Blotting paper

Eric Rohmer: Pauline à la plage (1983, France)

I would call this a French romantic comedy, though obviously superior because it’s (a) French and (b) made by Eric Rohmer. It’s not one of his best movies, but it’s definitely enjoyable. Pauline is a teenager on vacation with her older, divorced cousin (the blonde bombshell in the picture above) and she is having her first major experiences with love, you could say. Fun movie. You’ll be shocked just how serious a French romantic comedy can be, just how nakedly people talk about love. It’s rather wonderful.

Milos Forman: Valmont (1989, UK)

Rubbish.

(But: Colin Firth redeemed himself in this for me. And Annette Benning is extremely . . . beautiful.) » Read the rest of this entry «

I’m in a strange place right now: I have nothing to blog about. Help me find something to blog about.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Mood boards are fairly standard in the fashion industry and other aspects of design, but they can easily be made use of in the industry of writing. In fact, many writers keep scrap books or collect and arrange material in various ways that are comparable to fashion mood boards.

In the world of fashion, a mood board is a set of starting points for a collection. It is a physical thing on which the designer may pin objects that attract or inspire her. » Read the rest of this entry «

A feminist asks where all the other feminists were (planning a boobquake?) (via River Slant)

The three events were started in response to an Iranian cleric’s proclamations about women’s immodesty and promiscuity causing earthquakes, and have subsequently been supported by members of such prominent feminist sites as Feministing.com, Jezebel.com, and Feministe.com. I was initially intrigued by the idea as a sort of campy and playful way to collectively disprove an idea, but » Read the rest of this entry «

Zadie Smith on the lyrical Realist novel (via China Miéville)

These aren’t particularly healthy times. A breed of lyrical Realism has had the freedom of the highway for some time now, with most other exits blocked. For Netherland [a novel by Joseph O'Neill], our receptive pathways are so solidly established that to read this novel is to feel a powerful, somewhat dispiriting sense of recognition. It seems perfectly done –  in a sense that’s the problem. » Read the rest of this entry «

This is the superfuck among all superfuck things today.

RIP Alexander McQueen

» Read the rest of this entry «

Naomi Klein on Bush, the ‘hollowing’ out of politics and the Obama brand

Just as companies such as Nike and Microsoft had pioneered the hollow corporation, this was, in many ways, a hollow war. And when one of the contractors screwed up — Blackwater operatives opening fire in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007, for instance, leaving 17 people dead, or Halliburton allegedly supplying contaminated water to soldiers — the Bush administration was free to deny responsibility. » Read the rest of this entry «