I don't know if it's just me getting older, or if it's actually a trend, but it seems like showing less skin is increasingly sexy! One-piece swimsuits are making a comeback, being perceived as a classier, sexier alternative to the now-commonplace bikini. Though they may not help with tan lines (with some of the cut-out swimsuits, you'll get some quite interesting patterns!), one-piece swimsuits are the top choice in beachwear this summer.
Here are a few of our favourite styles. Some are designer suits (and therefore quite expensive) and others are fit for everyday use.
This is an incredible book. It completely lacks the traditional structure of a novel - the reader is taken into story after story in abrupt bursts, and then becomes the protagonist of the story himself/herself! The feeling of being drawn into a tale, only to have it abruptly taken away without giving you an ending or any resolution whatsoever... this is just one of many odd psychological tricks Calvino pulls on his readers. Ultimately this novel is about reading, about the relationship between readers and their novels. Sounds like it would give you a headache, but it's actually an absolute thrill to read! I have to share my favorite quotes from this must-read. Enjoy! "...then a kind of weariness settles on her, perhaps only the shadow of their weariness (or my weariness, or yours). They have known her since she was a girl, they know everything there is to know about her, some of them may have been involved with her, now water under the bridge, over and done with; in other words, there is a veil of other images that settles on her image and blurs it, a weight of memories that keep me from seeing her as a person seen for the first time, other people's memories suspended like the smoke under the lamps." 19
"This is how you have changed yesterday, you who insisted you preferred a book, something solid, which lies before you, easily defined, enjoyed without risks, to a real-life experience, always elusive, discontinuous, debated." 32
"But how to establish the exact moment in which a story begins? Everything has already begun before, the first line of the first page of every novel refers to something that has already happened outside the book. Or else the real story is the one that begins ten or a hundred pages further on, and everything that precedes it is only a prologue. The lives of individuals of the human race form a constant plot, in which every attempt to isolate one piece of living that has a meaning separate from the rest--for example, the meeting of two people, which will become decisive for both--must bear in mind that each of the two brings with himself a texture of events, environments, other people, and that from the meeting in turn, other stories will be derived which will break off from their common story." 153
"If one wanted to depict the whole thing graphically, every episode, with its climax, would require a three-dimensional model, perhaps four-dimensional, or, rather, no model: every experience is unrepeatable. What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space." 156
"At other times, on the contrary, I seem to understand that between the book to be written and things that already exist there can be only a kind of complementary relationship: the book should be the written counterpart of the unwritten world; its subject should be what does not exist and cannot exist except when written, but whose absence is obscurely felt by that which exists, in its own incompleteness." 172
"If a book truly interests me, I cannot follow it for more than a few lines before my mind, having seized on a thought that the text suggests to it, or a feeling, or a question, or an image, goes off on a tangent and springs from thought to thought, from image to image, in an itinerary of reasonings and fantasies that I feel the need to pursue to the end, moving away from the book until I have lost sight of it. The stimulus of reading is indispensable to me, and of meaty reading, even if, of every book, I manage to read no more than a few pages. But those few pages already enclose for me whole universes, which I can never exhaust." 254
The world of beer is diverse and complex, and yields an incredible range of tastes, flavours, and varieties. However, if your beer history is limited to Michelob Ultra and Budweiser, you're only experiencing a teensy portion of the beer universe. And, quite frankly, a very poor sampling of the beer universe! Mass-produced beers are meant to appeal to everyone, so they are usually extremely drinkable and cheap. Most have very little flavour or body. Instead of trudging over to grab the usual, boring six-pack of Miller Lite at a gas station, why not expand your beer knowledge a little bit? As opposed to the mass-market beers produced by corporate Anheuser-Busch and the like, craft beers are developed in small quantities by independently owned microbreweries. Craft beers are extremely diverse, encompassing every brewing style and flavour, so you are guaranteed to find something you like! Anything is possible with craft beers. As opposed to beer giants, craft breweries love to experiment with unique flavours: from blueberry wheat to oyster stout to banana bread beer, there are some weird but delicious options out there.
However, craft brews may be more difficult to find and more expensive than corporate-brewery beers. Grocery stores (especially specialty stores and Trader Joe's) and wine/beer shops are your bets for finding good craft beer. I get most of my new and unusual beers from a small wine shop in town. But don't be deterred! It's definitely worth the hunt to discover delicious new brews!
Here I've included a brief guide to developing a taste for craft beer. If you're used to drinking something commonplace, I recommend the types of beer that may appeal to your taste, but will offer more variety and flavour. The availability of individual craft beers is going to depend on where you are, but just keep an eye out for the type that you're interested in, with an unknown and unusual label! Be adventurous! Many 'lite'-beer drinkers may be pleasantly surprised by some of the 'heavier' beers further down on the scale. The darker beers (brown ales, bocks and dobbelbocks, and some porters and stouts) are actually very smooth and easy to drink. Some are a little sweet! Don't be intimidated by the colour of the beer. In fact, the most 'difficult to drink' (bitter) beers - pale ales - are very light in colour.
If you usually drink Bud Lite, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra... Try a LIGHT LAGER, KOLSCH, PILSNER, or WITBIER.
If you usually drink Stella Artois or Corona... Try a PALE ALE, INDIA PALE ALE, or ENGLISH BITTER. My favourites: Lagunitas Sucks Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (very bitter!)
If you usually drink Blue Moon... Try a SAISON, HEFEWEISSEN, or WEISSBIER.
If you usually drink Guinness... Try a STOUT (flavoured stouts include smoked stout, cream stout, oatmeal, and espresso), PORTER (flavoured porters include chocolate, vanilla, chocolate milk, etc.), SCHWARZBIER, or DOPPELBOCK. My favourites: New Holland Dragon's Milk Stout Williamsburg Alewerks Coffeehouse Stout Starr Hill Snow Blind Doppelbock Warning: these darker beers usually have a significantly higher alcohol content than lighter beers (many average around 9-12% ABV), so be careful if you're accustomed to drinker a large amount of 'lite' beer! In addition, a fun app to check out is Untappd, which allows you to 'check in' and rate any new beers you've tried. The app will recommend new brews that you may like depending on your taste, and tell you where you can find them! Enjoy!!
Could you do it? It's unbelievable how heavily today's social interactions rely on this website. A theme of 2013 has been the invasion of privacy, but what's interesting is how much people freely give up their own information. How much is the NSA gathering that we don't already post for the world to see on websites like this? Social media is fantastic, but when your current boss can see all of your photos from high school... that's a little weird. Rather than spend hours fiddling with privacy settings and figuring out what friends should have access to what, I've made it my first task of 2014 to disconnect completely from Facebook. From now on I will reach out to friends personally to find out what's going on in their lives. I'll hear their life updates from their own lips. Instagram and Twitter will suffice for sharing photos, big news, and random links. The rest will be up to me, using good old phone and email to keep in touch with friends. For those bold (some would say crazy) souls who want to get out of Facebook as smoothly as possible, here you go:
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STEP 1: Do a sweep of your Friends list. This is the most time-consuming step, but I feel it's necessary. When I decided to delete my account, I had over 600 friends which spanned more than a decade of my life. In about two hours I was able to halve that number. You know how you look on Facebook and get a little ego boost when you see how many friends you have? Yeah, that's really not accurate, it turns out. Because half of these people were people I (1) rarely, if ever, had an entire conversation with, (2) knew briefly but not well because they were just part of the wider group I was in, or (3) couldn't even remember the names of... seriously, I had no recollection of about 35 people's names and faces. I even had (I kid you not) two Facebook accounts for people that don't even exist... one was for a giant Barbie doll. So, it's not hard to get your friends down to a more manageable number. The great part of this exercise is that you'll end up with a fantastic list of the people you really do care about keeping in your life (imo, quality is always better than quantity).
STEP 2: Explain how you're not going to fall off the face of the earth. Your remaining friends deserve a head's up, and if you want to make sure that they'll still be able to reach you, this step is vital (Isn't it crazy to think how many people we would have no way of getting in touch with if Facebook didn't exist?). It might be easier to divide who's left into groups based on how you know them. I found it easiest to send a message to all my high school/hometown friends first, then college, etc. Explain why you're closing your Facebook out, because if you don't you're going to get asked by everyone. More importantly, let them know how you can still be reached. In my message, I said that I hoped they would all connect with me on LinkedIn, gave them both my professional and personal email addresses, and also gave them my Skype username.
STEP 3: Leave notice on Group boards. Were you in a sorority in college? Do you have a Facebook group for your classmates from your semester abroad? It's definitely worth it to take a moment to leave a quick "Hey, just a head's up I'm deleting my Facebook account, you can reach me here and here now, and I hope you'll reach out." It just says that you still want to be in the loop, that you don't want to lose the friendships and connections you've cultivated there. If there are individuals you really want to make sure you can stay connected with, then be sure to reach out to them on an individual basis - a group board isn't the place to do that. For group boards, just think of it as leaving a change of address notice. ;) STEP 4: Download all your information. Download all your information. Facebook has this nifty feature I just discovered. Under General Account Settings there is a small, nondescript link that says "Download a copy of your Facebook data." You'll get an email with a link and then you'll spend about 15 minutes to half an hour or more waiting for a giant file with ALL your Facebook information to download. I literally mean ALL: it includes your chat/messages history; everything you've ever posted or liked or even hidden; all your photos, friends (including requests and even removed/deleted friends), and phone numbers; anything that was ever posted or liked by others on your Wall; anything you ever shared or searched; and all your status updates and recent activity. The one thing it doesn't include is photos you're tagged in that belong to other people, but you can grab every photo you're tagged in with PhotoGrabber.
STEP 5: Delete your account. The moment is here! If you have trouble finding the button to delete your Facebook, you can just click this link and it will take you there directly (once you're logged in). Remember, this is not the same as deactivating your account, which is what you should do if you just want a break from the website. If you're having major doubts at this point, definitely consider just deactivating, because once you delete your account, you'll have to completely start from scratch should you decide to return. Not that starting fresh on Facebook is a bad thing; in fact, that might be just what you need!
STEP 6: Give your social media a makeover. You now have the ability to completely reevaluate how and through what social media you wish to network yourself. Why not write a long email, or even a handwritten letter, to a friend you realized you hadn't talked to in ages while you were going through your Facebook friends. Meanwhile, update your LinkedIn and make sure that you've reconnected with any business-related Facebook friends. When it comes to your public face, keep Tweets, Instagram photos, etc. professional. It's a clean slate; just think how much more personal you'll be now that you have to do a little extra work to maintain connections - perhaps it seems like you're going back to basics, but in the long run you'll end up with deeper, more lasting personal and professional relationships than you would be just clicking "Add."
The Van Cleef & Arpels line of watches has awed me for some time now, and with each new collection, my obsession only grows. I was lucky enough to view their showroom at Harrod's in London this summer; I always have to remind myself that they actually produce fantastic jewellery as well as watches, but for me, the watches take centre stage. There is nothing on Earth like them.
For example, the watch on the left is the Midnight Planetarium Poetic Complication watch, which displays the planets of the solar system as they orbit the Sun. Each of the planets rotate exactly as they do in their actual orbits: this means that it will take nearly thirty years for Saturn to make one round of the dial! The time of day on Earth is shown by a shooting star on the edge of dial. This masterpiece costs $245,000-330,000 (depending on whether you want diamonds or not), so start saving now.....
Van Cleef & Arpels was founded in 1895 in Paris and is known for its whimsical use of precious stones in fine jewellery and watches. They've been producing some of the most imaginative wearable works of art possible for more than a hundred years. They're also known for perfecting the 'Mystery Setting' technique, where individual stones are hand grooved to fit into a mesh of gold or platinum (rather than prongs). To me, it simply has to be magic, because I can't understand how human hands can produce things this beautiful.
Below are a few of my favourite individual watches and collections. You'll see the Five Weeks in a Balloon watch, in which the hot air balloon's anchor swings around the dial to indicate the time; the Midnight in Paris watch, which displays the night sky in Paris; the Palais de la Chance collection (which was inspired by luck and the zodiac, as you will see); and the Polar Landscapes collection. There are many, many more, but I find these the most breathtaking.
This is a video describing the movement of the Poetic Wish watches, in which a young man and woman indicate the time of day by moving forward towards the Paris sky to make a wish.
So even though I may never be able to afford any of these (most cost around $100,000), I just can't help but feel awed that such beautiful miniature works of art can be made by hand. These little pieces have moved watch-making to a new, wondrous level, and as an artist, I find them so inspiring!
The skill, depth, and scope of JRR Tolkien's masterful writings are known worldwide. Tolkien is commonly acknowledged as one of the best fantasy authors in history, and his stories are cherished by millions. Eli and I certainly count ourselves among his most ardent fans. But even I didn't realise until recently that, on top of his skill as a writer, Tolkien was an incredibly accomplished artist as well.
Before my trip to the United Kingdom last summer, I was only ever familiar with Tolkien's map-making skills (which are awe-inspiring, particularly to a writer who tried to draw her own fantasy maps!) and the few rough sketches I had seen in various editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. However, when Eli and I were wandering around Oxford University last August, we happened across a dark little gallery featuring the original artwork of JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, and Philip Pullman... and at once my eyes were opened to Tolkien's extraordinary skill as an artist.
Tolkien (who lived from 1892 to 1973) grew up and spent most of his life in England. He was deeply interested in languages, storytelling, and artwork even as a small child, and he self-illustrated his stories from a young age. He sketched little scenes for his children as an adult, and we see the culmination of this skill in the artwork dedicated to Middle Earth, his creative masterpiece.
Eli and I were able to see several hand-painted originals in the gallery at Oxford, including 'Conversation with Smaug', 'Bilbo and the Eagle', 'The Trolls', and the 'Map of the Wilderland'. The most spectacular moment for me, though, was standing before the hand-drawn original covers that Tolkien designed for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the slideshow below, you'll see all of these pieces, along with many other illustrations that allowed Tolkien to express Middle Earth as he saw it.
Tolkien's preferred medium was watercolour, though even his ink-drawing of The Trolls is fantastic. If you're interested in a comprehensive review of Tolkien's artwork, check out JRR Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator (published by HarperCollins and Houghton Mifflin in 1995). As ever, my respect and awe of JRR Tolkien continues to grow.
You probably wouldn't guess that the movie to surpass The Lion King as the highest-grossing Disney-produced film of all time, win a Golden Globe, and knock Beyonce out of the number 1 spot on Billboard 200-album sales chart was a little-advertised 2013 film about two sisters living in Norway. But here it is, and Frozen has far surpassed expectations worldwide. In fact, it's now competing with Toy Story and Finding Nemo in terms of gross earnings and popularity.
Frozen is loosely based on the traditional fairy tale of 'The Ice Queen.' It is set in a small kingdom amidst the beautiful Nordic fjords. Two sisters, Elsa and Anna, are young princesses; the elder, Elsa, is heir to the throne. The two are best friends as children and have a deeply caring relationship. However, Elsa was born with the power to create ice and snow, and the sisters' relationship is shattered when Elsa almost kills little Anna on accident when they are playing. As they grow up, Elsa withdraws, keeping herself as far from Anna as she can, in fear that her powers will hurt Anna again. The rest of their story follows Anna's attempts to reforge her relationship with her sister and find true love.
There are two main themes that the film imparts to its viewers in this story. The first is shown through Elsa's internal battle with her inherent powers. Because they once hurt Anna, she believes they are a terrible curse and does everything she can to hide them. But eventually, Elsa's powers grow stronger, and she can't keep them hidden. When the truth finally comes out, Elsa is forced to abandon her home. Once in exile, Elsa sees for the first time that this integral part of her, which she always believed was a curse, can actually be incredibly beautiful and life-giving. In Idina Menzel's fantastic musical number, we see Elsa embracing her gift and coming to terms with who she is after years of anguish and self-hatred. This theme impresses upon viewers one of life's most important lessons: no matter what society and your peers believe, you are who you are, and you can only find happiness and love when you embrace this. Don't try to hide the things you are afraid of, or think are embarrassing, or that may set you apart. This aspect might be the most beautiful part of yourself, the thing you are most passionate about. 'Let it go' and be who you truly want to be!
'Let It Go' by Idina Menzel
The film's second theme deals with Anna, as a young woman, trying to find true love. Possibly my favourite part of the film comes when Anna meets and instantly falls for handsome Prince Hans. In typical Disney princess fashion, the two catch each other's eye, get to know a teensy bit about each other via musical number, and then believe they are desperately in love and wish to be married at once. Anna and Hans immediately go to Elsa to ask for her blessing, to which Elsa realistically responds: 'You can't marry a man you just met.' And later, when Anna teams up with down-to-earth mountain-man Kristoff, he splutters: 'Wait, you mean to tell me you got engaged to someone you just met that day?! Who marries a man they just met?!' After decades of the true-love-at-first-sight/first-kiss rubbish from Disney, and in an age when many young people consider true love and marriage without a second thought, this blast of reality is brilliantly refreshing. And it doesn't stop there. Anna discovers that Kristoff, who is ungainly, relatively unattractive, and rough around the edges, may actually be the man for her instead of 'perfect' Prince Hans. I like that this encourages children and young adults to see beyond people's appearances and place value in personality and character. Maybe the best person for you isn't necessarily the most handsome or suave one. And that's fine!
The critical point of the film centres around 'true love's kiss'. Anna finds herself once again in mortal danger, and believes that only an act of true love can save her life. And here's a SPOILER: though Anna turns first to Prince Hans, then to Kristoff, to find true love, she ultimately discovers that the love she feels for her sister Elsa, which remained under the surface after many years of separation and misunderstanding, is the true love that is strong enough to save her. I honestly believe that this message, that 'true love' can be felt for your family or even friends, is the most important lesson of the film. This message comes during a time when sex and attracting others is the predominant theme across every type of media, especially for young adults and even (less directly) for children. My little sisters, who are eight and nine, often have to have a boyfriend or husband or Prince Charming involved as they're playing. I remember being boyfriend-husband-prince oriented as a little girl too. But why does a child need a Prince Charming at that age? In fact, why do you need a Prince Charming at any age? Yes, I believe people can derive great happiness from finding a partner to share their lives with. However, childhood development should not be oriented around attracting the opposite sex. Children - and adults - should focus on overcoming their weaknesses, honing their strengths, loving those around them, and discovering and embracing who they are. This is just what Frozen reminds us to do. And Elsa and Anna's relationship tells us that true love does not have to just be found through Prince Charming, but for friends and family too.
On top of these more serious themes, Frozen is great fun to watch overall, for kids and adults alike. The setting and animation is beautiful. The secondary characters are wonderful. The silly snowman Olaf gives kids plenty of laughs but imparts some wisdom, too: 'Love is putting someone else's needs before yours.' To me, the most hilarious interactions are between Kristoff and his loyal reindeer buddy, Sven. There's also a conspicuous side-villain (the major of Weaseltown, obviously) and a overly-friendly family of trolls.
I haven't heard a bad thing about this film yet - there have been rave reviews from children and adults alike. In Frozen we find more wisdom and truth than most other animated children's films put together. Hands down, this is the best story Disney has come out with in quite a while, so please go and see for yourself!
Frozen will be released in the US on DVD/Blu-Ray on March 18.
Happy 2014! I have used my brief winter break to do a bit of reading, and want to recommend two books that I greatly enjoyed reading: The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez and The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. The Sound of Things Falling is the latest novel by Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez, and it follows the interconnected lives of a professor in Bogotá named Antonio, a pilot who spent years in prison, his gringa Peace Corps wife, and their Colombian-raised beekeeper daughter. It's a beautifully-written story that takes a convoluted but smooth route through the timelines of individual lives, through remembered and imagined moments, through recordings and letters. The conclusions drawn from the introspection of these characters raise larger questions about the trauma of an entire country: Colombia in the time of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar's reign. The Cellist of Sarajevo is also a war story. It takes place in the besieged city of Sarajevo. There are four characters that the novel divides its time among: a husband and father man trying to survive the trip to and from a brewery to fetch water for his family; an elderly man on his own errand, also trying to avoid the shells and snipers causing the citizens of the city to drop like flies while crossing streets and bridges; a female sniper given the task of defending a cellist from enemy snipers in Sarajevo; and the cellist himself, a man who plays Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor for 22 days, one for each person killed by a bomb while buying bread at the shop across the street. Amazingly, this novel is based on a real cellist who played in ruined buildings during the siege, Vedran Smailović.
The themes in these novels have a lot of overlap, and both are driven predominantly by the inner thoughts and drives of their characters. These books left me with a sense of the fragility and senselessness of human life and the world we inhabit, while also taking great pain to focus on the smallest, silliest coincidences and singular events that define lives and make them unique and cherishable.
I love listening to the news. I highly prefer it to reading a physical newspaper (ink fingers!), reading the online news websites (too much catching the eye - what's important?), or watching the news (anchors are far from being experts).
With the London-based Monocle, I get relevant breaking news straight from experts. The selection of different shows is absolutely huge. From day to day I can decide if I want to be briefed by any of the following (and these are just the tip of the iceberg!): "Midori House," a one-hour overview from Monocle editors and correspondents all over the world, "The Briefing," which focuses on the day's news in Europe, "The Monocle Daily," which checks in live with reporters from the US and Americas, or the wonderful catch-all "The Curator," which compiles the best of the week into one show.
You not only get international news; you get expert political analyses and impressive interviews and insight. And it's all delivered in dulcet British accents, which is an added plus.
And once you've had enough of the news, there are also stations that cover culture, food, music, books, and really everything under the sun! Monocle Radio has it all! Not to get off track, but Monocle.com has a million more things to offer outside of their radio stations. But start here, and see if you don't end up spending the next two hours on the Monocle website:
The best part is the fact that the live radio streams open in a player at the bottom of the website which allows you to continue browsing and opening new pages while you listen.
is also a war story. It takes place in the besieged city of Sarajevo. There are four characters that the novel divides its time among: a husband and father man trying to survive the trip to and from a brewery to fetch water for his family; an elderly man on his own errand, also trying to avoid the shells and snipers causing the citizens of the city to drop like flies while crossing streets and bridges; a female sniper given the task of defending a cellist from enemy snipers in Sarajevo; and the cellist himself, a man who plays Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor for 22 days, one for each person killed by a bomb while buying bread at the shop across the street. Amazingly, this novel is based on a real cellist who played in ruined buildings during the siege, Vedran Smailović.
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