LINKS: February's top 10

I shouldn't be saying "this month's" because I got back home on Feb 12th, after being in Taiwan and San Francisco & spending most of my time being offline. However, since I still had a couple of weeks of uni break & was only going to work one of my part time jobs, I spent a huge amount of time going through blogs and other web pages- which totally compensated my time spent offline. So, going through my latest pins and pocket adds, I found that the most interesting February links were the following ones (they were not sorted by any particular way):

1. Blake Little Covers People in Honey for "Preservation" - Photography

Photo by Blake Little

2. Cheat Sheets for the Photographer - Photography

If you're not quite used to DSLRs or if you're still learning about photography, these sheets will be very useful to you.

3. Why Personal Style Blogs Aren't What They Used to Be - Blogging

Food for thought.

4. 300+ Awesome Free Things: A Massive List of Free Resources You Should Know - Blogging / Design / Entrepreneurship / etc

I've been a fan of everything Ali Mese posts for a while now, but this list is just exceptionally spectacular.

5. 60 Simple Rules of Personal Finance - Finance

Good tips on personal finance. Good publishing timing, too, considering the year's just started.

6. 7 Ways to Practice Emotional First Aid - Personal / Self-help 

Those things that everyone already knows, but never really cared about. They're important. 

7. 10 Dark and Disturbing Animated Films That Are Worth Your Time - Films

As a contributor to Taste of Cinema, I'm going to pick one list each month & share it with you. I picked this one because aside from being a fan of animated films (I'm really picky about them, though), it features Grave of the Fireflies, a heartbreaking, soul-wrenching all-time favourite of mine. 

Grave of the Fireflies scene. Property of Shihchosa, Tokuma Shoten and other copyright holders.

8. Women's Ideal Body Types Throughout History - Beauty

Although this was published in January, I only came across it a couple of weeks ago. BuzzFeed made a very interesting video. Food for thought. 

9. 40 Books Every Woman Should Read - Books

I don't like it when people make lists and specify a gender. I really don't like it. Makes no sense to me. Anyways, whilst going through this list, I noticed that I'd read most of the books and they were really good. So I'm going out on a limb here & add that men should read some of these books too, because they are awesome. Here are 5 books of the list that I really recommend: 

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer
• Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
• Broken Harbor by Tana French
• A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

10. Stay Weird, Stay Different - The Importance of Graham Moore's Acceptance Speech - Lifestyle/Oscars

It was difficult for me to choose an article from the many ones that were written about Graham Moore's acceptance speech. It was more difficult to choose an acceptance speech to pick an article about, since this year's Oscars were flooded with equality/minorities speeches - something I adored, btw. Nonetheless, here's one of the reasons I picked this article for my favourite February links list:

There are days that I can’t see the progress I’ve made. Sometimes, I still feel like that weird, strange, different girl. Sometimes, I still feel silenced, scared, and alone. That’s why I loved what Graham said in his speech. He reminded me that it’s okay to be different, it’s great to be weird, and that I do have a place where I belong. I belong with my family, with my boyfriend, and the handful of friends I’ve found who accept me for who I am. And I belong in this world as much as anyone else does.

What were the most interesting pages/articles you stumbled across during February?

#RIPLeonardNimoy 

FILMS: Chick Flicks

Hi.

Today was one of those "I don't feel like moving an inch" kind of days. I've been having a lot of those lately, but today I gave myself completely to this feeling. I stayed in bed with my dog watching chick flicks on Netflix. I watched 3 of those, showered and started thinking. (And now here I am, hurray.)

I don't know how people that are in my social circles see me, but they just find themselves surprised whenever I mention that I watched this chick flick and it was so cool or something like that. Just because I talk about "weirdo" independent or old films or, I DON'T REALLY KNOW... Why do people look at me and see someone who would never enjoy a chick flick?

Sometimes, people just want to have fun. Sometimes I just want to watch a movie without super smart dialogues, heavily detailed scenery and a deep, philosophical plot. And, sometimes, it's not about what I don't want, but it's about what I want: feeling warm, happy, detaching from reality and falling straight to a obvious happily ever after story. Watching a romance and not thinking "My god, this never happens in real life", but "If people came up with this, then it's possible, right?" instead, and feeling O.K., not because my life's perfect or because nothing bothers me - but because there still are people out there who are romantics, who would act simply out of love. No second intentions. Nothing between the lines. Just love. 

Of course, it's so much easier when you keep telling yourself the contrary. Or maybe not even the contrary, but something in the lines of "These people exist, I'm just not going to meet any of them". You put up walls, avoiding any hurting, humiliation or embarrassment. But the thing is, are people really judging you so much? Because, let's face it, everyone goes through heartaches.

I really admire all these characters in books and in films that are very honest with themselves and everybody else when it comes to love. When they admit that they are confused, that they are wrong, that they have to break someone's heart to go after the one they love, that heartbreak isn't the end of the world and that there's no need for some twisted hide and seek when it comes to love - that's when I sink into love stories.

I think most people I know put up some sort of wall to not seem too naive, too innocent, to the world, because the world is cruel and blah blah blah (myself included). In chick flicks, there is no such thing. No matter how cliché the story may be, I like wasting a couple of hours every now and then to lose myself in a reality with little floating hearts, bffs, champagne, laughter, guys on their knees, tears of joy, sweet soundtrack and everything related.

Babbling aside, here are the chick flicks I've spent my precious time on today:

(I'd rate them all ★★★, although How do You Know was my favourite.)

Do you like chick flicks? What are your favourite ones? Have you watched any of these I just talked about?