catherine the great

I finally saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" this evening and I have to say it's one of the best films I've seen this year. While I think on it a bit more before I begin any serious discussion, let's take in some vintage Cate Blanchett:

penthouse pet

Ain't that the life? I have a not so guilty pleasure for E!'s "Girls Next Door" and while I was home over the holidays watching a marathon, Hef and the girls were going through his scrapbooks that detail his enviable life. Hef fondly reminisced the days of "Playboy After Dark", his short lived television series from the late 60's that purported the myth of the swanky, louche, playboy lifestyle his empire embodied. It may look silly and outdated, but it looks fun as hell. I wouldn't mind spending my New Years with a lemon schnapps and lounge singer entertainment.

Other great moments on the series via YouTube:
Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, and Hef discuss sex on film

James Brown performs "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud"

George Carlin regaling the crowd

first look: gomorrah

"Gomorrah"
directed by Matteo Garrone
Feb. 13, 2009 (limited)

Where have all the good gangster movies gone?

is 75 the new 50?

I've only lived in New York for three months and I've already encountered some sales that made me do this. Thank the recession, thank the generosity of the designers, thank anyone for what were the five best sales of the year:

5. Marc by Marc Jacobs
I didn't get the $10 rain boots that were flying off the shelves (I paid $28 a month earlier) during the holiday in store sale, but I did pick up a pair of cashmere socks for my grandmother for Christmas that were marked down to $14. Yes, less than $15, cashmere, and Marc by Marc Jacobs.
4. Bblessing
The prices weren't as low as I would preferred, but there were really good deals for the brands that rarely dip into the double digit range (Opening Ceremony and Surface to Air). I picked up a Raf by Raf Simons military style shirt that hasn't stopped receiving compliments.
3. The News Showroom
Young, stylish people knocking each other over the $30 Cheap Monday jeans was a bit of a scene to say the least. I tried on a few pairs and learned my body type doesn't work for their jeans, but I did pick up a black mac coat by their tailored line Kostym. The Shipley & Halmos polo I also bought was kind of expensive but I've had my eye on it for months and it's the perfect stripey polo. Oh, and changing in the unisex fitting room with scads of women in varying states of undress wasn't bad either. However, could those Common Projects please get marked down to less than $75? Pretty please?
2. Odin
Way back in August when I came up for interviews and to meet my roommates I made a quick stop into one of, if not the best, menswear boutiques in New York, Odin. They were having an incredible sale and I walked out with a pair of rag & bone shorts and a vest that were two of my favorite pieces I bought this year.
1. Scoop
My mouth dropped when I saw the 50% off rack and then I did a double take when I saw that it said take an additional 50% off pieces that were already marked down. I got two Rogan t-shirts for $13 a piece down from $70-80. I'm going back today because apparently things have been further marked down. Does this city want me to go bankrupt?

planes, trains, and automobiles

In the past ten hours I've had to deal with:
-parents who forget how to get the airport
-run ins with former Advanced French 4 classmates
-crowded planes
-overbooked planes
-angry, cursing Jamaicans
-screaming babies
-small children that like to play in airports
-fast food cravings
-discreetly watching Jessica Lange and Jack Nicholson in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" on my laptop while waiting for my flight
-lots and lots of magazines
-free train rides
-an empty apartment
-walking down Lafayette Avenue with a 50lb suitcase
-a pizza delivery boy who didn't accept checks

What a day, what a day. Oh, and this song helped me through it all:

Doesn't this sound like if New Order and My Bloody Valentine had a war off of awesomeness?

oedipus wrecks

What film did I curl up on the couch and watch this holiday season? I finally got around to watching David O. Russell's debut film, "Spanking the Monkey." Yes, I watched a film about incest on Christmas Eve. Somehow Russell treats it with astute observation and sly black humor, resulting in one the best debut films I've seen in a while. It's kind of dated in early 90's indiedom, but it's definitely worth a watch.

"Spanking the Monkey" (1994)

It got me thinking that there are couple of other movies that I love about the disturbed mother-son relationships. Did I just say that?

"Ma Mère" (2004)
directed by Christophe Honoré


"Murmur of the Heart" (1971)
directed by Louis Malle"


"Psycho" (1960)
directed by Alfred Hitchcock

the confessional

I didn't watch much new television this year, but this was definitely one of the best that I caught:

Peggy atones for her sins on the season finale of "Mad Men."

the sartorialists: the three best dressed women of 2008 pt. 3

Michelle Obama, lawyer, HBIC, mother
and soon-to-be First Lady of the United States of America
What other public figure this year drew so much attention for a simple color choice? Did the purple represent the unity between the red states and blue states? Royalty? Supremacy? Whatever it meant, Michelle looked good and it was the iconic moment in which Michelle Obama became the stylish anti-politician's wife (for the better, of course). Michelle Obama's purple Maria Pinto sheath with Azzedine Alaïa belt and gumball size pearl necklace that she wore during the primary's was an idiosyncratic and bold breath of fresh air that is so rarely seen in such a world of dull style and personality free dressing. Michelle understands what works for her and complements her tall, toned figure with sheath dresses and suits with lean, mean lines. Favoring American designers like Narciso Rodriguez, Jason Wu, and Thakoon as well as lower priced lines like J. Crew and H&M, Michelle embodies American modern glamour for those who can appreciate the high/low dichotomy that works for every budget. Change is everywhere this year and Michelle's sartorial choices have changed the game completely.

performance: the man who wasn't there

Philip Seymour Hoffman
photographed by Michael Thompson, GQ January 2001
This is no Photoshop job, ladies and gentlemen. Philip Seymour Hoffman was on the cover of GQ a couple of years ago and he looks pretty GQ, wouldn't you say? As one of the most consistent working actors (actor, not movie star) in contemporary cinema, Seymour Hoffman has the kind of pedigree attached to his name that you figure anything he's in must be good, or at the very least of interest for the scenes he's featured in. His pink face and unashamed rotund belly allow him to slip into the shadows of just about any character he plays, lending those features to portrayals of less than pretty people in less than pretty worlds. Last year he hit a trifecta with impressive turns in "When the Devil Knows You're Dead", "Charlie Wilson's War", and "The Savages" and this year he was perfectly pathetic as the theater director obsessed with his own mortality in Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York" and a gentle giant mistaken for a monster in John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt." I know I said I wouldn't see the film, but if anything it was a chance to see some great Acting (it's such grandstanding acting that it deserves the capitalization). Seymour Hoffman goes up against Meryl Streep with confident ferocity in a movie that unfortunately feels like all of the action happens in a Tupperware container, and by that I mean it's too hermetically sealed in its own theatrical set pieces and uneven performance styles. It's an honest and convincing performance in a movie that doesn't always feel as such. I'd recommend checking out the lengthy article on the humble actor in The New York Times Sunday Magazine.

days of our lives

"The Big Shave"
directed by Martin Scorsese
1967

My first New York snow is falling outside. It's apparently 70 degrees at home. Where do you think I want to be?