The Fictitious Life of Elizabeth Black | a notebook.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Battle Cry

A very pertinent and on point article about Mary Beard in the New York Times. 
Realising that this is more prevalent than I thought, here are some quotes:

A very accurate portrayal of history:

“The gloomiest way of describing the ancient world is it is misogyny from A to Z, really,” she said. But even in the present, she added, “we have never escaped a certain male cultural desire for women’s silence.”

Not taking it too seriously:
Ms. Beard is unusually good-humored about many of her adversaries. In one much-publicized instance, she not only commandeered an apology, but has kept in touch with her reformed troll, for whom she now writes letters of reference. (“Oh, Oliver!” she said with apparent affection as his tweets were projected behind her at her conference chat.)

 A must read article.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

They kind of look like drunk craggy lazy people when moving...


Friday nights - after hours at the ROM

The Royal Ontario Museum @ Toronto hosts events on Friday nights with live music and entertainment. Loving the look of this party, with a dinosaur skeleton - talk about a great party!

A video posted by Royal Ontario Museum (@romtoronto) on






Friday, April 29, 2016

Crunch & Sip: Fiona Apple Playlist


Some of my favourite Fiona Apple tunes.

  1. Criminal
  2. Slow Like Honey
  3. Limp
  4. A Mistake
  5. Extraordinary Machine
  6. O'Sailor
  7. Paper Bag
  8. Waltz (Better Than Fine)
  9. Shadowboxer
  10. Carrion
  11. I Want You (Elvis Costello Cover)
  12. Every Single Night 
  13. Fast As You Can
Definitely watch the video for Every Single Night on Youtube (not allowed to embed it :(!). Here is her VEVO page. I also recommend Paper Bag, I enjoyed the dancing. I really enjoy her vocal gymnastics, especially in nos. 7 & 12.
Here are some screenshots from the Every Single Night video to entice you...






"Be kind to me, or treat me mean, I make the most of it - I'm an extraordinary machine."

Name-calling

Oof Verschuren is a great name.

"Young Hare" by Albrecht Dürer
I found it, as he is the photographer for the book "Home Baked" by Yvette Van Boven.

Bright Lights Paris

Travel Book by Angie Niles.
Love this book, beautifully put together (wonderful pictures) and lots of fabulous suggestions for my next trip to Paris! Here's looking at you, Mum.



Image from her blog, La Vie Ann Rose.

The Lobster

Interesting social commentary, and oh! the symbolism!


"It's no coincidence that the targets are shaped like single people."

Chloé Pre-Fall 2016













Photos found via Vogue, source Chloé.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Penguin Little Black Classics


Thanks Mum. Plenty of hours of amusement to come, bite size forms of joy to be digested at leisure.
xx Isme

i. Dante: Love That Moves the Sun and Other Stars - n109
ii. Virginia Woolf: Flush - n120
iii. William Shakespeare: Is This a Dagger I See Before Me? - n113
iv. Charles Dickens: To Be Read At Dusk - n86
v. Jean de la Fontaine: The World is Full of Foolish Men - n83.

“When Mr Browning was gone, she called him to her an inflicted upon him the worst punishment he had ever known. First she slapped his ears - that was nothing; oddly enough the slap was rather to his liking; he would have welcomed another. But then she said in her sober, certain tones that she would never love him again. That shaft went to his heart. All these years they had lived together, shared everything together, and now, for one moment’s failure, she would never love him again. Then, as if to make her dismissal complete, she took the flowers that Mr Browning had brought her and began to put them in a case. It was an act, Flush thought, of calculated and deliberate malice; an act designed to make him feel his own insignificance completely." 
p41, Flush - Virginia Woolf





Picture credit.