Sookie's BLOG

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Fixing De Potted Eye Shadows that Overheated

Monday, July 6, 2015

My Top 20 Beauty VLOGGERS LIST

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Best of 2014: Best Drugstore & High End Makeup

DRUGSTORE PRODUCTS:

Maybelline FIT ME Concealer

L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadows

Rimmel ScandalEYES Waterproof Eye Liner

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Cream Gel Eye Shadow

Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Eyeliner

HIGH END PRODUCTS:

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder and Blush

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

Makeup Forever Artist Shadows

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

Gerard Cosmetics '1995' Lipstick

MAC 'Soar' Lip Pencil

Monday, October 20, 2014

Sookie's Spookiest List

Here is my list of spookiest things

Spookiest Movie: The Exorcist, William Friedkin

Spookiest Television Show: American Horror Story

Spookiest Quote: Dracula, Bram Stoker
“I sometimes think we must be all mad and that we shall wake to sanity in strait-waistcoats.”
― Bram Stoker, Dracula

Spookiest Location: Catacombs, Paris, France

Spookiest Serial Killer: Zodiac Killer

Spookiest Character from a Book: Pennywise the Clown, IT, Stephen King

Spookiest PC Game: Phantasmagoria

Spookiest Board Game: Atmosfear (Came with VHS)

Spookiest Ghost Photo: Amityville Boy

Spookiest Movie Character: Legend, Meg Mucklebones

Spookiest Novel: House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Boyhood: The Beatles- The Black Album

In a scene of Richard Linklater's film 'Boyhood', celebrating Mason Jr.’s 15th birthday, he receives a mix CD from his father, Mason Sr., played by Ethan Hawke. Called The Black Album, it’s a compilation of the best of John, Paul, George, and Ringo’s SOLO work, post-Beatles. Below is a collection of the songs and the letter that accompanied it...

Mason,

I wanted to give you something for your birthday that money couldn’t buy, something that only a father could give a son, like a family heirloom. This is the best I could do. Apologies in advance.

I present to you: THE BEATLES’ BLACK ALBUM.

The only work I’ve ever been a part of that I feel any sense of pride for involves something born in a spirit of collaboration — not my idea or his or her idea, but some unforeseeable magic that happens in creativity when energies collide.
This is the best of John, Paul, George, and Ringo’s solo work, post-BEATLES. Basically I’ve put the band back together for you. There’s this thing that happens when you listen to too much of the solo stuff separately — too much Lennon: suddenly there’s a little too much self-involvement in the room; too much Paul and it can become sentimental — let’s face it, borderline goofy; too much George: I mean, we all have our spiritual side but it’s only interesting for about six minutes, ya know? Ringo: He’s funny, irreverent, and cool, but he can’t sing — he had a bunch of hits in the ’70s (even more than Lennon) but you aren’t gonna go home and crank up a Ringo Starr album start to finish, you’re just not gonna do that. When you mix up their work, though, when you put them side by side and let them flow — they elevate each other, and you start to hear it: T H E B E A T L E S.

Just listen to the whole CD, OK?

I guess it was the fact that Lennon was shot and killed at 40 (one of Lennon’s last fully composed songs was “Life Begins at 40,” which he wrote for Ringo — I couldn’t bring myself to include it on the mix as the irony still does not make me laugh) and that I just turned 40 myself that conjured this BLACK ALBUM. I listen to this music and for some reason (maybe the ongoing, metamorphosing pain of my divorce from your mother) I am filled with sadness that John & Paul’s friendship turned so bitter. I know, I know, I know, it has nothing to do with me, but damn it, tell me again why love can’t last. Why do we give in to pettiness? Why did they? Why do we so often see gifts as threats? Differences as shortcomings? Why can we not see that our friction could be used to polish one another?

I read a little anecdote about when John’s mother died:

He was an angry teenager — a switchblade in his pocket, a cigarette in his lips, sex on his mind. At a memorial service for his “unstable” and suddenly dead mom (whom he’d just recently been getting close to), he — pissed off and drunk — punched a bandmate in the face and stormed out of the memorial reception. Paul, several years his junior — a young boy, really, who didn’t yet care about girls, who was clearly UNCOOL, and who was let into the band despite his lack of badass-ness and sexual prowess due to the fact that even at 14 he could play the shit out of the guitar — chased John out onto the street saying, “John, why are you being such a jerk?”

John said, “My mum’s fuckin’ dead!”
Paul said, “You never even once asked me about my mum.”
“What about her?”
“…My mum’s dead too.”
They hugged in the middle of the suburban street. John apparently said, “Can we please start a fucking rock ‘n’ roll band?”

This story answered a question that had lingered in my brain my whole music-listening life: If The Beatles were only together 10 years and the members of the band were so young that entire time, how did they manage to write “Help,” “Fool on the Hill,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “Yesterday,” “A Day in the Life”? They were just 25-year-old boys with a gaggle of babes outside their hotel room door and as much champagne as a young lad could stand. How did they set their minds to such substantive artistic goals?

They did it because they were in pain. They knew that love does not last. They knew it as extremely young men.

With the BLACK ALBUM, we get to hear the boys write on adult life: marriage, fatherhood, sobriety, spiritual yearning, the emptiness of material success — “Starting Over,” “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Beautiful Boy,” “The No No Song,” “God” — and still they are keenly aware of this fact: Love does not last.

I don’t want it to be true. I want Lennon/McCartney to write beautifully together forever, but is that really the point? I mean if the point of a rose was to last forever, it would be made of stone, right? So how do we handle this idea with grace and maturity? If you’re a romantic like me, it’s hard not to long for some indication of healing between the two of them. All signs point that way.

When Paul went on SNL recently, he played almost all LENNON. And he did it with obvious joy.

Listen to McCartney’s “Here Today.”

Can you listen to “Two of Us” (the last song they wrote side by side) and not hurt a little? What were those two motherless boys who hugged in the middle of the road so long ago thinking as they wrote “The two of us have memories longer then the road that stretches out ahead”?

The dynamic of their breakup, like any divorce, is mysterious. Some say that Paul, the pupil, had surpassed John, the mentor, and they couldn’t reach a new balance. Some say Paul was a little snot who bought the publishing rights out from underneath the other three. Others say without Brian Epstein there was no mediator between their egos. Who knows.

I played Samantha “Hey Jude” the other day, and of course she listened to it over and over. I told her the song had been written by McCartney for Lennon’s son after Lennon’s divorce and she listened even more intently. George once said that “Hey Jude” was the beginning of the end for the Beatles. Brian Epstein had just died and John & Paul were left alone to run the brand-new Apple label. They recorded “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” as a single. Normally, Brian would decide which song was the A-side and which was the B-side, but now it was up to the boys. John thought “Revolution” was an important political rock song and that they needed to establish themselves as an adult band. Paul thought “Revolution” was brilliant but that The Beatles were primarily a pop band and so they should lead with “Hey Jude.” He knew it would be a monster hit and that the politics should come on a subversive B-side. They had a vote. “Hey Jude” won 3-1. George said that John felt Paul had pulled off a kind of coup d’etat. He wasn’t visibly upset but he began to withdraw. It was no longer his band.

The irony/punch line of this story is another story I once heard: When the “Hey Jude”/”Revolution” single was hot off the press, the boys had the mischievous idea of bringing their own new single to a Rolling Stones record-release listening party. Mick Jagger says that once the Fab Four arrived and let word of their new single slip — just as Side 1 of the Stones’ big new album was finishing — everyone clamored to hear it. Once The Beatles were on, they just kept flipping the single over and over. Side 2 of BEGGARS BANQUET never even found the needle.

So no matter how mad John was, he wasn’t that mad…

Once when John was asked whether he would ever play with Paul again, he answered: “It would always be about, ‘Play what?’ It’s about the music. We play well together — if he had an idea and needed me, I’d be interested.”

I love that.

Maybe the lesson is: Love doesn’t last, but the music love creates just might.

Your mom and I couldn’t make love last, but you are the music, my man.

“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love…”

I love you. Happy birthday.

Your Dad

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Revlon's Cult Classic Lipstick: Cherries in the Snow

Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care & fragrance company, which was founded in 1932.Brothers Charles & Joseph Revson, with the help of Chemist Charles Lachman, created the world’s first rich, glossy opaque nail enamel. The name Revlon – was created with the Revson brothers surname, replacing the S for a L, to honour Charles Lachmans involvement. The original Revlon 'Cherries in the Snow' Lipstick was launched in 1953 featuring the famous ad that featured, Dorian Leigh, one of the world’s first supermodels. She also happens to be the inspiration for Capote's 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'...she's the real-life Holly Golightly. #cultclassic #Revlon#CherriesintheSnow #makeuphistory

Swatch of Revlon's 'Cherries in the Snow'

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Sookie's Top Ten Favorite All Time Movie Scenes

1. Goodfellas
Henry beats up Neighbor Scene
This scene always got me because Henry was not playing around when it came to his girl.

2. Pulp Fiction
Overdose Scene
This scene needs no explanation. It's just brilliant.

3. Pride & Prejudice
Dawn Scene
This scene is special because my mother and I watch this movie constantly and this is our favorite scene.

4. Breaking the Waves
Phone Conversation with Bess and Jan
Jan, played by Skellen Skarsgard, is away on an oil rig and has just left Bess, his new bride for a few months. This call was so sweet to me because he just wanted to hear her say she loved him. This is an amazing movie and Lars Von Trier is one of my favorite directors.

5. Dazed and Confused
Emporium Entrance
This scene is so epic because that walk was so c-o-o-l.

6. The Big Lebowski
The Trip
The Dude's drug induced hallucination will always hold a special place in my heart.

7. Scarface
Elvira and Tony Dance
This scene is so great because of Elvira's swagger and her hopeless attempt to pretend she's not attracted to Tony. Their chemistry is so fierce.

8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Meet me in Montauk
Such a great line and it has such strength because that was her only way of making him remember how to find her again...and again...and again.

9. The Place Beyond the Pines
I know this is a recent movie but I'm obsessed with this scene. Ryan Gosling is hot. We're all aware. But this is scene is so great because he's so genuinely excited to have pulled off his first bank heist. I love the expression on his face when his girl comes out of work.

10. Mean Sreets
Johnny Boy's entrance is so great because he's such a mook. He owes money all over town and walks into this bar like the boss.