La Môme

Breathtaking moments are hard to come by. Great times are hard to come by. Films like La Môme (La Vie en Rose) hardly ever comes by.


And that’s why you need to watch it and you need to watch it now.

La Môme is the French title of the film about the intense and tragically short life of one of those extraordinary singers that appears once in a few lifetimes. Edith Piaf was a household name in the US and the Europe and France’s most loved singer. Her music usually reflected her intense and ill-fated life, which ended shortly after only forty seven years. Her legend continues to live beyond her existence in the likes of her signature song, “La vie en rose” written in 1945 and voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

The film follows closely to Piaf’s struggle, discovery, rose to fame, and her eventual death. Keeping everything so real; so much so that you actually feel the tiny hairs on your back stand just by watching Marion Cotillard flesh out Piaf.

My first encounter with Cotillard came in the form of strange but rather well done arty French film call Innocence. Otherwise, Cotillard has kept herself mostly to the French film society only making her rare English appearance in Hollywood movie “A Good Year” opposite Russell Crowe.

Since noticing Cotillard in Innocence, I was instantly mesmerized by her deep questioning eyes that seem to lead to many mysteries. They appear to search you and question you and even talk to you – despite through camera lenses and severeal film strips! I just knew I had to look her up and read more about her. Yeah, I’m one of those geeks who has their laptop nearby everytime they watch a film (geeks normally watch on DVD or Internet J), just in case we need to google or wiki something out about the film.

But back to La Môme - or Cotillard in La Môme as Edith Piaf or The Sparrow as the title refers to her nickname in French. A sparrow both because of her small physique as well as her throaty yet sad voice that seems to communicate the fragility of the bird.

Cotillard played scarily so well and real that it’s almost emotional to watch such rare performance from actors nowadays! It was like seeing Piaf alive again! Her body movements, her signature expressions, her looks throughout various ages…the makeup artist for this film definitely deserve high appraises as well! Managing to transform Cotillard, who is in her own rights a very beautiful woman, into someone completely different and changing accordingly to age. You could actually believe the woman on screen was Piaf, stricken with arthritis and dying of cancer.


Ahh, but most amazing of all – Cotillard sang every single song herself. Pretending to be singers/dancers/or someone-you-seriously-are-not; is already quite a feat. But trying to act as someone who else who happens to be quite extraordinary in some way, it’s near impossible. But damn! Cotillard can sing! And she sings like Piaf herself!

As you can see, I can most definitely go on and on forever singing about how amazing and near impossibly good the film has been. But I won’t. I won’t allow myself to keep you snagged here as you have a mission to accomplish. Go watch La Môme.

This film undeniably, indisputably, more than likely, should receive an Oscar – if not something better. Maybe two, maybe more. One for coming out as a great film; another for Cotillard for her stellar performance, another for the makeup artist, and maybe one more for the director for putting everything together.

Bravo Edith! Bravo Marion! Bravo Olivier!

Oh yeah, one of Piaf’s song was used in yet another amazing French film, Amelie. Go find out ;-)

If Stan, Kyle, Eric, and Kenny were real...

As a lover of South Park, it's no news that I "stumbled" across them in wiki...and saw this picture of the boys.

I'm not sure what to comment about it. Maybe you start.

High Ambitions

So much for complaining about gender weakening heels. We women are hypocrites. We trash the world for creating heels…and then eat our own foot when the fashion industry unapologetically churns out a whole season of killer heels.

This season sees heels take on new heights – repeating what they’ve done before – pushing the feminine feet into a painfully sensuous arch. The Chinese spotted this beauty more than a hundred years ago, but the world condemned it as they weren’t ready for the high fashion China was dictating.

The ambitious heels this season however comes in a slightly considerate version to the ultimate killer stilettos. Wedges and platforms will carry these heels, whether if it’s retro style, punk metallic, or luxurious leather.

Despite its many criticism from the so call “activist”, heels are incontestably a very desired accessory for any woman. Who can turn down the possibility of creating the illusion of long endless legs, dainty ankle, a perkier derriere, that few extra inches of height, etc.

Should you plan an attempt on these life-risking heels, I would advice you to steer clear of the punk metallic. They won’t last – confirm. It’s one of those items that popped out from the fashion factory, which people will one day look back and say – disasters of 2007. Leather, suede, and other luxurious fabrics however are acceptable. If you’re brave, go with one that’s strong in color; like dark blue, plume, red. Otherwise, the conventional brown can also be sexy with tan legs.

Go on, grab one and be above others for awhile. But be smart and practice your walk, your sway, and strengthen those weak ankles before slipping one of these wedges on.

Sparta 300

PREPARE FOR 300!!!

Sparta 300 was good. Any girl would tell you that.

A cast that seemed rigidly selected – no abs no role. Every single Sparta man had atleast 6 abs, 6 feet of height, and an absolute epitome of manhood. That was what the film is, not all, but mostly about. Besides the fact that the men were strangely irresistible in their blood red cloaks and brown loin covers.

"What did you say? My loincloth too small?"

"OK lads, look cool now...Oi, flex those abs!"

I thought Gerard Butler played wonderfully as the legendary Leonidas. His powerful masculine voice that growls through the film is simply orgasmic. I wouldn’t mind receiving orders from this man.

Undeniably, the physical attraction element was a bit played out of proportion (explains why all the guys who’ve watched it didn’t like the film). Hey, it's a comic adaptation! But what were also elegantly executed were the battle scenes. The filmmaker tried their best to stay true to the Sparta art of battle though the ending where they all died was rather pathetically intepreted. They obviously died because they didn’t follow the combat tactics that they were supposedly famous for. But alas, they had to die and that was the only way the filmmakers could fantasize it to be.

The splatter expectations were met dutifully (OK, it was a bit soften. Sin City was better). Each splatters were splendidly executed. Oh, and I love those breathtaking leaps that they take before they slice their enemies in halves – top down. The slo-mo, the music (ahhh…I love great film scores!), everything…very powerful! I like.

Simply Balletic!

There were also some somewhat boo-hoo parts in the film. The narrator was successfully the most annoying person in the film and kept that part with his whiny voice. I’m appalled that they didn’t spot that when they cast him in that role. More hilarious was the Brazilian actor who played antagonist Xerxes. 300 aside, Rodrigo Santoro seems to be quite a normal dude (if not dashing as well) outside of the film. But the costume, makeup, and special effects delivered a highly gay, effeminate, whiny, self-centered, psychotic Xerxes. It was quite amusing to actually see Xerxes as a contemporary drag queen who wants everything to be his/her way. Total diva. I couldn’t help but laughed in stifles everytime he appears. Oh, and his freak troupe was exaggerated.

GAY!

SUPER GAY!!

STILL GAY!!














Oohh...and who's this laddie?

SANTORO!!!??? See...I told you.

Otherwise, all in all, I declare this a great girlie flick. If you’ve watched it (regardless of your sexual preference), then good. If you haven’t, it’s a film that must be watch on big screen (seriously, squeezing 300 heavenly men in your puny pc screen?). If you’re miserable and want to save every penny for life’s better good, that’s ok as well.

Oh I forgot. There’s the Oracle factor as a male attraction point.

A year of numbers

- sounds boring.

We (relatively) recently observed the release of 300 and 23; then jumping forward a few more weeks we would have a series of 3’s – Spiderman 3, Pirates 3, and Shrek 3; followed rather swiftly by Harry Potter 5. Oh, and Harry Potter book number 7. Great, maybe then we can save our sanity from going simply crazy over these books.

Numbers have always played a magical role in story telling. The three princesses, the three brothers, the three fairy godmothers, the three witches, the three stooges…you get the idea. Five is probably not far from it either though my 00:27 brain is not entirely up to its optimal processing performance at the moment. I can go on with 7 as in the 7 dwarfs, the 12 princesses…but maybe I should stop before my lack of numerical intelligence reveals more than it should.

In the last 7 days also known as 1 week; I’ve watched two movies with numbers, numberly 23 and 300; both of which I will share duly. Read on.


23 starrs funny man Jim Carrey - sorry, but he just can’t run away with that stigma and neither can his acting unfortunately; as a man who became obsessive and paranoid over the number aforesaid. The film tries to take a conventional approach to paranoia and delivered a conventional twist in this rather stale plot line. Normal man (fatedly) finds interesting book, gets obsess with the story, finds similarity, tries to solve mystery, and then tries to punch you with its lame twist. In fact, it’s not even worth my time writing any recommendation. In short, bad film, waste of money, don’t watch.

Whooo...I can write my name, SPARROW = 23!?

Yar...women and fire, I like!

LAME!

Cocorosie

I promise you I will get something out tonight from what I've promised before. But here's a little something for you from what I'm currently listening to (click on the pic):

Cocorosie - Hairnet Paradise

Happy Easters Teaser

Like I promised, I will be dishing out more offerings on this season's great looks, spiced along with my opinion on which would be a good investment and how to avoid getting victimized by fashion.

Read well and the fashion lady will be on your side.

Following a red hot entry on the colour RED, I have lined up for you features on

• Metallic - to shine or not?
• High ambitions on the killer wedges (they're BACK!)
• and more... (honestly, I just can't remember what else I wrote, since my notes are at home and I'm sneaking this entry in from work! yikes...it's Easters anyway)

But patience my dearies, research is underway as I always and will only give you the truth and the best. Happy Easters and stop playing the bunny. Be an egg for once.

RED

It’s quite clear that this season is going to be a season of COLOURS. Loud and clear colours. Despite the fact that pastel sweet colours will always look nice in spring (there are quite a number of collection and pieces which are in pastel and nudes), this spring should be royally splashed with rich luxurious colors. Whether if it’s dark blue or velvety purple or bright yellow or emerald green. But most of all, one colour evidently stands out from the others – red.

Not surprisingly, this colour is the colour that catches the human eye fastest (otherwise, you have problem with your eye sight). Red is being applied everywhere but most prominently on the lips and fingernails. Taking after all the headiness of looking 40’s and 50’s, the crimson red lips are making their appearance on every famous pair of lips. Take the cover of vogue for example – now girl Scarlett Johansson sizzles the cover with her famous pouty lips in – you guess it, flaming red. Yes, you still notice that her body is ever so heavenly in that tight Dolce & Gabbana dark green bodice, but those lips; ah the lips, they stole the show.

The lesson here is that if you’re a woman, then you should make use of this season and bring out that red lips fetish of yours in full gear. Almost every woman had at one point of time wished to grab that screaming red lipstick and fill our lips up with it. The kind of red that screams: look at me, I’m totally confident of myself! Note: that I didn’t say it screams sexy, because that should come naturally if you’re comfortable and confident enough to carry off a flaming red pout. Plus, you shouldn’t wear red if the only thing on your mind is “must be sexy!” because then you’ll just end up look like that whore hanging out at the diner at 5am in the morning after a pathetic night. Worst, you might look like Courtney Love on a bad day.

Wear red because you feel confident and elegant. Then feel the power slowly surge from somewhere within and ooze out your every pore. You’re in control.

I would have liked to end it there – beautifully. But there’s still the nails issue. Will make it short because it isn’t something I’m going to endorse too much. The truth is, red nails are great. For a SHORT while.

If you’re like me, the low-maintenance-do-it-yourself type where you sit in front of the TV or try and do something else while you paint your nails (so that you don’t feel like you’re wasting your time on something considered relatively bimbotic), then you will be facing a problem. You’ll notice that your nail polish tend to crack or chip within a day or two (hey, I’ve more meaningful things to do and I can’t bother getting base/top coat). The moment they start doing that, you’ll have to fix it right away because your image chips along with every chip that chips away. You’ll end up looking like the aforementioned whore or your teenage sister/cousin/whoever that’s still trying to grow up. You don’t have an excuse.

Michelle Trachtenberg at the Samsonite launch of its Black Label Fashionaire collection

However, if you must, then do invest some time and money on that red fingernail look. But I promise you, that it’s not the best investment – like cars. This red nail fling will pass by quickly to give way to black nails (which happens to be quite hot as well at the moment but too young/grunge for my palate) or something else.

My advice? Stick with the timeless elegance of nude or non-screaming colours. And don’t even thing about French manicure. That is so passé and un-classy.

The sound of silence - or just laziness

Wow. It's been nearly two months eh? Not a word.

In a dictionary of bad bloggers, you will find not a picture of me, but a whole range of definition on what a bad blogger is. Most of which, would define me. I'm seriosuly sorry and apologize deeply for not feeding this blog with more wits and woes. So this entry is just going to be a short intro of what will be served.

I've been hiding out with my fashion magazines and books, running endless research on a bigger fashion conspiracy. If you must know anything now, I can tell you that my past entries have been accurate, yes accurate, prediction of this spring fashion. (Don't believe? Go grab yourself a Bazaar or Vogue and they're all reporting the same thing) So, go read those entries again and devour as much as you can. There's always something that you missed ;-)

Meanwhile, my recent trip back to my hometown has offered me the opportunity to watch more films that I can handle. However, dissapointingly leaving me with a bigger empty hole. Where have all the good films went? Apparently the truth that is inconvenient is not only causing a drought in countries, but also the film world.

In conclusion, I've yet to be strucked by anything highly impressionable (I am relatively a very impressionable person) to prompt me to write anything here. But - I will compile something soon and share it with you. Something to light up the end of the winter season and usher in light and flowy spring!

Until then, try watching re-runs of Borat. That helps.

Trend Watch #5 - the little jacket

(note: all pieces featured in this entry is from topshop)

The sweetness of short jackets is still lingering on the palates of fashion deciders. It’s warm enough for this spring/summer climate yet still cooling with its – uhh…short cut. Throw it on with anything casual and you will immediately witness magic before your eyes – everything seems more chic and trendy. Now tell me you believe in magic.

Trend Watch #4 - shoes

Trend Watch #4

(note: all pieces featured in this entry is from topshop)

Shoes have received their acknowledgement a bit late in the 90s that they’re very important accessories (in fact, they now have a category of their own call Shoes) that complete the look. Following the 60s vintage look, wedge heels (not platforms) are back with a vengeance. You can find them in low wedges and killer heels. Normally with ankle strap that coves the heels, bare around the metatarsals, and covered around the toes with an occasional peek-toe hole. The best are those in skin colour or vintage colour (looks old) like dark turquoise or brownish red. If you have sweaty feet, it’s best you stick with the peek-toe variations.

Cone heel peek toe heels in earth tones.

Again colours. Green low wedges with strappy details around the toes, very hippie cool.

Grey mary jane courts. Better without straps though.

Wooden clogs will always have a spot in my fashion book. White straps go great with tan skin.

Meanwhile, ballet flats are still awesomely cool – thanks to Prada and the French. Don’t get me wrong, they’re sweet but only if you have slim never-ending legs.

Green suedette with cut out details around the toes. Nice and practical – for your toes to breath.

Gold ankle ties pumps for the extra touch. Slick slim ankles only please.

Unfortunately, ankle boots are still a hit. Especially the ugly ones. Personally I don’t see how these boots complements the female legs. Even girls can’t carry it off nicely. They were meant to stay in the Victorian times when men wore it with their leggings and looked silly. But if you’re a self confessed fashion slave/whore/victim, then this is a must-have. It’s the hit of the season from last season.

Trend Watch #3 - skrits & tights

(note: all pieces featured in this entry is from topshop)

Just as shorts will always be a hit, short skirts will also always be a hit with the same reason. In this selection, I will recommend to go with something different since every single teeny bopper will be having a micro short short flare/pleated skirt strapped to their small derrieres. Therefore, I suggest that you be bit wiser and more experienced by strapping on something different like a tartan inspired skirt with suspenders. So that you can snap elastic on your chest to attract attention. Whatever, it’s nice. Suspenders are the now accessories by the way – for both GUYS and girls.

To add a hint of fun and girlie-ness to the skirts, you can pair it up with some leggings. For first timer, try going with conventional colours without any patterns. While for the more adventurous and experimental, there is a wide range of colours and patterns that you can choose from to pick up that look you want.

Trend Watch #2 - shorts

(note: all pieces featured in this entry is from topshop)

Shorts are always a hit, especially hotpants. As long as Britney Spears is still considered hot by even one guy, shorts will be around. In this season, there’s a pick for nearly everyone. You can walk out in calf length capris with heels and shout WOMAN, or you can run around in knee length city shorts and ooze chic, or go all out and skimp around in hotpants and drive men crazy. It’s up to you. That’s the power of being girl/woman.




Baxter pants that would go well with most shoes. Flats for casual and heels for style.










And now for something completely different – checkered belted hotpants.










City shorts for you to walk around in – the city.

A tribute to the high waist trend that kinda hit the fashion scene but kinda got swallowed somewhere.