What's On (my lips)
With a conference talk in London to prepare for this coming Friday, and with my PowerPoint slides empty in front of me, I did what any self-respecting, prospective academic would do in my position, by going out and buying lipstick.
Wait, Gina, I hear you ask – But no. Do not ask for connections. Ask only for the colour. As I type this, my full and sensuous lips are covered in a sheen of Coffee Shimmer. I don't even like coffee, but in these crazy times of Trump and Brexit, one must embrace paradoxes. And as I don't do misogyny and dog-whistle racism, this is the only way I have of abandoning first principles. Should I tell you the lipstick makes me look kind of hot? Men and women and those in between will speak to me over coming weeks, feeling the unconscious tang of wanting to drink coffee, or desiring sex, or both in a giant smouldering cup of latte. The feeling will pass as soon as I leave the room, but it will be tangible. The PhD room where I study will become a strange, erotically-charged caffeine-induced haze these coming weeks, unless of course I wear my other lipstick, when it becomes instead just a shit place to work.
In the meantime . . . But I can see you're already thinking of grinding coffee, grinding it like you've never ground it before. And to those who complain this What's On? blog post says nothing about films, nor has it been updated for a while, I can only say: Better Latte, than never.)
