Read Women Month 2016!

That's right, it's that time of year again! For those of you who don't know, Read Women Month is something I've done in June for the past two years here on this blog of mine. The idea is simply to read exclusively books written by women during the month of June. It's that simple and that wonderful. There are many male authors whom I love but I, much like many others, feel that female writers often don't get taken as seriously as male authors. So Read Women Month is a chance to spend an entire month celebrating female authors! You can find posts from the last two years of Read Women Month here if you so wish.

For my TBR this year (post coming soon!) I'm going with something a little different. The truth is, I read a lot of female authors all through the year, but most of the authors I read, female or otherwise, are white. This, of course, is not on purpose, but then I hope that most people do not read mostly male authors on purpose either. So this year I have decided to dedicate my Read Women Month to books written by female authors of colour and I encourage you to do the same!

You don't have to, of course. The great thing about Read Women Month is that the only rule is to read books by women. But if you, like me, can look back at your recently read books and see a very large percentage of white writers, then this is as good a time as any to redress that imbalance, right?

So, whatever you choose to read, I hope you'll think about joining me for Read Women Month this year. Share this post, make and share your own posts, use the banner if you want, definitely use the hashtag, and let's spend the whole of next month celebrating women writers!

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Eurovision faves 2016.

That's right, gang. It's that time of year again! Time for me to share my favourite acts who will be competing at tomorrow's Eurovision grand final! I've been dutifully watching the two semi-finals (which you'll probably be more than aware of if you're following me on Twitter) and, of course, the six acts who will automatically make it through to tomorrow's show, to bring you my top picks.

There are actually quite a few acts I enjoyed this year who haven't made it to the list (such as Sweden and France and, yes, even the UK) but without further ado, here are my top five faves for this year's competition!

Alter Ego - Minus One for Cyprus

I am a big fan of countries sending rock bands to Eurovision now. Definitely the Lordi effect. I love the howling, I love the main singer's little cardigan thing, I love that that one guy just has a blue beard. Look, the most important question for any Eurovision song should always be: 'why not?' and they are embodying that.

Loin D'ici - ZOË for Austria

She's just so cute. I can't handle it. That's basically it to be honest. This whole thing is so adorable and I am a sucker for it.

Made of Stars - Hovi Star for Israel

As a general rule I am 100% against ballads at Eurovision. But there's always an exception to the rule, isn't there? And I kind of just love the random circus act going on in the background. It doesn't get more Eurovision than a random circus act going on in the background. (It's not a patch on last year's entry from Israel though lbr.)

Midnight Gold - Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz for Georgia

I would just like to know if these guys are aware that they are performing at Eurovision? Don't get me wrong, this is some excellent indie rock and I think it's really great. I'm just not entirely convinced that these guys didn't somehow accidentally end up representing Georgia this year?

What's the Pressure - Laura Tesoro for Belgium

And back to classic Eurovision at its absolute finest. We've definitely all heard that bass line before but hey, there's nothing wrong with that! This has a real Michael Jackson vibe about it, which is definitely why I like it so much. Honestly, I think this one might be my number one favourite.

And just for good measure I thought I'd throw in my favourite act that unfortunately did not make it through to tomorrow night's final:

Help You Fly - IVAN for Belarus

What were the people of Europe thinking not voting this through to the final??? Honestly, I feel like people are taking this thing a little too seriously this year and if we can't have a naked guy caressing a wolf in the Eurovision grand final then what exactly is the point of this competition anyway?

If you are at all interested in Eurovision then I absolutely suggest following me on Twitter because I will likely have some Opinions tomorrow evening. And if you are not even slightly interested in Eurovision then I will ask you: 'what do you do without all this glitter in your life?'

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Light leak.

I've started shooting with film again. Well, I shot one roll of film. Twice. It's a long story. 

This is my first ever light leak! I'm oddly proud of it but it doesn't go with the rest of the photos from this roll at all. So it can have its own little post for both of those reasons.

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Perranporth.

Hello! It feels like it's been ages since I last posted. How are you all? Good? Good. Now, back to me. I've been a busy bee, entering a few writing competitions and helping friends with editing their writing. It's been a big old writing and editing love fest up in here and honestly, it's been great. What that does mean though is that I have a lot of unedited photographs backed up for blog posts! So you can expect a few more photo posts in the next few weeks. Assuming I get to editing the rest of the pictures any time soon...

I don't know who this dog is but he's very photogenic, don't you think?

A couple of weeks ago my parents and I went out to Perranporth for a little wander along the beach. As you can see it wasn't exactly the sunniest of spring days but I did get to dip my toes in the ocean for the first time this year, which was nice if also very, very cold. And I think these photos turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

My next post will either be another Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton or a few pictures from my first roll of film for about six years, but I'm actually still working on a few writing projects so I have no idea which one it will be or when it will be up. We'll just have to wait and find out together!

Until next time, pals!

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Baking chocolate chip cookies.

This is going to be an extremely short post today because really I just want you to watch that video up there! My friend Jess and I filmed this footage of me baking my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe last September and I finally got around to editing it. I know, I know, but it's here now and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do!

And make sure you stick around until the very end. I do love a post-credits scene...

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Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton II.

Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton is a series I started a few weeks ago as a way of forcing myself to listen to some new music instead of simply listening to the Hamilton OCR over and over and over again. It's kind of working. I have lapsed and listened to Hamilton maybe once or twice since my first post but hey, a habit is a hard thing to break.

I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it - The 1975

Let's just begin by addressing the fact that this is the stupidest album title I have ever heard, okay? Anyway, I actually really like The 1975's first album, The 1975, and I've been looking forward to this one for a while. I like it when you sleep... has more of a chilled out vibe than the first album and a few tracks actually reminded me of Freelance Whales, which is definitely not a bad thing. Predictably, my favourite tracks on this one are the ones that sound most like the first album, but I really enjoyed the whole thing... even if it does have the stupidest title in the history of music.

Favourite songs: Love Me, UGH!, The Sound

Pain Killer - Little Big Town

I know I'm definitely not the first person to say it, but boy do Little Big Town not know what 'girl crush' means. Aside from the fact that I can't take that one song seriously though, I really, really enjoyed this album. I actually kind of love country music (that pinned tweet on my twitter profile? Not a joke.) but I am not familiar with nearly enough country bands and Little Big Town were a totally new one to me but like I said, I loved this album and I actually found it really difficult to only choose three favourite songs! I'll definitely be listening to more of their albums very soon.

Favourite songs: Day Drinking, Tumble & Fall, Faster Gun

Swooner - The Zolas

I actually only heard about The Zolas a few weeks ago when I was watching a vinyl record collection video on youtube (because I'm that person right now) and I chose to listen to this album first because the cover looked the most interesting of all their albums. So there's that. Luckily I really loved this album too! It sounds like the kind of thing that Seth Cohen would love, which is nothing but a positive.

Favourite songs: Swooner, Get Dark, Fell in Love with New York

What have you been listening to recently? If you have any recommendations for me I'd love to hear them!

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The Get To Know Me Tag.

Beth recently tagged me to do The Get To Know Me Tag and this is so throw-back MySpace style that I am psyched to oblige!

Vital Stats
Name: Anastasia.
Nicknames: Stasia.
Birthday: 4th November.
Star sign: Scorpio.
Occupation: Trying to be a writer. Dad prefers to use the term 'bum'.

Appearance
Hair colour: Brown, currently with a sort of ginger ombre.
Hair length: So long. Past my hips.
Eye colour: Green.
Best feature: My nose. It's huge and I hated it when I was a teenager but now I think it makes my whole face.
Braces: Nope.
Piercings: Just one in each ear.
Tattoos: Nope.
Right or left: Right.

Firsts
Best friend: Jess, who you'll have heard plenty about if you've been reading this blog for long! You can see her face in this post and she has a youtube channel (why not throw in a plug?) We've known each other since we were 2.
Award: There might have been other awards before it but we still talk about when I won third place in the egg and spoon race at school. (It was actually a potato and spoon race though because our school didn't trust us with eggs, which is fair enough.) It's the greatest and only sporting achievement I ever managed.
Sport: Swimming. Swimming and badminton are the only sports I have ever been interested in.
Real holiday: Australia when I was ten. We went spent a month in Sydney and Brisbane. It was one heck of a first flight.
Concert: I don't think it's actually the first one I went to but the first one I remember was a sort of day festival thing outdoors.

Favourite
Film: I'm going to say Strictly Ballroom but this is impossible.
TV show: Gavin & Stacey and Please Like Me are probably the top two but I love The OC and Glee and Merlin and so many others! I really like TV...
Colour: Green.
Song: I just do not have an answer to this. Probably something by David Bowie. Or Dolly Parton.
Restaurant: Restaurant? You overestimate how fancy I am, quiz. There is a pub in Plymouth called 'The Bank'. It's right by the theatre and they do a lot of tasty vegetarian stuff so we go there a lot.
Shop: Waterstones or Lush.
Books: I Capture the Castle, the Harry Potter books, Avalon High.
Shoes: I wear Toms classic shoes to death. Literally. I'm on my fourth pair. They're the most comfortable shoes ever but I have weird feet so I have to buy mens sizes in them and I always wear a hole in them in the exact same place so then I just... buy a new pair... They're so comfortable!

Currently
Feeling: Cold. It was spring yesterday. What happened?
Single or taken: Hahahahahaha. Single.
Eating: Nothing.
Thinking about: All those mini eggs in my room...
Watching: The second episode of Shadowhunters. It's not great.
Wearing: Pyjamas. This is probably why dad thinks I'm a bum.

Future
Want children: Not any time soon.
Want to be married: If I ever find someone I want to marry.
Careers in mind: Writer, photographer, duchess in an early twentieth century novel.
Where you want to live: I'd love to live in Paris for a few years but ultimately I'm pretty happy with Cornwall.

Do you believe in...
God: This is way too complex a question for one of these things.
Miracles: I don't know.
Love at first sight: You know that Hozier song 'Someone New'?
Ghosts: I don't know.
Aliens: Not necessarily Star Trek style aliens, but definitely life on other planets.
Soul mates: Kind of? Not just in the romantic way though.
Heaven: These questions are too heavy for eleven on a Friday morning.
Hell: Seriously, I don't know.
Kissing on the first date: If everyone's into it, there's no harm.
Yourself: Sure.

I hope that's told you everything you could ever possibly want to know about me! Now if you don't mind, I have some mini eggs to devour...

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