R.I.P. Ray Bradbury

"She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands. But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests, and their dreams were gone. "

//  excerpt from All Summer In A Day , which you can freely download  here //

Lost Civilizations

{  by anastasia radevich } 


subtitle : ...I knew it wasn't safe to online window shop ...

You probably all already know of her designs and the lengths she goes to when creating her perfect overly sculptural heels , but believe it or not, I just came across her online shop, then her site , then her ... and butterflies are roaming through my stomach eversince ... I stumbled upon the bootie above first , here , but the selection available on her eboutique is a mere teaser in comparison to the feast unraveling on her website.
 

 I'm reading in her bio that she has worked for Alexander McQueen and Nicholas Kirkwood , their influence being quite obvious , but she seems to take her shoe in an entirely different realm , sinisterly ethereal ... the "Lost Civilizations " collection whispers two names to me : Nikola Tesla and Gaia ...

Leisurely reading

I finished reading this novel a couple of days ago , it's the kind of book I read over coffees and between errands . Simple and transparent metaphors , obvious authorial intent , predictable ending... still, enjoyable . Like all his novels , despite being the  "no-brainers" that they are , it can offer several hours worth of easy delight.

"Mon Petit Mari" , an epic about a husband that loses part of his height { a.k.a. self esteem , confidence , respect, etc. } each time his wife gives birth to another of their offspring , and confounds his identity with that of his wife and soon with that of his children , seems to be a weaker narrative than others he has created around the miniature symbolism , for e.g. "The Divine Child" (which incidentally is the first of his novels that I ever read , more than a decade ago) , and it may seem a little modest in depiction and shallow in content , but I wouldn't refrain from recommending it to somebody who needs to pass some time train-traveling for instance, you get the point .

So, if you do decide to read it , enjoy it , with no great expectations.

Summer festivals starting in 3..2..1...

 For several years now we've had all sorts of bands and festivals landing here,but nothing like this year , abounding in sound waves , it almost makes up for all the youth years in which we had to at best run abroad to Hungary or Bulgaria to see some live action . We have everything from jazz to black metal, from pop to hip-hop, from ethno to indie . We have upcoming Control Day Out, OSTFest ,Bestfest, GreenFest/Rock the City,  Summerwell , Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Lady Gaga , to name a mere a few .

I personally started early :D, with (HED)P.E. @ JukeBox Venue , and a hip-hop lineup including La Coka Nostra @ The Silver Church (yeap, I do listen to hip-hop :P - I liked House of Pain last year @ BestFest way better though , since Everlast could not make it now and Danny Boy had a much weaker performance {imho}) . And I am probably going to all the above mentioned gigs, but my top festival this year is not in Romania, but Optimus Alive in Oeiras near Lisbon, by the ocean shore :D, featuring The Cure, Radiohead , The Stone Roses , and many more .

Besides the guitar string delights and all, I am so looking forward to the fashion freedom that festivals provide , I am determined to have a little more gut this year and wear what one could never see me wear in my day to day life, starting with a pastel pink hairdo (which I will return to here once it's done :D - can you recommend any hair-die / beauty salon to get this colour at ? )

 I am adding here some leftover photos of last year's fests , I was pretty decent, right :)))?

p.s. since no notable recordings of (hed)p.e. and la coka nostra performing in Bucharest have yet surfaced , I'll just add here the personal favourites of each :


 
 

10 year high-school reunion

Last week we celebrated 10 years since we graduated high-school ,and it was great to see everybody after so long (some of us have met throughout the years, some of us are still best friends, but most haven't seen each other at all in a decade) . It felt like we entered a time-capsule , it was , as one of our teachers observed, like we had only been apart for the summer break and now, being back to school , we were anxious to let everybody in on what happened during the holiday ...Really beautiful and spirit uplifting ... Of course , everything ended with the promise that we won't let another 10 years go by without getting in touch with each other , and we'll probably honour that promise, Facebook and all :D, but then again, it's exactly the fact that we had such a length of events to story-tell each other that made the reunion so extraordinary ...

// with my Romanian Literature teacher, the lady that most shaped my taste in culture, my personal style , and my understanding of people //

// allons-y ! (with the gym teacher)//

// with part of our classmates //

  Party Outfit : 
Dress & belt : Adelina Ivan 
Shoes : Alexander McQueen(the ones I mentioned here )
Purse : Nine West (as seen here )
Earrings : from eBay
Rings : Elena Crisan, Alexander McQueen , and the large pink one is from an art shop (the UAP shop - for the Romanian readers )






School outfit :
Shirt : Nissa
Waistcoat : PNK Casual
Pants : vintage Versace (also seen here )
Shoes : Nicole Brundage (another outfit wearing them here )
Clutch : Next ( the one from the previous post )

// ... & yes, I do occasionally smoke :D //

// with my bff //

// The // English , my love

 The title is not related to the fact that I resumed writing on the blog in English, nor to the 9th grade textbook (people my age should remember that, I don't know if it's in the curriculum anymore) , but to the fact that all this revival of the nautical color combo on the recent catwalks  makes me think of the British flag first . (And British music. And Monty Python's Flying Circus . )
Hence this outfit , that I wore on a wedding ceremony on Saturday ( we were not attending the party afterwards, so I thought something less "formal" would be suitable ) - the photos were taken after we had returned, so that should explain the wrinkly aspect of the skirt (which I actually like :D) .



On a different note, the blog is going through a small restructuring process, so bear with me on the tag changing / tab switching / content searching issues that may occur .

Outfit :
Waistcoat : Amisu via New Yorker
Tank : Triumph
Skirt: 28.5
Boots : Irregular Choice
Clutch : Next 
Earrings: from eBay
Rings: wedding ring :D, Elena Crisan & Alexander McQueen (for a British finish )


& my pretty pretty son :D:D

La Commedia è finita!

First thing's first...I can't believe it's been almost a year since my last post. I've thought a lot about whether to resume the blog or not , and about which direction it would pursue, should I decide to revive it.

So, now that I've made up my mind , prepare for the best (to my taste) in books, music , fashion, home design/decor and all inspirational items that get and keep your day going. I know, it sounds a bit presumptuous , but hey, I'm taking it seriously this time.

To kickstart one of the blog's new sections , titled " book(s) of the week " , I'm presenting you with two of the best of my recent readings , in no particular order :

i.  For my Romanian speaking  readers , Iulian Tanase - Oase migratoare {Traveling bones - IMHTranslation }.
 I have read all of his poetry , but somehow his first novel seems to be the most poetic of his writings so far...


 ii. Nick Cave - The death of Bunny Munro - You can read some excerpts here , or listen to the author himself reading several extracts  here .