Book review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

We're all vaguely familiar with the story of Frankenstein. There's a mad scientist and a monster and all manner of evil things. We all know Mary Shelley wrote it when she, Percy Shelley, Byron and I imagine a few other drug-addled soaks challenged each other to write the scariest possible ghost story. Mary Shelley came up with version one of her now famous novel. That was what I knew about 'Frankenstein'.

I bought the Penguin Classic of Frankenstein many months ago because it was a book I thought I should read sometime. I finally picked it up last week and absolutely devoured it. It was so much better than I could have presumed. I love classic literature but it can be so hit and miss it terms of what travels well over the centuries. Take certain novels out of their time and context and they loose their pizazz. Frankenstein I feel has travelled well. It's short, which certainly counts in its favour, and the story is so rivetting. There are times when the progress lags and there is rather too much exposition without action but then it starts up again and off we go on the next round of horror.

The author Mary Shelley.

I understand that Frankenstein is much-studied for its gothic romance qualities and Shelley's literary devices. It is of course a much adapted and referenced novel – there have been at least 11 direct film adaptations and then of course innumerable referencing works – The Rocky Horror Picture Show amongst them. Knowing all this it's so interesting to read the original and see all the misconceptions that have formed. The most common of these is that Frankenstein is the monster whereas it is Victor Frankenstein is the 'mad' creator of the being that brings death and destruction.

Boris Karloff as the best-known representation of Frankenstein.

I won't say any more, because that would just ruin the suspense! I just recommend the book. It's a quick and easy read and very enjoyable.

Zombie Belle

The internet is a strange zone of a space and it causes one to make strange bedfellows and discover penchants one never thought one had.

I confessed a while ago to my shameful Tumblr addiction of Disney Princess. Last week I started being followed on Twitter by Design Taxi. There is seemingly no connection between these two – except there is.

Months ago I saw these illustrations on Disney Princess and I thought they were just so damn cool, It wasn't until I checked out Design Taxi today that I could put a name to them. They're the gorgeous work of Jeffrey Thomas.

Disney Princesses as you've never seen them, by Jeffrey Thomas, featured on Design Taxi.

Polymorphic: a kinetic Installation

This is madly cool. This is a park bench that is a sculpture and a glorious testament to the fact that engineering can be fun – even if it isn’t most of the time, and that there is very little in this world that must be mundane.

This bench is a kinetic structure that moves and shapes as the persons on it move, get up, sit down, lie down – anything. It is built to consider both ergonomics and safety, so it’s comfortable and you will never get crushed if you climb into it.

I can’t say anymore with repeating the whole, very brief website, so go check it out yourselves...

Photos courtesy of Polymorphic, taken from their website.

I want one. I would need to move to a cooler house in a cooler city to justify owning it but I don’t care. I would do that.

It's about style, not fashion.

I look at a few fashion websites regularly. Not because I’m that fashionable, I just love to look at the clothes, the style and occasionally I see outfits that make me salivate a little with envy. I most regularly look at The Satorialist and the New York Magazine’s fashion blog The Cut.

I think I may have a new regular favourite though; Advanced Style. It’s a street style blog but blogger Ari Seth Cohen only snaps persons of a more ‘advanced’ age. It’s brilliant. The men and women he snaps look amazing sassy fun and fabulous. I couldn’t agree more with the blog’s byline;

Proof from the wise and silver haired set that personal style advances with age.

When I’m out and particularly at the theatre, I see so many men and women whose crisp white or grey hair is the perfect topping off to their thoughtfully put together outfits. Maybe it’s that they come from a generation where people actually got dressed rather than just putting on clothes: a generation of suits, handkerchiefs and your Sunday best, long before throw-away fashion existed.

Writer Ton Wolfe, photographed by Ari Seth Cohen and featured on Advanced Style.

My Grandma is a little old for it now but I know that in her day she had a certain style, even when living in Yeppoon. Most of the best and most admired clothes I own today either come from her or my mothers’ closet.

Even if you don’t look at fashion blogs you must check out this profile of 100 year old Ruthie. If I look as good as her when I’m even 80, I shall be a lucky old woman.

I was going to blog a list of great fashion and style websites but I’m feeling lazy this morning so will just give you the link to a thrown together list I made for my previous workplace’s blog.

Writer and artist Beatrix Ost, photographed by Ari Seth Cohen and featured on Advanced Style.

Vietnam journey – Brisbane to Bangkok

In the weeks leading up to our departure, I kept justifying our 1am flights. Everyone expressed sympathy for my plight but really they're a great idea. You get the full day to do practical things, the hours you spend in the airport at night are ones you would otherwise be doing nothing but watching TV and as soon as you get on the plane you can go to sleep. Hopefully. Theoretically.

In taking advantage of cheap airline deals, Jane and I flew Royal Brunei with a 5 hour stop-off in Brunei. I had images in my head of what Brunei might be like and certainly the airport. Knowing that the Sultan was for many years the richest man in the world, I had this image in my head that the place would have an attraction as a 5-star tourist destination. The airport would therefore have a nice selection of duty-free luxury stores, glistening white tiles and a certain modern spaciousness. Instead it looked like a run-down 1970s casino. A small casino. About the size of a modern Aussie house stretched out a little with nothing in it except a chocolate shop, a cafe and a smoking room.

To kill time, we bought $5 temporary entry visas and took the 1.5 hour free tour of the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. Our tour guide was perky and full of interesting facts about the tax system (there isn't one), how many cars there are in this tiny country (1.2 million for a population of 300,000) and the benefits of living in Brunei (there are lots, except that ultimately you're living in a place where NOTHING HAPPENS EVER. Like Canberra.).

Floating villages and a statue gifted by the Sultan, marking something or other. In gold.

This was the closest we got to the Sultan's 1000 room palace. That is the tour bus window you see on the left hand side there.

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque complete with gold-covered dome.

Best part of Brunei? Dumplings for lunch. Oh, and the coffee in the airport was surprisingly good.

pork dumpling-a-licious

Naughty but nice accessories

Damn you buy nothing new month!

I hate you already!

I rarely buy myself jewellery and then even more rarely do I spend a decent amount of money on it. I don't know why, but I haven't yet formed the habit of buying 'investment pieces' (Vogue terminology).

So it ironic that one of the very few times I am prepared to put my credit card on the line I am in Buy Nothing New Month. Stupid buy nothing new ….mumble mumble, expletive etc.

Lochers, a Parisian jeweller make beautiful 'naughty but nice' pendants. To look at from a distance they're girly and pretty and cute, but then you get up a little closer and they say things like;

and...
I love 4, 10, 15 and 23. So maybe it is a good thing I have to pause on purchasing for a month. This gives me extra time to decide...

Buy Nothing New October

I get a particular financial newsletter in my inbox every fortnight. I received the newsletter last Friday 30 September, opened it and 3 minutes later had signed on for Buy Nothing New October.

I'm not sure exactly why or how this happened but some part of my brain that has superior control over my motor functions clearly thought it was a good idea. I am trying to organise my finances, set long term goals and get my life sorted for 2012, so in theory at least the 'pledge' – yes, pledge – that I have taken is a good idea.

Buy Nothing New Month according to their website is:

Buying Nothing New is not about going without, nor is it Buy Nothing New Never.

It’s about taking October to reassess what we really need, think about where the stuff we buy comes from (finite resources), where it goes (landfill), and what our alternatives are.

It is about conscientious consumption and by not spending on stuff we don’t need, increasing our savings for the things we do need.

You can still buy essentials such as food, drink and medicines. If you want anything else you need to ' beg, borrow, barter, swap or buy secondhand'. It's a great concept actually, though I don't suppose retails want it to take off. We all do tend to buy too much 'stuff' and this is about taking a month off from that, taking the time to realise just how much money you spend on things you don't necessarily need and hopefully saving a bit of moolah.

The only problem for me if that I don't buy that much new anyway. I op-shop and vintage shop. The challenge for me is to not be consumerist in the Paddington Antiques Centre or my local favourite Endo's. That's harder for me than it might appear because I am always seeing fabulous second hand and vintage finds that I want to buy. But no, if I can't put away my consumerist tendencies for one month then I have some problems.

Buy Nothing New Month – a great idea and a good personal challenge.

That being said, I do need some an A5 ring binder folder to organise my papers … if anyone has a spare going begging?