"Well Donowitz, I think this just might be my masterpiece."

Bonjour gentle readers,

C'est moi! as you have probably figured.. I've been a rather busy bee and somewhat neglectful of my wondrous blog that I thought now I've got back from my day busy doing nothing that I will um.. still do nothing.. but in a slightly more exciting way.. 

So yes.. What have I been up to? Does anybody really care? haha. I haven't really got anything specific to write to be totally and utterly lost apart from a few creative things I've been up to, and some excellent filmrelated nonsense.... and well... some musical trivia based on the new installment of many many good LPs in my front room now. 

As you possibly remember or know or gathered from some previous posts I'm busy job hunting but I do however, have a job interview tomorrow.. I'm rather excited.. even though I'd possibly be serving my own friends drinks I'm still excited. 

Ho hum... so instead of writing you an exciting long list of songs to listen to on your way to a job interview (a natural progression from songs to listen to when you're jobhunting) I will do that when I've been to the interview.. haha....

To give myself a treat I went and watched Inglourious Basterds.... Go, Now. see it please.. I am not one for Brad Pitt but his excellent depiction of gun happy Nazi basher Lt. Aldo Raine, uncomfortable as it was, was bloody funny.  I have never enjoyed watching people getting scalped, and frankly even though it was the least bloody Tarantino film I've ever seen, it's not bloodless.. a rather graphic shot of Diane Kruger's leg... with a bullet wound... Brad Pitt's finger.... prodding.... ouch.. 

I can honestly say though.. I now have a massively huge crush on Melanie Laurent who plays the Jewish runaway Shosanna Dreyfus who sets up her own cinema in Paris.. the cinema that's the setting for Operation Kino... not only is she incredibly stylishly dressed throughout, in a rather dashing army esque belted khaki number but she dresses like a snazzy landgirl, all practical and yet still rather dishy.. and frankly I'm utterly in love with the gorgeous sparkly black netted hat and red dress she wears throughout the "Nation's Pride" premier, red and splattered with blood... both of which matched her lipstick.. sigh...
all accessorised with a little pistol in a beaded bag in order to fend off the advances of the war hero Frederick Zoller.... played by the equally gorgeous Daniel Bruhl (of "Goodbye Lenin").. who embodies a weird paradox of Nazi guilt and pride for killing hundreds of soldiers from a tower in Italy.  Shosanna made me jealous, obviously not the cruel mass murder of her family under some farm floorboards by Hans Landa the double crossing "Jew Hunter", but the somewhat stereotypical shots of her smoking, drinking and reading in a French cafe just look rather brooding, pouting and well.. a lot more darkly interesting than my life.. but you probably already realised I was a Francophile by now... 

The Basterds themselves at first made me feel almost sorry for these specific Nazis as a small platoon is surrounded by leering vigilantes, not something I'd ever think I'd find myself saying, but in the context of men hunting each other, they ceased to be quite so Nazi ish and just seemed to be a man being beaten to death with a club by the "Bear Jew".  Of course, immediately Brad Pitt asks the man what he won his medals for, for killing many people, and for bravery.  Pitt's cockiness at first was really rather annoying, and his American mob mentality just made me want to smack him, but he suddenly gets all the funny lines, and his incapacity to speak Italian is always amusing. .. but the humanity weirdly seems all but lost in all the characters carrying guns, but their strange facades make for interesting plot twists... Landa's double crossing, the basement brawl with the new father Wilhelm and the death of the Diane Kruger's Fraulein Hammersmark as she is slowly strangled to death ... life dripping out of her eyelids.. basically it's a lot of Tarantino nonsense, even including Tarantino's foot fetish in a long close up of Diane Kruger's foot, but would also be strangely amazing if it had happened.. only in Hollywood would the end of the De Fuhrer come through the cinema... I have much more to say about it but I'm not going to give anything away as it's vastly amusing and I recommend it.... 

So yes apart from watching that I've been accumulating rubbish in my room.. when I was younger I used to pick up random items off the floor.. and I nearly did it again today, there was a fragment of a CD with a small boy's face on it on the ground and it just looked so interesting I nearly picked it up.. I know this is how bag lady's begin but I have so many things I love dotted around my life that I've found on the streets, mostly notably the cutest little finger puppet I found on the floor in Tunbridge Wells. It looked so sad that I stuck it on a bush.. but it was still there smiling inanely when I walked past later that I felt I couldn't just abandon it to the local T.Wells louts.. hehe.. so she now lives in my room... all my Adult Books posters have been nicked from the toilets of le Bateau in Liverpool.. If you have been there you would probably think that it was highly unhygienic keeping things from toilets and yes ordinarily you'd be right, keeping posters from the debauched toilets of an Indie club where the levels of cleanliness aren't particularly high, but frankly a poster with the lyrics of Ca Plane Pour Moi and Je T'aime on them were too shiny and appealing for my drunken eyes... so in the bag they popped.. 

I'm deliberating going down the local skip to get me some new stuff.. not bag lady stuff .. though saying that a trolley would be nice... but some random objects of desire.. 

On another note I think I may be going slightly blind.. I am sad that having had the desire to wear glasses from a young age I suddenly actually have to wear them to watch telly... booo.. I look like a rather effeminate Buddy Holly, but that might just be because of the way I dress non?

To amuse myself I've been colouring things in with nail varnish.. not only have I changed my white little pumpy brogues from Primark into a pair of pink and white Zebra striped extravaganza but I've also attacked our doorbell.. yup doorbell accessories are coming to a store near you.. or well maybe a door near you? no just mine.. oh well.. Having had some vague promise of work at a local vintage shop adapting and customising some clothes for the shopkeep I have been adapting mine... not something that's new to me.. for some reason I resent keeping things from shops the same as when I bought them.. I think it might be due to my lack of money (and apparently lack of ethical morals) I shop in Primark.. I hate that I do.. I even stopped myself the other day (only to go to George at Asda.. god help me) but not only am I not buying ethically aware clothing... but I'm also supposed to dress like everybody else who shops in Primark (coughchavscallytypescough) Now I'm definitely one for anti-ageist fashion, I sometimes find the Guardian's weekly feature on various ages wearing similar styles interesting if not a little stagnant, but I really resent buying a pair of black lacy leggings, blaceggings, only to find a 45yr old wannabe MILF wearing them ... over an awful tan, and thinking "Hey I know I'll buy some for my five year old as well"... as I've said I'm not fashionably ageist, I utterly adore how fashionable elder ladies dress, ranging from the undeniably women of a certain age adorning Parisian streets, to Debbie Harry, but most notably people like Zandra Rhodes and Vivienne Westwood, even gulp Mary Portas... (which as much as I resent her for having an amazing job and for almost wearing clothes that the ever predictable and strangely breast obsessed Gok Wan might have picked out (bad) has an undeniable sense of self style, knowing not only what suits her but not giving into peer pressure to dress like an absolute arse-yet still giving herself a nice looking arse-impressive feat). So, as hypocritical as it may appear I resent these women.  I can't decide if it's almost sad that they feel they have to compete with not only younger, and possibly richer, women by shopping in Primark (ie. they haven't got the "young body" to wear most of the hotpants in Primark but still do, and can't commit the equally awful sin of Lacroixing oneself in an Edie Monsoon manner with various labels to try and distract people from your lack of style)... as much as I admit and rather love, nay relish, designer clothing I have never been one for thinking it's even nearly justified in its price.. yup there's a lot of work that goes into it.. and yes there's excellently gorgeous fabric and wonderful cuts that you would never get in somewhere on the high street I feel sad that the exclusivity of designer wear is the whole point of it.. and in being so becomes the complete opposite.. money doesn't buy style darlings.. it buys a stupid amount of crappy clothes that no matter how lovely the cut is will never look right on you if you've bought them for labels rather than style, fit and matching to your body type... I would relish in buying as much gorgeous Chanel as possible but I'm fully aware that Coco's divine little figure, and the ridiculously cool, if not skeletal Karl Lagerfeld, do not necessarily fit a figure as mine.. I'm much more apt for the curvy Nigella figure hugging Roland Mouret styles
, even some gorgeous vintage Dior... and I have found that mostly 40s and 50s dresses fit a figure like mine, when women had waists and were expected to show them off.. 

ooh that was rather a rant... so yes, and don't get me started on some kind of feminist fashion rant.. I can only say I feel empowered by brands like Agent Provacateur and yet strangely seedy by La Senza... that shouldn't be about the money or style. it's simply quality.. and the fact that La Senza screams slut and Agent P purrs seductress.. but why is that? Is there any sense behind it? God knows, I will go onto a much more indepth feminist rant at another time, when I'm not dying to discuss some kind of musical nonsense and knitting I've been thinking about instead. 

Tis indeed nearly Autumn, strangely enough I smelt it, as I have been told by a homeopathist I'm a "smelly person" hehe... and then my ipod told me it was so (I don't normally listen as it's usually telling me to do bad things) with the beginning lyrics of Ryan Adam's "Nuclear".....'This is where the summer ends'.... sigh.. so onto knitting some lovely scarves and listening to to warming songs... I like to knit with some kind of distraction, usually a tv or a record.... and today I noticed my lovely first scarf I ever made.. a blend of acidy green, yellow and blue stripes.. a bit raggedy but loved and excellent.. and realised it's so utterly easy to make scarves... so I've got to encourage it... my first ever one (which was the attempt before the actual first scarf) turned into a blanket.. yup I fucked up the stitches and started on 20 and ended up on 130.... how... ? hmmm.... so yes snuggle up in your scarf... and listen to the Mamas and the Papas' "Do You Wanna Dance?" because it makes me smile... it's the end of the summer affairs, it's the end of feeling warm outside so dance instead... it's more fun than shivering.. this slow and lovely dance song makes you want to waltz around the kitchen in a stylish pillbox hat "Tell me I'm your loverman...."

... 

So I've been listening to that... doing this... something of the other... 

after Inglorious Basterds I've had an incurable craving for strudel (but not nightfire hehe) as they have a great shot focused on this dollop of creaming oozing over a cruncy looking strudelly yumminess.... so I've looked up a recipe for such.... 

Ingredients

100g Golden sugar

seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod

4 yummy apples... I like a bit of cox.. but I also just wanted to write that (peel and dice your cox ouch)

25g of currants and 25g sultanas

1tsp Allspice, 1tsp nutmeg (I like it grated) 1 tsp of cinnamon (sprinkled on the top)

85g chopped walnuts...mmm 

6 large sheets of filo pastry (you could make it.. or you could buy the other roll up stuff.. it's less hassle but then again I'm a pastry purist sometimes...)

50g butter, melted

a tub of creme fraiche.. 200ml

Heat the oven to about 200degrees c.... and then put the butter and sugar and vanilla pods in a pan and cook slowly until caramelised and yummy and brown... (be careful as this could go quickly from being caramelised to burnt scummy pan nastiness) ... put the apples, spices, sultanas and currants in the pan to caramelise them.. and cook for about 10mins until soft.. and gooey.. remove the apple from the pan, slotted spoon... and then let the liquid and the apples cool separately... line two baking trays with baking paper and lay out the filo on the trays... brush lightly with butter and sprinkle some of the sugar on them.. repeat this on each tray until there are 3 layers of filo each... put the apple on the shorter edge of the pastry and roll them into a log... tuck in the ends to make it a neat parcel... brush the top with butter and dust with sugar.. cook for 25mins or until golden brown.. and crispy and gooey and yummy... 

This is lovely with cherries as well.. cooked in a similar way... but with some cherry liquer instead of caramelising the sugar... but still use the sugar.. 

vehr gut.. (I can't speak German)

Anywho.. I've got to go and eat some dinner having just spilt hot water all down my front and I'm in quite a hideous amount of pain so I'm going to conclude there and watch crappy BBC Rob Brydon related goodness in stinging pain.. 

This week I have mostly been eating: hmm.. homemade bread... bad hot watery noodles with painfactor... looking forward to strudel and many many bananas that I got from the Bold street fruit market in Liverpool (3 bunches for a pound...apples and pears etc)

I have mostly been knitting/painting: still my little baby blanket, and painting a rather dubious portrait of Serge Gainsbourg (it's dubious as his eyes have gone weird and I'm trying to sort it out)

I've mostly been listening to: Grizzly Bear's "Knife"..
(um it's on Skins if anybody was wondering but obviously that's not what I like it.. ) an excellent dreamy little piece; Ca Plane Pour Moi on Vinyl, excellent soundtrack for I Basterds.. .....and Frank Black (of Pixies) and the Catholics "Massif Centrale", a little gem I always forget about, but it's got the creepy air of a French stalker about it, "Sure is cold here in the summer... I haven't got her number".... and there's a bit in the garden.. it's just awesomely loud and amazing... it's the sound of a looove behaviour.. well I think those are the lyrics who indeed knows.. 

Listen and decipher your own..

Bon Chance.. xxxxxx