Sunday, October 4, 2015

Visiting Dr. Johnson's House

This is the view going into the square where Dr. Johnson's House lives.


This is the house.


Here's a plaque letting you know Dr. Johnson lived here.


In case you missed the plaque, here's another sign.


And in case you really are clueless, here's a handwritten sign.


Someone lives across the way. 


The entryway is appropriately populated by books.




First, a sitting room of sorts.



Here's the view from the staircase between ground and floor 1.


Here is Floor 1, which is very pretty all in green and white.


Look, a dining table!


Pretty fireplace. I always wanted a fireplace, how about you?


I don't think the radiator is orginal, though.



A view from the window.  


This didn't look original either, but writers are notorious for massive egos, so who knows.


Mrs. Johnson, as was,


Pretty, isn't she?


Here's another sitting room with a dining table. I liked this room.  Do you like this room?


One of Dr. Johnson's Bluestocking friends. Eventually, they stopped speaking to each other as people with clashing strong opinions tend to do.


Another family friend who made her home at Dr. Johnson's house as a permanent guest. He and Mrs. Johnson paid for her cataract surgery, but it didn't work, and she was cranky the rest of the life. 


A bookcase, in case you didn't notice.


Same cataract lady.


Supposedly a pice of the Great Wall.  However, Dr. Johnson never went further than France.


Here's Dr. Johnson telling Mr. Pepys he couldn't possibly have helped himself writing about Dr. Johnson (note to self, read that Diary one day).


Some information on that wall piece.



A room on Floor 2.


Some period costumes to try on on Floor 2. (I didn't try because I'm scared of 18th century afflictions like lice.)


Cricket, another staircase! Dr. Johnson's House is a workout, I tell you, a veritable workout!


An attic. 
Mostly there were chairs and paintings.


A display, but I was busy catching my breath. 😥



A picture of a reading at Dr. Johnson's House.  They didn't have iPads in those days, you see. So, they had to socialize and use their voices and so on.


I'll let you magnify and read this yourself.



Information about Dr. Johnson's publications.


With Mrs. Siddons, the actress. 



And finally, a portrait of the great writer himself.

Did you enjoy your tour?

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Beauty Regime

Someone asked me how I was getting my skin so smooth.  I was about to answer Bobbi Brown BB cream, but honestly, when my skin's been bad, that BB cream has not been enough.  Not even the Kat Von D foundation, which is supposed to cover up tattoos, has been enough for the bad days.

And just saying thanks didn't seem right because they asked a genuine question.  So, here's the list in order of steps:

Rohto Hada Labo Oil Cleanser
Biologique Recherche Cleanser
Biologique Recherche P50 exfoliating toner
Paula's Choice exfoliating toner.
A313 Vitamin A pommade.

Rohto Hada-Labo Goku-jun Hyaluronic Milky Lotion 

Marcacuja Oil
Japanese sunscreen

Although I've spent more effort on skincare than might seem mentally balanced, I have to say, I got really sick of time and money spent trying to treat my acne and scars when I got them, which has been often, and decided to spent time and money on preventing them. Plus, if my skin is good, I feel good about myself, and if my skin is bad, I don't.  So, it's worth it for me.  

 And, thanks to two websites, www.skinandtonics.com, and www.carolinehirons.com, I finally, finally, finally got the answers I needed.  I have to credit these posts in particular: 
http://skinandtonics.com/category/guides/skin-care-guides/

I also love Caroline Hirons Cheat Sheets, which you can see to the right on her blog.  She has a fantastic, no-nonsense style that makes perfect sense.    

The thing is, my skin is also prone to the same cystic acne and dehydration of which the Skin and Tonics blogger complains, so I keep going back to her blog to freshen up my know-how.  That said, I do find her collection of products a bit excessive, so I've tried limiting my own choices to those most effective for me.  At most, I've added a backup exfoliating toner for an occasional change: Pixi Glow Tonic.  But as a rule, I'm not a fan of hoarding products and rotating them.  At most, a second version of the same thing should be enough for a break, not 4 or 5, and only for the 1 or 2 products you find most essential.  For me, that's the exfoliating toner.  So, I bought the Pixi Glow Tonic as a backup for days my skin felt a little too sensitive for the P50.   

Finally, there are budget versions of all these products, which I believe Caroline Hirons can give you on her youtube channel.  If you dig through the skinandtonics guides, you can find some budget options there too, like the Cerave Face Wash (didn't suit my skin, though). 

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Boyfriend In Wonderland: Bounce MV review

It's all cool. Everyone looks cool - except Donghyun, who is hot- the song is cool, the set design and graphics are cool and it's Alice in Wonderland, which is always cool. I may reread the book just to be extra nerdy about it all.  The nice touch in this is that the Alice here knowingly walked into Wonderland to play with Boyfriend like they're her test rabbits. 







The whole video is a fantastic take on the whole story including an Alice who is clearly holding all cards and ready to take Boyfriend out of their tea party to another world. 

Here's how it starts. 




You're not in Oxford anymore, Alice, which, to be clear, is where Lewis Carroll lived.

Then we get our motley crew, white rabbit, mad hatter, Tweedledee & Tweedledum and all.

First of all, Donghyun, the White Rabbit.


That's pouring tea with sass.
Then he makes sure you know he's jjang.  Look at that glower. His tastes may be a bit unusual, and that's quite all right.



Next, we have MinWoo, the Mad Hatter.

So Gerard Depardieu, except handsome.


Absolutely, nothing, Maknae MinWoo, except maybe that someone slipped a hallucinogenic in my tea. But this dream is gorgeous, and I'm not complaining.

Here we have the Twins, playing TweedleDee and TweedleDum.  I don't know their names. They're handsome and interchangeable because they're only 19, so let's leave it at that and hope they grow up quickly.



Clearly, these two don't care. They're painting a flower, as in actually painting it. If that isn't badass and Twins-Don't-Care what is? They can see in your soul with those bizarrely natural bug eyes, so don't bother pretending you don't think they're the most confusingly cute kids this side of Jaehyo in Nanlina (Jaehyo is always relevant).

Then there's the Other Two playing some Cards or Dormice or something.  I think one of them flashed abs, but they weren't worth sculpted enough to screenshot. Apologies to fans of the Other Two. 



Here are their solo shots:



In any case, we have these Manly Maknae Minwoo and Dastardly Delightful Donghyun: 


And the Twins: 


Naturally Donghyun gets the girl because he's the actual adult male in all of this, and it shows.


Even falling into a vortex of unreality, he's totally jjang, the guy you want falling into extra-deep rabbit hole with you because he's so in the moment and cat-don't-care


I'm on another continent, Donghyun-ssi, but I appreciate you asking. 

In the end (or is it just the beginning?) they end up where Alice's story originally begins, in a tiny room, looking through a tiny keyhole. 







Nice twist, muahahahahaha.

Watch the whole thing here: http://youtu.be/hnum0Qie2rY.