Judi Dench as Titania

I started writing this post a couple of days ago when suddenly the news let us know about Carrie Fisher's passing. And then, not 48 hours later, her mother, Debbie Reynolds, went to be with her daughter. I put this post on hold to write a tribute to Carrie, but now I'm returning to this one for Throwback Thursday.

One fine celebrity I am so glad the world hasn't lost yet is Judi Dench!

When I think of Dame Judi Dench, the role that tends to come to mind is her role as M in James Bond.

So it took me a few minutes to recognize her in the 1968 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I was watching on TV.

These pictures are black and white, but in the film she's an earthy shade of green, which fits her role of Titania.

It was her unique voice that I recognized first. Then I started noting her appearance, and after looking it up, sure enough, this is a young, gorgeous Judi!

She was such a pretty young woman who became a beautiful older woman. Sweet, talented Judi, I hope we still have you for years to come! <3


XoXo

SK

Carrie Fisher - More than Princess Leia

Today I have been tremendously sad about Carrie Fisher's passing. As a massive Star Wars fan, it feels like I've lost a family member since she's been a part of my happy imaginative world away from reality ever since I was a child. And I know I'm not alone in feeling this way.

But as I got older, I discovered there was more to Carrie than just being Princess Leia in Star Wars. She was also a hell of a writer and one of the funniest women on the planet. Several years ago, I read her book Wishful Drinking, and found it to be a truly hilarious and brutally honest biography in which she tells some wonderfully candid tales about working on Star Wars and also gives us a peek into who she really was as a person. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. It's one of the best books I've ever read, really, both in the bio and comedy categories.

After getting a peek at the woman behind the gold bikini, I checked out the movie Postcards from the Edge, which is based off another book of hers, also biographical, this one going more into her life as an addict and an actress, and also about her dysfunctional but still loving relationship between her and her mother. Meryl Streep plays the main character in the film, and I found it to be one of the best, and funniest movies I've ever seen.

So as we mourn yet another beloved celebrity death, I hope you'll take the opportunity, if you haven't read Wishful Drinking or seen or read Postcards from the Edge to do so, in honor of Carrie's passing. They're well worth your time and will help you understand more of who she really was, which was much more than just Princess Leia. They'll also make you smile and laugh, both of which are desperately needed during sad times like these.


-SK

I Think I Have a Mask Fetish

With Halloween coming up, I'm reminded of my life-long love of masks. I've always had a thing for them, whether as artistic pieces or because I find a lot of masked fictional characters really sexy. One of my first crushes of this variety was on Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.

No doubt it has something to do with how sexy mystery is. I've even devoted a pinterest board to my love of masks. My contemporary novel The Art House has a mask on the cover and the characters wear masks at different points in the story. I have a couple of masks in the house that serve as decor.

Part of the appeal of the band Ghost (aside from being amazing, wonderfully creative musicians with stellar stage presence) is the masks they wear. Nobody knows what they look like, and it's sexy! I almost hope they never take them off, but at some point they might.

Even Deadpool is sexy in his own hilarious way, in part because of his get-up with the mask.

Hoods are equally mysterious, which might explain my odd affection for the Grim Reaper.

Any other mask lovers out there?

XOXO

Scarlett

Spotlight on Artist Handiedan

Happy Sapphic Sunday! Today instead of just posting one image on social media, I wanted to do a short blogpost on a new artist I recently discovered.

I came across the artist Handiedan's work last week on Pinterest and am totally in love with it. She's a woman who I can call my contemporary, being around my age (mid-30s), and she's from Amsterdam. Though she works with different media, it seems like what's her most popular work is the really cool pulp/burlesque collages she does, many of which are deliciously F/F!

She takes pieces from different pin-up girls and puts them together like a sexy Frankenstein concoction. At fist glance, you can't really see it, but on closer inspection, you can see in the above piece that there are some disembodied arms on the top girl's legs!

I love the old-world/new-world vibe she's got going on. She takes the classic, almost antiquated pinup look and makes it strikingly modern. She's also done some amazing mural work, like this one below in Berlin:

Consider me a new fan! :) 

If you dig her stuff too, there's a lot more on her --> official website <--.

XoXo

Scarlett

On Pain and Inspiration

I was looking up pics of Naomi Watts for a project when I came across this quote by the fabulous actress:

I feel like there is a lot of truth to this. It made me recall a quote along the same wavelength, this time by Anne Rice and on the subject of writing in particular:

But Anne Rice also tells us this:

I see a lot of authors out there these days who embrace the whole "Tortured Writer" persona, maybe because they're hooked on that sort of drama, or maybe because they feel like it's the only way to be inspired. 

But I think it's really important to remember that as artists (particularly talking to fellow writers here), we must be willing to embrace life's pleasure along with it's pain. To me, the thing that has inspired me most as a writer, is not one thing or the other, not pain or pleasure, but both! I've gotten so much inspiration from simply allowing myself to live life, sometimes dangerously, to be vulnerable, to screw up and make mistakes, and to also make good choices that bring me joy. 

In life, we all have to go through loss, rejection, fear - all those negative emotions. But it's so important that we don't forget to allow ourselves to be happy, too. I feel like all of the best stories out there have a mixture of pleasure of pain, of laughter and tears. The point is, as artists, I believe it is our job to live life and feel every emotion so that we can properly share that emotion and have readers feel it as deeply as we did.

I'd love to know your thoughts on this subject! Leave a comment if you like :)

XOXO

Scarlett

Bisexual Health Awareness Month 2016

March is Bisexual Health Awareness Month, and to contribute, I wanted to write a post regarding one of the aspects of bisexuality that needs more visibility.

Here's an infographic from Glaad.org from a couple of years back:

All of it is important, but for this post, I'm going to be focusing on the violet circle on the bottom right of the graphic: Only considering a person either gay or straight, depending on the sex of the person's partner

I've been married to a man for the past eight years. For many, that would mean that I'm straight. But in reality, that shouldn't erase the fact that I have been in love with and/or had crushes on a number of women in my life. It also shouldn't assume that I'll never be attracted to people of other genders, be they women, intersex, or trans, during my marriage. All it means is that I chose someone who happens to be male to marry and be my partner in life.

I think in general, it's hard for people to understand gray areas, even though they absolutely do exist. We like to label things black or white, right or wrong, gay or straight. But married bisexuals do exist. Bisexuals who are in a monogamous relationship do exist (but the bisexual stereotype of not being monogamous is for another post! ;) )

Basically, being married to one gender does not exclude us from being attracted to other genders, no more than being married excludes straight or gay people from being attracted to others in their preferential gender category or categories.

It's sad to me that bisexuals have so many health problems that seem to stem from stress because they are not accepted or understood as they are. But talking about these issues and bringing them into public awareness is the place we need to start!

XOXO

Scarlett

The Elusive Attribution

I admit, I am one of those people who loves Pinterest. I find inspiring pictures on there all the time. But I've been noticing a bit of a trend that's not just Pinterest but it's also on other social media as well, and that is there are all these gorgeous photos circulating out there on the Internet with not a bit of attribution! No credit to the models or photographers. And that kind of bums me out because I think it's important that art gets credited to its creators.

Do you know of any place online a person can go to check the attribution of photography and other art? Here are a few examples of black and white photography (one of my favorites) that have no attribution. I'd love to figure out who the photographers are and who the models are. If anyone knows, please inform me in the comments!

XOXO

Scarlett