oscar worthy

I confess: Oscar/bafta season does get me excited. I try to watch a lot of films anyway but I'm always interested to see what's been nominated for the big film awards. In the run up to the Oscars, there's normally lots of good stuff out so here's a little round-up of what I've been watching along with some poster art. I do love alternative posters. Also, if you're thinking of heading to the cinema for valentines movie night perhaps this might help...

Her

Spike Jonze ('Where the wild things are', 'Being John Malkovich') has written and directed this, very beautiful, love story of a different kind. Set in the near future, writer, Theodor (Joaquin Phoenix) is recently divorced and rather lonely. He purchases a new type of operating system for his computer - intelligent, personable and capable of evolving. After answering a couple of initial questions and opting to make her female, Theodore's OS takes on a personality of her own. She (Samantha) and Theodore become closer and closer. Their relationship begins to change, evolving just as Samantha gradually expands and explores her humanity (of sorts). But is there a future for two 'people' with very different states of being - using being in the very loosest sense? Well I'm not going to say because I think you should watch it. I loved everything about this film - the story, the cinematography (really dream-like, the colours are beautiful), the characters, the little details (Theodore's job as a letter writer is v.clever, and the costume styling is ace) and the music. The music is particularly amazing - Arcade Fire and Karen O doing their thing can never be wrong. I also liked how it seemed believable. Yes it's set in the future where OS's have artificial intelligence but, we are already incredibly dependent on technology and it's evolving at an insane rate. Who's to say people wouldn't become attracted to their computers if they built up a rapport with them? It would be hard not to if they sounded like Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). Although she never appears on screen (Samantha doesn't have a body of course) her voice essentially carries the film forward. I read that someone else had originally been cast as Samantha and that Johansson had been a last minute change, recorded over the top of the original actress. A little harsh perhaps but Johnasson's voice is so full of life and has such an impact on everything throughout the story. I'm really rooting for this to scoop the 5 oscars that it's up for. Kinda romantic but not in a gooey-way.

The Wolf of Wall Street
The tale of stock broker, and massive jerk, Jordan Belfort (Leo DiCaprio) - it's one hell of a ride, an incredibly debauched, drug filled ride with a little bit of Jennifer Lumley thrown in for good measure. As all the trailers have suggested, it may have the words 'Wall Street' in the title but you don't really need to know a thing about stock markets, brokering etc to be able to follow this film (thank god, as I don't understand any of that stuff). Instead, what you get to witness are the fruits of the Belfort's corruption: namely having more money than he knows what to do with. You'd have thought there were only so many drugs to snort, cruise boats to crash, women to *ahem* bone, dwarves to throw, cars to crash, people to screw over, but not for Belfort. It's 3 hours long but you won't be bored for a second. The pace is fast, the script is sharp, it's superbly acted (Leo is awesome) and it's funny. It's been described as a black comedy - much of what happens is shocking (those work parties are essentially orgies) - but I laughed a lot, much of the time with open-mouthed horror. It deserves the hype and is definitely worth a watch, especially if you're after something rather
anti-valentines-y this evening.

12 Years A Slave

I put off watching this for a good while mostly because I knew it was going to be harrowing. But, all the reviews, comments from friends and Mitch persistently suggesting we should see it, were working against me so I caved. It is beautifully shot and incredibly well acted (terrifyingly well acted in terms of Fassbender) but it is absolutely devastating. Based on the memoirs of Solomon Northup, a free man leaving in New York with his wife and children, is was kidnapped in Washington DC and sold into the slave trade. It is heart-aching stuff, I cried almost the entire way through. And not silent crying, oh no, I was ugly crying. The brutality, the injustice, the shear lack of humanity that it is displayed in that film still haunts me. But, it is an amazing movie and thoroughly deserves all the praise it's getting. I'm glad I've seen it but I shall never ever watch it again. My advice? Make sure you've got something up-beat and light-hearted to watch afterwards if this is your choice tonight.

In spite of my fairly 'meh' feelings towards it - happy valentine's day! Hope you have a good one if you're a celebrator (tonight, we're staying in, making burgers and watching Wall-E). But more importantly, happy friday to all!

picture sources 1 // 2 // 3

27

This year I most certainly milked my brithday for all it was worth and had myself four very lovely days which went something like this:

opening cards, receiving v.kind texts from people, being treated to lunch at Bill's by my boss, enduring the tube strike and disgusting weather, dinner and drinks with Mitch at Bodeans, half day at work on friday, cocktails and pizzas at earlham street clubhouse, bit of shopping, a friend throwing me an afternoon tea on saturday, chilli-dogs and beer at the florence in the evening, a trip to Essex on sunday to see Mitch's parents who took us out for lunch at the quaintest little pub in the village of Much Hadam, watching the Wolf of Wall Street last night when we got back to Brixton.

As you can probably see, I basically just drank and ate A LOT. And it was bloody marvellous.

Sunday at the Barbican

I've been wanting to see the barbican conservatory for aaaages and last sunday I finally went and brought Mitch along for the ride.

We got the tube to Moorgate - it felt really eerie around there, completely deserted - and walked through the Barbican estate, which is also pretty strange. It kind of reminds me of something from a science fiction story - a little futuristic (blade runner-ish?) with it's weird canals and walkways (which is odd because it was actually built in the 60s). If you're curious or nosey (like I am) about the estate, I found this site which is most informative.

After we'd finished ogling the estate we headed to the Barbican Centre and up to the conservatory. It's a funny little place. Although someone is obviously looking after it, the conservatory has that feel of being overgrown - plants and vines climbing the central bricked tower, succulents overspilling their pots, giant leaves pushing outwards into the paths.

My favourite bit was the cacti and succulent room.

After the conservatory we went for something to eat in the Barbican food hall. I wish we'd got there sooner as they'd stop serving hot food. However, they did have a table of cake - yes a whole table (!) with such an impressive selection to choose from - and the decor was lovely!

We half thought about going to the Pop Art exhibition but we only had 30 mins or so before the Barbican shut, so gave it a miss. I'd highly recommend a visit to the conservatory. It's only open on sundays but we got there about 3:30 and it was pretty empty - most of the people there seemed to be sketching the plants.

I'm writing this having returned home from a very knackering day which mostly consisted of getting on buses, realising that the traffic in central london was at deadlock and that the bus had moved less than 10 metres in as many minutes, getting off and walking. I've basically been walking everywhere today which would've been fine if not for all the rain this afternoon. Ah well, a good cup of tea sorts everything out. Tomorrow not only brings day 2 of the tube strikes, it's also my birthday. Surviving my hideous commute shall be rewarded with dinner and lots of wine :)

something for spring

cute flats: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4

rucksacks: 1 // 2

bomber jackets: 1 // 2 // 3

fabrics: village haberdashery

It's my birthday very soon, and, like at christmas, I'm finding it rather difficult to answer the question: "is there anything you want?" What with moving out in a few weeks I'm reluctant to buy/ask for anything that'll take up space or, inevitability, be boxed up and stored until Mitch and I find our own home. And, thanks to christmas and my kindle, my usual go-to request for books is moot. So, I'm leaning towards some nice things for spring. No, not dresses, I've got too many of those. I'm thinking, some nice things for spring that I don't own such as: a light-weight jacket (perhaps a bomber as I'm sensing I couldn't pull off a biker jacket...), a rucksack (going to need something of the sort for Budapest) and shoes - I don't own any pairs suitable for spring other than my converse. Also, I have quite a few dress patterns that I want to try out but I only seem to have large quantities of floral fabrics, and heaven knows I've got enough floral print dresses. So, I think I'll splash out on one or three geometric prints.

pictures from the last week or so

So there I was, inwardly wondering whether January would ever end and then the last week of it flew by. Thanks to the long-awaited arrival of pay-day my evenings were full of fun things...

The photographer's t-shirt at a studio - love it.

Aw, these two :)

Shopping for my wedding dress fabrics - v.fun but rather daunting.

A little visit to Beyond Retro - might have bought something...well, yes, a v.summery dress.

Science Museum Lates: 3-D printing, ancient timers (hour glass in shape only - lots of them were random timers like 19 seconds) and astronomy monopoly (where you could purchase jupiter for $150 dollars!)

Comptoir Libanais in 

South Ken. Seriously delicious food (I had the fattet lamb kofta) and jazzy decor - how amazing are these tiles?!

Mugs and the wall of plates at my Nan's house.