Fourteen Actors Acting: A Video Gallery of Classic Screen Types

Last month, The New York Times Magazine published fourteen videos (directed by Solve Sundsbo) of well known actors of our day reigniting some of the classic film types of the past century.  These short films were silent save for the riveting musical compositions by Owen Pallett that add to the dramatic effect of the roles. In the accompanying slideshow, the actors reveal some of their inspirations.  Here are my favorites of the videos:

Javier Bardem

James Franco

Tilda Swinton

Michael Douglas

Leslie Manville

Robert Duvall

You can see all of these videos and the other eight at New York Times Magazine’s website.

Much of my inspiration acting-wise comes from body language, so I love that these films are silent (except, well, you can read Matt Damon’s lips in his video). The subtleties that can be conveyed in screen acting are a big part of why I am so drawn to it.  I find it quite interesting that the best videos came from the most seasoned actors. Their combination of life experience and a more practiced set of skills truly sets them apart from some of their younger counterparts.  It is my deepest hope that someday I will be able to join their ranks.

via [http://www.nytimes.com]

Craftaholic

You know you love crafting when you stay up late for no reason except that you’re “in the zone” on a project.

Pictures tomorrow.

What’s Your Sign?

Vogue UK’s December issue has a spread inspired by the signs of the zodiac, and I must say, I love it. I can’t believe it hasn’t been done before, and if it’s done again, I’m not sure that the surrealist-inspired set of photos can be beat.

via [http://www.cocolee.com.au]

Happy December!

I can’t believe it’s December already–this year has flown by! It has been an incredibly hectic and stressful year, but there have been some highs along with the lows, including my first trip abroad to Italy for six weeks. I have put a lot of hard work into this year, too many sleepless nights, a couple of battle wounds, but I think it was all worth it. I’m feeling more disciplined and focused and am pretty excited about the next year ahead. My mantra for 2011: health, wealth, and happiness.

Here’s a little December calendar I whipped up for fun last night. Happy Holidays!

 

“For without the private world of retreat man becomes virtually an unbalanced creature.”

I’ve been thinking and collecting ideas for my apartment room a lot recently and agonizing over the fact that I have zero time this month to really move forward on putting the final touches into it.  The dysfunctional feel of my room carries over to my mindset and stresses me out, so to ease my mind I’ve been frequenting websites like apartmenttherapy, theselby, and dwell. Here are just a few of the inspirational photos that have me dreaming of decorating:

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images via [apartmenttherapy] [stylefiles] [dwell]
quote by: Eleanor McMillen Brown (Creating a Beautiful Home by Alexandra Stoddard)

 

Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

I promised this wouldn’t become a food blog a while back now, but can I help that I love cooking and baking (and eating)? I’ve been busy with Assistant Stage Managing for my school’s fall musical, Dames at Sea, for a few weeks now, but the Stage Manager and I got together today on our day off to craft some holiday treats for the cast for Halloween. They’re not very Halloween-y per-say, but more inspired by the season.

First we started out with a Spiced Applesauce Cake, the recipe which I found on Smitten Kitchen’s blog.  I won’t even post pictures of this treat,  for although it looks nice, I can’t compete photographically with Smitten Kitchen. Our second sweet treat was Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins, with a pumpkin-chocolate icing of my own creation. I grabbed this recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod’s site and modified it a bit for my own purposes. Both the pumpkin muffins and the spiced applesauce cake were non-vegan recipes, so I substituted flax seed meal for eggs and vegan chocolate chips and butter for the regular milk-infused versions. Tofutti vegan cream cheese worked perfectly as a substitute on the frosting for the applesauce cake.  I love the challenge of making baked goods vegan and am often surprised how relatively easy it is to do.  Not to mention the surprised reactions I get from people when I tell them their sweets are vegan.

I made the cupcake liners out of parchment paper instead of purchasing them. I thought they added a little more drama to the cupcakes as well.

Spiced Applesauce Cake recipe via [http://smittenkitchen.com]
Modified Pumpkin Muffins recipe via [http://twopeasandtheirpod.com]

Pumpkin Granola

I’m clearly wild about fall. I love everything about it: the clothes, the smells, the fruits and vegetables. One of my favorite flavors of fall is pumpkin, and I’ve been incorporating it into everything from soup to granola.  This recipe came from Two Peas and Their Pod, and it was so delicious that I had to bag some (in handmade parchment bags) and send it to my family members.

recipe via [http://twopeasandtheirpod.com]

Book Binding

A few weeks ago when my Aunt came to visit me, I made her and her daughter a few books to take home.  The gridded book is for my cousin–I thought it would come in handy for her interior design sketches.  I also etched her initials into the spine of the book.  The smaller book is covered in some carta di Firenze, which I purchased in Florence during my visit there this summer.  It’s the perfect size travel journal for my Aunt.

Young Hunting Jewelry Collection

I was browsing some blogs today when I stumbled upon some really great, natural-looking jewelry by Australian company, Young Hunting.

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Young Hunting is a unisex jewellery label by Melbourne designer Candice Agius. Each collection is a philosophical exploration that questions and transcends realms influenced by a thematic thought. Each jewellery piece is limited and formed in Australia from high quality materials. Young Hunting is for the rare, the intellectual and the unsharing.

See more / purchase at http://www.younghunting.com.au/blog/

images, quote via [http://www.younghunting.com.au/blog/]

Spring 2011 Fashion Week – The Bad

Marc Jacobs - An overall solid show with a few clunkers, including this clown-jumpsuit getup

Hervé Léger - Several dresses were not a bit figure-flattering, ironic because of their body-hugging natures

The 'Joan Jett meets Courney Love' show did not make me a fan of Marios Schwab's Spring Collection

Egads Betsey Johnson!! I appreciate your wackiness but I couldn't get down with the 'Ride Me' necklaces or the oft awkward frills of this collection

While I dig the plus-sized fashion show in theory, the looks were incongruent and wildly unflattering on the poor ladies who wore them. Case in point.

images via [http://www.ivillage.com/risto/5-b-276641], [http://www.style.com] and [http://jezebel.com]
[http://newyork.mbfashionweek.com/]