Catching a bargain

Broke the Sunday tradition of doing sweet F.A. by leaving the house before 11am to venture out to University of Southampton's campus for Judy's Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair, the UK's leading vintage fair hailing a shopping extravaganza to 23 cities across the country.

The fair wasn't as big as I imagined and from the images I'd previously seen, but even so there was a good atmosphere, everyone bonded by their love of all things vintage. Stalls featured everything from vintage fashion, to fashion magazines from the 20's and beyond, to unique upcycled jewellery bearing Polly Pocket toys as charms.

I successfully restricted myself by only purchasing a sweet little floral-print bag, Rayban style sunglasses and a kitsch scissor necklace; however, if it wasn't for pesky rent money worries I could've (and would've) bought a whole lot more.

[01] Judy's Vintage Fair

[02] Collection of purchases (Steph's and mine)

[03] Scissor necklace, £3

[04] Necklaces

[05] Playing about with the Olympus...Steph's headscarf

Hometown Glory

The past week has seen me hop-skipping back and forth between home and Southampton, twice! - quite a record, especially considering I hadn't gone home since the Christmas break previously.

As every student will agree, home comforts are literally the best thing. Thanks to my mum's knack of over-stocking at Christmas, there were still chocolates lying about at every glance...these I took full advantage of whilst I could (I hardly ever have tasty snacks to hand in Soton). Tea and biscuits and delicious home-cooked meals and puddings and plentiful stocks of every type of food imaginable; my stomach had not seen such action since Christmas. And, of course, it was lovely to see my family again, and being in a warm, cosy house was definitely a novelty.

I decided to dye my hair 'naturally' with lemon juice whilst I was at home. After researching into how to naturally bleach your hair, wikihow and ehow managed to convince me that lemon juice was the way forward.  It basically involved me juicing a lemon into a jug, dipping my hair into the jug and combing it through the lengths of my hair, then sitting outside in the sun for half an hour...by which time, my hair was as dry as straw. I washed it out, as advised, followed by a lot of deep conditioner. I haven't noticed a grand difference, but apparently it works gradually anyway...which I don't really understand, but I guess I'll have to wait and see.

My camera had a disastrous tumble the other week (I swear it wasn't my fault, it was the bad spirits lurking in my room that did it), which meant that the lens broke. I thought I was gonna have to fork out a couple of hundred on a new one, but luckily my brother found one for around £60 on ebay, and it arrived whilst I was home. I put it to good use and took a load of pictures...312, in fact.

[01] Close-up portrait

[02] Maria, vintage photoshoot for uni

[03] Grand piano <3

[04] Silverware (testing out the zoooom & focus)

[05] Photoshoot location...lovely countryside

I was impressed with the lens, it's so much better than my old one so perhaps that'll give me the incentive to use my camera more. As much as I love it, it gets neglected rather a lot.

In other news, I would please please like to own the following!:

[06] Batman tights, needs no explanation

[07] Baby pet fawn!

[08] Charlotte Olympia fruit shoes! Love!

[09] These nails.

Unfortunately I think only two of the four items are somewhat achieveable for me to own. My budget doesn't extend enough to cater for £870.01 (why the extra penny?) shoes, and nor does my conscience cater for illegal pet fawns.

Review: American Psycho

[01] Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman

Never underestimate the power of a classic - American Psycho is no exception.

Christian Bale plays maniacal character Patrick Bateman in the thriller, released in 2000 and based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis.

A 27-year-old satirist driven to murderous extremes through excessive OCD - though more fittingly schizophrenic - tendencies, Bateman is the epitome of Psycho. He plays the role so convincingly that you might need to question his level of sanity in his off-screen life.

Narrated by Patrick, the film’s internal monologue demonstrates how deranged the leading character is, despite his apparent normality to the other characters in the film - a star-studded cast that includes Justin Theroux, Reese Witherspoon and Jared Leto. Yet the other characters seem to be obliterated into non-existence - some, literally - by Bale, given the fact that his performance is so exceedingly brilliant.

The film does not encourage any form of emotional attachment to the main character, and neither towards any of his victims - an unusual feature for such a successful film, giving it an undeniable edge. Such techniques make the extremities of Bateman’s actions seem somehow justifiable, and his character almost comical. Narratives like “There is a moment of sheer panic when I realize that Paul's apartment overlooks the park... and is obviously more expensive than mine” make American Psycho possibly the most quotable film of its genre, transforming Bale into a comedic genius.

Ignoring the many brutal murder scenes - of which involved a wide variety of torture devices, from the chainsaw to the simple axe - the most disturbing scene of the movie would definitely be of the crude threesome that involves Bateman, in all of his unadulterated greasiness, and two prostitutes - who are later, of course, subject to such aforementioned killing devices.

Despite this, the likeability factor of the killer is still viable - or at least to me and my somewhat odd partialites, it is. American Psycho undoubtedly fulfills the ‘films-that-can-be-watched-and-enjoyed-over-and-over’ criteria, combining undertones of comedy, thriller, crime and drama in a cinematic experience that easily allows for its place in my personal ‘Top 10 Greatest Films’ list.

Not one to miss.

Take me to Ocean Dome...

... http://www.alltraveltips.com/oceandome.html

Retractable roof, flame-spitting volcano, artificial waves...why is everything so cool in Japan?!

[Procrastinating once again but work is on the agenda]

Hairstyles

I think I've fully come to terms with how procrastination plays a large part of my life now (especially on weekends). I have therefore spent the last hour on www.taaz.com to make-over my face and try out some fancy hairstyles, all without the effort of leaving my bed!

[01]

[02]

[03]

I can't ever seem to decide what to do to my hair. The problem is, I just want a different colour all the time. It usually depends on the latest hair-crush image I've seen on Tumblr or Weheartit. Everyone seems to be copying Rihanna at the moment, so that has put me off dyeing my hair any shade of red...kinda feeling a lighter shade of brown, more golden-like perhaps, though I tried that before and my hair didn't take to it. Anyway, these three images above were my favourite styles. I like the idea of having a fringe, but I can imagine it'd piss me off rather a lot. My indecisiveness is actually ridiculous sometimes! Hair-crushes of the moment:

[04] Golden brown w/ fringe

[05] Miley's dark brown w/ light on top

[06] Left: wavy w/ long fringe

[07] Zooey's long glossy locks w/ long sweep fringe

This ain't got no alibi...

http://www.dorothyperkins.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33053&storeId=12552&productId=1646593&langId=-1&categoryId=&searchTerm=CULTURE&pageSize=20

So, whilst browsing the Dorothy Perkins online sale section I stumbled upon this, um...creation. Basically, its sheer ugliness astounded me, and I felt that I simply had to blog about it and bathe in the horror with others. Whoever the hell designed this should be banished to some sort of anti-fashion psychiatric ward/institute. Literally, my eyes are burning. The fact that it is £20 (original price £30!) makes matters even worse. However, if by any chance you take a fancy to this little number, it also comes in black and white! Don't rush all at once, now... 

100% procrastination. 0 work done.

So given the fact that my ability to do work is seemingly deteriating at an exponential rate, among the other load of unproductive things to do today I decided to 1) Revamp my blog, and 2) Actually write a blog post. Which is what I'm doing now.

Currently led on the sofa, complete with a variety of home comforts: blanket, check. Laptop (which doubles as a lap heater), check. 500 Days of Summer (this was originally intended to be background noise for a suitably productive working environment. Needless to say, this hasn't worked out so well)... check. 15 minutes ago, the tub of cookies and cream haagendaz (sp?) was also a check...until I reached past the half-way mark, whereby I decided it would be sensible to banish the tub to the freezer. BOGOF deals in Sainsbury's shouldn't exist. The heating is on the constant switch, no less - a special saturday late-afternoon treat!

The internet is way too distracting for my liking. My new-found addiction for Tumblr is becoming slightly problematic. Not only is it fuelling my innate desire to be someone/somewhere else, it is on-par (if not worse) with Facebook in terms of its time-wasting potential. I really need to do work. Really, really need to...and I will. Soon. Reeeally soon. Honest.

N.B. Brothers lemon cider now being stocked in Cloud Wine upon my previous queries. 3for£5. Needless to say, it made my day, as did the man who served me; possibly the jolliest man I have ever met... "That'll be a trillion pounds please! Enter your special secret code!". He even did a little jiggle/dance as we were leaving the shop... I think I want to marry him.