A Weekend In Paris

Ok, not exactly... but I can dream, right? We started out last weekend by seeing a movie Friday night, Midnight in Paris. It was so great! We both loved it! It was charming, funny, romantic, intellectual and left us pondering the deeper (but simple) meaning of the film. It was also an artful introduction to the fascinating Gertrude Stein and bohemian life of 1920's Paris.

Henri Matisse, Femme au chapeau (Woman with a Hat), 1905

Intrigued and still on a Parisian "high", we made plans to visit SFMOMA for a timely tour of The Steins Collect, an exhibition of the expansive collection of modern art by the Stein family. Here were my initial thoughts that I jotted down half-way through the exhibit:

at the first mention i was curious
after an imagined visual i was fascinated
after a visit through the collection i became obsessed
with the enthusiasm
excitement
risk and
engagement
with the artist of the early 20th century
Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Renoir
incredible.

Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, 1906

Au revoir Paris. Merci.

Dinner Conversation

One of my favorite, favorite things is great conversation over a leisurely, delicious dinner that lasts for hours; a great glass of wine, beautiful food, lovely people... is there anything better?

p.s... while thinking of this post, I came across the above movie, My Dinner with Andre. I have never seen it, so I cannot make an endorsement, however, it does sound intriguing! The entire movie takes place between 2 friends over dinner:

"Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, apparently playing themselves, share their lives over the course of an evening meal at a restaurant. Gregory, a theater director from New York, is the more talkative of the pair. He relates to Shawn his tales of dropping out, traveling around the world, and experiencing the variety of ways people live, such as a monk who could balance his entire weight on his fingertips. Shawn listens avidly, but questions the value of Gregory's seeming abandonment of the pragmatic aspects of life."- IMDB

image via a {random} find.

MIA

And I don't mean the snake. It has been busy lately (!) and while I have been absent from my blog, I have had her near my heart, thinking of all the things I want to share :) Gosh, here are a few things that we have done/seen lately:

*spent Friday with my lovely Unominame (an endearing nickname from our college days); we talked about food/cooking over coffee, over lunch, while thrift store shopping, on the muni, over dinner and anywhere in-between. She rocks my world and is an amazing, creative cook!
*enjoyed an UH-mazing late-night burger with Bill and Camille at Marlowe.
*we say The Tree of Life on Sunday. Wow. Complex, complicated, simple, beautiful... all those and more wrapped into an engaging film.
*finished reading The Alchemist (referred by miss Kim); it was wonderful.

*we have my cousin Mac coming tonight to visit for the weekend... so excited!

Fun times and I am having fun taking advantage of these summer months! xoxo

Oh, and "posture, posture, posture"!

Babette's Feast

This movie was recently recommended to us by a friend. It was fantastic! I messaged said friend saying, "Just finished Babette's Feast... I think it changed my life". A beautiful depiction of a remote, pious community awoken to the glorious pleasures of exquisite French cuisine. I cried. It was a good thing I had a full meal beforehand, otherwise you would have seen me rummaging around my kitchen trying to whip up a grand gastro-creation. If you love food and it pleases you to feed others, watch this film! We borrowed this movie from our local library (for free!).

I also found this beautiful painting while searching for an image from the movie:

Saint Martha in her kitchen (Vincenzo Campi, d. 1591)

Last night I finally watched The Battle of Algiers. Brian loves this film and has been trying to get me to watch it for some time... with the current uprisings in the Middle East and a people's revolution in Tunisia and Egypt, he felt this was an appropriate movie to watch. He was right. It was as if we were watching an in-depth story covering the current happenings in Egypt just this past week. It was an incredible movie about the Algerian War (1954-62) between the occupying French and an anti-colonial Algerian independence movement:

"The Battle of Algiers reconstructs the events that occurred in the capital city of French Algeria between November 1954 and December 1960, during the Algerian War of Independence. The narrative begins with the organization of revolutionary cells in the Casbah. Then civil war between native Algerians and European settlers (pied-noirs) in which the sides exchange acts of increasing violence, leading to the introduction of French army paratroopers to hunt the National Liberation Front (FLN). The paratroopers are depicted as winning the battle by neutralizing the whole of the FLN leadership either through assassination or through capture. However, the film ends with a coda depicting demonstrations and rioting for independence by native Algerians, suggesting that in France having won the Battle of Algiers, she has lost the Algerian War." - The Battle of Algiers, Wikipedia

Not an easy film to watch, showing the horror of civilians being the targets of violence on both sides, it is incredible how applicable the story is today... after 60 years, history is repeating itself and events are unfolding in an all-to-familiar manner. I hope that the peaceful protests by the Egyptians will be heard and acted upon before a feeling of desperation becomes so intense that violence seems to be the only release valve.

Film Noir Festival

Starting this Friday is the 9th Annual Film Noir Festival. This will be our first year attending the festival and we're very excited about the great films this year! We have tickets to see the double feature matinee this Saturday:

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (1944) Dir. Anthony Mann
GASLIGHT (1944) Dir. George Cukor

The festival takes place at the Castro Theatre January 21-30, 2011. Built in 1922, the Castro Theatre is a San Francisco landmark and one of only a few movie palaces from the 20's that is still in operation today. We are just as excited to see the theatre and experience the ambiance as we are the movies. If you are in town, come check it out!

Make Way For Tomorrow

We just finished watching this beautiful, sad, precious film. Add this to your Netlix; rent it from the library (that's where we stumbled upon this little masterpiece)...watch Make Way For Tomorrow. Don't forget a box of tissue.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I am a few days behind, however I have been busy ringing in the New Year with my sweetheart, watching moldie-oldie movies set in our San Francisco neighborhood, both of which I would highly recommend, if not for the sole purpose of being able to say "I've seen it":

Vertigo (1958)

House on Telegraph Hill (1951)

StephanieMade

Since my recent infatuation with EmersonMade, I decided I would have a go at making my own little blooming accessory. I like the frayed, unfinished edges of the petals. I repurposed a lone jewel to add sparkle.

I really like the added color on this vintage coat.

It was a fun little project on a rainy weekend morning while watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona ("yes" on this film).