Graffiti In Rome

There's a lot of really good street art in Rome, that often gets under looked because people are too busy taking pictures of the Colosseum. Which is fair enough, but some of it is pretty good I think, here are some that I took pictures of just today.

George Orwell Writing Rules

George being a cool dude.

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Follow up on an old post...

Hello fillies fans (if you exist, I hope you do) some of you may remember our 'When do you stop criticising Chris Brown?' post from a while ago, http://thefilliesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/when-do-you-stop-critisising-chris-brown.html. Considering whether or not you can separate the person/artist from their respective work, their personal lives from their professional and so on. 

Today I came across this and it once again renewed the debate for me - 

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/an-open-letter-from-dylan-farrow/

Essentially here Dylan Farrow confirms all the alleged reports from insiders and family friends on the subject of Allen's bizarre behaviour towards her when she was a small child. It actually made me sick to think that people consider Hollywood to matter so much that they would rather ignore the potential abuse of a small child, I don't know. The ability to look away makes me question if this is the bystander crime of the 21st century, ignoring celebrity indiscretions for the sake of  'Hollywood'. It all comes down to money in the end I guess? 

People clearly knew...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26005565

The BBC summary there just gives a sort of rounded explanation of the article and some of its 'triggers' and the potential/current effects on Hollywood and the cinematic world. 

This once again plunges me into a pit of self-criticism and questioning for loving Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona.

TEQUILAAAA!!

So I have made myself very ill off tequila on a handful of occasions, lessons have been learnt and unlearnt. Essentially I know I cannot drink tequila, but suddenly everyone is doing shots and....

Happy Friday Guys!!!!! Have one for me !

That Time When The Mormon Church Compared Chasity To The Battlefield and It Was Rather Homoerotic

source: Jezebel

I'm guessing the women's version would have her setting the kitchen on fire.


LOOK AT ALL THE LONGING. Nothing wrong with that, just a strange tactic for the Mormon Church to pursue.

That Time when You Argue with A Stupid Person

The Daily Mail Is Super Concerned About Cara Delevingne

Apparently : 'there is even talk that they are planning to get married, and that Cara will set up home in Los Angeles with Michelle, who has been to rehab and twice sent to jail for drink-driving.... Some of her friends, such as pop star Rita Ora — with whom Cara has also enjoyed a relationship with Sapphic overtones  (I am so totally using that phrase in the future)— appear to be keeping their distance. A source said: ‘Rita gets frustrated with what a mess Cara is at the moment. She and several of their friends think Cara’s getting sucked into that poisonous Hollywood world where anything goes.'...The agency told her over the summer that she needed to take a break, and she seemed to agree. But now she is back partying like a sailor on shore leave.

In November, she was pale and unsteady on her feet when leaving an Amsterdam marijuana cafe.There she had met up with the twerking pop star Miley Cyrus. They shared an open-mouthed kiss, which was posted (naturally) on Instagram.

Did they smoke dope? Given that they both proclaim how much they love it, you can only assume they did..... her family was able to persuade Cara to cancel plans for a massive 21st birthday party last August and instead spend time quietly at home with them. They also encouraged her to take a ten-day break at Mick Jagger’s house on Mustique, to rest and recuperate.

And I read all that in the Voice of Dolores Umbridge 

WE FINALLY HAVE A TUMBLR. And I don't know how to feel about it

So a few nights ago I decided it would be a Really Good Idea if Daphne and I had a tumblr as well as a blogspot, which in retrospect, wasn't a brilliant idea, but a sub-par one, because now we have to slowly move posts over ect. Although tumblr is a teensy bit easier. But I do like being able to reblog images, without having to comment on it, which I feel the need to do sometimes here, because that was the original aim, to comment. So I stayed up till 4 doing the logo on 'paint', you know that tool that everyone used when bored in ICT, and thus Fillies tumblr was born, and it looks pretty sweet if I might say so myself. I agree wholeheartedly. We will continue to be here though too.

http://thefilliesblog.tumblr.com/

Daenerys Targaryen would suit Valentino.

The Valentino show always makes me sigh, but this time it was especially beautiful. With luxurious materials and the most beautiful embroidery and designs it really makes me thankful that they haven't succumbed to the ugly IKEAesque like silhouettes of other fashion houses. I respect that they are still able to make beautiful clothes, WITHOUT those super dull and at the same still 'contemporary' silhouettes. Was it only me that was thinking of Daenerys Targaryen (GoT) when watching this show?

Notice it's Adam holding the apple

Beautiful, but as one genius commentator pointed out....

Bjork did it first.

“La morsure d’Eurydice”, tutu dress draped with blood red tulle embellished with a serpentmade of feathers.

“Cio-Cio San”, cape with multi-colored butterflies made of feathers.
Cadmium-colored silk dress.

“Le monde de la lune”, tutu dress draped with dark tulle, embellished with black feathers.

“Aida”, natural tussah silk dress, with fringing and printed with a lion and giraffe.

I really love the combination here of print and elegance, the unconventional combination makes me want it so much!

“Sémiramide en Babylone”, résille dress of gold threads, embellished with threads
and smoky gemstones.

Saturday Drama

So today I went to A and E with my friend following a particularly upsetting and painful drunken fall down some stairs last night. We expected she'd at least be given some painkillers and sympathy but instead we were met with judgement, a two minute appointment and she didn't even ask her questions related to back injuries such as 'do you/ did you have any pins and needles sensations?'. After getting a forty minute bus ride out of our way and time spent in the pouring rain, just for piece of mind, we were treated like drug abusing, promiscuous, arrogant teenagers that we evidently aren't. We brainstormed a multitude of potential reasons for this poor treatment, firstly that the health system in the UK is rubbish anyway and it's all about patient turnover, the quicker the appointment the better. Then we considered that being in Scotland, and considering the whole Scottish independence vote, that the Scottish nurse was anti-English. My personal opinion is that she thought we were ignorant students, out on the lash, making bad decisions and that it clearly wasn't serious because she'd waited till the next morning. At the end of the day if a Scottish housewife had consumed the same amount of alcohol, in the respectable form of wine or say a G&T after a hard day at work and had fallen down the stairs but left it till the next morning to go check it out she most definitely would have been treated with more general human empathy.

And that, my friends, really really annoys me. 

Frankly, my friend was in A LOT of pain and she got treated as if she'd gone in there with a paper cut. My friend was also nervous and wanted me to go in with her, which the nurse wouldn't allow. She was treating her as if she wasn't a person, a patient yes, an inconvenience entirely, but most definitely not a real human person with feelings and concerns. Her medical 'opinion' was you're fine, get over it, take it easy for a few days. The stairs my friend fell down were stone, she had had something to drink but was in so much pain she was crying and the alcohol was numbing it already, so basically excruciating and we went home immediately after because she was in so much pain. All she wanted was to go to bed and when she woke up the pain was still there, but the nurse made her feel embarrassed and ashamed and that really isn't okay. I understand that you see plenty at your job, but it is your job and she was already suffering, so is being nice really that hard. Just easing my friend's concerns a teeny bit would have helped. 

We bitched for a while then bought loads of food, ate that, bitched some more. And here I am bitching again. Well that is my rant of the day. I don't blame you if you decided to skim this. 

When you unexpectedly boss a situation

Don't you just love it, especially in arguments. (also on a The OC binge at the moment, oh Seth)

Sometimes I get sad about this

I always feel really really helpless in terms of animals I really care about, like pandas and tigers, dying out because it's such a distant thing to me. Especially because I don't have any disposable income to donate to the cause and that's what they seem to need. However I still think it's worth the awareness and there are a few petitions you can sign on here, which is what I did. So just check it out. Half the issue is loss of habitat so just boycotting none-rainforest alliance approved items (or foods containing palm oil causes the loss of vital habitat of other species). I suppose every little counts. 

http://www.savetigersnow.org/

(Also, if we didn't love Leonardo DiCaprio enough he's fronting this campaign)

http://worldwildlife.org/