amazing

Barcelona Day 1

Posted on by elemonated

Some of you may know that every year the Mobile World Congress is held in Barcelona. If you knew that, you’re either Mr. Chokkattu or a huge tech nerd (or both), and as for the rest of you, the Mobile World Congress is held by the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association, a huge network of nearly 800 operators and more than 250 companies in the mobile sphere, every year in Barcelona and is essentially one huge conference with talks, lectures, exhibitions, panels, and demos.

Mr. Chokkattu got to go to this giant annual event and do cool things like interview tech disruptors and play with virtual reality goggles, and I just got a t-shirt.

Just kidding, he flew me out for the weekend immediately proceeding the conference.

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L’Air du Desert Marocain vs. Lonesome Rider

Posted on by elemonated

Took me long enough.

I’ve written about LADDM before:

Tauer L’Air Desert Du Marocain

  • Wet: oak, amber, vetiver, cedar, balsamic vinegar
  • Dry: vetiver, cedar, coriander, amber, jasmine, balsamic vinegar

Mr. Chokkattu’s first love, and the one he wears the most often, LADDM is a dark, woody, smoky, slightly sweet thing with a low voice and dark hair. It starts with a sharp balsamic over a dark base, and then evens out, and as per the name the resulting fragrance is dry, hot, and slightly sweet. I really like this one, and Mr. Chokkattu only let me borrow this one because he has another sample of it.

New impressions:

L’Air du Desert Marocain is still Mr. Chokkattu’s favorite (though A La Nuit is edging in), and fortunately I am not at his freezing place trying this on, but I still think this could benefit from a bit of heat, at least to give it context.

Sweet sun-dried grass and hay, powdery amber, hot, warm cardamom, basil, singed cedar and oak bark and ashes and incense, all on a bed of jasmine. Read More

Parfums de Marly: Oajan, Lippizan, Kuhuyan reviews!

Posted on by elemonated

Parfums de Marly is another one of those fun contemporary fragrance houses that liken to old traditions; as far back as Louis XV’s prestigious horse races, and as front-facing as the MySpace-esque format and music on their web page. But that’s not a knock; the page has a clean, intuitive look, and I appreciate it over the many companies who believe it should be as difficult and stylistic as possible to learn any information on their pages. I do wish the waltz they’re playing didn’t stop so abruptly before starting over.

Anyway, I have heard good things about this brand, and hope to one day also try Herod and Habdan, as well as see their take on women’s fragrances!

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Pokemon’s 20th Anniversary coming up!

Posted on by elemonated

On February 27th, Pokemon will be celebrating their 20th anniversary with a release of a new 3DS bundle, as well as a re-release of Red, Blue, and Yellow for 3DS, making popular amiibos (Charizard, Jigglypuff, Greninja, Lucario and Pikachu) available at select retailers, special trading card expansions, digitally remastered Pokemon movies, and a bunch of other stuff we might not have learned about yet.

There will also be several distribution events for Pokemon X/Y and Pokemon Omega Ruby/Sapphire at Gamestop this year; Pokemon include Mew, Celebi, and Genesect!

They also have this amazing Super Bowl ad that they released.

To the kids telling themselves affirmations to the pyrotechnics and crowds cheering, this ad is making me tear up and get excited about the biggest franchise that ruled my childhood next to Legos and Hello Kitty.

Good night, Alan Rickman

Posted on by elemonated

Alan Rickman has died at the age of 69 from cancer.

I wanted to write a little something to remember him by for myself, as well as include some bits of his talent just in case anyone’s forgotten about how amazing this man was because I am just incredibly sad and I don’t really know what else to do.

As a child of the Harry Potter era, reading and watching it fervently, going through as many ups and downs as the characters and the actors that I could know about, the most important of Alan Rickman’s roles to me was Professor Snape. He made Snape accessible, funny, steely but gentle, and his motivations complex and understandable to the point where even JK Rowling changed her perception of the character after watching Rickman’s interpretation. Fanfic after fanfic about the softer side of Snape, and the possible misunderstood an maligned nature of the Slytherin house in general, came out full force after his portrayal because of his portrayal.

We all fell in love. I know I did.

He is missed by that cast and Rowling herself.

Good night Mr. Rickman. You will be sorely missed.

Imaginary Authors: Stories III (Every Storm a Serenade)

Posted on by elemonated

IA-logoI’ll preface this to say that when Mr. Chokkattu got Every Storm a Serenade in the mail, it also came with Cape Heartache and Yesterday Haze and Yesterday Haze had leaked all over everything. Mr. Chokkattu, who is not a big fan of fig, was not pleased and we tried to scrub it off our hands and off the other bottles and were unable. The other samples still smelled ostensibly like Yesterday Haze for a whole week, and it stuck to our hands for hours afterwards. Mr. Chokkattu also reported his clothes smelling like it the next day. So for all of you that really like fig and woods, but were concerned about longevity, don’t be. Yesterday Haze is a great fig. Get a bottle, have fun.

I have a lot to say about this one. Every Storm a Serenade is Imaginary Author’s “traveling by ocean” aquatic scent (read: woody) in comparison with their Falling Into the Sea aquatic scent, which is more “at the beach” and not a little soapy in execution. And Falling Into the Sea lasts an awful lot longer, which is unfortunate because I’m not that fond of Falling Into the Sea at this temperature, and like Every Storm much better.

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Quebec City Day 2

Posted on by elemonated

DOG SLEDDING.

DOGS.

I LOVE DOGS.

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THERE WERE SO MANY TODAY AND THEY WERE ALL SO ADORABLE.

Also, dog sledding is incredibly exhilarating. It makes you feel powerful and strong and the cold air rushing past your face while you ride through trails with your team is just perfect. I highly recommend it. Don’t be afraid to be in control either! I “drove” for two straight hours, then a break, and then Mr. Chokkattu drove the last hour back to the compound, and our path guide was about as big as I was. We managed just fine, though being a lighter weight has mild disadvantages (kids, for example, just by weight should not be given control of the sleds, as the family we road in a group with showed by constantly falling behind and falling off their sled. They were great sports about it though!)

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Happy New Years + Quebec City Day 1

Posted on by elemonated

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your celebrations went well.

We decided to go visit Edgewater and see if we could get a glimpse of the NYC fireworks this year, as well as get shabu-shabu. The display wasn’t as big as we had hoped, but the food was good and we were in good company.

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We then drove off to Canada, final destination Quebec City! We stopped by in Montreal for breakfast. Shout-out to the two random guys in a car that offered me weed. I appreciate the sentiment, hope you had a great New Year’s. I did not accept, by the way. We stopped into Second Cup before heading off again.

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My favorite gourmands

Posted on by elemonated

I don’t wear a lot of gourmands. I’m an ethereal or incense floral kind of girl. I’m also a fan of the weird stuff, like the fish market Etat Libre D’Orange Secretions Magnifiques and the fermented Byredo Pulp. That being said, tis’ the season! It’s cold and dark and dreary (or it would be if not for global warming), so wanting a bit of warm creamy sweetness is to be expected.

This is a list for people who probably aren’t really into gourmands. No big vanilla bombs to be found, I apologize. Read More