Instant

One thing most people may or may not know about me is that I am obsessed with Polaroid cameras (and more increasingly as of lately analog photography in general). I got my first Polaroid camera was I was about 11. It was an I-Zone and I still have it kicking around somewhere. I got my second Polaroid camera when I was sixteen. It's a OneStep 600. Unfortunately, afew years after I got it Polaroid stopped making film, but I managed to stockpile a healthy amount of it before it disappeared from stores. Thankfully, not long after this The Impopossible Project began to sell some dead stock film as well as new film they have been producing. Earlier this year my grandpa gave me a 210 Land Camera, A Sonar OneStep SX-70, a folding SX-70, and a couple of flashes. Around the same time I won an Image Spectra on EBay. I bought some SX-70 film from The Impossible Project and brought some of it home with me to Thunder Bay without a camera hoping that there was an SX-70 kicking around the house. I was in luck. I found an SX-70 Model 2, as well as a case and a flash for it, a Colorpack 80 (it is impossible to find film for this camera and no new film is being made but maybe in the future), and 450 Land Camera, as well as a case for it. I ran a pack of SX-70 Color Shade Push! through the Model 2 but unfortunately it was a "sticky pack" and none of the pictures really turned out. Oh well, at least I know the camera works. I didn't bring my digital camera with me and I couldn't find my dads so I took these photos in the most obnoxious way ever: in Photobooth. I'm sorry.

SX-70 and Case

Colorpack 80

450 Land Camera

Magicflash

The first of the ruined pictures.

Slightly less ruined.

I post Polaroid and other analog pictures at kinda like ghosts.

I almost dropped the ball on the second day.  My friend and I decided to see a movie this evening at the last minute and I had an unexpectedly busy day at school.  Excuses.  I had a post planned out but I don't think I have enough time to write it so I'll save that for tomorrow.
I went to see Martha Marcy May Marlene tonight and it was great.  It's definitely both intense and disturbing, but I'd recommend it.  It's Elizabeth Olsen's first leading role and she does an amazing job.  I'm kind of obsessed with her now.  She's talented and I think she has a lot of potential.  I'm also pretty of jealous of her hair (I've been into a lot of medium length haircuts lately but I don't think I'm brave enough to cut my hair anytime soon) and she has interesting style.
I realized today that I took a pretty long break (for me) from seeing films after TIFF because although everything I saw was great, I managed to pick films that were exclusively intense and sad.  I guess I jumped back in with a film that still fits in that category.  I think the next movie I see should be a comedy, or maybe a thriller.

the beginning

I am going to blog everyday for the next thirty days.  I need a tangible goal to get me out of my rut and I need to write more, and this is the best way to satisfy both of those needs.  I think it's mostly going to be about fashion and beauty from a personal perspective because those are things I'm interested in and also those are the types of blogs I read most often, but I think I'll inevitably end up also including things about music, films, books, art, food, and exploring because I'm also pretty passionate about those things and I think there's a lot of spill over.  I guess it'll be a blog about things that I like, which I suppose is what most blogs are really.  

On the first Monday evening after I arrived (last Monday) we (my summer school program) took a group trip into downtown Brighton. The university is located on the outskirts of Brighton so it takes about fifteen-twenty minutes by bus to get downtown. Due to my being both ridiculous and forgetful I didn't bring my camera, and I have yet to remember to take pictures while downtown so I will try and remedy this situation tomorrow. We saw the most famous parts of Brighton like the Royal Pavilion, the Pier, the West Pier, and the beach. We also went through an area called the North Laine that has a lot of cool art and vintage shops, and finished in another similar sort of area called The Lanes, that has a lot of cool shops and cafes. Stores here close really early compared to Toronto (and Thunder Bay). Pretty much everything except clubs, bars, restaurants, and movie theaters closes around 7:00 PM. Although I've been back to The Lanes since, I haven't properly explored it, so that and North Laine are my tentative plans for tomorrow.

On Tuesday I started class. I'm taking British Cinema. There are only eight people in the class which is pretty nice because I feel like it's easier to engage in the class, and we all participate a lot more. It's mainly analytical, although we are doing some screenwriting this week. I'm enjoying it and I feel like I've already learned a lot so it's been successful. Tuesday night my friends and I went to see Bridesmaids (the second time for me). In England you get the choice between sweet or salty popcorn. I opted for salty, but tried the sweet and it's like a less sweet kettlecorn. The more you know.

Wednesday was my second day of class, and we had Carol Cleveland from Monty Python give us a master class, which was pretty amazing. She gave a talk about Monty Python that provided a lot of insight into the group, and then we watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail (I don't think I'll ever get tired of it). That evening my friends and I cooked dinner together. It's odd because I live alone in Toronto, so I'm normally used to eating alone, but here I jump at every chance to eat in a group, and I find it so comforting. Maybe it's because I'm so far away from home.

Thursday my class went on a field trip to the Duke of York's Picture House. It's the oldest cinema in Britain, that was built as a cinema and has always run as a cinema, which is pretty neat. We got to go into the projection box. It's pretty crazy because most films just come on hard drives now, and the ads were on a usb key. We watched Beginners which I highly recommend. After that I got some super delicious take-out from a Jamaican restaurant across the street (which I can't remember the name of, but also highly recommend) and that was pretty much my day.

I had an incredibly busy weekend after that, but it really deserves it's on post or two, so I will leave you here.

I'm going to use this blog pretty much as a general life blog for the next four weeks (seeing as how I used it so extensively as a style blog before, cough, cough) to chronicle my adventures at the summer school program I'm doing at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. I am going to try and make a habit out of it and update it frequently, so if I start lagging behind please harass me into posting.

On Saturday I took my first ever overseas, overnight flight from Pearson Airport in Toronto to Gatwick Airport in London. I am horrible at public sleeping, so I stayed awake the entire flight and occupied myself by attempting to finish reading On The Road (didn't happen) and watching movies (The Adjustment Bureau, J'ai Tué Ma Mère (!), and three-quarters of Whip It). They never got my special meal request, which I kind of suspected would happen but didn't prepare for, but they cobbled together a meal for me that consisted of two buns, two different types of salad, some fruit, a surprisingly vegan cookie, and tomato juice. After I landed in London, went through customs, and collected my luggage, I made my way to the train station which, thankfully, was attached to the airport. Anyone who had talked to me in the week prior to my leaving heard about my fear of not knowing where large luggage goes on the train. Conveniently enough there are racks for it near the doors and the other passengers were extremely helpful in lifting my heavy luggage to and from the rack.

Some people from the school were there to greet new students at the train station and take us to our residences. The residence I am staying in is a little bit far from the main campus, but basically right behind the train station. The room I am in is enormous. I think that it may actually be larger than my bedroom in the apartment I lived in in second year.

I spent most of the first two days getting settled in and adjusted to life in Brighton and at the University. So far I feel like it's simultaneously not that different from home and drastically different from home. For example, the architecture and general look and feel of the city is completely different from anywhere I've ever seen in Canada (or ever before anywhere I've gone), but the University is really similar to Canadian ones.

I will update about the more fun and interesting things I've done soon, but it's taken me long enough to write this, I should post it before I get too behind.

Twenty two is all about putting myself out there, being brave, and doing the things that I want to do even if they scare me. I made a list of twenty two things that I want to do before I'm twenty three that centre around these ideas, and number one was having a kind of a style blog. That's what this space is going to be. I love reading blogs about people's personal style, so that's the direction I'm going to go in. I'll probably write about other things I'm interested in and things that are going on in my life too. I'm excited, and also a bit nervous, but like I said twenty two is the year that I'm stepping up to the plate, so that's what I'm going to do.