Added to the shelf

I've been really into watching old horror films on Netflix in my free time, the ones from the 20s-70s mainly. My favorites so far have been a couple by Roger Corman who did a few films based on Edgar Allan Poe's stories, with Vincent Price playing the villain (perfecto!).

The Masque of Red Death



This movie got me on so many levels: the humongous home it took place in, the costume design (especially during the masquerade), the hooded beings wandering through the forest, the occult aspect, the set design (there is a series of rooms they walk through, each one painted and decorated in one color--red, yellow, purple, white), the transitions, the experimental editing and coloring of scenes....I can go on, but it's definitely worth discovering on your own.

The Pit and the Pendulum



What brought me to this film was the mention of a Spanish castle, torture chambers and rocky beaches. This was truly a gem in the set design and costume sense as well as the color used for flashbacks. What I loved the most were the titles and credits--the image behind them was of water with paint being added to it. I loved the effect and the colors it produced.

Obviously, the things that I admired most were purely aesthetic, but that always seems to be the first thing I notice about any film. I loved Vincent Price though, and although some of the acting from some characters is a bit hokey, I still got lost in the world of Poe.

Sedmikrasky

Earlier this week, I went to BAM to see my absolute favorite movie in the entire world: Daisies.

I had never seen it projected on a big screen before, let alone on a 35mm print format so I was ecstatic to be able to experience it in that manner. (Opportunities like this remind me why I chose to move to New York City). I don't know if I will ever be able to fully articulate what I feel when I watch this film, but I think the things most dear to someone are usually hard to describe.

When I first saw this movie, I was studying at FAMU in Prague. It was towards the end of our semester there and I remember the entire 10 of us taking that film course were attentive and silent during the entire screening. At the end of it, we all went to the pub downstairs and gushed over how amazing the movie had been. We begged our professor to get Vera Chytilová (who taught at FAMU at the time, I'm not too sure if she is still on staff there) to come talk to us about the film. And she did.

This movie came out at the time when Czechoslovakia was under a Communist regime, so you can only imagine the feedback a film like this received from the government. Vera was banned from filmmaking, along with a few other of her peers, because people didn't quite understand what the film was about. Also because they felt she was wasteful with food.

She came into our class shrouded in black, sunglasses to match. She grilled every male (all 4 of them) on who they thought they were, why they thought they were important. She answered our question of whether those two girls really ate all that food. They really did. And then she told us one thing I will always remember:

'You can't make movies unless you know who you are.'

This was the moment I realized that I really wasn't sure of who I was. What did I want to express and share with the world through my future films? Up until that point, I had spent my last seven years as a 'filmmaker' not knowing how to answer the only question people knew how to ask me: What kind of movies do you want to make? 

I always said 'Weird ones.' 

***

Every time I watch Daisies, I find a new part of myself in it. This time, it made me really want to be a reckless girl with a lust for the unknown. A break from reality. To swing in a chandelier! Every frame of this movie is pure, gold magic and I could watch it a thousand times more if only the DVD I ripped from my professor at FAMU wasn't so scratched up.

I just want to take scissors to my hair

(Illustrations found here)

Added to the collection.

New favorite film/inspiration/dream in Techinicolor.

Naïveté

'They do not constitute a group or school.

Usually, though not always, they have worked in isolation

both from each other and from the orthodox art production around them.'

L.S. Lowry

Niko Pirosmani

Ilija Bašičević

Maria Pryimachenko

Henry Darger

'If it is possible at all to point to any quality which the best work has in common

with that of sophisticated artists, it is a power of pictorial construction (lacking almost always

in the work of children and psychotics) and a power to invest the depiction of the commonplace

and familiar with a poetic freshness which imparts to it the force of visual revelation.'

The Queen

Need: a new external HD, to quit smoking cigarettes.

Want: to start a new band, draw more, a scanner, a Wacom tablet, a studio.

Have: multiple jobs, fun friends & a wonderful boyfriend.



Where's the angst at, man?

Lust

Current things I've fallen in love with:

Home:








Clothes:

















I'm really sick and all I can do is stay in my apartment, watch TV, work on my documentary/wedding/sxsw visuals/portrait assignment, read and scour blogs. I get really tired talking, so calling Tachi over to me is a great feat. I can't wait for the season finale of The City tomorrow, though!


(Photo by viatrinh)

catching up on what's important and right

I get butterflies in my stomach each time Fashion Week comes around because my favorite designers (and some new and unexpected ones as well) seem to reach into my head and pull out collections that represent everything I have been musing at the moment. I don't know how they do it and I don't question it. There is definitely a new school of thought brewing in the fashion world that has been growing with each new year of the 2000's. Maybe it's just my mind maturing and beginning to understand a true creative process...

I'll start with the obvious:


Wang

Form-fitting black attire. I've grown to love this look and I constantly try to keep this silhouette in my head every time I dress myself. However, being a full-time student, part-time waitress and nonstop artist, I can't conform to such intense beauty each day. I keep telling myself this will change once I graduate and get paid larger sums of money for my work (such a dreamy thought).

And on that note:


Threeasfour


Ohne Titel


Ohne Titel


Elise Overland

These next looks are what I want to start evolving my wardrobe into. I've been digging the bookish look lately; I think it's mainly due to my new pair of glasses. I really like how blazers always make it into my top picks:


ADAM


Elise Overland


Elise Overland


Rag & Bone


Rag & Bone


Rag & Bone (Coco's hair!)

These next two looks are really sweet. They're my inspiration for my transition to spring attire (even though it's for Fall 09):


Christian Cota


ADAM


LEATHER & FUR:


Elise Overland


Rachel Comey


ADAM

And some fantastic and whimsical creations that I would wear around my home if permitted (because I don't think anyone else would appreciate these creations as much as my F R I E N D S and me).


Koi Suwannagate


Threeasfour

This post has gone back to the purpose I created this blog. Aesthetic inspiration. Enjoy.