Only Lovers Left Alive

Another film post, as I have been graced with almost unlimited number of hours this summer for me to further enhance movie knowledge--which I deem to be a fundamental necessity. But this movie happened kind of some weeks ago when this movie was still screening over at Tinseltown.

Jim Jarmusch is and will always have a spot in my heart as he brought Coffee and Cigarettes into this world. Just like music, if I were given the choice, I prefer movies to move along with certain slow yet sentimental pace; an exceptional example of the slow style I mean would be Sofia Coppola's. Jim Jarmusch has his own version of this charm that is sensationally infused with careful music selection. The sounds are delivered as if to tell that they were never misplaced, and in some scenes, the songs are probing the viewer to find out the purpose of its disposition. The opening is grand in Only Lovers Let Alive. Slowly encircling from a dramatic bird's eye view (a viewpoint Jarmusch is quite fond of) and spinning to the music while zooming into the characters' faces, the viewer is then automatically falling into the movie's groove from the start. Sucked into the actors' performances, the environment, the atmosphere, and the detailed decor of each room Swinton and Hiddleston is residing in, there really isn't a better opening to a succulent yet twisted romantic film to this.

Official Trailer:

• Comical as if to let the viewers know that yes, vampires are a thing of our fantasies, the characters poke fun at their own, cursed existence. 
• Lovely to let the viewers know how awful modern romance is and how beautiful and idealized it can be even for vampires.
• Ingenious to add horror to the ongoing drama for a splash of satirical tone.

Hiddleston is a depressed musician (obviously alive for centuries yet still younger than Swinton) who lives in Detroit (befitting setting, no?). Swinton, the ever-so-classy woman plays the minimalistic and well-read vampire who goes from Tangier (I Wiki-ed this and found out that Tangier is a major city in Northern Morocco) to become reunited with her husband, Hiddleston (the third? fourth? mind you, she has been alive even before like everything). Mia Wasikowska adds in a flair of youth and horrific (yet comical) acts of vampirical violence as Swinton's younger sister. "You drank Ian!" says Adam (Hiddleston), upon finding Ian (his human "zombie" friend) dead, because of course, Wasikowska drank him, not killed, hahahahhahahahhahha.

What really baffles the viewer at the end is how deeply connected you can get with the three characters despite them being centuries-old vampires! The love drama that they have is still the same and the troubling teenage younger sister who tests their true love is super reasonable. #DailyLife!!!! The storyline is superbly intact with a beautiful balance of emotional screenplay, moody soundtracks, dimly lit cinematography, and the entertaining drama to lead the story to its end.

But you know, ultimately, my excessive gushing throughout the movie boils down to two incredibly beautiful actors showcasing their talents while being two extraterrestrial beings:

Catch it yourself and feel the slow rush of drinking shots of fine blood.

Also..............
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TV versus Movies

You know those people that just doesn't get ANY TV references? Hell, they probably don't even know the names of the characters from Seinfeld. They don't even know when "primetime" for TV is. And you are a natural TV whiz. You've grown up with it on 24/7 in your household and has sat through a whole variety of shows with your family, relatives, friends, and by yourself. TV noise, shows, characters, series development, producers... Well, they feel like they are your family.

Unfortunately, in 2014, I've been meeting more and more of the latter. Consequently, I'm the first kind. The biggest TV noob. I go dead silent when TVspeak starts, because I don't even want to try to follow! I can't! I've watched two seasons of Girls, two seasons of The O.C., and.......... I think that's it.  So this summer, I decided to watch the famous ones and get on with the mainstream program (i.e. Breaking Bad, Portlandia, Suits, Madmen, True Detective, Game of Thrones, and House of Cards, et cetera).

• I finished True Detective and felt like TV actually holds something for me! I felt very motivated. 
• I finished three seasons of Suits and felt like I was on top of the world. 
• I then crept along Breaking Bad... I'm somewhere in the middle of season three... 

And I just couldn't continue on. I moved on to documentaries and blockbusters (Lone Survivor!!) In the end, I'm a movies person. The time spent finding the TV shows, loading up Netflix, and watching season after season doesn't justify the satisfaction. It is not like the TV shows are not as good as the movies; it is more about the story development pace and the time that is to be invested for a full package of good time. Below are my highlights of what I felt during my brief trip into the TV-world:

1. The intro to True Detective is one of the prettiest reels I've encountered. Perfectly capturing the series' feel, atmosphere, and detail into the aesthetics, it is better than Dexter's captivating opening. While the song selections ooze throughout the entire series, there is a forced juxtaposition in combining the heavily modern & edited opening with the raw footage of the series. The opening reel video on YouTue has disabled embedding.. so please click the link below!
>> http://youtu.be/FxXRkqXfhYM

2. Forget the men in Suits. The women in Suits are even better. When Rachel, the most common name, gets to be hottified once again and all of a sudden I have a surge of happiness being one of the world's 50 million Rachel's--ficitonal or not.




But if the screen time has taught me anything, it's the sports channel. Oh man. I watch everything now except baseball and golf. To have FIFA around ain't helping with the getting-outside-home-and-learn-skateboarding program.


"I am super cute but I'm actually a giant." 

"I look like I'm 14 so I'm super cute but I'm actually older." 

SWOOOOOOOOOOON.

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Viewer discretion is advised.

Frances Ha

I watched this in the beginning of my vacation... So about the end of April. Frances Ha is a film that is recognized, but most likely not enough.

Directed by Noah Baumbach (known for work with The Squid and the Whale, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), and also written by him and the leading actress, Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha follows Frances, a woman in her late 20's trying to make her career work out in NYC while juggling self-loss, self-finding, friends, and acquaintances. The outwardly pressure of the society combined with raw explication of internal struggles that are not faltered by aesthetics makes Frances Ha one of the most captivating films I've watched recently.

Yes, it is a comedy, but maybe because I am also a somewhat-lost-trying-to-do-the-right-stuff-girl-in-her-twenties, this drama hits the emotional home run. I see my vices and habits of non-productivity and envy within Frances, plus I also see other positive attributes I know I encompass and the guaranteed reward that ultimately comes about for all of us that strive.

Trailer:

As you can see, the entire movie is in black and white. However, it is a little bit more modern... Consider the movie to be in a permanent Instagram-like, beautifully filtered black and white. Not only does this characteristically sets the film apart from the others, but the lack of colour aids the viewer to carefully follow the screenplay and the unconcealed expressions of the actors' faces to further delve into the emotions they are to convey. The screenplay is another story. It is just so delightful. I do not remember the soundtrack, but the quotes!

"Sometimes it's good to do what you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do it."
- Frances

"Don't treat me like a three-hour brunch friend!"
- Frances

"I'm poor."
"That's actually offensive to poor people."
- Frances & Benji

"It's just this apartment is very... aware of itself."
- Sophie

..........And the recurring "undateable" chats between Benji and Frances!!!

"Are you still undateable?"

"Oh yes, very undateable."

To top it all off, Adam Driver is in this movie. And we all know that this guy has an irresistible charm even though he is SO unattractive. I can't get enough of him! His face! His voice! His next upcoming movie to hit the theatres is Tracks with Mia Wasikowska. That flick looks pretty amazing, too. Anyways, I didn't quote any of his lines, but they are great! In spite of his character being the most stereotypical and flat in the entire story, he nonchalantly delivers witty lines that generate laughs when they are needed to get away from Frances's anxiety and stress. 

Frances Ha is most conveniently available on Netflix, so if you've got 90 minutes to spare... Prioritize this. 

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People at work lookin' down on BEYONCE no no nononononononononono

So there were shots of Rihanna by Terry Richardson, like, not kidding, like EVERYWHERE on the world wide web. But she's of no match with BEYONCE.

People at work were looking down on Beyonce, and then I got fired up and started looking for her old pics.

She's the goddess.

Korean men don't know them women.

Imma gonna sip on ma ginger aleeeee~~~~~

 

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

It wasn't an illusion. This book was short yet it was one of the sweetest and the saddest ones I've read. For me, it was the style that truly moved me. Certain words and the tone that was used. The narrative looked through what I was feeling and it directly confirmed what I was thinking; I hope you are following me.

Adolescence

Friends

Girls

Sex

Intellect

Books

Age

Lost

Life

Suicides

Reflection

Clique

Peers

Influences

Go over all of this in detail with Tony Webster, the protagonist. I had to use the dictionary several times to get through the book, and that means that Barnes's diction is pretty old-fashioned and specific.



Here are some excerpts from the book worth typing out (according to me anyways, haha):

pg 10 -- Yes, of course we were pretentious – what else is youth for? We used terms like ‘Weltanschuung’ and ‘Sturm und Drang’, enjoyed saying ‘That’s philosophically self-evident’, and assured one another that the imagination’s first duty was to be transgressive. Our parents saw things differently, picturing their children as innocents suddenly exposed to noxious influence. So Colin’s mother referred to me as his ‘dark angel’; my father blamed Alex when he found me reading The Communist Manifesto; Colin was fingered by Alex’s parents when they caught him with a hard-boiled American crime novel. And so on. It was the same with sex. Our parents thought we might be corrupted by one another into becoming whatever it was they most feared: an incorrigible masturbator, a winsome homosexual, a recklessly impregnatory libertine. On our behalf they dreaded the closeness of adolescent friendship, the predatory behavior of strangers on trains, the lure of the wrong kind of girl. How far their anxieties outran our experience.

Pg 103 – Does character develop over time? In novels, of course it does: otherwise there wouldn’t be much of a story. But in life? I sometimes wonder. Our attitudes and opinions change, we develop new habits and eccentricities; but that’s something different, more like decoration. Perhaps character resembles intelligence, except that character peaks a little later: between twenty and thirty, say. And after that, we’re just stuck with what we’ve got. We’re on our own. If so, that would explain a lot of lives, wouldn’t it? And also – if this isn’t too grand a word – our tragedy.


  Big thanks and love to Kathy who lent me the book!  

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Music Haul

KIMBRA a.k.a. Rachel's new favourite lady singer. 

I hear she's coming into town for a concert. I need the deets on this.

 AZEALIA BANKS 

 JUSTIN BIEBER 

(don't judge.. Like actually, please do not judge meeeeeee)

(it's so catchy, I don't even careeee)

(He dances so well, I dieeeee)

(He works so hard, if you hate him, you're just a big fat lazeass!!!)

JAMIE XX Guest Mix for Benji B, Radio 1

SNOOP DOGG + WIZ KHALIFA 

(the two hottest celebrities alive, HANDS DOWN. I can't belive Wiz is getting married... to Amber Rose. UGHG;ADGLldk;agjmdagk. It's alright. It's alright. Errthing's gon' be alright).

 A$AP ROCKY  -- Houston Old Head

This song's hits certain soft spots: bottles full of rose // life is a bitch, a bitch is like a ho, ho's want your money, money come and go, friends turn to foes, foes could be fake.... Lovely.

 SEU JORGE  sings Changes in Portuguese. 

Obsessed with this song. On repeat. Constantly. 

Therefore, this is the last video for sharing with y'all today.

Enjoy! Listen! Be happy!

Enjoy! Listen! Be happy!

Enjoy! Listen! Be happy!

$$$$ I NEED CASH $$$$ FOR THESE $$$$

FOUND A NEW SITE..... WWW.FAKETOKYO.COM
I WENT GAGA ON AN ONLINE SHOP WHERE LANGUAGE (AND CURRENCY WAS TOTALLY A BARRIER).
WWW.FAKETOKYO.COM

---------remember that I have a huge soft spot for hideous things.....

This ain't too hideous. It's actually really nice. Especially the super cropped back !! AND GUESS WHAT !? It's unisex, too !!!!!!!!! *__*v

I don't know if I like his hair more than his skirt, or the actual jacket, or.. Yeah you get my gist. THIS IS SO EPIC MY EYES ARE HAVING A FIT. You know what also gives you a fit !? TRY CHANGING THESE PRICES to a currency you understand. You'd be falling off your chair by now. Chiching, bye-bye ~

Yes, I just can't get enough of the Olsen twins. They provide me with the thrill of unaffordablehandbags, affordable (so tempting) shades, and the cheap (OMG HOW AND WHY DO I NOT HAVE A TEE ALREADY !??!) StyleMint shirts. Here is the selection of shades from their luxury line, The Row, that I like from Net-A-Porter: (probably forever)

* M A I S O N M A R T I N M A R G I E L A *

.SWAG DOESN'T COME CHEAP.
.SWAG DOESN'T COME CHEAP.
.SWAG DOESN'T COME CHEAP.
.SWAG DOESN'T COME CHEAP.
.SWAG DOESN'T COME CHEAP.


So please shop now and max out your credit card at the following e-business sites:
WWW.FAKETOKYO.COM
WWW.SSENSE.COM
WWW.NET-A-PORTER.COM

And because I'm on a picture uploading roll, here are two girls you can analyze. Their ensembles are so much fun and edgy while playing on the high fashion (ish) grounds. Those Prada shoes.... to KILL SOMEONE for. Droooooooooooooooooool-

MY MAN THE MAN

* * * A L E X A N D E R W A N G * * *

I know... It's SO typical that I'd be ALL over Alexander Wang, but I can't help my emotions, you know !? Hahahaha. He creates clothes that's the ultimate casual-chic, luxury-ruined, affordable (somewhat), and continuously shaping our young adult fashion culture. Not only that, he's hot and has impeccable style outside the fashion world. What do I mean by that ? Few months ago, his new apartment was featured in W Magazine with couple of exclusive shots of him + his furniture. UGH, TO DIE FOR. Do you see that zebra hide !? DO YOU DO YOU !??! Do you see the fox fur cushions !???!!!?!?!? I like his colour palette (since I only like black, white, and red - three's always a charming number).

Alex's Apartment:

Back in the Day, W Mag in 2008:

Alex's first flagship opening earlier this summer at NYC - 103 Grand Street. It's really worth your time to watch his infamous Making of 103 Grand Street vid !! I love how focused he sounds with his visions and what not in videos. So candid !!!!! Regarding the pics below, the small fashionable child is Alex's niece (she's like in head to toe Chanel + Alexander Wang) aaaaand the other is one of Alex signing the bag that the girl bought at the opening. SOOOOOO JEALOUS, note the diction, jealous and not envious dag;idhiaofm !

W Mag, Cut Mag, Vogue.com

Marcel Castenmiller

As promised, the new boy post is on Marcel Castenmiller !!!!!!!!!
He's like a Yuri to me; I just can never get enough of this guy. Ranked #16 on Top 50 Male Models, he's going strong and will always be strong. Plus, this guy's Canadian, born and raised in Alberta !! He's not a big of an editorial model like Yuri or Cole, but Marcel RULES the runways. His body is made for clothes and fittings and his strut and unstressed attitude are for fashion weeks.

He goes from dirty trashy to super WTF dirty to say what ? He's prep to normal dudes that are tall, skinny and artsy. Truly versatile. And after checking out Marcel's interviews, he doesn't seem too down to earth and he also seems like an asshole. So I like that-

CHECK OUT MARCEL'S FUCK YEAH TUMBLR PAGE. HEHEHEHE.
Where Marcel's hotness is updated daily. OMFG. SWOON.
Also his profile on Models.com !
And don't forget to click through to I am Purpose on Tumblr for more, ;)

Source: tfs, fashiongonerogue, thefashionisto, tumblr