Mad as a Hatter

The Annotated Alice. That's what I've been reading in this big house that isn't mine.

I'm in a weird situation. I had to come out and see all of the off-campus apartments before I could choose one, but that means that during registration/orientation I don't have a place to live. Lucky for me, the realtor offered her own home. So here I am, at the top of the landing on the third floor.
There is air conditioning.
It's close to school.
I have to be back by 10:30 every night. (That's when she goes to bed)

It doesn't matter. I move in Friday, furniture or not.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm here to talk about Alice and Wonderland. Despite the monstrosity that Tim Burton released to the public in March, my love for the book hasn't waned, my obsession with its history has not faded and my desire to travel to Trinity Square, Oxford, Croft-On-Tees and other such places is strong. Love. Obsession. Desire. Sounds like a perfume commercial or something.

I started collecting Alice just over a year ago and am proud to say I have at least six copies in three languages, and one copy of Alice's Adventures Under Ground, which is my favorite in the collection so far. The man I bought it from when I was in Paris collected Alice and said that you'll always find new versions of the book, they're practically infinite.

I want this poster.

This is the French first edition I held while my dad rushed me, insisting they were "all the same book."

                                                                       And this is what heaven looks like:

            I've found that almost anything can remind me of Alice in Wonderland.

Like a wall of keys in Turkey.

                                                                                       Or a door in Greece.

 

An optical illusion at the Ripey's Believe It or Not Museum in New York.

A dress that I own.

            


     Shoes that I used to own.

Fashion photography.

                                                                                 

or a hallway at Versailles.

It makes me look at the world differently. It's funny how only when the world is turned upside down and becomes complete nonsense can truths about it reveal themselves. 

And now I know that hatters really did go mad in the mid-1800s. From mercury poisoning. There was mercury in the curing felt they used and they would develop "hatter's shakes," or in extreme cases, hallucinations. Did the mad hatter in the books have mercury poisoning? They don't think so.

Don't you feel smarter now?

A page from my favorite copy of Alice's Adventures Under Ground, featuring
 the Pre-Raphaelite-inspired Alice (a brunette, I might add) originally drawn
 by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll).

Astronauts VS. Accountants

Reasons why I am in love with Mad Men:


1. 
Don: "Of course you do know there are different kinds of accountants."

Shelly: "Are there?"

Don: "Tell them what we do."

Sal: "I don't know, Bill."

Don: "Well I'm going to have to swear you all to secrecy."

Sal: "You can't guarantee that."

Don: "You're right."

Shelly: "Well someone just brought everything to a screeching halt"

Lorelei: "We'll be good."

Don: "You ever heard of James Hoffa?"

Shelly: "You know I don't just throw away newspapers every day, I also read them."

Don: "There is a lot of money missing."

Sal: "And they don't really keep receipts."

Pilot: "So you're a couple of G-men."

Don: "No, we're accountants."

2.

Don: "Who is this moron flying around space, I mean, he pees in his pants."

Now you may be thinking to yourself - why would she hate astronauts and love accountants when the name of the blog she writes on is called Poprocks and Astronauts? I'll tell you why.

I don't hate astronauts. I love astronauts and accountants equally, but when you and a good friend are playing an improv game and the battle between accountants and astronauts begins, and you oh so kindly let her choose her side first - you have to defend the underdog. It's more fun anyway.

Reason #2 is actually something I came up with on my own when throwing back and forth insults before I started watching the show. So proud.

Did you know an accountant invented bubblegum? And who counts all of the Oscar votes? That's right.

I miss Sal!

Also, vote for my friend's dad, he wants to be on Mad Men. Here's the video that goes along with his entry:

OBSESSED WITH....

This blog is going to be chock full of music videos, and since this is my most recent discovery, here it is! Seriously, how hilarious is this dude? The whole video is magic.

Konundrum

Sometimes, I wonder about whether I want lots of hair

or no hair,

but both options look super duper cool, right?

Before you scamper off, here's a pretty picture to look at:  

Have a lovely day!

Trees? Underwater? Mexico

Sooooo I'm on a boat. And the entire thing looks like a casino. Neon lights, glass elevators (yes, elevators) and everyone looks like they just stepped off of South Beach. We saw a guy dance-limbo his way through security. It was...the highlight of my day. And then there are those people who wear plaid sunglass lenses and sideways trucker hats. Exhibit A:

Classic.

It's actually pretty spectacular for people watching, although I don't think cruises are really my thing. I'm already feeling a bit claustrophobic, like I-want-to-jump-overboard-and-go-underwater-forest-searching-claustrophobic. There isn't very much to explore. The food is mediocre at best and the comedy we watched for a whole fifteen minutes was awful. 

On the bright side, I'm here with a friend that I've known for thirteen years. Our room is kind of art decoish, and I'm on a search for an underwater forest. A billboard in L.A. promised me underwater trees in Mexico and now I'm going to find them. That may be the thing I am most excited for on this trip. The proactive approach I'm taking? Going out on the deck every once in a while and looking into the water. No luck so far. Thank God this is only for three days because I think I would just go completely stir crazy. This isn't the kind of cruise where you get off the boat every few days to marvel at historic sites or eat food that you can't pronounce or stare wide-eyed at ethereal landscapes, it's the kind where they want you to eat twelve buffet meals a day and say Ayy how you doin? to the person sitting next to you so you can make lifelong friends. They also have things like chest hair contests and towel folding demonstrations. It just wasn't a good time to come. There aren't a lot of people our age. Getting hit on by thirty five year old men is new, especially when they tell you that you have a "hot babyface." But okay, there is one good thing about cruises and that is going onto a balcony or the deck at night, because you can't really see the water underneath you, it's kind of just dark swishy sounds, but you can sense how vast it is. It feels like an abyss. I like that feeling. I guess if there was one cruise I would really want to go on it would be to Alaska.

Well I'm going to go on the deck to see if I can spot any trees waving under the water...wish me luck. Maybe I should lower my standards and find some flooded forests instead.

Sup, bloggers?

Greetings chicos and chicas. I'm just going to take two seconds to explain what exactly Poprocks and Astronauts is: this is a blog where Crystal and I (and the friends that want to join us on our blog adventure) will talk about music, movies, writing, art, and all the thing we love, and you love, and the world loves.

We especially adore artistic eye candy, outrageous stories, and taking pictures on properties that we don't own:

To get started, I could write a list of my top ten favorite rock stars/hair metal music videos/90s girl Wicca films/awkward underwater sports...

But instead, I'm going to keep it classy with my top 7 favorite dirrrty dancing moments (that's right, one for each mortal sin). Oh baby oh baby.

1. ELVIS

Uh huh.

2. Liv Tyler pole dancing in Aerosmith's video, "Crazy"

Nepotism is funny; if the Tylers were stock brokers, Steven Tyler would be like, "Liv, darling, come file some stuff at the office, honeybuns." But when you're in Aerosmith, it's definitely more like, "Yo Liv, come be a stripper." Ugh, I love rock n' roll.

3. XTINAAAA

The queen of dirrrty dancing herself. If Gaga and XTINAAA threw a party together, the Vatican would probably just explode.

4. Jimi Hendrix performing "Wild Thing"

This video is one of the best things I've ever seen in my entire life, and it's not really dirrrrty but I sorta just felt like including it (and there are some suggestive hip gyrations). I don't know how to embed video but here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PShb9YiCEy0
If you haven't seen it, please watch it and love it. He is too cool. It's so special and amazing; words do not suffice.

5. Dirty Dancing

How could I not add Dirty Dancing...this movie's bomb. I love it.

6. BOWIE

If aliens can really shake their groove thangs that well, we should definitely amend our relations with extraterrestrials. Why be afraid when they're clearly so shmexy plexy?

7. WHEN CAT DANCES ON A TABLE IN "10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU"

Best movie ever. 'Nuff said.

See ya next time y'alls!

On the Bandwagon

So I've jumped on, but not alone. Genevieve, who had the idea to this in the first place, is on the other coast for a week and a half. So I'll try to fill some negative space in the meantime.

I'm in the middle of watching Quadrophenia and it's awesome! But given my easy boredom, I decided to give this post a shot. There was already a pretty good foundation for my liking the movie - set in 60s London, mods vs. rockers and of course, vespas - one of which I crashed not too long ago. I've been on a bit of movie/TV binge this summer which is a little unlike me. I've revisited all three Back to Futures, plowed through three seasons of  True Blood and became completely obsessed with Bones.

A perfect example of why I need photoshop.

Even watched a few episodes of Jersey Shore... Now I get jittery at the thought that I have to wait for Season 6 to see what happens when Bones and Booth reunite (probably almost something, but ultimately nothing) when all of the previous plot satisfaction (or lack thereof) has come to me instantaneously. Apparently the thing that brings everyone back together is that Cam is in trouble. Also, *SPOILER ALERT* I read that someone dies, Booth has a new love interest and they're going to face a new murderer who has somehow come from The Gravedigger. I actually just ordered two of Kathy Reichs' books on Amazon, the first book in the Temperance Brennan series which has an iffy title, Deja Dead, but I'll give it a try, and a more recently published one, Bones to Ashes. I've read that the only thing the Temperance Brennan on the show and the Temperance Brennan in the books have is their job, which is a little disappointing but we'll see how it goes.

Oh my God, I'm so bored. Here look at some cloud shapes.

The top two were taken in New York and the bottom two in Greece.

I made this high tech compilation of photos with Preview and screenshots.


Genevieve, post from New York! Hopefully you'll have something a bit more interesting to say...