Fighting the Little Hater

Sometimes I get the mopes.

I try hard not to. I try to remember that I am healthy, have the love of someone I admire, a place to live, food to eat, and that I feel safe and feel that my loved ones are safe. I am intelligent by most measures and well-educated by any measure. I’m fully able. I’m (mostly) healthy. I have too much food to eat, never too little. I am warm. I am dry. In the greater spectrum of the world, that makes me pretty damned wealthy.

But there are things I wish I had right now, like a job. More perfume. Less weight on my midsection. A copy of Twilight: New Moon collector's edition from Borders. (Don't judge me!) The ability to travel more frequently and see my family more often. The ability to single-handedly finance a Gilmore Girls or Veronica Mars movie. A clothes washer & dryer and a larger kitchen. A few more esoteric things I don’t feel like blogging because they are, frankly, too personal. (Yes, I do actually have a “too personal” setting. It’s just set way lower than other people’s.) And sometimes these things get me down. Not all the time, but sometime.

Like today. I had plans for today. I had stuff I was going to get done. Instead I cried myself to sleep watching My Super Ex-Girlfriend and a rerun of Numb3rs (which David hates and I refer to as my CRIMESOLVINGMATH! Show). I slept all afternoon. Then I wake up and I hate on myself for wasting the day and not getting anything done and feel even deeper in the hole than when I started. It’s what Jay Smooth refers to as “the little hater” (see below). So I’m just going to try to be here more, because being here makes me feel better and creative and productive. And also, I have several other creative endeavors I am working at, and being here helps inspire me in other avenues and keeps me focused on positivity and progress. So I am making a commitment to myself to AT LEAST come here and write for you even when I am not feeling all that excited about it because it will ultimately lead to happier, healthier me.

Great Movies You've Probably Never Seen: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

I'm starting a new series, which I am entitling "Great Movies You've Never Seen," because, well, title self-explanatory. Now that I have Netflix both in disc and instant format, my combination of "supposed to be studying" and "no job" and "flu that will not die" created the craziest on-going film watching schedule of my life. (A few weeks ago? Hannah Montana: The Movie, OT: Our Town, and Helvetica on the same day.) So much have I watched...that apparently I'm starting to structure my sentences like Yoda. Anyway, in an effort to pretend that this whole obsessive film watching has a purpose, I'm going to make recommendations to you all, with the hopes that someone may benefit from my insane couch potatoing. So! To kick off, I offer you....

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

"You're a smart man."
"So was Abraham Lincoln. Look what happened to him. Smart can get you killed."

First off, I'll give you the wikipedia synopsis:

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a 1982 comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin and Rachel Ward. It is both a parody of, and homage to, film noir and the pulp detective movies of the 1940s and 1950s.

The film is a collage effect of old black and white movie clips from films of the 1940s and 1950s, with more recent footage of Martin and other actors similarly shot in black and white. When everything is put together, the original dialogue and acting becomes part of a completely different (and ridiculous) story. This was the last film for both costume designer Edith Head and composer Miklós Rózsa.

This is a great film. It's really funny in its own right, but if you have any appreciation at all for classic film or noir or both, you will love this. I also think it demonstrates some of Steve Martin's incredible talent. I like so many of his early films -- The Jerk, All of Me, Roxanne, etc. etc. -- but this one is something truly special. Also, the costuming is great because -- HELLO, EDITH HEAD! For those of you who don't realize who that is, if you've seen The Incredibles, she's the inspiration for Edna Mode. She's an amazing costumer, and actually still holds the record for the woman who has won the most Academy Awards -- eight, in total.

The concept is brilliant, the dialogue is funny, the acting is great, and the costuming and set design is seamless. Best of all, it's currently on Netflix list of instant streaming movies, so you can catch it on your computer any time if you've got a Netflix account (or get it on DVD if you perfer). I highly recommend it for some dark and stormy afternoon when you have nothing to do.

There's a possibility that all I had is all I'm gonna get.

The Ten Party

So yesterday Angela and I did our presentation for the Gender Symposium on perfume. A prof brought her whole class and it seemed fairly well-received. I'm working on a couple of pieces for this blog that outline the content of the presentation, so for those who are interested -- hold your horses, it's coming. The most fun part I think, though, was when we passed scent strips we'd made around and tried to get the audience to guess if the scent was marketed as for men, for women, or unisex, and why they thought that. It was a lot of fun. More on that later...

Today I'm reviewing Ten Party by The Party. The description on The Party website was kind of ridiculous, though, so believe it or not, I turned to Luckyscent for a more useful description,

Where the Party in Manhattan seduces with a decadent night on the town, The Ten Party invites us to celebrate the refined pursuits of the day. It speaks of timeless elegance -- mornings of tennis at the club, afternoons on the yacht. The fresh-aromatic opening, redolent of citrus, gives way to its spicy, lightly floral but rather unisex heart. A civilized afternoon with jasmine tea refreshes, while an unexpectedly sensual drydown of woods and musk at sunset, the end of a long, rewarding day, whether at work or at play.

Notes: Bergamot, lavender Provence, Sicilian lemon, caraway essence, petigrain, pink peppercorn, tarragon, jasmine, clove, mate, incense, cedarwood, patchouli, oakmoss, musk

On me, The Ten Party is an interesting experience. On a warmer day a couple of weeks ago when I first tried it, I got a heady spice mix up front. Today, though, I got something akin to black licorice for the first twenty minutes or so. It was a very real kind of licorice thing going on, with just a few hints of spices popping through on occasion. About twenty minutes in though, all that spicy/licoricey goodness drops out as I get this sort of hollow ozone-y thing that has a lemony edge, kind of like a cleanser on me.I know it's partly the bergamot and partly the lemon and partly the caraway, and I want to like it, but on me all I get is something that smells like an organic cleaning product. I know a lot of people love this one, but for me? My body chemistry just says no.

Too bad, too. I wish the licorice thing had lasted. That was quite nice. It might make a nice Spring scent for someone, but it just isn't me.

You can buy 100ml of The Ten Party for $160 from Luckyscent, and you can get samples from The Perfumed Court.

"So tell me when you hear my heart stop.
You're the only who knows.
Tell me when you hear my silence.
There's a possibility
I wouldn't know."
- "Possibility," Lykke Li (You can see avideo featuring the song here)

Want more reviews? Try...
~ A review from Perfume-Smellin' Things
~ A review from Perfume Posse
~ A review from The Scented Salamander
~ A review from He Smells, She Smells
~ A review from Fragrantica

Today. Is. Birthday. DRAWING!

Does anyone remember that really bad movie Nicole Kidman did back in 2001 called "Birthday Girl"? The one where she played the Russian mail-order bride, which was really a cover for being a fake kidnap victim as part of an on-going con? I never saw; though I love Kidman I could tell from the previews it was just going to be terrible. But the trailer had this one scene in it where Kidman, playing Nadia, says in her fake heavily Russian accented broken English, "Today. Is. Birthday." and this scene has been stuck in my head for the last fracking decade. Yep. It's my birthday, and when I woke up the first thing I heard in my head was "Today. Is. Birthday." <sigh>

I'm thirty-two today. Up until ten this morning, I thought I was thirty-three. No kidding. I have been telling people for several weeks now that I was going to be 33 soon. And don't ask me why David didn't correct me, because he's one of those people who has to ask me how old he is. Then I got this spam mail that was like "Happy 32nd birthday!" and I was like, "LOLZ, they cannot do mathes," and then I realized NO, I AM THE ONE WHO CANNOT DO MATHES. And apparently, I have some secret, underlying, deep subconscious psychological shame/sadness about being 33 (this is no joke; I actually have PTSD and have memory loss from my DV experiences as a child) but anyways, I was all crazy maudlin last night at midnight in a woe-is-me way that I couldn't really describe and was obsessively thinking about my estranged mom and dead dad and a whole host of crazy crap that clearly means I need to call my therapist this week, and then I woke up and checked my email and BAM! I was only 32 and suddenly in much better spirits.

So that's weird.

Today is not only my birthday, though, it's also International Women's Day and, more locally, here at LC it is Tuition Freedom Day, the day in the academic year where tuition runs out and all subsequent learnin' is funded by gifts from alumni, staff, faculty, and parents. It's a day where we stop to write thank you notes to donors to say, "Thanks for the fancy-pantsy education, without you I'd be working at Walmart and still thinking that Sunflowers was perfumey haute couture." At least, that's something like what I wrote on my thank you card. It's a new event this year, but I like it and hope Alumni and Parent programs keep doing it. I think it's important to remember that those lucky few of us who manage to get such a fancy education do so because there are a lot of folks helping us along the way and that it is not some God given birthright that we get to spend four years here, just spending tons of money making ourselves better. I also hope it's a moment of clarity for at least a few students that, in exchange, they owe something to the world for the privilege they're getting. Taking from life and never giving back is a poor way to live, both in a communal sense and in a personal sense. But I digress...

This week is also Gender Symposium week, my most favorite campus week of any year. I know I keep talking about it, but it is rare that one can count on a specific event to annually blow one's mind hole and teach them crazy new things worth learning, but the Gender Symposium never fails to deliver. For those of you who keep asking for the fruits of mine and Angela's presentation efforts, I'm not holding out on you. We're still working on it, and probably will be up to the last minute, so I'll give you power point and note access after we actually get through the thing.


Also, I just want to say that the highlights of my birthday so far include getting an E-Card from my high school Latin teacher and seeing this UNBELIEVABLE CUTE VIDEO (Seriously, possible the cutest thing ever if you like kids, follow the link) which in my mind is proof that the Internet is not destroying society, but making it way better.

I was going to try to review Ten Party today, but David and I are going to sushi dinner and then a drive out to the closest Sonic for Fountain Sodas (because I love a cherry lime coke like little else in the world). Ten Party will come this week though, and for now, I'm going to leave you with this.

First three people to post are getting a copy of my birthday mix as well as 2-3 samples from my grab bag of previous reviewed stuff. I have no idea what you'll be getting but, you'll get something, so just post away. Few will enter, possibly all will win, so post. <g> In my thirty-two years of youth over here, I'm feeling generous.

And now for my very favorite birthday song...

"Well, outside in the hall there's a catfight.
It's well after midnight.
I guess I'll be alright.
I'm laid out on the floor,
drunk and poor.
How much longer? How much more?
Rock me to sleep,
strong & deep.
The screaming cats, they give me the creeps,
but aside from all that I feel no pain
staring up at the ceiling stains.
Neon in the window.
Sirens far away.
News on the radio.
Happy birthday.
Happy birthday.
Happy birthday."
- "Happy Birthday," Concrete Blonde (You can listen to the song here)

And when she's pressed, she will undress, and then she's boxing clever...

Washington Tremlett Black Tie

Things have been busy this week here on the Hill. I guest lectured yesterday at a local University on “Feminist Jurisprudence and Reproductive Rights,” which went pretty well. Last night a birthday party for Kate, today a wedding open house at a local vender with another friend, doctor’s appointment, and then the aforementioned presentation with Angela from Now Smell This! at the Lewis & Clark Gender Symposium. I’m also swamped with job application stuff, which seems to all be due this week or in about 10 days. I really hope something comes of all this, because I am so ready to go back to work.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking perfume all day. In fact, I’ve been working on our presentation today in between appointments and applications, so I’ve got lots of perfume-y thought rolling around up there. In fact, I’m so focused right now, I’ve got David thinking about perfume in the shower. Also, at the party last night, Jill told me, after I sprayed her with Etat Libre d'Orange Jasmin et Cigarettes the other day, she wants to buy it now. < taps fingers together Dr. Evil style > Ah, exxxxxxxxxxxxcellent.

So, on to more perfume conversion efforts.

I pulled the following descriptions of Washington Tremlett Black Tie, from First-in-Fragrance and Luckyscent:

Black Tie. A bloomy bouquet, which rises in a heartnote, to perpetuate in a rich basenote of precious woods.

Washington Tremlett is the company famous for inventing the seven fold tie and for being the official supplier of Duke of Windsor, and so it is very fitting that they would create a fragrance honoring the timeless elegance of their designs. However, don’t expect Black Tie to be a conservatively traditional composition. In fact, it is wonderfully modern, if not avant-garde. Lovers of saffron in perfume, prepare to be wowed! The note is without a doubt the most prominent player in the composition and it is rich, sweetly-spicy, absolutely exquisite. The rest of the notes serve as an elegant background worthy of the precious star ingredient. Galbanum and geranium highlight the brightly aromatic aspect of saffron, whereas rose, tuberose, patchouli and vanilla make the note luxuriously soft, serving as a counterbalance to the mouthwatering sharpness of the spice. The base of woods, patchouli and vanilla, with lingering traces of golden piquancy of saffron is the most delectable skin-scent we have ever encountered.

Composition: Description -- Head: Saffron, Nutmeg, Galbanum, Sage; Heart: Rose, Geranium, Tuberose; Base: Sandalwood, Vanilla, Patchouly, Musk

Immediately I get nutmeg and rose, then the geranium comes in, giving this an interesting water-y smell. I don't mean aquatic in the sense of the perfume family. I mean that I've traveled and lived all over the US, and while the taste of cold clean fresh water is a little different from place to place, there's this unifying taste of freshness, and that's what I get some of here. It also reminds of the smell of high quality scentless lotion. Even scent free items always seem to have some scent, and this captures that for a moment in a weird way. It would be wrong to say it smells like nothing; it's not an absence of smell. Instead it smells like...purity. It smells the way ivory wedding dresses with no sequins, beads, bows, or bedazzling are supposed to convey love, or the way a perfect white rose petal would feel brushed against your face. But with this little astringent edge. I get basically none of the base yet, but it's only been about 30 minutes. Eventually, like hours later eventually, I got a little bit of sandalwood, but Black Tie didn't change much over time. Overall, though, it's a nice effort. Robin at Now Smell This! recommends it for warm weather wear; I'll have to try it again this summer. Also, I see lots of blogs mentioning "saffron" in their reviews, and maybe it is because I am too used to saffron in a cooking context, but I just don't see it. I hear this one was designed as a masculine. I think it would wear well either way.

You can buy Washington Tremlett Black Tie at the aforementioned Luckyscent or First-in-Fragrance for in 100ml for $160. It's a nice scent, one I'd enjoy having but don't know that I *need* to own (unlike Royal Heroes, which still smells sort of like banana bread and spices to me and thus makes me really want it). It's really lovely though, and if I happen to land a job that pays me super well over the next year, it could certainly end up in my collection. If you wanted something with rose in it that isn't super rose heavy, this might be a nice one to try.

"A friend in need's a friend indeed.
A friend who bleeds is better.
My friend confessed she passed the test
and we will never sever.
Day's dawning...skin's crawling...
Pure morning... pure. morning."
- "Pure Morning," Placebo (You can listen to the song here)

Want more reviews? Try...
~ A review from Robin at Now Smell This!
~ A review from Sorcery of Scent
~ A positive mention from Perfume-Smellin' Things
~ A review from Would Smell As Sweet