What the fuck is this?

There is something in the water over at ontd_political this week. I've been cranking out lj notes non stop. First the blackface post now this! I shudder to think of what will come next.... One of these days I'm going to lose it and Hulk!smash my computer. :(

Yesterday afternoon my friend Nick and I went to see this year's RISD Grad Thesis Exhibition. The whole exhibition is wonderful, as it typically is, but there were a few pieces that really caught my eye.

I have a small obsession with furniture design, as well as an enormous obsession with nature-inspired art, ocean-inspired in particular. Thus, it was inevitable that Tyson Atwell's table "Ocean's Edge" would catch my eye. This table is STUNNING. I want to own it but it is laughably out of my price range. I'm amazed at how well this table really takes ocean waveforms and merges them with the wood. As a bonus, not only is this table gorgeous to look at but it's highly functional. A family could easily sit around it to share a meal, and the dips and hills in the center scream out to the chef in me who is constantly battling with eggs and potatoes and other ingredients which frequently roll off my flat table.



To even further satiate my love of nautical art, Atwell also displayed Tide Table,  WARP (generative tables), a shoreline bench which I swooned over, and these charming cobblestones.

Moving away from furniture design, my other favorite exhibit piece was by Evan Mann of the Printmaking department. It's a beautiful ink and paper work called The Cloud of Unknowing. The detail is exquisite and if you follow my link to Evan's gallery you can click through and see a number of detailed photos of the work.

Now onto my tiny celebrity encounter. James Franco is a member of this year's graduating class at RISD and he too has a project on display at the exhibition (more on his project in a bit). Nick and I were standing in the exhibition hall chatting and he was telling me a story about critiquing some bad projects he saw earlier that day. He sort of froze and looked over my shoulder and then nudged me to look. I was clueless of course and assumed he had just seen some of the students whose projects he was complaining about and so I tried not to look awkward. He said, no look and turned me around so that I could see three disheveled men walking out of the exhibition hall. Belatedly, I realized it was James Franco and company. It's probably better I didn't see him initially as I no doubt would have made an awkward face.



Shortly after this we rounded the corner and were unable to miss Franco's exhibit. It was a large house, with a sign in neon lighting that said "Fucking James Franco." I really wish I was joking about this but there is no way I could make this stuff up. The entire exterior and interior of the house was covered in a pattern of graffiti-style paint which said over and over, "Fucking James Franco." The exterior of the house had textiles printed with scenes from his films (James Dean, a picture of him with Gus Van Sant, etc. etc.). If you pull back the curtain over the doorway of the house you see a bedroom containing all of the following: sex toys, a teddy bear in bondage gear, many tv screens displaying both pornographic images and Franco himself. My personal favorite was the video of someone in a Spiderman costume giving him a handjob. Again, I COULD NOT MAKE THIS SHIT UP IF I TRIED! Seriously, go see it, it's just that weird.

While I appreciate the amount of time and effort this project clearly required, the entire thing smacked of self-indulgence and trying too hard. I assume he is making some sort of comment on fame or cinema? It's unclear to me though. Also, I found the entire project too busy. It's as if he took every contemporary art trend and threw it at the wall to see what stuck--all of it, apparently.

I'm in a tv rut and I need recommendations of a good show to get hooked on, preferably a drama. Bonus if it's on Netflix instant.

Some shows I have watched and loved: Battlestar Galactica, X-Files, Veronica Mars, Breaking Bad, The Wire, West Wing, Carnivale, Twin Peaks, Fringe, Firefly, Big Love, ST: TNG, Downton Abbey (season 1 only, because season 2 was a pile of shit).

Some shows I have tried to get into and don't understand the hype: Buffy, Dr. Who, Mad Men, Lost (I slogged through all 6 seasons waiting for the nonexistent payoff and I'm still bitter)

Some shows I tried and hated: House, Grey's Anatomy, The Sopranos, Gilmore Girls

I'm powering through some more Spring cleaning today, in preparation for a weekend guest.  It's rainy and gross outside and to compensate for the bad weather I'm blasting some of my old and new favorite summer jams to energize me. What are your favorite summer songs?

First on my list is without a doubt Jacques Cousteau by Plastic Bertrand. It really doesn't get any better than Belgian cold wave surf rock, am I right? The fact that some dedicated fan has made this hilarious/bizarre/adorable video to go with the song is even better! Prepare to have your mind blown....



The rest of mine are shared behind the cut. Enjoy! <3

I'm in desperate need of a new pair of jeans. My 1 great fitting pair of Gap jeans is reaching a crisis level. Unfortunately, the Gap has increased the price ($70 for Gap jeans?? are you shitting me??) while their quality has decreased. Thus I am unwilling to buy from them again. Perhaps if they were $30 cheaper.

I've exhausted all denim resources in RI. In the past 2 days I made the rounds to all my consignment shops searching for both low end and designer denim and found nothing in my size. Oh, the woes of being ridiculously short. I think I'm going to extend my fashion quest into Boston. Who's up for an old-school Newbury St. adventure?? It'll be like before Lush came to Providence and we used to take the T for day-long shampoo buying excursions! I have mapped out a plan for myself, and I plan to hit up 2 consignment shops as well as the True Religion store on Newbury St. I just need to try things on. It's going to be a horrible experience I'm sure, so there will have to be drinking afterwards. Or during? I suppose it depends on how many hits my self-esteem takes.

I have not yet reached a level of desperation that warrants a trip to the outlet mall. I'm still recovering from my mother dragging me to the outlet mall on BLACK FRIDAY. Yes, I realize this was in November but it took a lot out of me. I should probably just rally and try to hit an outlet too if Denim Quest fails in Boston but I just can't accept that it's this fucking difficult to find appropriately fitting pants.

PS: If anyone has a magical petite denim solution, please share. Places I have tried and ruled out due to quality/fit issues include: Delias (shitty quality, made for 12 year olds), Ann Taylor & LOFT (too high-waisted, bunch at back of knees, still need to get them hemmed), J. Crew (not truly petite, poorly made despite outrageous price), the Gap/Banana Republic/Old Navy (see above tirade about pricing), Levis (bad fit)

DUDE. I finally finished reading Villette this morning and have spent the past 30 minutes aimlessly wandering about my apartment with a cup of coffee pondering what in the hell went wrong (right?) in Charlotte Bronte's life to inspire her to write a book like this. It was AMAZEBALLS. That is all I can say. It is without a doubt the best book I have read in months, possibly years. It's in turns hilarious, depressing, and horrifying. It's an amazing character study, as evidenced by this snarky passage:

"She must have had good blood in her veins, for never was any duchess more perfectly, radically, unaffectedly nonchalante than she. A weak, transient amaze was all she knew of the sensation of wonder. Most of her other faculties seemed to be in the same flimsy condition. Her liking and disliking, her love and hate, were mere cobweb and gossamer; but she had one thing about her that seemed strong and durable enough, and that was her selfishness."

This book has all of the following:
Caustic, witty dialogue
A charming and adorable doctor
An unreliable narrator
Mental breakdowns
Ghost nuns
Isolation
Melancholy
A bitter and tragic main character
Snarky Victorian fashion tips
Mania
Depression
Sedation
Secret correspondence
Theatrical cross-dressing
The worst boss ever
Someone gets locked in an attic
Catholic conspiracy and propaganda
A haunting cliffhanger

Go read it, I implore you!! Also, the reviewers on Goodreads do the book far more justice than I have here. If I haven't convinced you yet, go check out their reviews.

I've gotten hooked on The Voice. It's filling the void in my moderately embarrassing tv needs.

I feel SO BAD for the people on Blake's team though. He clearly knows nothing about music other than modern country and 80's pop/rock. He picks terrible, TERRIBLE songs for his team to sing. Picking Living For the City for Erin was just a stroke of luck because really, can anyone go wrong with a Stevie Wonder song?

Also, I'm watching the results show now and getting all irritated not even 20 minutes in. Who in the fuck likes this Rae Lynn girl? She is hands down the worst of them all.

I have been conducting an intensive closet purge the past few weeks. It's all part of my master plan to only buy used clothing. Well, mostly used. I mean let's be serious, I'm just not buying second-hand undies and socks. But as a bonus factor, the closet purging feels good! I feel productive AND I am thinking about how if/when I move again it will be so nice to carry less shit from point a to point b.

Now, for the organization nerds craving details, here's what I have accomplished:


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I've been watching a ton of movies lately so I thought I'd post some brief reviews. There are no spoilers here just my reactions.

Moneyball:
I was surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did. I loved the book and I was concerned they would be unable to take a highly technical and stats-heavy book and turn it into a compelling movie. They did! I think the book was much more effective in capturing just how novel an OBP approach to scouting is but overall I was pleased. I think Brad Pitt was great in it, though not his best ever. I would recommend this to math and stats nerds, fans of the underdog, and anyone who can appreciate the romance of baseball.

Hugo:
This movie was delightful and charming! I'm not going to lie, I cried a couple of times. I am a giant sap for heartwarming tales of art. Much like The Artist, this is a movie about movies. It was visually beautiful and the sets blew me away. The story is wonderful and sad, and the fact that it is based on the real Georges Melies makes it even more intriguing. Asa Butterfield was wonderful, and should have gotten an Oscar nomination! He also is the spitting image of a young Elijah Wood. I would recommend this to art lovers of all kind, cinema fans in particular, and adventuresome well-read children. Also, there are adorable dachshunds. What more can you ask for?

The Tree of Life:
This is a monster of a movie, and not for impatient viewers. I am torn between absolutely loving some parts of it and utterly despising others. What I loved: it is the most visually striking movie I have seen in years. It was just stunning in every way, the color palette, the framing of the shots, the contrast, the subtle movement. Everything was brilliant! Also: dinosaurs and space, two of my favorite things. What I did not like: I hated that the family is supposed to be the archetype family when really, not everyone can relate to misogynistic tales of 1950's boyhood. Certainly I cannot. I thought the film was overly long and lingered far too much on the family. Considering it is told entirely in memories, and is in no way a linear plot, there is no need to fill in all the gaps. In fact, I think more ambiguity could have benefited it. I think it raised some interesting questions about nature and humanity but I am not sure how I feel about them. It's a movie I have to keep marinating on. I would recommend it to patient viewers who appreciate visual elegance and can tolerate heavy-handed philosophizing about the origins of the universe and meaning of life.

The Help:
Let's get the good points out of the way first. Yes, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, and Allison Janney are all amazing actresses who rocked this movie. The rest of the movie? Is a hot fucking mess. A hot mess of racism and sexism. This movie is insulting to all women regardless of race. The plot is full of gaping holes. They treat the murder of Medgar Evers as a quaint plot point. We get atrocious dialogue, uneven attention to interpersonal violence and child abuse, a pointless love interest that weighs down the main character, and oh yes, a sassy black maid. Most of the characters are caricatures that fail to resonate in any meaningful way because they are so clearly unbelievable. I don't know who I'd recommend this movie to. If you are at all cognizant of social justice issues it will just infuriate you, and if you are not interested in social justice then this shitty movie will certainly not open your eyes to the realities of racism.


Vampire's Kiss:
This movie is clearly NOT one of this year's oscar nominees. It is a totally ludicrous Nicolas Cage movie from the 1980's. It's AMAZING and terrible all at once. The premise alone is brilliant: Egomaniac literary editor thinks he is bitten by a bat and slowly loses his mind as he begins to believe he is turning into a vampire. It has every classic Nic Cage moment: a bizarre and unnecessary affected accent, smashing of mirrors, screaming, running, whispering nonsensically to himself, sleeping under a couch to block the sun, plastic teeth, creepy vampire sexy times....you really just have to see it for yourself. It's pretty amazing. I haven't laughed so hard at a movie in ages! I'll leave you with this epic scene:

I saw The Artist this weekend. I can summarize the movie in one word: SWOON. I adored it.



I can best describe it as a movie for people who love movies. The story is enchanting and sweet, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the film casts an observant eye on Hollywood without being either snobby or fawning. Some critics have questioned the use of famous movie scores rather than an entirely original score but I found that it helped me really immerse myself in the atmosphere to recognize music I associate with classic films. Finally, the acting was phenomenal. The entire cast (including the uber-adorable dog) were amazing and spot on. I loved everything about it! Go see it, it's delightful.

Another movie I saw fairly recently but have not yet reviewed is Melancholia. This movie was also amazing but also very flawed and extremely hard to watch.



The basic premise is that Kirsten Dunst is a bride who is suffering from bipolar disorder. On the day of her wedding she is profoundly depressed but fights to put up an appearance of happiness for the expectations of her friends and family. The second half of the film moves beyond the wedding and deals with the day to day struggles of her depression as well as an impending potential apocalypse. A newly discovered rogue planet's orbit is taking it between the Earth and the Sun. Scientists have hypothesized that Earth will be safe but conspiracy theorists fear that the planet will crash into Earth. Where the film gets somewhat muddied, for me, is that it's hard to tell if bipolar depression is serving as a metaphor for the cycles of the planets and potential disaster they bring or if the impending end of the world is a further exploration of depression. It's hard to say and I think the director probably intended it that way. Needless to say, this is not a film for people who need tidy plots. Rather, it is visually stunning, and frankly one of the most accurate and terrifying portrayals of depression that I have ever seen. I'm definitely still ambivalent about the message the movie was trying to send, and I may never come to a solid opinion of it. However, I highly recommend it because it's definitely one of the most ambitious and challenging movies I've seen in a long time.