i like today

Things that are making me happy right at this moment are:

 This dress from Deyrolle pour Opening Ceremony

 The work of Diana Drake

Warpaint, who were better last night than I'd even hoped (and I had high hopes). I've been wanting to see them play ever since Natalie put Billie Holiday on a mix she made our friends for their engagement a year ago. They make beautiful music and look like girls I would like to be friends with.

Emma Stone. Han went on and on about Easy A whhile she was here and I was skeptical, but I finally watched it and I loved it and am quite comfortable saying she is the new LiLo and it is the new Mean Girls.

chrismukkah, oy humbug!

I've watched: 

The Shop Around the Corner, Bad Santa, Home Alone 2, Love Actually,the Melrose Place Christmas episode,* both of the Chrismukkah episodes from the OC and the episode of Seinfeld where Elaine accidentally slips a nip on her Christmas card. Two words: SETH COHEN.

I've eaten:

Steamed Czech dumplings filled with strawberries, doused in melted butter with a dollop of cream cheese. Roast wild boar, covered in a rosemary and thyme herb oil, served with whipped potatoes and red cabbage, followed with licorice ice cream and fra angelico on ice. A burger with bacon and cheese, also a sausage pizza, cheese pizza with extra mushrooms. Frozen coke. A suspicious tasting "ginger bread" frappaccino on the most humid day so far. I went to Winehot with my Pa and had a simple pork belly with new potatoes and (more) cabbage. At flat christmas, where several of the movies above were watched, I ate mushroom and ricotta empanadas and drank horchata for the first time (delicious!)
*"Does this gift cross the line between friendship and...romance?"

leo fuchs

 Tres chic photos by Leo Fuchs of some of my favourite Hollywood dreamboats. More here.

you said it

You are probably going to be a very successful computer person. But you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won't be true. It'll be because you're an asshole. 

let the world know of my majesty

Ashik Kerib (1988), a movie I would like to see. Pinched from Mafia-Hunt. Reminds me of this.

really glad

That this happened. Really glad they included the important getting cool/dressed montage and in particular the close up of Ozone's earring. I was so into that earring. This just reminds me of a specific time in my life that was generally full of rubbish but which I remember very fondly. Also, my fascination with a palette I can weakly describe as 'fluoro-pastel' can be quite clearly traced back to the sequel to this film, Breakin' 2 - Electric Boogaloo. Look out for an incredibly enthusiastic black lycra clad JCVD in the beach scene...

black swan

 

i've got soft skin

Its going to be a grey and rainy weekend in Auckland, and this is a nice song to listen to while watching rain roll down your windowpane.
This weekend is going to be a bit of a melancholic marathon, though. There's Black Rebel Motorcycle Club tonight, and on Sunday I'm going to Sherlock Jnr and One Week at the Civic, which are old Buster Keaton films accompanied live by the Auckland Philharmonia. I would love to see The Red Shoes, but considering I have exactly $46.78 in my bank account, I doubt that will happen. Hopefully Saturday will be spent curled up on the couch eating something delicious.
Anyway. Have a lovely weekend. Sorry for the Han-centric week!

dream sandwich

And dream hat(s)

sucka lucka

How old are you then?
16
As if
Yes, eh Ed I'm 16 eh bro
He's nine
Nah I'm 16 Ed remember
Shut up man I'm reading...
How old are you then?
12
12? Yeah, too much girl, too much

Over the last few days I've had a few messages from friends in NZ recommending the movie BOY. I finally watched the trailers this morning and can't wait till it's out in Australia.

For those of you who aren't from NZ and don't already know, BOY is the new feature film from Taika Waititi, who also directed Eagle vs. Shark, episodes of Flight of the Conchords, and this amazing short film. Two Cars One Night was nominated for an Oscar... Do watch it if you haven't already, and go and see BOY when you get the chance. Egg is such an excellent insult.

you're better than James Dean

I saw "A Single Man" last night. Highly reccommend it. I wonder if Tom Ford would agree to be my life coach? Do you think he'd be into guiding my aesthetic decision making?

lo sono l'amore

Tilda Swinton is on my list of Women I want to be when I grow up, along with Anjelica Houston and quite a few others, which is part of why I really want to see this film. I hardly know anything about it, except that it's Italian and imdb says it's a 'tragic love story set at the turn of the millennium in Milan. The film follows the fall of the haute bourgeoisie due to the forces of passion and unconditional love.' But really that's enough for me, 'the fall of the haute bourgoisie'? Sounds great!

Also, it looks incredibly sexy, and the Italian title enhances that 'Lo Sono L'Amore', hot. And Tilda has a Russian accent!

I just watched the trailer twice. I love how there's almost no dialogue and also how the second half feels so much like the trailer for or opening of a movie made decades ago. I'm sorry I'm being so vague, it was really evocative while I watched it, but now I'm not entirely sure what of...

Anyway if you've seen it, or know more about it, tell me, I want to know!

it needs to be at least...3 times this size

Don't you love watching really, really stupid movies with your friends and giggling so much it makes your stomach ache?*
I figure you all know which cinematic gems the above pictures are from, apart from perhaps the imitable Hard Target starring JCVD, and The Court Jester, my Dad's favourite movie and my favourite film featuring dancing midgets.

*(Or griggling, depending on who your friends are).

what i desire is man's red fire

I developed a new habit recently, it usually manifests when I've had a bit (or a lot) to drink, and am either in my backyard by myself, or somewhere else with one or two other people. I've become addicted to watching clips from old Disney movies on YouTube.

More specifically, I have been watching:
The Monkey Song from the Jungle Book
Bear Necessities from the Jungle Book
I Just Can't Wait to be King from the Lion King
The Circle of Life from the Lion King
and one time, Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid.*

I think maybe everyone in my generation has secret hopes of doing this with our future (unfortunate) babies.

A few points to note: the 3G reception in my backyard is somewhat lacking and can cause these to take quite a while to load, but I persevere. The quality of most of these is low. They aren't actually music videos, and often you have to wait through a few minutes of boring (to drunk me) dialogue to get to 'the good bits'.

Anyway, all of this got a bit embarassing when I got my phone bill** and so to remedy this I have recently aquired the beginnings of what will eventually be a collection of every Disney film ever made.

I had these toys, from a happy meal probably, when I was little

Now, we all know the female characters tended to be over-sexualised, distorted images of femininity while the males were huge, muscular oafs, often with teeny tiny lower halfs. It was weird. I'm using the past tense because I'm not thinking about any Disney movie made since I was 12, though I'm sure their CG heroines were equally wasp-waisted and the good guys equally broad shouldered.

This and all the thinly veiled racist anthropomorphism aside, I loved these movies to death and am really, really excited about watching them again. Particularly those which I've been watching clips from lately, and Beauty and the Beast which was the first movie I saw in theatres ever. That may or may not be a true fact but it's certainly the first I remember.

Wap bop a loo bop, a wap bam boom. Or something to that effect.

I personally intend to watch these films, enjoy their dewey eyes and musical interludes, and possibly engage in some intellectual and/or drunk discussion about Latinos being portrayed as hot blooded and criminally minded chihuahuas on Lady and the Tramp, African Americans as jive talking, scat singing monkeys and crows in the Jungle Book and Dumbo, and French men as CANDLESTICKS and CLOCKS in Beauty and the Beast. Or maybe I'll leave that to other people and just sing along.

Here and here are two other links you should click on.

*I just want you all to know that I watched/listened to these again, as I looked them up for the links, and as I type this am involuntarily nodding my head and tapping my feet along to Bare Necessities yet I am not drunk. It is that good.
*This isn't entirely true, it didn't cost me anything extra on my phone bill, but at some point did become embarassing. Hence why I'm sharing it with everyone on the internet.

a view from up high

I have a huge obsession with flying. Not in my dreams, or like a bird, but on a plane, I love it. I get this incredible giddy feeling in my chest during take off, bursting capsules if you will.

I love the views from the sky and I love the tiny ice crystals that form on the windows if you fly long enough, or high enough, or overnight, I'm not entirely sure.

I saw this film on the weekend, Up in the Air. It was alright. It was basically a George Clooney vehicle and was almost exactly what I expected and I was really, really glad that he didn't score the young girl at the end (it's not a plot that one should worry about having spoiled, but sorry just in case).

My three favourite things about the movie were these:

1. The opening credits. They very nicely depict exactly what it is I love about pressing my forehead against those tiny plastic windows. A few months ago I flew into Melbourne on a glorious sunny afternoon and was so amazed by the view. It's a vast and sprawling city I live in, and with the tiniest crop of tall buildings popping up right in the middle. It's real life scale models, tilt-shift, I love it. Watch the whole sequence here

2. Danny McBride aka KENNY POWERS was in it (and Melanie Lynskey, NZ pride).

3. The soundtrack was surprisingly good.

happy valentines! Not that it is today, obviously

I've never, ever been in a relationship for Valentines day. Wierd huh? Luckily I'm not Taylor Swift so it doesn't really bum me out. In the meantime, I will revel in John Webster's Mad Men Valentines Day cards. (An aside: of course I love Don Draper, but for some reason I can't quite pin down, I am madly in love with Pete Campbell. This probably tells buckets about my current state of mind.)



On a related note: my flatmate went to the premiere of the movie about Valentines Day last night. Apparently it tried really hard to be Love Actually but was completely without charm, "in that way American romantic comedies have of being completely without charm".

Also, she said all the characters were far too attractive to be believeably sad and alone, and Taylor Squared was the best bit. But we already knew that.

lonely hearts aw 2010

Lonely Hearts: What is Your Damage from Nik Riviera on Vimeo.

*Today is the Grey Lynn Festival, but the skies are grey and it looks like rain...

*Luckily, I'm popping over to a friend's house that is right next to the park.

*I toasted a croissant full of brie for breakfast this morning.

*Plunger coffee is also very good right now.

*My stepmum dropped off a giant box of strawberries from the market.

*Last night we had a sleepover and watched this:

A League of Their Own is amazing.

Life doesn't hold tryouts

If there is one thing that Patrick's tragic passing has brought home to me, its that I love dance movies. No matter what the style of dance, no matter how shitty they are. I love them all.

My favourite is Centre Stage - it has it all: Peter Gallagher's eyebrows, hilarious choreography, the charmingly wooden acting of professional ballet dancers, lots of "issues" (eating disorders, controlling stage mothers, the problems around introducing new and fresh styles to the classical ballet repertoire, having sex, dating non-dancers, and, of course, the value in believing in yourself and doing it your way).

its not ballet but it is still a valid form of artistic expression

Most importantly, Centre Stage features the amazing scene, which appears in almost all of these movies where the formerly uptight girl-next-door gets sexually awakened by some (apparently) extremely attractive bad-boy dancer. In this case, its this guy, Cooper Neilson. It has to be said, he's no Patrick:

the bad boy of the NY Ballet

I have just found out that there is a SEQUEL to Centre Stage coming out soon - and it is called...wait for it...Centre Stage: Turn it Up.

I don't know how they can "turn it up" any more than they did here, but I can't wait to watch this piece of badassery.