Mad as a talking lobster.
Mad
24 Monday Oct 2016
Posted in Notes
Tag Archives: writer
Rebel Without a Cause (1955): a retrospective
21 Friday Oct 2016
Tags
adulthood, cinema, film, hollywood, james dean, life, prose, rebel without a cause, retrospective, teenager, vintage, writer, writing
The disillusioned teenager in me never died. James Dean called and I answered; that is to say, his brutally realistic portrayal of troubled teen Jim Stark reminded me of myself all those years ago—I think 15 is the average age at which one sheds their childhood coil—when, along with my peers, it became more apparent than ever to us that pain and suffering are inevitable, as is death.
The angst was real and it was raw. For the hypersensitive ones who felt and thought about everything deeply and personally, creative expression Continue reading
Eyes
11 Tuesday Oct 2016
Posted in Notes
Eyes like dewy hydrangeas.Writing
04 Tuesday Oct 2016
Posted in Notes
Chopin & the little death
30 Friday Sep 2016
Posted in Beauty
I find Chopin’s music incredibly soothing, gentle, and elegant. And in all that which is the aforementioned, there is Grace and Beauty. Grace and Beauty are capitalised here in allusion to the old poetic tradition, where vital intangible things like Death and Spirt are given the capital treatment.
And speaking of Death, I happen to live for la petit mort, Continue reading
Happy 120th birthday, F. Scott Fitzgerald
24 Saturday Sep 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
art, artist, f scott fitzgerald, illustration, literature, love, poetry, prose, writer, writing
Decided to celebrate my favourite writer’s big day with a hand-drawn portrait. Celebrate with me by reading my love letter to him, or my musings on how John Keats’ Romantic poetry impacted his prose style. And don’t forget to have some gin & tonic!
Coloured pencil on pastel paper. More art can be found on my Instagram @artbybettyboo.
On feelings, friendship, and being female
21 Wednesday Sep 2016
Posted in Letters
Tags
concert, feelings, feminism, friendship, letter, life, longreads, music, prose, women, writer, writing
How would you like to be left at a concert by your very best friend? Aside from feeling utterly gutted, I was sick with guilt and worry. What was I doing dragging her to something she wouldn’t enjoy, and how was I to live with myself if something were to happen to her on her way home, alone at night? To further complicate things, that live performance ended up being the most emotionally intense musical experience of my life. It was, paradoxically, the best and worst night ever. This is a raw and honest open letter to my best friend about that night. Continue reading
Little Russian prince
13 Tuesday Sep 2016
Posted in Beauty
The most gorgeous little boy came into my workplace today. I was talking to his mother when a blur of blonde swished past her hips; my view was blocked at first by the high counter behind which I stood, but when I brought the catalogue of Christening cakes to her table later, I couldn’t help but take a good look at what I knew would be a child cherubic enough to send Raphael into a frenzy of Sistine proportions.
And he was: his perfectly round little head, platinum under the sun just then, was now strawberry blonde verging on faux ginger as he sat where the light did not reach. Add to that a chubby buttermilk face that was freckle-free and spotless, fresh and soft the way all baby skin are, and add also his impossibly light, fairy-like golden lashes and you almost have the whole picture. Almost; but oh his eyes! Continue reading
Ciabatta try these puns, hun!
04 Sunday Sep 2016
Posted in Conversations
Preface
This batch of freshly baked puns is for anyone who’s ever inflicted a dad joke on me; happy Father’s Day you man-sized child!
I
Avid aesthete: [gazes at bright-eyed, raven-haired beauty] Look at her; she’s so damn beautiful. I must shoot her—I need to shoot her!
Companion: [is visibly shocked] Shoot her?! You mean like kill her??? Continue reading
Litbaits: click and ye shall find!
30 Tuesday Aug 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
- Children Disappear Into Wardrobe, Emerge With Tale Of Talking Jesus Lion →
- Criminals Hate Him! Crackhead Detective Can’t Stop Solving Crimes →
- Hot Russian Woman Cheats On Husband, Gets SMASHED By Train →
- Egomaniac Boss Ignores Extensive Warnings About No Good March Day, Brutally Stabbed To Death By Right-hand Man →
- American Girl Abroad Too Flirty For Her Own Good, Dies →
- Sex Maniac Father Obsessed With 12-Year-Old Stepdaughter: You Won’t Believe What He Did To Her! →
- Scientists Are Baffled! Virgin Gives Birth To Miracle Baby; Who’s The Father?! →
- Old And Ugly As Sin: You Won’t Recognise Dorian Gray In His Last Selfie →
- They Locked Him In A Cupboard Under The Stairs, Who He Turned Out To Be Is His Best Revenge →
- Meet The Shady Mogul Who Throws Extravagant Parties To Lure “Love Of His Life”—What He Said To Her Will Shock You! →
- She Tried To Kill Herself, Doctors Fried Her Brains! →
* With reverent apologies to: C. S. Lewis; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Leo Tolstoy; William Shakespeare; Henry James; Vladimir Nabokov; Oscar Wilde; J. K. Rowling; F. Scott Fitzgerald; Sylvia Plath.
the rose garden 