The Very Last Ten Things

So, I've been tagged by The Hostess Handbook and given a Kreativ Blogger award.  Ta very much for thinking of me!  Here's my ten facts.

1)  Although it's very nice to be thought of and tagged, and I really enjoy reading other people's posts, I hate these things.  Once you get them, you feel obliged to tag another ten people.  It's the blog equivalent of a chain mail and I find that I'm getting so many of them I'm eventually going to run out of facts about myself.  Although, I've been in an inspiration rut recently, I don't think that these make for the best posts. So, this is the last.  This must be the last.  Absolutely the last.  Final.  Full stop. Never again.  Cross my heart and hope to die be spanked until my bottom goes purple.

2)  At present there are three large men ripping up the tiles in my flat and installing a new boiler.  All I can say about that is - thank God for watertight tenancy agreements, if not boilers.

Source

3)  New celeb crush - by that I mean 'guy on TV who is cute', not an actual crush (that would be weird):  Dave Franco.  Funny, great smile, seems smart and looks a little bit like an ex-boyfriend, but not so much that I'm totally repulsed.  Yes, he's James Franco's younger brother.

Melodramatic enough for ya? (source)

4)  Last book read - The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber.  I was really excited to get this as an early birthday present (thank you Alan!) and it was excellent - up until the last hundred pages or so.  The TV adaptation currently running on the BBC also looks amazing and has a great cast.  Although I don't know how I feel about the prospect of a full frontal Chris O'Dowd.  Oh, I know he went to LAMDA and everything but he'll always be Roy from the IT Crowd to me.



5)  Can't.  Stop.  Listening.  To.  This.  Song.  Against my better judgement.  Ev'ry day I'm shufflin'.

source

6)  My birthday is next week and a fluo Cambridge satchel is at the very top of the wishlist.  Add some Danielle Scutt for Topshop jewellery and I'm channeling my inner Man Repeller.  P.S.  I'd love one in leopard print.  Cambridge Satchel Company, if you're reading this...



7)  New film obsession - Paris is Burning, as seen at Style at Set last weekend.  I'd be foolish NOT to try vogueing on my next night out.

8) That Can Be My Next Tweet invents new tweets made from your old tweets.  Recycling is good for the environment.  But not for my imagination.  Ugh.  What a mental image.

9)  Speaking of which, I'm on facebook AND twitter AND Pinterest - so come say hello.  Validate me with your friendship!

10)  The last and most important point.  As I've said, there's been an inspiration drought sweeping the area lately, so I've set myself a challenge and I need YOUR help.  I've decided to write about any fashion/style-oriented topic that is put to me.  Every single one.  No matter how out there, or seemingly normal, I want to write about it.  Even if you don't think it's my cup of tea, I want to know.  You can give me a word, or a link, or a picture to bounce ideas off.  Leave any and all suggestions in the comments.  And thank you.

Licentiate Column 21/04/11: The Man Repeller

Are you a Man Repeller?

I don’t mean in the literal sense, as if you had an internal chromosonal magnet tuned to the same polarity as all men.

Nor am I asking if you smell bad, or are ugly, or have a terrible personality - because I know you don’t (and even if you did, there’s still someone out there for you - more than likely a belching farting, incredibly hostile someone, but a special someone all the same).

The Man Repeller is a blog written by New Yorker Leandra Medine. In it, she talks about all the clothes that your friends go bananas over, but make men scratch their heads in puzzlement,which sometimes happens when women do things not exclusively for their masculine amusement.

Capes, detachable collars, fringing, feathers, sequins, print clashes, harem pants, clogs, shoulder pads and boyfriend jeans are all incorporated into outfits that are both cheerfully tongue-in-cheek and dead-serious stylish. Not since the suffragette movement has something that comes so naturally to women been so totally incomprehensible for men.

The Man Repeller is a person too. She’s me in glaring neon pink jeans. She’s my best friend with tattoos and leopard print. She’s that girl in the shop with a Dellal esque demi-shaved head.

She’s you in your absolute favourite pair of shoes. She’s all of us - the Carrie Bradshaw part that wears what she wants, not what is expected of her. She’s the kind of person who keeps up with the trends, but dresses only for herself. No kitten heels may pass the threshold of her wardrobe doors, for there are too many of clunky Acne/Topshop/Penneys wedges taking up space inside.

Why wrap up in a sensible coat on a cold winter’s day when you can dress like a yeti a la Chanel? Greasy locks? Leave the dry shampoo to one side and pop on a turban. The Man Repeller might look a bit bonkers to the general public, but her fellow Repellows knows that she’s channeling Old Hollywood meets Roaring Twenties meets Opium Den. She doesn’t really care what the general public thinks anyway. She loves the turban. Her taste is just so good it goes beyond the realms of normal human perception. That’s good enough for me.

For anyone who thinks that fashion can’t be feminist, think again. For those who maintain that shopping is a shallow pursuit, well, you might be right; but you have to admit that the Man Repeller adds credence. Freedom of expression and non-conformity will always be a good thing - even if it’s only in outfit form.

The Man Repeller doesn’t hate men, she likes them - most of the time. She also likes being her own person. That is where the disparity lies. It’s a toss on a doubled-sided coin. Heads to please yourself. Tails to attract the opposite sex. For the Man Repeller, heads wins every time.

Stylish Blogger Award/ Seven Things... eh... thing.

So, this week  I've been given a Stylish Blogger Award by the lovely Jessica of Enchanted Vintage Clothing, whose blog I genuinely love, and not just because she tagged me in a post.  I really enjoy reading her educational, funny and promdress-filled posts, so check out her blog quick-smart. 

For no reason other than I like this, here's my and the boyfriend's feet

The point of these posts are to give a bit of blog love and get some in return, but I won't be tagging anyone in these.  If you like this post and want to do one like it, leave me a link in the comments.  I don't want to exclude anyone or make them feel like they have to do it.  I have to share seven things that you might not know about me.  I'm not much of a sharer, so these seven factoids were hard to come up with.  I hope you like them.

At a family party, note my super-smooth face.  Computers can do great things these days.

1)  My mother has had a formative influence on my life.  She works part-time in a library, where she heads up the county book club.  She's half the reason why I grew up in a house full of books.  She taught me the value of a Burberry trench coat.  I tell people who have never met her that she's a cross between Delia Smith and Audrey Hepburn, but I don't think that I've ever told her that.  She makes excellent scones and pate and bread and butter pudding (but not together).  She wants to go to India.  She has a rail full of Diane Von Furstenburg dresses in her room.  Anything she has, she'll give to one of her children without them having to ask.  She is one of the most tolerant, gentle and considerate people I have ever felt the good fortune to meet and I love her to bits.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

2)  My mother is from England and I have a lot of relatives there, but she was born to Irish parents.  Technically, I've got dual nationality and I do feel a bit British.  It's a really hard identity to reconcile when you consider the fraught relationship that England and Ireland have had.  Existential crises aside, I do enjoy a nice cream tea and an elaborate Royal Wedding.

3)  My dream is to edit and publish my own magazine.  I also want to write a novel, if only to prove to myself that I can do it.  And I will do it.  I will.

Looking pensive and hoping for a tomorrow without nocturnal corner-shop visits

4)  My boyfriend is freakishly supportive.  He goes to the shop in the middle of the night to get biscuits for my tea and sleeps on the couch when I'm sick (got strep throat at the moment). He's a very nice guy.

Bumper prize to the person who can name the most books on this shelf...

5) Of all the things I am proud of, I'm probably proudest of my bookshelf...

Disgraceful

6) ...but in every other aspect, I'm a massive slob.  In reality, my bedside drawer has this on it - plus five or six mugs, a pair of glasses, bottles of nail varnish and an even bigger pile of unfinished books.

7)  There's no food I won't try.  Bushtucker trials have got nothing on me. 

QUESTION!

I'm trying to reorganise my blog reader and do an overhaul on my reading material.

Here's where you kind readers come in.

What blogs do you enjoy reading? What eye candy lights up your day? Which bloggers inspire you? Whose photo blogs make you think? Who's the funniest or smartest fashion blogger out there? Do you have any guilty pleasures tucked away in your reader?

Let me know in the comments box below. No blog is too obscure or too obvious. Give me one link or a directory, a broad street style blog or a Tumblr of Turgistani interiors; it's all good.  The submissions I like the best will get a wee prize of, well, I haven't thought of what I'm giving away yet. But in case you're worried, click here to see how good I usually am at giving away stuff.

And because no post is complete without a picture, here's an unrelated fluffy bunny.

Blogger night out

A lovely time was had by all at the Cork Fashion Bloggers meeting.  We ate num num num pizza at Sober Lane and came third in the table quiz despite all my best cheating efforts.  We ladies talked White Russians, London excursions and the state of the Irish magazine industry.  Then Aisling whipped out a box of Celebrations... The rest is a blur.

The more that I think about it, this blog post reads like a parish newsletter so I'll just be quiet and roll out the credits.

From L-R, Lorna, Dawn, Jo, Blau, Aisling, Me (excuse the awkward posture, I was trying to conceal a lipstick I had in my hand for some reason ) and Cathy.  Photo - Jo Lenihan