Fantastic!

I went to see Fantastic Mr Fox the other day and it was pretty neat, I liked it a lot. Then yesterday I was reading Design*Sponge and they do these posts called 'living in...' which are like style guides for the sets of movies and TV shows. Anyway, they have done 'living in: Fantastic Mr Fox'.

It features a lot of wood, including this really cool turntable from Anthropologie. You have to check it out. At $1,298 US dollars sadly it is a little (ok way) out of my budget... but I can dream.

What I have been doing while not blogging

Here's a brief update:

Have seen two movies - Coco Avant Chanel and Sunshine Cleaning. I liked the first one more than the second one.

Coco Avant Chanel is not a good movie if you actually want to know about Coco Chanel. But it is a biopic so I guess a bit of embellishment is to be expected. I really liked the costuming and set design. Audrey Tautou is fantastic. I like the sincerity she brings to this role. But I thought the ending was a bit abrupt and over-laboured.

Sunshine Cleaning was just okay. Once again a poorly ended movie. I am guessing it must be a hard task to come up with a good ending for a movie... maybe?

Also went alone to one of the talks in the series of Mayoral Conversations. Last night was Rita Justesen talking about the revitalisation of the Copenhagen waterfront. Unfortunately, the venue was truly appalling. Aotea Centre 'conference facilities' are not good at all. The room was the wrong size and shape, so no one could properly see or hear the speaker. The screens for projecting the presentation on to were too low. As a result everyone was bobbing side to side, up and down and arching their necks to see. I would like to point out that it is advertised on The Edge's website as being "New Zealand’s premier conference destination, an unrivalled complex in which to do business." I beg to differ. So as you can tell this was a big distraction in being able to enjoy the event.

My conclusion on the mayoral conversation series: Don't go. The wine is no longer good, the venue isn't likely to be either, the speakers are okay, and the dumb questions people ask are likely to annoy you. In the future I am planning to watch them on YouTube.

On the up side, I am now thinking of adding Denmark onto my list of places to go. It looks pretty. Copenhagen - "It's Chic. It's Exciting." And it has interesting architecture. Maybe my love of architecture and interest in urban planning is thanks to my Danish ancestry?!

Some photos of Copenhagen from: VisitCopenhagen.com

Belated highlights from the weekend

Kia ora!

I have been busy working this week. Even though it is only part-time (sorry to you real working people, who make me look slack) I am unaccustomed to how much time it takes up. And then I got struck down by my annual sinus infection. :( So that's why I haven't got around to updating this blogity, blog, blog.

So...I know it's now Thursday but the weekend just gone was so awesome! I am still reliving it now. Very indulgent and now I feel slightly lighter in the wallet area, although it made me happy, so what the hey!

Films and eating were the two concurrent themes (no surprises from me really) of the weekend. But there was also friends, birthdays, babies and children to entertain us as well.

Food highlights included:

• A chocolate birthday cake (not mine, but BTW mine was sooo good)
• A soysage dog with fries from Frankie's Wurstbude (they have the best aioli too)
• MP's mash and veg
• Coffee and orange almond cake at Mezze
• A fantastic quiche, followed by chilli chocolate

So many treats, all so bad for me!

I went to 2 more films in the festival (4 in total). I don't seem to be able to do more than four, maybe because I have the attention span of a midge.

Saturday was the 'world premiere' of Land of the Long White Cloud.

You could watch some bits on Youtube or you could lobby your local theatre to screen it. Which is probably a better option.

After the screening the 'cast' and crew got up and talked. It's a real treat to watch a film with the contributors in the audience. Everyone laughed and talked when they saw people they knew.

Anyway, the movie is lovely. Funny, amusing, and thoughtful. The scenery is stunning and the people are choice! The only not so great thing was I think they rushed with editing a bit (3 weeks!) and it showed.

The other movie I saw was Visual Acoustic which I mentioned last week. As a lover of modernism, and a person who LOVES to look at other peoples houses, it would have been a crime for me to miss it. And happily I can report it did not disappoint at all, not in any way. The film was incredibly well-made, the subject was fascinating and well explained. The houses were so drawl worthy. I was in heaven! And it is narrated by Dustin Hoffman, who has a really relaxing calming, steady voice.

So I am now planning a holiday in Palm Springs, so I can fully nerd it out and spend all day swooning over Modernist architecture and taking photos of amazing buildings.

And I would stay in this hotel (Source)

And visit the Palm Springs Art Museum (Shulman photo from Palm Springs Modernism Committee)

And maybe take a tour of some of the houses (source: Shulman photo from Taschen).

And as a memento I would buy this Taschen book set:

Source: Taschen

All this luxury living has left me feeling incredibly thankful for the things I get to do in my life.

It is Poetry Day. Well Montana has made it so. I have never been that 'into' poetry. But I wish I was.

Today I have been to see 24 City screening as part of the festival. I'm sure they screened this movie today on purpose (it would be an incredible coincidence if they didn't), but I did not make the connection between poetry day and this film until I was in the theatre watching.

The film is about a factory that once produced secret military hardware but is moving to a new greenfield site and the site of the old factory is becoming a housing and shopping development called 24 City. It is part fact and part fiction. According to the movie the name 24 City comes from an old poem: the cherished hibiscus of 24 city in full bloom, a flourishing flower

The film is broken up with WB Yeats poetry quoted across a black screen, including this one that is particularly poignant:

Though leaves are many, the root is one;

Through all the lying days of my youth

I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;

Now I may wither into the truth.

I am not sure what I thought of this film. I did enjoy the aesthetics of it. But emotionally I felt unattached, even though I think some people were sniffling in the audience (or was it swine flu?!)

Tony Rayns, London Film Festival, said this of the film "Jia once again humanises China's modern history - and turns it into poetry."

You can watch a trailer of this movie on YouTube. And read a review from the New York Times here.

Image from a scene in the film from NY Times

I'm back.

The Tui that likes to sing early in the morning in the Puriri tree outside our house is also back. So we can expect early morning wake up calls for months to come... lucky us :)

The International Film Festival has started. I am not sure how many films I will get to this year. But I sure am going to try and get to a few. I think I have marked about 30 films I want to see!

Yesterday was Bastille Day. So it's a great time to celebrate all things French, including French film directors, such as Agnès Varda. Agnès has two films in the festival line-up this year and later in the year NZ Film Society is screening some of her short films. She is known as a revolutionary film maker, feminist and was one of the few women associated with the New Wave film movement (La Nouvelle Vague). Very strong use of cities in film (appeals to me because I like cities).

I found this interesting article about her in the New York Times. And a review of Cléo from 5 to 7 and The Beaches of Agnès on the Lumière Reader (this is a good site by the way).

Source: Agnès Varda MySpace

Also I really like the name Agnès at the moment. If I had a daughter I might pick this name, even though no one else has come round to the idea yet!