The Culture Enthusiast

That's it, I've had it with lame movies. You know you've reached a cinematic rock bottom when you're watching What Women Want just because, hey, Mel Gibson is in it.

So now I'm focusing on classics, because you can't go wrong with them. And one of my favorite classic actors is James Stewart. I discovered he made over 90 movies and I've only seen a couple of them. I figured, why not go through his whole filmography? That will help me when I can't find anything good to watch.

The movies I’ve already seen are:

Wife X Secretary

You can’t take it with you

Rope

The greatest show on Earth

Rear Window

Vertigo

The shop around the corner

I'm planning to watch next:

The man who knew too much

The man who shot liberty valance

The big sleep

Anatomy of a murder

It’s a wonderful life (I'm the only person on Earth who hasn't seen this) 

I’m still summoning the courage to watch his westerns. It's not just because I don't like westerns. He doesn't seem to belong in them too. I mean, put down the gun, Jimmy!

Some people manage to read on crowded buses and on the dentist's office. Even though a lot of times we are forced to adapt to our environment in order to do some reading, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have a comfy environment for reading in our homes.

On weekends, when I have more time for reading, I like to set the mood to compensate for all that “bus reading” I’ve been doing during the week. If you want to make reading a bit more pleasurable, here’s a couple of tips:

1) Get comfortable

Whether it is a couch, your bed, or if you are lucky, a hammock, find a place where you are comfortable. Just don't get too comfortable and fall asleep.

2) Drink up

I like to have something to drink while I'm reading, usually tea. And cookies.

3) Lamp me

Bad lighting can cause drowsiness and even migraines. So always make sure your reading space has enough  light. When I travel, I like to take a little lamp for my “before bed reading”.

4) No interruptions

Try to minimize interruptions as much as you can. Nothing drastic though - I just turn off my computer and phone.

5) Pencil at hand

I never start reading unless I have a pencil with me. I need to circle unfamiliar words, underline important/interesting/funny passages and write small comments next to the text. Even if you're a book lover who simply can’t write on a book, I still strongly recommend taking notes – a small pad and pen will do.

There - we are ready for some serious reading. But before that, I’d love to hear your tips too!

Images via 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

The more I think about it, the more I realize photography is a complicated business – philosophically speaking.

The other day I went to an exhibition called "End of an Era: The Photography of Jack Jeffers" where the picture above called my attention. 

Its title is “An Amish Barn” and, apparently, the people who owned the barn in the picture contacted the photographer saying they weren’t Amish. The photographer then replied that he  liked that title and “that it was my decision to name my artwork as it appealed to me”.

Now, if that’s not mind blowing I don’t know what is. 

Photography is the art form that can reproduce reality most accurately. So, it's as if the camera is getting technically closer and closer to reality while the photographer is going further and further away from it.

He is calling a photograph "x" while at the same time saying that it is not "x". You might think this is not that big of a deal, because it's just a photograph in a museum. But what if the photograph was used in the newspaper or in an encyclopedia?

This doesn't surprise us anymore. Modern art in general doesn't want to have anything to do with reality and even photography seems to be following this path.

And I’m not even talking about Photoshop and the like. I’m talking about us accepting a declared manipulation of reality. 

Notice that the inaccuracy,  if we can call it that, is in the adjective Amish - the picture is still of a barn.  But couldn't you do the same with a noun? What if the photograph were called "Warehouse"? 

I’m not saying the photographer shouldn't call his photograph Amish. I even liked this photograph.

What I'm saying is: it is made it clear that the artist is entitled to manipulate reality. And that, ultimately, it is his call, not anyone else's.

Truth has become a matter of personal interpretation but not all interpretations have the same weight. It's not that we think artists have a better grasp of what reality is but we accept their prerogative that they can  shape reality as they see fit.

What do you think about the liberties the photographer took here?

I watched The Red Shoes a couple of years ago when I was really into ballet. I wonder how many guys who hate ballet watched it only because Martin Scorsese vouches for it.

This 1948 classic follows the career of a promising young ballerina, Victoria Page. She entered the most prestigious company in the world under the direction of the uncompromising Boris Lermontov. She is on her way to the top but she comes to a crossroad: Boris demands total commitment to ballet and she is in love with Julian Craster, the composer of her ballet company.

Which will she choose, ballet or marriage? Who will have her, Boris or Julian?

That's probably what makes the movie so interesting. It's not really ballet. The main character is a ballerina but it could have easily been any type of artist or any person who has to prioritize either their work or their families. As a matter of fact, Julian and Boris also make this choice and I see a lot of suffering in them as well.

While watching, we become as divided as her because we wish she could have it all, but we know she can't.

Though, I have to say, I am incredibly partial towards Boris. He always seemed like a much more interesting character. Sophisticated,  elegant, demanding, uncompromising, and completely dedicated to ballet to the point he arranges his life according to it. 

For example, when Irina announces she is leaving the ballet to get married, Boris simply walks out of the room. She is dead to him. The ballet coreographer Grisha, on the other hand, behaves in a much friendlier and humane way. When Irina asks him if he hates her, he kindly replies: "I could never hate you, but how could I ever forgive you?" For Grisha there is life outside the ballet, for Boris there isn't.

Julian is also a great character, but I liked Boris from the very first scene. I mean, he almost declined a party invitation from a countess. Then, he snubbed the same countess not because he is a snob (well, not just because of that), but because he doesn’t fell like having a ballet audition every party he goes to.

Bottom line: all those who want to achieve greatness, and that probably includes Scorsese, have to make certain sacrifices. Victoria's predicament is only made worse by the fact she is a woman and that she is a dancer.

And for those who do love ballet, rest assured that unlike Black Swan and Benjamin Button, the main character and three other supporting characters are played by real ballerinas, so no fake dancing!

Have you seen The Red Shoes? What do you think about Victoria's fate?

Images via Take Off the Red Shoes (filled with great images from the movie!)

So, to begin I award the One Lovely Blog award to:

A Bookworm Belle

An Experiment with the Well Educated Mind

A Novel Attachment

Autobiography of an Anglophile

Blog of an Art Admirer

Book Talk and More

Book Smartie

Film Flare

Olive Meets Hazel

Sophie and Anna's blog

Secrets of a Belle

The Motion Pictures

Two tickets for

Under lock and key

and the rules are:

7 random facts about me:

1) I guess I never mentioned this before but I'm pretty tall (5.9).

2) The other night I dreamt I was working with Michael and Dwight. I think this dream means it’s time to really cut down on The Office.

3) My Halloween costume this year was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

4) I’m struggling not to watch Dr. Zhivago, Coriolanus and the series Brideshead Revisited because they were based on books I'm supposed to read.

5)  I really don’t get why people like Mad Men. I couldn't go further than the first episode.

6) I'm going through my "to be read" list like crazy because I want to finish it by the end of the year and begin 2013 fresh (probably not going to happen).

7) The trailer for The Hobbit bored me to death. I am a Lord of the Rings fan but how can they expect us to watch a two-hour movie if the two-minute trailer is that disappointing?

And I award Premio Dardos to:

Committed to Celluloid

The Joy of Fashion

Via Margutta 51

TeGe Preso!

and the rules are: