MTV Australia promotional ad by Julien Vallee.

Animated gifs of NYC by Jamie Beck and her partner Kevin Burg.

(from mymodernmet.com)

Has anyone seen The Fall?

Visually, it’s one of the most beautiful movies ever made.

After 5 weeks of attempts, I finally watched Black Swan last night. Its sick and twisted turns still have my brain churning. Highly, highly recommended.

These conceptual posters for the movie delight me with their simplicity, colors, and use of negative space. The last is my favorite.

(from designworklife.com)

Howl

I want to see this.

Palm Theater Monday night bargain night?

 

Helvetica

NERD ALERT.

Today I watched the Helvetica documentary that came out to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the font. The idea of a documentary about a typeface really doesn’t seem like it would tickle most, but I found it so interesting.

The font was designed 50s as a clear, modern typeface and its name is from the Latin name for Switzerland. Today it is still one of the most used fonts in the world. Apparently it’s more in our faces than I previously thought. Here are just a few of the places we can see it:

Fur pie doesn’t sell

Tonight, my favorite coffee shop in town showed one of my favorite movies in its beautiful garden, the best spot in town.

Sitting with a senior couple on my left and my good friends on my right, chuckling in unison at the orgasm part, remind me how special San Luis Obispo is.

It was bittersweet. I loved the night, but I can’t remember choking up so quickly with tears over something so non-emotional on the surface. I think tonight I realized how much I really miss living in Paris–sketching the tiny architectural details and wandering the streets for hours. Just my luck, I helped a lost French family find their way (in French, of course) when I was outside for a moment: a nice touch. I told them that if they were looking for something to do, they were showing ‘Amelie’ just next door. They gave me a funny look and I’m not sure why.

Either way, for one night I was transported into a Amelie’s magic world and my romantic soul was re-awakened.

Interpol

I’ve added another music video in addition to this year’s favorites: Interpol’s “Lights”

(The others being Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”–for this reason mostly– and The xx’s “Islands”…I think I’m achieving a pretty clear visual preference for music videos here)

I love this video for its visuals and its pace.

My Sunday’s Feast

This morning I sat down with my Trader Joe’s freezer risotto, a salad of mâche and blueberries, and a hangover to write about a completely different topic and flipped on a movie “in the background”.

Well, this movie was Julie and Julia and it absolutely moved me.

I think I reached tears a solid 14 times during this movie and, yeah, I feel like a big dork. I know I sound like an old, sensitive woman or a cliche movie critic when I say this, but it was literally a trip of tears of heartbreak, tears of happiness, and then laughter…sometimes all within one minute. (And trust me, I’ve been known to have snobby movie tastes from time to time)

Maybe this movie touched me because it actually hit me personally. Both of these women were clearly passionate, yet couldn’t quite find the means to follow their hearts.  Passionate is definitely a word I’d use to describe myself frequently and I know that at times, I’ve behaved just like these two women. Sadly, over the last year, my passion has been scarce and I just need to find the magnet that grabs it.

I don’t expect to be famous by any means, but it’s a nice thought that you might end up pursuing exactly what excites you and, in a way, it will just….come about.

To quote Osho once more: “Today is enough; don’t plan for tomorrow, or even for the next moment. Today ends, and then tomorrow comes fresh and innocent. It opens of its own accord and without the past. Watch a flower opening in the morning. There is no effort at all– the flower just moves according to nature. This is grace.”

(creds: Otago, DVietro)

Berry: “Mademoiselle”