My first blog post of the year is neither about nor at the beginning of the new year. But I've been busy watching romantic comedies with Hugh Grant in them, so never mind that.
I have a new header now. It's a work in progress, but I'll finish it eventually. I hope. Over on Twitter, I'm continuing my 100 Book Challenge from where I left off last year. I will keep reading and keep updating until I reach a hundred, even if it takes years. Which it probably will. I'm currently reading Dan Jones' The Plantagenets, which is a fabulous book, and which I will completely butcher in my next book review.
And that is all. Let's jump right to it.
The Golden Globes were last week. Well, they were on Sunday night, so that would technically be two weeks ago, but because of time zone differences, I only saw them on Monday, so it was last week for me.
For some reason, I love award shows. I love watching them, and also love betting on the outcomes, even though I've probably not seen any of the movies. I've only ever seen one Oscar winning movie in the theater, before it was nominated, and that was The King's Speech. Obviously.
I also love looking at what people are wearing on the red carpet. It is one of my many indulgences, to see what people on Twitter and Mia Thermopolis have to say about red carpet fashions. And this first awards ceremony of the year saw some relatively new faces in the crowd, including Hannah Bagshawe, Sophie Hunter, and Amal Alamuddin. The three of them in particular have quite a few things in common - they are British, very beautiful, and I had never heard of them until they got engaged/married to famous actor-men.
All of them are WAGs. This term is traditionally associated with wives and girlfriends of sportsmen, and seems very derogatory. But I actually really respect these 'wives of'. It seems like a very hard job, to try and make something of yourself when the only thing that you're known for is being married to someone, but some people have managed to do it quite well - so well, in fact, that they've fast overtaken their originally famous significant other in the popularity stakes.
Here is a list of seven of my favourite people, some of who have had quite an influence on my life, and who I greatly admire, whom I have found out about only because they married someone famous.
7. Danielle Jonas
I don't know anything about Danielle Jonas, but I didn't have a seventh name and I didn't want to have a list comprised of six people, so, really, she only serves as a filler. Oh, and an obligatory Jonas Brothers reference (Tip of the hat to a certain group of friends. You know who you are).
6. Amal Clooney
Funny thing about Amal Clooney: Practically the instant she got married to George Clooney, everyone (I mean, the press) stopped calling her by her maiden name of Alamuddin. But they still call the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, which isn't just incorrect, but improper.
Anyway, she showed up at the Golden Globes last week, dressed like someone out of The Night Circus (Great book, by the way, which I just finished reading. I loved the story, but I have a feeling that the actual circus itself would have bored me to death) and Amy Poehler and Tina Fey made jokes at her husband's expense.
To be honest, I don't know very much about Amal. She just seems very accomplished. Not to forget, her wedding dress was gorgeous.
5. Sophie Hunter
When Benedict Cumberbatch announced his engagement, I got too distracted by the reaction on Tumblr (To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. No one was sending her death threats, or Buboter Pus in the mail! Everyone was taking the news calmly and nicely. And these are fangirls, who plot how to get away with murder and would kill to spend one night with their celebrity crush.) to actually Google Sophie Hunter.
Then she started to make appearances on the red carpet, at which point I immediately thought two things; 1) Her dress has pockets. Why don't all dresses have pockets; and 2) I wonder what she sounds like.
I still do. I haven't got the foggiest idea what Sophie Hunter sounds like, and I'm doubly curious because her fiance has a very distinctive, much admired voice. If she sounds like a chipmunk, I am just going to die of laughter.
But those pockets are inspired.
4. Autumn Phillips
Autumn Phillips, or Autumn Kelly as she was before her marriage, is the wife of The Queen's oldest grandson, Peter Phillips. When she met Peter, some eleven years ago, she apparently didn't know that he was The Queen's grandson until she saw something about him on television, six weeks later. Now, maybe the Internet wasn't as easily accessible in 2003, but surely she would have Googled him sometime? No?
Anyway, I have always felt that Autumn is one of the most under appreciated members of the royal family. She shows up and weddings and Ascot and thanksgiving services, but hardly anyone notices her, because her clothes aren't as fashionable as Kate's and she isn't as seemingly immortal as The Queen. She made sacrifices to marry Peter - she had to convert to Anglicanism, or he would have lost his place in line to the throne - and she does a good job raising her children, whose descendants may, someday, sit on the throne of England. It's happened before.
Also, that woman can curtsey.
3. Kim Sears
I had to have at least one sports name in the list. Also, she and Andy Murray recently got engaged, so huzzah for them!
I can't stand sports. I never play them, and rarely watch them. In fact, the only sport that I watch is tennis, and the only tournament of tennis that I watch is Wimbledon. And for the most part, my eyes are glued to the royal box, looking out of members of the nobility and Pippa Middleton. And when there is no one, I watch Kim Sears. She seems like the kind of person who doesn't take any nonsense from her boyfriend. Or her boyfriend's mother. Or anyone who defeats her boyfriend. Or anyone, really.
And, the faces that she makes. They're so funny.
2. Giovanna Fletcher
Giovanna Fletcher is married to Tom Fletcher of McFly. She is also the author of three (is it, now) young adult novels, and a column for Hello! which I used to read diligently, every Monday, but have now fallen behind on. I really should catch up.
I am ashamed to say that when I found out that Giovanna had published a book, I immediately dismissed it as not worth reading. I mean, obviously she had only got the book deal because she was Tom Fletcher's wife, or so I thought. (In my defense, I wasn't being anti-feminist so much as I was believing that just because you can entertain people does not mean you can write a good book. It's true now, though, isn't it? With Zoella, and her ghost writer scandal, and now Tanya Burr is writing a book. It's ridiculous.)
But I read Billy and Me, sometime last year, and I absolutely loved it. It's not going to go winning any literary awards, certainly, but it was a really lovely, touching story. The best analogy that I can come up with is that it is the comfort food of books - you read it when you're upset or stressed or whatever, and it just makes you feel really happy and warm.
In addition, Giovanna is very talented at singing and making announcements with her husband. She's number two on my list mainly because I feel really awful about having misjudged her.
1. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
Good ol' Catherine. I needn't even have said it, it's so obvious that she's my favourite. I have absolutely adored her from the moment when, a few weeks after her engagement to Prince William, I read an article about her, which claimed that she had once said, about Prince William, "He's lucky to be going out with me."
Now, as I've come to know Kate better, from afar, her saying that seems rather out of character, and it's very possibly not true, but I don't care. The Duchess of Cambridge will always be my favourite.
I really hope she has her baby on the 16th of April. It'll be a fun thing for the rest of my life, the fact that I share a birthday with the future King's younger brother.
Yes, brother. That's my bet. I'll elaborate on it next week.
Or whenever I stop watching soppy Rom-Coms.
N
I have a new header now. It's a work in progress, but I'll finish it eventually. I hope. Over on Twitter, I'm continuing my 100 Book Challenge from where I left off last year. I will keep reading and keep updating until I reach a hundred, even if it takes years. Which it probably will. I'm currently reading Dan Jones' The Plantagenets, which is a fabulous book, and which I will completely butcher in my next book review.
And that is all. Let's jump right to it.
The Golden Globes were last week. Well, they were on Sunday night, so that would technically be two weeks ago, but because of time zone differences, I only saw them on Monday, so it was last week for me.
For some reason, I love award shows. I love watching them, and also love betting on the outcomes, even though I've probably not seen any of the movies. I've only ever seen one Oscar winning movie in the theater, before it was nominated, and that was The King's Speech. Obviously.
I also love looking at what people are wearing on the red carpet. It is one of my many indulgences, to see what people on Twitter and Mia Thermopolis have to say about red carpet fashions. And this first awards ceremony of the year saw some relatively new faces in the crowd, including Hannah Bagshawe, Sophie Hunter, and Amal Alamuddin. The three of them in particular have quite a few things in common - they are British, very beautiful, and I had never heard of them until they got engaged/married to famous actor-men.
All of them are WAGs. This term is traditionally associated with wives and girlfriends of sportsmen, and seems very derogatory. But I actually really respect these 'wives of'. It seems like a very hard job, to try and make something of yourself when the only thing that you're known for is being married to someone, but some people have managed to do it quite well - so well, in fact, that they've fast overtaken their originally famous significant other in the popularity stakes.
Here is a list of seven of my favourite people, some of who have had quite an influence on my life, and who I greatly admire, whom I have found out about only because they married someone famous.
7. Danielle Jonas
I don't know anything about Danielle Jonas, but I didn't have a seventh name and I didn't want to have a list comprised of six people, so, really, she only serves as a filler. Oh, and an obligatory Jonas Brothers reference (Tip of the hat to a certain group of friends. You know who you are).
6. Amal Clooney
Funny thing about Amal Clooney: Practically the instant she got married to George Clooney, everyone (I mean, the press) stopped calling her by her maiden name of Alamuddin. But they still call the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, which isn't just incorrect, but improper.
Anyway, she showed up at the Golden Globes last week, dressed like someone out of The Night Circus (Great book, by the way, which I just finished reading. I loved the story, but I have a feeling that the actual circus itself would have bored me to death) and Amy Poehler and Tina Fey made jokes at her husband's expense.
To be honest, I don't know very much about Amal. She just seems very accomplished. Not to forget, her wedding dress was gorgeous.
5. Sophie Hunter
When Benedict Cumberbatch announced his engagement, I got too distracted by the reaction on Tumblr (To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. No one was sending her death threats, or Buboter Pus in the mail! Everyone was taking the news calmly and nicely. And these are fangirls, who plot how to get away with murder and would kill to spend one night with their celebrity crush.) to actually Google Sophie Hunter.
Then she started to make appearances on the red carpet, at which point I immediately thought two things; 1) Her dress has pockets. Why don't all dresses have pockets; and 2) I wonder what she sounds like.
I still do. I haven't got the foggiest idea what Sophie Hunter sounds like, and I'm doubly curious because her fiance has a very distinctive, much admired voice. If she sounds like a chipmunk, I am just going to die of laughter.
But those pockets are inspired.
4. Autumn Phillips
Autumn Phillips, or Autumn Kelly as she was before her marriage, is the wife of The Queen's oldest grandson, Peter Phillips. When she met Peter, some eleven years ago, she apparently didn't know that he was The Queen's grandson until she saw something about him on television, six weeks later. Now, maybe the Internet wasn't as easily accessible in 2003, but surely she would have Googled him sometime? No?
Anyway, I have always felt that Autumn is one of the most under appreciated members of the royal family. She shows up and weddings and Ascot and thanksgiving services, but hardly anyone notices her, because her clothes aren't as fashionable as Kate's and she isn't as seemingly immortal as The Queen. She made sacrifices to marry Peter - she had to convert to Anglicanism, or he would have lost his place in line to the throne - and she does a good job raising her children, whose descendants may, someday, sit on the throne of England. It's happened before.
Also, that woman can curtsey.
3. Kim Sears
I had to have at least one sports name in the list. Also, she and Andy Murray recently got engaged, so huzzah for them!
I can't stand sports. I never play them, and rarely watch them. In fact, the only sport that I watch is tennis, and the only tournament of tennis that I watch is Wimbledon. And for the most part, my eyes are glued to the royal box, looking out of members of the nobility and Pippa Middleton. And when there is no one, I watch Kim Sears. She seems like the kind of person who doesn't take any nonsense from her boyfriend. Or her boyfriend's mother. Or anyone who defeats her boyfriend. Or anyone, really.
And, the faces that she makes. They're so funny.
2. Giovanna Fletcher
Giovanna Fletcher is married to Tom Fletcher of McFly. She is also the author of three (is it, now) young adult novels, and a column for Hello! which I used to read diligently, every Monday, but have now fallen behind on. I really should catch up.
I am ashamed to say that when I found out that Giovanna had published a book, I immediately dismissed it as not worth reading. I mean, obviously she had only got the book deal because she was Tom Fletcher's wife, or so I thought. (In my defense, I wasn't being anti-feminist so much as I was believing that just because you can entertain people does not mean you can write a good book. It's true now, though, isn't it? With Zoella, and her ghost writer scandal, and now Tanya Burr is writing a book. It's ridiculous.)
But I read Billy and Me, sometime last year, and I absolutely loved it. It's not going to go winning any literary awards, certainly, but it was a really lovely, touching story. The best analogy that I can come up with is that it is the comfort food of books - you read it when you're upset or stressed or whatever, and it just makes you feel really happy and warm.
In addition, Giovanna is very talented at singing and making announcements with her husband. She's number two on my list mainly because I feel really awful about having misjudged her.
1. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
Good ol' Catherine. I needn't even have said it, it's so obvious that she's my favourite. I have absolutely adored her from the moment when, a few weeks after her engagement to Prince William, I read an article about her, which claimed that she had once said, about Prince William, "He's lucky to be going out with me."
Now, as I've come to know Kate better, from afar, her saying that seems rather out of character, and it's very possibly not true, but I don't care. The Duchess of Cambridge will always be my favourite.
I really hope she has her baby on the 16th of April. It'll be a fun thing for the rest of my life, the fact that I share a birthday with the future King's younger brother.
Yes, brother. That's my bet. I'll elaborate on it next week.
Or whenever I stop watching soppy Rom-Coms.
N
