a moveable feast

Cousin and I saw Midnight in Paris yesterday. Let me start by saying Woody Allen manages to capture the best, often underrated, simplest and most beautiful aspects of a city and push them to the forefront. (like with Barcelona and New York City). His movies are always a hopeless romantic's best fantasy. But I think what hit me most about this one (more than blowing my savings and buying a ticket to paris), was:
a. Nostalgia is not inherently a bad thing but with it must come a healthy foundation in the present and willingness to look to the future.
b. I need to take more risks. I need to step away from my comfort zone. One of my biggest fears is complacency.
Hmmm. Time to contemplate.
Also a round up of some of the gorgeous stills:

c. be more cultured. read more, learn art history and figure out how to look way cuter next time I'm in Paris.
d. walk in the rain.

when will you realize

hmmm sometimes I need to remember this:


I just happened to find Billy Joel song set to Breakfast at Tiffany's. Love the song, love the movie.
It was rough day. This is helping turn it around. Also helping, drinks and dinner at BJs with the boy and one of his awesome friends later tonight.

I'm Still Standing

So remember that jetsetter site I told you about? Where they have specially discounted vacations for members? (let me know if you want in, I'll hook you up!). I was scrolling through their weekly email of various locations where I would like to be in lieu of working 12 hour days. Paris, Hawaii, Elton John's Oscar Party...WAIT WHAT? for reals? I don't have to be invited?? Score!

{via jetsetter}

Um I'm kind of an Elton John fan. I LOVE him (but as Fiance says, "he doesn't love you back" lol). Seeing Elton perfom live is kind of on my life list. I was super sad when he ended his show in vegas before I could make it out there. So I've been holding out on Fiance becoming famous and getting invited to the oscars and then Elton inviting us to his party, because we'd be awesome like that.

But now thanks to Jetsetter, apparently you can just buy your way into that stuff. Problem #1, the oscars are the day after the wedding, so we'll be on a plane to new york. (minor detail right?). Problem #2, right now you can only preview dates, you can't see prices yet. So it probably still costs like a million dollars. So I guess that means no Elton, THIS time around. maybe next year? ;)

Ok excited rant over. this counts as a travel post right? oh well it's my blog and I do what I want!

romanticized all out of proportion

I once again have travel on my horizons. This intro is a bit how I expect to feel about my next adventure.



honeymoon here I come.

p.s. after discovering "Rhapsody in Blue" in my history of Jazz Music class, I absolutely adore it.

adventures in los angeles

Saturday was filled with vintage deliciousness exploring LA.
First we met up with some friends at La Abeja in Highland Park. This is legitimate, authentic mexican food. The Huevos Rancheros were divine. Eggs over easy in a chile sauce with beans and rice. (I did not eat another meal for the rest of the day). Also recommend the Sangria soda (non-alcoholic). Which segues nicely into our next stop: Galco's Soda Pop Stop. When you first walk in there's just crates and crates of soda and beverages stacked high. Behind that is a magical place with 4 (i think?) long aisles of every flavored soda you can imagine. (there's even a root beer keg!) Then there's alcoholic beverages behind that. And a deli behind that. Oh and to your left, a vintage candy counter. All the good candies, in retro wrappers. And then a refrigerated wall of selected sodas. Fiance went for his standard favorites: Boylan Black Cherry and Sioux City Sarsparilla. I went for Chocolate soda (so good! no shaking required), Mexican coca-cola in a glass bottle (made with real sugar not corn syrup) and DRY Rhubarb soda. DRY is amazing, its a super subtle flavor, very refreshing. They used to sell them at school, I recommend the vanilla and even the lavender is brilliant (not flowery/perfumey at all). The Rhubarb was tart, it was an interesting flavor, though not my favorite.

We finished off our day with a showing of "The Town" at the gorgeous, retro Vista Theater.  Cheap tickets and excellent popcorn, old school welcome/concessions credits and a fabulous interior. I'll definitely be back.

moving pictures

so check it out. there's this cool thing that LA does, called cinespia. Every weekend during the summer, they play old school movies on a big projector...at the hollywood forever cemetary. Ok it sounds a little creepy, but as long as I avoid watching a horror movie in the cemetary (cuz really that's just dumb, you're totally asking for it!) I'm good. and no, you're not camping out on gravesites, but a big open lawn adjacent to them.

I went with my cousin and aunt last summer to see "some like it hot" with marilyn monroe. It was SO fun. We brought some cheese, bread, grapes, water and blankets and sweaters to enjoy the night. dude we were totally amateurs. There's people that bring small tables (really low to the ground), full table settings, candles, wine, MEALS. it was impressive. cousin and i are preparing for round dos this summer sometime. especially because my new apartment is TWO MILES away. (though it's through a sketch part of town...so no walking after dark.)

If I wasn't going to be in the middle of moving, I'd totally be there this weekend for the showing of "arsenic and old lace". I have many many old hollywood movies I'd like to cross off my list. Next week is "saturday night fever"...hmmm i definitely had a crush on john travolta in my middle school days thanks to "grease". awkward?

modern cartography

we all know wes anderson is brilliant. so those that he inspires must also be brilliant. here's something to add to my new york to-do list: spend a night taking buses all over town to the various locations where "the royal tenenbaums" was shot. Apparently some people have the time and luxury to spend their nights recounting wes anderson trivia with their friends. How do I join that club?

The Map

The actual Tenenbaum residence

(via the standard edition)

Hmmm I should start checking out locations for some of my other favorite movies. First (and probably most accessible for the time being) on my list: (500) days of summer. Right here in Los Angeles. Oh wait someone already did it for me: 

(isn't google maps the best?)

Alright Angel's Knoll (aka Angeles plaza), I'm coming to view LA at its finest.

blooms and bruges

I have a friend who lives in Belgium, and we were trying to add it to our Europe trip but just didn't have the time (so he came to visit us while we were in Dublin instead!). But Belgium is another place that keeps moving up my list. Fiance and I saw In Bruges a while back and loved it. The canals and ancient stone buildings, big town squares. Everything I love about old European towns. The subject matter itself is brilliant, so much depth, and yet there were some very funny parts. Definition of a perfect dark comedy. But the whole thing takes place in Bruges, Belgium and I fell in love, despite Ray's (Colin Farrell) deprecating remarks about the town.

(i love the taglines and subtitles in the poster: "In Bruges (it's in Belgium)" and "Shoot first. Sightsee later." brilliant. via imdb)

I just found these articles about a carefully arranged display of flowers in Brussells. No soil, not planted, just placed directly onto the ground in the town square. It looks like a beautiful, bright tapestry rug. Love!

Not to mention I love Belgian waffles. I hear there are street vendors everywhere. And a rumor that french fries were invented by the Belgians (french describes the way the potato is cut)...considering french fries are one of my main food groups, thank Belgium!

supertramp

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more...
- Lord Byron

I took my last midterm ever this week, and have emerged...alive. The quarter is still far from over and there are papers and projects waiting for me, but I've been taking little breaks to keep my sanity. Last weekend I watched "Into the Wild". It's been on my list for awhile now, and I can't believe I didn't see it earlier.

It was one of the most wonderful movies I've ever seen. Absolutely beautiful. Heartbreaking. Inspiring is too cliche of a word to describe it, but since my brain is mush it'll have to do. It's a different perspective on life after college that I never really took seriously. While I'm not going to drop everything to become homeless for 2 years or move to the Alaskan wilderness, it reignited my desire to explore, to travel, to see as much of the world as I can. Emile Hirsch is absolutely perfect. Christopher McCandless's joy and enthusiasm is contagious. It was one of those rare movies that left me speechless (or rather incoherent and bumbling like an idiot as I tried to process everything).

McCandless was all over the west coast for awhile. He even made it all the way to Mexico while waiting out the winter season before heading to Alaska. A couple places that I'd love to check out: salton sea, slab city and salvation mountain (which super awesome Bex recently visited and posted about).

Some of my favorite quotes:
"Happiness only real when shared."
"When you want something in life, you just gotta reach out and grab it."
"The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences."
"I read somewhere... how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong... but to feel strong."

kimberly process

I saw Blood Diamond last weekend. I've been wanting to see it for awhile and then more recently it was recommended by my sustainability professor. He works for the UN and has traveled to Sierra Leone. He spent most of a lecture talking about the history and war and diamonds of Sierra Leone. He said Blood Diamond is pretty accurate in its portrayal of the late 90s early 2000s during the civil war.

The movie is absolutely devastating. So violent. It was hard to watch because I can't just reconcile it by saying its just a movie, when the movie is based on actual events and rebel groups. The brainwashed child soldiers. Corrupt government and military. Yet there was still a kind of beauty. Beautiful african landscapes. Joyous children in refugee camps. A hopeful man running a home for rescued child soldiers. family. change of heart.

It was incredibly long and probably could have ended in a few different spots. But I'm glad it didn't, the story was able to come full circle. To tell the viewer it's purpose, that all those deaths were not completely in vain. The Kimberly Process was instituted in Kimberly, South Africa in 2003. It was to regulate and prevent conflict diamonds from entering the marketplace, to provide certification to the consumer that the diamond they are purchasing was ethically and responsibly mined.

the movie uses a fictional british diamond jeweler called van de kaap, which is probably based on a real company, De Beers. De Beers had a monopoly on diamonds for decades. The movie hints that they actually owned more diamonds than they sold. They would buy them up and store them in vaults so they could present the few remaining as rare, and thus control the market value. Recently diamonds have been discovered other places, like canada, and De Beers let go of their monopoly hold on the market during the Sierra Leone civil war. Although unfortunately now about 60% belongs to a heroin trafficker.

Africa has continued to be exploited for it's rich natural resources. Which are extracted in an extremely unsustainable manner and cause immense violence. and then once the resource is gone and the people are left alone again, they must deal with the environmental and social destruction. I don't even know where to start.

new york, i love you

I saw New York, I Love You back in november and still can't get over it. It was another one of those films that hit my core. I need to find a better word than inspiring, perhaps invigorating. I actually wrote down my thoughts after seeing it. It was a jumbled up mess but I'll try to convey the jist of it. The human interaction was so raw, so real. I didn't even realize until much later that it was technically a collection of love stories. It felt so much more fundamental and intimate to be pigeon-holed into a romance genre. It was also just simply beautiful to look at. Some scenes were funny, others completely heart-wrenching, some shocking and some intriguing. One scene in particular stuck out the most, I won't give it away because the reveal of the actor was a delightful surprise. But it involves a man playing a young russian immigrant, I got so sucked into that scene and was distressed that it ended so soon.

And of course in relevance to this blog, it further deepened my desire to explore New York City and all it's facets. All the neighborhoods, the public transportation, the urban lifestyle. The directors, and even most of the actors really had a chance to show the world why they love the city so much.

"New York, I Love You" was the second film in (hopefully a long) series of films featuring one particular city. "Paris, Je'Taime" was the first. If you were expecting the same style, you'll be caught off guard. It was definitely different. If you haven't seen "Paris Je'Taime", it was essentially a mash up of a bunch of different short films by different directors that all took place in Paris. New York felt more in the style of Crash where it is one film covering a couple consecutive days during a set time period. There are separate scenes with their own characters that are focused on, and each scene was directed by a different person. But these storylines occasionally overlap and characters from different scenes meet. Also kind of like "he's just not that into you".

"Shanghai, I love you" is next. Maybe London will follow??

salvador dali

things learned from watching "Little Ashes":

-Spain is still definitely on my must-see list
-especially Andalusia and Catalonia. I love the moorish influence in architecture and decor.
-Salvador Dali is insane...insanely eccentric and awkward and crazy and fascinating. (wiki furthered my education on the subject)
-i absolutely do not get/understand or honestly really like surrealism or cubism. but it fascinates me. does that make sense? my mind is so incredibly logical, analytical and black and white, art like that just cannot be comprehended by my brain. I would choose abstract over surrealism. but i love having a peek into the way someone else's mind works.
-which brings me to my next point. i'm insanely inspired right now to learn about/view more works of art and poetry and films. museums need to be in my very near future.
-robert pattinson is actually a very talented actor. i'm dead serious. it's good to see him in a role where he is not playing eye candy. especially with this mustache:

Springboks

I saw Invictus a couple of weeks ago. I suppose it's taken me so long to write about it because it left me a little speechless. It was so beautiful; the scenes, the people, the dialogue, the locations, everything. It was one of those rare movies that really hit me at the core and shook my world a bit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a movie skeptic. Having a filmmaker fiance' means we spend most of our time watching movies (and legit good ones, although even a film school grad like him can appreciate the guilty pleasure ones). And I'll admit, I'm pretty easily pleased and amused. But there's only a couple movies that have left me unable to describe my reaction. And it's not just because the always amazing Clint Eastwood directed a movie starring the always amazing Morgan Freeman.

I'm no expert on Nelson Mandela. In fact I'm a little ashamed to say I hardly know anything about the guy. (Though I plan to change that, beginning by reading "Playing the Enemy" by John Carlin, on which the film is based). I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the storytelling. Even if the portrayal of Mandela is only 75% up to par, he still goes down in my book as one of my all time favorite people. Although according to this article from comingsoon, Morgan Freeman was handpicked by Mandela nearly a decade ago to play him in a film based on his life. Freeman has been preparing for this role since by spending as much time as possible with the man himself.

Mandela did revolutionary things for South Africa, united a nation heavily wounded by apartheid. I loved his way of thinking, sacrificing popularity with fellow black south africans in order to show white south africans that he could forgive and move on. That the future was more important than a checkered past. Yet I also appreciated that Mandela is not quite painted as a god-like figure. He is not perfect, he is human, as shown by his estranged wife and daughter. He is such a positive person and chooses the right thing over what is easy. It's simply a brilliant film.

South Africa has been on my travel wish list since my senior year of high school when I read "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay. A beautiful novel about a white boy who suffered terrible abuse by his classmates in high school and went on to become a boxer and meet some extraordinary people along the way. I haven't seen the film yet, I hear it's not highly recommended though. Johannesburg and Cape Town are two places I wouldn't mind visiting. I also think that South African accents are absolutely beautiful.

fantasies

now that this dreadful quarter is over and spring break has commenced, i once again have full command over my brain.

i have a minor girl crush on zooey deschanel. ok, that's a lie. i adore her. she's just so fun and whimsical, and i've been told that i look like her a little?

well she and matt costa star in this little promo video for oliver peoples and it is my inspiration for today's post:


wouldn't it be so fun to take little weekend side trips to quaint hotels and completely play a character? just pretend to be someone else, dream up elaborate stories to tell your waitress and bring fanciful "costumes". that would be such a relaxing and fun escape. whether with a dear friend or significant other, so many laughs would be had, inside jokes created and stories to tell all your friends when you get back.

p.s. for more zooey love you MUST listen to her musical album she made with m. ward, their band is called "she and him" and the first album is titled "volume one". so wonderful!

...the cacaphony of mumbai

another country to check off my list is India.
i feel like it's always been tugging at me in the back of my mind.
mainly through movies i've seen.
i want to experience an exotic place like the beginning of a little princess
and the bright colors and grandeur of a parade like the end of vanity fair

and then moving out of its period as part of the british empire,
a film like the darjeeling limited, you can almost reach out and feel the richness of their culture.

(via imdb.com)
i went through a tiny bollywood phase in high school (bride and prejudice is brilliant!)
i mean it's like a musical on steroids, with glorious music and BRIGHT colors

yes, i'll admit, this post was inspired by the academy awards and slumdog millionaire.
it was so wonderful to see a movie about hope, and joy and faith receiving it's due recognition.
it helps me believe that our culture is about more than just the glitz and glamour.

which brings me to my next point.
a little organization called harvest india, lead by a bubbly and joyous man named pastor suresh, full of truth, love, and conviction. I've been in his presence twice, and both times have walked away inspired and teary-eyed. last spring was when i realized that this was the capacity i must go in to experience this vibrant culture.

barcelona

i mentioned the movie "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" in my last post and i feel the need to expand. it was such a beautiful film. first off i'm a HUGE fan of woody allen, love his style. scarlett johanssen and selma hayek are great and i'm becoming a fan of Javier Bardem. There was a bit of controversy apparently because Woody accepted money from Spain's tourism board. but i think it was worth it, that movie makes me want to brush up on my spanish and catch a flight to barcelona tomorrow morning.

i've never really had the desire to visit spain. to me it was another beautiful old european country, but there are plenty of those and i didn't feel any ties to it. plus i'm not a fan of warmer climates. a couple of my friends went to barcelona over a free weekend at cambridge, they loved it for it's beach resort type atmosphere (although i hear the men are outrageously crass and creepy...), again not quite my style.

but the movie painted barcelona in a whole new light. i'm ready to wear loose, comfy neutrals, let my hair hang au natural and spend warm balmy nights drinking wine, sitting at an outdoor cafe listening to the sounds of spanish guitar (one of my guilty pleasures is carlos santana...;D). i want to visit all of antoni gaudi's works, and the picasso museum, and the seaside carnival and art galleries and street markets.

here's some film stills to convince you:







(found here and here)

language

languages are a fascinating thing.
i've always wanted to speak like 10 different languages.
but i never had much motivation to actually learn.
my grandfather taught himself to speak...about 6 languages? (plus english)
(off the top of my head: italian, french, german, polish, russian, hawaiian...)
that amazes me. no formal training. never been outside of the US.
yet he knows the nitty gritty grammatical details and understands how they work.
hopefully i inherited that gene.

the states have plenty of diversity and people that speak many different languages.
but traveling to other countries where english was not the native language gave me a different perspective.
i've been having a desire to learn as many languages as possible and i don't know where (or how) to start.

i have a decent foundation in spanish. i've had intro spanish classes since elementary school but never have been fluent. i've got a good handle on grammar and alphabet and an ok vocabulary (the words escape me after periods of non-use). due to many (lame) reasons, i only took 2 years in high school (the minimum to get into university). only to arrive a UCI and learn i needed 3 years to eliminate my foreign language requirement. so i have had the need to complete basically one more spanish class looming over my head for the past 2 1/2 years. what have i been waiting for?
a. terrified by rumors that UC language classes are insanely intensive. every day of the week for at least an hour during the quarter plus studying outside of class.
b. looking at class websites from past quarters and reading something along the lines of "this class needs to be your priority, it will take the majority of your time and you will not pass if you fail to do so." um...not compatible with civil engineering thankyouverymuch.
c. worrying i wouldn't remember enough to transfer straight into spanish 1C and therefore would have to take spanish 1A, 1B AND 1C. an entire year of intense spanish...and failing engineering.
d. learned from my academic advisor i could just take Spanish 2 at community college and that would count (and be WAY easier...no offense to community college kids but sometimes UC's get their class priorities a litte mixed up)

so d. was going to be the answer to getting that requirement out of the way.
and then i went to europe.

and now i want to learn french and italian. desperately.
so i should just take one of those languages right?
except i have no foundation in those, so it would require starting from scratch with intensive language class. back to square one.

i found UCI offers a condensed version for summer school. basically French or Italian 1AB first session and French or Italian 1BC second session. it's still intense. each class is 3 hours/day for 5 weeks. but it's summer and i won't be taking engineering classes. and a friend of mine expressed interest in taking french before graduation.

so here's the dilemma:
*take spanish 2 this summer to get rid of the requirement?
OR
*take french 1AB and 1BC this summer to learn something new?

p.s. then i saw "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" by Woody Allen and have since been obssessed with visiting Spain, thus spanish...

repetition

next time i visit paris, i'm hoping to be in a positive income range...
therefore this is a must-visit:
31 rue cambon
orginal home of chanel

and because Karl Lagerfeld is a genius
and i absolutely adored the pre-fall 09 collection
(not that i'm not in love with every other collection, ever)
for your viewing enjoyment:




(via style.com)

(first discovered here)

i've been experiencing a desire to visit Russia lately that I can't quite explain. it seems like everywhere i look are references to st. petersburg and moscow. (plus one of my all-time favorite animated films is Anastasia...)

(from imdb)