Monday.

Today was a rather unproductive day at home. My day literally consisted of starting a new workout, reading some blogs, talking to a few friends and downloading music. That means that don't really have much to talk about today, but after missing two days this weekend, I can't start to fall into the habit! For that reason, I'm going to write a BS entry about one of my favorite things: international film. While I am not the most avid filmhead, I know a good movie when I see one, and I know that most of the movies that I've seen from other countries are pretty darn good! In fact, my favorite movie, Prague, is an indie from Denmark that has crazy amounts of drama, suspense and love. While the reason for being my favorite movie is not hidden in it's country of origin, I still love it nonetheless. I highly suggest that if you get a chance, to get it from Netflix and watch it with a friend who knows how to appreciate subtitles. Yes I know, most people don't like international movies because they don't like reading subtitles. It makes sense, it's hard to read both emotions and words at the same time, I agree. However I feel that in many other languages, even in Danish, emotions literally explode off of the screen. I've seen a few American movies where the acting has been good enough to allow the script to flow from the page and into an imaginative reality. However, only a few. Even my most loved American drama's have trouble making their scripts seem as authentic as many international actors and actresses. Perhaps it's the mystique of having a language that I am unfamiliar with spoken in such a powerful tone that really draws me in. However, it's not just the acting that really reels me in, we obviously have great actors here in the US, but also the stories as well.

Screenshot from the french film Angel-A.
All credit due to the owners of this photo.

I attended the Cleveland Film Festival a few years back, and had the pleasure of seeing a very simple Japanese movie. While the name escapes me (it's been like, five years), I do recall the story. It was about a big shot photographer who comes to visit his family in his one-horse hometown after his mother's death. While there, he is reunited with an old flame who he had once had feelings for. However, it would turn out that his older brother, who still lives in the town has also developed feelings for this girl. No doubt a typical love triangle, the story turns sour when the three are out for a walk, and the main character moves ahead of the group for some reason. At this point, the older brother confronts the girl, explaining his love for her, only for him to reject him. We are then presented with a slight twist in the story: her demise. Though just in time to see, it turns out that the younger brother witnessed it all. From this point on, the movie becomes a tragic confrontation for the young man. Having to choose between keeping his family together with the protection of his brother, or getting revenge for the girl that he had begun to love. While I'm sure this doesn't sound all too unique, it is driven home with a very unique cinematography and excellent scenery, which is something that we are honestly lacking here in the states. Movies all seem to be the same thing for the most part. It's as if cinema has become a creature of habit. If it breaks away and does something different, then we hail it as one of best movies out. Hell, even if it doesn't do anything different, it will still be hailed as one of the best movies out. (Avatar?) Well I'm not going to stand on my soap box and pronounce all American movies trash, but I will say that it's good to ground oneself with movies that you'd never expect. Get a good insight into the cultures that populate the world. What better way to do that than watch a movie? If you can't speak, read or understand the language, then watch a movie, throw on the subtitles and learn to multitask, because otherwise you're missing out on something spectacular.

Artwork from Akira Kirosawa's Yojimbo.
All credit due to the owners of this photo.

You haven't lived until you've seen an Akira Kurosawa film. 


P.S. That being said, most people won't like Akira Kurosawa films. Haha.

Crisi.

Photo from Kenya Style.

Saturday.

Last night was a whirlwind of circumstances. I'd rather not go into details, let's just say that I bumped in to a few people that I didn't expect to bump in to. While the night went off without a hint of awkwardness I feel as though I'm being lured into some sort of atypical rift of the Twilight Zone. I was fortunate enough to see a friend that I really admire, and a friend that I've crossed blades with once a few years back. With the former, we've already arranged a time to see each other again, but the latter still makes me uneasy. Perhaps I'm just not too sure about where our relationship can go from here. Either way, it made me start to think about the power of circumstance. If I had done anything else that night, I could have seen one, and not the other, or perhaps seen neither one of them, or perhaps even seen them both but under completely different circumstances. Perhaps I'm thinking about this a bit too much, but what can I say: I love Philosophy. I also love the scene from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in which they spend a small portion of the movie describing the significance of circumstance.


While that film isn't one of my favorites, I don't mind watching it, simply because of the desired nostalgia of living in the past. Of course, while I was not born a second before 1989, I still feel a connection to the past. Perhaps I feel like that was when I should have been born. While I admire the technology that the human race has crafted, I envy Marty McFly and his time-traveling automobile. So I figured why not get one of my own? These passed few weeks I've been seriously considering the purchase of one of Italy's classics: A Vespa.

Vespa advertisement. (above & below)
All credit due to the owners of these photos.

While I don't think that as soon as I hop onto the back of one of these things, the wheels are going to produce embers on the pavement behind me, and I'll instantly appear in 1955, I do think that I'll feel the nostalgia. A motorcycle is one thing, and while a lot of people might think it's more 'manly,' I think it's nothing but machismo. The Vespa isn't meant to show people how well endowed you are, it's meant to get you from point A to point B. Zipping through traffic at 20mph over the speed limit isn't what the creators of the classic were hoping for, but instead something that lets you admire and appreciate the surroundings that you live in. In my opinion, The Vespa is something that many people would consider futile or perhaps even repugnant, but when what many people don't seem to understand is...

Audrey Hepburn on the back of Gregory Peck's Vespa (above)
Two women sporting bathing suits and a Vespa (below)
All credit due to the owners of these photos.

... women love Vespas.

Tuesday.

This is my first independent blog post ever. It feels weird, but I guess I have to make this sort of thing routine. I've been at this thing for about 30 min, and am still trying to figure it out, but until I get used to blogger, I think I'll just write what I want. 

Today, it was about 95 degrees. The dead of July is as unforgiving as ever, despite me having been inside for the majority of the day. It's the sort of heat that makes you just want to sleep, even if you aren't really tired. It's exhausting to have such heat sitting on your back, but at the same time, it makes you want to get out and do something! That something, for me at least, is creating a blog. Of course, creating a blog and finally listening to the new Big Sean album. I would highly recommend it. Do it. 

So as I'm sitting here thinking of how to make this thing, or what to make it about, I took a look at one of my favorite photo blogs: Citizen Couture. The first image that would grace my eyes was that of the gorgeous, Italian beauty that is Eleonora Carisi (@Eleonoracarisi). While her magnificent brown eyes were hidden behind a pair of Liberty London frames, the creator of photo fashion blog, JouJou Villeroy's beauty shone through. So as the classic hood anthem of Marvin and Chardonnay would blare through my headphones, and as I continued to stare at this invincible combination of fashion and natural beauty I found myself a bit cultured. Haha.

Eleonora Carisi (above)
All credit due to owners of this photo.

I don't think that I feel cultured because I'm listening to a song that has nothing to do with it's title, while looking at a foreign woman. Instead, I would say that I feel cultured because of the fact that I can do it while knowing the irony of the situation. Of course, while I admire Big Sean and all of his label-mates at G.O.O.D. Music, I feel that they are slowly abandoning the thing that makes me admire them so much. Aside from the incredible wordplay that the rappers exert, the Rosewood lifestyle that they exert is something that really makes the band of merry rappers so fucking cool. I've been trying to incorporate the whole Rosewood hashtag into my tweets to try and revitalize the movement, but I guess the real question is: does it need to be revitalized? 

Kanye West and Big Sean (above)
All credit due to the owners of this photo.

Maybe not.