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It's Halloween so I guess my instinct led me to watch The Vampire Lestat videos today though I really do not celebrate Halloween. Anyway, my love for Anne Rice and her vampires will never ever fade away, it started many years ago with Interview with the Vampire (the book) and went on with the sequels (oh, my beloved Memnoch the Devil and Merrick...) and, of course, the two movies. The first one, starring Brad Pitt as Louis and Tom Cruise as Lestat (and Antonio Banderas /Armand/, Kirsten Dunst /Claudia/) was perfect (no wonder, Rice wrote the screenplay) but the second, The Queen of the Damned... Well. Many Anne Rice-fans hate that movie for not being the interpretation of the book, The Queen of the Damned but I have always tried to watch it with different eyes. First of all, the actors. Late Aaliyah, divine Vincent Perez and Stuart Townsend, who, despite being a relatively unknown actor (especially comepared to his "wife", Charlize Theron) is wonderful, not only in this movie but in basically everything he's made (think Trapped; About Adam; The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - he made me love villains and Dorian Gray even more).
But I am not here to write about it. What I want to write about one of the spooky videos Lestat has made (okay, that were made for Lestat while they were shooting TQotD). There are 3: Redeemer, System and Forsaken. My favourite is Forsaken and you can watch it HERE.
When I first saw the video it captured me and I couldn't set myself free ever since, not that I wanted to.
I have always thought it would be splendid if someone realized how scary those old horrors could have been when they were premiered and how scary a contemporary horror film would be made with that technique.
I am talking about Weine's Dr. Caligari that might seem ridiculous watched with 21st century eyes... So someone finally discovered it and not only Forsaken is made with that particular technique, it is also a kind of remake of Dr. Caligari's notable scenes:
(Sorry for the bad quailty, I had to take the stills myself...)
Forsaken is perfect and, of course, better than Caligeri - it sends the shivers down your spine, not because it's that "scary", of course it is a bit (at least not less scary than a usual horror), but it also has the irony. What makes it spooky is the fact that it is very dark, the lyrics are beautiful and thought wakening, and the discursive moves. Stuart's pretty face versus Lestat's brutally romantic murderer self is an excellent contradiction that actually works, since, you can never know who is a demon, literally and non-literally.
I do not want to write more, I could but I guess it's only me who's stupidly obsessed with the theme... So, as a finale, a trivia via IMDb:
Dr. Caligari writer Hans Janowtiz "claims to have gotten the idea for the film when he was at a carnival one day. He saw a strange man lurking in the shadows. The next day, he heard that a girl was murdered there. He went to the funeral, and saw the same strange man lurking around. He had no proof that the strange man was the murderer, but he fleshed the whole idea out into his film."
Whenever the divine Karl Lagerfeld opens his mouth, the fashion world and the whole pop culture is swimming in joy - who could take over his fabulously ironic and always witty words and over the top style?
This time, he expressed his feelings about the retiring of legendary desginer Valentino: "He should continue. It's no fun, he will be bored". Karl has always said he would never ever give up fashion (thank God!) since it keeps him young (as he stated in the documentary Signe Chanel) and he would be bored without it: "All my contracts are for life, so I am like a death row inmate."
Anyway, he just couldn't stop being a bit critic about the celebrations of designers (he refused to have his own 25th Chanel anniversary celebration), in his lovely way of course: "There were never any celebrations, there will never be any - I hate that. Fashion is about today and tomorrow, not about yesterday. If you have to be taken seriously because you have a heavy past, I don't think it's a good thing. I don't want to remember, I want to do things and go ahead."
How true. But you know Karl, when it comes to geniouses like you or Valentino, you DO deserve to be celebrated...
Valentino, Giancarlo Giammetti and Karl Lagerfeld
Source: CNN
Image via Lefigaro
I must confess, I feel very lucky. I've been looking for a song for a very long time and found someone who sent it to me. Not a usual thing nowadays that people are actually kind with and to each other. So that's the reason why I am swimming in joy.
I heard a line of the Bing Crosby song May I? for the first time in The Talented Mr. Ripley and I got impressed. And now that I actually have the song, I can say it's just as perfect and beautiful as I have expected whenever I was listening to the line 'May I be the only one to say I really fell in love the day I first set eyes on you'.
Now I possess numerous Crosby songs and I would like to promote you some of them.
First of all, what I love about him and his work is that the songs have their own atmosphere. While listening to Mr. Crosby you feel like you were in an old movie or at least next to the singer himself - now that's what I call time travel!
His voice is unbelievable, I could listen to it for ever. It's like he was singing next to me or directly to me, so he makes the audience feel very close to him. The lyrics are no exception: they are excellent and express feelings we all have but are unable to express this beautifully.
Even the titles are inspiring, thought-wakening and impressive. My other favourites are On Treasure Island, Someone Stole Gabriel's Horn, Try a Little Tenderness and Two Cigarettes in the Dark.
I also recommend you all to check out the website of The International Club Crosby. Their magazine is marvellous as well, and the club is the world's longest-running fan club (it was founded in 1936)!
That's what I like about music and culture and 'style' itself that includes it all - you can never know who you meet. Now I met Bing Crosby though I've seen him a couple of times before, but it's only now that I recognised how great he was. And how great he IS, since he remains with us forever through his fabulous art.
Just like millions of others, I've been in love with James Blunt's music ever since You're beautiful hit the radio stations. Later, when his album got released, I happened to realize You're beautiful was not his best song at all (so basically, he's different from many artists who have one hit that sells the album) - Goodbye my Lover, Billy, Out of my mind... just to mention a few. Okay, actually, I adore that album inside and outside, and no matter how many times I listen to it, I just can't get enough. So it's quite understandable that I've been waiting for this for so long - his new album, All the lost souls is out today!
The first single, 1973 suggested it would be a bit different and I couldn't decide whether it was a good or bad change. It's understandable he wanted something else - just like in the case of The White Stripes after Elephant, for James after Back to Bedlam there was really nothing more he could have achieved in the same style since he has already created something that was the best of the best.
In my opinion though, 1973 is too Coldplay-ish. There were many comparisons back when his debut album got released but I think that was way more unique. I don't say 1973 is a bad song, no way, it's good but compared to his previous ones, it's hardly anywhere. But since his first ever single wasn't the best either, I still had hope in him.
On the album, the second song, One of the brightest stars returns to the perfect roots, and it's simply beautiful. It is so good actually, that while listening to All the lost souls for the first time, I didn't care if it was only the second track, I listened to it once more. It was the same with the Same mistake, Carry you home, Give me some love and I could go on - I am already unable to choose a favourite song, they are sooooo marvellous!!! So it seems that's his recipe to success: that the first single is only an aperitif. In brief, the titles, the artwork, the lyrics and above all, the voice are still wonderful. And the songs? They are great as well. It always takes some time to examine and fully understand them, to make them be suitable for your own life and emotions. I definitely give him 5 out of 5 stars - another material I won't be able to get bored of.
