Quelle Horreur

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965)

2010-11-23T00:21:00.000+01:00

Amazing.

2010-07-13T17:58:00.002+01:00

This post seems to be saying that moving is bad, but in a wishy-washy, NYT way:

“When you drill deeper,” Professor Medway cautioned, “the effects of moving are much more complicated than this paper suggests.”

seriously, people.

RED

2010-06-08T22:18:00.004+01:00

Just read this Play by John Logan -- Above all, it's about looking at art and thinking about how an artist sees. Feeling nostalgic about being able to go to the museums in Paris for free whenever I wanted (they're free when you're under 18). I should probably spend more time in the museums in LA but it's hard to get all that excited about them. I do love the Norton Simon in Pasadena, though.

Je me suis soûlé en l'écoutant / L'alcool fait oublier le temps.

2010-05-25T00:36:00.002+01:00

Sad Vader

2010-05-21T19:14:00.001+01:00

photo by Alex Brown

Garden party

2010-05-19T22:21:00.005+01:00

Allee de Tulipes

Keukenhof Gardens, Amsterdam

Chess Board on the lawn at a party

Silhouette Cookies

Wallp*per

2010-05-19T19:55:00.002+01:00

Home Depot does Toile de Jouy?

I always had Toile de Jouy curtains in my bedroom growing up, but I can't tell whether this would look cheap and am not sure where I'd put it.

Role Models

2010-05-18T02:00:00.003+01:00

Veruca Salt

Bea Gibson

2010-05-18T01:43:00.005+01:00

I went to school with Bea and through fbook recently discovered she's continued to work and is doing fabulous oil paintings... I like her cityscapes best. Wish I were nearby and could go and support her exhibs!

SHINY CUPS, BRIXTON

More decorating ideas... creating a lookbook

2010-05-18T01:21:00.006+01:00

Blue floors!

This Mermaid Lamp is Crazy

Pink chairs & Colorful Rug

This chandelier reminds me of that awesome Hermes coral china pattern but I think I'd get tired of such a strong palette...

I like this as a cool and glamorous bedside table lamp

I'm obsessed with wallpaper and have no idea how it's done

Learning about decorating

2010-05-17T23:43:00.004+01:00

Use a magnetic rod for knives?

Alcoves! and a pull out bed means more space for kids to play!

Yellow & Mirrors

Chalkboard with cool frame and oriental rug

So familiar...Parisian homes...

2010-02-16T20:47:00.003+01:00

“Daddy warned me about men and alcohol,” she once said. “But he never warned me about women and cocaine.”

Tallulah Bankhead...I knew I always liked her.

The Rachel Zoe show

2009-09-26T21:32:00.003+01:00

Rachel Zoe is a celebrity stylist who gained a lot of attention in 2005-6 because she was responsible for the looks of a whole host of starlets: Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, Nicole Richie, Jessica Simpson etc... when what they wore was widely imitated. From there she went on to host a fantastically compelling reality show on Bravo, the Rachel Zoe project. She also has a book, A to Zoe, and a newsletter a la GOOP. But what's really fun to watch are her deadpan looks and her catch phrases ("bananas" "I. Die.")

... which this impersonator, Amy Phillips, NAILS. I've been laughing to myself about this for over a week already.

And here's a clip of the real show for comparison:

Two Sketches from Kids' TV

2009-07-29T22:33:00.003+01:00

Chicken Boo-Rysnikov from "Animaniacs"

Check it out girls sketch from "Sonny with a Chance":

I think these are both so hilarious...

Transformers 2 One Sheet

2009-02-27T00:35:00.000+01:00

Meant to post this forever ago...

2009-02-14T08:59:00.003+01:00

FACEBOOK FEED HAMLET

I hate the world

2009-02-13T03:18:00.000+01:00

horrifying

Vanities

2009-02-13T00:48:00.007+01:00

One of the ways I've been tracking beautiful actresses for (I've just realized) the last decade is by keeping an eye on VANITY FAIR's "Vanity" (pinup) of the month - it's a good way to keep up on ingenues. Occasionally they over-promote someone, like Gretchen Mol - but most of the time they just pick the latest hot chick. Here it's Freida Pinto, from SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

This also reminds me how long I've been paying attention to models, actresses and so on - recently I found a blog called Style Rookie which has gotten a lot of attention because the blogger is a 12 yr old girl who's obsessed with fashion. The Mulleavy sisters sent her freebie tights, French VOGUE put her on their website, and she's been interviewed a lot. She's got an interesting style but really it made me realize that at that age I was just as active (but not as visible) in pursuing my passion for all things Fashion... such an odd feeling.

someone else I've been following since DROP DEAD GORGEOUS in 1999: AMY ADAMS

Agnes Deyn as The Queen

2009-02-11T01:15:00.002+01:00

la belle

2009-01-31T04:51:00.003+01:00

I think Camilla Belle should get a lot more work (maybe on Mad Men)

Gossip Girl

2009-01-30T20:37:00.006+01:00

I love being right

Also - it's so much more interesting reading VOGUE after seeing the Sundance documentary THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, in which a camera crew followed Editor in Chief Anna Wintour during the making of their 800+ page september '08 issue. Now I flick through to Grace Coddington's editorial spreads and wonder what other pictures got cut.

Reminds me of how much time I used to spend pouring over each page of the magazine, looking for beautiful images - now I realize they were almost all styled by Grace, who arrived at the mag at the same time as Anna, 30-something years ago.

Pride & Predjudice... &Zombies

2009-01-30T20:31:00.003+01:00

Pride and Predjudice & Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! (Paperback)
by Jane Austen (Author), Seth Grahame-Smith (Author)

Daft Punk dance

2009-01-30T20:28:00.000+01:00

CHECKIT

2008-10-12T06:43:00.001+01:00

drinking games for movies!

What Would Joan Do?

2008-08-19T21:56:00.002+01:00

He has a place in South Hampton. I'm not saying that I've seen it, but it's beautiful.....

"Two more floors" by Amanda Visell

2007-12-24T10:08:00.001+01:00

Nathan gave me this for Christmas! It's a limited edition print, signed by the artist, and I love it.

If - Rudyard Kipling

2007-10-30T19:33:00.001+01:00

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

LOLsecretz

2007-09-11T19:44:00.000+01:00

postsecret and lolcatz had a love child.

(thanks Arija!)

Moon Shoes

2007-08-21T22:03:00.001+01:00

I now have my very own pair of these. I keep them at the office for jumping.

Gossip Girl

2007-07-25T20:56:00.001+01:00

is going to be huge.

ObamaGirl vs GiulianiGirl

2007-07-17T22:49:00.001+01:00

If the Pussycat Dolls suddenly branched into political satire, it might look something like this:

Incidentally, this is done by the same people who did "My Box in a Box", which I posted about a few months ago.

Overheard in L.A. : The Publicist

2007-06-22T19:32:00.000+01:00

"I love being a publicist because I can say:
"Middle America, THIS is RENEE ZELLWEGER!"
And they, like, BELIEVE me!!!"

From A Co-Worker's Office

2007-06-21T17:27:00.000+01:00

This might not seem amazingly funny the first time you watch it - but imagine this sound coming from a co-worker's office over and over again accompanied by gales of laughter...

Growing up 90s: Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée

2007-06-20T17:32:00.001+01:00

I went to a strict French Convent school, taught by nuns who took vows of chastity but not of poverty, and who we had to call "Mademoiselle". Today I found a picture someone had posted online that triggered memories better than anything else I can think of:

(It is forbidden to sit on the window ledge or open any windows without the professors' express permission)

Simone de Beauvoir once taught at my school.

I had a nightmare a few months ago about my old math teacher, who on one occasion stormed into our classroom and onto the wooden teachers' platform without acknowledging the 35 students standing to greet her. "VOUS ETES TOUTES DES NULLES!" she yelled, and threw down a test we'd recently taken. I still hate Maths.

Elephone and Telephunk

2007-06-20T17:17:00.001+01:00

One of my favorite Children's poems:

Eletelephony
Once there was an elephant
Who tried to use the telephant.
No, No! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone!

(Dear me I am not certain quite
that even now I've got it right!)

However it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telefunk.
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telefee!

I fear I'd better drop the song
Of Elephop and telephong.

Sarko - Drunk?

2007-06-13T00:42:00.001+01:00

President of France - drunk after a long lunch with Putin? That's what this Belgian presenter says... the French press kept it quiet until it made top news on YouTube.

Damien Hirst

2007-06-12T02:11:00.000+01:00

Damien Hirst, y'all.

"For The Love of God", Platinum, Diamonds, and Human Teeth
The White Cube Gallery, London
$98,000,000

Damien Hirst and his creation, cast from an actual human skull.

Algorithm...with NINJAS!

2007-06-09T00:10:00.000+01:00

Do it.

2007-06-06T01:44:00.000+01:00

Click-it-go-on-you-know-you-want-to

The Golden Compass

2007-05-25T18:20:00.000+01:00

The trailer for The Golden Compass is up!

I saw Phillip Pullman speak in Cheltenham when "The Amber Spyglass" was released, and was surprised by how good a public speaker he was. His funniest bit was when he described a letter written to him during the long delay between the second and last book in the series: A child sent a picture of a very cute bunny and wrote "Here is a picture of a sweet little rabbit. Finish the next book, or the Rabbit DIES." I loved that!

Wonder what he thinks of the film - it looks rather epic, but I would rather see it in a more low-budget bbc version. Not sure why.

Hot Chicks with Douchebags

2007-05-25T17:35:00.000+01:00

One of my co-workers has been laughing at this all morning, so I thought I'd share the wealth:

HOT CHICKS WITH DOUCHEBAGS!

**disclaimer: I don't think the guy who writes this website is nearly as funny as he thinks he is...but it's still a pretty funny idea.

Lip Gloss

2007-05-25T00:58:00.000+01:00

"Lip Gloss" by Lil Mama

ok. I don't ordinarily like this sort of thing, but this video is kind of amazing. I heard about this song a couple of days ago and sent it to someone as a joke, but then found the video and was strangely charmed. No real surprise there, I guess, given my long documented obsession with American HS. The vid reminds me in a strange way of Britney's Hit Me Baby (One More Time). It's also the #2 popular video on itunes today...

(For old times' sake - Britney)

Become Jackson Pollock for a day

2007-05-24T01:28:00.000+01:00

Be Jackson Pollock!

Use the Spacebar to start over, and be sure to click your mouse!

(thank you Liba!)

Good Reads

2007-05-23T20:03:00.000+01:00

I've gotten a little obsessed with www.goodreads.com in the last couple of days. It's the perfect way for me to satisfy the urge I always get to check off all the books I've read in the back of editions. Right now, I have 500 something books - and a lot of them are useless teenybopper books that I read as research on the next generation.

It's also been useful because I'm scared that now that I'm living in L.A. and working in film I won't read as much - this helps me remember how much I love to read. I'm always looking for recommendations!

Welcome to the Aquadome

2007-05-23T19:57:00.000+01:00

I sort of need to go to a place that is called: "the Aquadome", especially a place in Austria called "the Aquadome".

(from Coolhunter)

Why Choose?

2007-05-09T20:02:00.000+01:00

My friend Julie Whitesell directs a lot of people I know in a commercial parody.

Deep Blue Sea

2007-04-27T01:02:00.000+01:00

...is an excellent [by excellent I mean excellently bad, or excellent if you want to play drinking games] movie about genetically mutated smart sharks. You should watch this clip in which [SPOILER ALERT] something bad happens to Samuel L. Jackson. I saw him today, incidentally. He's really tall.

Wie Bitte?

2007-04-27T00:52:00.000+01:00

I think German is an inherently funny language. Say anything in German, and I will probably laugh at you.

I hadn't seen this video until today, but my friends and I made jokes about it ALL OVER THE WORLD last summer, so I'm glad to have found it!

Feist

2007-04-27T00:44:00.000+01:00

I like Leslie Feist's voice a lot - and first noticed her in 2001 when I was sitting in a cafe in Munich and liked a song that was playing as ambiance music so much that I convinced the guy behind the counter to give me a cd. The song was "Shameless Eyes" by Gonzales on "III Presidential Suite", which also contains a song that I think of a lot whenever I have to make decisions. It goes:
DECISIONS DECISIONS AND MORE AND MORE DECISIONS.
The tune isn't even important.
Anyway, I like Feist, and am happy that she's getting a lot of attention which will hopefully translate to money for her and more songs for me.

If you know me at all, you'll know why I like this video.

The Monty Python Mattress Skit

2007-03-22T20:34:00.000+01:00

I can't believe I only found this skit recently - It's one of my new favorites, especially because of Graham Chapman's laugh.

Jeremy Scott

2007-03-02T01:20:00.000+01:00

I know it's wrong but I'd totally wear all of these!

If I were a stylist

2007-01-30T20:39:00.000+01:00

***********
I picked these dresses out from the shows in Paris and London a few weeks ago, just to see whether any of my guesses were right at the Oscars - and some of them were!
***********

Armani (Cate Blanchett wore a longer version of this)

Tsumori Chisato (I saw this on a publicist - it hangs nicely on real people)

Christian Lacroix - Kirsten Dunst wore this in pale pink for the Spiderman Premiere

Elie Saab

Chanel (Kirsten Dunst wore this)

Elie Saab

I would dress my clients in these.

How I started to love Chanel

2007-01-30T20:33:00.000+01:00

I've been completely brainwashed by chanel since I was about 12. The first time I consciously remember thinking about the brand was when a friend at the cathedral pulled out a chanel make-up compact and did her lips with these sparkly colours. That same year, The Fifth Element (luc besson) came out, and contained a scene where Leeloo Dallas (Milla Jojovitch) uses a futuristic chanel make-up compact. I was hooked.

Incidentally, The Fifth Element is one of my favorite movies EVER.

Bruce Willis, Ugly Aliens, and all costumes designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Growing up 90s - Les Inconnus

2007-01-29T23:23:00.001+01:00

Les Inconnus (the Unknown), a french comedy group formed by Didier Bourdon, Pascal Legitimus and Bernard Campan, were one of my favorite groups when I was a teenager. They had a lot of really funny songs, and they starred in a movie that EVERYONE can quote from, "Les Trois Freres". The closest comics I can think of to compare them to are Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell - very ordinary funny guys with a low budget feel.

One of their songs, "Neuilly Auteuil Passy", talks about how hard it is growing up in Paris' richest neighbourhoods, having to kiss people's hands and be aristocratic. Since my convent school was in Neuilly and I lived in Passy, My friends and I thought this was the best song in the world, and quoted it a lot. Our favorite part was the line about wanting to be able to just really cut loose and scream obscenities, but their obscenities are "zut, flute, crotte, chier" which are idiomatic and not at all rude (darn, dash it, turd, and the verb 'to shit'). We especially loved the accent - the stereotypical parisian accent adds an extra '-anh' at the end of every phrase. Here, it's 'Salut-anh. [kiss] Tu-anh [kiss] vas [kiss] bien-anh?'

This version has english subtitles which don't really convey how old fashioned the language is; French still has a lot of words that are really only written, never used in common speech.

What this is really making fun of, apart from the haute bourgeoiserie, is the very idea of rapping in French - this is right about the time that the very first French rappers started to become popular. Please note how often they say "MEC" which is an awkward translation of 'man' that only came about because so many american tv shows use it - no one in france said it. It's usually used in the plural, to mean 'guys'.

Lilies

2007-01-26T19:49:00.000+01:00

Lily Cole, model

I have been gradually growing aware, over the last 2 years, that I'm obsessed with Lily Cole. It's not a conscious thing - but when i review image cuttings i've made from magazines there seem to be a lot of her. She's delightfully medieval looking sometimes.

lily @gaultier s/s 07

I've seen her twice now in real life - once we were on the same flight from london to new york, and once i walked past her in the theatre district in london. I recognized her both times, but not until after it was too late to say anything. She's starring in Marilyn Manson's movie of "Alice in Wonderland"...no idea what that will donner.

******

Lily Allen, singer

Lily Allen rules and has been on my daily life soundtrack since september. She wears ball gowns with sneakers, over-accessorises, and has fabulous eyeliner.

This video is about a girl who secretly employs thugs to ruin the life of her ex-boyfriend when he dumps her after cheating on her - and it works because the song ("Smile") is sweet-sounding, even though the video is vicious.

Paris Collections II

2007-01-25T23:46:00.000+01:00

Jean Paul Gaultier s/s 07

Growing up 90s - La Boum

2007-01-25T23:19:00.000+01:00

Sophie Marceau's first major movie, and the only real equivalent to the 80s U.S. High School movies, was called "La Boum" (1980, dir. Claude Pinoteau). It's excellent. I watched it again recently and was surprised to find that:

a) I knew ALL the lines, even though i'd only seen it one or two other times - that's how often we quoted it. It has lines like "T'as vu? il m'a regardé juste le jour ou j'ai mis mon survet!!" I don't think Sophie ever topped that.
b) It's surprisingly good. It shows Sophie attending Lycee Henri IV, the best public school in France, and the parents get lots of screen time enough for their relationship to seem more real than anything I'd seen recently since "the Squid and the Whale."

(tr."OMG he looked at me just the day i decided to wear my [cool new v. 80s] sweatpants outfit")

Paris Collections

2007-01-25T01:30:00.000+01:00

So far, here are the looks I've liked:

Dior

When I was 13 I designed a t-shirt that said "Dior can do no wrong". That's because I'm a big dork.

I'm also a huge fan of Gaultier but haven't found usable pictures yet. Basically the collection looks like live-action medieval stained glass figures, as done by Murakami.

you know what's a good diet? GUM.

2007-01-25T00:59:00.000+01:00

Mary Kate and Ashley in claymation. I'm sure they are nice in real life, but this is pretty funny.

B.B.

2007-01-23T03:14:00.000+01:00

I have a cd of Brigitte Bardot singing which always makes me laugh; my favorite track is one where she sings "Nue Au Soleil" over and over again. The lyrics:

On ne peut pas, comme ça, se promener dans la rue
On ne peut pas, même si l'on voulait vivre nu
Et pourtant sans être impudique, au fond
J'avoue franchement que c'est grisant

Nue au soleil
Complètement
Nue au soleil
Complètement

Quand le printemps fait éclater tous les bourgeons
Mes vêtements me pèsent d'une étrange façon
Et soudain, dans mon imagination
Je me vois cachée, dans les rochers

Nue au soleil
Complètement
Nue au soleil
Complètement

It's such a great summer song, and she sings on the edge between tuneless and sexy... fabulous.

I just bought a boxed set of her movies that I'm going to use as background at house parties.

(approximate tr.: You can't just walk around like this, on a whim, in the street, you can't just live naked, even if you wanted to. But still, without being an exhibitionist I think it's frankly irksome. Naked in the sun, completely naked in the sun etc. When springtime comes and all the buds explode, my clothes weigh upon me strangely; and suddenly, in my imagination I see myself hidden among the rocks,Naked in the sun, completely naked in the sun etc)

Auto-Ecole

2007-01-16T12:16:00.000+01:00

I've spent a lot of the last few months attempting to get my French driver's license, only to be thwarted multiple times by the system. The French government requires would-be drivers to have had at least 20 hours of driving time in a vehicle equipped with passenger-side pedals, horn and lights. The testing board makes sure that all the spaces to sit both the driving exams are given to drivers' schools, the Auto-Ecoles, first. The overall experience is so mind-twisting and bureaucratic that everyone ends up forking over outrageous sums in order to actually get their license. Auto Ecoles have a total scam in place - they can charge whatever they like, and give a reasonably good chance of making sure their students pass, but almost no one does pass the first or even second time.

Today, I finally passed the "Code de la Route", a surprisingly difficult and insidious multiple choice test. Only about a third of the test-takers in the room with me passed. Among those that failed: 4 or 5 elderly men with white hair. They swore a lot and grumbled, and each one of them flunked, although they were with different driving schools. Another girl who took the test from my Auto-Ecole failed because her answer box wasn't working properly; it wouldn't let her validate her answers. She interrupted the test twice in order to complain but of course the guy overseeing the test wouldn't help and told her not to interrupt the test or she'd be thrown out. At least he paused the test while he was doing it!

Once I pass the second half of the test, the practical test, I'll have a french driver's license forever.

I hate you, Canderel

2007-01-13T01:36:00.000+01:00

and I always will.

tr. "but why do they make these chairs so big/wide?"
tr. "I adore budda, but I refuse to look like him"

Val d'Isere

2007-01-08T04:27:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year!

We just got back from skiing in Val d'Isere.

My Box in a Box

2007-01-07T21:39:00.000+01:00

OMG so funny

"Britney showed the world her box... but my box is just for you"

Growing up '90s - Club Dorothee

2006-12-27T12:48:00.000+01:00

Although my brothers and I were almost never allowed to watch television growing up, for the first few years after we moved to france, in 1990, we were granted an exception. French children's television was a good way for us to get to understand the language in an easier way than at school, where we didn't understand a thing.

One major influence on my french was a daily program called "Club Dorothee" , presented by Dorothee, who later lost her viewers and her job when a widely circulated rumor said she actually hated children. Club Dorothee had a lot of japanese animated cartoons dubbed into french, because they were cheaper to import than american ones, and so an entire generation of french kids grew up more familiar with the cartoon contents of tokyo suburbs than with gotham city or american suburbia.

Some formative cartoons, from what I can remember:

Creamy, Adorable Creamy: a little girl, Yu (9), is given a magic wand that lets her transform into her 15 year old self whenever she feels like it. 15 year old Yu is a famous purple-haired singing sensation. She does magic and says "Pampelilu" a lot. I used to sing the theme tune to this over and over again when I was bored at lunchtimes, trying to figure out what the words meant.

Goldorak: like transformers and he-man put together, but with more samurais. Set in outer space.

Ranma 1/2: Apparently, this is a cartoon for adults, and has many inappropriate moments, but Club Dorothee just cut them from the program. Ranma is a boy when you throw cold water on him, and a girl when you throw hot water on him. He is accompanied by an old man/martial arts instructor who turns into a panda with hot water. It also had a very catchy theme tune: "Ranma un demi! Moitie garcon - et moitie fille!"

but my all-time favorite on Club Dorothee was ...

Nicky Larson: It's unclear what he does exactly, but it basically involves 'protecting' wealthy women, and killing a lot of bad guys while wearing miami-vice style jackets. He harbours a strange obsession for women's underwear, but I never noticed that it was a totally bizarre thing to have in a children's cartoon until recently. Nicky Larson was a lot like James Bond, but dorkier, and more funny.

Will It Blend? 12 Dancing Princesses Edition

2006-12-23T23:52:00.000+01:00

The Question is, Will it Blend?

Laduree

2006-12-17T15:24:00.000+01:00

Delicious. I will miss this so much.
I've seen "Marie-Antoinette" twice now with guests and afterwards I make a point of having them come here, because the palette for the movie was based on their pastries, and because there are so many of them consumed during the movie that you are hungry for one afterwards. I used to always get a Tarte au Citron or a Fraisier, but I recently discovered their pale pink puff pastry with a cream filling made from roses, such a delicate taste.

Casino Royale

2006-12-17T15:23:00.000+01:00

I've just returned from Casino Royale. Eva Green is fabulous - I've been a fan of hers since "The Dreamers" and she was very good in this. What I liked best about the movie, though, was how objectified Daniel Craig was: you saw his nipples more than her cleavage, for instance. He was made to be much more physically desirable than any other male movie character i can remember recently. I also really appreciated that he got kicked so hard in the balls - it made most of the men in the audience cower, but the women could watch with no problem - most pleasing.

Tsumori Chisato

2006-12-15T11:33:00.000+01:00

This was taken on the balcony of some friends whose appartment looks like something out of James Bond. I'm going to miss Paris so much when I move away!
Tsumori Chisato is my favorite designer; I got to meet her recently at the launch of her book at the Bon Marche. Her clothes are such fun to wear and are always unusual. I have a few pieces from her collections, including this purple cashmere and wool sweater-dress with ballon-batwing sleeves, and the dress below, which is completely ridiculous.

Miss France 2007

2006-12-11T04:16:00.001+01:00

The Miss France competition was saturday, on TF1. I LOVE this show - it's so over the top, so badly organized, so mean. The French always feel the need to show off in their "grand spectacles" and they're very good at it, so every year there are complicated dancing routines and showy costumes are much closer to a show at the Lido de Paris than to a beauty competition. It makes it so much better that you can call in and vote for your favorite contestant! The spectator vote counts for a third of the points, so calling makes a difference. I voted approximately 15 times, and one of my favorites, Miss Picardie, won.

It's entertaining to watch because although the show tries to be very grand, it's not well produced. It goes out live, and there are always a few "merdes":

Laura Treves, the choreographer, was the subject of a video segment in which all she did was complain about how difficult the contestants were to train. Then there was a montage of her insulting the contestants: "Si vous etiez des poulpes, il aurait fallu nous le dire!" (tr. If you knew ahead of time you'd be [as limp as] octopusses, you should have told us") and after a dress rehearsal: "Bonjour la cata!" ("Hello catastophe"). There were shots of her yelling a lot, and of contestants with tears in their eyes. They stopped short of showing her name anyone, but you know she must have called people out by name/title, just to embarrass them. It doesn't sound mean typed out, but it was very mean spirited when you heard it live.

Miss Limousin, who came 2nd, is the first deaf girl ever to compete in the Miss France competion. She was supposed to speak through a sign-language interpreter, who must have been provided by the production company because although she was pretty and young she was completely incompetent!! On both the occasions Miss Limousin had to talk, this interpreter translated the first few words, then gave up and just stood there in silence while the Miss freaked out. I don't think she would have won anyway, because the French don't tend to root for the underdog, but she got the sympathy vote because of her mistreatment.

The biggest surprise of the evening, though, was the presenter: he was unbelievably rude to the tech assistant who'd made a mistake in preparing the question-cards order. He called him onstage and insulted him repeatedly, saying things along the lines of "yes, come out front so that everyone can see your pretty face, so that your mommy at home can see that you made a mistake, so that your daddy can see what success looks like." He went on to say that the pageant is like a big family and as a result you get idiots like this assistant, and implied that he'd gotten the job because his father works for the production company. It was incredible to watch, even though I've been through the French school system and am used to seeing this sort of public humiliation.... It was so unnecessary!

Jean-Pierre Foucault and Miss France 2006

Other highlights of the competition include a fight between the jury and Genevieve de Fontenay (the founder of the competition), the 2006 Miss France final dance of the year as a can-can dancer with accompanying (authentic) Moulin Rouge dancing girls, and a recently published interview with de Fontenay in which she says that she doesn't like Miss Limousin because she's "un peu anorexique". Oh, and Miss France 2006 totally copied that pink dress from one Jordan wore in November. I wish I had a full length picture of it.

Slogan of Miss France: "monde merveilleux où la grâce le dispute à l'élégance"

Fruits

2006-12-09T19:06:00.000+01:00

A few summers ago, I was given these books on street style in Tokyo's Harajuku district , "Fruits" and "Fresh Fruits" by Shoichi Aoki.

They're pictures of (mostly) teens from from the late 90s when the area was made a pedestrian-only zone every sunday. I love the idea of being able to dress so wildly and join a crowd of lots of others just like you... in Berlin there's the daytime-techno-rave "love parade", but that's just skanky...

Sometimes I drew inspiration from them in my costume designs for plays, especially because of their dramatic flair for colour.

Needless to say, when I realized I'd have a chance to go to Japan myself this summer I hoped there would still be some genuine creativity at work that I could pilfer... and I found THIS:

Harajuku Lady-Boys!! Awesome.

Aubade

2006-12-09T17:34:00.001+01:00

One of the best ad campaigns around, for Aubade Lingerie, started a few years ago in Paris with this:
(tr. "Lessons of Seduction no. 5: Feign Indifference")

I think these ads are so effective... and funny.
There are so many of them!

There's even a
calendar
to download.

Mortified

2006-12-08T18:52:00.000+01:00

Just came accross this journal project, Mortified, which has grown into a live show and a book. It's "a comic excavation of teen angst artifacts (journals, poems, letters, lyrics, home movies, schoolwork) as shared by their original authors... in front of total strangers".

Oh boy ... do I wish I could've been a part of that...

MY diary from ages 10-14 reads like a Very Bad Romance Novel, with love triangles, long passages about everyone I was in love with, pro-and-con lists, and quotes like "And then I told him that I'd loved him since Saturday". I'm sure Eleni or Suraiya could provide me with more, but the diary itself is in Los Angeles in a box right now.

Either way - their website has clips!! I strongly recommend the Sasha Rothchild one.

Here's one of them, set to an animation:

I love youtube.

Debbie Harry

2006-12-08T18:13:00.000+01:00

has the perfect pair of lips.

Magic Wardrobe

2006-12-08T15:53:00.000+01:00

This is a vintage Haute Couture dress from Didier Ludot. I've only worn it twice - once to an Alice in Wonderland themed Ball in Cambridge as "The Rose Bush", and once to a well-known all-male British boarding school's Speech day. It's one of the pieces I'm most proud to have in my wardobe.

Below: details from the lower skirt (back, front)

Zooey Deschanel has the most beautiful voice

2006-12-08T14:33:00.000+01:00

Zooey Deschanel sings one of my favorite songs in a scene from the mildly mediocre "Elf":

Karen Kilimnik

2006-12-07T17:31:00.000+01:00

A while ago, I noticed a huge line forming outside the Musee d'Art Moderne at the Palais de Tokyo - much bigger than I'd seen before for show openings. The Musee is on my bus line, so for the last month or so, I played a little game during my daily commute. Is the poster for the Karen Kilimnik show actually a portrait of Paris Hilton? Or am I completly skewed by my constant gossip-blog visits?

Today, I went to the exhibition and enjoyed it! I had no expectations and was pleasantly surprised by the scatter art style of the expo. There were a few small fake rooms set up in the middle of the space, made to look as though they were from the Hermitage or somewhere grand - but they're a reproduction of the set of "Dynasty". I liked the size of the paintings - nothing too big or self-important. It was refreshing to see, and surprisingly inspiring.

Incidentally, the painting of Paris Hilton is called "Marie-Antoinette out for a walk at her Petite Hermitage, 1750".

I've always loved pictures of Snow White. Is this Vanessa Paradis? or is she too obscure for an american artist? Either way I liked this painting.

Quelle Horreur

2006-12-07T04:19:00.000+01:00

This mask is from Italian Tyrol - and looks like the old concierge from my building who died last year.

Mais pourquoi est-il aussi mechant?

2006-12-07T03:01:00.000+01:00

Orangina Rouge 1995

The classic Ad Campaign, in the same vein as the movie "La Cite de la Peur".

Einfluss

2006-12-06T22:19:00.000+01:00

The Telephone

To-night in million-voiced London I
Was lonely as the million-pointed sky
Until your single voice. Ah! So the sun
Peoples all heaven, although he be but one.

- Hilaire Belloc

I had no idea that Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) did serious poetry - I'd only ever read his 'nonsense verse'. Some of my favorites are Matilda, who told lies and was burned to death, and of course,

The Tiger

The tiger, on the other hand,
Is kittenish and mild,
And makes a pretty playfellow
For any little child.
And mothers of large families
(Who claim to common sense)
Will find a tiger well repays
The trouble and expense.

- Hilaire Belloc