Lost in the Plot: Fashion, Film, Music and Life

2010 Golden Globes Red Carpet Fashion (1)

2010-01-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

Let's start with the couples: the ones above chose to stay classy.

Image 1: Nominee David Duchovny and Téa Leoni

I especially love Téa Leoni's outfit; mixing a masculine shirt with some feminine pearls.

On the red carpet the inane Billy Bush asked Duchovny who he was going to try to save from the rain Bush or Leoni. Duchovny said he was trying to keep all of them dry or something like "sharing the wealth." Very Hank Moody anyway. Leoni grabbed the umbrella putting it over her. But I really like both of them no matter what.

Image 2: Jennifer Westfeldt and nominee Jon Hamm

Cute image I found of the pair. Jon Hamm striking a pose. And I'm a sucker for black and white combo of any kind...although it seems like Westfeldt sometimes ends up on peoples' worst dress list.

Image 3: Will Arnett and Amy Poehler

Cute and simple. I really wanted to say sorta all-American look, before remembering Arnett is originally from Canada. So instead I'll say: This pair hasn't looked this great since they were 'Marilyn' and 'JFK' in Blades of Glory. I love this funny duo.

Image 4: Nominee Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette

I've never seen "Cougar Town", but I'm back into watching "Friends" reruns (and I did watch a few episodes of "Dirt"). While Cox was on "Friends" one of my sisters told me she'd talked about how sometimes your face has to suffer in order for your ass to look good. This was obviously when people were talking about her weight. I happen to think she's looking better with age.

Burj, Dubai

2010-01-07T15:10:00.000-08:00

Photo: Getty Images as found from CNN. Click on the link at the end of this post to see the full image!

The tallest building in the world! At 168 stories and 2,684 feet into the U.A.E. sky.

Apparently the lead architect partner is a firm based in Chicago, Illinois.

I've only been to Dubai once. I won a trip in fifth grade while I was living in Bahrain. My mom liked to put our names in the raffle at St. Christopher's School. The flight is very short...around 30 minutes, if I remember correctly.

Dubai always seemed more exciting than Bahrain---where I was born and the country Conan O'Brien has described as being sorta like Cleveland. And I quite like the jokes from Conan and Jimmy Fallon about Burj.

Top 20 Film Picks from the Past Decade

2010-01-06T19:06:00.001-08:00

I worked on this collage for another blog: Speaking of Cinema. The People's Choice Awards was somewhat entertaining, but not entertaining enough for me to sit idly and watch it alone...thus a collage was made.

Top 20 Film Picks Since 2000

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2. 21 Grams

3. Hot Fuzz

4. Moulin Rouge!

5. The Dark Knight

6. The Lives of Others

7. Amelie

8. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

9. Sweeney Todd

10. Adaptation

11. The Fall

12. Milk

13. Once

14. Atonement

15. The Pianist

16. Up!

17. In Bruges

18. Memento

19. City of God

20. The Departed

Needless to say, the creation of the top twenty was really difficult and I still have some qualms about my selection. I have so many favorites! But what I've learned from this selection is that I appreciate foreign films--perhaps more than I ever thought before.

Happy New Year, Y'All!

2010-01-06T18:47:00.001-08:00

I wish I could have donned this Kate Spade festive dress from her new clothing line. But alas, I was not at a hopping party in a big city. I'm not quite sure I would wear purple heels with such a festive color, but I love Kate Spade's quirky style. A girl can dream, right?

My New Year's was as simple as my attire. I wore a black and white striped skirt, snow boots and a not quite forest green sweater. It mostly involved card games with friends. Next year, I hope to feel the new year spirit a bit more than I did this year.

Perhaps all this snow and ice has something to do with it...I should make note that I wasn't even in Syracuse for the new year! The world is a very cold place right now.

The image is from katespade.com.

Psych - The Best USA Network Show

2009-12-06T14:07:00.000-08:00

I've been watching a lot of it this weekend. Such great writing. Comedic elements and drama mixed in. All of the '80s references are added bonuses.

Anyway, I wanted to share some cute images of Dule Hill and James Roday aka Burton "Gus" Guster and Sawn Spencer. The images aren't that new, in fact the promo image is promoting Season 2, I think.

I really think they have the best chemistry out of any couple currently on TV (of all the shows I watch anyway). The show is moving from Fridays to Wednesdays next year. Currently listed as Wednesday, January 27. I'm thinking about writing a post about my favorite television duos for another blog.

Simone Simone. What's in a name?

2009-10-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been strange.

Ben and I checked out the Manlius Art Cinema yesterday. We saw the Coen brothers' A Strange Man with a fellow library grad student Claire and her husband John. Claire was brave enough to ask the owners of the theater what musician was playing through the speakers; I was just hoping Ben would remember some lyrics to Google (or Bing, if you prefer) later. This tiny theater is sad and sweet, which makes me miss Ragtag and its slight elitism, yet introduced me to to Al Stewart.

Stewart's "The Year of the Cat" was a song I think I've heard before. And he name-drops Bogie and Peter Lorrie in the first few lines. He has a beautiful voice that I just figured out reminds me of the Pet Shop Boys, though the style of music is totally something I could see that influenced the Clientele.

Check out a version of "The Year of the Cat"

Today, on Halloween, I went to Fright Fest at the Syracuse Fairgrounds. Thankfully, the iSchool's Grad Organization paid/a portion of my tuition fee helped pay for my ticket. I went on a Haunted Hayride and into three of the five scary haunted houses. The last haunted house, Frankenstein's Mansion, had little to do with Frankenstein and more to do with taxidermy. There were way too many stuffed animal heads mounted on the wall. A fellow libgradstu, Jessie, and I traipsed through this tiny maze made out of stacks of hay, before ending the night sharing funnel cake with other students.

THEN came Cat People (1942)

Cat People starred a French actress whose given name was Simone Simone but went by Simone Simon in Hollywood. What were her parents thinking? And what was she thinking that dropping an 'e' would make it all that better? Personally, I think Simone Simone has a better ring to it than her "stage name."

At any rate, she wasn't terribly great in the mediocre "horror" film from '42. Still, I'm glad I watched it. Amazingly, she winds up in the sequel despite the terrible fate of her character. She seems to get attacked by a black panther aka a fellow family member. She's a cat person afterall. As an aside, she supposedly had an affair with composer George Gershwin.

My Halloween will end with a nightman coming: Peter Lorre's Mad Love (1935)

Shh Shh Shosanna

2009-10-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

I didn't make good on my promise to blog about Greer (I do have films starring Greer that I plan to write about). And even this, post dedicated to a pseud0-strong female character, is way late. Better late than never. No regrets. Live like you've never lived before.

All things I'm telling myself. Cliche or natural? Cliches surround us to the point of common thought; public domain or what-have-you. Okay, I'll stop. This is the sort of stuff that floats around in my head.

Phil Collins blog title aside, one of my favorite artists of all time is Bowie. Ziggy. Thin White Duke. Jemaine as Bowie, etc. I've been having trouble focusing lately. The Kevin Nealon Special on HBO On Demand doesn't help either.

Props to Quentin Tarantino for his choices in music and score for the soundtrack. Who would have thought that music from Battle of Algiers ("Alegeri: 1 Novembre 1954") could be mentioned in the same sentence as Bowie's "Cat People (Putting Out the Fire)" ?

SHOSANNA DREYFUS + CAT PEOPLE = Delicious '80s video mini-montage in a period piece

Three of my favorite things in one formula! And from QT.

I loved the way her character was styled. There was no other choice but for Shosanna to wear red the night she takes her revenge. I love that she puts her make up on like war paint. Gushing too much.

The Vanity Fair photo has layers of symbolism in black and white; she was in mourning.

Youtube failed me. I couldn't find an appropriate link to merge song + film or even a proper Bowie-tastic video.

Be a Basterd.

2009-09-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

So, I saw Inglourious Basterds a few days after its release. And, for the most part, I liked it. I haven't had time to write about the picture, but I did find time to look at the spread in Vanity Fair in the days between my first post and this one. I wrote a quick blip about it as soon as I saw it on Flixster ratings.

I honestly wish Brad Pitt had a larger role and liked his comedic elements for the most part. However, Ben and I were talking and wonder about the choice for his character's "attempt" at Italian. Not that it matters all that much.

Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger's photos are from the VF spread by Annie Leibovitz (of course).

My favorite character was Shosanna Dreyfus played by Melanie Laurent. The character seemed to do her own thing, which, in my opinion, is what Laurent herself does.

Of course, I'm biased because Shosanna had an awesome moment with David Bowie as her soundtrack. More about that later (hopefully, tomorrow).

Pride and Prejudice

2009-08-23T00:05:00.000-07:00

Watching Greer Garson as Ms. Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (1940) gave me inspiration to start blogging!

My first memory of Greer is as the mom in The Happiest Millionaire. She was truly charming then.

WIth her strong presence, skill and beauty she had quite a few choice roles in Hollywood early on. It's time for me to explore more of her roles...And I can admit to not realizing just how many times she was nominated for Academy Awards!

The rest of August and part of September is all about Greer...and not forgetting.