Saw An Education yesterday. Apart from Saarsguards somewhat creepy dimpled smile, Carey Mulligan reminds me of Anna Karina - simply delightful to watch on screen. I love the quaint English houses, the grandeur of opera and lavish homes and Mulligan's school girl elegance. 

Fet et Moi

(via Daul)

Oh the places YU will go

I have a new denim-swing-labcoat-large pocketed new hooded-jacket with the sole purpose of comfort and style for travelling for my looming trip beyond the land of Oz. Unfortunately travel is no longer what traveling use to be once upon a time - great ocean liners, airline fashions,luxury leather suitcases, martinis and wines from the sky. Today travel seems to be more associated with airports, airport food, recycled air, economy leg room for ordinary folk (except for the few and far between), jet lag, microminutes spent waiting for luggage on the conveyor belt. Once seen as luxury, it has now been transformed for the masses as a means and seat-ride from A-B and time spent in limbo (read stuck at the only airport Maccas) waiting in transit between countries with ones passport with necessary papers the only ticket from one place to another in this paranoid universe. Travel is the epitome of globalisation. 

However I carry in my heart a yearning for those golden days and wishfully bright travel posters speaking of a journey seemingly as exciting and compelling as the arrival at the destination. With this note in mind come two weeks time I shall be blogging on the road and you shall be able to follow along on my global adventures...

Found

Last week at the end of the day when I was just getting grumpy...

The Art of Industrial Design

I'm a bit of a design nut as much as an art nut and yesterday I almost bought this book except for the fact that the copy was a bit tattered and had a rip here or there. But loved the design of this book and the typeface used throughout. I really believe in good design, I mean if you have to buy boring banal things why not ensure they were intelligently designed. I believe that good design can change the world and your way of thinking about things. The blurb from Amazon describes this book as : 

We live in a world drowning in objects. But what do they tell us about ourselves? In "The Language of Things", Deyan Sudjic charts our relationship - both innocent and knowing - with all things designed. From the opulent excesses of the catwalk, or the technical brilliance of a laptop computer, to the subtle refinement of a desk lamp, he shows how we can be manipulated and seduced by our possessions. Sudjic delivers an exhilarating insider's history of design as he introduces us to the world's most original innovators and reveals the hidden meanings in their work.How did the design of a pistol influence a car? Why did a chair make a cafe the most fashionable place in Paris? What can we learn from a banknote, a police uniform or a typeface? And why can't any of us decide what size to wear our trousers? In an age when the word 'designer' has become synonymous with the cynical and manipulative, Sudjic examines the qualities behind successful design and explores the conflicting tensions between high art and mass production. Brilliant and courageous, "The Language of Things" defines the visual vocabulary of our time and gives us a powerful new way of seeing the world.

A while ago I raved and blogged about this Helvetica documentary I saw, now the director Gary Huswit has released Objectified. I think that the irony of both is that while they seem to sanctify design, somehow they both use the same type of font, same kinda design on the cover - really for something about design they could surely come up with something different from the norm. 

Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. In his second film, director Gary Hustwit (Helvetica) documents the creative processes of some of the world's most influential product designers, and looks at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?

I Capture the Castle

I had forgotten that I had always wanted to watch this until now.

Bob Bob Ricard

If I was an establishment this is what I would wish to look like, the Bob Bob Ricard in London with such great old world design and a menu a throws away from being a mash up of Euramerican cafe food. Why hasn't someone invented a teleporting machine yet and shared it with the rest of the world ? Check out the menu

(via weebirdy)

YU likes

Thomas Hirschhorn art, yoga, wikitravel, Catch-22, Foyles War, Emily Blunt, Jasmine tea, Phoenix, The Apprentice Australia, Flashforward, Before Sunset, Saving the Hopetoun, Albert and David Mayles, Man in seat 61 website, Starbucks green tea frappucinos, denim jackets, green pears, Mooncake, one shoulder tops and dresses, POP magazine, Monocle magazine, Maccas breakfast pancakes, the Rachel Zoe Project season 2

Strawberry Fields Forever

There's a scene in the September Issue when model Raquel Zimmerman begins to gluttonously bite into a giant sized (in model terms) strawberry tart at the end of a photo shoot - having previously been told if she consumes one during the shoot, she won't be able to fit into the corset waiting for her. And ever since then I've had a massive craving for my own strawberry filled tart and been waiting for the day when I am ready to spike up my sugar high. I had my eye on this one from Bread Top many a Sunday morning when I have breakfast there. But it always seemed way to decadent for a breakfast treat.

This one isn't as flat as the one in The September Issue which looks like it may have been ordered from the famous french patisserie, Laduree. For one thing the pastry looks much thicker and rather biscuity. Beneath the jellied sliced strawberries is a mound of custard followed by a coating of light milk chocolate and a bed of tart crust. The creme de la creme was hacking into it with a fork. Suprisingly it wasn't actually too sweet, but probably not the best tart I've ever had. A perfect accompaniment for an afternoon tea (and in my case I was waiting for the kettle to boil).

Its pronounced Zoh

Love this new series the Rachel Zoe project. Rachel is one of the top celebrity stylists in the US and I think I am addicted (as in I stay up late night to you tube this) mainly because they make finding Anne Hathaway Oscar's dress sound like a Life/Death Emergency, and Rachel looks like she will totally stress out and have a heart attack and die. And her two assistants are hilarious at different ends of the spectrum - Brad is sooooo obsessed with fashion and Taylor seems like she is over fashion and over taking BS from others. Rachel makes finding the perfect dress her perogative and her rather authoritative american voice (usually you would think reserved perhaps for a female CEO) sounds like she about to orchestrate some 8 hr long open heart surgery. And the very LA, fast paced way she talks, make her sounds like she's had one too many Starbucks cups. Must watch.

Madeline

I watched this show daily as a 7 year old! and I think I would probably watch it even now hehehe. It has such a positive message for girls now that I reflect upon watching it. My high school seniors girls uniforms looked like the Madeline dresses however by the time I reached senior school they had changed the uniform (to my disappointment!)

I see London, I see France

I have caught a MAJOR traveling bug this week and the prospect of spending 1 Week in Paris may become a real reality later in the year. I want to start the trip in London but why do the majority of backpackers places sound so dodgy and nightmarish (trip advisor reviews a must see) and the possibility bed bug bites are definitely off my to do list in the cities. 

Amongst google searches this week I know that Paris is the city of all European cities I wish to visit. 

I want to walk through the Tuleries and armed with a head full of art - I took a unit of French Art from Salon to Post Impressionism at uni and you can imagine the frustration at looking at slide images and art books all day and not being able to witness the real thing -  visit Musee d'Orsay, Lourve, at University and I couldn't think of a more better place to be. Place de la Concorde, the Lourve, Pierre Herme and Lauduree for macaroons (they supplied macaroons and cakes for Coppola's Marie Antoinette), Cafe de Flore, walking the Champs Elysee, taking the metro, day trip to Versailles, visit the Shakespeare and company bookstore (and buy a book and get it stamped!!), eat local produce, shop at flea markets, etc, and well there's Colette and vintage clothes shopping (if I have the stamina after all that art and food)

In terms of inspiration for where to go I like reading :

Brenna's trip to Paris Part Uno, deux, tres

I will be pulling out old Nylon, Oyster and Russh magazines for the hipsters guides as well.

I know I will be on a shoe string budget however if I could I would stay at one of the following Paris luxury apartments !!!! *worth checking out

Quite excited at the prospect. Also brings back childhood memories of watching Madeleine (and echoes of the Madeleine theme song ring in my head)

(above image Degas, Place de la Concorde, radical painting at the time because it captured people on the ground crossing the street and man on the far left looks like he's just about to step off the pavement - some theorists have argued it was inspired by photography at the time but this argument has been refuted)

And of course Paris is the city of Love, and one of my favourite bloggers Joanna Goddard of Cup of Jo recently got married (cheers!! to them!!) and in her absence has asked guest bloggers the secrets to their long term happy marriages. Lots of warm and fuzzly's reading these posts.  

September films

Last week I saw:

-Adam - while on the surface this story may sound simple "girl meets boy" living in the same apartment block, "boy meets girl", "they fall in love". Beth, a childrens book writer has just come out of a relationship when she discovers her rather odd neighbour. Adam's Aspergers Syndrome, a condition which puts him on mild autistic spectrum means his character cannot empathise with other people adds an additional factor in this equation It really puts a spin into what it means to enter someone elses world when you start a relationship.

Nonetheless the film focuses very much on the perspective of Adam character who possesses such childlike rapture, wonder and appreciation for the smaller things in life. He's extremely human, and with this condition his foibles only make him more so - and its kind of rare to see a sensitive male on screen. The acting by Rose Byrne and Hugh Dancy is such that without these two one might see how this film could collapse but three times I stifled back tears - being quite engrossed in this film. There's also some suprise humour in this film

This week I saw:

-The September Issue September in fashion-speak is the month which begins all others, one where all fashion magpies and maverns start scouring latest trends, jackets, pants, shoes, and bags to suit for the impending stylishly colder seasons. Vogue is where most of American women and doe eyes young girls and teenagers will turn and in Vogue-speak, September is the issue of the year. Thus begins the premise behind this documentary film which chronicles the creation of the largest Vogue issue ever, September 2007 where Director R J Cutler was granted access to vogue offices for several months.

I went into this film with a curiosity as to whether Wintour would be depicted for the rather cold ice queen, "devil wears prada" reputation the media portray her to be and as one of the most successful American editors -  she is one of the successful women in one of the most cut throat industries out there. When you see the fanfare of designer meetings she must attend to and the copious people she must meet, its obviously she's super busy so perhaps may necessarily not need to be personable at all times. Her personality is almost a deflective shield in preparation for the flatteries and personalities she would no doubt encounter within the fashion industry. There's no real scene of her talking down to team but more so constructive feedback and a litany of people who have to accept the Vogue standard. "Let's lift it!"

At the end of the day, I don't think one has a clearer picture of who Wintour is. However, it is fascinating to see the rest of the team behind the magazines, the stylists, writers, designers who get edited by Her. Firstly the majority of the office is not brand spankingly white as Hollywood would declare, and except for Wintours spacious office by comparison its mostly cubicles and clawing through corridors cluttered with clothes racks. 

From media buzz I had heard prior to the film I would agree that the suprise catch in this film is of course long term creative director, Grace Coddington, a former model, who began at American Vogue the week after Anna started. There's a push and pull effect in their relationship. Grace is portrayed to be one of the last Romantics, one who likes the hazy pictures over crisp colour photographs, one who saves the day at a photoshoot and with such artistic vision mind held beneath that crazy red hair. Of course like all creative duos, sometimes the only thing they can agree on is the fact they disagree but its from this chaotic relationship something brews and fruits from this energy. 

There's a scene where Coddington sits at her desk leafing through her meagre salad heartbroken to find out Wintour has culled several of the best photoshoot images and just thrown 50,000 photoshoot out the window - the intern opposite stifles a gulp albeit very quietly, only just captured on camera. But at deadline to print Coddington has a proud moment which makes up for all the drama she encounters from her job and boss. Such is life at Vogue.

Harold and Maude (review soon)

and I plan to see:

-500 days of summer

-Young Victoria

-Beautiful Kate

Picture Post

Jak & Jil blog - love how both these women wear bows headbands, there's this uncanny symmetry because of it

The Selby 

On a quiet Saturday night I like going through picture files on my computer. Here are some of my favourites.

This fire is outta control, we're going to burn this city, burn this city

I had a chance to reflect what my blog is all about, 405 posts in. I have had comments about how random it is, how it never hones in on one topic but I think that I always find one topic way too limiting. So this is how I would describe my blog in 100 words or less:

I'm free spirited, love culture, contemporary art, music, fashion, food, and my blog reflects the plethora of tastes and interests which I possess. My blog is targeted towards young, educated, independent, confident women in the sense that I make a lot of references to pop culture, films, art and books. Simultaneously my blog is a chance for my friends to catch up on what I'm currently "into", right now, of the moment. I'd like to think it inspires other young women to think more, read more, see more.

(by this point I imagine myself doing a ballerina leap)

All things in a matter red

1. Odd saucer whose painted dark crimson roses are rather Lady Macbeth like

2. Heart print post-it notes from Kikki.k

3. Pop ribbon gloss allows me to choose a shade of red lip stain to suit my mood

4. Emily the strange purse from Shanghai markets

5. Badlands photo shoot from Russh magazine. Funny how just yesterday I noticed the Louis Vuitton runway image with these pieces and thought they were splendid! The model from Viviens reminds me of Mirkala from the last Australia's next top model, very Claudia Schiffer pretty.

Torn from the pages of my notebook

I have a confession to make. I'm really addicted to Facebook and a couple of weeks ago a friend posted 100 bands she had seen. Bored I started compiling a list of bands I had seen in random order according to what I remember but only made it not even halfway so it was never exactly posted up in the "notes" section. So hear are my list of under 100 bands I have seen:

1. Bob Dylan

2. Red Riders

3. The White Stripes

4. Belle & Sebastian

5. Sarah Blasko x 3

6. Kings of Leon x 2

7. The Strokes x 2

8. Cut Copy

9. Van She

10. Little Birdy

11. Franz Ferdinand

12. Only the Sea Slugs

13. The Grates x 2

14. The Bawdies

15. The Subways

16. The Magic Numbers

17. The Flaming Lips

18. Interpol

19. New Buffalo

20. The Presets

21. Chk Chk Chk !!!

22. The Bravery

23. Iggy Pop and the Stooges

24. The redsunband

25. The Go Team!

26. Bit by Bats

27. Gerling

28. Peabody

29. Dappled Cities Fly

30. Young & The Restless

31. Bridge Mary's Kiss

32. Lost Valentinos

33. 4 Bonjour's Parties

34. Teenagers in tokyo

35. Gelbison

36. 78 Saab

37. Sparkadia

38. Bloc Party

39. The Kills

40. Muscles

41. Daft Punk

42. Santogold

43. The Raveonettes

44. Yeah Yeah Yeahs

45. Franz Ferdinand

46. Tennis

...and probably a few more local acts I never caught the name of.

YU currently likes

macarons, wheat crackers with jarlsberg cheese&mustard&ham,

Abbie Cornish, Somersault, Jane Champion, Beautiful Kate, sunny afternoons, smocks, Alexa Chung's style, Anna Karina, Adam (starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne) , The September Issue, vintage tea saucers, funky post-it notes, sailor dresses, YSL rings, tapioca desserts, grapefruit cocktails, lots of things beginning with A apparently, being slave to parents (yay), Aussie idol, the Cricketers arms, wood cut brooches, cleaning house and making it more 60s as previous owner originally intended, Sydney lattes with just right amount of creaminess, Russian Film Festival, and twitter

Muses

Anna Karina is one of my most favourite French actresses of the French New Wave. She's just as charismatic off screen as on. There is a real mystery to her hidden under those dark eyes and brown hair and she is just wonderfully lively, almost childlike. As Godard's muse, much of her personality is transfered to film in a way only a close partnership developed between director and lead actress can translate. Just a joy to watch !!

Three Minute Sydney

It seems all of a sudden the gathering of creatives and a talk by a creative of their artistic work/fashion creation/architecture/design is the currently "in thing". So far this year Sydney has seen at least two editions of Pecha Kucha and also the Creative Sydney event held in June. I'm not sure how successful they are as sometimes talking about your own work takes away the splendour of the actual work itself, placing the designer in their 15 minutes of fame as a PR exercise. From the point of view of the actual talker (knowing someone who made a presentation at one of these events) there is somewhat of an anxiety as to keeping people entertained when the audience have to see one slide presentation after another. So when I came across this video by Sydney designer Natalie Wood(which I assume was shown on the Wednesday night although I couldn't personally make it), creator of Something and Something else and the Insight brand,  I think it is definitely one of the best videos I've seen. Maybe all creatives should be armed with a handicam and "do a day in the life of story" to give people a greater idea of the stuff they actually get up to on a daily basis. 

Beetlebum

I really hope they tour sometime soon. I think its funny when people film videos of bands at gigs rather than actually enjoy it themselves in real time. This person's youtube video is suprisingly high quality and yes the flag in it is totally annoying, they should ban flags at festivals. 

What I have been watching

Have heard people talk about Harold and Maude and now I can't wait to see it on August 31! I suspect Maude's hair braids attracted quite a following among the films cult followers. Apparently the film also greatly inspired Wes Anderson motley bunch of idiosyncratic films and character. I can see bits of Harold in Jason Swartman's character in Rushmore and Harold's sickly adult view of the world and in the Tennebaums three child prodigies. 

Meet me at Mikes

Twice in two weeks did I hover around this crafty book, Meet Me At Mikes in Ariel. I am way too lazy to actually complete the projects but mentally reading the steps, pulling out and inspecting all patterns, taking mental notes and then arriving at the finish project is music to my ears. I have a noticeably soft spot for crafty, felt, cotton made, hand made objects. The last time I popped in it was gone. That copy had obviously found a loving home, perhaps one whose owner had intended on actually making a project. 

John Hughes dance off tribute

John Hughes you will be missed. I'm an eighties teenager at heart!

Above from Ferris Buellers Day Off

Also see: 

Breakfast Club Dancing

Last week

1. Hanging out at Kawa Surry Hills Jen shows off her new haircut, which I reckon looks like Old Hollywood actor Anna May Wong

2. Baked Pretty cupcakes for Janine's bday 

3. Janine made her own delicious lemon cupcakes with cream frosting topped with a peach slice 

4. Janine my oldest friend is now 23 

5. Jo visits Ying's wardrobe and picks out an amazing 80s dress for her upcoming Law Ball 

6. Flaming happy people at Flaming Lips 

7. lots of balloon and streamers in an epic show that only the Flaming Lips could bring