Around Town - Larry Crowne Premiere in Hollywood

Julia Roberts on the red carpet for the Larry Crowne premiere last night in Hollywood.
She wore a beautifully tailored Gucci suit with in navy blue, a vintage Jean Mahie triple strand emerald bead necklace and diamond stud earrings from Beladora.com and a megawatt smile.
Totally simple and non-fussy but totally chic,
don't you think?

Jean Mahie Triple Strand Emerald Bead Necklace

Is this film on your must see list for this summer?

Jewelry in Film: The Affair of the Necklace

Like Faux Fuchsia, at times I must listen to the commands of the universe.
Where FF is directed by the cosmos to bake
I am directed to watch movies.
Lately the black dog has been scratching at the door and I've keep it at bay by settling down on the sofa with netflix or amazon prime.
For several years I've wanted to delve into a series of posts on films where jewelry is an important element of the story,
and where better to start, as I am still in 18th Century Mode, than with The Affair of the Necklace

The film, based on the true story of an extortion plot aimed at Marie Antoinette, is told from the point of view of the con artist or should I say conne artist Jeanne de la Motte played by Hilary Swank. In the film, she is Jeanne de Saint-Remy de Valois, a woman of noble birth, who is forced into her role because she can't get the attention of the queen for restitution of her family estates.  De la Motte / Valois claims to have favor and influence with the Queen in order to solicit patronage by the out of favor Count de Rohan, played by Jonathon Pryce.

Here is the history from Wikipedia.

and a reconstruction of the infamous Collier Reine Breteuil

Considering the historical importance of the actual Affair of the Necklace in terms of undermining Marie Antoinette and the Royal Family, I thought that this would be an excellent film.
I was wrong.
This film was bad on so many levels I won't name them all.
But it needs to be said that casting Hilary Swank in the role of de la Motte was a mistake.
And, seeing the many historical inaccuracies, large and small, such as watching Swank saunter around Versailles with unpowdered hair was so annoying.

For me, the highlight of the film was the closing credits because of the Lisa Gerrard/Brendan Perry song "Ariadne".

Music and Film - Immortal Beloved

I was reading the post today at Maxminimus today about a football playing thug who earns $1.4 million a month. It reminded me of all the music industry thugs, if you will, who glorify a life of violence and drugs and who make bazillions of dollars doing it.  I don't believe that in 200 years this music will be still be appreciated..but I could be wrong.  In the meantime all these musicians are laughing their way to the bank.

What I've been listening to recently is music by a man who you could say also glorified violence, at least he did in one instance, by dedicating his Symphony #3 to Napoleon. 
But Beethoven later redeemed himself by renaming the Symphony Eroica after Napoleon declared himself Emperor in 1804.

I'm guessing that in 200 years, the music of Beethoven will still be appreciated.





Symphony No. 7 in A Major Op. 92 Allegretto

RED - Cinematic Silliness On A Saturday Night

OK, I admit it.
This film was an onscreen comic for baby boomers.
Lots of weaponry, firepower yet no blood.
But just for Helen Mirren it was worth it.

Film - I Am Love

I finally got around to seeing Tilda Swinton's 'I am Love' last weekend and I enjoyed it, perhaps more for the wardrobe, sets and music, than for the story line. 'Madame Bovary' it was not. Still, in spite of the fact that the film ran for 2 hours, and was desperately in need of editing, it was definitely worth seeing.

In fact any movie with Tilda Swinton aka 'The Swinton' is worth seeing, don't you agree?

The story is of a bourgeois wife of an Italian industrialist, who emerges from her repressed inner life by falling in love with a young chef, Antonio.  Food is the catalyst for her stepping out of her uber elegant yet cold life in her Milan palazzo and into the country life and raw nature, an Eve finding her Garden of Eden with her primal Adam, if you will.

Anyone who has watched this film will see her character's transformation physically represented in the changes in her overall look. With a wardrobe created by Raf Simons of Jill Sander, the story begins with her character Emma (yeah, we get the nod to Madame Bovary), wearing sleek  monochromatic outfits in cooler colors of blue, grey, plum, etc. 

In the key scene where Emma has lunch at the chef's restaurant in Milan, and falls in love with the Antonio with each bite that she takes of her food, she wear red.

Later, when she follows the chef to his country property, high up in the Ligurian hills, the color palate of her wardrobe changes to warm colors. I could go on and on about Romanticism and the reversion to nature and the correlation of nature and sex that are all big themes in this film, but I won't.
I'd rather say something about the jewelry.
The long strand of multicolored Tahitian pearls, the single statement gold bracelet, the ball pendant (just like this one by Chopard at Beladora), and the all important double strand of white South Sea pearls, added the extra luxe detail to the polished look of her character.
Also, the score was by the brilliant composer, John Adams.  The music was so beautiful that it added emotional depth to the lushly filmed scenes.
I definitely recommend this film.  It is worth seeing for the wardrobe, the music and the architecture and interior design of the Milan palazzo alone.

Savvy Shopping - A Father's Day Suggestion For What Was The Sexiest Man Alive

Is this what happens to the Sexiest Man Alive after he signs on to raise a brood of 6 kids?

I think that Angelina needs spiff him up a bit by buying him this little black diamond wedding band for a Father's Day gift with a minute amount of her earnings from SALT.

Black Diamond Band Designed by Bez Ambar $2550 (retail $9,800)

Angelina, just gets better and better.

Perhaps she should have a few more kids.

Carrie's SATC Clothes: Don't Try This At Home

I wonder, is Patricia Field's fashion influence, from film to real life,
my problem with SATC?
Liz Jones in the Daily Mail explains it all
Those clothes are criminal! Ridiculous hats and frilly tutus - Why Sex and the City's Carrie is wanted by the fashion police
Thanks to Sex And The City, women no longer dress as men at work, but instead wear colourful, girlie prints. The character Carrie Bradshaw was a woman who dressed to please herself, not to make her attractive to men.
Patricia Field, the Oscar-nominated costume designer, gave us vintage, utility and eccentric layering. She brought back the full skirt, the prom dress, the eighties (even the batwing, cropped sweatshirt) and stilettos.

But the problems started when we began to take literally what a fictional character wore to make a point, drive a scene or promote a belly laugh. We began to buy £400 pairs of shoes and £800 handbags with no thought of wardrobe space or our credit rating. Very few of us can walk in those shoes. Carrie looked effortless in bondage shoe boots, corsets, black net and gold lame, while the rest of us ended up resembling over-the-hill hookers.

Go ahead and read the rest of the article which gives us the take down on translating the Carrie Bradshaw signature look to real life with everything from over the knee socks to tutus to arm warmers to fascinators.

TUTUS Carrie wore a tutu in the opening credits of the TV show, and it reappeared in the first film when she packs up her wardrobe. It is very Eighties, and works on Carrie given her ballerina body, but wearing one I felt like one of those Disney ice-skating hippos.

What works for a film character with the frame of a 10 year old, is most likely not going to work for the rest of us.

Around Town - LA Theatre or Why I Love Netflix

I had never really stopped to think about the fact that Los Angeles really is a theatre town...
not in the way of London or New York, with their well defined theatre districts, debuts and big productions. LA is all about small productions where the local acting populace can hone their craft. Across the city, in tiny theatres from Venice Beach to Hollywood to Downtown, you can find all kinds of plays, from the obscure to the well known.
And that's what I got on two subsequent evenings this week.
First was the well known...David Hare's "The Blue Room", a play about sex that was anything but sexy.
I liked the idea of the play with only one actor and one actress playing multiple parts that interacted in a quick succession of scenes.

The Girl (Irene) (Scene I & X)
The Cab Driver (Fred) (Scene I & II)
The Au Pair (Marie) (Scene II & III)
The Student (Anton) (Scene III & IV)
The Married Woman (Emma) (Scene IV & V)
The Politician (Charles)(Scene V & VI)
The Model (Kelly) (Scene VI & VII)
The Playwright (Robert) (Scene VII & VIII)
The Actress (Scene VIII & IX)
The Aristocrat (Malcolm) (Scene IX & X)

Considering the intimacy of the scenes, staged in the tiny Odyssey Theater in Westwood where the audience was seated no more that a few feet away from the actors, I would have thought that it would have been easy to have been drawn into the play as it progressed. Unfortunately I was bored by scene VII and just didn't give a damn about any of these characters and who they were screwing and why.

Fortunately it was a play in one act.

The next night I was off to another adventure in theater in Hollywood.

Now to drag me into Hollywood for anything is no small thing and I'm glad that I went just to remind myself that culture (good and bad) is everywhere and that the borders of the city don't end at Doheny Drive. Luckily, preceding a theater experience from hell, was a nice dinner at Cafe des Artistes, a charming restaurant with a decent frenchy menu and lovely service. After hoovering down my dinner and two much needed glasses of wine, it was off to see the "Buffalo Hole" the Arena Stage at Theatre of Arts.

Here's the description

A Dirty Bloody Black Comedy. From his outpost single wide, 30 miles from nowhere in freezing Foxholm, North Dakota, Braggert Strong awaits the arrival of his family to say their last goodbyes to a father, Patton L. Strong, Medal of Honor “winner” who has been a little less than “fatherly.” Between vicious dog bites, a mother who arrives 60 and pregnant, a sissy brother who won’t leave, and a sister who’s rode hard and put away wet, Braggert has little if no idea what he’s in for. A story of revenge, “dog food” and…amputation.

I don't even know what to say about this horrendously bad black comedy. It was insulting on so many levels, with characters so cliche that it made the playwright and lead actor, Robert Riechel Jr., just look like a smug ignoramus. The play was insulting to men, to veterans, to medal of honor winners, to fathers, to Midwesterners, etc. in a way that only a hip Hollywood writer would think was clever. But we've all seen these stock white trash characters before, so there was nothing daring or amusing in this production.

Out of politeness I didn't walk out.

Thank God for netflix so I could watch Balzac's "Cousin Bette" at home in my comfy bed after sitting through that pathetic play. Yeah, give me a well acted classic film over a wanna be edgy play any day.

Couples Retreat - Netflix It

OK, so sometimes my taste in comedy runs to the lowbrow, but I laughed so hard watching this movie, that I'm disappointed that it wasn't nominated for best picture. BTW, when was the last time that a comedy won Best Picture...well a while ago. (Here's the breakdown on Best Pictures and Genre Biases)

The yoga scene and the couples therapy scenes are priceless.

Film - The Young Victoria

I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to go see 'The Young Victoria' in a theater or not. It seemed, at least from the trailer, more like a Masterpiece Theater production, something that I would rather order on Netflix. But since I'm fascinated with 18th and 19th Century history especially the art, architecture, furniture, clothing and jewelry of those periods, I thought that this was certainly a film to see on a big screen...at least on a cold Sunday afternoon.

Emily Blunt's performance in 'The Young Victoria' didn't have the fire of Kate Blanchett in 'Elizabeth', the gravitas of Judi Dench in 'Mrs. Brown' or the purposefulness of Helen Miren in 'The Queen' but that was due more to the script than to her acting.

And I felt that the script was incomplete in the sense that there wasn't enough back story explaining the situation in England. How many people today have an understanding of this historical period and the fragility of the British monarchy after the Revolutionary War, the madness of King George, the French Revolution, the years of war with Napoleon and the pressures of an expanding empire. The film didn't give us any of this historical context.

But what the film did give us was the importance of royal marriages in terms of strategic alliances, and what made this story extraordinary was the fact that the marriage of Victoria and Albert, was not only a brilliant strategic alliance, but a true love match.

Historical and Romantical!

But let's face it, I really saw the film for the costumes and the jewelry like these silver gilt (silver and gold) diamond earrings and diamond riviere necklace.
And what isn't seen in this photo was Victoria's wedding ring, a gold snake symbolizing eternal love. Something similar to this.

Here we have the riviere again

The swagged necklace and hair ornament

The earrings either in pietra dura or cameo, I can't tell from this photo

The gemstone necklace and earrings with gold cannetille

And the all important wedding parure

The wonderful thing about well made Victorian jewelry is that much of it is wearable today, particularly the earrings and the bracelets. A week ago in Miami I was going to purchase a Victorian suite, in the original box, with natural pearls in a pair of bracelets, a necklace and a tiara...the perfect gift for a bride, but I hesitated. But now after watching 'The Young Victoria' I'd like to have more Victorian jewelry not just because it is rich in history but because it is beautiful.

For more about Victorian and other period jewelry take a look at Gemgossip.com...thanks Danielle, I snagged the photos from your post!

Around Town - Friday Afternoon With Shohreh Aghdashloo

What a week it has been with the stress levels on high and personality conflicts careening out of control. To add to a difficult week, my able assistant Liz ended up in the emergency hospital at Cedars Sinai yesterday afternoon with some sort of random muscular pain. It makes me wonder if her pain was the physical manifestation of all the under the surface anger floating through the office.



Luckily, I got to dash out of the fray yesterday afternoon and have a little fun.

The Women's International Film and Television Showcase, a foundation that supports women filmmakers, had it's annual International Visionary awards event and one of my most favorite actresses, Shohreh Aghdashloo, was getting the Humanitarian Award and she needed a little jewelry for her red carpet look.

Usually, when we loan for red carpet events we don't meet the talent, we just hand over a bundle of bling to the stylist.

But yesterday there wasn't a stylist involved....because Shohreh is gorgeous enough that she doesn't need any help getting outfitted, and so we worked directly with her very chic and smart manager, Tamara Houston.





At any rate I got to meet Shohreh who is an absolutely lovely person. Beautiful, sweet, funny, classy... she's the whole package.

And can we talk about her talent.

I assume that we've all seen her performance in The House of Sand and Fog.

More recently she won an Emmy for her performance as Sajida the wife of Saddam Hussein in HBO's House of Saddam




Now she is starring the The Stoning of Soraya M

and hands down she should be nominated for an Academy Award for her work in this film.
(Academy members are you listening?)





If you haven't seen either House of Saddam or The Stoning of Soraya M
rent them. She is amazing in both.

4th Quarter Blues Get Blind Sided

Black Friday...whatever
Cyber Monday...ho hum
Who knew that the rest of the week would be the week from hell.

I'm not sure if it was the photography issues, the technology issues
or the personality issues that frustrated me the most.
(There might have even been some snapping, on my part, at a colleague when boundaries weren't respected)

When I was a young married mom, a lifetime ago, I could never understand why my husband would come home from work and pour himself a generous Bombay martini...or two.
Now I get home and wish that I could come home and chill out with a martini of my own!

How can a day or two at the office be so stressful. Let's face it, it's not like what I do is rocket science. In addition, the stress was caused by something that is actually really awesome, but trying to meet a deadline when the systems go awry has been just enough to put me on edge. I like to under promise and over perform and it pisses me off royally when I can't do this.

In addition, the pressure of the 4th quarter is so great that the intensity level is ratcheted up. So much needs to get done and I have no patience for nonsense.

Luckily I went to see "The Blind Side" last weekend, an incredible film with an enduring message, that has helped me put all my silly office issues into perspective.
If you haven't already seen it take the time this weekend to go see it.

It is a deeply moving story (bring kleenex) and beautifully acted.

True tales like "The Blind Side" show us how the actions of just one person or family can change the life of someone who lives with adversity.

It makes me think that the dreaded 4th quarter should be a little less about the bottom line and a little more about what we can do to help other people achieve their potential.

NY Recap - Dining at DBGB

Having only a limited amount of free time in NY last week, I did much more in an average day there than I would do here. But since NY has a way of energizing you the day seemed easy.


So after the visiting the Morgan Library my friend and I headed downtown to SoHo where there was such a completely different vibe than in Mid-Town. After that feeling of claustrophobia from being surrounded by the huge Mid-Town buildings it was nice to walk around in a neighborhood of low buildings and more open space...even if the area was tawdry.

Being in a New York-y state of mind, we decided to stop at a local movie theater and see this film. It was an interesting group of shorts by different directors with an ensemble cast in vignettes that were cleverly woven together. It was the perfect film to watch in NY.
If you haven't see it, here's the trailer.



After the movie we wandered up Bowery to have dinner at Daniel Boulud's DBGB Kitchen & Bar, and like Boulud's other restaurants, it did not disappoint.
A casual restaurant with a bistro menu listing three pages of beers and ales...which impressed me even though I wouldn't know the difference between Bud Light and a Belgian Ale.

We sat in the bar area, which was way more lively than the restaurant in the back
and this was for dinner

roasted marrow

and blood sausage on a potato puree

exactly what I would have ordered on a cold winter night in France

My friend was not about to go all francais with the blood sausage so he ordered something traditional

Ignoring the vast list of beers and ales, I went for the Train Wreck Zinfandel from Schrader Cellars which was served by the glass.

It was a fabulous dinner and very reasonably priced for New York.

When is Daniel Boulud going to open a bistro in Brentwood?

Things To Do In New York In The Fall

On my list of things to do in New York this fall
(besides meeting the infamous Wendy B)
The Watteau exhibit at the Met


Watteau, Music, and Theater
September 22, 2009–November 29, 2009
The exhibition will explore the place of music and theater in the work of the great early eighteenth-century French painter and draftsman Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721), comparing an imagery of power, associated with the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV, with a more optimistic and mildly subversive imagery of pleasure, developed in contemporary opera-ballet and theater.
It will show that the painter’s utopian vision was directly influenced by these sister arts and will shed light on the subjects of a number of Watteau’s images. In addition to material drawn from various departments of the Museum, including musical instruments, porcelains, and prints, there will be a number of major loans of paintings and drawings by Watteau and his contemporaries from other collections in the United States and Europe.

Especially because I loved this movie
Ce que mes yeux ont vu
An art history drama/thriller
Here's the trailer

Bring On The Burberry...And Beckham

Burberry-the emblem of British soccer fans/hooligans

So it's bad enough that I'm a huge fan of football movies.

You know... movies like We Are Marshall, Rudy and Remember the Titans ...the kind of films that bring on copious amounts of tears and movies like On Any Given Sunday which show a behind the scenes look at how players and management interact.

I loved Bend It Like Beckham and now, after going to a screening of The Damned United, I am now officially a fan of soccer movies.

This film is an not only an intense character study of famed British manager, Brian Clough, brilliantly acted by Michael Sheen, which we all know of as Tony Blair in The Queen and David Frost in Frost/Nixon, it is a Bromance showing the ups and downs of the relationship between Brian Clough and and his on/off partner in management, Peter Taylor, sympathetically played by Timothy Spall.

After the screening there was a Q&A with Michael Sheen who was so charming and well spoken. I'm looking forward to seeing him in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and Peter Morgan's new film about Tony Blair and Bill Clinton.

So bring on the Burberry and go see The Damned United.

Around Town - One-Sheet Art At The Academy

Way, way back in the day, long before CAD, CG and Photoshop, movie posters or one-sheets were created from hand illustrations. The one-sheet, so integral to the marketing of a movie, had to be eye catching and enticing. It had to convey the promise of the excitement, sex, suspense, romance or comedy that would be delivered in the film.

So yesterday, since I have an interest in art, movies and marketing, I went to see the
Art Of The Movie Poster
Illustrated One-Sheets And Design Concepts From The Paul Crifo Archive
at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences


From the Academy's write up
This new Academy exhibition explores the creative choices that go into the visual elements of a movie marketing campaign. Why was that design chosen? How might the success of a particular film have been affected if an alternate ad campaign had been selected?

“Art of the Movie Poster” explores the decades between the 1950s and ’80s, and showcases the creative process by which a finished movie poster was achieved. Each stage of the process is included, displaying reference stills, concept sketches, and hand-rendered and photographic ‘comps’ (a design incorporating graphics and text). Also featured are many of the approved original illustrations of ‘key art.’ Multiple poster styles will be displayed alongside the final, ‘winning’ posters, which are from the collections of poster designer Paul Crifo and the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library.

During the decades covered in this exhibition, posters were generally conceived and executed by art school-trained craftsmen working within studio advertising departments or at ad agencies. Crifo studied illustration at Pratt University; from 1942 through 1986, he worked on more than 400 motion picture advertising campaigns and personally designed 120 film posters for Hollywood studios, foreign distributors and independent film companies, largely while working out of New York City.

Posters and the preliminary design artwork that will be showcased include “Paths of Glory,” “Separate Tables,” “The Great Escape,” “Tom Jones,” “Zorba the Greek,” “The Group,” “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying,” “The Producers,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “Play It Again, Sam,” “A Separate Peace” and “Mahogany.”

Of course the days of this kind of hand illustration are long gone. Today's one-sheets typically showcase the stars, in their larger than life, photo-shopped to perfection images.

After the exhibit, it was lunch outside on the terrace

next to to the fountain at my new favorite Beverly Hills restaurant,

Via Alloro

Film, France, Friends and Food

I finally got around to seeing Julie & Julia, a charming film,
and it made me wistful for France
OK maybe not the real France of strikes, traffic jams and car-b-cues
but certainly my fantasy of France
which is all about L'Art de Vivre
fine cuisine, elegant decor, chic fashion, intelligent conversation, fun people
and a strong dollar
you know what I mean
the France of post war Paris where Julia Child lived and learned
like I said...it's a fantasy
Fortunately, on my vacation last month, my fantasy became my reality
with fun people, intelligent conversation, chic fashion, elegant decor
and of course fine cuisine
so here comes the food porn

Let's just start with my stop over at Charles de Gaulle airport where I ignored the Hermes scarves and the Dior perfume and went straight for the food.

The choices were just astounding

how could I not linger over the Ladurée counter with luscious treats in pretty pastels

And jarred yumminess of foie gras

and vin et fromage

Certainly a large part of the pleasure of L'Art de Vivre is L'Art de la Table

where the table setting and presentation is as important as the food being served

White linens, good stemware and Christofle silver add so much to the ambiance

Even this simple lunch of mélon et jambon, at the antique filled apartment of my dear friend Patrick, a retired business consultant and chef extraordinaire, was made sumptuous by virtue of his beautiful table.

Perhaps it it time for me to consider dusting off my old tattered copy of Mastering The Art of French Cooking, pressing some napkins, polishing some silver and getting to the task of entertaining a few friends in my petit pied-à-terre.

Food, Inc. - The Movie

Food, Inc. -What every foodie should see this summer

When you travel to Argentina you see the people who consume that largest amount of meat on a per capita basis. They are so thin that they make even French people look hefty. Why do you think that is? My opinion...they eat a high protein diet but they don't eat meat, poultry and dairy that is full of growth hormones.

Around Town - Seeing Red on Rodeo Drive

Valentino To Be Honored By Rodeo Drive Walk Of Style Award

Thu, Apr 2 - Beverly Hills (down the road from the Rodeo Drive Valentino boutique)Valentino has been named as the 13th honoree of the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style award. There will be an outdoor exhibition themed in Valentino's signature red, as a tribute to the legendary fashion designer. The ceremony will coincide with the West Coast premiere of the documentary film "Valentino: The Last Emperor" by Matt Tyrnauer.

Here is the info on the film.

Watch At Your Own Peril

Look...I like "aliens attacking the earth" movies as much as the next person.

And,

Keanu Reeves...loved him in The Matrix

Jennifer Connelly...loved her in A Beautiful Mind

Jaden Smith....loved him in what ever that movie was with his dad Will Smith

But seiously, in The Day The Earth Stood Still

They all sucked.

And don't take my word for it

One reviewer described it as

An Inconvenient Spoof

It would have be bad enough on a regular screen...

Trust me, it was painful on an IMAX screen.

My advice, stay at home and watch the original 1951 version from Netflix with Patricia Neal

Or better yet...skip the entire cheesy Sci-Fi genre and watch Patricia Neal in The Fountainhead with Gary Cooper with the classic line from Neal's character Dominique Francon
"It's the things that we admire or want that enslave us, I'm not easy to bring into submission."

And be sure not to miss one of the sexiest scenes in film ever... Gary Cooper working hard with his big manly drill!