Things are pretty hectic right now, so here's a quick list of good movies I've seen recently:
Marnie, Hitchcock The Birds, Hitchcock Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock Singin' in the Rain, Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen The Purple Rose of Cairo, Woody Allen Magic in the Moonlight, Woody Allen In Your Eyes, Brin Hill The Cameraman, Edward Sedgwick & Buster Keaton The Circus, Charlie Chaplin P.S. these are pictures of my "good things" jar. every time something good happens, you write it down and put it in the jar. at the end of the year, you open it and read all the good things that happened
Hey guys! Sorry for the hella long hiatus! None of my recent outfit pictures have turned out the way I wanted them to so here are some from February (??) when I was still in sunny California and not freezing cold Canada. *dramatic sigh* shirt: somewhere in new york (gift)//shorts: american apparel//shoes: vans//rings: homemade//bracelets: homemade + gifts
Anyway though, the past four months have flown by so. quickly. Eleventh grade has been so great so hectic so far. I've been reading so much since September, we're reading a total of 24 for school this year... Yes. t w e n t y f o u r b o o k s !
I'm also specializing in cinema and visual arts at school which is a super interesting and hands-on class! We write, film, edit, act, analyze movies, learn about the history and technical side of film-making. I really really love it. We recently watched The Birds (directed by Hitchcock) and sdglf just thinking about it makes my skin crawl... It was a terrific movie, don't get me wrong but I don't think any of us are ready to see birds yet. *hides under blanket in fear* I know it sounds kinda silly to be scared of birds but holy crap man watch it and tell me you don't get the heebie-jeebies!
the special effects are pretty high-tech am I right I also completed and traded my first zine at a zine off which was slightly amazing and slightly terrifying at the same time??? It felt so great to be in a room full of people interested in zines who wanted support and wanted to support people. Plus it was lovely to just have a free exchange without judgement. It really felt like a community and man that felt freaking amazing.
I've also been going to local concerts and zine readings and discovering things I didn't know about my town. It makes me kind of sad though that it took moving away and moving back to be open enough to look for and to find wonderful things here, but I guess that's what growing up is all about. ~life lessons from céline~
I've been casually re-watching Gilmore Girls (I also got my friend addicted oops) and I didn't think it was possible but I actually love it even more than i did when I first watched it as a kid. And that is because I actually understand the literary, film and cultural references now and my family and I have a similar fast-paced humour/dialogue thing that we didn't when I was seven.
Title is a lyric from Twenty-nine by Christmas Island P.S. it's almost my blog's first birthday which is slightly scary/blowing my mind P.P.S I GOT MY BRACES OFF BACK IN OCTOBER!! Are you excited for Christmas or does it still feel like November for you too? Have you seen any good/terrifying movies lately? Do you make zines/love Gilmore Girls? P.P.P.S If you've gotten this far high five man you're the cooliest so have some imaginary brownies and presents! (thank you!)
Begin Again, written and directed by John Carney, is such a wonderful and inspiring movie for so many reasons. Firstly, the concept itself is so original and inspiring. When I saw the trailer this summer, I was sure it was going to be yet another cheesy movie but luckily, it wasn't. Greta's (Keira Knightley) newly famous boyfriend and songwriting partner, Dave (Adam Levine) cheats on her with one of his producers while Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is a recently jobless record producer with his fair share of messes. Dan and Greta meet when her friend makes her perform one of her songs in a bar and Dan's mood is lifted. He offers her a record deal which she initially rejects. Eventually, however, they decide to make an entire album with other bored artists and record it all over New York. I loved the idea of recording it outdoors, all at once, without any editing, keeping the sounds of the city, that it really was all about the music.
Secondly, I can't get enough of the soundtrack. Keira Knightley's voice is beautiful, calm, and soothing, strong yet still relatively quiet -- she doesn't belt, for example. As for Adam Levine, his musical talent is a known fact. Furthermore, the songs are so catchy and make it impossible to not sing and dance along. However, they still manage to feel delicate and intricate without being in-your-face about it. The songs are kind of low-key, they aren't written to be hits, they just stay true to the songwriter. As Adam Levine's character seems to learn, that's just as good and even when people enjoy the pop remixed version, they'll still love the original, less in-your-face arrangement.
Thirdly, the aesthetics of the movie were lovely too. I've always loved New York but this movie amplified my love for it. In the film, Dan says the album will be kind of like an ode to the city, but so is the movie. All the shots are so beautiful, colourful and seem to capture New York so perfectly and effortlessly. The whole movie seemed to have a soft, pastel, low-key vibe, from Greta's clothing to the scenery.
Fourthly, the casting was perfect! I've been a Mark Ruffalo fan since 13 Going On 30 (I still ship it) and a Keira Knightley fan since Pirates of the Caribbean (also still ship it) and Love Actually. They're both so talented and while I know they do put effort into it, they always convince me they are their characters in a seemingly effortless way. The rest of the cast was also chosen very well but Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo seem like they were born to portray Greta and Dan. (Bonus points for having a special place in my heart)
Finally, (SPOILER ALERT) the end made me happy. Despite his efforts, Greta doesn't go back to Dave but Dan and his wife do find their way back to each other. With a bit of help from Greta, Dan revives his relationship with his daughter. Furthermore, despite a very possible record deal, Greta decides to put the album for sale online for $1 that will be evenly shared with the whole band. An incredibly famous rapper Dan discovered in his heyday tweets about the album to his followers (according to Dan the entire world) per Dan's request. As for Dave, it isn't confirmed, but my interpretation is that he realizes his fans love Greta's arrangement of the song she gave him just as much as -- maybe ever more than -- the poppy remixed version, which maybe leads to an epiphany: he's a a sellout. All in all, I really enjoyed the movie and found it really inspiring as well as refreshing to watch a movie that's based on a love of music. I love the movie so much that I wanted to run around my city recording songs. I definitely recommend this movie!
Hello again! Friday was my last day interning at the theatre and I have to say I really did enjoy it and feel like I learnt a lot, so I'm happy and just hope I get a good grade on my report and oral exam. Cross your fingers for me please!
That night, my friends and I went out and ate dinner and then we decided to head down to the beach. The moon was already out and it was darkyet the sun still left an orange-cloud horizon on the ocean. The sand was cold and we all expected the water to be freezing as usual but when we stepped into it, it was surprisingly nice. Those of us wearing pants (I was wearing this) rolled those puppies up before going in any farther. Three of my friends decided to take one big step in every time a wave washed onto shore and two of them went so far that when one tried to turn around, she face planted into the water and was completely soaked! It was hilarious. *laughs maniacally* (I'm a good friend I swear...)
After she got soaked, we all started splashing each other more and more to the point where we were all drenched and sandy and the whole rolling up the pants to my knees thing didn't help at all... We were all chasing and shoving each other, trying to soak each other and push one another in the water. I stopped for a moment to dramatically watch my friends run around at night on the beach with the pier behind us, -- the ferris wheel lit up beautifully,-- to think of how cool and lovely this whole moment felt and how happy I was to have found them all and how perfect and teen-sitcom-in-california this whole thing was. *pictures whole thing in slow motion with dramatic music and everyone laughing every five seconds* I love having these kinds of moments though, when I kind of step back and think 'wow. i'm living this. with these amazing people. feeling like a real teenager. it's a good life hazel grace (had to sorry)'
SPEAKING OF WHICH I went to see The Fault In Our Stars and omgomgomgomg it was so good!!!!!!! It was so accurate and they mostly just removed things to focus on the love story. They did change one thing at the end, but i won't tell you just in case, but if you do go see it, you'll know what I mean and please let me know what you thought! The actors seemed so perfect for the characters, and even the sets were on point to me. It literally felt like the exact representation of the book. ALSO GUS IS SO CUTE OMG ESPECIALLY THE AIRPLANE SCENE HE'S JUST SO EXCITED AND ALSO WHEN HE SEES HAZEL IN HER DRESS HE'S JUST SPEECHLESS AND OMG I JUST CAN'T DO IT MAN I'M GONNA CRY SO I'M JUST GONNA TELL YOU MY STORY REALLY QUICKLY ~casually just teared up but I'm back now. I'm calm and collected~
So much crying though. So much. BUT I also started cracking up at probably the saddest part. ~STORY TIME~ So mid-sad scene, we're all crying. The woman next to me even has tissues and keeps sniffling and blowing her nose and all of a sudden this woman behind us basically yell-sobs and my friend and I look at each other, smiling. THEN a few seconds later, another girl starts sobbing veryveryvery loudly and we could hear people trying to comfort her. So all of a sudden, a woman sitting in our row gets up and exclaims *read sassily* "Can you PLEASE be quiet"with all the sass she can muster (which btw was a lot). THEN probably the saddest scene comes up and the girl starts sobbing even louder than before, and starts hyperventilating/hiccuping and I kid you not I cracked up and had to plug my nose to prevent myself from laughing out loud and looking like a terrible person for a) laughing at the saddest scene ever and b) laughing at this poor sobbing girl So there i am, sitting in a movie theatre during the saddest scene, tears still streaming down my face, laughing into my sweater, trying to calm down. I'm terrible, I know. But then my friend and her mom start to laugh too, and then the girls in front of us start as well so I guess I'm not THAT bad... (right?)
During the last scene though, the girl starts sobbing again but not nearly as loudly but I somehow managed to control myself and stay focused on the movie to let the feels out. Pain demands to be felt. (I'M SORRY I HAD TO) Finally, when the lights go up, the sassy lady gets up and looks in the general direction of the sobbing (yes she was still sobbing) and yells *read sassily* "You're obviously not old enough to go to the movies because you can't be quiet for everyone else" then sassily leaves the room. She stood outside the theatre room door though, frowning angrily. (We think she was waiting for the sobbing girl to come out so she could sass her. Again.) LET THE POOR GIRL CRY IN PEACE She probably saved me from uncontrollable sobbing too though... Such a good movie urgh I highly recommend you go see it and especially read the book. Sorry this was so long... Here's an air hug for reading the whole thing! What have you been up to this weekend? Have you read/seen The Fault In Our Stars? What did you think?
~ IT'S SPRING BREAK ~ Last saturday, my friends and I went to the museum, specifically to see The Journey of a Dress, but we also saw a bunch of other exhibits. We saw "Urban Lights" and "Metropolis II", an exhibit about football/soccer, an abstract art exhibit and an Agnès Varda exhibit. Journey of a Dress
The Journey of a Dress was so colourful and well lit, you could tell they wanted you to take pictures.
It started with a hot pink hallway that served as the wrap dress' timeline and, at the end of it, "Feel like a woman, wear a dress!" was written in pink neon lights.
diane von furstenburg
The hallway also led to another room in which art based on/inspired by the wrap dress and Diane von Furstenburg, the creator of the wrap dress. *angelic music*
We may or may not have dorkily analyzed the art to see what materials and techniques the artists used.
diane von furstenburg
diane von furstenburg made of ashes
Agnès Varda
house made of agnès varda's rolls of film
Chris Burden
urban lights
Yes, these are the street lamps you always see in movies and yes they are super fun to take pictures of/next to and climb on. Being the mature young ladies we are, we did all three.
Especially the climbing.
metropolis II
So this was a sort of city with I'd say, a thousand hot wheels that actually whizz around every hour. There were so many little boys staring with their mouths wide open or running around trying to follow the cars.
It was little boy paradise.
Other
a part of the berlin wall
That night, my family and I went to see Alan Partridge, a hilarious british comedy that I definitely recommend. It was so quirky, full of politically incorrect jokes, comedic (and sometimes awkward) situations and so many puns. The movie is even funnier than the trailer! To quote my mom, "I haven't heard a whole theatre laugh non-stop in a long time!" Long story short I had a great day!
Pictures were taken by Christina and Prescilia The header picture is from the Agnès Varda exhibit
p.s. I will be posting more this week (hopefully) because no school
What are you doing this week? Have you been to any museums or seen any movies lately?
Happy belated Valentine's Day! Of course, I went to a movie about true love with my best friend along with a theatre full of other girls doing the exact same as we were. I did however "rebel" against love with my outfit.
overalls: forever 21; top: urban outfitters; moccasins: ross
It was really hard to figure out what to wear with the overalls, which by the way are super comfy.
I love these overalls but depending on what I wear with them, they make me look like a) a school girl or b) a worker so I picked this black crop top with little dancing skeletons on it and my moccasins. I also wore a black bowler hat from H&M that I absolutely love and wear with basically everything.
How was your Valentine's Day? Did you have a Valentine? What did you do and wear?
So I've been kind of debating whether or not to make an outfit post and I've decided that I love this outfit so much I need to share it. I've been eyeing these leggings since the summer and yesterday, I finally bought them and I'm so so happy I did. First off, they're lips. How cool is that??? Secondly, they remind me of The Rocky Horror Picture Show which has been my favourite movie since grade six, so that's a major plus. Thirdly, I realized the outfit actually looks like something Dorrit from The Carrie Diaries would wear. And finally, the outfit as a whole makes me feel so edgy even though the leggings are pink.
jean jacket - thrifted; tank top - thrifted; leggings - american apparel; boots - db shoes
