Horrific.

In case you haven't seen it yet.
Poor Sylvia Plath. She would have cringed at this.

More here. (Thanks for the tip, Mr. K)

Meanwhile, I recently discovered lettersofnote.com. My starter meal was Doris Lessing's letter declining Britain's offer to make her a Dame. A delightful read, feisty and brief.

Loot bag! =)

A visit here (some time last week)

and a twenty-something-minute wait among these beautiful greens

yielded these:

Today's Find: The Proustian Meme

From Vanity Fair:
"First, the Proust questionnaire was dreamed up neither by Vanity Fair nor indeed by Proust. In fact, it was a Parisian parlor game among the novelist's bourgeois crowd, and it is believed to have been popularized by the daughter of the 19th-century French president Felix Faure. "Antoinette Faure's Album"--a red leather journal adorned with an ornate, blind-embossed trellis--contained entries from many in Faure's social circle. She would invite friends over for tea and then ask each an identical sequence of questions: "what is your favorite virtue?... Your idea of misery?... Your present state of mind?," and so forth. They would all answer, in long hand, in her little red book.
Proust, who twice filled out Faure's form with precocious gusto,--at ages 14 and 20--subsequently published his answers as "Salon Confidences Written By Marcel," in an 1892 article in La Revue Illustree XV. His name would become associated with the questionnaire posthumously..."

This could well be one of the earliest forms of what we know today as the meme. Imagine having to invite friends over and prepare lunch, or snacks for them just so they could answer your meme. Buti na lang may internet na ngayon. =D

Some interesting answers I read in the mag today:

DORIS DAY, actress, My greatest regret: "Most of my marriages." (April 1995)
GORE VIDAL, writer, My greatest fear: "Elevation to the papacy." (October, 1994)
DAVID BOWIE, musician, My greatest fear: "Converting kilometers to miles." (August, 1998)
FRAN LEBOWITZ, writer, humorist and social critic, How would you like to die: "Vindicated." (November, 1994)

For the questionnaire, go to vanityfair.com

I Love: DKNY Be Delicious

From sephora.com:

Be Delicious
A modern feast for the senses. Served in a sleek metal and glass apple bottle, this juicy fragrance combines the scent of apple with a sophisticated blend of exotic flowers and sensual woods. Like the city that inspired it, Be Delicious celebrates individuality with refreshing spirit.

Notes:
American Apple, Cucumber, Grapefruit, Candid Magnolia, Tuberose, White Muguet, Rose, Violet, Sandalwood, Tender Skin Accord, Blonde Woods, White Amber.

I am a Wolf

That's according to Native American astrology. This is my first contact with Native American astrology and I must say I'm intrigued.

I visited what's-your-sign.com and it has this to say about people like me:

Wolf: Feb 19 – Mar 20
Deeply emotional, and wholly passionate, the Wolf is the lover of the zodiac in both the physical and philosophical sense of the word. The Wolf understands that all we need is love, and is fully capable of providing it. Juxtaposed with his/her fierce independence – this Native American animal symbol is a bit of a contradiction in terms. Needing his/her freedom, yet still being quite gentle and compassionate – we get the picture of the "lone wolf" with this sign. In a nurturing environment the Wolf is intensely passionate, generous, deeply affectionate, and gentle. Left to his/her own devices the Wolf can become impractical, recalcitrant, obsessive, and vindictive.

Hmm... "impractical, recalcitrant, obsessive, and vindictive."

Very interesting.

Go, visit the site to check out your sign:

Otter: Jan 20 - Feb 18
Wolf: Feb 19 – Mar 20
Falcon: Mar 21 – Apr 19
Beaver: Apr 20 – May 20
Deer: May 21 – Jun 20
Woodpecker: Jun 21 – Jul 21
Salmon: Jul 22 – Aug 21
Bear: Aug 22 – Sep 21
Crow/Raven: Sep 22 – Oct 22
Snake/Serpent: Oct 23 – Nov 22
Owl: Nov 23 – Dec 21
Goose: Dec 22 – Jan 19

LITTLE VOICE

Buy it, buy it, buy it!

All the songs are gorgeous!

I love: Mika Dress by Rachel Roy

The black lace and bow detail are just lovely!



*photo from Shopbop.com, via Just a Formality.

I Love: Escada Moon Sparkle

From nordstrom.com:

Escada 'Moon Sparkle' Eau de Toilette Spray -- A fruity floral fragrance, with sparkling strawberry and red apple notes. Top notes: strawberry, blackcurrant, citrus cocktail, red apple. Middle notes: sweet pea, freesia, jasmine, rose. Base notes: raspberry, musky notes, sandalwood, dry ambery notes.

Lovin' Amel Larrieux

In one of my web-surfing frenzies, I discovered American indie soul and R&B singer-songwriter Amel Larrieux's music and, eventually, I got hooked. I can't get enough of her album Lovely Standards (my faves are "If I Loved You," "Younger Than Springtime," "Shadow of Your Smile," and "Something Wonderful"). Equally addictive are Infinite Possibilites ("Infinite Possibilities" and "Make Me Whole") and Morning ("No One Else"), which is her highest-charting album to date.

Larrieux is jazz and R & B and funk, an artist to reckon with, one of mah gurlz, a gem of a musical find.

Try her.
:)

I'm so lovin' this look:

It's gorgeous. Minimalist and understated, but very chic and classy.

Could probably use a neck piece with a fab pendant and a bling-y ring, though.

Black dress by Lanvin; from topstobottoms.com

CaNDS

Found: a haven of pinkness for the modern, stressed-out career woman who's sorely in need of some pampering.

Its name: CALIFORNIA NAILS AND DAY SPA

Interiors: pink, pink, pink! Even the chandelier is unashamedly pink. I do regret not having taken a picture of the bathroom--it's a virtual garden with flowers, bees and butterflies!

Their promise: gorgeous nails and instant La vie en rose!

Nice and new

Quirky

A gift

Lit geek update #8: Found in Book Sale, PAUL AUSTER for P40!

The opening paragraph goes:

"These are the last things, she wrote. One by one they disappear and never come back. I can tell you of the ones I have seen, of the ones that are no more, but I doubt there will be time. It is all happening too fast now, and I cannot keep up." -Auster, p.1-

I love it!

Whenever I see a Paul Auster book, I always think of other books he's written that are in my possession, and of the fact that never--not once--did I fail to like his writing.

The New York Trilogy marked my initiation into Paul Auster fandom. I loved that book to death. I've since read The Invention of Solitude, Oracle Night and The Book of Illusions. The last one, perhaps, is my favorite, next to The New York Trilogy.

One of Auster's major story telling strengths is that his writing is always a perfect patchwork of the abstract and the concrete, balancing each other out and at the same time endowing the structure of each to fuse into a harmonic whole. There is a melancholic fluidity to his prose that makes the forms and the objects in his stories float to life into the reader's world.

I can't wait to get started with this latest find. The first lines look very promising.

Are you a Paul Auster fan?