A little dorky and serious

train of thought:
zelda's 25th anniversary! --> I'd like to play the very first zelda games --> but I'd have to buy some of the consoles --> I was too young for the NES --> but why didn't I ever get a gamecube? --> I want to have all the nintendo consoles --> but I just bought an N64 --> why did my dad give mine away? I could've just used my original N64; it'd be great --> well at least I have my original super nintendo. that's pretty awesome --> and it's still works and I play with it! --> that's kind of incredible --> but should it be incredible?
--> my iphone didn't last longer than 18 months.

Why is it that technology's getting progressively worse? Or is it that all modern day digitalization has a fast expiration date? Can we put a stop to this? I have two propositions:

1) Let's, as a cohesive whole, push for value in our electronics/technology/products, etc... We don't have the money, landfill space, or a real reason to be switching out all of our electronics every one to three years.  I am curious to see if there is a movement for this already.  It may seem insignificant compared to other issues, but changing our perception of consumerism could form a social unconscious that is generally more aware--of consequences, resources, sustainability, and economic factors, to name a few.

2) Nintendo, please don't ever make a Zelda app.

(For the record, if it seems like I'm targeting the video game industry in particular, I'm not.  Console and game developers such as Nintendo tend to appreciate and strive for longstanding value more than companies like Apple do, though I am hoping Apple's trend does not catch on too much with the gaming industry.)  

Equivalent song exchange

Merry December, fellow Tropeians! Remember how we mentioned October is a good month for us? November tends to be a bad month. But then--alas! December is a good month again.  We will try to post more than we did during October, but it might have to wait until next week. On to my super-short post.
There are two songs that have been swimming around in my head (often escaping through humming) for the past week. They've been battling it out up there, and I'm not sure who's going to win.

1. "Man Or Muppet"--Because The Muppets Movie was awesome. If you saw the movie and didn't like it, you have no heart. I never cry at movies, and I didn't cry with The Muppets, but I did almost tear up a little when I saw Mickey Rooney singing and dancing to "Life's A Happy Song" (another great song. it's got my vote for best original song oscar [not that my vote counts]). Man Or Muppet is less heartfelt and more hilarious.  Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie's influence (whoa, sorry for those awkward possessives) is obvious with the absurdity of the song.

2. "Again" by Yui AKA the first opening for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood--This opening is just beautiful. I love the animation and the song is pretty and catchy. It's a shame I can't actually sing along. But I wonder if it sounds even prettier because I don't understand the words and they're just nice sounds to me.  It's kind of a nice mystery.  As good as this intro is, though, I can't help but laugh every time around 0:50.  Why put Winry there at all? Nothing's actually happened to her. Oh no, wait, her legs became rubbery for a few seconds. Trauma.

Well, this muppet of a woman is out. We'll talk again in a week or so.

well that's embarassing

confession: i just watched never been kissed.

ag! i know. it's drowning in bad acting, terrible wardrobe, predictability, plot holes, etc. but i somehow convinced myself that it would be better coupled with my french homework. it wasn't.

but a small discovery was: it was james franco's first film! i noticed him lurking in the background in a black leather jacket looking all cute and james dean-y. and so i immediately imdb-ed. and yes! james franco's first film, everybody. take it or leave it.

unhealthy relationship music vids

anyone else notice the similarities between these two music videos?

the one that got away

we found love

of course katy perry's is cuter, and rihanna's is grittier. but still. you see it right?

i prefer the katy perry. johnny cash ref? diego luna? sold.

rihanna's is unsettling. (yeah, i mean the ass tat that says, "mine." is unsettling.)

lady jane

oh heyyy 1986.

i just spent the last half of my night watching the historical biopic lady jane. trevor nunn (a theatrical director with little film credit besides this) interprets the true historical account of lady jane grey, queen of england for nine days sometime in the 1500s, as a love story. but a tragic one--as in england, in the 1500s, political intrigue often leads to beheadings, and so it does here. but in this case it apparently also leads to cary elwes (as her husband, guilford) making faces like this:

hotttt.

most of the 2 hours and 20 minutes of lady jane are helena bonham carter (who stars as jane) lookin' like an awkward bird. at this stage in her career, she hasn't fully grown into her acting skills or her face. sometimes she's just a pair of eyebrows. but in this role, i think it works. the character [jane, that is] is an awkward, bookish, sheltered young girl who finds herself both married and in line for the throne of england in a very short amount of time.

for me, the best part was the first half, which i found to be cinematographically brilliant. the movie opens with an extended winter hunting scene that is achingly beautiful, reminiscent of the bayeux tapestry or breugel's hunters in the snow. it sets the perfect tone for the rest of the film.

somewhere in the middle there is a time that captures the spirit of the best part of jane and guilford's fictionalized life: the time when they were together, and in love, and alone. in one scene, jane wears a nightgown and man's boots in the dining room, where the lovers pass up their obligations and smash glass goblets for wishes. it's beautifully executed; the young actors somehow portray both the intensity and the silliness of their situation.

however, some parts seemed awkward or stilted, particularly the dialogue thorughout. but, like helena bonham carter's early acting skills, it worked. a sexually tense scene finds helena bonham carter explaining protestantism to cary elwes while he stares unabashedly at her breasts. but when they kissed i still found it sweet and true.

after they inevitably fell in love, my interest in the plot lagged and mingled with the usual sense of dread that comes with watching a movie based on irreversible historical fact. it was still, surprisingly, interesting, though, shifting the focus towards the short, idyllic reign of jane and guilford. they run about the palace giggling, they give the royal wardrobe to the poor, and they re-issue the shilling with its former worth in silver. they live out the political ideals they once smashed goblets for. it's revolutionary, a little, like secretly they were sort of hippies long before their time.

in they end they, of course, die, as we all knew going in they would. and the question i ask myself everytime i watch a movie like this is answered by a line uttered by jane, "well still." so the lovers die and the throne is taken by bloody mary, who will undo what good has been done, but jane and guilford were together and they changed things and they smashed goblets and ran around a palace and made promises and loved. well still.

3.5/5 stars. it's worth the experience. and if you aren't convinced to watch it now, consider this:

cary elwes is unapologetically adorable. also it's on netflix instant play.

EER!

Why isn't eer a word? There's eerie... but no noun version of it. I don't want to say "I like eerie things." I want to say "I like eer." I guess it would sound like "ear" when spoken and people would wonder why you like ears and then wonder why you said ear (singular) instead of ears. And then you would be that weird kid.
But, we are weird here at the trope, so I'm going to say it:
I like eer.
Aaand, since Mollie wrote a lovely post that was not about halloween and it's way past halloween (so now is obviously the time to post halloweeny things) I'm going to list some of the eerie things I like. (Also, I'm officially giving up on the idea that our posts won't be in list format)

*Twin Peaks- Duh. I figured I'd just go ahead and put that first since I'm sure you already knew it was coming and would just have been waiting for it. And what's the best way to enjoy Twin Peaks? (other than with your secret lover, obviously) With Twin Peaks-themed food, of course! Heavenly pie, damn good coffee, and creamy brie on baguette. Ok, so that last one was only in one episode, but it just sounded absurdly delicious. And so that's what I did! I could've probably used some donuts, too, but I am not a policeman--just a Dale Cooper and Peaks enthusiast.

*Travel Channel shows on America's "spookiest" and "most haunted" places. Pun-filled narration + vague visuals + over-dramatization + ??ghosts?? = quality TV for *any* season! To be honest I'm not entirely sure why I love these so much. The narration does amuse me quite a bit actually, and it's interesting to hear the backstories to these supposed ghosts. One of my favorite places they often list and discuss is...

Be careful with the door to nowhere!

*The Winchester Mystery House- While this is less of a story of a ghost than it is of a woman who believes in a haunting, the whole of it is really interesting.  The story goes that Sarah Winchester, a woman with a wealthy husband and beautiful daughter in the late 1800s, was so distressed after the sudden death of her husband and child that she sought out a medium in Boston.  The medium told her that the deaths of her loved ones were caused by spirits that haunted her family and fortune.  These were the spirits of men that had been killed by Winchester rifles--American Indians, Civil War soldiers, and others.  The medium stated, though, that there was a way to keep the spirits at bay.  Mrs. Winchester must move west and build a great house for the spirits, the construction of which must never stop or Mrs. Winchester's life would be in danger.  Sarah Winchester did just that, moving to San Jose, California and hiring construction workers to build a maze of a house without stopping even on weekends or holidays.  It is said that Mrs. Winchester conducted seances to decide what the construction plans would be.  The mansion is full of doors that open into walls, stairs that hit the ceiling, and secret passageways. If you want to see one of the travel channel segments about it, it's right here.

pants and bemoaning

i spent my first november weekend pants shopping and bemoaning the lack of smart, classy, well-read boys on my campus via watercolor doodles [as seen above]. (but srsly WHERE ARE THEY? i gotta spend more time in the library or something.)

i highly recommend girly notebook doodling as an antidote. i don't consider myself a girl with "boy problemz" but it sure is nice to have a crush.

in other news, i did find some pants that i plan to wear for the next three weeks without washing or removing.



(i wish that was a joke.)

the happiest halloween

i know, i know.

we said we'd post exciting october things but here it is, the last day of october, and we've barely posted all month. SOOOORRRY.

also happy halloween!!

i was considering making a halloweenier post, but lately i've been listening to this song on repeat, and it's hardly halloweeny. it's more like...Stuff You Listen To When You're In Love.

maybe you're in love with a person or a dog or maybe the world or yourself or a book or a movie. but me, i'm in love with the world today, and that makes me that annoying, giddy girl that walks around singing to herself and eating chocolate cake. but i love it! (duh. i love everything.)

no more sulking about in my cut-off wedding dress quoting the virgin suicides! only yellow dresses and candy corn and dancing around and tasty coffee all day looong!

here's some happy things [that i will try desperately to relate to halloween]:

movies:
-penelope
a fairy tale--that's halloweeny right?--about a girl born with a pig face. (not to be confused with this girl with a pig face.) christina ricci, james mcavoy, really cute clothes, magical sets, and some reese witherspoon-ing. (something about reese witherspoon makes me love everything! she's so happy and blonde and wholesome or something.) one of the final scenes is even at a halloween party!!

-she's the man
the poster movie of my generation? don't tell me you don't love this movie. amanda bynes, channing lots-of-abs-or-something, that really funny guy who plays the principal, and the plot of twelfth night! this was the first movie i was allowed to watch in a theater with no chaperones, and for me it will always be full of decent jokes that i will never not laugh over. plus, shakespeare is all about crossdressing. you know what else is all about crossdressing? HALLOWEEN. bam.

(a quick list of my fave nineties/00s teen flicks: she's the man, 10 things i hate about you, john tucker must die, easy a)

coffees:
-quick, capitalize on starbucks' pumpkin spice latte opportunities! you've got nine hours[ish] till the pumpkiniest holiday ends. also, sometimes on halloween they give out free cookies and stuff. run, run and give the corporate machine your cash!

tv:
-what's creepier than the trope's fave tv show TWIN PEAKS? (answer: nothing. nothing is creepier.) halloween it up and laugh with dale cooper and the gang. just try not to, in your lovey state, focus too much on the whole dead people/double lives aspect. (extra points to anyone in a twin peaks costume. double triple extra points to anyone dressed as audrey horne because i love her.)

books:

-today is not a day for books! i can't sit down and focus. today is a day for archie comics! read about the trials of archie, betty, and veronica. dress up as jughead. laugh with moose and reggie or one of the other characters whose names escape me because it's been ten years (a lie: it's been like two) since i've read an archie comic.

-or read the article in usa today about THE HAPPIEST WOMAN IN AMERICA! (it's me!) (no it's not!) (but i feel that way!) (the point is the happy!)

so go, tropers, and curl up with a slice of fallin' in love pie (waitress reference, anyone?) or do as i do and dance around the room to "stars" on repeat then hide in the closet and wait for your roommate to come home.

OCTOBER!

Nerdy, Weird, and Eerie.

Hiya,
I've been sick and busy and mainly sick and so I haven't posted in a while, but YEAH post now. First, a few cool nerdy things:

*For Nintendo 64 people: A Mario Kart love song. Just about one of the cutest things ever.
*For anime/Naruto people: ohmygah; ohmygah! If you watch Naruto Shippuden then I'm sure you've already seen this since it's one of the ending credits.. but it still makes me laugh every.single.time.
*For anyone: funnyy clip from Flight of the Conchords. Song? "I'm Not Crying"
*For geeks/nerds/anyone: Want to get cool shirts and lament the loss (or lack of acquisition) of other cool shirts? Check outtt teefury.com.

I could probably go on, but I'll save some cool things for later. I'm supah excited about my really low-key plans for tomorrow: reading The Hunger Games and having a Twin Peaks marathon. I'm reading hunger games for the first time. I actually wasn't expecting to get into it but I'm so into it. And I also feel kind of awful because I'm acting like the Capitol and those awful viewers of the hunger games that enjoy watching these awful games. BUTTT they're not real. And I know they're not real people getting killed by other kids. SO. I'm not a horrible person. Speaking of the hunger games, you should go to panemoctober.com right now. It's an alternative reality game starting real soon! The website's pretty confusing right now, but stick with it; it should be pretty cool once it really starts up. So I'll probably do some of that tomorrow, too. For now, though, it's Mario Party time.

october

i'm four days late, but HAPPY OCTOBER. october is a well-loved month here at the trope, and in honor of that, i plan to be way more celebratory in this month's posts. SO GET READY!!!!!!! FOR EXCLAMATIONS!!!!!!! AND ALL CAPS, ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!

ok maybz later.

but for now, a "pretty chill" [my stoner neighbor] song my brother played for me in the car last week. it's not too celebratory, and the video is definitely a bit of mindfuck sadness. but it is from a pretty rad album about divorce. have fun thinking about that for the rest of this happy tuesday.

[reading over my vocabulary in the last paragraph leaves me thinking i should perhaps spend less time with my stoner neighbor.]

and on a happier note: i recently saw tUnE-yArDs liiiiiiive!!! and can assure you that merrill garbus is just as cool performing as she is recorded. [her fans on the other hand, with their copycat assymetrical haircuts, are not my favorite.]

herez some szongs:
(turn your volume up now plz.)
-gangsta
-bizness
-lions (aka the song that originally made me love her)



have the best october 4th ever, world!

fifth grade yeeeah

my latest amazon haul included only books that are approximately fifth grade level (ok ok--and one issue of lula). heck yes.

of course no spontaneous purchase of fifth grade books that shaped your perception of the world would be complete without sharon creech. and my favorite (growing up) was always walk two moons. mmmhm.

walk two moons is named for the adage, "don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins." it follows the main character salamanca on the search for her mother, supplemented along the way with the story (as told by salamanca to her grandparents) of her friend phoebe. through this story, sal figures out her own, etc, etc, i'm making it sound cheesy and it's totally not just buy it 'cause it's definitely worth the the two dollars i paid for a used copy on amazon.

also purchased was the boxes, a novel i remember reading, but not necessarily liking. it just stuck with me. [basic plot: annie--your average girl--inherits two boxes from her exotic uncle--you know that one uncle that never got married. for a long looong time she does not open the boxes. but they call to her (or something???) and she does and the little crazy metal alien stinkbugs that live inside build a city and have class issues (!!!).]

i don't really know why something in my head told me to read the boxes, but i started having dreams about it last week. so i bought it. i believe in dreams. but i haven't reread it yet BECAUSE

during a conversation with a friend about buying fifth grade books, he brought up sharon creech. and when my amazon package arrived (bundled shipping!), i couldn't resist starting with walk two moons.

other purchases:
- from the mixed up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler by e.l. konigsburg and
-maniac magee by jerry spinelli and
-absolutely normal chaos by sharon creech

but i think my actual favorite book from childhood is the westing game by ellen raskin. i've owned it since sixth grade and read it about once a year every year since then. incomparable.

it's amazing to look back at these things that i loved then and see what that says about me now. sort of like salamanca--telling one story told another. that's how i feel about the books i loved growing up.

moral of this story: read them.

Singing, Nathan Fillion, and Escapism

There are plenty of ways to cope. Honestly, I think it's crucial to find at least one way to cope--something that can distract you from what's been worrying you, a bad time you're going through, or just a generally crappy day.  A musician might get lost in playing his instrument, some people might like to go for a drive, and others might read a novel.  [Personally I think it's important to note that it should be things like that rather than drugs, drinking, or smoking, since then you just have a self-destructive dependency on your hands. But I don't want to sound too didactic.]
My escape usually involves a movie or tv show. It has to be something engrossing and not all that close to real life.

1. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland musicals- I know that as a film student I should say that it was a classic like Casablanca that got me to appreciate old movies, but that would be a lie. One day I was flipping through the channels and as I passed TCM Mickey Rooney's exhilirating face caught my attention, and I watched all of "Strike Up the Band" with the remote still pointed towards the tv. Mickey Rooney is just a blast to watch. He always looks like he's having the time of his life, and you can't help but share his enthusiasm. And of course, Judy Garland is a singing goddess. As soon as the movie ended, I rushed to my computer and ordered a set of musicals with the both of them (my second favorite: Girl Crazy). Strike Up the Band also threw me into this musical phase in general, and so for a long time I would pick myself up from a bad day by watching a musical. And I started tuning into TCM more and more often, and I discovered a world of good old movies. Strike Up the Band is a B-movie in formula, but it's a great way to realize that black and white sure doesn't need color to be lively.

2. Imogen Heap- Yeah, that's a music artist and not a movie or tv show at all, but her music is my ultimate method of escape. I feel like her albums and songs mark different periods of my life, depending on what they've helped me through.  I'm just hypnotized by her music.

3. And most recently.... Nathan Fillion- Can I just say that Nathan Fillion makes everything better?
It all started (for me) with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which = the meaning of awesomeness in 45 minutes. Then I watched Firefly and decided that Nathan Fillion is the greatest guy in the 'verse. So now I'm on a Fillion binge: Castle episodes (fun), Waitress (adorable), and extra Firefly and Dr. Horrible (ohmygodd.)

twin peaks

this is my attempt to stop posting in list format.

so twin peaks. (i'm actually not finished with all the episodes yet, eek.)

let's start with the title sequence: it's creepy. but i don't know why exactly. for one thing, it has almost nothing to do with the events of the show. [but maybe at the same time everything????] it's just this slow montage of random bits of scenery around twin peaks--a bird or two, the saw mill, etc. [maybe that's the point????] but not a shot of laura palmer; her homecoming picture usually shows in the end credits.

and of course the song--oh the song--so creepy. it's this slow, anticipatory instrumental weirdness that somehow both calms and excites me.

the whole show is kind of just one weirdo creep party. but it's also one of the best tv series of all time. so many things about it are so perfectly done. there are numerous characters, but i can keep up with all of them. the whole show's focus is laura palmer's death, but i never feel bored. i also never feel like i've found an answer. which is part of what keeps me going back. but i think also--i mean, look at that picture--it's a high school girl at homecoming. somehow the picture is average but personal. laura palmer becomes personal though (so far) the only shots of her are this, a short video of her dancing around, and her dead. it's a compelling picture.

and that's it right there. besides the awesome late eighties/early nineties style and the weird dark humor and the adorableness of dale cooper and his tibetan detective ways and my desire to be more like audrey horne and all the secrets of all the double lives in twin peaks [do you see that DOUBLE, TWIN? you see it right?]--besides all that, i keep watching twin peaks because of this picture.

so whoever had the idea to put a dead girl's homecoming photo at the end of each episode--good idea, you brilliant ol' creep.


[also that thing about wanting to be audrey horne is sooo not a joke.]

media binging aka the overload

lee friedlander (from MoCP), rushmore cover art, david jackson & james merrill (found on this blog)

lily collins (from teen vogue), audrey horne and dale cooper (found here), i am curious--blue


i am overloaded with fascinating/entertaining/worthwhile media right now.

to name a few (and by a few, i mean all):

1. i just now (literally three minutes ago) finished the unutterably awesome familiar spirits: a memoir of james merrill and david jackson by alison lurie. i can safely say i almost never like memoirs, and this is my new favorite book. highest compliments.

2. on that note, finished the changing light at sandover by james merrill but feel i must go over it again after the above read.

3. also reading the shape of a city by julien gracq. class reading. it's not boring. but it's also not about or by james merrill, so i'm a little reluctant to dive in.

4. at last received the (amazing) zine by the author of hipster musings [isabel slone], plant magazine. the slogan on the cover is "fashion-feminism-nature" WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?

5. on the opposite end of the spectrum, a mysterious benefactor subscribed me to teen vogue two years ago, and i am still receiving them. thank you, mysterious benefactor! i do love clothes. and more than clothes, collages made from teen vogues. october issue in today [hellooo eyebrows. i like em.]

6. another class assigned book. [well sort of--the assignment was to pick any book of photography from the library.] i chose self portrait by lee friedlander. i think it is less serious than most photography books and also an inspiration for a photography project i would like to do.

7. also borrowed from the library the two wes anderson movies i have never seen: bottle rocket and rushmore (his first and second, respectively). so far rushmore is good, very wes anderson, and the only reason i haven't finished it yet is an inconvenient fire drill that put me off it for a whole day. bottle rocket still to come.

8. yet another film, this one swedish. vilgot sjoman's i am curious--blue (i might've chosen i am curious--yellow. but blue is my favorite color. obviously an academic decision.) as the back cover blurb states, "confronts issues of religion, sexuality, and the prison system" etc etc. the director cites influences like godard and fellini (particularly 8 1/2). it came out in 1966.

9. oh and! i'm watching twin peaks, just started season 2 and i WANT TO BE AUDREY HORNE plz. or dale cooper 'cause he's such a weirdo-genius. and i want dr. jacoby's glasses.

it's nice to live in a place with so many brilliant works and such easy access. (did i mention that i love my library? I LOVE MY LIBRARY.)

How to pay the bills when you direct an independent movie

You direct the masterful, expressive Never Let Me Go and then you pay the bills by making THIS.
No, seriously, Mark Romanek directed that commercial.

A Clusterfuck of Things and Thoughts

I'm not entirely sure of how to start this blog entry. I've already started it about three different ways. What I want to get at, though, is that something got me thinking about how one could look around my room and see so many things that one could learn about me through:

*a small laughing Buddha

*Egyptian gods (Ra, Anubis, Horus...)

*a Zen garden

*a Spanish fan

*Matryoshka doll

*several perfumes

*postcards of movie scenes and actors

*postcards of paintings I've seen in museums

*a poster of a Harry Potter movie

*candles

*a postcard from Patrick Rothfuss, the ridiculously amazing author of the Kingkiller Chronicle (I have this not because I am important, but because he is incredibly nice)

*a porcelain Greek muse

*a music box filled with foreign coins

*a list of movies I need to see

*a small Eiffel tower, a small glass pig made in Murano, a small pen holder in the shape of the Florence cathedral

*two anime action figures (Shikamaru and Itachi from Naruto Shippuden)

Oh, actually... That's just some of what's on my *desk*.

Okay, YES, I seriously need to organize my room, especially my desk, on which there's barely even enough room for my laptop. (Thankfully, it's one of those L-shaped desks, so it's quite spacious for a desk) 

I think it's obvious, though, that I am a woman of many interests. And this list of objects on my desk only covers some of those interests. And I'm finally starting to wonder: And what the fuck is wrong with that?

I've read about all these film directors that spent their childhoods writing scripts and making movies, and it makes me feel a bit like I don't deserve to become a film director. That isn't what my whole life has been about. When I was younger (and for many years) I wanted to be a zoologist. For a very brief moment I wanted to be a chef. Being a travel writer has always been alluring to me, and I will always feel like Psychology and Anthropology are something I would delve into in another life, if I could. So Film isn't my one and only love... But... Is that a bad thing? Isn't an important aspect of Film its versatility? There's all sorts of movies (so many different tones, genres, styles), and nowadays as we get more and more different kinds of media, they all begin to weave and merge more and more with each other. Many TV episodes are as long as feature-length movies, games are striving to become more cinematic and story-driven, and blogs like this one often display and talk about works from all these different forms of media.

I just wish that getting a job that pays enough money for all the ridiculous amount of things we spend money on daily wasn't such a big deal. Or that at least that job didn't take up most of your life. It's such a crappy way to go through life. That's why it's really important to me that I end up having a job that I truly enjoy. Because job = life. At least that's how it seems.

Hm.. I'm about to watch Dollhouse, which I'd been thinking of as a Joss Whedon scifi show about a fictional organization that wipes peoples personalities and memories and programs them to perform some sort of task or fantasy for million-dollar clients.. but now I'm thinking... Allegory?? Hmmmm. Maybe more on this at some other time.

rainy day media

it's been raining for four days straight. these are good things to do when it rains for four days straight and also when the predicted forecast involves another four days of rain and you don't have a car so leaving your bedroom during a torrential downpour sucks:

1. watch literally any movie

"it's raining, let's watch a movie."

"what movie?"

"i dunno."

"sounds good."

though i myself am experiencing an unexpected urge to watch the devil wears prada. i think this is probably caused by rainy day activity number 5.

2. listen to bon iver

the best piddle around your house on a lazy sunday album ever is [of course] bon iver's for emma forever ago. low key acoustic tunes and the thought of justin vernon alone in a wisconsin cabin banging instruments around? it's just cool, OKAY.

similar suggestions for a more varied playlist: sufjan stevens (seven swans is my favorite album), fleetfoxes (go for the self-titled album, yeah).

3. read the short stories of dorothy parker

there's not much to say except they're awesome.

also i am about to start this book. it's a collection of several years worth of messages transcribed from ouija board seances. but at the end of his life, james merrill advised against using ouija boards. in-ter-esting.

4. do endless internet stumbling

here's some good things i've stumbled upon this week.

-some photo essays (5o most stylish new yorkers and where children sleep)

-some blogs (hipster musings and man repeller)

note: i post links to these as points of interest, not as things i necessarily like. isabel slone of hipster musings is intelligent and captivating enough for me to go through her entire blog archive in a week. (yeah, i've read them all.) also i never stop and think, "why doesn't this girl ever just wear shorts?" because she's a real live student who dresses like a real live [real cool] student. i also just ordered her zine from etsy. (in my justnow search for the link to that i ran across this little gem.)

meanwhile i think leandra medine of man repeller thinks she's doing a great service to women everywhere by being funny and nonchalant about men's opinions, but really is just encouraging women to believe in an omnipresent, judgmental male figure that has opinions. THERE IS NO SUCH MAN, leandra.

other note: i found the man repeller really difficult to read post by post, so for a summary of her whole outlook click here.

other other note: sorry that note turned into a rant. but just look at a cover of any fashion magazine. there's at least one story claiming they know, "HOW TO PLEASE HIM IN BED" or "THE TRENDS YOUR BOYFRIEND HATES" or "HOW TO HIDE YOUR UNFLATTERING BODY PARTS FROM YOUR BOYFRIEND WHO CAN NEVER SEE THEM EVER OR HE'LL PROBABLY STOP LOVING YOU". but none of them say, "IF YOUR BOYFRIEND HATES YOUR CLOTHES WHY ARE YOU DATING HIM?" or "WHO CARES". also for the man repeller to pin every [heterosexual] male as sartorially disinclined is kind of demeaning to men as well.

5. shop online

it's raining, so i might as well get everyone's birthday presents for the next year right right? this is how i justify the hours i've spent buying socks for someone whose birthday is in june. even now i'm flicking between the tab for this blog and modcloth's shoe page. but mostly i just want these awesome jeans from urban outfitters.

AND FINALLY an interesting and somewhat debunking fact to contemplate: on his deathbed, the cofounder of alcoholics anonymous demanded whiskey. [discovered during rainy day activity 4]

stuff i'm thinking about

[this post has no real subject.]

1. movies about the end of the world that i want to see really, really badly

melancholia
i've probably already posted about this. have i? whatever. exciiited.

another earth
just watched the trailer. end of the world movies are a new obsession.

2. covers by kevin barnes that i really, really like

harvest moon (originally neil young)
sidenote: i'm not endorsing the homemade video, just the song

starman (originally david bowie)

3. philosophical readings

(wellsortof). i have this book called 101 experiments in the philosophy of everyday life. it's well written and (as described on the back cover blurb) "irreverent and wise". and there's nothing i love more than irreverance. followed by wisdom that assures me that my irreverence is, in fact, wise in itself. but really, it's an easy to read philosophical pondering/workbook. experiments include #31-watch dust in the sun. #15-walk in the dark. #67-watch someone sleeping. it's a good book.

i go through brief and absurd obsessions. right now it's kind of anything listed above plus weird, dark scandinavian directors (specifically: ingmar bergman and lars von trier). i just can't help myself.

should i watch wild strawberries (bergman) first or antichrist (trier)? OR persona (bergman again)?

so many questions, so many kevin barnes covers.

Butterbeer Cupcakes (1.0?)

Ever since I tried the J.K. Rowling approved butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (which, by the way, is only a section of a theme park. It is not--I repeat, it is *not*--its own park) I have been aching to make a butterbeer cupcake. Well, I have good news and bad news. In fact, two good news and one bad news, though I supposed you could look at them a bit differently.

Good: For those of you fans that have yet to go to the Wizarding World, rest assured that the butterbeer is incredible. Honestly, if you don't think this looks incredible, well then I challenge you to go to Orlando and taste it and tell me to my (virtual) face that you did not like it. Of course, that would make you Vernon Dursley, but if you're willing to own up to the fact...

Good: I did, in fact, come up with a recipe for butterbeer cupcakes. This was actually my second attempt, as my first attempt was wildly experimental and was mainly to see how certain ingredients changed the cupcakes' flavor and texture. Also, I want to explain that this is not the only butterbeer cupcake recipe out there, but I think this one is different from the others. Maybe I'm just being vain and naive, but I think I focused more on making it butterbeer-y rather than just butterscotch-y. Also, all the other recipes I found seemed to be almost exactly the same. Of course, some of my ingredients are still similar, but, ah well.. You can decide what you think.

Bad: Like I said, the butterbeer at Universal is amazing. It has a very rich flavor, and its liquid coolness really helps make it what it is. So, unfortunately, I don't think a butterbeer cupcake could measure up to the real thing. Also, it's quite hard to get the cream soda flavor to be strong in a cupcake. Most of it gets lost somewhere in the actual baking.

BUT I don't think this is a bad start. While it is a lot more subtle than the butterbeer itself, I think there's a definite similarity. A fellow HP-fan friend of mine who had recently had the real butterbeer tried it and liked it a lot. She said that if the tastes had been stronger, it might've been too sweet. Either way I hope to continue experimenting with this a bit more, though it'll have to wait until I can get back to my kitchen and mixer.

Now, a bit about the actual cupcakes. I know, I know; this is a terribly long introduction, but I feel it is necessary. As you know, I modeled the cupcakes after the actual butterbeer from the Wizarding World, and so I made the cupcake itself like the cream soda-y liquid that is the main part of the butterbeer, and I made the topping a butterscotch whipped cream that is similar in taste to the butterbeer's white topping. I also made another whipped cream that tasted like cream soda and I filled a few of the cupcakes with it. I think the idea was good, but it ended up being too much whipped cream, so I think I need to make an actual frosting or some other sort of cream soda filling for that. Therefore, I'm not including that filling in this recipe for now. Okay, I think that's more than enough. Here we go! This recipe makes and tops 12 cupcakes.

Butterbeer Cupcakes:

•          1 ¼ cups + 2 tbsp flour
•          1 1/8 tsp baking powder
•          a small pinch of salt 
•          1 stick (1/2 cup) + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
•          1 cup sugar
•          2 large eggs, at room temperature
•          1 cup cream soda
•          1/8 tsp vanilla extract

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2.      Line 2 tins with cupcake papers
3.      In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4.      In a large bowl, cream the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
5.      Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
6.      Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and cream soda. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
7.  7  Add the vanilla and mix.
8.      Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
9.      Cool the cupcakes in tin for 15 minutes. Remove from tins and let cool completely.

     Butterbeer Whipped Cream:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 3/4 tsp butterscotch extract (you'll have to buy this online)
• 1/4 tsp butter flavoring

1. Whip cream until it looks like whipped cream. (To do this, increase the speed of the beater until it is close to forming soft peaks, then decrease speed slightly until it has reached that point)
2. Mix in sugar, butterscotch extract, and butter flavoring until just combined.

Well, that's it, folks! If you try this out at home, feel free to critique it in the comments. Oh, and for all of you Harry Potter fans reading this, there will be a post about Pottermore real soon!

somewhere

so, somewhere.

(and here i am stating a should-be understood fact: sofia coppola is my favorite director of all time. so if i glorify her a little. well, it's because i think she's glorious.)

...maybe that makes me a plotless aesthetics whore.

but i still loved somewhere, in all its static glory.

first of all, it stars this guy (ok. i can call him by his name. stephen dorff.) who is incredibly watchable. and also elle fanning, who i think is incredibly cool. basic plot: stephen dorff is an actor who lives in circles. he goes to parties, he drinks, he pays strippers to dance for him, he passes out. but he has this amazing redeeming quality: his daughter (fanning. duh.)

so yes, it starts with a nearly ten minute long shot of a car driving around a track. but it's obviously a METAPHOR!!!!!!! johnny marco (stephen dorff's character) is just "somewhere". and yes, for a 97 minute movie, it has less action than that pixar short of the old man playing chess against himself. and yes, it is slow. but slow means gentle and subtle and meaningful and (this word again? ag) poignant. and poignant means true.

so yeah, coppola is more concerned with mood than plot. but the thing i love about her is this slice of life postmodernity because in the real live world plot doesn't always matter.

(i wish i could describe the brilliant, quiet humor in the stripper scenes to someone who hasn't seen the movie.)

on another note: elle fanning's clothes in it. they're so cute. her stripey shirts, her cutoffs, her fancier goingplaceswithmyfamousdad dresses, her cool yellow backpack/purse! sent me giddily to the thirteen year old girl section of my closet.

this is not a spoiler (though it does occur near the end). because plot plays second fiddle, i don't think somewhere can be spoilt. but my favorite scene of all was the underwater tea party scene, which can be seen briefly in the trailer. to me, if you find nothing else about this film appealing, that scene makes it all worthwhile.

also, the soundtrack is charming. the trailer song is my favorite: i'll try anything once by the strokes.


oh, and in the vein of 40s prison movies: this movie is a classic.

That dramatic movie set in the 40s in a *prison*.

I thought The Shawshank Redemption was a Holocaust movie. Why is that? I think I was completely confusing it with Schindler's List. I'm glad I skimmed the summary on the netflix dvd sleeve before watching it, because otherwise I would've spent the entire movie waiting for them to get packed into a train and shipped to a concentration camp.
It seems the only thing I actually did know about Shawshank was that Morgan Freeman's in it. And what the cover looked like, which only worked to confuse me more, actually.
The Shawshank Redemption is about a man that becomes a prisoner. That's all you need to know. Not because there isn't more to it than that, but because, as I've mentioned before, I hate spoilers (but it's nice to know that you shouldn't be expecting something entirely different, --hehem, sadness and starving in Auschwitz--). But.. I guess you can know a little more...
It's a darn good movie. It's dramatic and sad and funny and thoughtful and glorious. Sometimes it gets really close to being cheesy, and sometimes it is cheesy, but I never seemed to really mind much. Oh, and it has a truly satisfying denouement, though in what sense, I won't say.
It saddens me that the only other noteworthy thing the director Frank Darabont directed is The Green Mile. Really? Two prison movies? (and back to back?) That kind of makes me wonder what Darabont's life has been like... Ah, well. The lives of the prisoners at Shawshank will more than suffice.

saturday morning cartoons

so lately my tv diet consists of old xmen cartoons. with this, there are two options: the bangin', brightly colored nineties hit (pictured above) or the teen angst filled early 2000s xmen: evolution.

the plot to nearly every episode of xmen: evolution can be summarized as, "[character] finds answers to his past." ok, maybe not really. but there's a lot of long lost family members, secret pasts, and angstangstangst. also lots of cyclops leaning against walls longingly while jean flirts with literally any male character. the girls wear tight midriff-baring tops and baggy cargo pants. the lines are cheesy. i love it.

but not nearly as much as i love the nineties version (full title: xmen: the animated series). this version is in vivid color; literally nothing is gray, not even the background on a foggy night. all the characters wear exaggerated clothing. storm (who has been forever saddled with this "ethnic mother" persona) wears tribal gear and oversized earrings. wolverine ("rugged") wears lumberjack shirts and bomber jackets. and the dialogue! wolverine is forever uttering grumpy gus statements such as, "me? sing christmas carols? when pigs fly. grumblegrumble."

i'm addicted to almost any xmen media, except the (terrible, terrible) movies. the newest movie (xmen: first class) is the only good one.

The Many Faces of Dustin

There's this thing called the Kuleshov effect which some of you film buffs that understand part of why this blog is called "The Trope" might know about. The idea of it, as exemplified by the picture on the right, is that the audience can accurately interpret the emotions of a character based on the editing used. Even if the actor has a completely expressionless face, one will believe he is displaying a certain emotion if it is juxtaposed with something using editing. So, on the right you can see this guy. You know he looks exactly the same in those three pictures, but when that face is juxtaposed with the little girl in the coffin, it will seem like his expression is sad. When he may or may not be looking at the soup, his expression seems hungry. His expression will even change to lustful when juxtaposed with the sultry woman on the couch.

The reason I'm giving this 101 course on the Kuleshov effect is to provide some background info before I state my opinion. When I first learned about the Kuleshov effect it was through my Intro to Film teacher, who took it so far as to say, "There is no such thing as actors." Maybe he doesn't really believe that but felt it would be more effective to shock us by saying something so resolute. If that's the case, well, then it worked. On me, anyway. Since then I've paid a lot more attention to acting in movies and realized that while we really do add a lot of the emotions ourselves because we can sympathize or understand what the emotions should be, there are and have been a few real, skilled actors, too. I've always thought a good actor is somebody that makes you forget he or she is an actor, but now I know he needs to shine on his own, too, rather than just with the editing, script, and whatever else.

Okay, now that I've written that little intro so that you don't think I throw the phrase around easily, I can continue.
Dustin Hoffman is a damn. good. actor. Here are just three reasons why:

The movie:                             The movie:                                The movie:
Tootsie                                   Rain Man                                   Kramer vs. Kramer
The role:                                The role:                                    The role:
An actor so desperate              An autistic savant that is            A workaholic father who
for work that he dresses          forced to travel with his             must adapt to being a single
as a woman to get a                 temperamental and highly         parent and have his first
role in a soap opera.                self-centered brother.                 meaningful relationship.
The challenge:                       The challenge:                           The challenge:
Playing a woman                    Controlling all speech,               Mirroring his own feelings.
convincingly as well               attitude, and mannerisms           At the time, he was going
as a man who begins              to create a very personal             through a divorce of his own
to understand the issues          picture of this autistic                 and was feeling many of
behind gender equality.          character.                                 the things his character was.
              
That man has some serious range. There's a lot of things that can be said about these movies and about Hoffman's acting in them, but nothing speaks better than the movies themselves, so go watch them if you haven't seen them already! Or rewatch them with his other roles in mind. Then come back here and let me know which one is your favorite in the comments.

my favorite sad movies

1. never let me go

this movie is the origin of my great admiration for both carey mulligan and andrew garfield. (see andrew garfield in this and then the social network and then...wow. that guy has range.) this is going to sound so vague and weird, but i love movies with scream scenes. like guttural, animal cries/screams. not because i'm a sick sadist. no, because i like how true it is.

how to keep from sinking into an endless depression: remind yourself you don't live in the world the characters live in. also, when you love someone JUST TELL THEM GODDAMMIT.

2. the reader

no words. just tears. but i mean, kate winslet + ralph fiennes? and that brilliant young german man. YEAH THIS ONE.

how to keep from sinking into an endless depression: remind yourself that you are not in post-ww2 germany. or jail. and tell the truth.

3. requiem for a dream

after watching this movie for the first time, my friend and i just...laid there. in the dark, in silence. it's just. so. sad. THE WORLD IS NOT A GOOD PLACE. everything is horrible.

[but it's so, so good.]

how to keep from sinking into an endless depression: remind yourself that you DO NOT USE HEROIN.

4. blue valentine

the scary thing about blue valentine is when it reminds you of a relationship in your life.

how to keep from sinking into an endless depression: remind yourself that it's just a few days. it's just a few days in michelle williams'/ryan gosling's on-screen relationship.

just...a...few...days. notforever, notforever, notforever.

5. dancer in the dark

bjork, bjork, bjork. wanna watch bjork play a hopeful central european woman who thinks america will be happy like a musical? IT'S NOT, BJORK. IT SUCKS.

how to keep from sinking into an endless depression: you can't.

sad guilty girl movies:
-the painted veil (naomi watts! edward norton!)
-tristan and isolde (james franco!)
-moulin rouge (i mean COME ON.)
-remember me (don't laugh. this movie made me cry.)

other considerations:
-what's eating gilbert grape (but if i talk about it i'll die.)
-donnie darko (but it's not so sad. it's more terrifyingly intelligent.)
-der blaue engel
-rabbit hole (but it's way too happy, i just like it.)
-the departed (but i love it so much.)

Is there time in space?

Ok, I guess the question I mean to ask isn't really *that* general. I don't really mean to get into a "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" kind of thing. (oh and YES. Yes it fucking does make a sound.)
My question surfaced when I was watching the last episode of Firefly a few days ago. In it, Mal Reynolds states at one point, "It's late; let's get some rest." HOW DID HE KNOW IT WAS LATE? This didn't really bother me while I was watching the show, but the question did come up. And it still doesn't bother me, really, but now I'm curious about the concept. Seriously, what constitutes as "late"?
Outside of their ship (when in transit) it *always* looks like this:

What time does that look like to you?
But they can have clocks that they set to a certain time! you say. Fine, yes, maybe.. I've never seen a clock anywhere on Serenity, but given this hypothetical future, that could be a way to make sure you sleep when it's "late", have breakfast in the "morning", and so forth... Even so, though, how do you pick the time? Say you're a crew similar to that of Serenity in this exact same future. You pretty much live inside a transport ship and you spend your time traversing space to different worlds in which you can attain and perform work gigs. There's no fucking way the time (and even the passing of time) will be the same on each world. Terraforming is a pretty cool feat of this future, but I don't think they were able to or cared to form a centralized system of time in which all planets and moons participate.
Okay, I'm starting to ramble a bit too much. My point is, how do you choose which time(zone) to abide by while floating through space when in reality space is your home? And can you imagine the awful amount of jetlag that you would get all the time? Or would you stop having an internal clock all together?
Tell me your thoughts and theories in the comments!

regular show

so i love cartoons. and i used to think adventuretime was my absolute favorite cartoon. until i watched regular show.

regular show stars Rigby and Mordecai (a racoon and a blue jay, respectively) as lazy groundskeepers working (or rather, *not* working) at a weirdo park with a gumball machine, a yeti, and a...lollipop? (what is pops?!)

well whatever he is, this show is great. and its creator, j.g. quintel, is a genius. in fifteen minutes, regular show can make me laugh more than almost any full-length movie (except maaaybe this--maybe).

Lili's Blurry iPhone Moments--Part 1

These are all pictures taken on my iphone, so don't expect the pictures to have decent lighting, nice contrast, or pretty much be clear in any way.

Yes, Dinosaur-shaped cookie cutters! I bought these recently and have yet to use them,  but I will definitely post pictures when I do!  I can't wait. They'll make a nice contrast to my Star Wars cookie cutters.

This was a kind of happy accident that occurred while I was organizing my bedroom. I found the juxtaposition humorous.

Wow the quality of this picture is extra crappy, huh? But the content isn't! Appa watches as I start to read my (signed first edition) copy of Patrick Rothfuss' "Wise Man's Fear"

New shoes from Steve Madden! They are beautiful--and they were on sale! 

Well I don't want to completely fill this up with less than mediocre pictures, so I'll post the rest up later. Gonna go play me some Assassin's Creed now.

GONE: Future+Past in an Awesome Non-A-Christmas-Carol-y Way

(Seriously, I hate "A Christmas Carol". Something about those christmas ghosts has always freaked me out and made me want to puke. Especially the Disney film adaptation with Mickey Mouse. God, that movie...
Anyway. This is about something else. And don't worry, it contains NO SPOILERS. That's right, kids. Anyone can read. Also, I hate spoilers, so if I post something with spoilers some day, I will announce it in big bold letters; don't you worry. Now for my post.)

EXCEPT I HAVE NO POST. Why? Because when I tried to add a caption to this actually quite unnecessary picture over here ------------------------------------------------->
Blogger decided that everything that was anywhere below the picture (not just what I was currently writing directly beneath the picture) was the caption, so that when I realized I didn't like the idea of a caption and went to remove it, it deleted MY ENTIRE POST except for that little intro thing in which I talk about how I hate A Christmas Carol (couldn't *that* have been deleted instead?) And Blogger automatically saves every second ANYTHING happens (which seems to kind of defeat the purpose, since usually you want an earlier draft because you fucked something up and want to go back to how it was before) so.. my post raving about Firefly was gone forever and is now being replaced by one in which I rant about the inefficiency of Blogger autosave. Maybe it's for the best.. There is plenty of Firefly praise online as it is (though it still deserves even more. like enough for Fox to realize their mistake and hire the best scientists in the world to finally invent a time machine and go back and *never cancel Firefly in the first place*) but.. I guess that would hardly be a way of offering something different on here. Whatever. I am ticked off. Go watch Firefly if you haven't already so that you can get an idea of what I was writing in this post before it was deleted by the demonic internet forces. Who knows. Maybe I'll watch a couple more episodes and rewrite the damn thing.

And yes. I'm keeping that freaking picture there just cus of all the trouble and pain it caused. Even though now I realize it has a white background and it looks CRAPPY.

my love/hate relationship with fashion blogs

1. the glamourai
pros: amazing clothes, professional photography, [feasible] diy takes on designer styles, interior design posts, just the right amount of fantasy/whimsy, real actual glamour

cons: kelly framel like doesn't even OWN a pair of jeans and she's like SO much more comfortable in chiffon and diamonds and maybe has never worn a tshirt ever.

and i find that less than relatable.

2. what i wore
pros: cute clothes, simple and sleek photography, diys and often homesewn/vintage clothes, really great illustrations, plus jessica quirk is incredibly down-to-earth. she shops at target and thrift stores (and not just the thrift stores that have vintage yves saint laurent).

cons: her clothes, classy as they are, are not really my style.

3. cupcakes and cashmere
pros: amazing clothes, perfect photography, easy diys, interior design posts, cupcake and drink recipe posts, and what the first two blogs each have but not in combination: stylish clothes AND relatability. emily schuman has this love for everything she blogs about that makes me love it too.

cons: ok, this is my favorite fashion blog. it has no cons.

4. the style rookie
pros: tavi gevinson is a totally different breed. for one thing, she started her blog when she was like 11 (?). and she has a sense of style/creativity/culture completely different than any other blog. i love her love of nineties tv shows (my so called life. freaks and geeks.) and magazines (sassy). she combines clothes from a ton of designers i adore (miu miu. proenza schouler. rodarte.) with clothes from a ton of places i frequent (salvation army. goodwill. target.) she also makes weird awesome things in her spare time. also she's hilarious.

cons: no cons. she's just cool.


despite whatever cons listed, i read all of these blogs daily.

the still point of the turning world [, man]

I hate this summer.

My antidote to the dread of endless summers spent at home? Sofia Coppola
movies.


omgggsofiacoppolamovies


I could try to write an accurate review of The Virgin Suicides. But I'll just end up raving about my adoration. I don't know what to say. It's hAUnting. pOIgnANt. Etc etc, encouraging movie critic words. But really. I love this movie. Buy it. Watch it. Understand the title of this post. It is perfectly executed. And I've watched it three times since Saturday. (I am obsessed with a movie about obsession!)

Next week, when I remember again how very much I truly love Sofia Coppola, I'll delve into her latest film (the moody and subtle but possibly too static? meditation on fame--Somewhere) with some semblance of actual structure. And massive love/lust for Elle Fanning's wardrobe in it.

In other virginal experiences, I am currently participating in my first ever Shark Week. What is it about Shark Week? Are sharks interesting in the way that serial killers are interesting? I don't know, but I wish Shark Week were more...celebratory. With more musical numbers in the style of that youtube video about narwhals. But then again, I've only been watching for an hour and a half.

And in things Kirsten Dunst, I am desperately awaiting the release of this movie.

Slightly Chocolatey Cupcakes with Baileys Whipped Cream

I hate this summer. I'll spare you the details behind my proclamation of hate. They're grisly and, honestly, quite dull.
What I don't hate, though, is my recently gifted KitchenAid mixer. It is a goddess in the kitchen and.. well.. you know the rest *wink*. I've found that baking is probably the one thing that manages to clear my mind from everything else no matter what. And it's a great activity with which to kill boredom late at night; it puts me straight to sleep after! My point is..: I've been doing some baking this summer. 
Alright. Intro over with. Here are the cupcakes I made last night:

Isn't it splendid? Nevermind the "Cars" wrapper. I seriously need to get some plain cupcake liners.
As you can tell, I'm quite proud of the result. But I probably really shouldn't be since they're hardly original recipes, as you'll see in a second. 


Slightly Chocolatey Cupcake Recipe:
   I based this off the vanilla cupcake recipe used by the famous Magnolia Bakery. It's the recipe that threw me on a bit of a cupcake craze, and I'm dying to go to Magnolia and try the real thing hopefully some day soon. I made only a couple of changes to the recipe other than adding the chocolateyness. I don't much like having to buy self-rising flour apart from regular flour, so I looked up the conversion using baking powder. Also, I like to use salted butter rather than unsalted butter. I feel it's a bit more tasty and less likely to be unbearably sweet. If you want the original vanilla cupcake recipe from Magnolia, the Food Network website has it here. And finally, the recipe I used for the aforepictured beauty:


Makes 24 cupcakes

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa (or other unsweetened cocoa powder)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line 2 tins with cupcake papers
3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
5. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
7. Using  a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
8. Cool the cupcakes in tin for 15 minutes. Remove from tins and let cool completely before icing.
    

Baileys Whipped Cream Recipe:
   This recipe is straight from the Cupcake Project. If this kind of post interests you, you should definitely go check out her wonderful blog. I'm still going to reproduce the recipe here for convenience, though. This Baileys whipped cream is absolutely perfect, and I'm sure it can be used on many things other than cupcakes. The recipe makes enough for a dozen cupcakes, so make sure you double it if you want to use this whipped cream on all the Slightly Chocolatey cupcakes!


Makes enough for 12 cupcakes

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

1. Whip cream until it looks like whipped cream. (To do this, increase the speed of the beater until it is close to forming soft peaks, then decrease speed slightly until it has reached that point)
2. Mix in sugar and Baileys until just combined.

Make sure you really top on the cream! These are also great filled with a bit of nutella (but, really, what isn't?). Enjoy!