If you were looking for an elaborate takedown of Zwarte Piet and its racist connotations, this isn’t it. I celebrated Sinterklaas with my family this weekend and I wanted to voice how much I love the presents I got. Of course, there’s a lot wrong with Zwarte Piet, but that’s a story for another blogpost. Today, let me just show off my awesome new stuff!
One chocolate letter J, milk chocolate
It’s a Sinterklaas tradition that children get the first letter of their name rendered in chocolate. It’s also very tasty. I remember, when I was young, that me and my friends were concerned: did some letters consist of more chocolate than others? Were you better of being named Wilhelmina than Juliana, simply because the “W” is a bigger letter? It turns out that the answer to this question is no. They just make the “J” extra thick.
The Hour season one and two on DVD
I can’t really comment on this show because I haven’t seen it yet. It has Romola Garai, Ben Winshaw and Dominic West. It’s BBC. It’s about the editorial room of a 1950’s TV show. I remember someone recommended it to me once, because of my love for shows like Studio 60, Sports Night and The Newsroom. For a while, my entire Tumblr dashboard was flooded with content from The Hour. Needless to say, I’m very excited to start watching it.
We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson in the beautiful Penguin Orange Edition
Creepy books about troubled girls in castles? Sign me up! I came across this book because it was discussed extensively in Jennifer Niven’s Holding Up The Universe. Just as I finished reading that book, the Penguin Orange Editions were released, and I was smitten. Bonus: the pages are made of wonderfully thick paper, none of that cheap stuff that tears easily.
Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon
This book was recommended to me by my friend Louise. I have unending faith in her judgement, because she is the one that recommended Hamilton to me as well as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. She knows what’s up, and for that reason I’m very excited to start reading this book. It’s about the lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, and I’m pretty sure there’s a douchebag-type guy named Percy in there as well.
Nutshell by Ian McEwan
Ian McEwan, need I say more? Claire gave this book four stars. Needless to say, I want to read it immediately.
The Hamilton soundtrack
Ever since I first listened to Hamilton, I’ve wanted to write a blog post on it. Every time I try I get so excited that I lose track of my point. What’s the angle? (Post-)colonialism? Feminism? Characterization? The incredible use of language? Lin himself? The innovative blend of genres? The mutual fangirling between the casts of Hamilton and The West Wing? I could do lengthy blog posts on all of those topics, and maybe I will. For now, I’ll just give Non-Stop another listen as it is my current fave.
A beautiful skater dress with Aladdin and Jasmin on it, from Large.
Large is my favorite internet store. There, I said it. It’s not Amazon, or Barnes & Noble or even Society6 (look it up, it’s awesome.) Large is like Hot Topic, except, because it’s Dutch, Large doesn’t have the exorbitant shipping fees. It does have a lot of licensed merchandise relating to a lot of my favorite fandoms. In this case it’s Disney. Additionally, this dress is incredibly comfy.
As we say in The Netherlands: Dank U Sinterklaasje!
Frenzied Fangirl 