Believe and Act

“Italian, it is.” Was she staring or was he misconstruing normal eye contact? Angelique asked if Erika knew. Ichiro smiled. “That depends. Did you tell her you’d seduce me with a kiss before you came here? Probably not. If I end up being a horrible date, you can complain to her later. If it’s…acceptable to you and you’re interested in a second date. We’ll deal with the Rika explanation when we have to.”

The astro-fashion-loving Internet collectively gasped when ESA’s Hubble twitter account posted three gorgeous gowns, by Czech designer Jirina Tauchmanova with only credit “Photo: Vasek”, which google thinks is a Canadian tennis player. For four long days I couldn’t find anymore images, until, today! Which is why I’m sharing a belated #FashionFriday and #StarrySunday combo.

These gown were shown at Serbia Fashion Week back in October 2015 as Jirina Tauchmanova‘s Spring/Summer 2016 collection – I hope that means they will be available for purchase soon!

I think I recognize at least two of the images, NGC 602 & 30 Doradus, but I’m going to have to see these in person to be sure, yes, definitely, and probably try them on, too.

How Hollywood Defanged Potter’s Radical Politics  (via girl-germs)

Worth a repost

(via wolvensnothere)

HP is one of the most fundamentally anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian, radical books in a WHILE. The books are incredibly diverse in race and gender, including villains. While everyone was screaming about Pullman, and hanging their hats on the witchcraft in HP, Rowling basically put out a roadmap of revolutionary youth.

Everyone likes to pull the, “Deatheaters are Nazis,” subtext but if you look at the timeline of the text and publication, it’s pretty clear that politically, this is an England/Ireland/Scotland/Wales under Tory rule and in the midst of the Troubles & Thatcherism from the start, with subsequent books written and published in a post-9/11 world.

Rowling wrote the root, branch, and flower of politics and power creating death and despair, where love and unity by choice were the strongest powers. There are reasons for that.

(via carnivaloftherandom)

Can someone make a master post of academic discourse surrounding Harry Potter? Now that I’m not in college anymore I do sorta miss reading research papers and essays… but not so much that I want to read ones that aren’t about HP.

  “ Did you know that the colored part of your eye is called    the iris, and it’s made up of two layers - the epithelium at    the back and the stroma at the front. The epithelium is only    two cells thick and contains black-brown pigments - which    are the dark specks that some people have in their eye. In    contrast, the stroma is made up of colorless collagen fibers    that can sometimes contain a dark pigment called melanin,     or excess collagen deposits. And it is these that can control    your eye color.    Blue eyes, for example, is entirely structural, in contrast to     green or brown. People with blue eyes have a completely     colorless stroma with no pigment at all, and contains no     excess collagen deposit. What this means is that the light    that enters it is scattered back into he atmosphere as a the    atmosphere and as a result of the Tyndall effect, creates a blue    hue. Basically, the blue eye color is a trick, and it all depends    on the amount of light available when you look at them.   So you are complimenting a natural deficiency in my making. “

“Sure. Why not? Talk, dark, and handsome.” Though, finding someone taller than her would be very easy. “Oh. No. Gil, it’s short for Gilbert. That one was my cousin. I meant, since he’s a workaholic his only friends are work friends who aren’t nearly as interesting as he is.”

Erika checked the clock. “I don’t think so unless a customer comes in.” It had been a rather slow day.“We could check our emails for urgent messages?”

“My employers value their privacy.” That was plausible. Muggle movies with spies and private security said things like that. “Of course. She’s my sister. And with our parents still in Hawaii. She’s the family I have.I suppose it wouldn’t hurt if we tried finding jobs with the same schedules. My dad was–is– a workaholic so their’s probably guilt in there about laziness somewhere.” He opened the taxi door for her before sliding in himself. “Did we say Italian?“

“Then your employers must be really rich, or celebrities, or both,” the blonde concluded.  Even working with Narcissa, it didn’t make her any less starstruck when someone famous graced their doors with a presence.  “I did not know your parents were still alive.  Your sister doesn’t mention them.  What does your father do?”  Bombarding him with questions–but that was generally the way she was, trying to get to know someone on a date.

She’d forgotten what kind they were. Her father had gifted them to her for her birthday. She grinned at the stranger. He asked how he looked. “Like a million bucks.” She snapped a couple of pictures then turned the camera around for his inspection. “Up to your standards or should I try again?”

“Matchmaker. Could be fun.” Erika lit up at the suggestion. “Yes, we should.” Narcissa’s galas could be glamorous, but they reminded her a bit too much of some of the ones her parents had thrown. “Major snore-dom. Tall, dark hair, the rest doesn’t matter as long as they’re not complete assholes.”

He checked the window again. “Taxi’s here.” He opened the door and offered his arm. Work. What was he suppose to say to that? “Private security.” That seemed plausible, right? Odd hours. He was trying to make the world safer. Just in an unconventional way.

“It is a pretty sweet camera,” said Erika. “Hm.” She plucked her sunglasses off and offered them to him.“These are worth a couple hundred bucks. Won’t buy you a camera, but it’s a start?” She studied him. “And you’re wearing better shoes than I am. So if I do make a run for it in these slippers…. You’ll be able to catch me.”