unresistable slash irresistible

uncas!

well. in my second chapter dedicated to old screen crushes (and using my new found mastery of the screen still capture) i can finally pay fitting tribute to that handsome handsome Uncas from "Last of the Mohicans." Oh how i resented that horrid Daniel Day Lewis for hogging all the limelight, leaving me only nanu seconds of the noble Uncas. Well went in total overdrive and here he is in all heroic and tragic glory! i have now found the way to bang on via photos too!

m: she likes badgers?
j: a lot

renato & sybille

24 hours were too little

cipolettina is back

yay

not to be repeated for a while

devastations

undeniable penchant for a sad tune. and a bearded lead singer.

bellissima

today it's 100 years since the birth of Anna Magnani
praise be!

scene from ``Bellissima'' (1951) -- at the height of her powers --
special viewing in maremma where i have added this gem to the collection?
oh it makes me cry! a tigress with her cub.

vaguely and totally hormonal

well. pesky hormones have this week made the two female tots by turns weepy, hysterical, peckish and generally ranty.

so in homage to our irrationality


our bonnie tyler. one of our favourite duets en route to maremma. and honestly this video is so brilliantly bad. i have laughed away the hormonal blues.

a beautiful love letter

Dora Carrington:
[voice-over, a letter]

My dearest Lytton, There is a great deal to say, and I feel very incompetent to write it today. You see, I knew there was nothing really to hope for from you, well, ever since the beginning. All these years, I have known all along that my life with you was limited. Lytton, you're the only person who I ever had an all-absorbing passion for. I shall never have another. I couldn't, now. I had one of the most self-abasing loves that a person can have. It's too much of a strain to be quite alone here, waiting to see you, or craning my nose and eyes out of the top window at 44, Gordon Square to see if you were coming down the street. Ralph said you were nervous lest I'd feel I have some sort of claim on you, and that all your friends wondered how you could have stood me so long, as I didn't understand a word of literature. That was wrong. For nobody, I think, could have loved the Ballards, Donne, and Macaulay's Essays and, best of all, Lytton's Essays, as much as I. You never knew, or never will know, the very big and devastating love I had for you. How I adored every hair, every curl of your beard. Just thinking of you now makes me cry so I can't see this paper. Once you said to me - that Wednesday afternoon in the sitting room - you loved me as a friend. Could you tell it to me again. Yours, Carrington

f: snivels. snorts. cries. and weeps.

Rumble!

so indulging my new pet obsession (mac snapshot) i entertained myself with this favorite of mine from back in the day. beautifully shot i might add



so who is motorcycle boy?
(pant pant)


seeing this scene again am struck how coppola totally ripped off (let's be nice and call it an homage) carol reed's third man, with the play of light and darkness falling on orson welles' face. or in this case...





good lord, mickey! a divine-looking man whose career and looks went a bit tits up. but he's back in venice with a cracking role. so i have faith. in him and all my teen idols gone to shit.

here are a few more screen grabs.
recognize anyone?!

CK and Jake Reunited!

yes. dears.
fast times favourite CK plucked the gyllenhaal cherry back in the distant 2001.



good times. well. let the good times roll again. because in 2009. they will star in the intriguingly entitled. nailed. ahem.
here is the www.imbd.com description:

A small town waitress gets a nail accidentally lodged in her head causing unpredictable behavior that leads her to Washington, DC, where sparks fly when she meets a clueless young senator who takes up her cause - but what happens when love interferes with what you stand for?

the director helmed spanking the monkey (1994) - so kudos for subject matter -- and i heart huckabees (2004) - which i had quite the soft spot for.
and since any excuse is good to post pictures of these two. happy to oblige.

late night texts

f: good lord tot. helen at 60 is shagging her stepson
cuba gooding jnr. am impressed! top marks!
lady v: brilliant work, helen. must remember to bring book i
bought in New York to lend to you. Brother sister shag fest.
Brilliant line, which I may have quoted before..
"Other people became for a while, for a couple of contemptuous words, a proletariat. We were an aristocracy of two." also works for tots i find..
f: shall post IMMEDIATELY
lady v: thought you might

J.G.L.

just watching "Shadowboxer" and had to interrupt. because this boy is just too much. using my newly acquired screen shot skills. here i go. snappety snap. who is that kissing the divine boy. why helen of course. she is a goer. and that is why we love her.

in the meantime all is well across the pond with lady v:
"mean girls on telly. and got wine. vintage lohan. the day just got better"

all good with the BLs.

still back to him.



good grief!

homage to brel-lady v

tot....notice "mathilde"
and mention of "amsterdam"

Mais lui il s'en fout bien
Mais lui il dort tranquille
Il n'a besoin de rien
Il a trouve' son ile

and while we're at it. to sink us further into despair



bloody hell, babs
and this one about a little old lady...selling off everything at the auction house


Elle cria: "Je prends, je rachète tout ça
Ce que vous vendez là, c'est mon passé à moi"

due balene spiaggiate

breakfast at luigi's: not showered for days

screen shots

just discovered how to take screen shots of movies on the mac
and frankly i cannot get enough of it!
no more faffing around google images.
i can pick and choose
and i will!
here is my first one. one always remembers the first...

i miss her

tiz left today. and well. i miss her. i do.

revelling in bearded men:`Indie-Pop's Celestial Choir'

so that is what you are up..

god bless. thora birch. always worth watching. and toby stephens. and this one has actually garnered super reviews. ok. i lie. it suffered ignoble fate of straight to dvd, i have feeling it could be a bit of a cracker.

just because

contradictory

while i absolutely REFUSE to support italy in the world cup and it makes me FURIOUS when they win any match at all. i must say that i'm very proud of our men and women so far. although to be honest the blokes have yet to win a gold but i have faith. in the meantime (while i REFUSE to condone or watch these olympics), am most pleased to read about our victories in noble sports such as FENCING and SWIMMING, not silly ones like hair curling and BEACH VOLLEY. go go go!


valentina vezzali showing zhang lei a thing or two. pffft!

black/white

forget the rather naff poster
and this rather damning and idiotic review:
Only a country with as poorly integrated a black population as Italy could think of "Black and White" as anything but a very anemic romantic comedy, whose stab at interracial issues feels decades old. Normally savvy helmer Cristina Comencini strives for an easy-going sensitivity with this tale of unexpected love, but it's obvious she's not thought about these themes before and the results are maddeningly naive. Local opening was solid, but Stateside chances are nil.

fortunately for us. don't think that she's trying to make a buck by peddling this as italy's answer to "guess who is coming for dinner?" (talk about maddeningly naive..) and the girl has finally loosened up!

far more accurate is this:
Il nuovo film di Cristina Comencini, “Bianco e Nero”, è una commedia. E già questa è una notizia. La regista de “La bestia nel cuore” ha realizzato un film che parla della difficile linea che c’è tra il razzismo, la tolleranza e la reale accettazione della diversità, e lo ho fatto con quel tono di ironia che non solo non guasta, ma permette di riflettere senza scadere in toni drammatici.

i.e. i laughed.

one of the greatest war films ever made

i had cause this weekend past to see this absolute gem.
a real treasure and find. that was a magical year for italian film-making
not only did this win at venice but it was such a bumper year that the top
prize was shared with another italian movie, also dealing with the pesky subject of war. heroism. with wonderful irony. and a lack of heavy-handedness rare today and even rarer then.



from filmfanatic.org:
a powerful depiction of director Roberto Rossellini’s conviction that “every Italian has the responsibility to share his countrymen’s misery.” Indeed, because Rossellini spends the entire first hour of the movie showing us Grimaldi (De Sica) as he sells out his fellow Italians to the Gestapo — brusquely trading their lives for cash — it’s especially gratifying to witness his change of heart once he’s in prison. Although Grimaldi has nothing to gain by helping the Resistance movement, he comes to recognize the true importance of solidarity in the face of evil. By the end of the film, you’ll feel nothing but compassion and pride for this reformed swindler, who “becomes worthy of the man whose name he has stolen.”

calcata

pretty, innit?

me

me and tiz

all about my mother

for all those of you who think me vain, well some things run in the family.
a passing desire to commemorate the visit turned into a snap happy
impromptu photoshoot ("dai, ancora!"). here are a fraction of them.