Party!

Ready? Set. Go!
For the first time in my life, I'm throwing a party at my place. Never would I have imagined that I would do this but, the time has come, as it does in everyone's life. Tonight I'm throwing a Halloween party for all my buddies at the film school. Crazy? Yes. Possibility of kicking everyone out for outrageous behavior? Pretty high. But then, isn't every party the same?
I spent all of yesterday sewing, because I am a crazy person, a cover to put over my bed (basically to keep people off of it) but also in the absolutely marvelous shape of a pumpkin. The idea, of course, comes from my brilliant partner in crime, Jess. See picture below.

In any case, crossing my fingers and praying to the pumpkin king that this night will be spectacular and haunting!

Work, Work, Work

Sigh... So much work and so little classes. Actually there is only one class. One single class. That gives me homework. The screenplay writing class only asks me to make up stories and I do that whenever I sit down and have a little daydream about how great life would be IF... If is such a powerful word isn't it? What if?
In any case. I came back from a wonderful weekend at home and a lovely day with my Mother celebrating my birthday this Monday! First birthday with my mummsy since I went to study in SF two years ago! Upon coming back however I found myself with two editing projects that I didn't know my friends were planning on giving me. Ah well I had a lot of fun with them. So why am I complaining!? Because I have just spent my whole Friday making decorations for the Halloween party I am throwing tomorrow? Maybe. But sewing is a treat as well and I finally fixed the zipper on my bag! (or added one since there wasn't one there to begin with)
Well better get back to it!
I will make sure to keep you up with the insanities of one of my favorite holidays!

Monday's recommendation

A very hectic week! On top of some extreme homework I didn't think was really necessary, a very back and forth shopping week looking for all the right Halloween decorations and costume accessories. I've decided on a patchwork costume of a pirate and, including my friend who does movie make-up, some rather great realistic bullet wounds from too much lootin'.
Well in any case, today is my birthday! Yay! 20 years old! The big TWO Oh!
And because of my birthday being today and my birthday present being an amazing book, I will recommend today:

The Halloween Tree
by Ray Bradbury

The story of Halloween and its origins, we follow a group of halloweeners through time and discover Halloween as they discover themselves and what they are really capable of to save the life of their best friend.

Monday's recommendation

It's Monday again, where do the weeks fly off to?

So recommendations have come again,
My recommendation for today is:

The Color of Snow
by Kate Fenton

This is an adorable story about a painter that loses her inspiration and decides to find it in the depths of what she thinks is the wilderness, in the Yorkshire Moors. She meets a fisher as she searches for anything that might inspire a pretty picture, secretly searching for any kind of company other than the memory of the messy love she has left back at home in London, and befriends him. Soon she finds herself in the twist and tangle of the countryside family and love battles. The real question is, will something or someone inspire the painting that she so longs to create?

Markets or Musketeers

Another great day to go on an adventure with my friend Jess. As it is now required when we two decide to go somewhere together using public transportation, we swiftly found ourselves far far away from our supposed destination and asking ourselves if ever, we were going to get home.
I don't suppose having had a party yesterday and only managing to get to bed at about 5AM and then waking up at 10AM had anything to do with the fact that I was about to collapse as I walked, or if it was just that we got lost and then when we finally arrived at the correct train station we realized that IKEA was about 30 minutes walk away from the station. Yes, I was euphoric with the vision of the logo above as we finally arrived and darted into the warm interior of this so lovely a shop. The food was good, the stuff was cheap, I won't even say that I'm saying this because I am so tired and sleep deprived right now that I don't know what I am typing, I am saying it because it is true! If you need a recommendation for a great shop, here you go!

PS: Don't you love those reactions that are so, I want to say animal like or instinctual I guess, that we have kept despite the fact that we have lost every other important reaction in our bodies short of running away from fire when your sleeve is about to go up in flames. I was going up the many, many, many stairs to my apartment and a father was walking up in front of me, holding his daughters hand. It is raining, as it often does in Paris, and the girl of course slipped. The father's arm immediately shot upward and the daughter had a little swinging monkey moment before she landed on her feet once again. I guess this is typical stuff, I myself have seen this happen lots of other times, but isn't it such a great thought to think that we have something like that as a reaction. Like when a cat runs off from danger with its kitten in its mouth, we pull our children up to protect them from harm as a secondary reaction.
I find that a wonderfully comforting thought.

A night out in Paris

Staying true to my passion in cinema, I signed myself up for a night at the 'Cinématique Français' this evening and went to see David Lynch and a selection of clips from his earliest works. Although the interviewer wasn't very talented (I can forgive this considering he was the owner of the Cinématique and not actually trained to interview people) I think that Lynch himself was really funny and interesting to listen to. In particular I noticed him glance on several occasions at his wife, who was sitting in the front row of the auditorium, this to me was an attention that represents a lot of a persons character. It was adorable, in short.
If you don't know David Lynch, I recommend the short I saw this evening called 'The Frenchman' and, even though it is really sad, I recommend 'The Elephant Man'.
This film tells the story of a severely disfigured man that is, of course, part of a circus where his act is called 'the Elephant man'. He however finds a way to escape with the help of a very kind couple, the husband being a surgeon who can aid him with all his medical issues. Together with his wife they find out that under his disagreeable exterior 'the Elephant man' is actually a very sensitive and intelligent man. 

Monday's recommendation

My recommendation for today is:

The Mrs. Murphy Mysteries
By Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown
(first book of the series is called 'Wish you were here')

Alright, I must confess that I am a great fan of murder mysteries. But! I must add that I don't like gore or horror or the generally frightening. This series isn't scary, you could even say it is the opposite. The story follows Mary Minor Harristeen or 'Harry', who is the postmistress in her little town of Crozet next to Blue Ridge Mountain. This book, or series I should say, is a great read as it really brings you into the lives of the small town people and you easily develop a familiarity with the characters. You'll find yourself drinking a hot cocoa with the characters and enjoying every minute of it. The murders themselves have a historical twist to them in a town that has quite a bit of American history.
Oh and I can't forget, two of the main characters are Mrs. Murphy and Tee Tucker, Harry's cat and dog. I can guarantee that these two characters will grab a place in your hearts in the blink of an eye and keep you running around after them as they try to help the humans discover who exactly, killed who?

My back... It hurts...

Studying in America I, naturally, found myself in an apartment for two years before I transferred to Paris. In all logic, I bought furniture and then as a progression of that same logic I bought stuff to put in, cover and generally surround this furniture.
Five months ago I had this aforementioned 'stuff & furniture' to my parents house, in the South of France. The movers then managed to, as well as take an incredible amount of time to actually bring my stuff and furniture, deliver it right after I had left for Paris to stay there until the next vacation. Thus I found myself, after one day of orientation... again, riding my way down to the South on a high speed train. Where for joy, the boxes were waiting.
On a positive note my bed -tempur-pedic- from America that I got priced off, is now resting in my room and I am resting as well, on it, and very well. My bed in Paris is springy and has the unfortunate side effect of piercing my ribs...
To sum up I have been lugging around boxes and filling my room with all the stuff from my apartment in America. I am, personally, impressed since I fit everything in a room that was already full and it had come from a one bedroom apartment.
Isn't it important to be proud of ourselves just once and a while for a silly little thing like that?

Monday's recommendation

Hello there everyone!

Today's recommendation is:

The Dragonbone Chair
By Tad Williams

So if any of you are familiar with Tad Williams, which you should be if you like fantasy and which you will be if you listen to me, then you will know that he is a fantastic fantasy writer. Not only is he a talented writer, he has a real knack for developing characters in a smooth and steady fashion and really making you relate to them. I must add however, that he has so much to say and so much great stuff to add on here an there that his books do get to a good length. If you are a true fantasy fan this will not bother you as it is a regular occurrence but if you are not a regular fantasy reader I strongly encourage you to not let this get you down. You will enjoy every second!

The dragonbone chair is a pretty basic fantasy novel. The stable boy, the northern people that kind of resemble elves, the brutish humans, the masters of darkness that are trying to destroy the already swaying balance of the world. Although the story has been done before, which is something I like because a similar plot in a completely different way, I think this story stands up above the others that I have had the pleasure to read.

The dragonbone chair is the first book of a trilogy called, "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn".

Oh dear

My dear blog readers.... I must apologize, sincerely, for being absent here and there. Amongst the troubles of puppy care, moving all my stuff to Paris and being sick for two weeks now with what seems like a never-ending cold, I have been neglecting my writing. 
On the positive side I have reached 21 pages in my second book and finished editing my first. However my select readers who need to give me opinions and criticism also have quite a lot on their minds (or are lazy) so the reading has been to a minimum. Temptation strikes to just send my book to the publishers with only my edit added to the overall but I must resist!
So again I apologize. 

Don't you love the first days of school? Those days where you don't really do anything but you enjoy the fact that you aren't. The moments you get lost in the hallways and don't have any of the proper books and your teacher says they already don't like you.

Friday I had that, going out with your new classmates, moment. It was fun and they were great. The only problem is that me and my friend Jess are transferring to third year and all of them were first years. The reason we were out with first years was, of course, because we had to attend orientation to know where everything was (having never gone to this school before). Albeit we both had a great time and the first years, at least, are a great crowd. You'd think that we would feel bad because they are in a lower year but almost every single one of them is older than me (and Jess considering Jess is younger than me). Funny how everyone decides on art school after they've done something else. Ah well... I guess me and Jess are proof that there are some people who choose art the moment they run dancing and singing out of the high school hallways and make out with their high school sweetheart at the end of year fair.

What do you mean you didn't do that?! Impossible, all high school ends that way!

So to sum things up, my teachers look nice and have impressive backgrounds, my school is a maze that I still don't understand even after having been given an extensive tour, my friend Jess and me have decided to go to Disneyland before the first day of class because we need that boost of happiness and all in all the people at my school seem to know they are living near Disneyland and therefore are nice.