gris

today I got a bit sunburned at the beach and visited the Jersey Shore house and ate a fried oreo.
now I wish to sleep.

bonne nuit, mes petites amoureuses.

La jetée

"This is the story of a man marked by an image of his childhood. The violent scene which upsets him and whose meaning he was only to grasp years later happened on the main pier at Orly, Paris Airport sometime before the outbreak of World War III."

"Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments. Only afterwards do they claim remembrance, on account of their scars."

Chris Marker - La jetée (1962). images from here.

The story is set in Paris post-WWIII and follows the time travel experiments performed on one of its survivors in an attempt to "call past and future to the rescue of the present." The film utilizes voiceover narration layered on top of photographic stills (shot by a Pentax Spotmatic). The gaps between these images is reminiscent of the comic book form in which the audience must imagine the connection/transition between the frames.

Perhaps it may seem like a step backward to utilize what is essentially a slideshow during the time of the proliferation of the medium of film, but I think Marker (who also did Sans Soleil) very effectively and beautifully followed the dictum of letting the message dictate the medium. What this short film accomplishes in 28 minutes is amazingamazingamazing!

If you have netflix, it is currently available on instant play. Watch it!

And while I'm handing out prescriptions on what you should be watching/reading, but on a completely unrelated note, head on over to Style Rookie and read her post on teenage body image as projected by mainstream media. This girl is sharp.

Claudine Doury

Claudine Doury via Tiny Toadstool. Makes summer look oh so lovely.

Pack rat

I don't think it's just Chinese people, but all the ones I know come from families of pack rats, my mom being the worst of them. Song Dong had an installation piece at MOMA awhile ago called 'Waste Not,' showcasing a collection of objects that his mom had collected over the past 50 years.

Lately I have been thinking about hoarders' logic and I happened to find Raina's Infinite Garage Project. Basically she has inherited everything in her parents' three-car garage, and the blog serves to help document her findings, memories, nightmares about the garage.. She is also selling some of her finds, which include lots of themed sweaters.

I've always joked about opening up our basement as a thrift store, but when I brought up the idea to my mum about having a yard sale, I was met with a suspicious glare and a resounding No.

"The Dungeon," as my dad, sister, and I used to call it.

I guess this strong connection to stuff comes from growing up with very few possessions, at least in my family's case. The acquisition of these objects signifies a certain level of 'success.' So my desire to minimize and organize, well the minimizing part anyway, struck a chord with my mom. Forunately, the Punk Rock Flea Market is happening on July 25, and I've got a table with Hannah. I will be selling some old clothes and shoes of mine, so please come 'round if you're in the Philly area. In the meantime, I found this wig in the basement and had a sleazy photo shoot (in the bathroom, predictably).

I am thinking about cutting the wig short a la Scarlett Johansson in LIT. Oui ou non?

Norwegian Wood

sEEP! Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood has been adapted into a film, to be released in Dec 2010 in Japan. I haven't seen a trailer, but here are some screenshots. Rinko Kikuchi, I just want to put you in my pocket.. you too, Matsuyama san!






Aha! and Johnny Greenwood (of Radiohead) is doing the soundtrack!

Supernova Girl

via Jackee

concrete jungle

(I admit it, I love empire state of mind.) So my sister and I ventured to ny yesterday, Manhattan and Brooklyn specifically. I made an itinerary and everything. We got shepherd's pie for lunch at an Australian place called Tuck Shop. After refueling, we did some shopping in SOHO (Uniqlo!). Apparently the Kardashians were at Topshop when we were there. Here is a conversation that the pop-culture conscious Carol and I had.

"Who are the Kardashians?"
"Uh.. they have dark hair?"

Then we had our first taste of MACARONS at La Maison du Chocolat. They were a lot smaller than I had imagined. Here is a picture of me next to some macarons to give you a sense of scale.

So navigating around Manhattan was a hitch but sadly Brooklyn was kind of a bust. It was only my third time there so gimme a break. First we tried to get to the Brooklyn flea market and we couldn't find it. Instead, we settled for smoothies at Bklyn Crepe and Juice bar, which were DELICIOUS! I had a blueberry/coconut/ginger smoothie. It was spicy and tangy and everything good, and even though it turned my teeth purple and seedy, I luuurrrved it. I also had a box of blueberries for breakfast on the bus over. Trivia(l): As a child, I was allergic to blueberries. I guess I'm not anymore.


Then we went to the Brooklyn Museum for a free night of activities. We found it without a problem but the lines were decades long (who knew so many people liked free stuff?) so we stayed for an "electropop" act for bit, then headed back to Manhattan for dinner. Korean BBQ!

There were lots of really young girls who were totally into this band. Strange, as this was a lyric that I caught: "Give it to me, give it to me slowly. It's a small motion explosion." Here are some other interesting things I heard yesterday:

"Sorry, I'm not a hotdog girl."
"I wanted to breastfeed him tonight but I was wasted."

I feel like I'm getting much better at navigating through ny. I saw an otherwise "cleancut" boy wearing bright red lipstick. Korean boys were trying to charm my pants off. Someone called me a fairy on the way home. All in all, a day well spent.