An Education

It is barely October, nearly a month before award season fare starts trickling slowly but surely into movie theatres, and I already have my film of the year. And I must say, a new favorite film of at least the last decade, if not of all time. Ok, maybe co-favorite, sharing the title with another coming-of-age masterpiece, Almost Famous. I don't even need to see Nine before making such an assertion. Not even the thought of Daniel Day Lewis driving a vintage car along a cliff in the South of France can sway me.

An Education is a coming-of-age tale about a young girl, Jenny, who is seduced by an older man in 1960's London. It is also, in my opinion, a very rare example of cinematic perfection. Very, very rare, I might add, in the current film landscape of big budgets and big explosions with very little content. I'd like to write an open letter to the idiots behind G.I. Joe and tell them kindly that the super-bionic character who has things injected into them against their will that then allows them to scale walls, leap off balconies and karate chop people three times their size has been done. To death. Please move on, I beg of you.

If I could take a fantasy screenwriting credit for any film, I would pick this one. I wouldn't change a single word, and that just never happens. For example, I actually had visions of leaping into Kate Winslet's mouth during Revolutionary Road to make her say the words I knew she should be saying. The actual writer of this film, Nick Hornby of About a Boy fame, is pitch perfect for the era and also for the age and gender of his main character, played by the luminous Carey Mulligan. They should hand out this script on the first day of every Screenwriting 101 class. It's that spectacular.

Likewise, the cinematography is simply stunning, as highlighted by the gorgeous, slightly faded dreamscape that is a young Francophile's first encounter with a mid-century Paris. Did I say Francophile? Why yes I did. Can you say you had me at hello? Or more like had me at minute five, as a young, British Jenny lies on her picture perfect 1960's bedroom floor in knee socks reading a french novel and listening to Juliette Greco on her record player. Yep, I'm in.

Best Picture? Yes. Best Actress? Most definitely. Please go see this movie. Let's try and save intelligent filmmaking from extinction.

An Education opens on October 16th.

Penélope Perfection and Girl Crushes...

I was absolutely thrilled to hear that one of my ultimate girl-crushes, Penélope Cruz, was on the cover of the November Vanity Fair. To me, she is simply one of the most gorgeous creatures on earth. And yes, I did say girl crush. I think I used that phrase once before in regards to the lovely Marion Cotillard and someone told me they had never heard of such a thing.

Well, according to Urban Dictionary, the definition of a "Girl Crush" is: "Feelings of admiration and adoration which a girl has for another girl, without wanting to shag said girl. A non-sexual attraction, usually based on veneration at some level." So, after looking up "veneration" on dictionary.com and learning that it basically means respected, I am thinking that pretty much sums it up. No, people, I do not want to "shag" (love that word!) Penélope. Although, if I were to swing that way she would most certainly be my poster girl.

In case you're interested, other actress "Girl Crushes" of mine include Marion Cotillard (as stated previously), Emily Blunt, Cate Blanchett, Audrey Tautou, Meryl Streep, Frances McDormand and my ultimate girl crush, (more like girl obsession) Kate Winslet. Le sigh....adore her.

As you can see, I primarily like my female actresses French or British, with a definite predilection for drama as opposed to comedy. Forget TV stars. Sorry. Film is definitely more my thing....

*Photo from the November Vanity Fair.*

I Heart...

I did not set out to do a post on baby items today. However, I just happened across a few things that I can't help swoon over. I mean, really, this is some of the cutest baby paraphernalia I have ever seen, and all on the same site too.

Should the stars ever align and I actually have a baby, let's just call this my fantasy gift registry. Forget the bottles and ear cleaners and nose aspirators. Just bring me an Eiffel Tower stuffed toy. Or this delicious black and white striped onesie...




All items come from Oeuf...

A Thought...

"That pleasure which is at once the most pure, the most elevating and the most intense, is derived, I maintain, from the contemplation of the beautiful." -Edgar Allan Poe

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

First things first, I must apologize for my extended absence in the blog world. It has been a rather craptastic few weeks for me, and I have only just now been able to wrap my brain around anything creative again. That being said, I have had some time to come up with quite a few future posts, so please keep checking back and I pinkie swear I won't go missing again.

Since we last spoke, it has officially morphed into Halloween season. Forget that it is still hovering around 100 degrees in Los Angeles. No bother. At this point, nothing can quell my Halloween itch. I have even decided to throw a little Halloween soirée this year for a few of my favorite Angelenos...and this means major decorating. Major. Like the kind where you have to hide all your normal decor pieces to accommodate the onslaught of all things gothic or ghoulish. The kind where I seriously consider spray painting pieces of my furniture matte black so it better compliments my creepy tableau. Because really, I have come to realize that somewhere deep inside of me, there is a goth chick just dying to get out. I'm a little past the dying my hair purple stage, so at this point, her only method of escape is through decor....and black nail polish, which is so bourgeois at this point it doesn't really count.

So I ventured to the Valley and found my fantasyland of all things frightful, aka Michael's Craft store. Halloween season is the ONLY time I ever venture into Michael's. To say I'm not a supremely crafty person would be a gross understatement. Craft projects make me break out in hives....I just can't. I don't do DIY. I much prefer to have someone else, hopefully a professional, do it for me. There's always too many steps, and too many torture device looking tools needed. The instructions are maddeningly vague. For some reason, the concept of a glue gun makes me very nervous. Martha Stewart I am not.

I went with my party theme in mind. Party Rule #1: Always have a theme. This year, mine is "Murder at Marie Antoinette's Court." It started out as "Hauntingly Hitchcock," but ultimately, the need to keeps things strictly cinematic felt too constraining. Other top contenders were, "Parisian Pied-à-Terror" and "A Nightmare in New Orleans." I know. Lunacy.

I did, however, keep my Hitchcockian costume intact. Yes, I decided to save my headless Marie number for another year to avert a possible overkill situation. Instead, my inspiration came in the form of the lovely "Melanie Daniels"...


Just picture more birds and a lot more blood on that snowy white dress...

Anyway, I digress. I found nothing. NOTHING. What I did find was a plethora of goofy pumpkins and light-up haunted houses that groan and growl and cutesy plastic signs and fake rats (not so funny when you've had the real thing). I became utterly perplexed at the concept of candy molding (How do they get all the colors to go to the right places when you just pour the melted candy into the molds? No, really. HOW?) Three peanut butter pumpkins, 2 packs of ghost shaped Peeps and a caramel apple lollipop later, and I was still at a loss. I took to the internet and didn't even find much inspiration there...


This is cute but needs to a gothic touch...


Love this look but what are the odds my cookies would actually resemble these? Slim to none...

Next stop: Necromance on Melrose. Screw the schmaltzy made for Halloween stuff. I'm headed to the true dark side now. This party is definitely a work in progress. I'll keep you posted...

It's Been That Kind of Week...

I am having a pretty bad week, with family illness, a sinus infection, computer problems and a few other issues i I can't really recall right now, nor do I really want to. Still, when I happened across this picture in the latest Pottery Barn catalogue, it made me happy. So happy, in fact, that I cut it out and taped it above my desk so I could keep looking at it. I adore Halloween in a way that cannot really be put into words. I just can't articulate it verbally. I walk into Michael's or Target and at the first sight of a plug in pumpkin or haunted house candleholder, I often squeal. Audibly. August 1st used to be my official start to the Halloween season. Yes, I said August. Now, my older and more mature (and let's face it, less tacky and more design conscious) self has reset the official start of the season to September 1st. And start is most certainly has....

I'm having visions of haunted houses, corn mazes, spiced apple cider, scary movies on crisp autumn nights, a nighttime stroll through a deserted Greystone Mansion and a headless Marie Antoinette costume that I am determined to pull off this year....

I Heart Los Angeles

"The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle."-Anaïs Nin

Get well soon...

Photo by Andreas Gursky