A Year Flashes Before My Eyes

A year in which I watched all-time classics such as Casablanca, Sunset Blvd. or The Graduate for the first time.

A year in which I started some directors' filmographies such as Haneke's and in which I finished others such as Almodóvar's.

The journey ended.

A year in which Jeringa and Pennywise travelled to the Moon.

A year in which I celebrated two years of pure bliss the same day I moved to a different flat.

A year in which I saw concerts as amazing as Mika's, Madonna's or (an after and a before in my life) Lady Gaga's.

A year in which we fought the faceless monster of bureaucracy to get a scolarship.

A year in which I finished a journey I had started three years before.

A year in which I became an adult when I moved to a different city, a wonderful city, with the best roommate/lifemate ever. Growing up involved almost crying when Ikea furniture laughed at me...

A year in which I learnt to cook, to clean, to decorate for Christmas and to buy magazines on a budget. Well, maybe I failed that last part.

A very good year.

Lectura Navideña

La portada del libro

Muchísimas gracias a Papá Noel por traerme el fabuloso libro The Fashion File, escrito por la diseñadora de vestuario de la mejor serie en la historia de la televisión: "Mad Men". Aunque el libro no se centra en su 

Betty y sus futuros marido e hijo

 labor como diseñadora de la serie, está repleto de anécdotas que, como buen MadMeníaco, me llenaron de placer. Además, los consejos de moda (especialmente el capítulo dedicado a la ropa vintage y el que te enseña a convertirte en Don Draper) son originales, personales y muy útiles. Me encantó el momento en el que rebate la máxima de Coco Chanel. La diseñadora dijo que antes de salir de casa era conveniente mirarse al espejo y quitarse un complemento. Bryant, por el contario dice que en estos tiempos que corren, el consejo tiene que invertirse. Antes de salir de casa, es mejor ponerse un complemento más. Me inclino 

Roger Sterling

Uno de los mejores momentos de la serie.

más a estar de acuerdo con Bryant porque si yo siguiese el consejo de Chanel, saldría de casa siempre sin reloj...

El libro es además un canto a la idiosincrasia fashionista, algo con lo que estoy de acuerdo hasta cierto punto, 

que para algo se desloma todos los meses Anna Wintour... Lo que es seguro es que leyendo el libro dan ganas de volver a ver la serie desde el principio para disfrutar no solo con las inmejorables tramas o con los complejos personajes sino con los vestidos que realzan la "virginal" pureza de Betty, con los trajes de Roger o con las obras maestras que realzan las imposibles curvas de Joan.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

The Noah Castle Film Awards (Wait, Hold On...)

Truth be told, I had thought to publish my awards for the best in the cinematic year towards the end of December. I already knew there would be tons of films I still would not have seen but I thought I could correct the awards somewhere in February, then again somewhere in April and most likely somewhere in September (could everyone take a moment to admire the Spanish release system? I do not understand it either.). Anyway, I have decided to skip this first December step because let's face it, I have a thousand movies left to see. And what could be more fun than anticipation?? (Maybe watching the films already but sadly that is not an option)

So here it is the list of 2010 films I haven't seen yet. It's obviously incomplete (but I'm probably never seeing The Bounty Hunter anyway) and it will most likely lack films I want to see and did not remember... Well, imperfection is so much easier to achieve than perfection. Actually, most of these films are the ones that have awards traction...

- 127 Hours: This movie opens the 25th of February, the Friday before the Oscars. It seems that now it's only about James Franco and its possibilities for picture are dying but still it looks like I will enjoy this a lot more than Slumdog Millionaire.

- Animal Kingdom: It opens the 14th of January.

- Another Year: I hope Lesley Manville doesn't get a Best Actress nomination because lately it seems that Nicole Kidman is the weakest link...

- Barney's Version: An exception to the awards traction rule but Rosamund Pike is so lovely...

- Black Swan: The film I most anticipate. Aronofsky! Portman! Ballerinas! I'm dying to see it!!! It opens in Spain the 28th of January, right in the middle of exams period, and yes, seeing it is more important than passing any stupid subject...

- Blue Valentine: This film still has not an opening date in Spain. We were very close to see it in a festival in Gijón but fate wouldn't have it.

- Conviction: This looks so terrible but Sam Rockwell is worth it (hopefully).

- The Fighter: Another important player without release date. Amy Adams playing against type!!

- Get Low: The premise in the trailer looks cool but the development not so much...

- How do you Know: Not very much relevance in awards either but... there was a time in which I loved Reese Witherspoon.

- The Killer Inside Me: It opens the 21st of January

- The King's Speech: I could have already seen this but since I live in Madrid I'm used to see basically everything in Original Version and I am spending the holidays in Zaragoza, my hometown which is considerably smaller and has about two films in Original Version at the same time. Sadly The King's Speech is not among those two, so I'm going to wait until I'm back in Madrid to see it.

- Love and Other Drugs: Anne Hathaway and a very much naked Jake Gyllenhaal? Yes, please! It opens the 14th of January.

- Made in Dagenham: Again, Rosamund Pike is lovely.

- Monsters: It looks like this year's District 9 (let's hope they don't share the disappointing second half...).

-Morning Glory: Is there anyone lovelier than Rachel McAdams? I recently rewatched Mean Girls and she was robbed a nomination...

- Rabbit Hole: The second film I most anticipate. JCM! Kidman!! Grief! Sandra Oh! When the film was announced I fantasised that Sandra Oh would play Kidman's sister and I even read the play imagining her in the role. Now I know that is not her character but wouldn't it have been great? It still has not a release date in Spain.

- Red: Three words. Mary Louise Parker. She could appear only in painting and I would still line up to see the film.

- Somewhere: It doesn't have a Spanish release date.

- Tangled: Reviews have been generally good and The Princess and the Frog was actually great. Now that Pixar smells like failure (Cars 2, seriously?) maybe Disney will take the room on the top...

- The Tourist: If it wasn't for the Globes nods I would stay away from this but I like to have a full picture in my head. It opens the day after tomorrow. Yay I guess...

- True Grit: The Coen's western looks very good. It opens the 11th of February. Plus Hailee Steinfeld looks like a lock more and more...

- The Way Back: It opens the 5th of January. I want to see Saoirse Ronan so badly! In fact the whole cast is great but the director... maybe not so much.

Anyway, I hope that towards the end of February I'll have a better picture to bestow some awards before March begins... After all March in Spain is like January in the States; if anything worthwile opens it can be considered a miracle.

Christmas is the time for...

...beds that are too low...

...homework...

...more homework...

...gifts!...

...and family, friends and pets.

Burlesque Triste de Trompeta

Tengo el corazón contento, el corazón contento lleno de alegría porque tanto Burlesque como Balada Triste de Trompeta son películas maravillosas (quede dicho de entrada que la segunda es mucho mejor que la primera). Ambos elencos son geniales, pero ya que nos gusta ordenarlo todo, destaquemos a Cher y a Stanley Tucci en Burlesque y al trío protagonista de Balada Triste de Trompeta. En el terreno de dirección y guión, la película de Álex de laIglesia le da sopas con ondas a la de Antin, aunque es divertido ver todas las referencias que esta última toma de otras películas con similar propósito (tristemente hay más de El Bar Coyote que de Showgirls, pero qué le vamos a hacer, no todos los días se crean obras maestras del nivel de la de Verhoeven). El único aspecto en el que Burlesque lleva la delantera (no, ni siquiera en las delanteras que Carolina Bang va muy bien servida, gracias) es en la categoría de "Película para pasar un buen rato en el sentido tradicional de la palabra buen". Pero si se está un poco menos tradicional que de costumbre, con Balada Triste de Trompeta, también se puede pasar un muy buen rato.

El tuerto es el rey

a) Lo bueno: Entrar al Teatro Real con las entradas al 90% de descuento. (Se llama Último Minuto, y se pueden coger cuatro horas antes de que empiece la función siendo menor de 30 años. Obviamente, muy recomendable)

b) Lo genial: Ver al Ballet de Zúrich interpretar las Variaciones Goldberg. Un buen bailarín de clásico es el mejor símbolo de la perfección y todos los bailarines del espectáculo eran geniales. Dejaban mudos con tanta precisión y belleza.

c) Lo malo: Estar en un asiento desde el cual no se ve el escenario completo. Ningún teatro debería vender localidades desde las que no se pueda disfrutar del espectáculo y muchísimo menos sin avisar de su visibilidad reducida.

De cualquier modo siendo b>c y a siendo la guinda al pastel, mereció completamente la pena (de no verlo bien).

All I want for Christmas is you

Aunque algo de ropa nunca viene mal... Algunas cosas que ando buscando últimamente son:

Una mochila de cuero

Un jersey navideño

y las Adidas redes sociales (en realidad estas no las estoy buscando y aún no sé si me convencen completamente, pero la idea me encanta)

¡Viva la Navidad capitalista!

Strange things will happen...

... if you let them. And certainly the HFPA does let them. Golden Globe nominations! Chaos and fun! I'm not including a complete list but rather some random thoughts on the nominations. If you want a full list The Film Experience has one and IMDB another. And maybe, I don't know, try Google! (It is a page few people know and I enjoy recommending it ;))

Random thought #1: 127 hours is not up for picture but it is for script. (Thoughts pause for a while) And here I was thinking that my random thoughts would be more elaborated.

Random thought #2: I am Love is love. I am so glad it's nominated!

Random thought #3: Three of the nominees for best actress in a comedy have names that start with the letters An. Two of them have names that start with Anne. One of them has a name that also ends with Anne. That's Anne Hathaway, in case you're wondering...

Random thought #4: YAY! EMMA STONE IS SO FUN!

Random thought #5: Johnny Depp's next award will probably be Miss Universe. That is more likely than someone enjoying his performance (or anything about the movie for that matter) in Alice in Wonderland.

Random thought #6: I'm getting tired of typing Random thought all those times. From now one RT means Random thought.

RT #7: Mila Kunis is nominated!! Bliss!

RT#8: RT reminds me too much of Rotten Tomatoes, which by the way has also a list of the nominees. I'm going back to Random thought full.

Random thought #9: Aronofsky is nominated!! Bliss the Sequel!!

Random thought #10: In case Random thoughts #7 and #9 did not make it clear enough, I love Black Swan being nominated for things. And I still haven't seen it...

Random thought #11: In case Random thought #5 did not make it clear enough, Alice in Wonderland makes unicorn puppies die of cancer.

Random thought #12: I love Nicole Kidman so much. She is without a doubt my favorite actress. From this we can conclude that I am happy she is nominated. In fact, except for the two uninvited guests (Berry and Wahlberg), I am very content with the drama acting nominations (though Kidman, Portman and Eisenberg are extra special in my heart).

Random thought #13: I really feel there is too much wrongness with the TV nominations to put my regular thoughts into Random thoughts. Maybe some other time, some other post.

Random thought #14: I did not want to end with 13 random thoughts.

Random afterthought #1: As I wrote the tags I realized that I did not mention Fincher or The Social Network once and that is very wrong because that film is exquisite and deserves all the nominations it has. This is such a good year for great films but the greatest (so far) is The Social Network.

Blonde Ambitions Part II (The Abortions)

Please, understand that the title of this post has nothing to do with Vera Drake's profession. What has been aborted were the careers of these TV blondes. Another thing these two girls have in common is their show ending this 2010. And so did their hopes to work...

Becki Newton was Amanda on Ugly Betty and she was hilarious. From killing one-liners ("I have pornographic memory") to physical comedy (her way of walking should have earned top billing) she was the funniest part about a show that, let's face it, was not very good. But alas, I loved it. And Amanda was (obviously) my favorite character. And poor Becki Newton got a leading role in a sitcom about a virgin (whom she was going to play) and she got pregnant. Maybe she thought the role was for an HBO epic in which she would play the Virgin Mary. Whatever her reasoning, the thing is that, in that particular case, a pregnant virgin was not what was required. So she was out of job (but with a baby, so she was happy nevertheless). We can only hope that once those stretch marks have faded she will make us laugh again.

Emilie de Ravin, on the other hand, was never much fun on her show (Lost, for the two people who did not follow it). She was cute, sweet and on one flashback, a brunette. But she was never fun per se. Maybe with the fake peanut butter... Anyway, she was blonde and beautiful and it looked like she was going to have a career in movies. She appeared on Michael Mann's Public Enemies (a film which also featured current go-to girl Carey Mulligan but they could be pointing a gun to my head and I still would not remember her) and on that hey-it's-Robert-Pattinson film Remember me and then she fell off the side of the Earth! Ironic after starring in a film which title is imploring us not to forget her...

Conclusion: These two girls were promised a paradise that was lost. Time will tell if they can regain it... (How awful it is to make a Milton reference when all you have read of his work are the titles?)

To be continued...

Una Educación

Llevo unos dos años y nueve meses recibiendo una educación que no tiene nada que envidiar a la que se pueda obtener en una universidad de la Ivy League. Y es que no hay nada comparable a vivir con un experto en arte...

El Juicio de Paris de Rubens (actualmente en El Museo del Prado)

...en música...

Florence+The Machine

...en cine...

Bailar en la Oscuridad (Dancer in the Dark de Lars Von Trier, 2000), una de las muchas películas que empecé odiando y he acabado amando por encima de lo humanamente posible.

...definitivamente, no hay nada comparable. Gracias.

Blonde Ambitions Part I (The Antichrist)

If you were expecting some kind of cool Antichrist (like Charlotte Gainsbourg with a talking fox) this is not your lucky day. This is just your regular Katherine Heigl Antichrist. Inspired by Human Dramedy's wonderful take on a couple of brunettes, I thought I would do the same for the blondes of the world, the TV world that is. Blonde actresses working (now or sometime) on television and how have they fared in their careers. And as I compiled the list of the actresses I would like to discuss, I realized that a post was not enough to accomplish such a task. So here it is the first part of this humble project. (sidenote: there is nothing more humble than calling yourself humble) And as I do in life, I have chosen to start with the more disgusting part: the black-void blonde ambition.

Katherine Heigl first appeared in my life as Izzie Stevens on Grey's Anatomy and I'm proud to say I loved her! Her character was nothing if not lovable and someone playing a doctor so nice has to be nice in real life... Ha! The magic of television is prone to fool you. After becoming one of the most loathed characters ever she eventually left the show that gave her everything and turned into a "movie star". I could be Ok with that. Celebrities are entitled to bitchiness according to Bette Davis' and Joan Crawford's gospels... But if you leave a decent (or semi-decent by the time she left) show to star in films such as 27 dresses, The Ugly Truth or Killers, be prepared to be hated by me. And to be fair, I have not seen any of those films but this is my blog and I can have prejudices if I want to!! If you don't like it, stop reading and go watch High School Musical for all I care!! Blah! Crazy!!

Anyway, Katherine Heigl, I hate you. I loved you once, though. But don't worry, it doesn't look like my love for you is ever coming back... So this is it. The first Blonde Ambition and she's burnt in hatred flames!

To be continued...

Actors can have penises too!

Sometimes I forget that in the world of acting men do some things too (but it is logical because women are so fascinating). Anyway, the thing is that THR has graced us with another round table, this time with actors and I have a few stupidities to say..

 The first and most noticeable thing if you are human and homosexual is that most of this men are super hot. I would definitely pay to see these three men (plus Gosling, not in this picture but possibly the hottest around the table) directed by renowned auteur Bel Ami...

 Secondly you can notice that either Robert Duvall is completely lacking in social skills or just demented. The way he made the interviewers repeat the questions was quite annoying (though the questions were bland and boring to begin with...) and his tirade against Kubrick was just blasphemy. I wonder how Jack Nicholson feels about what he said. For the record I believe that both performances Duvall despises (Nicholson's in The Shining and Malcolm McDowell's in A Clockwork Orange) are tremendously great. On the other hand I was happy to see that even grumpy Robert joined the general consensus while praising Fincher because Fincher is a lot of Fincher...

Eisenberg is, on the other hand, the one I found more likable. He was evidently very nervous, like the time when he's five minutes looking for a precise word and comes up only with "friend". He also gets points for his reaction when everyone is laughing at Duvall's dementia and for saying that working with Fincher is amazing. I also loved when he looked for approval from Ruffalo (another Fincher boy) and when he mentions his lack of experience compared to his fellow actors.

I thought Firth would be funnier slash more charming than he actually is. But he looks so smart and dashing that I can't help being in love with him. Plus he's British. The downside is he's going to get an Oscar for a role I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy a lot...

What was going on with Franco? Was he high? Or just high on himself? It was kind of pathetic when he talked about his experiences in the directing world. Bitch, please! What have you directed? Two short films? Anyway the pornstache was very hot and arrogance looks hot on him.

Oh my God, Ryan Gosling is too beautiful to be true in this interview. And he seemed nice which is something I had never felt about him before. It was like Gosling was playing Franco and Franco was playing Gosling... Just like arrogance looks hot on Franco, humbleness looks really hot on Gosling. Basically everyone was hot around the table! Have I mentioned the general hotness enough times?!?

And last but not least (least would actually be first, sorry Bob), we have not-obviously-hot-but-hot-in-a-weird-way-nevertheless Mark Ruffalo. He looked very nice talking about his background as a waiter and his family being blue collar and his starting acting in his late twenties... And he's very funny and also smart because he makes the most of the Fincher anecdote on the thousand takes by grabbing Gosling's chest... Seriously, who wouldn't do that?






As a closing note I would like to point out that even though I haven't lived many awards races (this is only my third one) it's being the most exciting by far! Yay! Awards!

Gaga

I saw Lady Gaga. She ate my heart and the she ate my brain. 

I don't mean to sound like a Justin Bieber fifteen-year-old fan but I think I had a religious experience.

A sense of community and of art I had never felt before.

The next level. Gaga.

De la posible estupefacción humana

No sé a qué se debe pero en Zaragoza ya no se estila que en los cines, antes de las películas, proyecten anuncios de productos que no sean otras películas (i.e. tráilers). En Madrid, donde ahora vivo y en concreto en los cines Yelmo Ideal, siguen saliendo anuncios tan variados como los de Vodafone y Aquarius. En la matinal del sábado (otra cosa que en Zaragoza no existe y en Madrid, gracias al cielo, sí), antes de Biutiful (el título más irónico de la historia del cine), nos encontramos  con la cara de Luis García Berlanga en un maravilloso anuncio para Médicos sin Fronteras.

La estupefacción a la que hace referencia el título, fue la que sentimos cuando justo después del obligado rótulo "A la memoria de Luis García Berlanga", apareció una gigantesca María Patiño anunciando el mismo horno que anuncia  Mr. T en uno de los canales de la TDT que son 24 horas de los mismos tres anuncios (todos fantásticos, hilarantes y tan especiales como copos de nieve). Quién iba a decirle a María Patiño que iba a llegar a la pantalla grande...

Yo nunca lo hubiese dicho.

Magic everywhere you look

Núria Espert in La Violación de Lucrecia

Yoon Jeong-hee in Poetry

La poesía tiene voz de mujer

Es maravilloso ver cómo un tema (en este caso la mujer) es tratado desde todos los puntos de vista imaginables y el conjunto sigue siendo coherente y cohesionado. Y Amparo... Amparo es un regalo para los sentidos.

Zaragozando

Increíble pero cierto, esta es la foto más representativa de Zaragoza a la que tengo acceso. Desde luego Zaragoza sin los Aragonia sería menos Zaragoza. Yo que siempre me había creído un ciudadano del mundo... y ahora Zaragoza se siente muy mía.

The Year of the Red-Headed Woman

Todo o nada

La exposición de fotografías de Mario Testino en el Thyssen es un antídoto. Un antídoto contra la mediocridad, contra la acomplejada cultura-Cuore y contra la apatía. Unas fotos así no pueden dejar indiferentes. Una pena que por la sala se oyesen comentarios de gente resentida con la belleza por no poseerla alabando las virtudes del Photoshop y contando pezones a la vista. Mario, ¡sálvanos!