Living in a winter wonderland

It's winter in Cape Town.

And that means it's time to exercise my favourite trend ever: LAYERING!

Although, thank god it doesn't snow here :)

The Kiss @ The Guggenheim (2010)

I've had over 2000 page views (yay!)

Also, I'm so into floppy hats right now.

Another take on the Feral Female

 What is a man repeller?

 

man·re·pell·er¹  [mahn-ree-peller]

–noun

outfitting oneself in a sartorially offensive way that will result in repelling members of the opposite sex. Such garments include but are not limited to harem pants, boyfriend jeans, overalls (see: human repelling), shoulder pads, full length jumpsuits, jewelry that resembles violent weaponry and clogs.

–verb (used without object),-pell·ing, -pell·ed.

to commit the act of repelling men:

Girl 1: What are you wearing to the party?

Girl 2: My sweet lime green drop crotch utility pants!

Girl 1: Oh, so we're man repelling tonight?

*DISCLAIMER: the above conversation is not a dramatization, took place in this room 5 minutes ago.

Origin:
2009-10; < repellius (ptp. of repellia to eliminate male attention), equiv. to L repel- (s. of repellix) unattractive, celibate, paris fashion week, M.C. Hammer + -repel -ler¹

—Related forms

man·re·pell·ant, noun

What's new Woody?

So in his recent films, Woody Allen has been working his way through all the European cities. First Barcelona in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, then Paris in Midnight in Paris and now Rome in To Rome with Love. I am continually flabbergasted at the rate at which he churns his films out, maintaining a continued level of excellent witty dialogue. AND he got Roberto Benigni to be in his Italian-based film. Beyond excited.

 

The THE BIG, BURNING QUESTION TO END ALL QUESTIONS: 

Which city is next?

I think it might be Amsterdam, but I have high hopes for Berlin.

Young Jean Lee

Speaking about manifesto's, this is Young Jean Lee's:

Artistic Statement

When starting a play, I ask myself, "What's the last show in the world I would ever want to make?" Then I force myself to make it. I do this because going out of my comfort zone compels me to challenge my assumptions and find value in unexpected places. I write my shows as I’m directing them, working collaboratively with my performers and artistic team and getting feedback from workshop audiences. Our goal is to find ways to get past our audiences’ defenses against uncomfortable subjects and open people up to confronting difficult questions by keeping them disoriented and laughing. My work is about struggling to achieve something in the face of failure and incompetence and not-knowing. The discomfort and discovery involved in watching this struggle reflects the truth of my experience.

-Young Jean Lee

This woman is a boss.

 

Check her out at http://www.youngjeanlee.org/content/home

The question of the manifesto

So we had to write manifestos i.e. write in 5 sentences, then 3 and then just one measly sentence what kind of art we'll make and how the hell we're going to go about it. It was hard. I'm 22. I don't know! Don't force me to make decisions I don't want to make. Or worse yet, force me to voice out loud what my deepest, most secret dreams are, just in case I don't achieve them and I'll have evidence and then in later life I can pretend to be satisfied with mediocrity and can't pretend I didn't have dreams and no-one look back and say "oh shame, you tried and failed."Anyway! *Author decides to end emotional, scared and self-deprecating rant*

This is the manifesto for Dogme 95 (Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg's film collective), which I thought was kind of inspiring:

The goal of the Dogme collective is to purify filmmaking by refusing expensive and spectacular special effects, post-production modifications and other technical gimmicks. The filmmakers concentrate on the story and the actors' performances. They believe this approach may better engage the audience, as they are not alienated or distracted by overproduction. To this end, Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg produced ten rules to which any Dogme film must conform. These rules, referred to as the "Vow of Chastity," are as follows^:

1. Filming must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in. If a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found.
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. Music must not be used unless it occurs within the scene being filmed.
3. The camera must be a hand-held camera. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. The film must not take place where the camera is standing; filming must take place where the action takes place.
4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable (if there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
6. The film must not contain superficial action (murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden (that is to say that the film takes place here and now).
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
9. The film format must be Academy 35 mm.

With that inspiration in mind, how do I go about my manifesto? *Author sighs and has to admit that even she knows that if she doesn't put it out there, it ain't never going to come true... also, it's pretty general and doesn't go into the detail that exists in her head about actual dreams and goals... like living in Paris and Tokyo, studying curating and design, being a REAL ARTIST... oh shit, now I said them*

I endeavour, as a contemporary artist, to act as a cultural agent: to observe, document and comment on my perception and experience of society. I will create work that is both visually and intellectually evocative but not didactic. I will use every skill, tool and medium available to me to a multidisciplinary body of work.

Take me to Copenhagen

 I have just discovered http://thehousethatlarsbuilt.blogspot.com/ 

So in love.