Mulder: “Then you accept the possibility that belief in god is a lie?”
Scully: “I don’t think about it actually, and I don’t think that it can be proven.”
Mulder: “But what if it could be? Wouldn’t that knowledge be worth seeking? Or is it just easier to go on believing the lie?”

(4X24 Gethsemane)

I also love AC Grayling for the same reasons. Especially this.

I was telling one of my boss at work this morning that I was really surprised to learn that Enid Blyton was not a man. Whoa, she exclaimed, you have to write about it. So I did.

I forgot to add: here’s my latest blog for Comment is free. There was a lot of arguing but I loved every second of it. Resident troll even said I looked like Jar Jar Binks - whom I had to Google. I replied with something similar and my ass got deleted by the moderator… which was well deserved but I mean, Jar Jar?

“As many readers have pointed out, it was misleading of Laura Agustín to imply that Faiza Silmi was not granted French citizenship solely on the account of her wearing the niqab. [read the rest here]”

Whoa - nothing like stepping out of your building in the rain at 3 in the afternoon to realise that your flat’s entrance and half of your street has been turned into a crime scene overnight. Forensic people walking around dressed in astronauts, two blood-soaked sweatshirts on the pavement and the whole perimeter blocked.

‘Serious stabbing’, said the policeman. ‘Please give your name and address to leave and enter the scene. Did you hear anything last night?’.

Oh, great.

Anyone up for buying me a present?

I e-mailed 20th Fox Century’s press office, entered every competition I could think of, even added pictures of my kitten to my e-mails as proof that I am a dedicated fan and prayed - atheist style- for a ticket to the official screening this Wednesday but nothing, no premiere for Jess. And all this after Mark told me that he thought I was England’s most deserving girl when it comes to being invited to see the movie.

I mean, who are those cold hearted people resisiting pictures of kittens, anyway? Jeez, I would have blog positively about the movie for free! Even if it is a disaster!* Ah, PR people are stupid.

Well, at least some people’s genius are cheering me up. I really need that embroidery pattern.

* My friend Matt says the movie is “potentially the most tarnishing crack at a legacy ever”.

Yesterday I headed to Kew Gardens to meet with Raphael, Marie-Pierre and Odette to spend an afternoon looking at odd exotic plants, eating Victorian sponge (very much liked by the little bird pictured below who pestered me for more) and climbing on the tree-top ladder. I am cultivating a growing interest in gardening, and I really want to sign up for this course, but given that my free space is a balcony and tiny terrasse, it’s probably not going to work.

The area around Kew Gardens’ tube station is unbelievably beautiful (think Gilmore Girls setting, complete with little books and flowers shop, French wine store and bakeries), but such cuteness filled my with rage. I mean, fuck, Bethnal Green is painfully ugly/smelly/dirty and yet everywhere I go during the weekends (Hampstead, Epping, Bermondsey, Belsize park, Primrose Hill - you name it) people seem to live in Victorian houses with huge gardens and quiet streets. How did that happen? How yeah, maybe it’s because nobody can afford a council estate house until they’re 50 nowadays and I have to live near dusty hipsterland with cheap rent instead. Fuck that.

I keep on thinking of my mother who kept on telling me, when I was a lone teenager glued to the interwebz all day, that one day I would regret not hanging out in our lovely garden in Tours an awful lot more. Mom 1, Jess 0 + crying.

Bitterness aside,

In french we call this ‘une bouture’ but I am not sure of the English equivalent. It’s surely one of the most amazing experiment done with gardening: take a stem, wrap it in mousse and plastic to conserve the moisture and leave it to grow, turning into another branches which can be later transplanted.

My obsession with benches continues. Someone get me one somewhere nice when I am no more, please.

Oh and plants, gardens, cakes, jam making and homesteading?  I guess that’s what they call being old, and yet I haven’t hit 25. Clearly there’s something wrong with this picture, because everytime someone says”festival” or “clubbing” I cringe. Give me white wine and a quite space instead please. I guess London will do that to you.

Near my work is a lovely little park adjacent to a street food market. I usually have my lunch there when it’s not raining and am a sucker for the market’s mushrooms stall (held by Sporeboys) whose people make wonderul portobello, tomatoes and haloumi burgers. God, Halumi is the best food I have discovered this year.

The park is home to wonderful lavender plants and a wild garden, and I couldn’t resist but to pick some branches the other day - is it illegal? Point is, I decided it was time to either learn how to make an orange and lavender cake, or get creative with it. I mixed some buds ( two teaspoons) with soft brown sugar in a glass jar, and topped it with half a vanilla pod. I am expecting a very fragrant sugar in a couple of weeks - I already tried it after a couple of days and was pleasantly surprised.

I think I will use it in spicy teas or on fresh baguette with butter. I am not sure about a potential use in cakes, but who knows?

In other news, X-files movie = D-day minus 2. To say I am ridiculously hopeful and excited is an understatement but to be fair, even if the movie turns out to be painfully bad, I am certain I will be one defend it. Which brings me to something even more embarrassing: I had a great woman over for dinner last night, who also happens to be quite the feminist. I am not sure how this conversation started, but we realised that we both had something for Charmed (gasp) and Grey’s fucking anatomy (double gasp). Oh boy, did it make me feel better to know a hardcore feminist, like me, was totally down with retarded TV shows, as well as the good ones*.

*Mark and I finished season 4 of The Wire and while Six Feet Under is still my all time favourite, damn, all the TV scenesters were right. This show is amazing.

I have a new blog entry up on Comment is Free re: Jezebel. A bit late to the game but whaddyaknow, still trying to make a point.

Here’s a recipe for a good blogosphere scandal: take two sassy, trendsetter bloggers writing for one of Gawker Media’s most popular sites. Invite them to a comedy show that will be broadcast online and have them interviewed by a ruthless and nosy host eager to discuss their sex lives. Add a lot of free alcohol to the mix, and you have the perfect ingredients for the viral equivalent of a car crash. [read the rest here]

Strangely accurate, according to my delicious tags:

Less accurate, according to my blogs keywords, but how much do I love the massive PASTRY  tag?