I left my heart in New York City.

Please, readers, forgive the cheesy title of this post, but, I recently visited New York City, and, I have to say, it was the most beautiful, mesmorising, inspiring, and aspirational places I have ever been to. Travelling with me was my sister Alison, my sister Lorna, and my mother Christine. We arranged to go to NYC for my sister Alison’s 30th birthday.

When there, I instantly got the feeling that anyone was accepted there. There was all races, ethnicities, genders, ages, fashion styles, everything, all mixed into one city, it was like NYC had thrown together the most beautiful portrait of all time; there were colours everywhere, patterns, styles, lengths, everything, and everyone was so beautiful. It was a truly united city.

When discussing with my family members and friends when returning, I expressed that, although seeing the location in multiple films over the years and on the news, you almost felt like you already belonged there, like you would just fit in without any hassle, bias, or judgment. It was truly fantastic.

Upsettingly, I walked past the ‘University of Journalism’ which was annoyingly close to our hotel. Let me explain, if you have read any of my posts, or know me personally, you will know that I have a passion for Vogue, and acts as a guide to my life. So, knowing that the American Vogue House is in NYC, last year I thought to myself ‘why don’t I just apply to NYC Uni?’ which I attempted to persue, but I hit a brick wall. I got no funding from either England or America, which meant that I would have to create a lot of money in the space of a year, this, clearly, was inpractical. So, although it broke my heart having to abandon the idea and dream, I applied and got into Surrey (Farnham) University in England, which I’m absolutely extatic about, don’t get me wrong. However, walking past the University truly made my heart sink in dissapointment. So, in the hope that I get a good degree at Surrey, I plan to move and live in NYC.

The photographic opportunities in NYC is absolutely mind blowing. (I have attached some of my own at the bottom of this post.) Now, I know some of you may not like my photography work, but for my exam project in A Level Photography, I have chosen to do ‘Composition’ and within that theme, I have created two sections: Film stills and Images within Images. I know the latter may sound slightly confusing, but simply look at my images and you will understand what is meant by it. For my final exam piece, I hope to create a canvas on which I will paint/draw the NYC skyline, and add my photographs, or I will get smaller canvas and put a ‘picture within picture’ image in the middle of singular canvas, and draw the other sides of the image on to the canvas.

What I’m getting at is, NYC is just, amazing. I really can’t explain it, the sense of unity and acceptance their is overwhelming, and even though you’ve seen it on the television, it is even more spectacular in person, and seeing it with your own eyes. Living near the seaside, I have rarely, other than the odd trip to London, seen a City as huge, if you will, as NYC. The sky scrapers do truly nearly touch the clouds, they are pieces of fantastic architecture.

Well readers, I must bid you goodday. I will attempt to write more, but my exams are fast approaching and I must begin revision asap.

So long!

.

The Hunger Games Film Review

So, a few months ago my sister told me I needed to read a trilogy called ‘The Hunger Games’, I got through the first chapter, and realised I had too many English Literature texts to read. This depresses me beyond belief. So, I had to watch the film without reading the books first, which irritates me so much, and soon I will be powering through all three so I know what happens!

Overall, I loved it. However, I want to talk about how it was quite slow to begin with, and I almost lost interest then BAM, the storyline hits a new curve. The actual ‘Hunger Games’ within the film are absolutely fantastic, and I find it so intellectual and futuristic, which appeals to me. I found out just before that they had recently changed it from a 15 certificate to a 12a certificate. I do not personally agree with this, although I know that this would have been regulated in order to attract a larger audience, I personally believe that it would have been more in depth if they hadn’t of ‘shaved off’, if you will, certain parts of scenes that could have been more graphic than they were. for example, when a member from District 1 goes to kill Katniss and Peeta, citizens of District 12, towards the end of the Hunger Games, a pack of ‘mutts’ attack him, and it could have been a lot more graphic and perhaps more intense if they had shown more of it, perhaps that is just my morbid mind, but anyway.

The film as a whole is superb, I can’t particularly fault it. The storyline (taken from IMDb) is: “Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place for the latest match.” The pace is intense and exciting, it has everybody gripping to their seats. Unless you’ve seen it, I cannot stress enough that you must see it. Whether it is your taste or not, or whether or not you’re in the target audience, I feel that there is a connection to be made with each character, and the storyline is one of which catches you off guard, and is aesthetically pleasing also.

Relating to the aesthetically pleasing aspect, if I did not know that Gary Ross directed it, I would have perhaps guessed that Tim Burton took a new direction. For in the futuristic society, the colours and acting is exactly what Tim Burton is about, whereas the action is not. This is interesting to me, as the film contained colour and action, it is fantastic.

The film upset me when a younger character died, but that is expected from myself as a woman, and my personality, I cry at anything within films, it’s true. But that is another reason for my love of this film, as it touched my heart with the storyline, no matter how morbid it may seem, within some of the characters you can still see a sense of morality and friendship, although this is not wise in such a game as the Hunger Games.

The whole idea, constructed from the books by Suzanne Collins, is phenominal. The futuristic novel really shows  us how lucky we are in a society, no matter how fictional it is. I am looking forward to reading the books. It shows us another side to us as a human race, and shows us how people can be conditioned to be. For the participants from District 1 and 2 have been conditioned to fight in all weathers and have been taught all skills neccessary. This makes us fearful for the characters we have been shown in a good light, and have grown to like throughout the film. As per usual in films, good beats evil, but the ending leaves it open for evil to make an epic comeback. This film is heart wrenching and intense, I may only be 17, but I highly recommend this.

‘Abduction’ film review

Quick decision to watch this film, and what an awful decision that was. Okay, maybe I’m being slightly over harsh, but Taylor Lautner was quite a bad cast by John Singleton. His combat/action skills were spectacular, but his overall acting skills are somewhat lacking in realability.

Here is the plot (taken from IMDb): “A thriller centered on a young man who sets out to uncover the truth about his life after finding his baby photo on a missing persons website.” As a film, I thought the plot line was awesome, and the casting of other characters such as Kevin, who is Nathan (Launter’s) posing father played by Jason Issac, (Lucius Malfoy). I thought that Issac played a fantastic part. In one of the first scenes, Kevin is training Nathan in combat, and both are showing no mercy. Only 15/20 minutes in to the film do you realise why Kevin is so harshly training Nathan, he needs these skills to protect himself for what is about to come.

Now, with most action thrillers, there is a sweetheart involved. This sweetheart is played by Lily Collins, who is Karen in the film. Her and Nathan have quite a clear attraction to eachother, of which the audience are shown quite early on, as Nathan shows quite a fondness of her when he goes outside to see Karen’s boyfriend shouting at her. As the film goes on, and Kevin and Mara (Maria Bello) are killed mercilessly in a well filmed and scripted combat scene. This is after Nathan and Karen access the website of which Nathan has seen himself as a child on a missing persons website. The website is traced back to the clan of which are looking to kill Nathan.

Stereotypically, after Mara and Kevin are killed, Karen and Nathan must stick together, and can’t leave eachothers side, and end up falling in love. This generic storyline to me is quite irritating and it seems to be in every film I watch at the moment, but I guess it must be cute to mainstream film watchers.

Overall, I believe that this film was well scripted and plotted, yet the casting of Taylor Launter was poor, however his combat skills are admirable, and he did do the stunts himself, which impresses me, and many other reviewers I imagine.

I apologise for the short and vaguness of this review, but I am currently at college and should be doing essays!

selamat tinggal!

Emmys 2011 best and worst dressed

Nina Dobrev looks absolutely breath taking in this scarlett number. It accentuates her beautiful womanly curves and the fish tail dress elongates her legs, making her look gorgeous and eye catching. Nominated for best dressed.

 

Gwyneth Paltrow looks hideous! She is trampling all over this Pucci dress, and it upsets me! Even though, it looks like an extremely hard dress to pull off, so I imagine not many people other than the Queen could pull it off!

Julianna Margulies looks quite nice in this white chic dress. Not amazing though.

 

Jayma Mays looks gorgeous! I love this dress, she looks absolutely fabulous.

 

Heidi Klum, OH, MY GOD! She looks fantastic!! Oh my goodness, this dress is stunning, the theme ‘Under the Sea’ really suits her, and the bottom looks like coral! Nominated for best dressed! 

 

Sarah Hyland looks wonderfully elegant in this red dress. However, as I analyse these celebrities, I get the impression that scarlett is an underlying theme within the Emmy stylists this year. You failed, stylists. There is such a thing as too much red, I’m afraid.

Cat Deeley, normally, I am not fond of Deeley, I find her somewhat irritating. However, she looks beautiful in this dress, she makes it look fun and exciting, it really suits her personality.

 

Aimee Teegarden looks beautiful, this dress is so amazing. The designer, Romona Keveza, really hit gold with this dress, it suits Teegarden so superbly, well done Keveza. Nominated for best dressed!

Aubrey Plaza this dress looks, just, beautiful! The flow and shaping of the dress really accentuates her figure, which is quite slim. The white colour of the dress really compliments her skin tone, bringing out her beautiful big eyes.

Kyle Richards, you may be in ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ but you look a mess. I’m just gonna throw that out there, you look like you’re trying to be young, whereas a beautiful black chic number would have made her look naturally younger, whereas this fishtail dress makes her look so curvy that it almost hurts my eyes. Nominated for worst dressed.

Connie Britton. When I first saw the dark scarlett dress I initially thought ‘gross’, however, the more I study it, the more I begin to fall in love with it. There is something strangely intriguing about this dress, I love the opening cut at the front, showing a bit of thigh, making her seem chic but sophisticated.

Julie Bowen looks stunning in this, the black lace pattern, like Britton shows enough skin to still look classy, I really do adore this dress, it looks simple, but the pattern makes it look sophisticated and ‘out there’.

Jennifer Carpenter, now this a brilliant example of too much skin being on show, and crossing the line of sophisticately sexy. Sorry Carpenter, but you over stepped the mark dear. I really adore the dress however, I just feel it would look more elegant if the cut was lower down the thigh and the low cut neck line wasn’t so low that there is too much cleavage on show.

Maria Menounos, amazing, amazing, amazing! This is fantastic. I love everything about this dress, it’s shine, it’s elegance, and it’s grace. Menounos looks so fantastic! Ahhh, I love it!

 

 

Minka Kelly, what are you doing? I thought you were part of Charlie’s Angels, not a 1980′s horror film actress. Nominated for worst dressed.

 

 

Kelly Osbourne, I love her, she looks fantastic, her weight loss shows massively, I can’t fault her.

 

 

Olivia Munn..WHAT IS THAT? Normally, i try to not be rude, but my God. Munn is usually one of the most beautiful girls I see, but this time, I’m afraid, you’ve failed me. Nominated for worst dressed.

 

 

Right, so, worst dressed winner is…

Minka Kelly! I don’t even want to explain why, I never want to see that dress again, sorry Minka!

 

And best dressed is…

Nina Dobrev!

 

“Bridesmaids” film review

I’ll be completely honest with you, I really did not wanna see this film, but it was a ‘Date Night’ with four of five of my sisters, so I thought I’d give it a shot! The reason I didn’t want to experience Bridesmaids is because I heard on a trailer that it was the ‘…female version of The Hangover.’ and that was a massive turn off for me due to the fact that I feel that female’s aren’t normally portrayed in a way of which males are in the Hangover. But anyway, back on track, here is the plot from IMDb:

“Picked as her best friend’s maid of honor, lovelorn and broke Annie looks to bluff her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals with an oddball group of bridesmaids.” Back to the referrence to the Hangover, I would like to say that Megan loosely outlines the same characteristics as Alan from the Hangover and Rita as Phil.

However, Rita was one of my favourite characters as her mannerisms were reflective of my humour. For example, she is on the phone to Annie, and she turns to her two sons of which are shouting at a video game, and shouts “Shut your filthy fucking mouths!” This shocks the audience as such language towards children is not normally encouraged within films.

Another element which language is massively shocking towards the audience is when Annie is bickering with a teenage girl in her place of work (jewlery shop) and the teenage girl insults Annie’s appearance to which Annie replies ‘You’re a little cunt.’ In the meantime, the entire shop full of people ironically go quiet in their conversation, and overhear the C word, which, like language towards children, is not normally encouraged in mainstream films.

The character of Helen is an interesting character, her personality can be analysed for hours, but I am not going to do that, don’t worry! But I feel that she is meant to be portrayed as the perfect, modern, rich sexy best friend, whereas Annie is the complete opposite, and the two play Laurel and Hardy roles with competing with eachother, like which Bridesmaids dress to buy; Helen wishes to purchase the expensive one in the thousands, and Annie chooses a cute number in the hundreds. Silly little elements like this made the film amusing for the audience, and every female could relate to that situation happening to them.

There are millions of scenes and moments I could analyse, but unfortunately I do not have forever, so I will just mainly pick out the moments of which the audience would have enjoyed. The character of Megan is somewhat disgusting, as her mannerisms are quite boyish and unladylike, unlike the other females. Her one liners are classic: “I’m glad he’s single because I’m going to climb that like a tree.” and ”I’m life Annie and I’m biting you in the ass!” If I’m honest, it was Megan’s character in the trailer which put me off this film, but during the film, I found her quite humorous and did infact like her character.

Annie’s character was my favourite, as she made me laugh more than anyone, the scene which Helen had drugged her on the flight to Vegas was hilarious, as her drunken antics caused her to be kicked off the plane and have an argument with the flight attended, I urge anyone who hasn’t watched it, to watch it asap!

Anyway, I’m really tired. Sorry that this review is so short, I promise the next one will be better!

beannacht!

Georges Antoni

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chelseajoanne/6073375679/in/photostream

This photograph is amazing! Georges Antoni is an Australian Photographer and he’s fantastic

I love his work, it’s fresh and amazing, I think all of you should look at his work immediately!

totsiens!

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture

Sveiki, I was just browsing through Vogue.co.uk, and came across the slideshow for Jean Paul Gaultier’s Couture Autumn/Winter Catwalk It’s awesome!

I really loved his use of dull colour, and made it somehow vivid, highlighting specific features and figures of the models. Here’s the link:

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2011/couture/jean-paul-gaultier#/image/3

What I gathered, or assumed, from the catwalk is that he was aiming to emphasis the women’s curves and show a certain femininity within each different model. His coats are very floaty and elegant, making them fashionable for everyday events. I liked the headdresses of which he placed to go with specific outfits, very well thought out.

Well, that was all, I will be writing a “Bridesmaids” film review tomorrow night.

sudie!