Saturday, August 28, 2010

If I was...

an artist...
 


I'd want to be Audrey Kawasaki because she is simply fabulous. The images she creates are hauntingly beautiful, and I must warn you, once you start looking through her work and reading her blog you'll have trouble tearing yourself away.

A photographer...


I'd jump every hurdle man has ever faced for even the tiniest piece of Nirrimi's artistic genius. An Australian wunderkind (although technically an adult as of 3 days or so ago) she is simply bounding through life, weaving beautifully emotive visual stories, and turning more and more heads with every click of her camera. I die of envy everytime I see one of her blog posts, but I grow more and more excited when I realise that if she is this amazing at 18 how extraordinary will she be at 25, or 40, or 60 years of age?!

A Fashion designer/blogger/vintage buyer/all-round awesome-o...


I wouldn't even wait a second to think about it, i'd be the Botticelli-esque babe and all round creative, lovely and interesting gal Miss Hannah Metz. Her blog is simply a delight to read, her outfit posts are deliciously desirable and beautifully natural, and a flick through her etsy store, My Loved One, leaves your wallet considerably lighter and your credit card slightly more worn.

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People are fabulous and inspiring and head-scratchingly weird and that is the fantastic thing about living in the 21st century with super-fast internet and desperate desires of procrastination, you can experience so many of these delightful people's lives through their blogs, and come face to face with their enviable talents so quickly and easily. Thank you internets, I love you!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Thank you for (not) smoking


I hate everything about smoking and the people who smoke them, but even I will admit that when I watch one of those old film noirs and I see old Humphrey B lighting up I can't help thinking, 'Christ he makes that look soooo good.'

There is something about film that captures cigarettes in such a glamourous light, and it simply astounds me. Maybe it has something to do with the seductive tilt of the woman's head while the man lights her cigarette, or  the way they hold the cigarette which gives you far more insight into the character than any other mannerism they could display.

I once thought it had to do with the time these films are set, and the epic smoking sessions in Mad Men seemed to back that up, but more recent movies have triggered a similar reaction for me.

The biggest mystery to me is, however, that it only seems cool in film. Apart from all the health risks and the disgusting smell, people can never pull off that casual smoking stance you see in film. I watch people holding cigarettes and I can see the exact Hollywood star they're trying to emulate, and even if they are a dead ringer for Humphrey Bogart standing in a dimlit bar with a piano and martini nearby all I can think is, 'stop it! You look ridiculous, for the love of god stop making a fool of yourself!'

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Happy Anniversary Boyfriend!




I love you xox

STRESS!!


There is not enough time in the day to get done the 10000000000054 jobs/assignments/tasks that I need to do!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Bret Easton Ellis

A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I drove down to Byron Bay to see Bret Easton Ellis speak at the Byron Bay Writer's Festival.

 The interviewer (Ramona Koval) was horrible. She may be respected as an interviewer but she had obviously never read any of his work, and seemed to get all her information off wikipedia. When Bret rambled at the beginning of the interview about Delta Goodrem she ignored his obvious discomfort and continued probing him with long, detailed questions (I swear one question took 5 minutes for her to spit out) before getting angry and making a large effort to spoon-feed him a deliberately simple question. However he put her back in her place when he humorously criticised her multi-questioned question, and then admitted to suffering from nerves. After than the interview got back on track and I was pleased to see Bret as hilariously caustic and self-depreciating as I’d hoped he'd be. 

After the interview he stayed back to sign books for the audience, here is my personalised copy of Less than Zero....



And my boyfriend's much more personalised edition of Glamorama (I wonder if anyone has asked Bret to sign a book like this before?)





**** Read this interview with Bret Easton Ellis. So good AND so bad! No interviewer comes out of an interview with B.E.E the same as they went in. This is why I love this man! Part 1 and Part 2

A much needed distraction

There are enough blogs, tweets and facebook status' informing the world of the current goings-on post-election, and the disillusionment permeating the country, so instead i'm going to post the trailer to the 7th Harry Potter movie- The Deathly Hollows.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

A dance movie to sink your teeth into.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Published!

Here is a link to the article I wrote for a new Brisbane magazine. Home Magazine is a free distribution magazine created and aimed for certain areas in Brisbane. I interned for the publisher of this magazine for a few months working on this magazine and two others they have under their banner. It was an extremely beneficial internship, for me at least, as I learned more than I could have thought possible in such a short time. It was also thanks to this internship that I found out that I hadn't wasted four years at uni! It never felt like work, it was interesting, fulfilling and enjoyable and it opened my eyes to a career perfect for me in every way.

A must-see


On the 16th of August, 2010 Keith Olbermann delivered his "special comment" on the misconception in calling the proposed development the "Ground Zero Mosque" and the inaccuracies surrounding the rumours.

What followed was a wonderfully eloquent commentary on the fear of terrorism in the United States that has been prevalent since 9/11 and the eroding nature this fear has on society as a whole. It is a much, much better version of what I messily attempted to discuss in my  review of Four Lions, and even though it runs to nearly 13 minutes, I recommend sitting through it as it is one of the most breathtaking and passionate speeches I’ve heard on TV in a long time.


Thursday, August 12, 2010

Procrastination






...Much better than sitting down and writing out my TV Show synopsis.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Fantastic

"Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.
-Gandalf (LOTR-Fellowship of the Ring)

LOTR


I'm just about finished re-reading Lord of the rings for my popular fictions class and have sat down to rewatch the movies as a comparison of sorts. Holy crap I forgot how much I love these movies, they truly are some of the most fantastic pieces of film ever to be created.

Four Lions



I won tickets to see an advance screening of Four Lions last night, so after work my boyfriend and I headed to the cinema and took our seats, unsure of what we were going to see, knowing only that it was a comedy based around terrorists by comedian Chris Morris.

It is a darkly, darkly funny movie, it had me constantly bent over in my seat roaring with laughter, at the somewhat outrageous actions of the primary cast. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, just as I wouldn't recommend a David Lynch film to all my friends, but for those of you with open minds I think it is definitely worth the ticket.

I've read a few reviews since watching it that have said it trivialises the 'terrorist issue' but I really don't agree with that. The 5 terrorists are given personalities, back stories and families but it doesn't set out to justify their actions, rather it forces us to see them as humans and not demons. And isn't that one of the serious problems facing us at the moment?  It is common in western society to simply see anyone who follows Islam as a terrorist, or anyone from Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan etc as conspiring towards our downfall, even if their family has lived in Australia (or England or America) for many generations. The fear that has been present ever since September 11 has clouded our judgement and stopped us from seeing individuals, instead we see a dark monster, a demon who endeavours to end our lives.

People have a right to be angry over September 11 or the Bali bombings or any other terrorist activity which has resulted in the death of innocent people, but there is no use letting this anger worsen. I've often thought that it isn't until you can laugh at an issue that you can move past it. This movie raises the issues facing our society now and by doing it in a way that promotes laughter, and recognition of the characters as people it soothes some of the anger and hurt that has been raging for so long and allows us to begin moving forwards.

I have only respect for this movie and what it set out to do, but I will not be surprised if I hear friends speak negatively against it. Perhaps it is too soon to laugh at this issue, maybe the wounds are still too fresh. But there is no use continuing to tip-toe around the issue and letting the anger fester. Please at least give this movie a try.







Monday, August 9, 2010

The Literary Death Spiral

Very interesting piece by author Norman Spinrad on the publishing industry and the problem facing authors at the moment. It is reports like this which makes me question whether publishing is really an industry  I want to try and get work in. Perhaps it is no longer about the literature and purely about the numbers, I certainly hope not, and being the optimist I am I think i'll  close my eyes to the mounting evidence and blindly make my way through the publishing maze and hope to find myself amongst people who truly love literature and put it ahead money.

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