Mark Haddon</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><i>Vile Bodies</i> by Evelyn Waugh</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Thirty Nine Steps</i> by John Buchan</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: x-small;"><i>A Study in Scarlet</i> by Arthur Conan Doyle</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: x-small;"><i>Of Mice and Men</i> by John Steinbeck</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: x-small;"><i>Little Women </i>by Louisa May Alcott</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: x-small;"><i>Cat's Eye</i> by Margaret Atwood</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: x-small;"><i>Les Enfants Terrible</i> by Jean Cocteau</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Bell Jar</i> by Silvia Plath</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 </i>by Sue Townsend</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>Northanger Abbey</i> by Jane Austen</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>Pride & Prejudice</i> by Jane Austen</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>Mansfield Park</i> by Jane Austen (current)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>Persuasion</i> by Jane Austen</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>Breakfast at Tiffany's</i> by Truman Capote</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Great Gatsby </i>by F. Scott Fitzgerald</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>Tess of the D'Urbervilles</i> by Thomas Hardy</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>Regency Buck</i> by Georgette Heyer</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Pursuit of Love</i> by Nancy Mitford</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>Love in a Cold Climate </i>by Nancy Mitford</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>Bonjour Tristesse</i> by Francoise Sagan </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>I Capture the Castle</i> by Dodie Smith</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Age of Innocence </i>by Edith Wharton</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> by Margaret Atwood</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Master & Margarita</i> by Mikhail Bulgakov</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland </i>by Lewis Carroll</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Man who was Thursday </i>by G K Chesterton</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>Stranger in a Strange Land</i> by Robert Heinlein</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Wind Up Bird Chronicle</i> by Haruki Murakami</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone</i> by J K Rowling</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Hobbit</i> by J R R Tolkein</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Lord of The Rings Trilogy</i> by J R R Tolkein (I feel like I've been mugged of two extra here)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Time Machine </i>by H G Wells</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;"><i>When the Wind Blows </i>by Raymond Briggs</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79; font-size: x-small;"><i>Birdsong</i> by Sebastian Faulks</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79; font-size: x-small;"><i>Cold Mountain</i> by Charles Fraser</span></li>
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It's pretty easy to see where my prejudices lie: feelings, farce and fantasy. I've not read a single State of the Nation selection. Although in my defence I have read 3/4 of Vanity Fair as a thirteen year old but that book is a beast of a doorstop. </div>
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If my readings were to be the pillars of the English Language then I lack the columns to uphold the structure. There are a few books like Brideshead Revisted which I love and yet aren't featured. Props to the British education system though, as five of those were forced upon me at some point, in varying states of willingness.</div>
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So in short, 41 down 959 to go. </div>
Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-87948925511487627792013-07-14T20:01:00.002+01:002013-07-14T20:14:04.932+01:00It is a truth universal acknowledged...There is a <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/mr-darcy-giant-colin-firth-statue-in-londons-hyde-park-recreates-pride-and-prejudice-scene-8695490.html" target="_blank">12ft tall statue of Mr Darcy</a> wading through the boating lake in Hyde Park complete with clinging wet look shirt a la Colin Firth. This is in honour of an open air production of <a href="http://openairtheatre.com/production/pride-and-prejudice" target="_blank">Pride & Prejudice</a> currently playing in the park (unfortunately I have been unable to get tickets).<br />
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I have been having a rather Regency time of it at the moment. I perennially find myself to falling back into the arms of dearest Jane when modernity fails me. There are too many Wickhams and Willoughbys abounding in my life.There is an awful part of me being English, that wishes for the monochrome social rules of the era (I know this is foolish, I'd be bored, poor, or on a plantation somewhere, not the mistress of a grand house with Corinthian columns) Today I have been watching <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/regency-house-party/4od#2922995" target="_blank">Regency House Party</a> on 4oD, wandered around Putney because the Thorpes were resident there, trying to imagine it two hundred years ago and read Mansfield Park in the sunshine. Although I must confess that of Austen's six completed works I have only read four, having been somewhat put off by the 1990s version of Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow and just having never gotten round to picking up Sense & Sensibility, but did love the Emma Thompson version. I do sometimes worry that Austen is a backwards step for feminism, but I cannot give her up, just like a thumb-sucking child.</div>
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Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-62394692146666700342013-07-14T01:49:00.000+01:002013-07-14T01:49:01.033+01:00Being beaten by a book, and being challenged At heart I am a Victorian who thoroughly believes in self improvement and yet I am also one of those people that even if I'm quite enjoying a book, will sometimes put it down and never pick it up again. I only recently read <i>The Great Gatsby </i>- pleasantly vapid and purposefully shallow, I have been informed by a friend that she believes it not to be Fitzgerald's finest - all the way through, as I felt duty-bound to read it before I saw the film . I started to read <i>I, Claudius</i> summer '09 as my holiday reading in Paris, thoroughly enjoying it, and still have failed to complete it. With that in mind Katy Guest wrote an article in The Indie about saving yourself the time and the agony of persevering with a dull book. I really, really want to love Henry James and yet I can't. I can't bare his prose, it's so unnecessary and meandering. Perhaps one day I will come to appreciate his works in the same way that I enjoy his compatriot Edith Wharton's, but right now I have neither the time nor the inclination to stick it out.<br />
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<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/reading-a-dull-book-put-it-down-this-instant-8707418.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/reading-a-dull-book-put-it-down-this-instant-8707418.html</a><br />
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For all my quasi-intellectual posturing I wish I was more well-read than I actually am. As I get older it becomes more and more apparent how deficient I am. The Grauniad a few years ago published a list of the 1000 novels that everyone should read and twice I have challenged myself to have a good crack at it, as I'm only in double figures. I reckon that if I make a public announcement of my intent, then I should at least have it a bloody good crack at it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/23/bestbooks-fiction">http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/23/bestbooks-fiction</a><br />
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The Rules:<br />
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<li>I will not count a book as read unless I am acquainted with both covers and all the troublesome content in between.</li>
<li>If, by Chapter 3, I cannot bear it any longer then I will put it down.</li>
<li>I won't allow myself to become a dinner party bore as a result of the challenge. </li>
<li>I will choose books at random so as not to reaffirm my prejudices.</li>
<li>If it costs me more than £7 on my kindle then I won't read it either.</li>
<li>I'll bother you all with updates. </li>
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So many words so little time!</div>
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Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-27214787792155698372013-06-20T21:25:00.001+01:002013-06-20T21:25:20.156+01:00Armchair VoyageTwo of my favourite things in the world are Ancient Greece and proper diction:<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p017h0rz/Armchair_Voyage_Hellenic_Cruise_Venice_to_Mycenae/">http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p017h0rz/Armchair_Voyage_Hellenic_Cruise_Venice_to_Mycenae/</a>Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-57546710495599368632013-05-23T20:43:00.003+01:002013-05-23T20:43:43.466+01:00TED Meg Jay: Why 30 is not the new 20Occasionally I partake in intellectual self-harm, I browse the Daily Fail Online. Read the articles about so-and-so's cellulite (it's a secondary sexual characteristic, geez leave women alone), whatsamajigs gym routine and how dust is the new super food. I general manage to avoid their misbegotten political arguments, if I want hysteria I normally veer between The Grauniad and The Torygraph for mutual bouts of silliness. Occasionally however it does through up a gem - although this <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2328671/30-NOT-new-20-Top-psychologist-says-20-somethings-damaging-future-career-relationships-treating-decade-downtime-real-life-begins.html" target="_blank">article about Meg Jay's TED talk</a>, one does suspect, is part of their general contempt for young women.<br />
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<i><a href="http://www.ted.com/speakers/meg_jay.html" target="_blank">“When you pat a twentysomething on the head and you say, ‘You have 10 extra years to start your life’ … you have robbed that person of his urgency and ambition.”</a></i><br />
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Meg Jay is as quotable as I am young and pretty damned impatient.<br />
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Click below for the full video:<br />
<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/meg_jay_why_30_is_not_the_new_20.html" target="_blank">TED: Why 30 is not the new 20</a><br />
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Epiphany. Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-69730641088980896292013-05-19T18:43:00.001+01:002013-05-19T18:44:11.308+01:00Pop video of the week x: Super Junior M, Breakdown<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Enjoy!Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-87952697472354010112013-05-19T18:39:00.001+01:002013-05-19T18:39:47.236+01:00Calling all Japanophiles!Right! my wonderful friend Hayley has started writing a blog about her moving to Japan to become an English teacher over there! Ganbatte!<br />
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<a href="http://hayleydesu.blogspot.co.uk/">http://hayleydesu.blogspot.co.uk/</a><br />
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CxLottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-17094636529916955432013-05-19T17:18:00.000+01:002013-05-19T18:44:41.633+01:00The Whitechapel Gallery: Gert and Uwe Tobias; Karl BlossfeldtThe <a href="http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/home" target="_blank">Whitechapel Gallery</a> is a favourite of mine. In part this is due to its proximity to Brick Lane and the beigel shop. The home of ironically dressing like your grandfather was more hip replacement than hipster, with noticeable tourist and yummy mummy contingents (reverse snobbery over, although tourist is quite frankly the dirtiest word in the entirety of the English language).<br />
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Enticed there on an awful overcast English spring day was I by <a href="http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/gert-uwe-tobias" target="_blank">Gert and Uwe Tobias</a>. I was not especially bothered by the majority of the exhibition, but the three large paintings towards the end of the exhibit and currently being sold as the accompanying postcards I did enjoy. Their practise described in the press release as <a href="http://working%20across%20different%20artistic%20traditions%2C%20the%20artists%20dissolve%20%20boundaries%20between%20craft%20and%20fine%20art%2C%20abstract%20concept%20and%20%20unconscious%20fantasy%2C%20and%20modernity%20and%20tradition./" target="_blank">"working across different artistic traditions, the artists dissolve </a><a href="http://working%20across%20different%20artistic%20traditions%2C%20the%20artists%20dissolve%20%20boundaries%20between%20craft%20and%20fine%20art%2C%20abstract%20concept%20and%20%20unconscious%20fantasy%2C%20and%20modernity%20and%20tradition./" target="_blank">boundaries between craft and fine art, abstract concept and </a><a href="http://working%20across%20different%20artistic%20traditions%2C%20the%20artists%20dissolve%20%20boundaries%20between%20craft%20and%20fine%20art%2C%20abstract%20concept%20and%20%20unconscious%20fantasy%2C%20and%20modernity%20and%20tradition./" target="_blank">unconscious fantasy, and modernity and tradition"</a>, was rather like <a href="http://www.william-morris.co.uk/index.aspx" target="_blank">William Morris</a> on a trip. I did in fact buy one of the postcards to send to my textile designing cousin.</div>
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Continuing with botany as a theme the<a href="http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/karl-blossfeldt" target="_blank"> Karl Blossfeldt</a> photography exhibition made a much greater impression on me as whole than the Tobiases did. Something in the shape of the forms he captured affected me in an almost ineffable way.</div>
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What I will also say about The Whitechapel is that it has a ruddy good bookshop. I normally have to be frogmarched past them in other institutions but this time I was both on my own and at leisure so had a long time to peruse its shelves. Following my awful foray in the pretences of hipsterdom earlier in this post, I noted <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/So-You-Think-Youre-Hipster/dp/0957140983" target="_blank">So You Think You're a Hipster</a> in the shop. Tempted to buy it, yes I was. Fearfully of finding myself described inside its pages, inevitable.</div>
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Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-71359619014867605762013-05-13T20:45:00.000+01:002013-05-13T20:45:04.075+01:00Props to my girlTextile fans check it out!<br />
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<a href="http://dipdyeddaisy.blogspot.co.uk/">http://dipdyeddaisy.blogspot.co.uk/</a>Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-48716928908980033632013-05-13T20:30:00.002+01:002013-05-13T20:31:23.953+01:00An AusteniteI hate myself for such a cliche but Darcy is the most delicious depressive that one could ever fall for. Is it terrible that my first love was a character written two hundred years ago? Although I believe this makes for more of a meaningful comment on the disagreeable fifteen year olds that I went to school with than myself. Yet I still know the very first sentence of Pride & Prejudice off by heart.<br />
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Having just reread <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northanger_Abbey" target="_blank">Northanger Abbey</a> for the umpteenth time and finding it to have grown that little bit more charming as I have grown that little bit more older, Auntie has so wonderfully reconstructed The Netherfield ball in honour of the P&P bicentennial. I so want to play dress up with them and dance la boulangerie. I am so thoroughly wasted on the C21th.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01sf0q6/Pride_and_Prejudice_Having_a_Ball/">http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01sf0q6/Pride_and_Prejudice_Having_a_Ball/</a><br />
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The documentary was co-presented by <a href="http://www.amandavickery.com/" target="_blank">Dr Amanda Vickery</a>, whose book <i>The Gentleman's Daughter,</i> I coincidentally have began reading. Nothing like a bit of feminist social history for the dull daily commute to my desk. Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-44327748345365372852013-05-13T19:53:00.001+01:002013-05-13T19:53:39.896+01:00Apologies for the long absenceDearest all<br />
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Apologies for such a long absence, life got on top of me. But hey, I'm back, stay posted for postings.<br />
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C xLottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-55502479739244088392012-03-01T18:49:00.001+00:002012-03-01T19:45:38.709+00:00Decisive Weapons: The Soul of the Samurai- the Japanese SwordFor a girl (although not as a historian), swords fascinate me. One day I should very much like to become proficient at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendo">kendo</a>. Can you tell that I'm a fan of Kill Bill, a film essentially about revenge that really can be seen as a love story to the katana.<br />
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The BBC are running a piece on katana on iPlayer right now, which goes into some detail about the history and craftsmanship involved with the Japanese sword.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0077bl6/Decisive_Weapons_Series_2_The_Soul_of_the_Samurai_the_Japanese_Sword/">http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0077bl6/Decisive_Weapons_Series_2_The_Soul_of_the_Samurai_the_Japanese_Sword/</a>Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-41131410578663812052012-02-12T12:29:00.000+00:002012-02-12T12:29:44.973+00:00Yayoi KusamaYayoi Kusama is one of my favourite living Japanese artists, I am really rather excited to see her new retrospective at Tate Modern soon!<br />
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Here are two reviews by Guardian art critics:<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/12/yayoi-kusama-tate-modern-review">http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/12/yayoi-kusama-tate-modern-review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/07/yayoi-kusuma-tate-modern-review">http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/07/yayoi-kusuma-tate-modern-review</a><br />
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And some photos too:<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2012/feb/07/yayoi-kusama-tate-modern-in-pictures">http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2012/feb/07/yayoi-kusama-tate-modern-in-pictures</a><br />
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My own thoughts to follow soon.Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-17300104627767735872012-02-02T22:50:00.000+00:002012-02-02T22:50:02.585+00:00The Culture Show: Cash in China's attic.Anyone with but a passing interest in Chinese art or the antiques trade could not have noticed the astronomical prices being fetched in the last few years. Here is an insightful documentary from the BBC reporting on how Chinese wealthy new citizens are busy buying:<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bbvvs/The_Culture_Show_Cash_in_Chinas_Attic_A_Culture_Show_Special/">http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bbvvs/The_Culture_Show_Cash_in_Chinas_Attic_A_Culture_Show_Special/</a>Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-64564573118156363142012-01-22T20:46:00.002+00:002012-01-23T16:58:49.356+00:00Charlie Brooker on JapanI love Brooker. All that cynicism and abject resignation that life is truly terrible. He's written a charming article for The Guardian on how baffling he is finding Japan. Although I do wonder as to the level of real insight he has gained so far into Japanese culture, as his time in the country appears to have been spent contemplating toilets and cable television (actually quite typical of Brooker in general, the two areas often converge). Humorous nonetheless:<br />
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/22/charlie-brooker-japan-another-planet">http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/22/charlie-brooker-japan-another-planet</a><span name="KavHltTag"> <img );width:12px;="" src="data:image/gif;base64,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" /> </span>Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-69435797840145232372012-01-21T12:11:00.000+00:002012-01-21T12:11:44.091+00:00The Politics of PandasHere is another enlightening radio show from the BBC investigating the more nuanced aspects of international relations that Edinburgh's recently acquired pandas signify:<br />
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<i>http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019h2b8/The_Politics_of_Pandas/</i>Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-41292622000660603502012-01-19T18:37:00.000+00:002012-01-19T18:37:52.427+00:00Ken HomWho doesn't love Ken Hom? He's one of the first chefs to popularise authentic Chinese food in Britain, in honour of Chinese New Year The Guardian has published firstly a<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/jan/19/live-chat-ken-hom-chinese-cookery?intcmp=239"> live chat</a> with the chef and a few of his recipes including ones for <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/19/ken-hom-chilli-pork-spare-ribs-recipe?intcmp=239">chilli pork spare ribs</a> and fish in hot <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/19/ken-hom-fish-hot-sauce-recipe?intcmp=239">sauce</a>. Haochi!Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863450588678716047.post-15976768896271901802012-01-15T16:17:00.001+00:002012-01-15T16:23:15.581+00:00Witness: The death of Emperor HirohitoAn insightful radio documentary by the BBC on the passing of such an enigmatic player in twentieth century Japanese history and how the Japanese people responded to it:<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00mqsm2/Witness_The_death_of_Emperor_Hirohito/">http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00mqsm2/Witness_The_death_of_Emperor_Hirohito/</a>Lottie_vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05469295514004169309noreply@blogger.com0