Thursday 31 January 2013

Five Songs Five Summers

I am a summer girl, always have been and most likely always will be. I cannot handle any other season. Nothing compares to a good summer and I have had some excellent summers. There are five songs that for me hold pretty incredible memories, that I've tried to explain for you dear readers, but they may just be sentimental waffle to you - in that case, at least enjoy my eclectic musical choices for a bit of winter sun!

2012 Sean Paul - Temperature



First girls' holiday with no parental control, being bizarrely good at scoring free shots (tequila anybody), dancing like SLUTS yeah that's right what have you got to say about that political correctness and just a genuinely excellent time with some rather great people.

2011 Don Omar - Danza Kuduro



The summer I fell in love with a chef on holiday in Mallorca, I was with my family and my friend's family, me and my friend cut loose on the evenings and he would come meet me after his shift. We would dance, flirt and go for moonlit walks on the beach (can I get an awww please?).

2010 Toploader- Dancing in The Moonlight



Imagine being on the tiniest, remotest, Scottish, slate-quarrying Island known to man. With your family and a mental dog. Welcome to hell and hilarity. I drowned my sorrows in Iron Bru and sung this tune at the top of my lungs as we hiked up hills and got attacked by rain, wind and occasional bouts of sunshine.

2009 Justin Timberlake - Senorita



We were staying with friends that live in Spain. A sleepy mountainside village, where I learned so much Spanish, mixed some Tinto Verano and played cards with old men. This was a daily siesta accompaniment as I drifted off dreaming that the Spanish boys in the village wanted me to be their Senorita...

2008 Texas -Inner Smile



Two families rented out what seemed to be a miniature castle in rural France, the adults drank a lot of wine, we (the youngsters) watched a lot of The Simpsons/Red Dwarf and ate tonnes of chocolate. My brother developed an obsession with crème brulee. Every time we got in the car I insisted we play this song.

Go on have a little sing-along...
Daphne


Monday 28 January 2013

Meadham Kirchhoff SS is Pretty Amazing




Check out the Meadham Kirchhoff profile on the British Fashion Council website for more.
If you want some Meadham Kirchhoff for your own fine selves go to the collection for Amazon, they're selling these brill jumpers for £75, which is still pretty costly, but compared to the average Meadham stuff, it's relatively cheap... The collection is from A/W, but if you live in Britain, you need jumpers all the time, they're essential, My faves are:
and
Regards,
Dorothy

Friday 25 January 2013

Valentino, SS Couture is Fairy Tale Beautiful





Looks a bit like a bird cage, which is a theme of the collection.
In some this is the classic 'Princess dress', that you would doodle wishfully.

Directly above:                                    The simplicity of this dress, sets
The intricate lace talks of princesses     it apart from the others featured.
 and prince charming not the ones         This is more the dress of a
 you read about in Heat magazine          temptress, not a damsel in distress                                                                            
                                                 



Directly above:                                     When I'm a superhero I want to have this
The perfect Villainess dress. If I was      cape
 working some evil schemes I would
 have to do it in this dress. In a
continuation of the 'bird cage'
theme, the birds here are free and wild,
suggesting a wilder, darker purpose.
The black swan in Valentino's collection.

Regards,
Dorothy

Dissecting the Top Ten Romances of All Time: Number 9- Pride and Prejudice

9. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy

I feel a bit bad to be publishing this on the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice, especially since Austen called Pride and Prejudice her 'little darling', it all feels a bit blasphemous, and admittedly, I'm a 'Janeite' myself  But since the romance between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth is arguably one of the most famed in English Literature  I feel it only appropriate. Like Shakespeare as the previous piece's creator, the Austen brand has come to be a multi-million industry: The Jane Austen Center has about 60,000 visitors per year, with an estimated 80% being women.  Austen's influence is still pretty powerful. Don't hurt me Janeites.


'Pride and Prejudice'  has inspired many a young lady/ 'Janeites' to hold out for their Mr. Darcy, or 'Mr. Right'. Colin Firth has complained that he finds it hard to escape from the legacy of Darcy, although he did go on to play Mark Darcy in 'Bridget Jones Diary', a book and film roughly based on Pride and Prejudice, so can't really feel sorry for him. The moody Mr. Darcy has persuaded girls that boys often play 'Hard To Get', when actually he's he just 'Isn't That Into You'. They fall in love when they both accept that they were blind to each other, lots of people hope that that one special someone will see something unique in themselves  like Darcy and Elizabeth did, but people often cling to a false hope.

The romance of Elizabeth and Darcy however has it's weaknesses. There are some who interpreted her sudden attraction to Darcy as the reaction of a Gold Digger,  making her just as much of a social climber as her mother. It is only after her view of the beautiful Pemberly estate of Darcy's that she decides that Darcy isn't that bad after all, and starts to look at her suitor in a more pleasant light.  However, an alternative interpretation, if Elizabeth was purely out for monetary gain she would have agreed to marry Mr. Collins, who would have provided financial security for herself and her family.  However her mothers enthusiasm to marry her daughters off, especially to rich men (Mr. Bingley and Jane) may have influenced her thinking, perhaps unconsciously.  But we do know that Elizabeth is smart, we know that she is good at studying characters. Through her interactions with Darcy, she might have understood enough of his pride/personality to know that if she declined his first proposal it would make him want her more, player. Elizabeth is the 'one that got away', and to be turned down by someone Darcy sees as beneath him must be humiliating, and motivated him to prove her wrong.

There is the possibility that she was so outraged by the way he scorned her in the first ball that she was giving him revenge by making him fall in love with her then rejecting him. Hurting his pride just like he hurt hers. Although, when she sees his 'dollar' she changes her mind and decides that he is worth loving after all. Elizabeth had no way to know that she would have better opportunities later. However, nothing can deviate from the fact that Darcy was embarrassed of his affection for her, and thus embarrassed of her family. Worse, he makes Elizabeth embarrassed of her family, I sometimes feel that like if we were to see a 'six months later' we would find Darcy having a bit of a 'My Fair Lady' project of Elizabeth. What makes the romance tricky is that fact that there is the possibility that she was so outraged by the way he scorned her in the first ball (he called her 'tolerable', the dick) that she was giving him revenge by making him fall in love with her then rejecting him.  Hurting his pride just like he hurt hers. Although, when she sees his magnificent wealth she changes her mind and decides that he is worth loving after all.Yet there isn't admittedly any evidence in the text to support this, nor does Elizabeth character illustrate this.  

Dorothy

Elizabeth stated quite early in the book she would only marry for love, and her comment to her sister Jane, about falling in love with Darcy after seeing Pemberley, was just light hearted mischief, shown when Jane urged her to be serious. Elizabeth is far too headstrong to marry for something other than love, no matter how much she could get out of it money-wise. In fact, it is only after she learn of his good deeds, following her rejecting his proposal that she begins to admit her feelings to herself, being even a little bit ashamed of her own feelings and hiding them from her entire family. Elizabeth has always known about his wealth (£10,000 a year, hey big spender) and never thought any better of him for it. Perhaps it is less the grounds of Pemberly that make her wish she accepted his proposal, but more the reputation he has amongst his staff and residents. Darcy does not come to love Elizabeth because any physical feature, Elizabeth is never described as a beauty like Jane; instead Darcy comes to love her, or at least her 'expression', such as her intelligent eyes, and later coming to accept that; 'in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness.' He falls in love with her mind, her wit and her unbridled passion in her words, the inability to hold her tongue. To go against Dorothy's view, Darcy comes to love Elizabeth for who she is, and I don't see a 'let's fix Elizabeth program' in their future. I see nothing but rolling green hills, tea at eleven and lovely, unmentionable high-society sex, in the dark, still wearing undergarments. 

Elizabeth's 'modern' view of love set her apart from the other ladies such as her mother, I truly think she loves big D.

Daphne

Up next, Number Three Abelard and Heloise





Thursday 24 January 2013

Dissecting the Top Ten Romances of All Time, Number 10


I'm one of those people that cannot stomach a love declaration, I either have to skip over it or press a cushion to my face. It's pathetic.  In contrast, I think at least part of the problem is the horrible realization that while I'm watching it I am just filled with a horrible jealousy that this will never happen to me. But I think it's more of a problem for some people, who believe that Romance (with a capital) is inevitable. The reason for this is that we are constantly surrounded by these perfect love stories, that are, well stories. These fictional heroes make us believe that we are entitled to a passionate affair, which in turn means that we turn down perfectly reasonable 'suitors'.So In this piece I will judge the Top Ten Romances of All Time, and even if I'm personally a fan, this is an attempt to destroy them to make me feel less like Neville Longbottom.





10.Romeo and Juliet

Ahh the world famous 'Romeo and Juliet' written in the early stages of Shakespeare's career, the tragic romance has inspired countless adaptions, such as the brilliant modernized version by Buz Luhrman.  According to famous literary critic Harold Bloom, Romeo and Juliet "is unmatched, in Shakespeare and in the world's literature, as a vision of uncompromising mutual love that perishes of its own idealism and intensity" (Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, 197), yeah, I got that quote from Google, don't hate. The balcony scene alone  is one of the most memorable and recognizable moments in all of Western literature. The tale of the 'star-crossed lovers' has caused heart ache for centuries, and in modern culture inspired the naming of one of the Beckham clan (Romeo Beckham). Romeo's a bit fickle,  he was in love with a nun to be (Rosalind), however, during the course of the next 15 minutes he manages to suddenly switch his obsessive affections to Juliet. That coupled with the fact that his affections greatly increase when he realizes that she is an enemy, a Capulet, it makes me think he's simply loving the unattainable, as he did  with Rosalind, the wannabe nun. The little drama-queen thrill-seeker.

 For Juliet, Romeo is symbolic of an escape; her home life is dreary, with a pushy mother and only her nurse for company, and also with the an arranged marriage on the horizon, to a Guy named 'Paris', she is probably a bit desperate, this caged feeling of aggression caused her to idolize Romeo, Romeo is not the object of her love, freedom is. A young girl who is sheltered from everything is not going to know what love is. It feels a kind of like the news story recently, where a 13 year old girl stole her parents car and ATM card to drive for thirteen hours to Kentucky to meet a young chap called Dylan (turned out he most probably doesn't exist) that she had a 'relationship' with via Xbox live, teenage girls can get obsessive for no good reason, just look at 'Bieber fever', says it all. However the fact that they commit suicide in order to not live without each other at the end, shows they are obviously quite fond of one another. I just find it really annoying that the reason for their deaths is ill timing. Being in mind that Romeo's love is perhaps just an expression of his thrill seeking teenage hormones, its  also possible that Romeo and Juliet's love is not genuine; their `love' lies not in their hearts, rather in their eyes (cheeky Friar Lawrence quote to end there.)

Dorothy

So it appears that Dorothy isn't a huge fan or our fated lovers and their heart-wrenching, untimely demise. All I can say is, why the bloody hell not? The point isn't that they died and it was all a bit wimpy and teenage, or that they are fickle and annoying, it is so much more. Firstly, of course Romeo is infatuated with anything on legs, he is a teenage boy, it doesn't mean that something beautiful can't come of it, she brings a ray of hope and love into his dark, teenage-angst-filled life. He treats her pretty well (minus the cousin killing but yeah bygones be bygones and all that) and the nurse approves for the most part - we all know best friend approval is pretty heavy. But the real poignancy of Romeo and Juliet is that everyone forgets to look at the bigger picture, they become motivated by things that don't matter: feuds, rumours, social hierarchy and honour. When what really matters is allowing happiness and love to flourish, and the horrible irony in that peace is achieved out of their tragic death (it definitely deserves a better position than tenth). Well, frankly, if their love and death were due to 'thrill seeking teenage hormones' I will always aspire to live like a thrill seeking teenager, because I don't want to waste a single day of being in love or loved.

Daphne

Coming soon, Number Two, Pride and Prejudice....


How To Stop Rape, Some Brill Suggestions

Rape Crisis Scotland has recently published some really fab suggestions, wanted to share with y'all, I think they kind of speak for them selves..

10 Top Tips to End Rape

Lack of Motivation


Right now, at this precise moment in time, I have little to no motivation to do any of the work I need to do (essays people. essays), I have plenty of time, that is nowhere close to the problem. The problem isn't even that I struggle with the work, the problem is the concept of the work itself. It glares at me from that little corner of my brain surrounded by barbed wire and army style assault courses saying DO NOT EVEN ATTEMPT and I listen to it. Whole heartedly. The problem is entirely mine of course, if I do the work I feel like I am walking on sunshine, I am the queen and the birds are singing for me. But at the same time I have this all consuming dread that prevents me from even looking at it, from just the slightest positioning of my pen on paper. My body physically rejects the concept and I, instead, have weird new obsessions.
1. I am a massive language nerd and love Spanish, I discovered 'Spanish Geordie/Jersey Shore' - Gandía Shore and watched the whole first series
2. Cryptic Crosswords used to just infuriate me but now I cannot stop until I have conquered that stupid little box full of squares
3.Painting my left thumbnail with nail varnish, removing it and continuing to do so with every single nail polish I own, so I can decide which ones to chuck out (none)
4.Googling pointless facts about pandas (they are actually carnivores but choose to eat bamboo)
5.I taught myself some basic conversational Russian and the sign language alphabet
6. Reading the first chapters of  books in order to decide which ones to read

To summarise, all the time I 'wasted' doing these things may not appear to have benefited my work directly but I am sure (being the optimist I am) that they will eventually have positive repercussions and that it isn't 'time wasting' simply time reassignment...

Daphne


Dorothy: So far 'Tetris' has got me though my GCSE procrastination, 'Snake' though AS level and currently I am bossing 'Bubble Mania' at A level. Why am I so addicted to stupid pointless games? As far as I know people don't give a frogs ass if I'm at advanced level on Snake...

Sunday 20 January 2013

A View by Daphne: Leading him on..?

So recently I was accused of being a Tease. Not an 'intentional tease', of course, but the reference was about  my behavior towards my male friends. Now, if I was saying things like 'yes I'm longing to love to sleep with you, come round to my house at eight o'clock and I will show you the time of your life' then slamming doors in their faces and laughing from the comfort of my sofa while eating popcorn, I would be inclined to agree. However, it is nothing like that at all. It is just the way me and my friends like to chat, we flirt, it's a bit cheeky, and well it is just fun. Nothing wrong with that, right? Well other women seem to think that I am: 1.Hoarding male friends and 2. Hurting their poor feelings by not sleeping with every single one of the poor randy guys. After all, friendship is a two way street and if they flirt away making innuendos and silly but naughty comments am I supposed to sit their like a puritan for fear of igniting a burning passion that cannot be doused?

ALSO, no one accuses them of 'leading me on' as a matter of fact boys appear to be getting out of this situation very well. I don't rise to the flirting they think I am boring (and to be fair I wouldn't be me if I didn't flirt back, I've been told that I even flirt with cats) and if I do it is me that takes all the heat for giving the wrong impression or sending mixed signals. As a group of girls, we often talk of how 'he just wants to be friends', why is so hard for others to accept that even though there is 'friendliness' on the female side, you can too, also, want to be 'just friends'. Friendship isn't something without worth, just because it isn't physical doesn't mean that the relationship is any less valuable too. It is no more than just 'banter' (hate to quote Geordie Shore but has to be done.) 'Flanter' is and can be dangerous territory I suppose. But there is no reason to say that it has to stop all together.

The main point here, I guess, is no one is getting hurt, the friendship is still strong and it isn't anyone else's business how you and your friends behave. So on that point, my female friends should really focus on my friendship with them, if they want me to flirt with them a little more,all they have to do is ask.

Daphne

Hello there world.












So this is really just a tester post, just feeling out what this brave new world of blogging could be. Well for starters here is a little information on what/who Fillies are. The Fillies team (if you could call it that) is comprised of myself and my partner in crime, both young females with strong viewpoints, interests and ambitions. We endeavor to be both trashy and classy- trassy, clashy? I like clashy. We are clashy, like wedge heeled trainers. So watch this space!

Fillies (Daphne and Dorothy)