The Alice Hype

>Fashion and Alice always go hand in hand<

So with the upcoming Alice in Wonderland movie, the "alice hype" is on the rise again!  I notice that it comes and goes every once in awhile, but now that Tim Burton is putting his twist on the story, I bet it will stick around for a lot longer.  Growing up I always loved watching the Alice in Wonderland (disney version of course) and wanting to go to wonderland.  haha.  I always wanted my own moneraths.  XD  They were super cool how they made an arrow to have her follow the path.  A lot of the people I talk to say that the movie scared them when they were growing up, but I found the movie always entertaining.  I loved the singing and would sing along with a lot of the songs.  XD  I think my favorite parts of that movie were the scene in Tulgey Wood and the Walrus and the Carpenter song.  For some weird reason.

I remember when I was in middle school, before the latest thing were it's "cool" to own a Mac (I grew up with them my whole life) I saw a game called American McGee's Alice that you could actually play with a Mac computer!  Many game fans know that mac's are never really game friendly.  Anyways, at that age, I thought it looked really scary and something my parents would have not let me play.  :(  So I never got a chance to play the game.  Apparently it is out of print and SUPER hard to find.  People are selling it on ebay and amazon for $120+!!!!  =O  Looking back now, I think this would be an awesome game to play!  The storyline is that Alice is a teen, and all her family is killed in a tragic fire.  She ends up being schizophrenic and Wonderland is suffering because of it.  She has to go back to save Wonderland.  Everything in Wonderland is a bit twisted because of her new personality, which makes it sound all the more devious.  I've tried a lot of different ways to get to play the game, but no such luck yet.  Maybe someday they will remake the game now with the even bigger Alice following that is to come this year.

A few years ago I stumbled across a book called The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.  In this trilogy, it starts off in Wonderland where we find out there is a girl named Alyss Heart.  She is a young girl with a very strong imagination and her parents are the rulers of Wonderland.  Her mother is the most powerful imagination expert in the kingdom, but she has a sister named Redd who was banished because she was into using dark imagination.  The premise of the book is that Wonderland is real, and (without spoiling things) Alyss ends up in England were a man named Lewis Carroll is the only man to listen to her life story (everyone else just laughs and tells her to grow up) and eventually writes the book Alice in Wonderland.  Young Alyss is furious that her story was completely botched and begins to slowly forget her past.  The series is 3 books and has a comic called Hatter M.  What is really cool is that Frank Beddor takes ALL the Alice characters and puts twists on them.  For instance, the wise tutor of Alyss is Bibwit Harte (if you re-arrange the letters it is White Rabbit) and the commander of the royal guard is Hatter Madigan (the mad hatter).  The Cheshire Cat is actually a humanoid assassin and Redd is scheming to steal Alyss's rightful place as future queen.  This series was super clever and I hear they are planning to make a movie soon.  :D  Unfortunately I think the movie will be overshadowed by the Tim Burton version and people might call copycat.

In the line of movies, Marilyn Manson is directing a movie called Phantasmagoria that is loosely an Alice story.  Apparently it is a movie about Lewis Carroll and the part of him will be played by Manson himself.  I think the movie is supposed to be about how Carroll is going mad in his home and is seeing visions of a girl named Alice.  Sure Marilyn Manson is considered weird and rightly so, but I recently saw an interview he did and he is actually quite an intelligent person.  I am VERY interested in this movie and can't wait to see what he comes up with.

All in all, Alice fever has swept up again, but I think people will always have a fascination with weird stuff like Wonderland.  Sure there are a lot who like it for the acid-trip type experience and what they can do with drugs, but for some it's just childhood.  I own a SUPER old copy of the original Alice and Through the Looking Glass books, and I am starting to read them now.  I've always wanted to be an Alice for Halloween, but it's hard to find a normal looking one without being too slutty.  XD For now,  I'll stick to my nice DSK Wonderland bracelet.  haha.  This story will always have a close place in my heart, and no matter how popular this series is going to get (it can't get any worse than twilight  XD) I will stick by it.  :)  Anyone else a big Alice in Wonderland fan?  Anyone else waiting for the new movie to come out?

♥ DSK Jewelry

So, one of the whole reasons I decided to start writing this blog, was because of a girl named Bubbi and a "little" jewelry blog called DSK.  I was looking for cool things to do with my hair, and came across Bubbi's videos and website off Youtube.  I thought her hairstyling was super cute, and I tried to copy some (with little success, since my hair is the complete opposite of typical smooth asian hair).  Then I saw a video she had on her page titled DSK Jewelry..and me, loving anything sparkly, I had to check it out.  I instantly fell in love with a lot of the pieces I saw and I had to get my hands on some.  So I started saving up my money and the first piece I was able to buy was the Bubbi necklace.  Purple is one of my favorite colors, and that dark blue heart crystal went so well with it.  :)  For the past 2 months, I have been on this buying spree of DSK things.  The pictures are small, cause the X-Large size wouldn't fit on my blog section.  =/  but I swear that they look amazing in the original format.  Just click on them to see them in high definition

My interactions with Stephanie have always been excellent and she has always answered my e-mails in speedy fashion.  I like reading about her big move to Seattle and getting used to living there.  I know I will be feeling some of the same feelings once I start going to Brook's at the beginning of January.  I admire Stephanie a lot for doing this amazing jewelry business.  It's not hard to tell that a LOT of people buy her stuff, and she is constantly busy with tons of orders, especially with the holiday season!  Doing something you love is the dream.  It's nice to see that you can be successful with something you love to do.  :D

So this post is mainly to show my DSK jewelry haul.  I can't help it.  I have 7 pieces from her, in a very short span of time... XD  It is a very good thing I have a job again.  So first off,

The Bubbi Necklace
Isn't it so pretty?  I love the deep blue and purple together.  2 of my favorite colors.  Plus the heart link  chain is also very cute and unique.

Purple Haze heart earrings
Purple happens to be my favorite color.  And anything sparkly is a good thing.  =)

Purple Haze/Golden Shadow Pegasus
So, when I saw the picture of this on Steph's blog, I thought the heart looked a bit more pink.  And being new to the site, I didn't put two and two together to realize that PH stood for purple haze.  XD  The actual stock color is called Light Vitrail.  It's purple, but occasionally, it has a green-ish tinge to it.  I would love to get a single siam red heart to interchange with this necklace, but that will have to wait.  I love the shapes of this necklace and get compliments on it often.

AB Baller
I could not help myself.  It's a huge heart crystal...and the sparkle on this baby is amazing.  I thought I would want to wear this on a longer chain, but I really like how it looks on the 18" heart chain.  I love walking outside with this thing because it sparkles like no other.  :)  I did notice though, if you want the blue color to come out more, you need to have it behind a white color.  With skin tones, the yellow is more prominent.

Key to Wonderland
Steph always makes beautiful bracelets.  And they're one of a kind to add to the value.  She posted at one point that she wanted to make an Alice in Wonderland themed one, and I knew that I wanted to get that one.  Alice has always been one of my favorite Disney movies, and I like the book a lot.  When she posted the bracelet, I didn't think I would have the money to buy it quick enough, but no one snagged it up.  So finally, after saving for a bit, I bought the bracelet.  The only problem I have with it, is that the clasp is super small.  I always have to ask for help to put it on.  But the charms are beautiful, and the colors are pretty neutral so it goes with a lot of things.  And of course, it sparkles.  Definitely a wonderful piece that I was able to pick up.

Big Daddy Peridot Stars
I've always been a fan of stars.  I used to want to be an astronomer when I was younger, and I have star motifs all over the place.  I decided on the bigger studs and in green, since I do not have much green jewelry.

Black Diamond Crystal Balls
I am always attracted to silvery-gunmetal type tones.  So when I saw the crystal balls in black diamond I definitely hoped they would stay in stock.  Thankfully no one had picked them up before me and I was able to snag them.  I get many compliments that they're super sparkly and eye catching.

Steph continues to make amazing work, and is currently working on making an official store page and even a store front!  wow what an amazing person.   To do something that you love and be super successful at it in less than a year is amazing.  I'm hoping that the offical web page won't take away from the personal side of it.  But I know it will make it much easier for Steph to continue doing so much for her fans.  :)  I wish her the best of luck, and I hope you guys find happiness in her jewelry too!

New Home

*Edit* and thanks to mr/ms anonymous comment who said my blogs are getting a bit better.  i hope to please!  thanks for the feedback.  I like hearing about how people think about this blog and the things I put time into.

So, I finally moved into my new place in Santa Barbara, CA!!  (actually it's in Goleta, but eh, details.  XD) It's this nice 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment in the middle of all the shops/food, which is perfect for me cause I love to food and for some weird reason, grocery stores.  :)  The place is nice, and our neighbors seems really good too.  I have 2 other girls living with me, but actually, we had one other girl, but she decided super last minute that Brook's was not for her.  So she moved out super quick and now we're 3.  Now I have an empty bed next to me and lots of closet space.  And since we're part of a housing company with Brook's we don't have to pay extra since we lost a girl.  I like the layout of my things and we've been starting to get a lot of more personal things like art and stuff for the walls.  They're looking a little white and boring lately.  >_<  Today I made my first meal on my own.  I tried my mom's teriyaki chicken recipe and it was a huge hit.  :)  Should have made a bit more rice and even though I'm not really a salad person, I ate quite a bit.

The first week of school starts on Monday, and I have classes from 10:15am-1:00pm for Photo 111A (the beginning class) and then 1:30pm-4:15pm for a environmental science class for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  On three Fridays there are scheduled photo shoots, but other than that it will just be work, work, work.  2 months of crazy living will be starting soon.  We have to live in this R&R housing for at least June, but hopefully I will make good enough friends that I can move to a cheaper and better place.  :D
I'm far away from my friends, but I've been branching out and making a lot of new ones.  The feeling for me is that great friends can never be replaced.  And I know I will be going back to see them.  :)  But all in all, I can't wait to get started on my photo career and get out there and do what I love.  ^_^  2010 is going to be crazy!