Pirates

I have always loved pirates. Even before "Pirates of the Caribbean" came out. I loved reading "Treasure Island" and watching movies like "Hook", "The Swiss Family Robinson", "Kidnapped" and "Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." Recently, I've been reading up on the history of pirates, and am completely fascinated. Women were involved in piracy more than most people expect! There's Anne Bonnie, the Southern lady who sailed away with her pirate lover and found her freedom disguised a a male pirate. Or Mary Read, who pleaded "her belly" when she was supposed to hang and was set free because she was pregnant. Or even Blackbeard's wife, who married him even after he killed her fiancee and gave her his finger in a box. She never believed that her fiancee was acually dead, and would wait for him each day on the docks to come back to her. Some say her ghost still haunts the docks of coastal North Carolina....

Fashion: Rihanna

Doesn't Rihanna just ooze confidence here? Great fashion, great attitude, awesome photograph.

Ocean's 13

I love this movie! It's like James Bond sans the erotically named sluts plus a wicked sense of humor and lots of attractive men instead of just one. I can't imagine what it was like to film in the hotel they used in the movie...it was completely gorgeous, the people were completely gorgeous...everyone must have had a lot of fun at work.

Random Garish Clown Photo That Somehow Struck My Fancy

Marchesa Dresses

Somehow, these dresses seem both historic and space-agey. I'm not sure I'd wear them, but they're pretty cool, so why not blog about them?

Panda Tank Happiness

I love the boldness of this top. First of all, I love tank tops in general (I'm a casual girl at heart.) Secondly, the pastel florals of spring are getting a little old...especially after I featured them heavily in my last film (every female character wore floral...I kid you not.) Thirdly, the pandas aren't overtly "I'm a cute little panda"-ish, a theme which we have Hello Kitty to thank for. (Smile.) The top is from Delia's.

Crafty Shoes

Shoes seem to be sporting a bit more of a "custom look" these days. These are all from Urban Oufitters, but you could recreate most of them with a little fabric paint, ribbon, and an old pair of Keds. Add one more thing to my crafty to-do list....

8 Random Things About Me

1: When I was in middle school, I went through this feminist streak where I refused to cook. But after I saw everyone praising my younger brother for the food he made, I got jealous and have loved cooking ever since.

2: I've never read the Harry Potter books. Too busy with Lord of the Rings and The Prydain Chronicles.

3:I would love to have a big, old house from the 1800's with a library with one of those ladders on wheels that rolls around the book shelves.

4: I have a very strong affection for rassberries.

5: When I was little, I believed that Darth Vader lived in my closet.

6: i also believed that the Vietnam War was fought by Vietnamese elephants on Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota. I can thank my uncle for that one...

7: I've always wanted ruby slippers.

8: I always carry a notebook and pen.

Casino Royale

Normally I'm not an advocate of James Bond. As alluring as he can be, every single one of his films loses me once he starts rolling into bed with women named such things as Pussy Galore or Honey Ryder. But Casino Royale, despite it's flaws, is a stunning film. The cinematography is incredible....it's stark, yet rich, incorporating lots of high-exposure, light drenched shots in with the more moody settings you'd expect. When Bond is whiping the blood off of his face after killing a man, the frantic, shaking camera angles do as much to propel the story along as the acting. The movie opens in harsh black and white, more like moving, artistic mug shots than traditional black-and-white-films. But the scene that will stick with me the most was, in my opinion, sheer brilliance. Bond comes to check on his partner, Vesper Lynd, after they've just killed a man. He finds her sitting in the shower, still in her evening gown, silently crying over the thing she has just done. Bond simply sits in the shower with her and holds her. It was such a wonderful moment. It's moments like that that make great movies.

POTC: At World's End Soundtrack

This soundtrack is incredible. It incorporates electric guitar and reminds me of those fantasy movies from the eighties I used to watch with my dad. Gives me goosebumps. I ran out and bought it right after I saw the film.

Illustration

A illustration from one of my favorite picture books, "Her Stories." Why do books have less and less pictures as you get older? This ilustration is from the story "Man and Woman Started Even." Quite a story for an elementary school girl to read.

Photography

Normally, I'm not into Vogue. Too stuffy. But the photographs of Keira Knightley in this issue are stunning. Even though the thought of wearing couture on safari is absurd.

Coming Soon...

"It's scary to put yourself in a situation where you feel like you should feel something, because you feel that if you don't feel that something that you really should have felt it and something just went terribly, horribly, unbeleivably wrong."

-Line From An Upcoming Screenplay

Matisse

I'll spare you the "reasons why" and let the work of Henri Matisse speak for itself. (Random Factoid: I had a pet fish named Matisse. He died, quite tragically, this past summer.)

Faerie Tale Theatre

This show was one of the defining elements of my childhood and inspires me to this day in my work. Faerie Tale Theatre was a television program that would take a different fairy-tale each week and let a different director and celebrity cast transform it into a play-like story. Sometimes the stories were comedic (like in "The Frog Prince" or "The Princess and the Pea",) sometimes they were lyrical and poetic ("The Nightingale" "The Snow Queen"), or frightening ("The Boy Who Left Home To Find Out About the Shivers" "Beauty and the Beast"), or just plain corny ("Thumbelina".) These one-hour shows intruduced me to the work of artists I wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to at such a young age, like Francis Ford Coppola, Tim Burton, Helen Mirren, David Bowie, James Earle Jones, Matthew Broderick, Angelica Huston, Billy Crystal, and Christopher Lee. These directors, actors and writers didn't treat fairy tales as something just for children (a la Disney,) but rather as wonderful adventures in their own right that the whole family could enjoy. Their enthusiasm inspired me even at the age of five to put my own spin on the stories that I heard, and so I started to create stories of my own (which I would act out with the neighborhood kids on my back porch.) Even to this day, my work is influenced greatly by folk tales and legends. The stories that we tell as a culture defines who we are. But the way each of us individually interprets these stories defones who we will become.

Some favorite Faerie Tales Theatre Quotes:

Cinderella: Do you know anything about kissing?
Prince Charming: I'm almost certain it has something to do with the lips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prince: I need something warm and soft and gentle...like a hamster!
Fool: I think what you mean is a wife.
Prince: A wife? Is that better than a hamster?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Narrator: ...the prince was thrown into the dungeon and the princess was sent to a very strict boarding school, where she was forced to learn latin and play hockey.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~