the laughing heart

your life is your life

don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

-- Charles Bukowski


for the love of Jean Paul Gaultier

To be perfectly honest, it wasn't until I visited The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts this summer to view The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk exhibit that I truly appreciated and understood the mastery that is JP Gaultier. It was always the Galliano and McQueen shows that stole my easily distracted attention, gripping onto it until anti-Semitism, depression and/or addiction leading to suicide, got in the way of eternal genius (RIP McQueen).


Having seen the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibit at the MET in NYC post viewing The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier at the MMFA in Montreal - I would say they were comparable in excellence. Both provided imaginative interactivity for the viewer to engage and become a part of the fashion/art (interchangeable) collection. Not only as a viewer was I able to experience and praise the dedication of craftmanship and pure genius behind each collection, but also identity with be enthralled by the passionate emotion behind the complexity of obstacles and struggle of beauty that goes hand-in-hand with being a prodigy (more so directed to the Savage Beauty exhibit, obviously... which I saw more recently = more fresh in my mind).


Please excuse the camera-phone images that don't nearly justify the beauty on the other side of the lens, but regardless, the exhibit was a sensation.

The mannequins had projected images of realistic human facial features and expressions, as they blinked, winked, starred, laughed and spoke, lip-syncing to voice recorders playing in the background - which I'd estimate for every ten clips of French, maybe one of English would play - my one and only grievance.

The infamous cone bra created for Madonna's 1990 Blonde Ambition Tour.

The following themes were the focus of the exhibition:

The Boudoir.

Skin deep.

Punk CanCan. 

Urban Jungle.

Metropolis.

“I think the way people dress today is a form of artistic expression. Saint Laurent, for instance, has made great art. Art lies in the way the whole outfit is put together. Take Jean Paul Gaultier. What he does is really art,” said Andy Warhol (Mondo Uomo, 1984).

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There’s a secret magic past world that you only notice when you’re looking back at it

#nowplaying Rocky Votalato  - White Daisy Passing

Fashion Squad

Carolina Engman is such a stunner. J'adore this ensemble. 

 

Tonight if we learn the world's on fire - I guess I'll turn to you

I often envision myself doing this exact routine down the streets of Toronto. I love this song and vid.

Style Icon - Joanna Hillman

I lust over the style of Joanna Hillman, Senior Fashion Market Editor for Harper's Bazaar. She is Toronto-born, studied Art History at the University of Western Ontario (just like me!), and worked for three years at Teen Vogue as the Senior Fashion Market Director. She's both a fashion inspiration and incredible success story. Her signature red lips and Wayfarers are charming and timeless. If I could go closet-raiding - Joanna Hillman's closet would be top of the list.

Dorian Gray Syndrome

After beginning, stalling and failing to finish the Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, I'm wondering if this compelling film adaptation is my answer of motivation to complete the read.
I'm really interested in the idea behind the story, and think 'Dorian Gray Syndrome' is more relevant than ever, as the world obsesses over self-image and defying the aging process by remaining forever young - in mind, soul and with the help of some chemicals and plastic surgery, body. Can't wait to watch.

Someone said true love was dead

Home is wherever I'm with you

These songs have been on repeat for well over a month now and I'm still not sick of them, and that's definitely blog post-worthy. 



Home LCD Soundsystem



Home Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Sit me down. Shut me up

Somewhere, someone is killing someone else for making them sit through Somewhere - Sophia Coppola's latest piece of mastery. That someone was not me, nor my friends murdering me, although they weren't overly impressed. I am of the breed which enjoys the drawn-out, real-time, almost uneventful plot line - the style many of Coppola's films (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, Virgin suicides) fall in line with. Her focus on characterization and emotional development in relation to the protagonists, forces you to wear their shoes and connect with them even if you're not sure what it is your connecting with or what exactly they are thinking. Said emotional topics projected are mostly broad, like loneliness, unhappiness, lost on a search for meaning or self discovery - notions everyone at one time or another has experienced to some degree. Her subjects are usually rich/famous icons who have the world at their fingertips, just don't know what to do with it, except alienate themselves into their current state of misery. Her films often test our patience to sit and view life in realistic time frames (prime example the opening scene with the Ferrari circling the race track 10 + times). Her soundtracks often play a colossal role in Coppola's iconic stylization and although this particular film, as Coppola said in a Pitchfork interview, she wanted the music to be highly realistic, which it was, without a focus on being hip, which it wasn't. She wanted it to be believable rather than a stand alone soundtrack. Her choice of 'You only Live Once' by The Strokes for the trailer was a profound decision - definitely grabbed my attention to see the film in the first instance. She's also notorious for leaving you hanging with so many unresolved issues and unanswered questions. What did Bill whisper to Scarlet in Tokyo at the end of Lost in Translation? Where is Stephen Dorff headed and who is going to re possess his beautiful vehicle? As the viewer, Sophia gives us such a great deal of freedom to interpret her films with our own minds and ideas, and even when I leave the theatre slightly confused, I feel content that Scarlet knows Bill loves her and she impacted his life so greatly and they will meet again someday, and Stephen will discover happiness and become a better father to Elle, because after all it's love and family that triumph all. Maybe it's my hopeful positivity or my need to believe that everything will work out in the end... And maybe I should be more of a realist - but films are my escape and why not leave the theatre feeling better than when you walked into it? And I will leave you to ponder that - Sophia Coppola style.

Easy A, amusing as Mean Girls

Barça break. I forgot to mention how hilarious this movie is! I loved it. Emma Stone is great, and so are her movie parents in the film, Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci. Penn Badgley is a dreamboat - here more so than in GG (Yes... I've been watching Gossip Girl again... probably because my personal life has been so low-key I've been indulging in drama from my TV screen). But really the humour compares to the classically hilarious Mean Girls, funny for all.

Part dos: I went to Barça and came back a foodie

Well, not exactly. However, I did go to Barça and eat incredibly exquisite, lush dinners, lunches and gelato! My love for food and fine dining still holds as always, but I'm not about to call myself a foodie - I'm really nowhere near pretentious enough for that self-proclaimed title and hopefully never will be. Although to befriend a foodie is never something I would deny. This is my biggest obstacle: I love food and I adore trying new cuisine, but I'm always so conflicted at the menu stage - what to order, alongside what appetizer and what drink to best compliment the main course ingredients. I love people who just know... and can take the pain out of my indecisiveness and order for me! In Spain, luckily the decisions were never too difficult. The menus were often printed with English translation or an entire English menu available for the ignorant tourists who "forgot" their English-to-Spanish pocket translation guide back at the hotel, or were just too hungry to bother - dinner was around 10 pm each night, can you really blame us!


Our first meal of the trip was a lovely lunch @ Next To rest-bar - a delicious ham and cheese baguette with juice (we found to be often more expensive than an alcoholic beverage). It wasn't always the case that wait staff was friendly but at this particular cafe, our waiter was incredibly friendly and took time to talk directions, traveling advice specific to the area and tipping tips (we always left tips, but he noted it's not expected the same way it is back home, you leave what you can or what you think the wait staff truly deserved). Really made a huge difference.

A Greek salad from a Irish-inspired pub (BCN is in no shortage of this style of pub).

Paella, the specialty of Spain. We took a short break from tanning on the beach and swimming in the ocean to enjoy a Catalonian platter, a pitcher of sangria and seafood paella at a beachside resto. Absolutely delightful.

The dinner at this restaurant *name TK, was an incredibly lucious delight, however the atmosphere was a little off, staff not too friendly.



Buffet @ Flaminco show.

My absolute favourite dinner was at a gallery-style restaurant of pure class and taste *Name TK, forgive me.

To die for.

Limoncello, so refreshing @ Happy Bar and Grill - although wouldn't recommend eating here, too over-Americanized.

We sampled a number of different tapas and fell in love @ Tapa Tapa! Great staff and delicious food. Recommend!

Delicious croquettes @ Tapa Tapa.

When it came to beer - we loved Estrella and Bitburger.

And lest we not forget (the soldiers, it is Rembrance Day afterall) but also le cheesebuger.

It's just one of those things that has to be done while traveling.

Thankfully we did our fair share of walking during the trip and despite what this post may convey, did not come back 300 lbs heavier.

Buen Apetito!