I like to support Australian films. Let me rephrase that: I like to support good Australian films. So on Saturday night Luke and I forked out $30 or so to see The Sapphires.
The Sapphires is a drama/comedy based on a 2004 stage play of the same name. The film is inspired by the true story of four Aboriginal women who form a singing group and travel to Vietnam in 1968 to perform for the troops.
I found the movie very entertaining, with all the actors putting in a lot of heart and soul. I laughed and I cried. The characters are very well done, and the music is brilliant; it's just good entertainment. I must admit that I also enjoyed Chris O'Dowd's presence on screen, since I'm a bit of an IT Crowd fan. He was kind of playing the exact same character as in that show, just more sincere and heartfelt at points. Jessica Mauboy has an amazing voice but the other girls can hold their own too. Oh, and the costuming. Man, late 1960s clothing, way fun! Loved the colours.
However, what I appreciated most about this film was the fact that it has a widespread appeal but also deals with Aboriginal culture in a respectful and sensitive way. The movie exposes audiences to atrocities such as the Stolen Generation but without completely focusing on this aspect.
Just a short one today, guys. Lazy? Who, me? Actually, it requires a little bit more effort on your behalf.
My absolutely gorgeous friend Tess is entering a competition to be the Jubly-Umph Pin Up Girl.
I've looked through all the entrants and to be honest she has definitely the most authentic vintage style of the lot. I really hope I look as stunning as her after having 2 kids. :) Anyway, I personally believe (and yes, I may be totally biased) that she deserves to win.
What do you think?
Well if you think "yes" along with me, please like her photo on the Jubly-Umph Pin Up Girl Facebook page. Important note: the competition ends this Saturday (20 October).
So about three weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to attend one of the biggest shows/events/spectaculars in Wellington, not to mention New Zealand - the World of Wearable Arts (WOW). And what an experience. It's a very unique event and really unlike anything I've seen before.
Essentially, this is a fashion show where the models - as the name might suggest - wear "art". It's not only different from your normal runway events, but also worlds apart from couture shows (pun intended). But it's not merely a runway where models wear amazing, crazy costumes. The models also dance in their art to a fantastic array of music. Not only that, but there are also choreographed groups of dancers, plus a light show. You really have to see it for yourself to get a full appreciation. The impression it left on me was that of a visual feast. The show goes for 2 hours, and there isn't a second where you're not captivated by something on the stage: whether it be a dance routine, a light show, or an amazing costume. The costumes are created by designers, and with one third of them now coming from overseas, it is definitely a growing phenomenon. I guess the growing international presence is due to this being such a niche show - there is nothing that really compares anywhere else in the world, so New Zealand is lucky to have it. Every year it sells out and so I was very fortunate to get tickets.
So where did this all originate, anyway? The World of Wearable Art was born in 1987 when Nelson sculptor Suzie
Moncrieff had an idea to promote a rural art gallery and thereby created
a new genre of performance. An audience of 200 came to a community hall
to watch a show that took art off the wall and on to the stage. 25 years later, it plays for over 12 days in Wellington to an audience of more than 50,000 and a crew of more than 400. It is big. There is now also a museum in Nelson.
Anyway, I guess you probably want to see some photos of the costumes, right?
Delight Of Light, Yuru Ma & Mengyue Wu, China
2012 Brancott Estate Supreme WOW Award - 'Winner' & American Express Open Section 'Winner'
Revive, Mengyue Wu & Yuru Ma, China
'Runner Up' to the Supreme WOW Award & Tourism New Zealand Avant Garde Section - 'Winner'
Noor Reverie, Rebecca Maxwell, Wellington
WOW Factor Award - 'Winner'
Dragged Through A Hedge, Gillian Saunders, Nelson
American Express Open Section
- 'Commended'
I love this one. Upon first seeing it, I actually thought it was a comment on Wellington wind.
Rise From the Ruins, Nicole Linnell, Wellington
Shell Student Innovation Award - 'Winner'
As you can see, the creativity is just astounding, really. Of course, it's a bit hard to appreciate it from photos, so I thought I'd include a small video as well to give you more of an idea. The footage below is from the 2011 show.
If you're ever in Wellington in September, it's well worth a look.
I really appreciate that the church Luke and I attend often allows some of the young guys who have a gift for teaching to stand up and give the Sunday sermon. Recently, one of these guys has been doing a series on Psalm 16. His teaching, combined with our reading of Michael Horton's For Calvinism, has lately had me pondering the subject of sanctification.
Sanctification... it's a long word but a good word. I think we Christians shouldn't shy away from big words or be put off by them, because they often have so much depth and richness that if we were going to spell it out instead of using the big word, it would probably take a whole paragraph.
Sanctification in Christian terms is the process of becoming sanctified or holy. As Christians, we desire to become more and more like our Creator and Lord. The process of santification covers the whole of the believer's life and is never fully completed until we join God in heaven.
The question is: how do we obtain progress in sanctification? I think at least part of the answer lies in Psalm 16. In verses 1-2, David writes:
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”
I believe one of the problems with the understanding of sanctification today is that we are constantly looking to ourselves in our efforts to make ourselves holy and thereby to "please God more".
Even the questions we ask ourselves and each other reflect this: "How can I improve my relationship with the Lord?" "How can I serve the Lord?" "How is my walk?" The problem with these questions is that they keep our eyes focused on ourselves. In the excerpt above, David acknowledges that there is no good in him, and any good in him comes from God. So when it comes to sanctification, we should be looking to God. "Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..." (Hebrews 12:2.) Sanctification can only happen in, of and through Jesus's work on the cross, by which we became justified before God through the work of the Holy Spirit. In the process of sanctification God through His Holy Spirit regenerates us and makes us a new person with a new heart. The sermon last Sunday put it in the following way: "The focus of the Christian life is not our works or love for God, but the righteous life and atoning work of Christ." If you want to become more sanctified, you need to immerse yourself in the Gospel, preach it to yourself, remind yourself of it, live it and breathe it. From this we will slowly come to understand more of who God is and become filled with the joy of knowing Him, which will cause us to want to serve Him, obey Him, trust Him and love Him more. This is my understanding of sanctification. And I'm not saying that I do this - believe me, I'm preaching to myself more than anyone else. But we have to get to a point where we step back and realise: It's not about me. It's about Him. It's all about Him. I am nothing without Him. As John the Baptist said: "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). David also understood this. Later in Psalm 16 he writes: I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. (Psalm 16:7-8.) In For Calvinism, Michael Hortonalso comments that although God delights in our sanctification and good works, as a father does in a child's obedience, nevertheless "good works are not for my benefit or God's but for others: my brothers and sisters in Christ, my family, and my neighbours in need of loving service and witness... only God's work for us can prepare us for our work with others."
What do we have here? More clothes from my wardrobe. Yes indeedy. I quite like matching, though unless you're colour blind you've probably noticed this. Actually, I must confess it's kind of my OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), yet to be officially diagnosed by a psychologist... however, I personally just like to think of it as being stylish. :)
Women in the 40s & 50s wore lots of colour. The fact is that we rarely get this impression because most of our photos of them are in black and white! Only quite recently has the idea emerged that if you're going to wear a bright colour you must "balance it" with a neutral tone. Before then it was more like: "You know what would look great with this bright-coloured blouse? I know, a bright-coloured skirt." This is the "more is more" theory. Unfortunately, most people aren't brave enough to wear colours on colours, so we do "colour blocking" and "toning down". But to this I say... bring on the colour.
I love pairing this blouse and skirt. It's like they were made for each other. I've posted on this top before, when I paired it with my 1940s swing pants. I actually found this top in a second-hand store for $10. Just because something is "not this season" doesn't mean it can't be stylish, and sometimes even chain stores get it right. It's even better when you can buy it at probably a tenth of the original price. Win!
Skirt: Thrifted
Another Savers buy. Oh, how I miss that giant second-hand store in Australia. I think I spent a whopping $4 on this item - pretty good for a 100% pure wool pencil skirt. I always used to mentally think of this as my Qantas air hostess skirt, probably because of the colour. Unfortunately, I've loved this skirt a little bit too much, and discovered the hard way that it wasn't meant for swing dancing - >.< Luckily I was able to repair it. From the style of the label I'm guessing it dates from the 70s or 80s.
Stockings: Unknown
I really will find out this brand for you, I promise. Loving them so much. They're 15 denier, so are unlikely *fingers crossed* to get holes for a while.
Shoes: Ashleigh Dawson
I bought these shoes from the Atticus shoe shop on Lambton Quay. This store is dangerously close to where I work. I have a problem with black shoes; maybe I'm the only one, but the inside of the shoe tends to dye my skin-coloured stockings! Very annoying! Maybe I just have extra sweaty feet (sorry if that's TMI). Anyway, I had been crazily looking for some classy-looking flats that were: 1) not black inside, or any other colour that would potentially dye my stockings; 2) well-made, i.e. not going to fall apart after a season; 3) nice enough to wear to work; and 4) comfortable to walk long distances in.
Too much to ask? Maybe. However, I had already spied these shoes about 6 months ago, so it wasn't too hard to see that they would fit the bill. And I love them. I can't find any website information on them, but they're made in Spain and come in lots of colours. I decided to go for the plain leather (100%, thank you very much) with a bow. So cute. Anyway, although they were somewhat of a *cough* investment, I'm hoping they'll pay off. And stain-free stockings - yay!
Not sure how I stumbled across Lucy Schwartz, but she is amazing. After checking her "About" page on her website, I fell in love with her even more:
FUN FACTS & FACT-FACTS about LUCY SCHWARTZ
• Lucy has a new EP, “Keep Me”, out now!
• Lucy is also working on a full-length album, due 2012. The album has a name, but I won’t tell you yet, because surprises make life fun!
• Lucy likes to write about herself in a
well-organized-bullet-point-factual-fashion and she tends to refer to
herself in the 3rd person. Yes, Lucy does.
• When Lucy was 18 years old and still in high school, she had her first opportunity to write for a movie; it was a Meg Ryan film, The Women. The two songs Lucy wrote, “Count on Me” and “Beautiful” were chosen for the opening and closing scenes of the movie.
• Since then, Lucy has written original songs for numerous films:
• Most recently, she co-wrote a duet called “Cold” with British artist Aqualung, for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1.
• Lucy is a Twilight/fantasy nerd and very excited about the fact listed above this fact.
• Lucy also penned “Darling I Do”, the love-song for Shrek 4, with Landon Pigg; wrote original songs for the movies Mother & Child and Post Grad; and had music featured in the movie Adam and a multitude of television shows. Plus, Lucy wrote the international theme song for Parenthood.
• You know the silly British voice that sings “Mr. F” and “For British Eyes Only” on the show Arrested Development? That voice is none other than the fake-British-chanteuse of Ms. Schwartz herself.
• Lucy toured with Lilith Fair & sang on stage alongside Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, and Colbie Caillat.
She has opened for The Civil Wars, Moby, The Weepies, Brandi Carlile,
Agnes Obel, The Belle Brigade, A Fine Frenzy, and Toad the Wet Sprocket.
• Lucy Performed “Darling I Do” on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show.
• Last summer, she did a series of shows with a string quartet & called it “Lucy Schwartz & The Heartstrings”. She recorded one of the shows and is now giving away the live recordings for FREE on her website. (How nice of her!)
• Lucy is also dedicated to making the world a better place through music:
she has worked with CHOC Children’s hospital, Rock n Roll Camp for
Girls, WriteGirl, Songs of Love for Japan and Symphony of Hope: The
Haiti Project. She also teamed up with Charity Water & connected her
underwater “Life in Letters” music video to the important issue of clean water. http://www.charitywater.org/
• Lucy is 22 years old but has the memory of a 97-year-old
• She is afraid of butterflies and often terrified by movies that are spoofs of scary movies.
• She does NOT like olives.
And now that you have fallen in love with Luc as much as I have, you might also like her music:
Fact: The best dancing movie ever is Dirty Dancing. Period. No contest. It just has to be.
Another fact is that I love this movie, probably because of two things: 1) I love dancing; 2) I love Patrick Swayze. And of course, in this movie you get Patrick Swayze dancing. Unbeatable.
I first saw Dirty Dancing when I was about 16, which was probably too young for me to register some of the themes in it. But since this is a coming-of-age movie and has lots of dancing, I immediately fell in love with it. It was released in 1987, originally a low-budget film that made it big. In fact, it was the first movie to sell more than a million copies on home video. Impressive, no?
I don't know if I should bother going over the storyline, because everyone knows it, right?
OK, for those ones and ones of people who don't know the plot, here it is. The year is 1963, and Frances "Baby" Houseman, who is something of a sweet and naive daddy's girl, goes with her family to a resort in upstate New York's Catskill Mountains. A kind of "camp" is being held at the resort where families participate in talent shows, activities and so on - an idea which I think is a bit foreign these days, but it works in the movie. The Houseman family is rather well off. There is an expectation placed on Baby that she will go to college, perhaps join the Peace Corps, and try to save the world before marrying a rich, handsome doctor just like her father. However, as fate would have it, Baby instead falls head over heels in love with the resort dance instructor Johnny Castle, a man who couldn't be further removed from Baby's sheltered existence. Their relationship changes both of them, challenging their world view and how they see other people. Of course, there's also lots of dancing, which - let's face it - is the best part.
Oh, and I almost forgot, this movie has the best soundtrack! Perfect to listen to when getting ready to go out or while doing the vacuuming!
Apparently Dirty Dancing is based in large part on screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein's own childhood. She is the younger daughter of a Jewish doctor from New York, spent
summers with her family in the Catskills, participated in "Dirty
Dancing" competitions, and was herself called "Baby" as a girl. I guess it's OK to plagiarise your own life, right?
The movie was also quite a big risk, as it was Vestron Pictures' first feature film. They gave it a rather low budget of $5 million (most films were costing $12 million back then).
Director Emile Ardolino was adamant that they choose dancers who could also act. Jennifer Grey, who is legendary Broadway actor Joel Grey's daughter, was chosen for the part of "Baby". Patrick Swayze took the part of Johnny, despite his agent not wanting him to. Apparently Grey was not pleased, since they had worked together before on previous films and had not got along. But hey, who's to argue with chemistry? Their dance audition was described by Bergstein as "breathtaking".
It would be a massive understatement to say that everyone was a touch sceptical about the film's reception. The director and producers were even told to "burn the negative, and collect the insurance." There was even a plan to release it for just one weekend and then put it straight to video.
Luckily, sometimes even the audience can tell a good movie when they see it. Although it tended to get more of a thumbs up from adults than the teens they were aiming at, the film was a sensation, growing in popularity as the weeks went by and word of mouth drew more people. Apparently many women bought another ticket after seeing it the first time, and watched it again!
Fun
Fact #1: Filming was delayed so much that a lot of the film was shot in autumn. Set decorators had to spray-paint the autumn leaves green in order
to make it look like summer.
Fun Fact #2: Director Ardolino encouraged the actors to improvise, and often kept the
cameras rolling even if actors went "off script". One example of this
was the scene where Grey was to stand in front of Swayze with her back
to him, and put her arm up behind his head while he trailed his fingers
down her arm.
Though it was written as a serious and tender moment, Grey was
exhausted, found the move ticklish, and could not stop giggling each
time Swayze tried it, no matter how many takes Ardolino asked for.
Swayze was impatient to finish the scene, and found Grey's behavior
annoying. However, the producers decided that the scene worked as it
was, and put it into the film complete with Grey's giggling and Swayze's
annoyed expression.
Baby: Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of
what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of
this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel
when I'm with you.
Johnny: Nobody puts Baby in a corner.
Fun Fact #3: Patrick Swayze also required a hospital visit. Insisting on doing his
own stunts, he repeatedly fell off the log during the "balancing"
scene and injured his knee so badly that he had to have fluid drained from
the swelling.
