FILM MUSIC ART

On creativity, disappointments and staying true to yourself

2012-11-13T23:22:00.001+11:00

No, that heading is not a title for a self-help book. I just wanted to write about my experience as a first year design student and all the wonderful things I learnt this year. As you may have noticed I've basically abandoned this blog because I have had no spare time during semesters.

Studying design is surprisingly demanding and time consuming and asks so much of you emotionally (meltdowns, being on the verge of crying during a panel criticism), mentally (continuous, rigorous thinking), physically (lack of sleep) and creatively.

I just finished my final assessment for this year and my work which I've obsessed over for weeks was ceremoniously ripped apart by a panel of architects, designers and artists. They exposed everything that was wrong with the project. They were all correct. I couldn't argue against anything they said.

There was also so much exquisite work produced by other students I was just embarrassed to present even in the same room with them.

Coming home I got to thinking about why my work failed miserably and then looking at all my models and drawings it eventually hit me. The work had absolutely no reflection of who I was a designer. It didn't encapsulate my beliefs or had any of my metaphorical fingerprints on it. It was so devoid of personality I can just yawn from its banality.

My best work was the very first project and comparing the two it was obvious how I went from designing for myself to designing for someone who I thought was myself. I think I looked over my shoulders a bit too much during this semester and subconsciously absorbed too much of other people's work to the point that it diluted my own and I lost my own personality and beliefs as a designer. In short, I wanted to be something I was not and consequently, I went through a design process that did not work for my skill sets.

People always tell you to stay true to yourself and that's the way to produce incredible work but I never realised how easy it was to lose yourself along the way.

So everybody say it with me. STCIK TO YOUR GUNS.

Second attempt at a YouTube channel

2012-07-27T19:45:00.000+10:00

A while back I started a YouTube channel to accompany this blog but I felt that I needed to have a very specific topic to cover instead of just a mix of my various interests (like this blog).

I've been spending a lot of time lately watching book review videos and even book hauls (these are strangely addictive) and so I thought I would contribute to the Booktuber community and start my very own channel.

So here's my first video. Enjoy!

Voyage to Mars (via the moon) // South America Photo Diary // Day 5

2012-07-25T22:43:00.000+10:00

San Pedro De Atacama

One of the joys of travel is discovering a place you have never even heard about and completely surprising you with its awe-inspiring beauty. San Pedro De Atacama I would describe as the Solar System on Earth.

Never have I encountered landscapes that were so otherworldly (literally!) that it felt like I just landed on Mars or on the Moon (one of the valleys we visited was actually names the Moon Valley).

We sandboarded at 'Mars', caught the sunset at the 'moon' and went to an incredible star gazing session at night.

All under a million dollars. Who said space travel was expensive?

ALL IMAGES ARE OWNED BY ME AND CANNOT BE REUSED WITHOUT PERMISSION

Sports and beauty

2012-07-24T20:51:00.001+10:00

I'm finally branching out and trying a genre I've never really had any interest on: sports biography. Maybe it's because of the upcoming Olympics or the 'athletic chic' fashion trend or maybe my mind's way of subconsciously telling me to start exercising but I'm really getting into sports and fitness lately. I'm actually annoyed at the fact that we don't have a sports channel.

So I'm just making do with reading sports biographies. Starting with Nadal: My Story. How could I possibly resist that cover. I'm really enjoying it so far. Nadal has always been one of those athletes that fascinated me. He just looks like one of those public figures who actually has a compelling story to tell, one that exists beyond the fame and what we see in the media.

I've recently formed a book club with some friends and our read of the month is Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. I've attempted to read this before but I found it to be such a bore but now that I have matured (I hope) I've found it wildly funny. The characters are brilliant and the lines that come out of their mouths are just delicious. No wonder quotes from the book seem to appear all the time on my Tumblr news feed.

Red rocks and red wine // South America Photo Diary // Day 4

2012-06-28T13:29:00.001+10:00

Salta >> Quebrada de las Conchas >> Cafayate

So on the itinerary, the day was described as a day trip to a winery in Cafayete which didn't really excite me due to my extremely limited knowledge about wine. My appreciation of it is determined by how fast it can make me drunk.

It turned out that the winery part took only a little bit of our time at the end of the day and was actually quite fun but the journey getting there was something else.

I really didn't expect the South American landscape to be this beautiful. You're probably going to hear this so many times in my other S.A. photo diaries but it really is like being dropped off in another planet.

We stopped by what they call the devil's throat which looked like it could literally swallow you up.

We went past spitting llamas, a rock structure that looked like a sinking titanic, we had mate (pronounced ma-teh) which is the tea every local drinks. They bring this everywhere they go, you can actually see someone steering a bike with one hand and a mug of mate on the other. It tastes similar to green tea but has a kind of smoky, nutty flavour.

The winery tour was really cool, they actually put them in gallons but alas we couldn't carry those and we just settled with a purchase of two bottles: one white, one red. Hopefully it survives the trip.

Until next time, Ciao.

South America Photo Diary:

Day One - Santiago/Buenos Aires

Day Two - Buenos Aires

Day Three - Salta

All photos were taken by me and cannot be reused without permission.

Quiet sunlight // South America Photo Diary // Day 3

2012-06-22T14:11:00.000+10:00

Salta, ARGENTINA

Salta is like a small Spanish town with that wonderful,

almost perfect combination of laziness and energy.

A sleepy, small town transitioning into a bustling, loud city.

To add to this, it seems to be constantly bathed

throughout the day with the most perfect light.

Like a 12 hour-long golden hour.

South America Photo Diary:

Day One - Santiago/Buenos Aires

Day Two - Buenos Aires

Day Three - Buenos Aires >> Salta

Day Four - Salta >> Quebrada de las Conchas >> Cafayate

All images are owned by me and cannot be reused without permission

Meat and art // South America Photo Diary // Day 2

2012-06-13T08:09:00.000+10:00

Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA

Lunch at Las Cabras. You know why the doorway is painted red? Because this is the gateway to vegetarian hell. Thankfully for me, I'm a proud, super hungry carnivore and this place was like as close to meat heaven as you could possibly get.

We had the parilla completa which is almost a whole dead cow, intestines and all. It was the most delicious dead cow I have ever had. Argentinian beef really is something.

Blood sausage.

Malba museum is the next stop. It's a beautiful modern building housing some incredible contemporary art, mostly by Argentinian artists.

There's a real emphasis on material and how certain types can be utilised in creative and unexpected ways.

On the second level, there was also a temporary exhibition showcasing Leon Ferarri's confronting and highly conceptual work. His work involves the appropriation of religious images alongside images depicting sex and war. There was a really interesting piece that showed an image of the Pope raising his hand superimposed on an artwork depicting violence and war.

I really wished I had more time to visit the numerous art and design museums scattered all over the city. As a design student, I'm putting Buenos Aires on my list of 'Possible places to live and work in' which makes sense since UNESCO has recently declared Buenos Aires as a City of Design.

South America Photo Diary:

Day One - Santiago/Buenos Aires

Day Two - Buenos Aires

Day Three - Buenos Aires >> Salta

Day Four - Salta >> Quebrada de las Conchas >> Cafayate

All images are owned by me and cannot be reused without permission 

Primary colours // South America Photo Diary // Day 1

2012-06-11T08:49:00.000+10:00

Santiago, CHILE >> Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA

All packed and ready to go. So excited to travel with my new Kanken backpack!

SO. MUCH. WAITING.

Got so bored I resorted to taking shameless airport selfies.

Whoops. You caught me casually tango dancing on the street.

La Boca.

Casa De Rosa

South America Photo Diary:

Day One - Santiago/Buenos Aires

Day Two - Buenos Aires

Day Three - Buenos Aires >> Salta

Day Four - Salta >> Quebrada de las Conchas >> Cafayate

All images are owned by me and cannot be reused without permission 

Vivid

2012-06-01T23:53:00.000+10:00

50 Books // The Passage // # 7

2012-04-24T15:12:00.000+10:00

This book is a whale. Almost a thousand pages! With my Generation Y symptom, the 'low attention span', this took a while to read. There's also a lot of characters and I'm not good with names. The book's timeline spans decades and of course, the world is in peril.

All of this spells out one thing. The Passage by Justin Cronin is an epic. With a capital E. Epic. Actually no, in caps lock. EPIC. Add an exclamation.

EPIC!

It's also a vampire novel. I can hear you groaning. I can assure you this is no Twilight. The vampires here aren't covered in pretty sparkles. They're covered in human viscera. Actually, the 'virals' I pictured more as a zombie/vampire hybrid and they're more vicious and more horrifying than any vampire or zombie I've come across in a novel. These things are ruthless.

It's quite hard to describe the plot because there's a lot going on here but all you need to know is that there's a central character. She's a little girl named Amy. The reason she's so special I won't give away here but in the first part of the book we read about where she came from and how the virus spread throughout the world.

It then becomes a post-apocalyptic story and the story shifts and focuses on what's called the first colony. We don't exactly know what has happened with the rest of the world because the colonies have isolated themselves as a form of protection from the virals. The problem is they can't isolate themselves for much long.

The first part of the book is outstanding. Cronin sets up the characters and the story really well here. Even though the premise is familiar (it reminded me of I Am Legend) and certainly not new (virus outbreak) it was still very electrifying and I was eager to know what was going to happen next.

All of a sudden the story is fast-forwarded by almost a century. The thrill of the previous part quickly wanes because of we're suddenly introduced to a different world and new characters. I hated that. I felt like I was just getting to know the previous characters and here I am suddenly being introduced to new people. It was like becoming popular at school then all of a sudden you're moved to another one.

The middle is the weakest for me. I can't even remember what happened for the most part because it was so uninteresting. I was ready to give up halfway through until I started to warm up to the newer characters. The story then starts to really get exciting. That was what I wanted from this novel all along: the thrill of a post-apocalyptic story with vampires. I was reading more literary books before this one and I was craving for lots of action and I was finally getting it.

The Passage ends in a cliffhanger (or rather, CLIFFHANGER!) and I don't care if the next instalment is the size of War and Peace, I'm itching to read it. I'm just hoping we don't get introduced to a million new characters.

Links:

About the 50 Books Challenge

Goodreads account

List of the books I've read so far

Book 'poster' was created and edited by me. Book cover from here.

Mapping the city

2012-04-15T13:38:00.000+10:00

In one of my design classes we treat the city as a studio and as part of our mapping project we had to embark on a derive. A derive is a journey through the city which involves actively observing urban spaces in a new way - igniting curiosity, noticing previously unnoticed information and heightening the consciousness of one's surroundings.

Then we begin to map the city beyond the geographic and topographic lines and start to map the city based on emotion, psychology, economics, politics, history, philosophy, architecture and concept.

My theme for this project is transformation - exploring this notion of an unfinished city, a city of cycles and flows: decay/construction, architecture/human, space/time, movement/idleness.

All photos were captured and edited by me during one of my derives.

50 Books // We Have Always Lived In The Castle // # 6

2012-04-12T02:53:00.000+10:00

I've always been interested in stories about a small community traumatised and scarred by a singular event, either past or present - from Camus' The Plague to Miller's terrifying play The Crucible - there's something about mass hysteria or mob tyranny that I find so fascinating and admittedly, a little bit exciting.

What Shirley Jackson does best in her novel We Have Always Lived In The Castle is how in the beginning she contained the hysteria and suppressed the mob making the inevitable panic (occurring later on) to spread as fiercely as a bushfire and as damaging as cancer.

The novel is written from the perspective of Katherine Blackwood, who at eighteen years old is the youngest in the Blackwood family, or rather what's left of the family. Both Blackwood parents died as well as an aunt and a younger brother when arsenic was mixed with the sugar and then sprinkled on their blackberries. Constance, the older sister was blamed because she was the only one who did not put sugar on her blackberries. The uncle survived the poisoning and Katherine skipped the meal.

Only three are left to reside in the Blackwood residence and they live in near isolation from the rest of the town after being casted away after the incident.

The novel moves like a slow, seductive and deliciously disturbing dance and everything feels dark. I only experienced a slight glimmer of light from the tender relationship between the two sisters. But even their relationship had its dark moments.

Everyone is cruel to everyone. The townspeople are frightening. The Blackwood family are cheerlessly bizarre. I don't recall the weather being mentioned in the book but it felt like every passing day had a dark grey hovering above it, with an occasional downpour with no promise of sunshine.

The characters are beautifully complex and enigmatic and the reveal at the end felt like a sudden chilly breeze: abrupt, disconcerting at first but then it all makes sense.

Links:

About the 50 Books Challenge

Goodreads account

List of the books I've read so far

Book 'poster' was created and edited by me. Book cover from here.

Excuses, excuses

2012-03-27T00:18:00.000+11:00

No blogging for more than a month. Apologies. The evil university fiend has struck once again wielding assessment after assessment.

This is photographic proof that I've actually been doing work these past few weeks and haven't been lazy (not that much, anyway). Interior and spatial design is a surprisingly challenging degree. Drawings, model making and mapping are incredibly time consuming tasks. On top of this, I basically suck at any practical work. But no worries, I'll learn somehow.

In other news...I can't express into words how perfect The Hunger Games movie was. I saw it at a midnight screening and it was such an experience. Jennifer Lawrence is perfect as Katniss, I'm so in love with her. Josh Hutcherson is the best looking baker I've seen. Whats-his-face is bleh as Gale, probably because I'm Team Peeta anyway (yes, I'm going there).

Time to re-read the books!

Hopefully I can get more 200 movies and 50 books posts up. I haven't read much except for uni readings and I've been indulging in TV shows instead of movies.

Art-wise, I recently saw the Picasso exhibition which I went to on the very last day, on the very last hour of the exhibition. Yes, I'm one of those people who do things in the last minute just for the adrenaline rush.

The exhibition really exposed how very little I know about Picasso's work. I didn't even what on earth Cubism was until that day. Shame.

Out of all the works, La Celestina emerged as my favourite. Purely for its eerie feel and how it's kind of Diane Arbus with a touch of evil gypsy woman from Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell.

50 Books // The Magicians // # 5

2012-02-15T15:40:00.000+11:00

You know that post-Harry Potter depression you went through after you saw the last Harry Potter movie?

I may have found a fix. The Magicians by Lev Grossman is like a mish mash of the worlds of Hogwarts, Narnia and Middle Earth. It's like postmodern fantasy novel with actual references from famous fantasy stories.

It starts when our main character, Quentin, stumbles into a magical school and is forced to take a bizarre examination before being allowed entry. THe difference between Hogwarts and Brakebills is that in the latter, magic learning is extremely serious. I don't want to explain the whole process with how the magic works there but it's a lot more complicated than a simple swish and flick! It's more realistic and the entire novel examines the real psychological and emotional impact of being a wizard within the context of the real non-magical world.

Despite going to a magical college most of the characters are depressed and unsatisfied. I would recommend this to any undergraduate students because that feeling of having absolutely no idea what you're going to do with your life is probably the primary theme of the novel and it is so familiar. The thrill and anxiety of an unknown future ahead.

Unlike the Harry Potter books with a whole school year dedicated to one book. Grossman only uses half of the novel to narrate their entire magical education. It instead focuses on what happens after, which the Harry Potter books didn't.

I'm reading the second novel now, The Magician King and I can't wait until he writes a third one.

Links:

About the 50 Books Challenge

Goodreads account

List of the books I've read so far

Image edited by me from this original image. Second image from my Instagram @jesuevalle.

A ticket for one please

2012-02-09T03:52:00.000+11:00

I just got back from seeing an incredible play called Midsummer and I went alone.

The first time I ventured out alone in one of my cultural excursions (as my pretentious alter-ego would call it) it was at an art gallery. Then I started going to movies by myself, then to plays, writer's festivals, reading alone at coffee shops and so on. I have to admit at first it was kind of weird but then I just got used to it and now I actually prefer going to these things by myself.

I like not having to worry about scheduling and then having that constant worry during the thing whether or not the other person is enjoying themselves. Plus, I get to choose when to go, where to sit and what to watch. Sometimes my friends (or mum) would insist on seeing the Katherine Heigl romcom when all I want to watch is the three hour french film. I'm not a very convincing person either (after a couple of minutes you'll get used to the subtitles you won't even know it's there, trust me).

I made the mistake of introducing arthouse cinema to my friends by bringing them to a screening of a Michael Haneke film. Let's just say I don't think they trust my film choices anymore. I loved the film though. They, on the other hand, were traumatised by it.

I draw a line though. If it's a horror, or a big popcorn blockbuster I always go with others. Some things are still more enjoyable when you're with other people. I can't imagine seeing Paranormal Activity by myself. Who would I hold on to when I get frightened? Don't laugh. Then there are films like My Sister's Keeper in which I know I'm going to cry. And I did. And not just a single tear kind of cry or a mere sniffle, but the full waterworks. Bawling your eyes out alone in a movie theatre is just sad, and not in a good way. Plus, it's hilarious talking about it afterwards. I've never been to a concert or a music festival by myself primarily because I get drunk going to these things and I can't get wasted without my friends. It's just not fun.

Apart from that I much prefer going alone. If it's arts-fartsy, foreign, subtitled or if it's something I know none of the people I know are going to be interested in, I'm definitely just booking for one. It's actually quite fun and liberating and you end up meeting and chatting with random strangers which I normally wouldn't do if I was with other people. As much as I love my friends and family sometimes you just gotta do things solo. Try it if you haven't already.

Image edited. Original from here.

The best films of 2011

2012-02-07T22:47:00.001+11:00

I'm two months late in compiling my favourite films of 2011 but because most films are released in Australia very late, I needed the time to get to see them first.

I don't like arranging these in order of preference because I love them all the same so I'm just going to list them alphabetically. Without further ado here are my top ten favourite films released in 2011 (according to their American release):

Less than half of these got nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. How War Horse and Extremely Loud got nominated is beyond me. I think the Academy needs to do a yearly audit of its members and dismiss those with poor film taste.

The Academy also needs to have the balls to recognise young, fresh talent and not just nominate the same people every single year. I'm still trying to figure out why Elizabeth Olsen wasn't nominated for Martha Marcy May Marlene or why Drive was snubbed. I feel really bad for Ryan Gosling too. He had two fantastic roles this year and he wasn't nominated for any. Let's not forget about Michael Fassbender. Argh! I could go on forever. I'm just going to stop right here.

Honourable Mentions:

Tyrannosaurus

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The Descendants

Hugo

Bill Cunningham New York

Contagion

Certified Copy

Tucker and Dale vs Evil

Trollhunter

Jane Eyre

Haven't seen but probably would have made it on the list:

A Separation

Take Shelter

Moneyball

Shame

A Dangerous Method

Young Adult

Le Havre

Incendies

Another Earth

All images are screenshots from trailers or posters.

50 Books // The Bell Jar // # 4

2012-02-06T20:52:00.000+11:00

Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar was written in the first person and it couldn't have been written in any other way. The immediacy and urgency of the words allows the readers to feel exactly what she is feeling. Most books allows its readers to sympathise and relate to the characters they describe but this managed to make you feel like you are the character. So when she was descending into madness you felt like your mind was slowly eroding as well. When she doesn't sleep you suddenly felt lethargic. This is a dangerous book to read but it is well worth that risk.

The very first sentence mentions the Rosenbergs, a couple sentenced to death by electric chair for passing on sensitive information to the Soviets. It sets the scene perfectly. Historically, it reminded readers of the post-war ennui, the paranoia, the simmering panic brought upon a looming nuclear war. The image of the electric chair foreshadows the shock treatments Esther, the protagonist, undergoes. The execution, an untimely death, seems fitting for the story of a woman faced with the recourse of self-execution.

The writing is what you would expect from a poet. Heavy use of imagery and emotive language but there is a plainness and frankness to it that made the prose complex without being overly rich. Plath's voice is strong and unique. I have not come across a narrator or a character like her but one thing that caught me by surprise was the humour she managed to inject into it. At times she was incredibly witty and darkly funny. Her sense of humour added another layer to her character I was not expecting and fortunately it did not disrupt the heavy, dire tone of the novel.

This is a hard book to recommend but it's one of those books everyone should read at least once in their life.

Links:

About the 50 Books Challenge

Goodreads account

List of the books I've read so far

Top image was edited by me. Bottom image is owned by me.

200 Movies // One to Ten

2012-02-03T00:41:00.000+11:00

No. 1 // The Iron Lady

Dir. Phyllida Lloyd

SYNOPSIS

A biopic of Margaret
Thatcher, the woman who
changed British politics,
told in flashbacks.

I wasn't watching Meryl Streep play Thatcher. I was watching Thatcher. Unfortunately, the film doesn't quite support this stellar performance as well as it should. The entire structure of the film was annoying, the way it moves back and forth felt too jittery and restless for me. The ending is ridiculous and left a sour sentimental aftertaste instead of the complex piquancy that a biopic of a controversial political figure should inspire.

No. 2 // Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul

SYNOPSIS
A dream-like journey
into the heart, soul
and mind of Thailand

Imagine yourself taking a nap on a hammock in the middle of the quiet, Thai countryside. As you enter your mid-afternoon dream you realise you're still in the same place. There are monkey ghosts in the distance with red eyes and you follow them. You're tour guide is Haruki Murakami and he narrates your journey as you follow these strange creatures and you discover the mysteries of life and beyond, of myths and local fables, and of ghosts and strange entities. When you decide to see this film, don't expect a story but instead, expect to fall into a hypnotic dream. One that will leave you scratching your head once the credits roll.

No. 3 // Meek's Cutoff

Dir. Kelly Reichardt

SYNOPSIS
Set in Oregon in 1845,
a group of settlers find
themselves stranded in
the middle of the desert

This is one of those films I did not enjoy watching but I take full responsibility for my lack of pleasure. This is a well-made, well-acted, well-thought out film. Maybe I was just not in the right mood or I was not in the right mindset. It felt like I was watching a classic I couldn't decrypt just yet. This is going on my re-watch pile.

No. 4 // Badlands

Dir. Terrence Malick

SYNOPSIS
A story of two people
on a killing spree seen
through the beautiful gaze
of Malick

Kit and Holly are confusing people. What they say and do does not make any sense but somehow Malick makes us fall in love with them all the same. It might be the golden hour light that they are constantly bathed in or it may be because despite the unforgivable crimes they commit together they both project a sense of childishness. One half the innocence, the other half the rebellion.

No. 5 // Waiting...
Dir. Rob McKittrick

SYNOPSIS
Multiple coming-of-age
stories from the young
employees of a restaurant

A chance to turn off the brain after those first four films. The ensemble worked well together and I like anything with Anna Faris in it. If you have ever worked at a restaurant or anywhere customer service is involved a lot of the things here, though at times may feel cliched, will still feel hilariously familiar. Additionally, this film gives a very valuable lesson: don't mess with the people who handle your food.

No. 6 // Page One: Inside The New York Times
Dir. Andrew Rossi

SYNOPSIS
Documentary about the New
York Time's response
to the 'death of the
newspaper'

When I told people I was studying journalism their first response is always: why? Newspapers are dying. Newspapers aren't dying. The physical object maybe but journalism and news reporting will always exist. It's just at a moment of transition right now. Page One is a timely documentary about this moment of transition. The conflict between traditional and new media. It was interesting but there wasn't all that much I got from it. The people they followed around and interviewed weren't very interesting either and I think that's the biggest downfall of a documentary.

No. 7 // Snowtown
Dir. Justin Kurzel

SYNOPSIS
Australian film about the
real life 'bodies in the
barrel' murders

This Australian film felt like a slightly less intelligent Animal Kingdom. Snowtown is based on the real life 'bodies in the barrel' murders that occurred in Adelaide. While the scenes were clearly designed to shock and provoke, I felt nothing. Probably because the film felt unkind, like it was just there to make me feel bad.

No. 8 // Kramer vs Kramer
Dir. Robert Benton

SYNOPSIS

A just divorced man must learn

to care for his son on his own,

and then must fight in court

to keep custody of him

The french toast scene at the end of the film broke my heart a little bit. It was like watching the end of a lovely ritual between two people. It was only one out of many beautifully rendered scenes in the film. It's amazing how the writers, actors and director were able to create subtle nuances in dialogue to show little details about their characters and how that offers us a glimpse into the gradations of their relationships.

No. 9 // The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Dir. David Fincher

SYNOPSIS
A young hacker and a
journalist solve a 40-
year old murder mystery

I love what Ignatiy from Ebert Presents says about David Fincher's films. That he's interested in process and how one thing leads to another and leads to another. Think of the process of Facebook's creation in The Social Network and how that leads to lawsuits and broken friendships. How in Zodiac the processes of crime investigation and news reporting culminate to one man's obsession with finding the truth. Here in Dragon Tattoo we get a glimpse into the process of research and uncovering secrets. This may all sound boring but Fincher who is well-known for his style he makes all these processes: programming, investigations, news reporting, and researching, seem really cool and cinematic.

No. 10 // The Descendants
Dir. Alexander Payne

SYNOPSIS
A father struggles to
look after his family
after his wife goes into
a coma

At the beginning of the film I felt most of the characters were portrayed in a stereotypical, banal way but each one of them have this really beautiful transformation and it was like someone turned on a light. They all became real. George Clooney was great but Shailene Woodley was a standout. I am still holding a grudge towards the Academy for not nominating her.

Links:

About the 200 Movies Challenge

Films I've seen so far

Images edited by me from screenshots of the film

Ginger

2012-02-01T13:38:00.001+11:00

Coloured my hair and it turned out ginger at first. Like Ron Weasley ginger (now it's dark brown). To celebrate this funny mishap, I'm wearing ginger pants.

(Shirt from Jack London, Pants from Cheap Monday, Boots from Superdry and Watch from Fossil)

All images are owned by me

Monkey Magic

2012-01-28T11:30:00.000+11:00

Probably the most satisfying meal I've had for a long time. Every time a dish was gobbled up I had this really inappropriate urge to lick the plates clean. Yes, I'm classy. And no I did not.

I've also been experimenting with editing techniques on Photoshop to give my photos have a certain mood. Mood. I feel like I use this word a lot here.

All images are owned by me

50 Books // Jane Eyre // # 3

2012-01-20T18:00:00.000+11:00

Reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre makes me yearn for a time when people spoke to each other with such grace and elegance coupled with an intensity of passion that is intermittently laced with the words they speak. It doesn't matter whether they are being cruel or nice or loving. Their utterance between one another never fail to express a potent emotion. Romantic passages like this:

"I sometimes have a queer

feeling with regard to you

- especially when you are near

me, as now: it is as if I

had a string somewhere under

my left ribs, tightly and

inextricably knotted to a

similar string situated in the

corresponding quarter of your

little frame. And if that

boisterous channel, and two

hundred miles or so of land

come broad between us, I am

afraid that cord of communion

will be snapt and then I've

a nervous notion I should take

to bleeding inwardly."

SWOONGASM.

I really like how it's in equal parts violent, romantic and dark. The entire novel feels like this with its gothic, romantic mood. It was perfectly balanced. Less gothic and dark and it would have been too sickly sweet to me.

The other thing I love most about this novel is the central heart, brain, soul and lung of this story: Jane Eyre herself, of course. Right after I finished the book, I posted this on my Tumblr:

"Just finished this last night, or rather, early morning at 4am.

I am in love with Jane Eyre. Not just the book itself but also the character. She is fiercely independent, burning with passion, highly intelligent, unpretentiously artistic and utters some of the sharpest, wittiest lines in literary history.

The final half of the book gave me multiple heart aches from pure excitement, heartbreak and overwhelming happiness.

This goes on my list of books I would recommend to anyone.

There are multiple film adaptations of this book. Please don’t use those as excuses to not read this. The book will always be better. Always."

I'll just leave it at that.

I write on the books I read and I revisit those notes to write these posts. But for this one, every single time I open the book, as if by magic, I find myself re-reading parts of the novel. And I end up getting nothing done. That really shows how powerful Ms. Bronte's novel is. How it can just draw you in, and ask you to bring its story and its characters back to life. This is the kind of book when it is inappropriate to put the words 'The End' at the end because it just doesn't. Its traces will linger with you long after that final page is read and the book shut.

Links:

About the 50 Books Challenge

Goodreads account

List of the books I've read so far

Image was edited by me from this original source.

The Gentlemen // 3 favourite looks from Menswear Fall/Winter 2012

2012-01-17T14:15:00.000+11:00

Armani

The gentleman with an air of mystery

and reserved quietness.

Favourite pieces: headscarves and shawls.

Burberry

The gentleman who is polite

and with character.

Favourite pieces: cropped jackets over the suit and spiked gloves.

Costume National

The young gentleman with

grown-up taste.

Favourite pieces: textured sweaters and jackets

Dolce and Gabbana

The gentleman artist who

works at home and isn't

afraid of extravagance.

Favourite pieces: drop crotch pants and embroidered shirts and jackets

Etro

The free-spirited gentleman who is

also sartorially inclined.

Favourite pieces: patterned ties and feathered cardigans

Jil Sander

The gentleman with a sharp

attitude who is hiding

a softer, quirkier side.

Favourite pieces: animal sweaters and leather jackets

Marni

The thinking gentleman with

impeccable taste.

Favourite pieces: leather gloves and tote.

Prada

The gentleman.

Favourite pieces: striped trench coats and tailored jackets.

(Yes, that's Gary Oldman)

All images are from style.com

Inner apocalypse and preteniousness // Melancholia

2012-01-14T18:56:00.000+11:00

Melancholia is split into two parts titled with the names of the two protagonists, 'Justine' and 'Claire'. Justine is played by Kirsten Dunst, Claire by Charlotte Gainsbourg. Justine is depression, Claire is anxiety.

When the threat of Melancholia (an approaching planet that once hid behind the sun and may or may not collide with Earth) heightens, Justine reacts to the situation with interminable indifference while Claire responds with suffocating anxiety.

Von Trier uses an impending apocalypse as a way to explain what depression and an anxiety disorder really feels like. Personally, I've had bouts of anxiety attacks and moments of depression and still continue to experience these. Despite referrals to therapists, I've put off seeing them (yes, I'm in THAT stage). I haven't come across a film that accurately portrays what anxiety and depression does to a person's internal and emotional state.

That intense suffocating feeling that Claire experiences during Melancholia's approach towards Earth, as if gravity itself is trying to wring the air out of your lungs, is a mental and emotional trauma that is painfully familiar for me.

Justine's persistent and frightening indifference towards the end of the world, as well as her own wedding is depicted by Kirsten Dunst in the most powerful and believable way. The hollowness of the eyes that seem to be staring at nothing and everything. The darkness that can cloud over you at any moment and the recklessness and impulsive behaviours that come about in a desperate search to keep the dark clouds at bay. The frank cruelty towards other people that seem to come out of nowhere. The mood swings. The excessive introspection that leads you to the point of self-loathing and the consequent detachment from friends and loved ones. All of these are conveyed so brilliantly and accurately in this film.

Some found the film to be too lengthy and others deemed it as dull arthouse trash. I can see why some people would perceive it this way. If the film was constructed in the same way but instead focused on a different subject matter altogether and if the characters did not have depression or anxiety I would have probably found it very dull as well. But since the film deeply affected me in a very personal way, I did not mind its length or its slow pacing. In fact I much preferred it that way since it gave me time to assess what I just saw.

Some found some scenes gratuitous, like an ultra slow motion shot of a horse collapsing to the ground, but I argue that these seemingly random images are not just there because of their visual beauty but are there to reinforce a certain kind of mood. Von Trier created an atmosphere to represent what it would probably feel like if the entire planet knew and are restlessly waiting for the end of everything - a combination of hushed hopelessness and violent tremors of our defeated planet. The ground shaking music of Wagner as the tremors and the isolated country house as the collective hush of our planet.

Again, I can fully understand why people would dislike this film because of the mood, or its length or because of its dreary subject matter. What I don't understand are the people who call the film pretentious.

Pretentious is a word used to describe this film in many reviews I've read. In all honesty, I'm quite irritated having this adjective used as a go-to word to sneer at creative works that strive to be ambitious, daring or beautiful. I find it sad when writers, specifically critics, use this word. It is cop-out criticism. It is lazy because it is too definitive and delimits the opportunity for further discussion which is what art, and subsequently, criticism is really there to do - promote discussion.

Any work of art that is brave, unconventional and new can be called pretentious and those that who do can get away with it. This is because films like Melancholia require a certain degree of pretentiousness. Any work that takes a risk need to be christened with self-importance that it initially does not deserve. If this wasn't so then the artist will never have the impetus that eventually leads to the art's creation.

What is creativity but considering what is in one's head important enough that the artist indulges himself by bringing it into the world. If artists did not give their work greater importance than what it deserves then we will only be left with art that is subpar, lacklustre and dangerously unambitious.

I'm just grateful that von Trier was pretentious enough that he was able to make this film.

Images are edited by me from various screenshots from the film. Note: The film is not black and white.

200 Movies Challenge

2012-01-10T02:40:00.000+11:00

So, since I'm already doing the 50 books challenge this year, I thought hmm...might as well throw my entire social life away and also ambitiously undertake a movies challenge as well.

Picking a number was hard but since I already see over a hundred movies in a given year, I thought I'll go with the number 200. That's 3.8 movies a week, so I would have to see about 3 to 4 movies a week.

I'm going to be upgrading my Quickflix account and renewing my cinema club memberships so hurray!

For every ten movies I see I will write up a post with thoughts and a mini review about each film along with a black and white film strip that I'll make for each movie. Because black and white film strips are cool.

Wish me luck.

Links:

Blog posts

List of the movies I have seen so far

Image was edited by me. Original image here.

50 Books // The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle // # 2

2012-01-07T22:52:00.000+11:00

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Murakami's masterpiece (I seem to always say this about every Murakami I read) is about a young married man named Toru. Toru loses a number of things. First his cat, then his wife and then slowly his sense of reality. In search of these things he encounters characters both bizarre and amusing ranging from war veterans, a politician, an introspective sixteen-year-old girl and even mind prostitutes. Yes, prostitutes who pleasure you in your dreams.

To describe the plot of the novel is near impossible. At more than 600 pages this is an epic that crosses various time periods, various character viewpoints while managing to weave in and out (and sometimes in between) the real and the imagined. It sounds confusing and complex but it's actually deceptively simple. The way Murakami writes allows the surreal nature of the narrative as well as the layered plot to be as digestible as a children's fairytale. There are so many things going on but somehow Murakami never leaves you behind. This is probably because he never embellishes his sentences more than he needs to. At one point there is even a story within a story within another story. As one character tells Toru one of her stories Toru observes:

"Without explanation, she would

reverse chronological order or suddenly

introduces as a major character

someone she had never mentioned

to me before...

She would narrate events she had

witnessed with her own eyes, as

well as events that she had never

witnessed."

Upon reading this I realised Murakami was describing how he tells his own stories.

I would read this before I go to bed and I remember how strange my own dreams end up becoming. It was as if Murakami's prose somehow rearranged my brain to allow it to gaze at the world in a distorted, convoluted and even a perverse kind of way.

I tend to read fast and usually whizz through books but this one made me slow down and cherish every sentence, every moment and every chapter. I gave it time and it deserved it without question.

Links:

About the 50 Books Challenge

Goodreads account

List of the books I've read so far

Image was edited by me from this original image.