The July mix-tape

This month actually involved me listening to current music, but couldn't hold back from a bit of Macca . . . read on to see what I'm on about.

1. Oh Girl You're The Devil - Mika
I discovered this song whilst looking for songs to put in 'the Satanic songlist' for my holiday and as this song had the word 'devil' in the title, it was inevitable I was going to find it. I used to love Mika when I was younger but I hadn't listened to him for ages, and I just fell in love with this song. It's got a nice syncopated piano backing and some rad harmonies in the backing vocals, it's just basically been stuck in my head for the whole month.

2. Good for You - Selena Gomez ft. A$AP Rocky
I've never been a massive Selena Gomez fan, I'm not sure if it's because she's just a bit meh in terms of vocal ability or if it's because I was a belieber when I was 14 and I have some sort of pent up rage at the fact that she got to date Justin and I didn't*, but I decided to give this song a listen after seeing some people talking about it on Twitter. It's a bit Lana Del Rey-esque, and I think that style of music is definitely something she should look into because it suits her voice quite well.

3. Bills - Lunchmoney Lewis
I heard this song on a Spotify advert and immediately typed in the lyrics into Google to find out what the song was. This song is one hell of a toe-tapper, it may not have the most meaningful lyrics but it's been stuck in my head for the most part of the month - although I'm certain this isn't going to become one of my favourite songs, it's just very catchy.

4. My Little Red Book - Ronan Keating
I've actually been listening to both the Manfred Mann and Ronan Keating version of this song, I think Burt Bacharach writes some great great stuff and this has been stuck in my head since I decided to watch High Fidelity again, as this song is used nearer the end of the film and it's one I hadn't picked up on when watching the film before. Burt Bacharach just writes some amazing stuff and the instrumentation and the harmonies in the backing vocals in the Ronan Keating version is amazing (any song with a brass section will win my heart over) but the actual music is good so I quite like the Manfred Mann version too.

5. Silly Love Songs - Wings
I've loved this song for years like I am quite invested in the works of Paul McCartney whether it be The Beatles, solo work, or Wings. I've always classed this as a very good song, but it came up on my Spotify shuffle and I hadn't listened to it in a while, and I was doing a whole lying-in-the-dark-listening-to-music-dealy and I just realised quite how amazing it is. I quite like the lyrics, the instrumentation, and Paul McCartney's sweet voice.

What music have you been listening to this month?

*I actually never hated Selena during my belieber phase, okay I wasn't an insane fangirl

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What I should've taken in my travel makeup bag

Recently I went on holiday with a bunch of friends to Lytham - a slightly different choice to your average Magaluf vacation but it was a lot of fun and the weather was great. I was going to do a travel makeup bag post before the holiday but I didn't really have time, and what I realised when I came back is that I packed a hell of a lot more than I needed, so this is present Bess telling past Bess what she should've taken.

Past Bess actually did pretty well on the base items and they all got used everyday. The only colour correcting item I brought and used was the MUA Pro-Base Prime & Conceal in Peach which I put under my eyes to cancel out dark circles, and believe me I didn't get a lot of sleep on this trip at all so it was definitely needed everyday. For foundation, we had the Maybelline Fit Me Foundation in 220 as it's the only foundation that matches my skin perfectly and it can be built up to a high coverage or left as a light one. For concealer, I brought the Collection Cover Stick in Natural Beige and the Revlon Colourstay Concealer in Medium Deep, Revlon's offering was a good all over face concealer because it's high in coverage whilst being creamy and it matches my skin pretty well, but for under the eyes I mixed it with the Collection Cover Stick as it's a bit lighter and helped brighten the undereye area. To set my under eyes, I used the MUA Matte Perfect Loose Powder in Translucent because cooking is the only method that works to stop my undereye concealer from creasing - how many 18 year olds have to deal with fine lines and dark circles? To set everything in place I used the Collection Pressed Powder in Translucent which is a pretty fine milled powder so you don't result in cake face but everything is set for quite a few hours, although it definitely disappeared a bit on my face when we went to Blackpool because the weather was scorching on that day.

In the brow department, past Bess probably bought a little bit more than was necessary as she packed both a brow pencil and a powder and a clear gel. All I actually used was Makeup Revolution's Mono Eyeshadow in Delicious and the Essence Clear Brow & Lash Gel, the brow pencil wasn't used once.

For the eyes I brought quite a few unnecessary things when really I could've just gone for the Maybelline Colour Tattoo 24hr in On and On Bronze which is basically the easiest eye product to use ever, the Collection Fast Stroke Liquid Eyeliner which is my all time favourite liquid liner and was used basically everyday (so it was a little bit pointless bringing a gel liner as well), Maybelline's The Colossal Volume Express Mascara which is without a doubt the best mascara I've ever tried as it ensures volume and length, and the Rimmel Scandaleyes Kohl Kajal Eyeliners in Nude and Black.

For contouring, I should've just brought the Makeup Revolution Mono Eyeshadow in Mmmm and the Makeup Revolution Vivid Baked Highlighter in Golden Lights - when you're travelling, it's definitely not the time to experiment with a cream contour stick that you've barely used before.

For lips, I brought an abundance of lipsticks as well as buying two more while we were there. I brought three nudes and a red, I didn't use the red once but I did use the Collection Lasting Colour Lipstick in China Rose nearly everyday and then I purchased Maybelline's Colour Sensational Lipstick in Velvet Beige and I wore that a lot too - I just can't be bothered with red lips in the summer, and I don't know why I thought the holiday would be an exception.

Over to you, what are your travel makeup bag essentials?

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What I've been watching #6

It feels like it's been a while since I've done one of these posts, I've not really been watching a lot of films recently (except for the weekly family movie choices) because I've majorly been focusing on TV shows - recently finished Attack on Titan (which was amazing I can't even begin to explain) and I'm on series 3 of Orange is the New Black (finally) so films have taken somewhat of a back seat, but here I have a few of the films I've been watching recently!

THE GOOD FATHER (1985)
★★★
The Good Father is a film about a man called Bill Hooper who has just come out of a divorce and lost the custody of his son, he then meets someone called Roger in a similar situation so Bill decides to take up Roger's cause as his own and agrees to pay all the legal fees. However, Bill tries to reconnect with his ex-wife and begins to regret what he and Roger have done.

When I read the synopsis of this film on the back of the DVD I didn't think I would like it as it just seemed like an anti-feminist film, and I wasn't sure whether it was going to be anti-feminist in a funny way (y'know like those meninist parody accounts on Twitter) but the whole film was basically making a mockery of misandry, which is what a lot of anti-feminists interpret feminism to be, so it didn't bug me too much. The film was interesting although I think it definitely showed its age. This was actually Stephen Fry's first film appearance which I thought was pretty cool because I love Stephen Fry and I don't think I'd ever seen him so young, I don't think this film was a must-see film or anything but it wasn't too long and it had interesting moments in it.

CHICAGO (2002)
★★★★
Chicago is about women who have killed people but the focus is on Roxie Hart who dreams of being famous, and she cheats on her husband in order to try and get into the whole famous lifestyle, but she's deceived and long story short she kills someone. In prison, she meets Velma Kelly, who she previously looked up to, and Velma shows an immediate dislike to Roxie. Velma used to make all the headlines before Roxie comes along and steals the spotlight, then they find each other fighting for the attention of the press as well as the attention of their shared lawyer.

I actually watched this film over a couple of days because I started watching it with my friends when I was holidaying in Lytham but we didn't finish it so I decided to finish it at home. I wanted to watch this for ages because I knew the songs in it and I love musicals so so much, and this didn't disappoint. I quite liked how the film was a bit girl-power (in an albeit twisted way) and the story was entertaining with a lot of good songs - definitely worth a watch if you like musicals, imagine Spice Girls meets . . murder (probably not the best way to suggest a film but hey)

THE CAT RETURNS (2002)
★★★
The Cat Returns is about a high school student called Haru and she one day saves a cat from being run over. The cat turns out to be a prince called Lune, and as a thank you Lune's Father asks Haru to marry Lune. Haru is then taken to the cat kingdom and she starts to develop cat-like features, she's also then prevented from leaving. So, the Baron and Toto, who are statues who have been given life, help her to regain her freedom.

I watched this because I love a good Ghibli film and I recorded a bunch of them when Ghibli season was on e4 (although I was revising for exams so I'm only just being able to watch them now) and I had seen a snippet of this when it was on before. It was a bit of fun, I did like it and I would watch it again but I didn't think it was a particularly outstanding movie, it was just a bit of film fluff if you will. Storyline wise it was quite weak in comparison to other Ghibli films like Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle, but it was enjoyable and I did get a few laughs out of this. Plus it was quite short, so if you want a laugh then this is pretty decent but it felt a bit kiddy for me. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, kids need films too, it's unfair for me to criticise this for being appropriate for an audience I don't fit into anymore. So essentially, this is a funny children's film, not a must-see film, but definitely not a bad film.

AN INSPECTOR CALLS (1954)
★★★★
An Inspector Calls starts off with the Birling family sitting down to a meal and they celebrate the engagement of the daughter, Sheila, to Gerald Croft. Then, they are interrupted by an Inspector who informs them that a girl called Eva Smith is suspected to have committed suicide, and they may have more to do with it than they initially think.

I studied An Inspector Calls for my English GCSE a couple of years ago (got an A in it too) and I did watch a different version of the film at the time, but I revisited it because my brother, who is currently studying for his GCSEs, chose it for his movie choice and I hadn't seen this version of the film so I was interested to see how they did it. I think the story is really great and having studied it for English made it more interesting just because I could still remember the analytical points and I think in general it's a very good play. I have to say I didn't think this version of the film was great in the respects that it wasn't the best interpretation of the play, they changed the Inspector's name from Goole to Poole which, while it's only a small change, eradicates one of the deeper points on it about how the Inspector may or may not exist (y'know like Goole as in ghoul like ghosty stuff). Plus, the way they addressed the flashbacks I thought wasn't the best approach because in the play you don't really know Eva Smith or how she really acted, what we know is what the Inspector and the other characters tell us, and I felt like the way they did the flashbacks didn't include that somewhat biased telling of the story which is necessary for the way the story is told. However, comparisons to the play aside, as a stand alone film, it was pretty good. Quite fast moving and still leaves you in confusion at the end. The only thing that really upset me that they missed out was the Inspector's final speech near the end of the play which essentially focused on our responsibility to each other and communal values and all that jazz, which is the heart of the play so by missing that out you're misunderstanding what An Inspector Calls is about. Again, with a book-to-film situation you have to judge the film as a single piece of work, but I just feel like missing that out was a poor decision. Overall, pretty good, but the BBC adaptation is much closer to the book and if you're studying I'd definitely recommend that one (and you can find the full version on YouTube here)

A VERY BRITISH COUP (1988)
★★★★
A Very British Coup is the story of a trade unionist and steelworker from Sheffield called Harry Perkins who becomes leader of the Labour Party and then Prime Minister at the end of the 1980s. However, the right-wing establishment and American allies plot Perkins' downfall from the day he gets into power. The film shows how politics gets dirty, and where Perkins can stick to his socialist roots and what can come of that.

My Mum chose this for her movie choice (although it's more of a mini-series, it comes up on Letterboxd as a film so I'm assuming it's a TV movie situation - anyone who was around at the time, perhaps you can fill me in?) because in the Oates household, we've been talking about Jeremy Corbyn a lot, y'know the socialist who's running for Labour leader. In fact, we've all joined the Labour party (well I'm still in the process of doing it because I procrastinate) in order to vote for him, but Mum told us that Harry Perkins was essentially Jeremy Corbyn. Although the film leaves you thinking that a socialist leader wouldn't work for Prime Minister (and I remain hopeful that Corbyn would be an amazing Prime Minister), I thought it was a really entertaining watch. It's quite anti-establishment because it shows how the people from the inside will do what they can to stop a left-wing government succeeding, definitely worth a watch!

What films have you watched recently?

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August wishlist

I didn't do a wishlist post last month because I had done quite a bit of shopping and there wasn't anything else I really wanted, however this month it's not the case and there are few things I have been eyeing up . . .

First up, I've been looking into buying a wireless speaker system from Panasonic because in the summer I really like to blast my music, plus the speakers on my laptop aren't amazing so I definitely should look into getting some external speakers and these ones are wireless which makes them a bit more practical. I really like the sleek, black design of the SC-ALL3 speakers and it looks quite small as well so it would be pretty easy to carry around and even travel with. Also, these particular speakers have mostly 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon so they seem to be fairly popular.

Next up is something that was on my Spending Ban wishlist that I did a while ago and that's the Tangle Teezer (in pink, because pink is cute as heck). I said it at the time and I'll say it again, I'm not happy that they spelled it like 'Teezer' - shoddy spelling doesn't go down well with me, but this product seems to go down with a lot of people on YouTube with thick hair, which is something I have. I don't really like brushing my hair that often because it goes really frizzy but not curly at all (if you've watched some of my older YouTube videos, most of which are unlisted now, you'll see what my hair looks like brushed and it's not pretty) but before I wash it I have to brush it to get all the tangles out otherwise it'll go all matted and horrible, so I thought this would make the job a lot easier. I feel like spending about a tenner on what is essentially a brush to be quite expensive but for a really good product, I think it's more of an investment.

Lil secret - I've never used a primer before. I'm very skeptical about additions to the beauty industry, I've been treating primer as a more expensive moisturizer and I still believe these fancy setting sprays are nothing more than glamorized H2O (correct me if I'm wrong, I just hear so many people saying they don't do much for them), but it's summer and I'm tired of makeup separating on my oily areas so it's time to try a primer. I quite like the Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation (even though the shade range gives me problems as with most drugstore foundations) and I've seen quite a few good reviews of the Lasting Finish Primer, so I thought that'd be a good one to start out on - but if you have any other recommendations, please tell me!

I really love trying different brow products and after hearing quite a few good things about the Maybelline Brow Satin Eyebrow Pencil, I've decided I've got to try it. It seems a little Brow Wiz-esque but for a much smaller price tag, plus I'm quite intrigued by the eyeshadow sponge side too - if I get it, you'll definitely hear more from me on this one . . .

The last thing on my list is something that's been majorly hyped up in the YouTube world mostly by makeup artists, and it's the Ben Nye Banana Luxury Powder. The reason I want to try this is because I've been majorly into cooking my concealer ever since I discovered it was a thing people did, it's essentially revolutionised my concealing life but I usually do it with a translucent powder, and I've heard that using a yellow toned powder would help brighten up that area also anywhere else where you might want to highlight. I never thought to look it up because I thought it'd be crazy expensive but it's actually only about £13 (sans delivery) for a big jar which I don't think is too bad at all, so I'm definitely hoping to order this at some point!!

What's on your wishlist at the moment?

*This is a sponsored post

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Sleepovers, ciders, and new obsessions

one.
I finally tried out the whole reverse washing thing that seems to be revolutionising hair washing at the moment, I have to say my hair feels hella soft so nice one beauty community!!

two.
I have been obsessed with Wayne Goss' videos at the moment, I had seen a few of his before and thought they were good but I've been watching them non-stop - definitely give them a go if you're quite interested in makeup technique!

three.
I decided to watch Across the Universe again as I haven't seen it in a long time and I'm so in love, I remember loving it the last time I watched it but it's a theatrical masterpiece. A must-watch for any Beatles fan but even if you're not into The Beatles (in which case, you are beyond help sorry*) it's just such an enjoyable film. It takes place during the 60s so it's very much focused on protests and love and revolution, and the way Beatles songs are used to aid the storyline is brilliant - especially I Want You (She's So Heavy) like the interpretation of that song for this film is just spectacular.

four.
I went out to Westfield with a bunch of friends after staying in the house for about a week post-holiday (not joking, I literally didn't leave the house) and it was really lovely to meet up with people post-exam because the whole stress factor is gone (at this point, wait until results day draws nearer).

five.
I slept round at my friend's house with a few other friends and I don't think I've laughed so much in ages, we watched Emperor's New Groove (one of my all-time favourite Disney films), The Addams Family, and Grease, as well as having an abundance of cider and playing the iPhone Charades app at 5am - I think we can establish I can't make animal noises for the life of me.

six.
At the sleepover, we did a little makeover session and made over my friends Khushboo and Joey who don't usually wear makeup - it was quite funny because they didn't know what half the products do, except now they want to give me a makeover which could turn out quite badly . . . stay tuned on my YouTube channel, you may see something there . . . *gulp*

seven.
After spending a day apart with my friends, we decided another sleepover was in order and in the duration of that sleepover I have become hooked on Attack on Titan - we watched about 12 episodes and I'm so in love. I don't want to finish it though because apparently there's a massive cliffhanger and it's going to be about a year for the next series to come out (unless I start reading the manga) - seriously, I think anyone could get into this, the episodes are short and action packed but if you're not into action, you'll probably like it, and so far that hasn't really been much romance which is really refreshing.

eight.
As well as Wayne Goss, I've become obsessed with Kandee Johnson's videos. I'm not sure what it is but I'm loving the professional makeup artists on YouTube at the moment, I always had this preconception that they were pretentious because they knew what they were doing so I always preferred watching people who did the cliche disclaimer 'I'm not a makeup artist' at the beginning of their videos, but the makeup artists on YouTube are anything but pretentious and they're really helpful so I've been obsessed.

nine.
I've rewatched the entirety of Tracy Beaker Returns in the past few weeks (y'know the spin off from the Story of Tracy Beaker?) and I forgot how good it was! Sure, it's still a bit of a kiddy show but I've actually cried at it a fair few times (as I did the first time I watched it) and it does actually talk about some pretty real issues, I've moved onto the spin-off from that which is The Dumping Ground which is also pretty good - don't poopoo Tracy Beaker folks.

ten.
It was my friend Isabella's 18th birthday (you've probably seen her if you've watched any of my vlogs on my YouTube channel) and she threw a garden party which was super cute, although the weather was a little bit icky (hey, it's England) it was a lot of fun!

*This is a very tongue in cheek comment, it's cool if you don't like The Beatles. Well, not cool, you'll come to your senses soon.

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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A foundation that fits me better than my favourite sweater

I tried to find other song lyrics for the title of this post, but I couldn't resist the Lana Del Rey reference (she is one of my favourite human beings, I like her a lot) but there are bigger things at hand than the sadcore queen . . . Okay, maybe not, Lana is important shiz but seriously I've found a foundation that matches my skin perfectly and, that too, is important shiz.

See if you can spot what's a little bit wrong with this photo, if you get it comment down below . . . 

The foundation in question in the Maybelline Fit Me foundation which I haven't heard many people talk about on the bloggersphere or in the world of YouTube, the odd mention here and there but never any rave reviews. Here I am to fill the void. This foundation literally matches my skin's neutral-kinda-warm-but-kinda-not-sure-because-i-am-incompetent undertones and the consistency of it is like putting an extra layer of skin on the face, but not in a creepy White Chicks kinda way*. I hate to use the word dewy because dew reminds me of either grass in the morning or sweat, neither of which are things I really want on my face, but this foundation gives a semi-dewy finish which is really nice for the warmer seasons in my opinion. I usually powder afterwards anyway which makes it more neutral in terms of matt-ness or dewy-ness but this foundation just looks exquisite on the skin whether you use powder or not. It lasts pretty well on the skin although my oily nose eats it up, but my oily nose eats up most foundations, braver foundations than Maybelline's offering have tried and failed to stick around on my nose, however even against my nose Fit Me stands up pretty well, but I usually cook my powder around that area anyway so that's not too much of an issue.

One of the reasons I felt it especially important to inform you all on the amazeballs qualities of the Maybelline Fit Me foundation is because of the compliments I've been getting on it as well as how much I like it regardless. Basically, this foundation is under a tenner, has a pretty decent shade range, has a nice finish, and is generally just pretty fantabulous - this stuff is the shiznitz.

*Don't get me wrong, I love White Chicks but regardless of how many times I watch it, I still find their faces creepy.

What's your favourite foundation at the moment?

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June favourites

I'm not going to do that annoying blogger/vlogger thing where I talk about how fast the month has gone, is it just me who finds that annoying? Am I just bitter? Unappealing personality traits aside, I have a bunch of beauty favourites to tell you about, and if you watch the video you'll hear about non-beauty favourites too - it's almost like an incentive to go watch my YouTube channel, y'know you might want to watch it.

Max Factor Glossfinity Nail Polish in 119 Forever Glam | An extremely odd choice for someone who isn't a fan of loud colours in general, like my nails generally don't stray too far from black and red with maybe a glitter top coat around the festive season, but I really love this nail polish. The formula is ahmayzing, it claims to last up to 7 days and that's not a lie. I use two coats of this sans base coat or top coat, and it lasts me 7 days with minor chips - so if you did use a top coat or a base coat, it would probably last even longer. It also dries really quickly and you get a pretty smooth application, I think the formula's probably comparable to Essie, Essie's that tiny bit better, but then Essie is a couple of pounds more expensive. This colour is a bright raspberry sort of pink, which I like because I generally stray far from pink but this isn't a Dolly Parton kinda pink so it's definitely one to try if you want to venture into more bright nail colours.

Essence Long Lasting Lipstick in Natural Beauty | I've actually owned this for a while but honestly I've been worried to use it because, like I said earlier I generally don't do pink in my makeup, but this is a really nice pinky nude sort of colour. It's a balmy consistency and it's sort of a MLBB lipstick deal, it doesn't last more than a few hours so you have to reapply but I've been wearing it nearly everyday this month.

InstaNatural Advanced Repair Scar Gel* | I honestly didn't think I would get any sort of major results from this scar gel when I received it, but it's actually managed to fade the few acne scars I've had on my face for a few years. My skin's pretty good but these few scars have always been there, however within a few days of using this day and night I noticed them fading and they're barely visible now which is almost unbelievable, but it works. It doesn't work on stretch marks though I might add, or at least not to the same effect it does on acne scars.

Soap & Glory Butter Yourself Moisture Lotion | I've finally finished my tub of the Righteous Butter from Soap & Glory, it's taken me about a year and a half to finish this! Although. I think I might prefer this moisture lotion which I've finally been able to give a proper go. It smells sort of tropical so it just feels more summery, I also feel like it moisturises me a lot more than the Righteous Butter and I like the pump application, even though I think this might lead to be wasting more money.

Rimmel 25hr Lasting Finish Nude Foundation | The first time I used this was actually in my first GRWM video on my YouTube channel (now unlisted, you can find it if you go all Sherlock though) and I hated it on first impression. To be fair, I was a bit paler because it was winter and I don't think using a brush to apply it was the best idea. However, I've been using this a lot now that my skin's getting a bit more tanned with the summer weather (don't let this delude you into thinking we get good summer weather in London, I just tan very easily) and I've been loving it. I'm still not a massive fan of the pinky undertones but if I blend it with my fingers it really meshes with my skin, and leaves a very nice looking base.

*PR sample

What have been your favourites this month?

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MMFD, OITNB and my holiday to Lytham . . .

one.
I just discovered this YouTuber called itslinamar and I'm a little bit obsessed like I've binge watched most of her videos, she's really funny and I love to support the women of colour of YouTube to try and smash the white supremacy going on on YouTube especially in the beauty guru section . . .

two.
My Mad Fat Diary has come back for its final series and I am loving it, although there's a bit of confusion over what's going on - don't want to give too much away, but what the heck is the deal with Kester?!

three.
I finally got back onto watching Orange is the New Black and I'm really liking it! I watched the first couple of episodes a few months ago but I just left it and never really got back on it, but I decided to give episode 3 again and I am really really enjoying it - I can see what the hype's about now!

four.
I went out shopping with my friends (hauls should already be up, have a click around my blog/YouTube channel) and had a really nice time out, the highlight was probably seeing a Kanye West themed sign outside a coffee shop.. see the picture above!!

five.
I went on holiday to Lytham with 11 other friends and it started with us being sleep deprived, we met up at 4am in the morning carrying a lot of luggage (partially my fault, I couldn't survive 5 days without my laptop)

six.
On the second day of the holiday, we went to Blackpool and the weather was amazing so we just walked around the town for most of the day as well as going to Ripley's Believe It or Not. Well, half of the group dropped off and went back home but a few of us stayed around and went on the pier and generally enjoyed the sea air.

seven.
We stayed inside mostly on the Wednesday because the weather was a bit icky and I was feeling a bit anxious anyway so I didn't fancy talking to anyone for the first few hours of the day (I also got no sleep the night before so I was a bit out of it, so much to the point that on that evening I got a bit delusional and attacked a sofa and asked what country we were in)

eight.
We ordered Chinese on the Wednesday and got fortune cookies, and mine said 'you are going to have a comfortable old age . .' so any aspirations of living fast, dying young and leaving an average looking corpse may not come true.

nine.
Thursday was a humid, somewhat showery day so we went to the beach for a while but then stayed in and watched American Beauty (one of my favourite ever films), but then the weather was beautiful in the evening so we went out to the beach to watch the sunset and some of us attempted a seance. The candles kept blowing out so we used incense sticks and played a playlist in the background, below is the full playlist but we couldn't access the whole song due to internet issues, but I had a shortened version on my phone. We did a pretty interesting rendition of Beelzeboss which resulted in a man taking a picture of us and a little girl crying . . nice one.



ten.
It was really nice to get back home, I always feel a bit overwhelmed being around a lot of people so it was nice to be able to wake up without socialising, and I definitely felt like everyone was getting a bit irritated with each other by the end so I think it was good the holiday wasn't any longer, but I definitely had a great time - 11/10 would recommend.

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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What I've been watching #5

Since I've been off school from exams I've been filling up my time with . . well nothing, to be honest. I don't know what to do with myself (although I'm finally getting into Orange is the New Black) but I've found time to watch a few new films, and we have a mix of modern and classic films so there's something here for everybody so give it a gander and tell me your thoughts!

GET HIM TO THE GREEK (2010)

★★★

Get Him to the Greek is the story of an executive at a record company called Aaron Hill, played by Jonah Hill, who gets given an assignment to escort rock legend Andlous Snow, played by Russell Brand, to L.A's Greek Theatre for the first stop on his comeback tour. However, Andlous is constantly off his face on drugs and is being a generally irritating rock star making the whole procedure rather bothersome, as well as trying to win back his ex. The film generally follows Andlous making Aaron's life a lot more difficult.

Me and my friends watched this in the middle of a break from history revision because we all quite like Russell Brand and were in the mood for a comedy. It's definitely enjoyable, Russell Brand and Jonah Hill was never going to be a bad combination so it was inevitably going to be enjoyable. It was a light comedy, a bit of film fluff if you will, so it was enjoyable but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again and it's not one of those must-see films, but there were a few laugh out loud moments - my favourite being 'this is not an appropriate time to say namaste', which I had seen on Tumblr and Twitter a few times but I didn't know it was from this so it was nice to have the connection made!

RENT (2005)

★★★★

Rent is a musical set in the 90s about a group of friends in New York who are experiencing issues to do with their love life, careers and AIDs. Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, and Roger, an HIV-positive musician, are struggling to make ends meet and pay the rent. Meanwhile, their friend Tom has fallen for Angel who's slowly dying of aids. So the film is essentially a musical focusing around the effects of HIV, struggling to make ends meets, and general love life issues.

I really liked this film! I wasn't expecting to because when I first got it and looked up reviews of it I saw a lot of bad ones, but I really liked it. I'm not sure if that's because I love musicals and 100% of the time I wish my life were a musical or at the very least an episode of glee, but it was very enjoyable. The songs were enjoyable, the cast was great - I have to congratulate them on the amazing POC representation, I know that won't mean much to some people but as a POC it's always great to see a lot of representation in a film. Also, Indina Menzel was in it and I love love love her. The songs were great and I reckon I'm going to have them stuck in my head for a week, and the storyline was really touching. If you don't like musicals, you won't like this, but if you do, I reckon you'll really like this - definitely think I'll be returning to this at some point in the future!

TAXI DRIVER (1976)

★★★★

Travis Bickle is a veteran living in New York City who suffers from insomnia so he takes up night shifts as a taxi driver. He drifts from society and becomes somewhat of a loner. When Travis meets a campaign worker called Betsy, he becomes obsessed with this idea of saving the world and cleaning up the city. The story follows his trials in trying to clean up New York City in as violent a way as possible.

I quite liked this film, the plot was quite interesting and it was pretty fast moving but there was also enough time for development in the storyline. I'm going to say right now, if you don't like blood - do not watch this. There is a lot of mindless violence in this, but if you can get past that the storyline is really interesting and I think it's probably one of those must-see films. It reminded me a lot of the book (and the BBC adaptation made for schools, so virtually impossible to get your hands on) Stone Cold by Robert Swindells, which came after so I'm not sure if there was any sort of inspiration there but Stone Cold is a lot like Taxi Driver. Essentially, a pretty good film and probably one that any film enthusiast should've seen - plus Betsy's theme is a really beautiful piece of music, so it's probably worth watching it just for that.

MOULIN ROUGE (2001)

★★★★

Moulin Rouge is story about a poet called Christian, played by Ewan McGregor, who comes to Paris to pursue his dream of becoming a writer. He soon meets a group of Bohemians who convince him that he should write a musical show for them to be performed at the Moulin Rouge, which is a pretty popular night club. On the night Christian first goes to the Moulin Rouge, he meets a courtesan called Satine and falls for her, and she eventually falls for him too (after a bit of convincing). However, problems occur when the club owner invests in a wealthy Duke to help pay for the club, but the Duke will only pay if Satine is his. The story follows this love triangle and its twists and turns.

First things first, I don't know how I went so long without watching this film given its popularity and the fact that I'm a big film enthusiast - pretty darn cray cray. This film was pretty darn good. I knew I would find it aesthetically pleasing because Baz Lurhmann creates some aesthetically pleasing films, but I also quite liked the love story and the soundtrack was pretty bomb. Despite the fact it was set in the 1800s, it featured many pop songs but with orchestral twists (I love rearrangements of pop songs and when a pop song has interesting instrumentation, so this was pretty cool) featuring Queen, Nirvana, and Elton John just to name a few. Basically, I liked this film a lot and I think it would be one that would go down well with a lot of people (if you've not already seen it, I do feel like I'm one of the last people in the world to have watched this film)

THE SHINING (1980)
★★★★
The Shining is about a character called Jack who takes a job at the Overlook hotel as a caretaker, he stays with his wife and his son Danny who seems to have psychic premonitions, so he keeps on seeing things that are going to happen and they're quite traumatic for him. Danny's visions become scarier whilst they're at the hotel and Jack becomes psychotic to the point where he becomes homicidal.

I quite liked this film, it was very much about the tense build-up and the soundtrack helped this especially. I thought Jack Nicholson captured the psychotic part of Jack Torrance pretty well and even though I don't find films scary, he did genuinely freak me out and I thought this film was a great horror. I was expecting it to be a blood bath kind of film but there isn't actually a whole lot of death in it, it's a lot more about Jack's descent into madness and the worsening of Danny's visions. I did find that there wasn't a lot of consistency in the film in the sense that the scenes felt very disconnected and there were visions that Danny had that weren't explained or made clear necessarily, it's definitely the sort of film you'd have to analyse afterwards to make sure you get it (which we did, and we spent a long time looking on Google to see what other people, but it's a whole debate so you'd have to watch it and think about it for yourself). I'm glad I've finally watched this because it's one that I've always felt that a film enthusiast should watch, but I hadn't watched it, but now I have I can maintain my title of film enthusiast - definitely worth a watch.

What films have you been watching recently?

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The June mix-tape

I know I have a varied music taste as it is and I usually have a strange mix in these monthly music posts, but I really do feel like this month's post has one of the strangest mixes yet. I've been listening to loads of music over the past month while I've had exams and been revising (I discovered after trying to revise in silence for the majority of exam period that I can't revise in silence).

1. Fade Away - Susanne Sundfor
I discovered Susanne Sundfor on Instagram via one of Maddie's posts, this was the song she recommended and I immediately loved it, and proceeded to listen to everything else she's ever done on Spotify. She reminds me a lot of Kate Bush or Tori Amos, and the album Ten Love Songs is really amazing - it's quite atmospheric and the whole album flows so well, it really feels like it's telling a story in the same way a film does with its music. Love love love.

2. Staircase at the University - Morrissey
If you're new here, hello my name is Bess and I like Morrissey a lot. I had heard this song before and the whole World Peace is None Of Your Business album but I didn't really give it a proper listen when it first came out, in fact I only gave it a proper listen (y'know the whole ignore everyone for about an hour and listen to the album start to finish kinda deal) a few months ago when I needed something to listen to in my free periods at school, and it was then that I realised the album was actually amazing, it just took some dedicated listening time (also, a lot of the songs are growers). I only just got round to ripping the album to my computer as when I got my new phone I decided I needed a lot more music, and I've been listening to this a lot just because of how #relatable it is. One of the quotes is "if you don't get 3 As, her sweet Daddy said 'you're no child of mine and as far as I'm concerned you're dead". Okay, perhaps it's not that #relatable to my life but it definitely made me laugh because of the amount of people I know who are in that situation (when I say laugh, I wasn't laughing at them I'm not a sadist)

3. Panic Station - Muse
I've been having a massive Muse moment this month, it started with their newest album, then moved to their oldest albums, and then it got the point where I was just putting all of their songs on shuffle and ignoring everyone for the day whilst I cracked down on revision. I actually didn't know The 2nd Law album all that well so I didn't really know this song. What I love about this song really is the instrumentation, I just love a good brass in a song (seriously, a bit of brass can quite easily turn me on to a song) and you've got a bit of a guitar solo in there too, just seriously top notch.

4. You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man) - Loretta Lynn
This is definitely the oddest song of the bunch in here, but I've fallen in love with Loretta Lynn. Not literally, although I do love her as a person too - she was presenting feminist ideals in the 60s and 70s which wasn't done so much in mainstream media, in fact she had a song called The Pill which was literally about contraceptives, how many artists would do that? I started liking Loretta Lynn after watching the Coal Miner's Daughter in about February (great film) but I decided to give her a bit of a listen on Spotify and I have been obsessed. There's something about country music that I really love, and Loretta has a gorgeous voice and catchy songs. This is probably the one I like the most but I also like I'm A Honky Tonk Girl, You're Looking At Country, and Wine, Women and Song.

5. Androgynous - The Replacements
This is a song that I added onto my Spotify a while ago but I don't remember why or when or how or anything (I have a tendency of doing that, if I listen to a song once and like it I add it to my Spotify so I don't lose it but then I'm always confused when it comes up on shuffle because I don't remember how it got there). This came up on my shuffle and I've been listening to this a lot, it's really chilled and simple with just a sort of honky tonk kind of piano and a little bit of percussion, plus the song is about gender and sexuality which isn't necessarily something you hear about a lot in mainstream music . I also love this cover that Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett and Laura Jane Grace did!

Special mention to Beyonce, I've been listening to her a crazy amount recently (you could say I've been crazy in love with Beyonce, okay that was terrible but seriously she's great).

What music have you been listening to recently?

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