Tag: reading

A Good Book and Good Laughs; How My Belarusian Pen Pal Got Me Hooked on Soviet Comedies

Published on by hellosamanthadear10 Comments

This week, I started reading a new book I’ve been anticipating called Checkpoint Charlie by Iain MacGregor! I’ve wanted to learn more about this famous border crossing of the Cold War era, which was a tense divider between East and West Berlin back in the day. You may or may not be familiar with the famous sign that stood at the checkpoint (and still does, as a tourist attraction in Berlin), and I always thought it was both fascinating and foreboding at the same time:

The stern sign gave you fair warning in English, and it also warned you in Russian, French and German that you were leaving the American sector of West Berlin and about to enter East Berlin territory. It was a crossing point from (I think) 1947-1991.

I’m still in the beginning of the book but I can EASILY SAY I am HOOOOOOOOOKED and it’s a real page turner!!!!

Alongside my exploration of new literature, I’ve also dipped my toe into the world of film from the Soviet era of the 1960’s. I have my Belarusian pen pal to thank for this, as I would have NEVER known what I was missing out on – Soviet comedies!

(My pen pal is in his late forties, lives in Belarus and experienced living in the Soviet Union himself, so I’ve learned a lot from him. I can even understand some Russian phrases now, like basic greetings!) 😃

I’ve watched a few comedies so far, including Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures (1965), and my favorite is Bootleggers (1961) featured above. It’s a short film at only 18 minutes long, but it’s 18 minutes of pure joy and laughs for me!

It stars (from left to right) Yevgeny Morgunov, Yuri Nikulin and Georgy Vitsin. The three characters star in several movies together and play troublemakers, in which their schemes don’t exactly turn out the way they think it will and they go through hilarious situations that end with them in the back of a police car. Bwahaha!!!

Side note: I fell in love with Georgy Vitsin like, 3 seconds into the film. How could I not fall for a face like this?

I found myself thinking: all three of these actors have been deceased since the late 90’s/early 2000’s. How cool is it that I discovered their films all the way here in the United States, in 2021 no less, long after they’ve been gone, and I get to experience it with fresh eyes?! Their legacy definitely lives on!

So as you can tell, I’ve been enjoying myself immensely in the world of literature and film – the perfect way to kick off the summer. ☀️❤️ I’ll end this post with two photos of me trying to awkwardly take photos of my outfit in my room. I was feeling the orange and purple ensemble, and the pockets? Sewed those bad boys on myself!!!

See yaaaaaaaaaaa!

Panda Expresso: The Almighty Newspaper Lives On

Published on by hellosamanthadear11 Comments

Ahhh…an espresso-rich iced mocha, warm weather, and diving into old articles from The New York Times. 😌☕️💕 (Oh, and re-reading my favorite book about the Berlin Wall for the 4th time now!)

Recently, I came across an awesome offer from The New York Times: for just $4/month for a year, I could have digital access to their newspaper vault, all in its original context! (For a history nerd, this was like finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow). My little fingers couldn’t subscribe fast enough!

Some say that newspapers are a thing of the past. Not so! I have newspapers to thank for this new hobby of mine, which is, searching the NYT archives for articles about the Berlin Wall when it was still standing! It’s feeding my Cold War obsession and I’m actually learning a lot.

I’m finding tons of articles and little snippets about the courageous people who escaped or attempted to escape over the Wall. My favorite snippet is about the border guard who literally just walked off from his duty post and crossed the line into West Berlin without any of his fellow guards noticing…

And my other favorite article, of course, is about the night the Berlin Wall came down, pictured above! I took a screenshot of how the newspaper looks in the archive. So cool!

I was just a few weeks shy of being 2 years old when the Berlin Wall fell, so I was too busy drooling all over myself and probably drooling all over the carpet to take note of international happenings. But now? I have the whole world at my fingertips, that can take me straight to the past in one click. And for that, I’m soooo thankful for today’s technology! 😌

Secondly, I now have panda hair clips!!! 🐼💕 They were custom-made for me by a really sweet seller on Etsy, and I couldn’t be happier with them! IS IT CHEESY THAT I WENT TO GET MYSELF PANDA EXPRESS WEARING THESE? 😆

See ya next time!! 💕

Band-Aid of Brothers: Brights vs. Pastels, the Battle

Published on by hellosamanthadear6 Comments

I’ve mentioned it before on my blog, but to any new readers, Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose is one of my favorite books ever!! I first read it in high school as a freshman. Growing up without any kind of father figure/male role model around, this book was gold in my eyes; here were these men who were courageous enough to voluntarily parachute out of airplanes and straight into combat zones in World War II. I was HOOKED. 

I carried the book in my backpack as a freshman in high school. My name’s written in it, as I wanted to ensure that in case I ever misplaced it at school, it’d find its way back to me in the lost-and-found. By now, the pages are yellowed and there’s a section where the spine of the book is a little cracked. But I’ll never replace it for a newer copy! It has too much sentimental value. 

No lie, I still use these guys as inspiration for my own personal endurance. Such as, breaking into my new platform Mary Jane’s. I know I know…that’s no comparison to stuff that happened in WWII!!! But hear me out first. I went for a long walk in my new shoes recently, and dang, I really blistered up my feet. The trek back to my car was tough, but I kept telling myself, Men parachuted out of airplanes while bullets were firing at them from the ground!!! Men stormed the beaches of Normandy, while met by a hail of gunfire! You can handle the pain! You can slap a band-aid on all your blisters when you get home! Go go go!

So yeah, true story folks…that’s how I trek through the little uncomfortable things…and HEY! I did a photoshoot for my book because it’s pretty. 💕

And now for the battle. Okay, it’s not really a battle at all, so I’m sorry for the huge letdown, but I wanted there to be a nice flow to my blog title. One day this week I wore a bright outfit, and another day, soft pastels! I really can’t choose between the two because I love both brights and pastels. They’re both cool in their own ways, ya know? 😎

Flower brooch by the one…the only…THE TOTE TROVE!

I wore these cat hair clips that I made myself with the pastel outfit (they are kind of hard to see in the photos). 💖 Both heart rings in this post are made by me and available in my Etsy shop!

Also, any of y’all remember BEAR IN THE BIG BLUE HOUSE? That’s where my bear is from; I totally loved that show as a kid. Yep, I still sleep with the bear on my bed!

See ya next time!!! 🐱

One for the Books; Wearing a Cool Apron

Published on by hellosamanthadear10 Comments

✨ Happy start of the new year! ✨

I love, love, love my new apron (a vintage find!), and it’s actually not a kitchen apron. It’s an accessory to an old USSR school uniform, in which a black apron was commonly worn over the standard brown dress. And now I styled it in my own fun way, with a floral pin from The Tote Trove! 😄

I reeeeally do love hunting for vintage items and giving them a new life!

I carefully planned out what I want to read for the year, and it caused me to go to Barnes & Noble for the first time since before the pandemic. I was soooooooooooo freaking excited to go!!!! I even took a picture of the store I was so happy, LOL. For me, knowledge is a girl’s best friend, so I love bookstores. 😎💕

My first read of the year – I know, I know, I’m pretty much obsessed with this man. 😍 I just really admire him.

I’m happy with my book line-up for this year!!! I want to learn about the early beginnings and formation of the United States, hence the three books on the right. 🇺🇸❤️ And of course, I needed a WWII book. 😋 Y’all just knew one would be a war book!

See ya next time!! 📚☕️