Art & Culture – SPEAKOFTHEANGEL

Best Fall Transitional Pieces 2020

Angel Zheng — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 07:21:00 +0000

Autumn did not even bother creeping up on us this year. It just went from 23 degrees end of summer weather to 10-degree fall weather in the span of a few days. I feel like I barely got to enjoy the “warm” fall weather this year and it seems like we’ve already started to head into winter. On the bright side, that means an all-new wardrobe and styling cold weather clothes + layering—I’m definitely not mad about that!

Here are some of my current favourite fall transitional pieces for the 2020 autumn season!

I’m bringing light coloured pants into the fall, and you can’t stop me! They just pair so beautifully with light coloured chunky knits and coats and I love the snow bunny feel that it gives you. Loving these beige wide-leg trousers from J.ING. (use code ‘JINGAngel15’ for 15% off!)

Since COVID, I’ve really started to appreciate the comfort and easiness that athleisure and loungewear provide in the day-to-day. Love how J.ING threw a unique twist to your classic sweatpants and created these cool and effortless slashed up wide leg sweats that I’ve been loving.

The colour of these pants are just *chefs kiss*. Totally love the fit and style of these pants—they’re sleek, silky, and uber comfortable. So glad I picked these out in October and I can’t wait to style them for more tonal outfits throughout Autumn.

This is probably my favourite sweater of the fall—I’ve been looking for a simple ribbed half-zip sweater for a while, and this one just fits perfectly. It hits you right at the small of your waist and is super flattering with all different types of bottoms.

Much like the first pair of trousers that I listed here, I am equally obsessed with this grey pair. It’s got a very similar cut as the first trouser but is a nice preppy grey colour. Love how this looks with black sweaters and blazers and I definitely can’t wait to rock this one this fall.

What was your favourite out of the bunch?

Rome on Film

Angel Zheng — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 05:47:57 +0000

R ome has been high on my bucketlist for so long now, that it was actually quite unbelievable for me to finally be there. It seemed super unreal. I was tired from our rushing out of Florence and to the train station to make our train to Rome that it didn’t even hit me that we were there until we settled in at our Airbnb, decided to go get food and walked right by the Collosseum.

And boy, was that a shock.

It was the most insane thing to just walk down a street and practically bump into the Collosseum. The Colloseum you guys. I couldn’t believe how close our Airbnb was and just how accessible it all was. To see one of seven wonders of the world was as breathtaking as you’d imagine it to be.

Although the rest of Italy was equally as beautiful and amazing, Rome just hit differently. I’d describe it as this insane mix of what you’d imagine a European big city to feel like, while also being the home of some of the most amazing and insane historical monuments that still exist.

Beyond all the insane sights in Rome, the food was also out of this world. Joel kept saying to me “and that’s why they say all roads lead to Rome”, and boy did that hit home once I was actually there. Rome has everything you could possibly need. And maybe I’m saying that because I’m partial towards Italian cuisine (Amatriciana, specifically), but I honestly half considered just moving there for a bit.

The only thing that stopped me was the lack of fast WiFi. To which you’re probably thinking, you’re in ROME and you’re thinking about WiFi?! Well no, not exactly. But it’s definitely a requirement for somewhere I’d want to live!

We paid for a tour of the Colloseum and the Roman Forum and we both thought it was super worth it. Tours in Rome aren’t cheap.

Definitely something to keep in mind when you’re budgeting for your trip. But without a tour guide we would’ve been at a lost in the Roman Forum. Which pile of ruins was which building back in the day? It would’ve been a lot harder to understand and navigate the place it wasn’t for our tour.

My least favourite part of my visit? The Vatican City. Purely just based on the sheer amount of people that were trying to visit, it was enough to turn me off for a long time. I think I built this idea in my head that the Vatican City would be such a holy, mystical place. But even standing in the Sistine Chapel, staring up at Michelangelo’s work, all I could hear and see were people bumping into each other, standing shoulder to shoulder, trying to sneakily take photos of artwork you weren’t suppoed to. My experience was definitely clouded by crowds, which is why I personally would not visit it again.

It felt like no matter where I pointed my camera in Rome, I was bound to capture something beautiful.

Some photos definitely turned out better than others. It was my first time really using the Canon AF35M and a lot of photos turned out hazier than I expected. I definitely still prefer my Canon AE1 for all of it’s manually settings, but carrying around during vacations is a little much. I bought the AF35M for it’s portability, not realizing that the auto settings aren’t going to alway give me the best results.

Most of the time I don’t have a subject in my photos, which I feel like is actually quite boring. I captured this shot of Joel and the Pantheon which I loved so I’m going to experiment shooting more people and movement the next time I decide to whip my film camera out.

Do you shoot film? What camera do you use? What film do you like the most? These photos are all taken on my Canon AF35M on Kodak Portra 400 film.

London On Film

Angel Zheng — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 04:54:10 +0000

I feel like I would’ve liked London better under different circumstances. I mainly just stopped over in London before we headed off to our next adventures. And there were definitely moments where I stared in awe of the architecture of some of the buildings. But our stay in London ended up being too short and too rushed to be enjoyable.

I wanted to take more film photos but had forgotten to bring an extra roll of film the one day it was sunny. So I pretty much only have these two photos that I took close to Buckingham Palace.

Have you ever been to London? Did you like it?

All The Podcasts That I’ve Been Listening To

Angel Zheng — Tue, 14 May 2019 15:56:12 +0000

I got into listening to podcasts a couple of years back when I was introduced to the infamous podcast series, Serial. Since then, I’ve been constantly on the hunt for new content for my ears to indulge in. Whether it was on the way to work, driving from point A to point B, at the gym, in the office… I would constantly have something playing.

After Serial, I continued on with my investigative journalism/true crime kick, and started to listen to Dirty John and S. Town. And as much as I absolutely loved both these series (I would literally sit in my car for a few extra minutes daily just to finish an episode), I realized that I needed to expand my podcast palette and start ingesting more than just these crime mystery stories.

From mind-bending episodes of Radiolab and Invisibilia, to more practical binges like Planet Money, to more spiritual listens like Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Conversations, I was absolutely hooked on finding more inspirational, funny, sad, emotional, and addictive content to consume.

So, after hours of research, listening to TONS of different podcasts from all different categories, I thought it was about time I shared some of my favourite podcasts that I’ve come across so far. Grab some tea, put on your reading glasses, this is a long one.

True Crime/Investigative Journalism

I’m basic when it comes to this category, because my favourites are some of the most popular shows in the podcast world.

Dirty John

Debra Newell, a successful and beautiful interior designer from California, falls in love with a charismatic and handsome doctor, John Meehan. She is swept off her feet and starts thinking that she has come across her own perfect fairytale. But as tales as old as time has taught us, no fairytale comes without some evil.

Her daughters, Terra and Veronica senses that there’s more to their mother’s new man than meets the eye, and begins to investigate him after they caught him in a lie. As they dig, Debra’s love story begins to unravel, and they discover a psychological manipulation that almost rips their family apart.

S. Town

S-Town (short for Shit Town), describes a story about a man (John) who hates his Alabama town and is desperate to do something about it. He reaches out to a reporter to investigate the son of a wealthy family who’s allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. As the investigation happens, someone else ends up dead, a nasty feud is triggered, a hunt for hidden treasure begins, and the Shit Town suddenly becomes a whole lot more interesting and mysterious.

Serial

Season 1 of Serial talks about a murder case that happened in 1999, where 17-year-old Adnan Syed was arrested and convicted for murdering his girlfriend Hae Min Lee.

Host, Sarah Koenig, dives into hundreds of documents, testimonies, interrogations, and even interviews everyone she could reach, to find out more about this case and discovers that it is WAY more complicated than what meets the eye.

Season 2 and Season 3 addresses different crime mysteries, which I haven’t listened to yet, but I’ve hear amazing reviews of all 3 seasons and I have no doubt they killed both those seasons as well.

Inspirational/Self-Help

Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Conversations

You really can’t talk about Inspirational ANYTHING without mentioning Oprah. She dominates in this field in all content types and podcasts are no different. Oprah’s Super Soul Sundays has been a popular daytime television series for quite some time now, and her Super Soul Conversations podcasts are just as amazing. Hear her personal selection of interviews with thought-leaders, authors, spiritual luminaries, and health and wellness experts to discover, connect, and get more in-tune with your mind, body, and soul. These. Are. AMAZING. Even if you aren’t really a “spiritual” person per se, I would still definitely recommend that you give these a listen.

Oh Boy

By the creators of Man Repeller, Oh Boy is a fun listen that features witty, creative, weird, boss-b*tch ladies who push the boundaries and kill it in their industry. Such an inspirational listen for those who are in the creative industry. With the first episode featuring, none other but their very own, Leandra Medine.

“The first episode of Oh Boy bends the rules by foregoing the clause about cool women to feature one weird one, or the artist formerly known as me. Listen to it while you meditate, drive home from work, eat cereal, walk to the grocery shop to buy avocados, breast feed your baby or walk aimlessly through the streets near your home and then let us know what you think. We look forward to connecting with your ear lobes.”

#LipStories

In collaboration with Girl Boss Radio by Sophia Amoruso, #LipStories was created by Sephora, in celebration of their new line of lippies with the same name. They say that these lipsticks are “for real life—not just ring lights” and celebrate all the fun adventures, magical moments, and flashes of inspiration that comes with life. Each episode features a different influential female founder, creator, or thought leader, and shares some of their most inspiring and REAL moments.

Business Related

StartUp Podcast

StartUp by Gimlet Media is interesting because it’s a Start Up podcast about Gimlet Media themselves. The first season goes through the struggles and stories of starting up Gimlet Media, and the second season, a company called ‘Dating Ring’. If you want more short stories, season 3 talks about a different business per episode.

How I Built This

Another NPR special, Guy Raz goes through the success and hardship stories of some of the world’s most well known innovators, entrepreneurs, and companies. With a huge focus on how they got to where they are, and what they had to go through to get there.

Girl Boss Radio

The saying is “Empowered women empower women”, and that’s exactly what this podcast is about. Girl Boss radio is hosted by Author, CEO, and Founder of Girlboss and Neha Gandhi, editor in chief and COO. They have honest, real, and raw conversations with women who are killing it in their field, and share hilarious but useful tidbits from their lives.

Stories/Documentaries

Radiolab

Combining music, sound, and stories, Radiolab is a docu-series where they focus on one big idea per episode, and walks the audience through all their investigations around that topic in a mind-bending way. Music, science, and culture collide at Radiolab, and Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich host it all perfectly.

This American Life

Similar to Radiolab, This American Life is a weekly, hour-long podcast that focuses on one idea per week, and goes through stories that revolve around that idea. They showcase “an entertaining kind of journalism that’s built around plot”. Each story is either about a compelling person, a funny moment, or even meant to evoke a deep emotion. They delve into interesting themes and twists and turns, and have created this super addictive series that you can’t help but tune in to every week.

Invisibilia

Another super addictive, mind-bending, thought provoking series, Invisibilia talks about “unseeable forces [that] control human behaviour and shape our ideas, beliefs, and assumptions”. Latin for invisible things, this podcast is the perfect blend of storytelling, mysterious narratives, science, and culture, and will make you see your own life differently.

Other Fun Listens

Til Good Game Do Us Part

I have to mention Til GG Do Us Part because it’s created and co-hosted by a friend of mine that I met in the gaming industry. Troy and Henry deep dive into gaming, esports, streaming, and the business behind it. Also how hilariously clever is their name?

And that’s a wrap! These are all of the podcasts that I’ve been listening to as of late. Are there any that I’m missing? If you think you have recommendations that I would love please comment them below or tweet me! I love finding new ones to listen to.