I should just BE French.

OH! CHAMPS-ELYSEES! ♥
This is the song that's at the end of The Darjeeling Limited, it's been in my head for days. It's lovely, but I think I just love anything french, bread, Edith Piaf, Vince Cassel, rap. :)

Hey, man.

I forgot that The Maccabees were playing Reading (and Leeds) this weekend, I feel like a bad fan, but hey Orlando, I still love your face.

I also love the masked brass section, I'm still thinking about the dressing up project in the far away future, so it's good to have these on here for reference, or just to look at and enjoy.

from BBC Reading & Leeds Highlights

I'm about halfway through Wes Anderson's filmography, I'm not doing it in any particular order, I'm trying to work out recurring themes and humour. I have a few ideas, Owen Wilson is in everything, I'm not sure what this does.

Indeed...

via The Trouble with Scott

I love this show, it's a shame there are only six episodes, I wish there were 20 like American sitcoms.
There's so little good TV on but the good ones are really good, kind of makes up for Big Brother and the constant repeats of Anchorman on BBC3.

Videos and photographs.

Here is a video of Moon mouthing the words to whatever he was listening to on his iPod. It was recorded really late on the way back from Cornwall. I'm kind of missing Moon right now, this is the longest we've gone without seeing each other in ages, probably the whole summer holidays. It's been quite difficult to talk to him on the phone as we're both doing different things and I just miss him, but I'll probably see him on Wednesday, so it's not too far away now, and I've kept myself pretty busy.

And, here is a video of a cat I encountered on the way back from the dentist, I thought it had a weird voice, excuse the heavy breathing, I'm was/still am very much getting over this horrible cough, the medicine I was given did literally nothing and I'm taking myself to the doctors again on Tuesday.

My mum found me a Fujifilm Instax camera, the batteries for it finally arrived this morning and I took my first photograph with it, it's come out brilliantly and in focus, much better than my Polaroid 600. This camera has autofocus, so I'm anticipating good things. In fact, I think I'm going to pack in my Polaroid and stick it on eBay, along with the few films I have left. The film for this Fuj Instax is cheaper and more readily available and the photos come out nicer. With the Polaroid, I've only taken a few decent photos because I've been so aware that it - especially recently - costs over £1 a photograph, so that's what I'm going to do when I get back to Portsmouth, it should help cover my share of the TV license, plus this camera is so much more badass.

Sir..

So, yesterday I took my first trip to the big Westfields in Shepherds Bush, I don't think I ever want to go back there again, it is far too huge. I have a new appreciation for quiet Primarks though, I finally found some pink tea towels to match our pink kitchen, I'm very pleased. I think the amount of pink things I've accumulated is few enough that I don't look like a mad person, but enough that you can kind of get the idea.

I did what I guess would be considered an outfit post on my 365 today. I feel like I should be wrapping up, what happened to the summer? I do hope that September is warm, or at least that it's a bit warmer further south.

I discovered this this afternoon, being a big fan of the original, I was a bit skeptical, but I've since found out that Chloe Moretz (Hitgirl from Kickass) and Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Boy from The Road) will be taking on the roles of Abby and Owen (the renamed Eli and Oscar). So I'm a bit more optimistic, and although the trailer doesn't give too much away, from what I can take out they've stayed true to a few familiar scenes, so I'm actually quite looking forward to seeing it. It's quite a while (at least it feels like that now), until Hallowe'en weekend, but I'm sure it will fly by.

This is a photo of a Snog that I got in Westfields yesterday, it was pretty tasty, but it was one of those things you can definitely make at home, and it probably would be identical to what their selling, so I'm not in too much of a hurry to get another one.

I've been deceptively lazy today, but I've done a lot, I found out that my duvet is double and everything, which means I can buy some pretty new sheets. My laziness is down to being too full of dimsum, but my accidental two-hour nap didn't cause too much damage.

Wes.

I watched The Darjeeling Limited last night, it's great, the soundtrack alone makes it. The setting and premise is great, Wes Anderson has well and truly grown on me. I'm thinking about buying a Darjeeling Limited poster, I liked it that much. As it's such an old film, they are too much to justify right now, it's quite pretty though.

Scott Pilgrim.

Hello clichéd 'blogging an opinion that most people already have or have read'.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World is a great movie!
This article pretty much sums up why I think you should see it; /08/go-and-pay-to-see-scott-pilgrim-right-now.html

It's funny and definitely different from any film I've seen, also like Youth in Revolt, Michael Cera is actually a little bit less like his character from Juno, which is always good, and even better than Youth in Revolt - which was also pretty good by the way - he plays his age, finally. He's no longer 16 and he can be his age, my age, and he might belong to me rather than people my sister's age, who ruin everything.

The girl who plays 'Knives' (Ellen Wong), looks like my cousin Mandy, uncannily, particularly in the part of the film where she has long hair.
"You punched the highlights out of her hair!"

Other words for half.

I've just been given a link to Hafu Japanese, a project similar to the one I'm hoping to do next semester but about half-Japanese people rather than half-Chinese, having read through them, it's really interesting to see the similarities between how they feel about being mixed race and how i feel, as well as this, I've also noticed their divide in culture within their personalities, something I also feel is a part of me.

© Natalie Maya Willer & Marcia Yumi Lise.

I was also given a link to The Hapa Project a while ago, which is similar but with more emphasis on Hawaiian ethnicities.
What struck me quickly is that both these projects are linked to being 'half' in the title. I never thought that was that important when considering the title of my project as I've never heard a phrase in half-Chinese that means the same. I feel that it almost gives a sense of the derogatory to the pieces, but that is just one way of looking at it.

Something I must admit.

Ok, so the idea of a guilty pleasure is shit because the very phrase contradicts itself. If it's guilty, you should feel guilty about it, not gain pleasure from it - it's an expression I did use a lot but have since stopped due to having my mind blown by Robin Ince at Glastonbury.
Anyway, I love The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, even though not much happens, to hell with it, I'm going to say I love Wes Anderson too. Funny stuff doesn't have to make you laugh, particularly when it's as dry as some of his, and all his work is so pretty. There I said it, I'm jumping on the band wagon with all the irritating hipsters and I don't care if my friends don't like his films.

Also, just noticed the scene with Seu Jorge where he plays a bit of Space Oddity, I can't find it on Youtube but this is just as beautiful and is the whole song anyway. Covers in different languages are cool and so is Seu Jorge.

The Royal Tenenbaums is great too, Gwyneth Paltrow's character is brilliant.

The rest of Brighton.

Here are some of my favourites from the rest of mine and Moon's Brighton trip. I'm quite annoyed that we were ill on our last day, but it's not like we won't be going back so I'm not too bothered.

We visited the Booth Museum, which is up a huge hill and I definitely recommend getting the bus to if you're closer to the seafront than the town. Not because it's really far but that hill is a killer and there's not a particularly exciting walk. I think if the walk hadn't been so far then I definitely would have been more impressed with it but by the time we got there were didn't think that the wall-to-wall birds were up to much, although we did agree that their skeleton museum is pretty cool.
After a quick visit to the Toy Museum, which wasn't amazing but is never open and definitely worth a visit, we had a browse around the Lanes and due to the rain retreated to Ha!Ha! (where else?!) for their tasty nachos before going back to the hotel and napping.

In the evening we went to Ricky Gervais, which we got great seats for despite only booking them that morning. He was as great as I wanted him to be, I'm definitely buying the DVD. I'm a bit annoyed that I left the programmes in the hotel room, but I always forget something and I had already read it. I hope more than anything that he keeps the Ken Dodd joke in. OH MY GOD.

We got food poisoning from the fish & chips we bought after the gig, so cross, I was sick quite soon after but thought I'd slept it off until after breakfast. Bleugh. It was a great few days away, great weather, great food and lovely company. Nom.

© Ruth Johnston 2010.

Facebook album link.

My actual birthday.

So my turning 21 was a pretty big deal. I got some great presents and had a really nice relaxing day in Brighton finished off with a posh, delicious meal. I think I've hit the point where being sophisticated is a bit more appealing than sprawling out on the floor, but I'm not going to speak to soon as home is obviously quieter than Uni and has a lot less opportunity to be a lout anyway. Not too sure how rowdy I fancy being in our perfect house though.

© Ruth Johnston 2010.

I was so pleased with the view from our hotel room, even if the room itself had a bit of a weird layout. It was so hot and sunny, so it was perfect birthday weather, although I just love Brighton anyway so I was even alright the following day when it rained.
The whole Brighton set can be found on Facebook.

Birthday Partay.

Ok, so I didn't take that many at my party - but hey, photography is like work to me, yeah?
It was a great afternoon, I really enjoyed it and I'm so thankful to everyone who came.
A full set of photos can be seen on Facebook because if I put all the ones that I like on her each post would be tremendously long and the whole blog would be mega cluttered.

My cake was huge, I think that there's still loads left, despite all the guests having been fobbed off with some. It was really tasty though.

Once I got back from a few drinks at the Kings Arms - and after realising why I cut myself off from my friends at home for a bit - I set off some sky lanterns with Moon and my sister. It was quite cool to do it myself, just remember that I'm not a copycat.

© Ruth Johnston 2010.

Oops.

Kay, so I still haven't updated with the neat photos I've taken, haven't even put them onto my computer yet.
Moon is leaving for Ireland this evening so I've spent the last couple of days with him instead of doing anything productive but give me a break I don't actually have anything to do and I won't be seeing him for like 10 days.
I have the dentist this afternoon and am heading back up to New Malden in a bit, then I'm on my own until Monday - urgh. I've been putting it off because I'm not a huge fan of being on my own.

It's just dawning on me that it's now a month until Uni starts again. Better start reading properly. The only relevant chapter in one book wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I think I'll start on the main book tomorrow.

Looking forward to seeing this:
I thought the film was pretty intense, so I'm quite excited that 'Combo' is meant to make an appearance in this too. I'm hoping I'll have a decent TV to watch it on by the time it comes out.

I promise I'll sort myself out - while I'm on my own - over the next couple of days.

It's been my birthday.

I have lots of photographs to show you - from my party and Brighton.
What a wonderful few days, who knew 'coming of age' could feel so nice. I am 21 and I'm happy.
Behind with 365, but I'm sure I can dig some photos out tomorrow.
I'm a bit busy and ill - I think I was poisoned by some bad fish & chips.

Redbull.

May as well post this now while I have time (before my party).
Last night Moon and I went to Redbull X Fighters, which was my present to him for graduating, it was pretty cool.
We had pretty decent seats and a good view of everything. The only problem was the weather, it was freezing and as it had been raining there were puddles everywhere so my feet were wet and therefore frozen for the rest of the evening. But, I did get to see Amir Khan from far away and there was a pretty stylish crash - we didn't get to see the end though because we had a train to catch and it overran by ages.

© Ruth Johnston 2010.

I wish I'd brought my SLR as there were plenty of other people that did and I'm not particularly impressed with these pictures.

It's my party in a couple of hours, I'm pretty excited. I get to open a few presents early, as well as see family I haven't seen in ages, not to mention my two oldest friends. I'm also looking forward to trying Crabbies ginger wine.. hmm.