Amy, 24, Melbourne, web designer, piano student, Slytherin, nostalgia (and chocolate) addict, and languisher in all things baroque, rococo, and Tolkien.
One characteristic of a mind that constantly flits about and over-analyses is that it requires stimulation and inspiration (or is prone to over-stimulation, listlessness and boredom). I’ve inherited some intense need to “collect” (and hoard somewhat…), to catalogue, and to display.
As a kid I filled cassette tapes with 90s music and recorded all the tracks in a book, created at least three magazines series (usually a satire on popular teen girl mags but full of cuttings from Family Circle), filled diaries cover to cover, kept scrapbooks full of whatever I was obsessed with, and stored paraphernalia from exhibitions or holidays in manila folders. We don’t use cassettes any more, but I enjoy creating playlists to suit various occasions, moods or car trips. With the digital age my drive to make magazines shifted to compiling websites instead, at about age 13, and I still keep scrapbooks and folders (and now a blog) to record all the things I am constantly nostalgic about.
First up I’m plugging Illamasqua, purveyors of the left-of-field makeup that goths (goths with money, anyway) are happy to get their hands on after so many years of using greasepaint, ManicPanic, and the most “ivory” shade to be found in Priceline. Actually, Illamasqua stocks shades for almost any occasion, but the emphasis is on dark contrast, punky glamour, burlesque, and particularly the early 20th century Berlin club scene.
I have been really happy with the liquid foundation (very pale) and powder (white) I purchased, which have even proven too pale for days I want to look “natural”. At last, somewhere that stocks truly pale makeup for those of us not wanting to look like a carrot or a Guidette! I can blend it with my other makeup in any case, but what makes me happy is that it goes on quite thick and a little goes a loooong way. I was given a quality booklet and found their Theatre of the Nameless concept quite striking:
Onward. The following are a number of websites that have left an impression on me, or that I turn to for a bit of inspiration when I seek to create something myself:
And now for my own bits and pieces!
My latest collection of little treasures above. A 1m² piece of pretty upholstery fabric (laid out), a straw bag, an old Sutherland LP, a white tea box from an op shop I thought should house my accessories, some hairclips from Bodyline, The “Memoirs of Madame du Barry”, a Purcell biography, and another few titles to add to my growing collection of books on “historical ribaldry”…
Various pretties from my dressing table.
I love collecting darling pieces of stationary – the only problem is that I can’t bear to write letters and part with them.
A raunchy pile, includes “Treasury of Ribaldry” and “Memoirs of a Georgian Rake”
My books on some of my favourite composers. Some of the older books are really just biased, whimsical observations full of speculation.
Historical history books, novels and fantasy
A beautiful selection of my floral scrapbooking papers
Victorian themed papers – with Steampunk and “Shabby Chic” and “French Provincial” themes becoming popular, a lot of awesome decorative pieces are being made. But they’re so nice I don’t want to chop them up!
I even found an official Harry Potter set!
Thanks for reading – or scrolling, whichever you bothered to do. Stay “tuned” for the next inspiration post which will cover music instead!
A lot of little thoughts coursing around lately up top, but none of them really long enough or coherent enough to make up a post! I’m really enjoying playing Dragon Age at present; I have a sweetly-determined looking (and behaving) Dalish rogue who is on good terms with everyone and constantly saving the day. I’m just waiting for the other Elven fellow to add to my party so I can romance him. Adam’s running with a maudlin looking city-elf warrior and we play alongside each other to get as close to the multiplayer feeling as possible. Alas, we’ll have to return to Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale for our dose of Forgotten Realms adventuring together! That’s actually what we did the very first night we met, having BG2 as a mutual favourite game. As is Morrowind and Vampire: The Masquerade! If we had any more in common, it would almost get boring!
It has been an uncommonly busy week for me, which means that by normal-people standards I’ve had a light load. For someone with a musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder however, it means I’m a bit worn out. Saturday saw the women’s convention pass, and naturally those things are never as bad as I fear. I went away feeling quite thoughtful and my grandmother was very happy to have been taken and have company. I was invited to see Mascagni’s Cavaleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci by the Melbourne Opera Company (in which a good friend’s parents both sing) and really wanted to get there (that Intermezzo is so sweet!)… couldn’t muster up the energy to drive though! It’s still showing but there are a number of upcoming expenses I should really dedicate my finances to. Honouring ones responsibilities means making sacrifices.
On Sunday there was another rather long recital, a Springtime afternoon to see the high standard of progress being made by all students and also for those taking exams to get extra performing experience. I played the same as the previous week but went in a lot more confidently. The room and audience and my being more sensitively aware of things made a huge difference and my teacher was quite complimentary the next day in my last lesson for the term. My progress has been rather sluggish this year but things are picking up with the better weather and I am focusing on being consistent.
Tuesday and Wednesday saw my participation in a rehearsal and show at a local theatre. I say that in a very broad sense, because in fact it was laid-back display of the ‘wearable art’ of various students at Box Hill TAFE. An elder sister is taking a floristry course and her group collaborated on an ensemble which I was asked very nicely to ‘model’ for them. Though unlike anything I have ever worn yet, the wire/scissors/parafilm/fairylights combination made quite an impression for being rather distinctly different. And of course sparkly. Instead of wearing a floral arrangement, I was basically decked out in pieces made of tools you would use in floristry. The whole event was filmed and I shall have pictures soon. It was quite enjoyable and I’m glad to have been of some use; most of the others looked very interesting but didn’t seem very confident about having to show off on stage.
This evening I was invited to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s ‘A Miracle Year’ programme, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, which celebrated the music of 1910. Sibelius’ 4th symphony was, as expected, not particularly evocative or predictable, but dark and in rebellion to the other music of that time. Our minds were not particularly engaged, constantly wandering throughout those 40 or so minutes. Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite followed, delicate and very very lovely at times. Finally we had our senses awoken by Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier Suite (a concert version of the comic opera of the same name). It was typically Strauss; the orchestra were more impassioned, luxuriously romantic, and soaring to excitable moments over and over. There was no ceasing to the applause, even with a rather elderly demographic, so they gave us an encore of a march by Sousa.
I’ll be back to my usual introspection and miscellaneous thoughts in a few days. I’m resting in preparation for a chartered cruise on the Enterprize, in honour of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Hmm.
I am off now to keep reading Roverandom to Adam. We’ve been making bedtime stories out of everything Tolkien this year. He’s listened to me narrate the entirety of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion and now seems to really understands my reverence (and almost adherence) to the mythology. He got passionately angry at Fëanor and most of his sons (we reserve a special place for poor Maedhros), thoroughly depressed at the end of the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, and we both finished ‘Of Beren and Lúthien’ in tears. I would never attempt to describe my near-enslavement to the world of Arda. Certainly Tolkien himself wouldn’t have approved. He did not particularly like the idea of folk getting carried away meeting up to ‘speak Elvish’ and such. At this point I look away with a benign smile and feign complete innocence in the matter.
I am presently quite delighted in how fortuitous today has been in the book department! Namely, I have managed to purchase a book which I never though I could acquire in a used state, let alone new, for under $300. As a comparison, the only copies on eBay were around $800. As it is, The Book Depository (a U.K. company who ship out almost any book you can think of at LOW prices with no postage costs) had the book for only $65. I could not let it slip by! The book in question is an out-of-print album of post-mortem photography, Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America. The book seems to focus generally on 19th-century Americans (though people still take post-mortem pictures, especially of stillborn children). While in some photos the subjects are very much dead-looking and showing signs of decay, others look as if they are sleeping very peacefully. I find this utterly fascinating; the squeamish or death-fearing person might find it unnatural or macabre, but the nostalgic side of me appreciates that moment of time when part of somebody’s life (or death) has been captured on film to outlast them by generations. It is often a sad reminder of the young mortality rate, but also a lasting memorial for those souls.
We also got a number of other titles, which perhaps I will “review” after they arrive — if I ever get to read them! I don’t think I’ve been able to finish a book this year; listlessness, Nintendo DS obsession at bedtime, and a confirmed need for reading glasses have all contributed.
We have two more days of house-sitting left. I’ve watched, “The Hurt Locker”, “Gamer” (dreadful), “Iris”, “Ladies in Lavender”, “The Devil Wears Prada”, and numerous documentaries and such. We never usually watch television at home, only movies on the computer! There are a few extra channels here which have stopped me from writing off television altogether; they have been packed with interesting programming, giving me new insights and food inspiration.
The house still resists all attempts at cleaning. Its hydra-like filth reappears moments after sweeping, dusting and washing. It’s made us miss home and made us miss the cat, whose little black clumps of oft-groomed hair are a pleasure compared to the layer of dog hair here. When the Inamorato’s parents return, we may just have to call an intervention, and not least because of the black mould.
Back to the movies and chocolate, then!
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