beautiful

Iceland Day 4

Posted on by elemonated

This was both the best and worst day of the trip. We started out wonderfully with a lot of time in my new favorite town, Seyðisfjörður, where I finished the Iceland Day 2.2 post in the Hotel Aldan restaurant and had my first taste of reindeer, which was delicious. We kayaked for a couple of hours and met Mr. Hlynur Oddsson, our guide (the kayak guy, as informed by a waitress at Hotel Aldan) who was as kind and as funny as he was educational. Mr. Chokkattu was also able to wash our car for free, which is good because our little 2×4 was definitely begging to get clean after being covered in mud and dust from our drive. We also got to sing in Tvisongur, which we were told means “Double song/singing” and Mr. Chokkattu lent his lovely bass to the environment and I pittered out my minimally trained alto as accompaniment.

Later on, we had a delicious dinner at the Skaftfell visitor’s center, which also housed some interesting local art I recommend checking out if you go.  Read More

Iceland Day 3

Posted on by elemonated

Obviously, I didn’t really go through with the updating every day thing because of the lack of strong WiFi and time, but I have finally finished editing day 3 pictures, so here you go! It was a little chillier on day 3 than the previous two days, and we saw a little less civilization and a few more sheep, which Mr. Chokkattu and I enjoyed. Day 3 consisted mostly of water and ice, but there were lots of rocks and mountains as well, and I’ll include a bonus gallery about mountain flowers too!

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Iceland Day 2.2

Posted on by elemonated

This will be quick because our day’s already started, but I just wanted to finally share some of the things I saw Thursday now that I have some decent Wifi. I don’t have a chance to edit, so you’ll see my awkward photography skills in all their raw glory (check out Mr. Chokkattu’s blog for better pictures)! Names and everything should show up in the captions, I hope you all enjoy!

And for my scented folk; I’ve been wearing Annick Goutal’s Eau de Camille this entire time. Light, crisp, beautiful, and slightly sweet; just the thing to counteract the Seltun sulfur field and blend in with the grassy meadows and stony fields around us! Also, there’s a lot of lavender in Iceland, so while you’re walking through the fields, you’ll randomly get hits of sweet and spicy real lavender. It’s gorgeous.

Onto the pictures!

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Twisted Lily Haul: My Favorites

Posted on by elemonated

Before I begin, I will say that these are probably my current favorite fragrances, and thank you Twisted Lily for introducing me to Apoketer Tepe (though I wish I could stroll into Harlem and talk to the source, but perhaps that’s an ambition for another day) Apoketer Tepe’s After the Flood is a new darling, but I have no idea what took me so long to write about L’Artisan’s Tea for Two. They remind me of the best quiet emotions of spring and autumn. Having one on each wrist brings me some odd solace that only makes sense if you’re as obsessed as I am about the physical portrayals of transitions as a literary motif.

atf_straight.jpg

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Buly 1803

Posted on by elemonated

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/fashion/perfume-buly-1803-paris.html

Buly 1803 opened as a cosmetic and fragrance store on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris. Founded by Jean-Vincent Bully, who had a reputation for welcoming scientific breakthroughs into his cosmetic developing methods, in contrast to many of the old-school perfumers who treated perfumery as artistry and preserved and kept secret old traditions in favor of the new. He invented new methods and new formulas for his products, and was well-regarded as a distiller, perfumer, and cosmetician.

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Everything Before Us

Posted on by elemonated

Everything Before Us by Wong Fu Productions is coming out tomorrow and even through my body’s current trials and tribulations I am SO excited!

You can pre-order it, but since it comes out tomorrow I’m personally just going to wait. It’s Vimeo, not a theater, so it’s not as if the theater near me is going to fill up or sell out. Watch the trailer below if you haven’t already seen it!

In case you still don’t really get it, or just like it in writing, the description from the video reads:

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

Posted on by elemonated

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.)