Why I love Annie...

I am absurdly excited to see One Day this weekend.



Ya'll got no idea.

I am Anne Hathaway's biggest fan. I have been her biggest fan for an entire decade now. (Holy crap).

So, in honor of her new movie coming out and in honor of her just being so fabbing fuckulous, I decided to dedicate this entire post to Anne.

Here are 10 Reasons why I love Anne Hathaway:


10. She is gorgeous.


Anne was told to get a nose job before entering showbiz. Her answer to that? Hell to the no, bitches! You don't mess with natural beauty!


9. Iconic fashion designers adore her.


She is close friends with Valentino and Lagerfeld, amongst others.


8. She often stars in film adaptations of my favorite books.


Also: Princess Diaries, Brokeback Mountain, One Day, etc.


7. She gives ugly ducklings hope!


I'm still waiting for my Princess Mia makeover...


6. She has a gorgeous voice but she has no desire to be the next J.Lo.


She has rejected all offers to record a pop album.


5. She dated a prince one minute and a pauper the next.


Her ex-boyfriend, millionaire playboy turned felon. (He's currently serving prison time for stealing money from the Catholic church).


Her new boyfriend, the struggling actor. (When she was hosting the Oscars, he starred in a Burger King commercial).


4. She went to college AFTER becoming a famous movie star.


She attended Vassar College and New York University.


3. Girl got style!


I wish I looked this good running errands.


2. She has great taste in music.


Annie was listening to Regina Spektor and Phoenix long before their songs were played on mainstream radio. She is also a regular at the Coachella music festival every year.

1. She's funny as hell.



Oh. My. Freaking. God.


Do you love Anne Hathaway?

Janelle Monáe

I went to the Katy Perry concert tonight! It was one of the best concerts I have ever been to in my life. (And I've covered all the pop princesses: Britney, Gaga, Christina, Carrie, Beyonce, etc.).

That being said, I couldn't get my mind off Katy's opening act: Janelle Monáe.



I mean, Katy is fucking fabulous. We all know that. But the mind-blowing pipes of Janelle is a very hard talent to follow.



Janelle, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, has been called “a different kind of diva” by Vogue Magazine and “a true visionary… one of the most important signings of my career” by Sean “Diddy” Combs.



You only have to listen to one of her songs to realize this 25-year-old funktress is in a league of her own.



Her music is a melting pot of R&B, funk, rock, jazz, and futuristic beats. Her voice is angelic and unapologetic.



Her red carpet style is fierce.



This talented beauty isn't going to be a star. She already is a star. The world just doesn't know it yet.



Janelle gave a spectacular performance tonight before Katy hit the stage. She handed her heart to the audience and we cherished it. She howled and screamed in the middle of her songs and we loved her all the more for it. She even rolled around on stage and ran through the arena during one of her songs because fuck it, she could, and she didn't give a shit what we thought. That, my friends, is how to be bad ass.



So, I'm kind of obsessed with the gorgeous Janelle right now. I've already downloaded most of her songs. I cannot wait to hear what she has to offer us in the future. I don't think it will be long before she is a household name and a world-wide sensation.

Here is an official music video featuring one of her most famous songs, Cold War.

I hope you enjoy it.



What are your thoughts on Janelle?

Chanel...the Nazi?

Coco Chanel hated Jews.



That is a fact.

I have read four biographies on Coco Chanel. In every book, it is pretty much accepted that she was an anti-semite.

Coco herself openly admitted that the main reason she never designed costumes for Hollywood was because it was an industry mostly run by Jews.

I have never held this knowledge against her.

Everyone has a right to their own opinions. And almost every single influential person in history has held prejudiced beliefs against something, whether it be former U.S. presidents who owned black slaves or Walt Disney, who was also a Nazi-sympathizer.

After all, people were subjected to incredible ignorance in the past. They were frightened of the unknown. They allowed their minds to be molded by false beliefs. They were products of their generation and the social climate which existed at the time.

As much as I despise Chanel's opinions on Jews, it didn't make me stop loving the Chanel brand. I still dabbed Chanel No. 5 on my wrist once in a while. I still lusted after the quilted handbags.

What girl hasn't?



But my friend Jonny recently sent me a link about a book which horrifies me.



The book, Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War, reveals that Chanel actually collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. The book looks into wartime records which show her membership and activities for the Abwehr Nazi military intelligence.

If this information is true, then it drastically changes my opinion on Coco Chanel.



It is one thing to be a racist bigot. It is another to actively aid in the murder of millions of innocent people.

I'm going to be honest. I don't want to read this book. I'm too scared to read all the gory details.

Does that make me a bad person? Is it wrong to turn a blind eye to the past because you simply...don't want to know? Perhaps it makes me a bad journalist too.

I guess I just admire Coco Chanel so much as a businesswoman and as a designer, that it makes me sick to my stomach to think that the woman herself was...well, cruel and ugly inside.



What are your thoughts on this subject? Does this change your perception of Chanel?

Book Review: Furious Love

I recently finished one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a very, very long time. The book is called Furious Love and it chronicles the rocky romance of Hollywood royalty, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.



Diving into the book, I only knew the bare minimum about the famous mega-couple. Growing up, I had often heard references from the media and my parents about "Liz & Dick." I knew their romance and two marriages were considered shockingly scandalous. I knew they fought a lot and drank a lot.



But this book really opened my eyes. I truly had no idea how much their romance rocked the world.



Elizabeth and Richard met and fell in love while filming the epic, financially disastrous Cleopatra in 1960. Both were married to other people at the time.



The scandal created a frenzy that puts Brangelina to shame. The two were bombarded in private and in public by hungry paparazzi and journalists, who were desperate to capture risque photos of the two lovers.



Elizabeth and Richard didn't care about the havoc they caused or the people they hurt. They were completely and utterly in love. They were obsessed with each other. They eventually wed in 1964.



The Vatican condemned the home-wrecking couple, the U.S. Senate tried to pass a law revoking Elizabeth's citizenship, and the Mexican government even tried to prevent the couple from vacationing there because it didn't want the "American trash" to corrupt their beautiful landscape.



But the two remained devoted to each other, despite the bad press. Elizabeth and Richard rearranged their filming schedules so they were never apart. They even filmed numerous movies together, including my personal favorite, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.



The luxurious lifestyle these two movie stars shared was absolutely mind-blowing. They jet-setted around the world in private planes and million-dollar yachts. They partied with European royalty and drank champagne like water.

Plus, Richard wouldn't hesitate to spend millions of dollars on sparkling diamonds for his raven-haired bride.



During their decade of marriage, they were the most famous people in the entire world.



Unfortunately, it was a romance between two people who had too much in common. Their alcohol dependency ruined their marriage and almost ruined their lives. Their dramatic, violent fights were also wearing them down.



Although their two marriages didn't last, it was an eternal romance. Furious Love illustrates how underneath the media obsession, Elizabeth and Richard had one of the greatest love stories ever told.

Elizabeth Taylor contributed to this book, before her death, by giving exclusive interviews and also allowing dozens of Richard's love letters to be published. This intimate portrait of two soul mates took my breath away.

Their love was heartbreaking. It was magical. It was real.

I highly recommend Furious Love. In fact, I insist that you pick it up from your local library or bookstore immediately.

You may just fall in love with love.

Five Things You Probably Didn't Know...

First, I want to thank everyone for the sweet comments yesterday.

When I'm not busy being depressed, I spend most of my time reading the news and catching up on my favorite history magazines.

In other words, my mind is filled with a lot of random shit.

I've decided to put my acquired knowledge to good use and educate you about random things. Sometimes I feel like this blog is not a blog, but instead a very prestigious university of fabulousness. And you are all my sweet, darling pupils, anxious to learn.

So, my children, here are five random things you might not have known.

Enjoy!


The Soapman



Soapman is a corpse who has turned into soap.

This man lived in Philadelphia and was buried there around 1800. His body was discovered in 1875 during the digging of a train depot foundation.

His body was unusually preserved from water seeping into his casket, bringing alkaline soil with it, turning the fats in his body to soap through a type of hydrolysis known as saponification.

I don't know about you, but I am stunned this premise has not been turned into a horror film yet. "Better take a bath kiddies, otherwise the Soapman will get youuuu!"


Allergic to Art?



There is an actual illness called the Stendhal Syndrome, which causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when a person is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly beautiful.

Do you suffer from this condition?


Alice Keppel



Long before Camilla Parker Bowles wrecked the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana, her promiscuous great-grandmother caused scandals everywhere she went during the late 1800s.

The very married Alice Keppel slept her way up to the top of the social ladder amongst British aristocracy. She eventually became the mistress to King Edward VII. Her daughter, Violet, would go on to be one of the most scandalous lesbians in British history, hooking up publicly with Virginia Woolf's girlfriend and eventually shacking up with sewing machine heiress, Winnaretta Singer.

Strangely enough, Alice did not disapprove of her daughter's blatant homosexuality during the early 1900s. She was actually quite pleased when her daughter settled down with the filthy rich Winnaretta, because it brought their family a lot of wealth and power.


US Weekly's grandfather



The very first gossip magazine, Broadway Brevities, arrived in the United States in 1916. It covered the shocking escapades of stage actors and millionaires. It focused on sex, drugs, and crime.

Despite its popularity, New York City eventually banned the racy tabloid from new stands in the 1930s.


And finally...shitdamnfuckhell.



Those words weren't that shocking back in the 1800s, believe it or not. But mouths would drop open if you let one of these horrific cuss words slip from your lips.

Here were the most common cuss words in the United States during the 19th century:

adventuress: slut
blazes: hell
boat-licker: ass-kisser
cherry: vulgar term for a young woman
Nancy-boy: an effeminate man
scalawag: mean, rotten or worthless person
Strumpet: whore
tarnation: damn

If some of you are still living in the 19th century, I apologize profusely for my profanity.


So, did you learn anything new? Did you like this post? Would you like to see more posts like it in the future?

Why do you come here?

I had planned to do an entire post about my adventures in Portland.

Crazy shit happened. It was depressingly hilarious.

But I'm back in the life of the living dead.

I crashed into my pool of unhappiness last night. I'm simply not in the mood to entertain you with my wit. And I'm not going to bore you with my problems, because I don't want to be an emotional slut.

Besides, most of you know the challenges I'm facing right now, anyway.

So I'm going to spend today gathering my thoughts and I'll try to capture my negative emotions into a bottle. Perhaps like lightning bugs they will eventually die overnight. (They won't, but it was a nice sentiment, right?).

In the meantime, please allow my future husband, Morrissey, to feed your mind with love.

Beautiful Misfit

You can have Audrey.

You can keep Grace.

My heart belongs to Marilyn.



"No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they're pretty, even if they aren't."


"I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful."


"I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night — there must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I'm not going to worry about them. I'm dreaming the hardest."


"Everyone's a star and deserves the right to twinkle."



"I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am pretty, but not beautiful. I have friends, but I am not the peacemaker. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love."


"Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world."



"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."


"The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up."



"It's all make believe, isn't it?"



"It's often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone."


"Dogs never bite me. Just humans."



"I want to grow old without face lifts...I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I've made. Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you'd never complete your life, would you? You'd never wholly know you."



"Fame has a special burden."



I am going to Oregon for five days. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I will see you lovelies on Wednesday. xoxo