For Your Consideration

I've never really gotten into the habit of doing a Friday links type post but I often have little topics that I want to talk about or come across things in the week that warrant sharing, so I'll try and do this at least once a month. 

Reading

• I've been quite good this year with the reading. I haven't had too many false starts or tricky reads. Plus, I'm not really doing the Goodreads challenge properly this year so I feel like the pressure is off. I can focus on quality not quantity. Plus, I really want to read more non-fiction and I'm a lot slower reading it. Please, take a gander at my bookish posts this month.
• Currently reading:
  
• As for what's next, well my current, physical to-be-read immediately pile looks like this (below) but I buy a lot of Kindle books on a whim at 1am in the morning, so I try not to pick my next book until I finish my current book

CHOONS

I've been listening to: Bombay Bicycle Club, Clean Bandit, Bastille, Jhene Aiko, and Arctic Monkeys. I was also listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers in the car the other day and forgot how much their songs have been part of my life! It's like muscle memory, a song will come one and I'll start singing the lyrics (and I'm terrible with lyrics) automatically, whilst thinking 'I never knew I knew this song'. What are your muscle memory songs/bands?

I've also been listening to a lot of classical music, particularly the Russian composers such as Rimsky-Korsokov, Borodin, and Rachmaninov thanks to the Winter Olympics and the BEAUTIFUL figure skating, which brought me near to tears far too many times. Oh, and the Russian national anthem - how many times did they play it during the breaks?! Or was that just British TV? Are the BBC in cahoots with the Russians? Somebody call Olivia Pope!

That's Entertainment

• If you've read anything on this blog before, you'll know I enjoy a good television advert. Recently, I've enjoyed (along with half the country) Three mobile's 'Sing it Kitty'. If you can't watch it through that link, try and find it - it'll make you smile, I promise. McVities has also launched a fun campaign featuring all sorts of cute creatures. 
• I finished watching House of Cards. Overall, it was good but not as intriguing as the first season. Nashville is back on UK screens, thank goodness. However, other than those shows, I've been finding it difficult to get into anything else. Most of what I want to watch either isn't available in the UK (New Girl/The Voice USA) or hasn't come back yet (Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Suits). Usually, I don't get in a telly watching slump until the summer hiatus but alas, here I am, marathon watching Four Weddings. Help me out, what are you all watching? 
• The Oscars are - finally- on Sunday (well, Monday morning for me). Does anyone know exactly why they were pushed back? I know it's to do with the winter olympics but...nobody nominated was competing, right? Just saying...Anyway, I don't stay up for the actual ceremony but I'll watch the red carpet stuff. However, I hope we can watch the ABC Red Carpet Live again over here. Last year, E's coverage was pretty dire. I gather from UK listings that Sky are doing their own red carpet show but I don't know who this correspondent is and I take my red carpet seriously. Plus, where will they be positioned? Lainey says her etalk is second in line behind ABC and ahead of E!, so I'll probably try and check out one of their streams. The Oscars red carpet is no place for amateurs and you only get one chance to watch it live, so I need to know I'm in good hands. As for the actual awards...meh, I'm a bit over it to be honest. I didn't see many of the films, so, may the best player win!
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And the rest of it

• I'm addicted to the scarily accurate Buzzfeed quizzes. Take these and tell me your results (mine are in brackets): Which Scandal Character Are You? (Jake); Which Friends Character Are You? (Mike!); Which Girls Character Are You? (Marnie); What State Do You Actually Belong In? (Virginia)
• The war on celebrity baby pap pics started by Kristen Bell and her husband. Ummm, I'm kind of a fan of Kristen Bell in that I like Veronica Mars but...I never really wanted to see her baby and I'm guessing the majority of people feel this way, so I don't really get why they came out on the defensive. Anyway, my stance, as a casual gossip blog reader: Like most, I love babies but...I never wanted to see pictures of your kids in my magazines in the first place. I don't want to see pictures of you with your kids outside a supermarket. I don't want to see pictures of YOU outside a supermarket. I want to see you in your latest project. I quite like when you tell me about your favourite films and shows and beauty products but I don't HAVE to know. Basically, just tell me about your project and move on. If you share photos of your kids on social media that's fine - that's your choice and you're sharing not pimping. However, I think the best course of action is let your talent do the talking. What do you think? What will happen to those 'celebrities' whose whole brand is built around their kids such as Jessica Simpson and Jessica Alba. Hmm, I've written about this before, haven't I? 
• A great link about the figure skating from last week's Go Fug Yourself Fugs and Pieces.
• Pippa Biddle rethinks and makes good points about volunteering abroad. 
• My new favourite stationery brand - Sugar Paper LA!