the purple coat. amy hest. amy schwartz. (272)

in honor of children's book week, i decided to check out one of my favorite books as a kid, the purple coat. in my memory serves me correct, i saw the purple coat on reading rainbow and had to have it!  i have a copy, which i think i may still own (hopefully it's in storage).

before i start, doesn't that look like tim gunn hosting mini project runway?

the purple coat tells the story of a little girl, gabrielle.  she needed a new coat for the fall and since her grandfather is a tailor in the city, he makes one especially for her.  quick note, love that penn station gets some love in this book (poor neglected station.)

gabby wanted a purple coat, but her mom said no.  every year, a navy coat is made for her.  however, her grandpa came up with the idea to make a reversible coat!  one side purple and the other navy, so that everyone is happy!

and yes, i always wanted a reversible coat after i read this as a kid. 

how to be a woman. caitlin moran. (251)

after reading moran's how to build a girl, i had to read how to be a woman.  and can i just say, i absolutely loved it and her.  if you are a woman, its a must read!

so this work is categorized as a memoir but i feel like it's more than that.  each chapter starts off with an event from moran's life but the lesson learned can be applied to all of us.

there is so much for me to write about, maybe i will go through chapter by chapter.  well maybe just favorite chapters.

"i become furry" in this chapter, moran discussed when her pubic hair began to grow and how she would shave it because she was scared of growing up and of course it.  this segues into a discussion on how we women work so hard to be hairless.  she shares how so much planning occurs when women go to a party via a conversation with a friend, which made me laugh cos it is so true.  her friend uncertain if she is going to sleep with this guy after a party, doesn't know if and when she should get waxed.  seriously it's such a bitch to have to deal with pubic hair.  you know my hurt hand?  it's from me trying to wax my upper life by myself before meeting up with a boy i thought i was in love with.  i mean i have given up on daily maintenance for my bush that only gets spruced up when i think someone is going to see it.  (if i was in a committed relationship, it would only get spruced up on special occasions, hence why i might still be single.) but i feel like i should have pubic hair, i'm an adult woman not a prepubescent child.  i refuse to be completely hairless down there, i mean i do clean it up when it needs to be but for the most part i let it be.  also nipple hair, i used to be so embarrassed by mine, but then now i just shave it when i need to.  i am a person, we have hair.  i mean the one on top of my head is quite lovely.  i think that should be the main focus.  and just like moran shared at the end, when she lost her virginity, the man did not care what the state of her pubic hair was.  its like my friend peter would always tells us in college, guys don't care if your underwear matches your bra, its just going to end up coming off anyway.

"i don't know what to call my breast".  this of course discussed finally getting breast and how they are referred to as.  this lead into a discussion on what to call your vagina.  i for one use vagina.  as a child growing up, our family didn't give it a nickname it was just our private part.  but what caused my decision to use vagina as the term to refer to my vagina was that one time at my work, a little girl told one of my tutor's that her vagina hurt. the tutor was so surprised by her use of vagina, but i mean the girl was right that was what she had.  we told her mom, it turns out she had been having some urinary issues and the mom also explained that she didn't want her daughter to use some silly term for her vagina so had her call it that.  i decided to do the same.

"i am a feminist".  so i have been on a bit of feminist kick since last year, after reading bad feminist, i have always seen myself as a feminist, but i feel like i am truly embracing it and this book reminded me why we need to reclaim this title.  as i shared on my instagram page:

love her for this!! but seriously this book isn't some feminist agenda, well it kinda is, but it's really just some good ol' girl talk about women issues.  though i will say i didn't always agree with what moran wrote, but then again, i don't have to, part of this new feminism is allowing acceptance of all ideas as long as progress is being made for women.  but if you are a woman and you want to be treated as an equal, then guess what, you are a feminist!

"i am in love", caitlin shared her horrible boyfriend that she thought she could change and from which she took abuse because she thought it was love.  we all have had this type of situation.  i blame romantic comedies for making us think we can change men that really aren't good for us.

"i go lap-dancing".  i felt guilty when i read it, because i have always been a bit of a "cool" girl, a guy's i mean strip clubs are gross, its a place men go to have women dance for them.  

"i get into fashion" fashion is expensive and i like moran don't spend a lot on handbags.  she did once and it was stolen.  though i am glad she wrote about how horrible heels are.  i really wish i could walk in them.  i recently discovered that my arch doesn't rest completely on the arc of the shoe so this might be why i can't wear heels. or maybe i am flat foot, i don't know.  i need to go see someone to verify this.

"abortion" what i admired about this piece was that moran was completely honest about having an abortion.  she didn't have one because she was too young, or unwed, or even sick, but because she knew she could not handle having another child.  that sounds horrible and insensitive but its honest.  she discussed how there is a notion of "good aids" ie someone getting it via blood transfusion and "bad aids" someone that gets its via drug needles.  the same kind be said for abortion.  moran got what some would consider a "bad abortion."  it appears selfish, but not all women are mothers, trust me i have worked with kids my whole life and some people are truly unfit to be mothers.  why bring a child into the world if you can not care for it like a mother should?  i know it sounds insensitive because life is life, a baby didn't choose to be born, but at the same time there is so much suffering in the world, why add to it.  at the end of the day, it's the pregnant woman's choice, she is the only one that can make the right decision for herself.  it might not be something that everyone agrees with, but then again are only truly responsible for ourselves.  

moran discussed a handful of other topics as well, pornography, childbirth (her first birth really grossed me out, i couldn't read it), bras, role models, and plastic surgery.  oh and growing up in the nineties, she writes alot about the riot grrl movement, which i need to revisit.  my roommate samira introduced me to bikini kill and bratmobile, so i have a taste but i need to get some more!

i just realized that this blog is about how my life relates to what she wrote about versus analysis of what she wrote.  but you need to read it and enjoy it yourself!  and all in all though it does explain how to be a woman, in the end, we learn that moran just wants to be a human, just one of the "guys" (which i think discredits her notions of feminism, because it still holds up equality on male terms.  but hey you can't win them all.  and regardless, this was funny book to read, so i forgive her!

the baby-sitters club. ann m. martin (174-176)

when packing up to move to my mom's apartment, i came across my claudia doll.  she was my favorite baby-sitter so my grandma bea bought her for me.

seriously she was the coolest! also i would totally wear that outfit nowadays!  (granted the 90's are back in style.

finding claudia inspired me to reread the first of the baby-sitters club series, kristy's great idea.  i had heard that the books underwent an update (ie they got cellphones) so i decided to pick up a newer version of it too.  i also decided to read the new graphic novel version.  one day while subbing, one of the students checked out claudia and the mean janine, and i made a mental note to try to check it out.  since they are short novels, i decided to read all three in one day so i could compare and contrast.

the original

what can i say, i fell in love all over again!! i want to reread the entire series now!  it really is great for tweens because it covers so many issues that tweens encounter:  overprotective parents, diabetes, having a smarter sibling, dealing with divorced parents (and having them date of remarrying), having friends that mature faster, having to deal with boy-crazy friends, having a parent pass away at a young age, having an absent father (and this is all in the first book!).  i also appreciated how the ending, demonstrated the importance of apologizing and that a good friend knows when to admit they are wrong. 

girls can also identify with at least one of the sitters: the outspoken, althetic girls can relate to kristy; the pony-tailed shy ones with mary ann, the artsy bad-spelling non-mathematicians with claudia, and the diabetic boy-crazy ex-new yorkers with stacey.  i loved (and still do) claudia as mentioned before, and i rereading infell in love with her fashion!  i really want to recreate her outfits!  i think i might dress up in her checkered yellow and black top with black pants, red jazz shoes, a bracelet made from a phone chord and skeleton earrings outfit!!! (so cute right!)

also the whole idea of a baby-sitters club is pretty brilliant.  one call and how many sitters! that sitter notebook was pretty clever as an actual tool for the baby-sitters and as a device for martin to introduce their baby-sitting adventures. 

if you loved the baby-sitter's club as a kid, you should really reread them.  for me, it was a fun little trip back in time.  

(oh i have to add, oddly enough when i read the book, i totally imagined it as the tv show, even kristy's narration was heard in that actress' voice.)

the updated version

okay so the this book wasn't updated, though it had a new cover.  i was super disappointed.  maybe the cellphones come later? i was glad that they kept the sitter's (read: claudia's) fashion the same.  the only thing i noticed was that the flyer was updated:

original-

updated-

it is safer that they don't have their numbers on flyers.  too many scary, creepy pedophiles in the world to list numbers.  i am happy for this safety update.

and quick digression about the logo.  i am glad they changed the logo, cause lets be honest, did claudia really have enough time to make that letter block logo during lunch?!?!  to be completely honest (and realistic) the graphic novel had the best logo in terms of believability:

(love that the girls got crafty with the pull offs!)

and before i move onto the graphic novel, one last thing, i thought they would have changed kristy giving watson that kiss on fondue night.  that was just awkward and creepy.  i knew my mom's boyfriend (later husband) for most of my life and never ever kissed his cheek.

the graphic novel

the graphic novel was done by raina telgemeier and her illustrations were great!!!

my favorite had to be this one of claudia baby-sitting jamie and his cousins:

quick note in the og, jaime's cousin, rob, pretends to shoot claudia dead with a gun.  since the graphic novel is post columbine, rob ninja chops her instead.  (and i forgot to mention in the original section that i loved that claudia read them where the wild things are.)

i will say that the graphic novel did disappoint me in three ways.  one, it did not capture all of claudia's great outfits for example the earrings were dangling skeletons not skulls and her red hat from the day of the flyer was not depicted.  second, i wish that kristy had on a snowman sweater that claudia made fun off, oh and that claudia said sheep were in when kristy made fun of her hairclips.  and third, in my head, watson was not so dorky, but a handsome divorcé.  

however, still a great work and a great way to attract a younger generation to a great series.  also a great way for an older generation to relieve their youth.

i had a great sunday reading these books and will definitely start reading a baby-sitters club book once a month! 

the great gatsby. movie version.

i never get to say this about film adaption of books so excited to write this: this was a wonderful adaption of "the great gatsby". most films based on books leave me upset because they normally ruin stories that i love or cut out my favorite parts or lines but this was great. kudos to the screenplay writer/adapter.

there were two incidents at the beginning which let me know the film was going to do the novel justice: the green light shining across the bay and when toby maguire described gatsby as being as sensitive as an earthquake machine (one of my favorite lines). i loved that most of the great lines of the novel were included in the movie like daisy's quote about a girl being a fool, and jordan's large parties quote. i think most of the quotes i listed in my post about the novel were included in the film.

i was also impressed with so many of the events in the book finding moments in the film. the scene when nick first enters the room with daisy and jordan in it was just like the novel with the exception of jordan sitting like a statue but the billowing curtains were spot on. i was surprised by the inclusion of the clock incident when daisy and gatsby meet for the first time and of course the scene when gatsby and nick cross the bridge with the white driver and the black people partying (this was also one of my favorite music scenes). these little details proved that everyone working on the film actually read the novel. though i will add that the scene at the party in the library would have been better if the man talked about how the books were real and he had gone to the library to sober up because he had been drinking for three days straight. but other than that a wonderful adaption.

the movie even helped me understand some parts of the story better. for example, i never got tom's reference to drugstores when they switch cars until the movie. also the film did a lovely job of showing how gatsby could not grasp that love is fluid. that though daisy did not love tom at that moment, it didn't mean that she had never loved him. gatsby was so insistent on daisy's love being only for him but sadly that is not how the world
works. we have different degrees of love for people in our lives and though we may fall out of love with someone we never truly stop loving them because you can not erase the past. it was heartbreaking to see his lack of depth when it came to love when it seemed that his whole life was driven by his love for daisy.

i think the casting was great. leonardo did an excellent job as gatsby (though a little old). my favorite scene was when he was so nervous about meeting daisy. i also loved how well he played gatsby's need to impress daisy, there was a slight desperation to his gatsby that is seen throughout the book. i thought that carey mulligan did lovely as daisy, she did the voice described in the novel justice. but i will add that i couldn't handle her hair long in the flashback scenes. also my inner modest reader did not read daisy's blossoming as her "blossoming" but i guess it was. lol.

and the fashion was amazing!!!! i wanted jordan baker's hat from the first scene party scene. and of course daisy's crystal dress!!! and all of her headpieces. i already looked on etsy, a headpiece like that will cost me $200 (#poorgirlproblems).

and those parties! where do i get a giant champagne bottle that shoots out confetti!!! i really missed out not being around for the 1920/30's.

last but not least the "eyes of god" billboard was perfection.

but even with all of this gushing, i can not give "the great gatsby" my stamp of approval. the reason being the one thing that i was certain was going to be amazing ended up sucking, and that was the soundtrack. baz luhrmann has utilized some amazing songs for his movies "kissing you" in "romeo and juliet" or "roxanne" and "like a virgin" in "moulin rouge". granted "moulin rouge" is a musical, i was expecting gatsby parties to have a great soundtrack like the "because we can can can" of moulin rouge but everything was lame. i should have known it was going to suck when i heard that awful cover of amy winehouse's "back to black" with beyonce and andre 3000. i liked the part in the apt with myrtle and the scene on the bridge but everything else was ho-hum. the lana del ray song was good but used too much. the first party song was such a snoozefest. and between the gerswhins and cole porter, lurhmann could have put together some good covers or mash ups. but nada. the soundtrack was a serious letdown and i thought it was going to blow my mind. oh well, i can't get to judge-y because at least he didn't destroy this "the great gatsby".

all in all, "moulin rouge" is still my favorite of his but at least he didn't kill gatsby well figuratively speaking.

the shining.

we didn't watching scary movies growing up. so never saw "the shining" until i was in high school and caught half of it on ktla one sunday afternoon. but i still knew all of the pop cultural references from "the shining" ie redrum, scary twins, "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy" and "here's johnny!!!" thanks in large part to that simpson's parody. so when i saw pictures of the twin's blue dresses at the lacma exhibit i figured i should finally give it a real watch and i did.

this movie is so freaking scary!!!! mind you, i knew how the story ends and i have seen all of the signature scenes and i was still scared. so scared that i kept lowering the volume and considered pausing the DVD because i didn't want to see what was going to happen next (and i knew what would happen next so there was really nothing to be afraid off.) i was relieved when danny covered his eyes during his second confrontation with the twins because i wanted to cover my eyes. lol. and i felt better knowing he was scared because to be honest his whole talking finger "tony" was creepy and if that creepy kid was scared than i shouldn't be embarrassed about my fear.

what made the movies so scary and suspenseful was the soundtrack. the music for the scenes were just too eerie. and kept me scared about what waited behind a door or down a hallway. also the lack of sound which reminded you just how empty the hotel was, like when jack was throwing the ball against the wall. one of the creepiest sounds was danny riding around on his big wheel, and when it went from carpeted sound to loud sound on the wooden floor. it was so scary because you knew those creepy twins were going to show up. (i hope the big wheel is on display at the lacma.)

wikipedia described this as psychological horror and that is the best way to describe it. it's not scary because things jump out at you but because it gets you thinking. you know what is going to happen and there is nothing you can do to stop it, you just have to watch it all go down. you know from the beginning during jack's interview with the story of the previous caretaker that the same fate is going to meet them. having this knowledge is what makes it torture to watch.

kubrick did a great job of building suspense and then cutting to random scenes. there were so many times that my heart was racing and then the next scene was "tuesday" and nothing more. and if you think about it other than the scenes of the twins hacked in the hallway, the creepy lady in room 237, and the killing of dick hallorann (which broke my heart when he died), there aren't many gory scenes. the scariest scenes are when you realize jack is going bat shit crazy. jack nicholson really did an amazing job, he was a cold hearted sociopath. when tells wendy, "i'm gonna not to hurt ya, i'm just going to bash your brains in", he said so matter of fact like it was a logical explanation (which it was in his twisted head). i also loved the scenes when wendy discovered his "writing" and i think what made it creepier was that the typing wasn't perfect but had typos and then when it was typed as if it was dialogue and paragraphs, it was like wow! he is insane!

and i remember jack's picture being in the 1921 photo from my first ktla watching of the movie. however, this time i interpreted the ending has jack being the reincarnation of the crazed caretaker. one reason being that jack told wendy how he felt like he was returning home when he first came to the hotel. and then jack's interaction with the ghost of the caretaker made it seem like his previous self was guiding him to repeat his fate. it seems far fetched but after looking on wikipedia, kubrick did mention that jack was a reincarnation.

regardless, of how you think the movie ends its still scary. and i will say one of the scariest movies according to me.

last but not least, i have to add what a fashion icon, shelley duvall was in this film! i wanted to wear everything she had one! the yellow native american jacket was my favorite! i loved the detail of brooch on her blazer when she first walked through the grounds. the purple coat she has on when jack screams at her was great. i also love her overall outfit too, i wish i could find a better pic but no luck. but so many cute outfits! i will have to copy some looks!

cover girl.

in sandra cisneros' "caramelo", i learned that rita hayworth was mexican!?!?! thanks to madonna, all i knew of hayworth was that she "gave good face". so i wikipedia-ed it and sadly discovered she isn't mexican, her father was spanish and her mother was irish-english. the mexican rumors started because she worked in mexico, according to this website . so sad that her mexicanness was a bust, however, while reading her wikipedia article, discovered she starred in a number of movies with fred astaire and one with gene kelly. this inspired me to check out "you were never lovelier" and "cover girl" from the library.

growing up, i watched a lot of musicals with grandma bea, especially gene kelly and fred astaire movies, however i don't recall rita hayworth being in any of them. i know grandma bea had me watch "cover girl" when i was little but i didn't remember hayworth or even the movie. as i watched "cover girl", bits and pieces started to come back to me. i remembered gene kelly's "alter ego" dance (though it could have been featured in one of those "that's entertainment" specials). and as much as this makes me sound like a lush, i remember her drunken part . . . i also remembered the oysters tradition. but other than that it was a "new" movie to me.

rita hayworth was lovely and entertaining. i had no idea she could sing and dance! she also had the most amazing costume and outfits. that is one thing that i hate/love about old movies, the fashion! i love it all but am sad that i can't find it at the mall or in a boutique. though i will be on the lookout for a coat like this at my local goodwill:

it was also great to see how things have come back around. in the broadway number, cover girls are featured on different magazines and i was surprised there were so many flower headpieces that would have been right at home at coachella. there was also a huge brimmed hat (think samantha in "sex and the city: the movie") that i would give my left kidney for.

but back to the movie. so a quick synopsis, hayworth played a dancer named rusty that worked a club owned by (she was also his girlfriend). she entered a magazine contest to be a cover girl and won because she looked like the long-lost lover of the magazine owner (turned out he was in love with rusty's grandmother). so after the contest, rusty gets bigger and better opportunity and sadly leaves gene kelly. i would tell you what happens but you should check it out for yourself. the ending is very cute.

i will say that i for one would never leave gene kelly. maybe it's because i have grown up watching him as a leading man but he is like the ideal man (he might be the reason why i have a thing for boys with brown hair over blondes). he can sing, he can dance, and when his character is in love, gets a look on his face like there is no other girl in the world for him but her! swoon!!! he is so dreamy and i fall in love with him every time i watch one of his movies. and of course the same goes for "cover girl", i would love to spend my nights with him, shucking oysters for pearls!

the whole time i was watching, i was bothered because rita hayworth reminded me of someone. in the end i decided it was geena davis in "a league of their own."

also the whole time i was watching i couldn't help thinking to myself how much phil silvers looked like
stephen colbert:

am i right or am i right?

but all in all, a very sweet film and if you have't seen it, you should!

ps this DVD was available thanks to measure b!

you were never lovelier.

as i discussed in my "cover girl" post, i checked out rita hayworth movies after i discovered that she was mexican in sandra cisneros' "caramelo". though it turns out she is not, i did discover that rita hayworth is an amazing actress.

before i discuss the movie, i have to express my thoughts on fred astaire as a leading man. maybe because i was so young when i started watching his movies but in my eyes he is really elderly looking. like way-too-old-to-pursue-the-women-in-his-movies-old (don't get me started on "daddy long legs" that one always kinda grossed me out.) even in my favorite movie "funny face", i'm always like really audrey?!?! sadly "you were never lovelier" was not an exception. hayworth is so beautiful and all i can think of is why is astaire so old? and i googled it. he was about 42 and she was 26 when they made this film. and no offense, but he wasn't a hot 40 like brad pitt or george clooney or even colin firth. maybe he's not my type but never drooled over him like i did/do over gene kelly. there is no denying it the man can dance but even that doesn't help his case or should i say face.

so "you were never lovelier" is set in buenos aires and astaire has travelled there looking for work. (which is very similar to his first film with ginger rogers' "flying down to rio"). in his quest for work, he ended up landing a job when he pretends to be the secret admirer of a club owner's daughter who is played by hayworth. the club owner wanted his daughters to marry in order and hayworth was next. her younger sisters also wanted her to marry because they couldn't until she did kinda like "the taming of the shrew" (or "10 things i hate about you" for generation x-ers). but of course, with all of this secretiveness, confusion and drama ensued.

hopefully without ruining it for you, astaire and hayworth do end up together. and the ending was very pretty woman-esque or "pretty woman" has a very you were never lovelier-eque ending. hayworth is upset that she was lied to so astaire had to woo her again. as a last resort, he donned a suit of armor and rode into hayworth's home to sweep her off her feet like a poem she loved. and yes it did work. it was what gere should have done in pretty woman. also i would like to add that i love musicals because before they kissed at the end, astaire and hayworth did a dance! so cute! if only life was like that!

and of course the fashion was amazing!!! just look at these dresses!!!

that sequin ones is to die right?!?!?

after watching two of her films, i am now a fan of hayworth. though i am sad she is not mexican. but ethnicity aside, she really is beautiful. i foundjust lovelier in this film versus "cover girl" (could be the black and white). i do want to see more of films so will start checking them out from the library. (also thanks to measure b for this one too! for my LA readers, not measure b the porn one but measure b in fresno that was to give libraries funding!)

p.s. the dad used an anthology of love letters to help him write love letters as the secret admirer and this reminded me of big from "sex and the city: the movie". also because the receptionist brought the dad love letters from napoleon as well, didn't carrie read one of his in the movies? anyway, right now i am at the end of "war and peace" and reading about napoleon's war "genius". but i plan on checking out a book of napoleon's love letters so i can see his softer side!