Fjallkonan: Iceland

Check out this wonderful video Mr. Chokkattu made of our time in Iceland!

Both Jonsi’s Helmgilas and Phoenix’s Love Like a Sunset were songs we played over and over driving through the country and I think Iceland’s beauty can really only be underlined by someone from there. We both miss Iceland dearly, and personally, for me this video is a tribute to happiness.

(If you see some Asian dork in blue, it is 100% NOT ME. NOT ME AT ALL.)

蔡依林 Jolin Tsai – 不一樣又怎樣 (We’re All Different, Yet the Same)

Thankfully, progress has been made in the form of Taiwan granting workplace protection for LGBTs, and Taiwan in general has been leagues above other Asian countries in terms of LGBT rights. For most of Asia, homosexuality is still an underground movement, and perhaps shares a rather continent-wide “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” culture.

Taiwan is currently considering a marriage legalization bill, but it’s getting attacked from the Christian segments of the country, which is probably why the production company felt this video was necessary.

As the song goes: “各有各一生一世 各有各的溫柔鄉 / 神不神聖 愛這種信仰 誰說了算” (Everyone has their own life to live. And they all have someone to love. / Gods, religions and such, “love”, this kind of belief, who has the right to make rules on it.)

Drummer Permanently Exits Panic! At The Disco

http://fdrmx.com/drummer-permanently-exits-panic-at-the-disco/

That’s another nail in the coffin of my childhood. I can’t say I was a very loyal fan; during Spencer’s original leave of absence I basically forgot about the band, and I didn’t listen to the second or third albums. It was weird when Jon Walker and Ryan Ross left, and I don’t listen to their music when perhaps I should. Ryan Ross was my favorite after all. That was probably a big reason why I stopped listening. Panic! At the Disco’s first album consumed an entire year of my young life, followed me through two more, dropped off the face of my earth, and then came back to me years later in the form of an internet friend telling me that they were listening to the fourth album and that I should give them another listen. He got me to download it.

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Ineke A-H: Hothouse Flower

And the end of the Ineke reviews is here! I especially enjoyed the last three letters of her alphabet, but I admire her talent and ability and can’t wait to take a peek into her Floral Curiosities collection. Florals are absolutely my cup of tea, and I’m sure she’s done as lovely a job at creating those as she did her alphabetical collection.

Yuriko Nakamura’s Winter Romance

Hothouse Flower

Wet: violets, bubblegum, fig, banana
Dry: gardenia, violet, fig, bergamot, wood, banana cream

Whoever enjoy this scent probably takes their tea with cream, as the florals in it are backed by a definite creaminess and richness atop a little table of natural wood. This is a light, sweet scent, the lightest I think, of all of the selections in my little box, but bright and lush, with a scent similar to a ripe fruit. I think it’s a ripe banana, personally, but a ripe banana that’s still on its vine in someone’s garden somewhere foreign to me surrounded by other flourishing plants and you can still smell the tree on the fruits after you pick them, not the ultra-sweet piece of fruit someone’s been allowing to languish on a counter somewhere. It’s really very lovely and unobtrusive in a way all of the other scents besides Derring-Do have been. I would love to smell this scent on someone shy, as I think a fragrance like this garners quiet notice and, just like the smell itself grows on me as I wear it, indicates someone worth getting to know. This person may wear glasses, but they definitely wear cardigans and keep their arms close to their body.

Ineke A-H: Gilded Lily

Something light and happy, full orchestra!

Danny Elfman’s Sandra’s Theme from Big Fish

Gilded Lily

Wet: oregano, violet, lily, oakmoss, patchouli
Dry: lily, honey, oregano, citrus, oakmoss, powdery resin

This smells as though someone took an enormous amount of lilies and buried them in a stone garden and was immediately set on fire, and the scent is that moment as everything becomes really hot but nothing is smoking yet. It’s a very, very fleeting moment that is now preserved in my imagination by scent. The lilies are rooted in the stick labdanum and oakmoss and while it gives a nice, warm floral feeling, I really wish there was a little more dirt to round it out and make this the organic scent I was hoping this would turn into. This scent is sweet and fragrant and a little flirty, but I don’t find it sexy. This is more for the girl next door who wears fuzzy pastel sweaters and greets everyone with an enthusiastic “Hi!” Pretty, cute, and light-hearted.

Ineke A-H: Field Notes From Paris

Piano as an accompaniment to string today! I think I first heard this song when I was 16, though I don’t quite remember why. I try not to question discoveries of beauty.

Norihiro Tsuro’s Last Carnival, from the Acoustic Cafe album

Field Notes From Paris

Wet: lavender, coriander, citrus, leather, wood
Dry: coriander, lavender, tobacco flower, patchouli, cedar, tonka bean, lime, maybe a little rosemary

This is my new sexy scent, directly in competition with all of the jasmine I adore. It’s incredibly delightful: deep, dark, and warm, as well as complex. It moves in a swirl like a gust of warm wind, something absolutely welcome in this frigid cold. Strangely, it’s the herbs, the coriander and the bit of rosemary I get that reminds me most of the coffee implied in the description, though the tobacco comes through and keeps the fragrance warm. I love that its sweetness is wholly tempered, and it gives it depth and dimension that I don’t normally come across. It reminds me of bedroom eyes on an attractive person, or simply a person you’re in love with, as love automatically makes them beautiful.

I wear this personally, and I think this is a scent that benefits from a little dancing and sweat, but it’s a beautiful scent and I can see it on a guy who isn’t afraid to wear purple, and is trained in some art or another, which he pursues with passion.