The Bookworm: fifty shades in public

When you consider the fact that this series originated as an R-rated piece of Twilight fanfiction, it goes without saying that the quality, style and substance of these books are, for lack of a better term and without using stronger language, incredibly juvenile.

But I will readily admit that as a mentally stimulate and voyeuristic pursuit, it does its job and more effectively than I expected given the rather insipid narration. It inflames the mind of possibilities, fantasies and feeds into the dark corners of a people's mind that is unwilling to admit the more shameful sides of their sexuality.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that this book is little more than pornography in written form.

Yes, pornography. You know that dirty little secret that nearly every male (and enough females) hide on their hard drives, when they are not discreetly seeking for it on an internet that is probably 90% financed by said industry for?

Which is why it baffles me and even amuses me when I see women reading a Fifty Shades book on public transit, or really anywhere in public. 

For me, it's the equivalent to a guy pulling out his iPad/iPhone/Laptop and watching porn on the train. And if  a guy were to do that, what does it tell you about him?

He's horny, he's aroused and he needs some attention and will probably take it from the first decent looking chick that will give some to him. Right?

Now, I understand that a book is not something people immediately associate with sexual arousal or desire, but the Fifty Shades series have generated enough pop buzz in 2012 that enough people know enough of the context of the story to get a pretty good idea of just what the girl is thinking or feeling physically while biting her lip reading this book.

Basically, she is sexually aroused and will take it from any decent looking male who happens to give it to her.

Yes, this book is vapid, meaningless and totally unrealistic. It lends no artistic or thought to the human race. It is badly written, with bad dialogue and filled with cheap thrills.

But then again, so is porn!

So to judge the book on its intellectual and value to the human race would be like trying to sell Deep Throat to the Academy. And admittedly, there is a place for these kind of useless fantasies in this world.

But for God's sakes, leave the fantasies within the privacy of one's home! 

Geek Looks: julep october nail polishes

BORIS & NICOLE
classic with a twist
sierra with a frosty finish

3 out of 5 stars

The picture here makes the polish come out way redder than it is, thanks largely to that flash. The colour on my nails is really much closer to the colour as it appears in the bottle, a rich and sparkly brown that gives it a touch of shock and awe to the style.

It does a great amount of justice to the changing foliage of the season and as it is much closer to being a neutral than anything else, it really does go with anything I have in my closet (well, almost)

In short, I love it. It applied fairly smooth and easily and dried very fast, even when I put on a thicker layer in order to bring out a stronger punch of the colour.

So why only 3 stars?

The applicator brush that came with the bottle of polish the company sent me was defective. The bristles are bent and do not lie straight and really did a good job of impeding and preventing a truly clean application of the polish on my nails. It was hard to judge how smooth it applied as a result and also required a fair amount of clean up using nail polish remover on my cuticles after application, which given the polish itself, I should have no problems.

So regardless of how much I like the colour and the polish itself, it loses two stars for the time wasted because of the brush alone.

GWYNETH
classic with a twist
pink with a sheer finish

1 out of 5 stars

I'm not even going to take a picture of the polish with my nails, because it is essentially a clear polish that looks like... I did nothing to my nails. I mean, it does give my nails a nice shiny sheen to it, but it doesn't even look like I have polish on.

I get that there is a time and place and reason to have clear nail polish... and for that it works fine. But when I wear polish, I wear polish, which means I like for my nails to look like it has polish on it.

So it really didn't impress me.

And this ruling is as much a personal preference than anything else.