thoughts on a viking movie

I'm taking a class on the Vikings this semester, and it's definitely one of my favorites.  A few weeks ago we watched the 1958 movie The Vikings (pretty corny, but an entertaining watch).  Today, as we were talking about ideal Viking men and women, we started thinking about what actors and actresses we would cast in a Viking movie.  I couldn't really think of anyone right then, so naturally I'm still considering the question.  If I were to remake The Vikings - a grittier version, obviously - who would be my leading men and ladies?

Then I realized that I would probably end up picking half the cast of King Arthur, just because it's easier to visualize Vikings when they're already in medieval getup.  Not to mention Stellan Skarsgård, who actually does play a Viking in the movie.

pretty scary stuff, huh?

Second realization: everyone else would have been in Lord of the Rings (i.e. Viggo Mortenson and Miranda Otto), or at least of Scandinavian descent.

My conclusions?  There's a reason why I'm not in the film industry.  But I do want to see King Arthur again (along with Robin Hood, Kingdom of Heaven, Lord of the Rings...)

turn-of-the-century color

I've recently discovered the work of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, a Russian chemist and photographer who developed a technique - in the early 20th century, no less - to produce color photographs.  He used a camera that took a series of three monochrome images, using red, green and blue filters; later, these images could be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near-true color images.

Thanks to the Library of Congress (beginning in 2000), and photographer Walter Frankhauser and computer scientist Blaise Aguera y Arcas, we can now see composites of the original surviving negatives provided by Prokudin-Gorskii's heirs.  It's simply astounding...

Bashkir switchman near Ust-Katav, 1910

Mid-18 century Trinity Monastery in Tyumen, ca. 1912

Young Russian peasant woman in a rural area along the Sheksna River near the small town of Kirillov

(source - Wikimedia Commons)

Antonio Marras RTW, Spring 2012

I love this collection - absolutely brilliant.  I can't believe this designer hasn't been on my radar before!

On the fashion note, I get to see Betsey Johnson's show in Boston next month!! So. Excited.

more aprons

The last two aprons I finished this summer.  There won't be any more or another year, I promise.  (I think...)

The black and white with pink one is my favorite, obviously.

summer movies

LAST WEEK was the week of catching up on random movies (in between doing touristy stuff in LA).  We ended up not going to the Natural History Museum/La Brea Tar Pits, or to LACMA, but some other time, I guess.  It was simply too hot to leave the house!!

Did You Hear About the Morgans - cute, but I probably wouldn't choose to see it again.  Sarah Jessica Parker does not play the most likeable character, and Hugh Grant, while funny, is better in movies like Notting Hill and Music & Lyrics.

Last Chance Harvey - very well done.  Dustin Hoffman was kind of annoying in the film (or rather, his character had quite a few wince-worthy moments and characteristics), but I love Emma Thompson.  Quite simply, she is such a fantastic actress who can make anything worth watching.

The Last Legion - yet another King Arthur-themed alternative prequel, featuring an Indian master warrior from Constantinople (seriously. that in itself was just awesome)...There's also Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, and the ever-adorable Thomas Brodie-Sangster.

The Visitor - easily one of the best films I've seen this summer.  I hadn't seen any of the actors before, but they were all incredible. It's one of those films that's sad and happy at the same time, and it opened up my eyes to a world that I know little about...

Breakfast at Tiffany's - a classic, of course, and the first time I've seen it!  Shame on me, I know.  Admittedly it did not quite live up to my expectations.  Besides the really awkward parts with the Caucasian guy depicting (in quite an uncomplimentary way) the angry Asian neighbor (though I suppose that's just how it was in the movies those days), I feel like the movie just dragged.  There were just too many ridiculous scenes showing how ridiculous Audrey Hepburn's character was.  The first group of scenes that I really liked was when Holly and Paul go out in the city and take turns doing things they've never done before.  The scene with the sales clerk at Tiffany's was pretty funny :)

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story - one of those feel-good, kid-overcomes-odds-to-become-rich-and-famous stories, except better, because he becomes a neurosurgeon!  Outstanding performances, especially by Kimberly Elise as Ben Carson (Cuba Gooding Jr)'s mother.

Annie Hall - admittedly, another classic I only just saw for the first time....I loved it, although it was funniest in the first half hour.  After that, Alvy's pure neuroticism started to become a little less funny and and little more frustrating.

The Hammer Museum

We went to the Hammer Museum (at UCLA) on a Thursday because there's free admission every. single. Thursday.  All day.

The one reason why I wanted to go?  John Singer Sargent's portrait of Dr. Pozzi at home.  I had read about in Strapless, and become fascinated.  For sure, the painting did not disappoint.

Other favorites were Van Gogh's Hospital at Saint-Remy (of course), Gustave Moreau's Salome Dancing before Herod, and Honore Daumier's series of bronze caricature busts of famous Frenchmen (the clay originals are in the Musee d'Orsay).

The museum itself was a lovely surprise, too.  They have so many changing exhibits, and there's also this beautiful open-air atrium in the middle of the museum, too.  Only in Southern California, right?  Seriously though, Westwood is a really nice area.  Even for my standards.  We even stopped by a Yogurtland before we went back.  I personally think Yogurtland is better than the Yozen Frogurt place we go to at home.  They had the cutest Hello Kitty spoons, too!

pacific design center and miranda july

Tuesday's trip to the Pacific Design Center in LA, and MOCA, was a first for me.  Highly recommended!! (Of course, it seems like I'm highly recommending everything now....but still).  It's an interesting mix of cool architecture, bright colors, and...upscale furniture places.  I saw this really awesome chair with cutouts made to look like tree branches...didn't see who the designer was though.  Maybe I'll find out eventually.  Because if I'm going to splurge on a really expensive piece of furniture, I'd be tempted to buy that chair.

Unfortunately I really don't have very great pictures....and not many pictures...went with my parents...felt rushed...now I regret not taking the time to take good pictures...oh well.

The George Herms exhibit at MOCA was pretty cool - collages.

Of course, the whole reason why I went was the Miranda July exhibit - which was set on the rolling lawns (literally - a cross section of the lawn would show a series of semicircles laid next to one another). Eleven Heavy Things (on view until Oct 23) was first installed in Union Square Park, NYC, in 2010.  It seemed right at home (though lonely - not very many people there when we went) at the Pacific Design Center, and we had a lot of fun taking pictures with the sculptures.