Saw this yesterday. From the bickering between Valentino and Giametti like an old, married couple to the five, ubiquitous pugs, the documentary is pretty funny. It also gives a glimpse to the fashion designer’s luxurious lifestyle.
VALENTINO THE LAST EMPEROR is a feature-length film on the legendary designer Valentino Garavani in the wake of his exit in 2008 from the company he founded in Rome more than 45 years ago. Produced and directed by Matt Tyrnauer, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, the film is an intimate, engaging and very funny fly-on-the-wall exploration of the singular world of one of Italy’s richest and most famous men. The film documents the colorful and dramatic closing act of Valentino’s celebrated career, tells the story of his extraordinary life and work, and also explores the larger themes affecting the fashion business today. But at the heart of the film is the unique relationship between Valentino and his business partner and companion of 50 years, Giancarlo Giammetti.
Saw District 9 tonight. Though it’s not one of those films I’d want to watch over and over, I liked it quite a bit. As far as my views on aliens….
Interesting Review (excerpt) from The Economist magazine:
…critics who have concluded that Mr Blomkamp’s satire is aimed at apartheid because his film is set in South Africa should brush up on the living conditions to which the world’s refugees, displaced people and other vulnerable groups are currently being subjected. The sight of soldiers roughing up and humiliating the alien prawns—who just want to be left alone to forage in the black-market for cat food, their favourite delicacy—may convey something sharp about the treatment of 42m uprooted terrestrials.
While searching for Youtube clips of the aliens talking (i think they sound cool), I came across this short film, which the movie is apparently based on. It’s also pretty entertaining.
the authors found that visitors to the ancient art museum conducted their visit with the primary aim of acquiring understanding and knowledge, while modern art museum visitors conducted their visit with an approach that was primarily emotional and pleasure-seeking…Concerning personality traits, no difference was found between the two museum groups on the “Openness to Experience” dimension; differences were found on the “Sensation Seeking” trait; modern art museum visitors attained higher scores as compared to ancient art museum visitors.
This is No. 5 from the Liaison Erotiques Series, 2006/2007.
In this serie Liaisons Erotiques, shot for a calender for Lambertz, we encounter a Gabo combining style, fashion, self-confident women, eroticism, and sensuality. Remarkable are the interiors in which she places her models; it has absolutely nothing in common with the “typical German” coolness associated with German style. On the contrary, the scenery incorporates elements of an ornamental delight that appeared a few years ago in the scene of art photography as well. Gabo’s talent is to create scenes of intimacy. They inspire us to fantasize about what might have happened in the moments before the photograph was taken, and what might happen a moment later. Which “plot” came to life? How will the story continue? Gabo’s view is female and her view of passion, sensuality, and erotic self representation never turns into embarrassment, but rather everything seems to be staged by the women themselves and therefore natural and self – evident.
Last night, EM and I watched Inglourious Basterds at Arclight Hollywood. And you know what? DAMN GOOD. Go see it. There are some pretty graphic scenes (in the same vein as Kill Bill), but the humor and tight story line make up for it.
Lt. Aldo Raine: My name is Lt. Aldo Raine and I’m putting together a special team, and I need me eight soldiers. Eight Jewish-American soldiers. Now, y’all might’ve heard rumors about the armada happening soon. Well, we’ll be leaving a little earlier. We’re gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. And once we’re in enemy territory, as a bushwhackin’ guerrilla army, we’re gonna be doin’ one thing and one thing only… killin’ Nazis. Now, I don’t know about y’all, but I sure as hell didn’t come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily and jump out of a fuckin’ air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity. Nazi ain’t got no humanity. They’re the foot soldiers of a Jew-hatin’, mass murderin’ maniac and they need to be dee-stroyed. That’s why any and every every son of a bitch we find wearin’ a Nazi uniform, they’re gonna die. Now, I’m the direct descendant of the mountain man Jim Bridger. That means I got a little Injun in me. And our battle plan will be that of an Apache resistance. We will be cruel to the Germans, and through our cruelty they will know who we are. And they will find the evidence of our cruelty in the disemboweled, dismembered, and disfigured bodies of their brothers we leave behind us. And the German won’t not be able to help themselves but to imagine the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our boot heels, and the edge of our knives. And the German will be sickened by us, and the German will talk about us, and the German will fear us. And when the German closes their eyes at night and they’re tortured by their subconscious for the evil they have done, it will be with thoughts of us they are tortured with. Sound good? The Basterds: YES, SIR! Lt. Aldo Raine: That’s what I like to hear. But I got a word of warning for all you would-be warriors. When you join my command, you take on debit. A debit you owe me personally. Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps. And I want my scalps. And all y’all will git me one hundred Nazi scalps, taken from the heads of one hundred dead Nazis. Or you will die tryin’.
