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New Year's Eve is only hours away and we typical human beings obviously start to make summaries of the ending year, of our lives and, of course, most of us decide to give up some bad habits, be nicer, etc. now that a new 'thing' is about to happen. But I am waaay too busy to do all these things because I have two exams left so in this post I will only focus to the world of style...
Outfit of the year:
Yes, this one has to go to Reese Witherspoon and her Golden Globe-appearence (FYI: dress - Nina Ricci). I have never seen any outfit/look that was mentioned and shown all over the Internet and different magazines and, let's face it, this look is definitely not overrated.
Movie of the year:
For me, it's obivously Fracture. It's perfect, Anthony Hopkins is... do I have to put anything here? It's so obvious he's fantastic. There are no words. It quickly made its way to my 'fave movies of all time' list.
Shock of the year:
Not really a stylish person, not even anyone I particularly cared about, but definitely one with great impact on (useless) pop culture, Anna Nicole Smith, passes unexpectedly on February 8th.
(Newcomer) Style icon of the year:
Kate Bosworth. Her style has improved a lot and now she is officially a style icon. She looks chic 24/7. Or at least all the time we get to see her.
Loss of the year:
Luciano Pavarotti - and with him, the legendary formation of the Three Tenors - passed in September.
And I know - just to use Marilyn Manson's words - yesterday was a million years ago, it was also the birthday of Jude Law. He's 35. He's still wonderful. He's still irresistible.
No, it's not me reflecting on Christmas, it's actually a novel and a 2005 film that caught my attention.
Gerald Durrell, author of thirty-something books, world-famous zoekeeper and naturalist tells the true or semi true (but definitely more possibly authentic than Dalí's autobio) story of his family's life in Corfu, Greece.
I have never been interested in biology but in-the-movie-still-a-kid Gerald is, probably more than most biology teachers. He collects animals, examines and supervises them and makes Greek friends while doing so. Then there are his siblings, the bit too promiscuous Margot, Leslie, whose hobby is shoot anything, anytime, anywhere and Larry, the writer. Their mother tries to raise them as well as she can but with her naive and kind attitude and the children's 'wildness', it is pretty hard.
The film is full of humour and basically anyone can find something in it that resembles the craziness of their own family (especially if named family is relaitvely big). The actors are great, my favourite is Larry's character, Matthew Goode is wonderful (he always is, remember Match Point).
In one word, the movie is sweet and a must-see for everyone who wants to see a witty movie, lack of all the stupid and this-can-only-happen-in-romantic-books/film kind of things. In fact, it is beautiful.
Well, it's Christmas again. I wish you all a merry Christmas, filled with love, family reunions and, of course, good meals.
And here I am to present my all-time favourite Christmas movie, Mixed Nuts. This is anything but a typical festive film since it's about a lifesaving 'company' with its crazy but adorable employees (and employers). The cast is great, it includes Steve Martin, Anthony LaPaglia, Juliette Lewis, Adam Sandler, Liev Schreiber... and even my beloved Jon Stewart. Of course, most of the actors were relatively unknown when the movie was made (1994) but that does not reduce the quality.
The plot is a bit depressive but believe me, it IS funny (okay, it is entertaining if you, like me, are the fans of ironic, bittersweet humour).
I dislike telling others about the story of the film because it always has the risk of making something accidentally roll out of my mouth that I shouldn't have mentioned (like, the end, or stuff like that) so if you want to, and I can assure you, you better want to unless you intend to miss a Christmas classic, go watch it. Have seen it already? Quite possible... Go watch it - again. It's always fun to watch, especially when it's Christmas since we all know that nothing, including Christmas, is perfect and Mixed Nuts shows this side of the fest in its oh-so-sweet-and-miserable way.
Oh, and here's an example conversation, via IMDb:
[Philip gives Mrs. Munchnik her Christmas gift]
Mrs. Munchnik: A fruitcake?
Philip: Yes.
Mrs. Munchnik: Remarkably like the one I gave you last year.
According to Salvador Dalí, there comes a moment in everyone's life when... they discover how much they adore Salvador Dalí.
There are many 'egoist' artist in history (think Alfred Hitchcock) but no-one can take over this catalan genius. Named moment arrived in my life a long time ago and since then, I had to realize not only is he a great painter but his writing skills are extraordinary as well.
I am a Picasso fanatic and am always sad to see that out of 10 books on artists in a bookstore at least 7 is about Dalí and only one is about Picasso but I am always thrilled to see that out of that 7 books at least 5 is actually written BY Dalí.
I could write and talk hours about his works and how much I love to have him as my 'private catalan teacher' (he often explains what this or that means in catalan) but this time I would only like to talk about his biography (or pseudo-biography??), The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí.
First of all, this anything but a usual bio but what could one expect from him, after all? It is filled with speeches that kind of glorify him in the loveliest way, for example:
"At the age of 6, I wanted to be a female cook. At 7, Napoleon. After that, my ambition just went on growing. I wanted to be Salvador Dali and nobody else."
Other wise words are also to be found in the book...:
"What is an elegant woman? An elegant woman is a woman who despises you and who has no hair under her arms."
But despite all of his self-adoring life, after (and, as he claims, even before) he had found Gala, his wife, life itself has changed. He remained to be in love with himself but he has stated countless times how much he loved Gala (once he said he loved her more than his parents; than he said he loved her so much, after she dies he'll eat her and so on).
If you want to read (or give a gift to someone, anyone), trust me, this one is a perfect choice. It is entertaining, witty, has great thoughts and introduces the life of one of the most influential and famous artists of the 20th century more authentically (okay, according to some, not really authentically but definitely wonderfully) than anyone else could do so - by Salvador Dalí himself.
Since my favourite 'high street' (e.g. not 'high end', like glorious Chanel, Dior, etc.) make-up brand is ArtDeco (Germany), when it comes to buying make-up, I usually opt for it (for not for the aforementioned 'high end' brands). But now I seem to give this partialness up because I have discovered Bourjois Paris that I have known for a while but have not purchased anything from them and have never checked out their collections as deeply as my favourite brands' offers.
I believe that even if it's 'just' make-up, package is important and that's what most affordable-to-anyone companies miss (probably that's an other reason why I've been a fool for ArtDeco) - but not Bourjois Paris.
What caught my attention was their Petit Guide de Style, a duo eyeshadow, available in 6 pairs of irresistible shades:
Then, as I got curious about it, I ran into the lipglosses...
First into Eau de Gloss:
and then into La Crème des Lèvres:
(actually, they also give an instruction about how to pronounce the French names. So cool.)
The quality is also good and as I have already said, it way harder to choose from the great colours than with other 'high street' make-up brands (except for ArtDeco's wide selection of eyeshadows. I could have them all.)
Summary: Bourjois Paris is my new another favourite make-up brand!!!
As we all know, vintage has been 'in' for a while and it really doesn't seem to go out, especially not when it comes to special pop culutral merchandise - think something Beatles or Elvis related, or a mug with the picture of James Dean or Marilyn Monroe (thanks for KIKA for making these two dreams of mine come true for $1,5 per mug).
And if you are also into movies, especially elder ones, you might show some interest in a French gentleman's offer: his website, dominiquebesson.com gives you the opportunity to check out some movie posters from all around the world (along with pre1900 ones!) - believe me, unlike today's movie posters, they are real artpieces. And, of course, of you find your favourite or just want to give the best gift for a real fanatic, you can also buy the posters (there are some under €200 and above €2000, you can refine your search according to era, designer, actor/director, price, etc.) - believe me, they are worth it, just like a contemporary painting.
PS. Oh, and this is exam season that means I can not pay as much attention to fashion as I want to. But today, while I was checking the blog Superfantasticpicturetime, I found the picture of this young lady and thought I'd put it here:
I love the shoes, I love the red details, I love the coat, I love the haircut, I love everything.
I remember the first movie I saw that 'decided' to make us understand the story by not showing it in a linear way but with confused scene order: 21 Grams. Ever since, I've seen many pieces made this way and have always thought it was better than the regular method since it literally forces the viewer to pya attention and think it over.
I know La Môme is not a new film but I happened to see it today and was really impressed. For your information, it's about Édith Piaf, the legendary singer and for this reason, the music is fabulous. Marion Cotillard is wonderful in the movie, her acting skills are definitely the ones if a great talent - the moves, the look, the voice, everything, everything, everything is perfect. The other actors are good as well and I like how the movie manages to bring 'that Parisian feeling' to life.
The story, of course has many sad sides, but I have observed that drama is exactly what I like about movies - life does not has a happy end all the time after all.
What else could I say? The last song of the movie tells it all. If you want to see a not so light but thought-wakening film about love, loss, success and dignity, I recommend it. And last, but not least, all this based upon ture events, true emotions and most of all the life of an extraordinary personality who had all the humour, whimsicality and will to make it happen and bear it all.
When it comes to Hungarian music, my favourites are Ákos (who most of the time sings in Hungarian but he has numerous English albums as well) and Yonderboi (I recommend him for everyone, he is a pure genious!!) and The Moog seems to grow on me.
I think The Moog is the only Hungarian 'thing' that made its way to the famous InStyle magazine's Partyhopper Blog a while ago and I am happy and lucky to say I went to their concert (my second The Moog gig) this Saturday.
The guest band (I can't recall their name) was - judging from the look - a Franz Ferdinand wannabe band, but judging from the music, they will not be the next Franz Ferdinand at all; you know the kind of music you listen to at parties or concerts but will never listen to at home just for your own pleasure or fun...?
But, The Moog has improved even more since the beginning (they've added keyboards... just how cool is that? Not really garage-rock.) and I absolutely love them. They are quite popular abroad as well, I mean, they are on the good way to be more popular and well-known.
What makes a band unique is the complexity - looks, sound, behaviour - and The Moog gets the maximum point of it all (if we give Franz Ferdinand more than the maximum point).
And, apart from the frontman's sometimes confusing hand moves, they are very sweet on stage. Really down-to-earth people; they don't hide backstage, instead, they go to the bar and buy themselves a drink just like anyone else.
And though I will never ever become the regular The Moog fan (e.g. 15 year old, skinny jeans+sneakers+hoodie, I-could-do-anything-to-touch-them-and-when-I-succeed-I-will-scream-and-cry-and-everything-like-that girl /especially since I am not 15 and have never been the screaming kind.../), I really like them and wish them all the best - they deserve it.
If you want to know more: The Moog's MySpace Page.
Or, if you happen to be in San Francisco on February 7, go and see them at Rickshaw Stop (their MySpace site includes all info on their other upcoming shows).
Frankly speaking, in some cases when a book or film becomes extremely famous and everyone knows and reads/watches it, I am a bit reluctant when it comes to reading/watching them. It's not because I am a snob or something, I like many bestsellers and blockbusters, not to mention iconic masterpieces (On the Road, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Breathless...) but sometimes I just feel like not obeying the 'social rules'. It doesn't make me undereducated since I definitely watch and read these pieces, it just takes time for me to make myself doing it.
The same thing happened with Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. Coelho is one of the world's most popular writers and he is one of my favourite writers as well but when I decided to read my second book by him (the first one was my all-time favourite 11 minutes), I also decided it would not be the book that actually made him famous. It wasn't really a decision, just a feeling that I sould opt for other novels. But, as I said, I always make these much-anticipated things mine, and now it was time for The Alchemist.
And I must confess, I might have made a mistake. The novels I have read by Coelho were more mature than this, not that this is not mature or something, it's typical Coelho, of course I read it in no time (2 days - when was very busy with other things, too) and was kind of disappointed. I love the story, I even like the usual mythical names (Personal Story, etc.) and tales but while reading it, I kind of seemed to have enough of the fact that in the book, everyone is wise. I understand poor and undergraduate people are most of the time wiser than those who have I don't know how many PhDs but still, come on, not everyone is like that! There are special people out there but the world is not black (e.g. shallow) and white (e.g. wise)!
But, once again, I love Paulo Coelho, I love his novels, his thoughts, his lines and words and everything and since The Alchemist was not my first read novel by him, if it were, I would have loved it more. But having read his later works where not everyone knows essential but not-known-by-everyone things.
So, it's true what the cover says - A magical fable about following your dream - and the point of it is clear. Sometimes we have to go back to the start, to the basics to understand things, to find things we had thought were without value actually valuable (remember the Coldplay video, The Scientist when the whole vid goes backwards. Perfect.).
If you haven't read it already, I absolutely recommend The Alchemist, with every single novel Coelho teaches something else and whenever you read his works again (like I did with 11 minutes), you happen to find something new every single time. Isn't it what makes an artpiece, let it be a book, a film, a song, an opera, a painting, an anything else ART and MEANINGFUL and VALUABLE?
I don't know how it is in your country but in mine Christmas gifts are not brought by Santa Claus but by Jesus Christ himself. But, it doesn't mean Santa has no role in our traditions - he has a whole day to bring gifts, too! Named day is today, December 6th - I remember when I was a child, I couldn't sleep I was so excited about the gifts he had put into our boots (literally, we had to clean our boots/shoes, put them in front of the door and by next morning there were gifts and sweets in them and next to them)... But nowadays, when I am officialy adult (obviously, along with my older brother, so no kids in our family anymore), this day is not that exciting but thank God, we still receive sweets (you can never be adult enough to have enough of chocolate, am I right???).
So I was absolutely happy to get a pack of Raffaellos - they are heavenly, as always, this time in the form of a bell; typical Christmas pack, I love it.
But my favourite of the year is my borther's gift - Lindt Santa Claus chocolate. As you probably know, Lindt is the best chocolate on Earth, super delicious, extra quality and their packages are always wonderful as well. Along with Italian company Sorini and Ferrero, they are my favourite sweets company...
(click HERE to see it in full size, it is too wide, Blogspot cannot show it properly)
I know I have already mentioned in a previous post how much I love winter and the sweets that come with it but after Santa Claus day, I am never lack of chocolate and simply can't wait what Christmas brings along. So, just an advice (that you are probably aware of): if you don't know what to buy or just want to sweeten your gifts - think good quality Christmas sweets - Lindt, Milka, Ferrero, Mozart... all the big ones know how to make delicious and extremely good looking gifts.
PETA's Animal Times mag has a Test Your Animal Smarts spread and the 3rd question is: "In Anna Wintour's closet, you might find the snkins of:
a. Former assistants
b. Cats and dogs
c. Leopards
d. All of the above"
I, obviously, checked d, and, of course, was wrong: according to the mag, she doesn't wear lepoards...or former assistants. But she does wear cats and dogs (how CRUEL is that?) - their fur is illegaly imported from China.
So Anna, how much time does it take to make you understand: cruelty is anything but chic!!!!?!?!?!
Entertainment Weekly has chosen the 50 Smartest People in Hollywood and Gustavo Santaolalla is the 48th. For those of you who might not know him (or his name): he is a composer - think Brokeback Mountain, Babel, 21 Grams, Motorcycle Diaries...
I am glad he made the list, being - as far as I can recall - the only composer on it. The reason "why he is smart" is 'He's the anti–John Williams, capable of breaking hearts with a single guitar.' No-one could say it more perfectly. And ever since I've heard his beautiful score for 21 Grams, he's been my favourite contemporary composer.
He is a natural born talent - cannot read music, plays by ear. Now that's what I call miraculous, and, of course, beautifully heartbreaking.
I might share my birthday with darling Paul McCartney but I can't stop but envy my cousin who shares his b-day with Woody Allen - my favourite director, ever. Of course I have other favourites as well, but no one else's personality can be more attractive than Woody's - think of his legendary comments and quirky voice and even the fact that he was chosen one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history, back in 1995. And yes, he is sexy in his right, he has that certain something very few can resist - the archetype of the man who takes it all with his humour.
So, our dear Mr. Allen turns 72 today. Happy Birthday to him, of course, and I can't wait to see his upcoming projects and I hope he'll keep making this life more bearable with his masterpieces for a very-very long time.
And, you know, at least I share one thing with the genious Woody - our love for Venice, Italy.
