"Let them eat cake"

I can watch this movie twice in a go. Once for the love of good cinema, history, queens, royalty and witty dialogues, and the second time in mute. For the fashion, the dresses, the shoes, the make up, the cake, the sets, the extravagance, the floral prints. I am completely obsessing over all of the above, especially the pastel colours, and the shoes! Ofcourse, the shoes!

Before watching the movie I was of the opinion that Keira Knightley would have made a better "Dauphine of France", but I was wrong. Kirsten Dunst plays the role, she was born to, as Marie Antoinette, the Austrian Princess married off to Louis XVI. She does more for the movie than the screenplay which often looses out and fails to be historically accurate quite a lot. That sort of ruined it for me. But the movie nevertheless is a good watch. Jason Schwartzman is interesting, but does not hold a candle to Dunst. Who with her innocence, beauty, regal charm, brilliant dialogue delivery clearly steals the show. She, though is in great competition with Milena Canonera and Veronique Melery who have excelled themselves as the costume designer and the set decorator respectively.

Surely, Veronique Melery, would not mind doing up my house? A tip though, keep lots of cake and pastries in the refrigerator while seeing this movie. You'll need them.

Talent, that runs deep.

Okay, so apparently there are photographers and then there is Annie Leibovitz. A friend of mine is studying photography and art and can't seem to have enough words for her. Very uncharacteristic.

But then she dropped the magic words, Disney, Football players, and Fashion magazines.

And really, which girl could have resisted? She is a portrait photographer, and has done some fabulous work with Disney. Really, when I see talent like this, I feel proud, and worthless all at the same time.

"Where every Cinderella story comes true"

Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella

"Where your every wish is our command"

Whoopie Goldberg as Genie.

"Where a whole new world awaits"

Jennifer Lopez as Jasmine, Marc Anthony as Alladin.

"Where wonderland is your destiny"

Beyonce as Alice, Lyle Lovett as March Hare, Oliver Pratt as Mad Hatter

"Where you are the fairest of them all"

Rachel Wiesz as Snow White

Lord, have some mercy! Okay, so it was because of Ronaldo that I chose this picture. But that doesn't mean that the photograph is not amazing. And look at that woman gaping, who can blame her?

There ought to be a law against this kind of heat radiation. Surely it's resulting in Global Warming.

No, surprises that Kaka, with the most clothes on still looks the hottest. Oh, the perks of being a talented fashion photographer.

I have always thought that it's not merely the talent that makes you good behind the lens. Its a lot about your thought process, your creativity, and doesn't this picture just prove that to be correct?Penguins, with a group of Men in tux. And making that look not only good, but logical, plausible, is surely a talent in itself

Pretty women made to look even prettier, make for a pretty picture.

Not to mention, the pretty dresses.

If ever the Queen, can be made to look more regal, yet humbling, this is surely it. Fairytale Royalty.

Weather she's making fairytale campaigns, photographing half nude football players or the royalty itself, her work is not merely a picture. Not just a click of a button. Her work is a piece of art. There is a depth in it, humanity in it, yet its larger than life. I bow to thee, Annie Leibovitz.

Aisha

I have been super excited about the movie "Aisha" ever since I got to know that it is to be an adaptation of Aunt Jane's Emma, and that none other than the charismatic and the very very sexy Abhay Deol was to play Mr Knightley. And, contrary to most reviews and opinions, I wasn't disappointed. When I go for a movie, I am not looking for anything but entertainment. Weather that be from serious questioning cinema, a mindless comedy, chick flick, a rom-com, I have no qualms. Though I do love the classic Bollywood formula of singing and dancing with a heavy dose of melodrama the most, I am happy to take whatever I get as long as I get thoroughly entertained!

Aisha, was in and out a chick flick, but unlike most movies of this genre, this one did not sideline the men (read : ample Deol footing, so happiness) However, they could not do this, seeing as it was after all about match making or shall I say mismatching. Sonam Kapoor, is Aisha, who does not believe in not meddling. Living in elite South Delhi, is the much loved daughter of a widowed father, and the woman of the house as her elder sister is married off. She believes that she has a penchant for matchmaking, as one effort resulted in wedding bells. She also believes , with good intent, that everybody's business is her business. Arjun (Deol) begs to differ. He is brother-in-law to Aisha's sister, as well as being a favourite with her father. A suave, designer dressing, New York return investment banker. He see's Aisha as someone with a lot of potential who wastes it on her meddlesome quests. He never fails to point this out and reprimand her whenever needed and often when not needed. And then there is the gang (for a lack of a better word). Her quirky, sarcastic, very hot best friend Pinky Bose (Ira Dubey) She lives to throw caution at the winds, and insults at people's face. Never bitten, Never shy. She knows what she is and most importantly what she's not. And loyal to the core. The Harriett here is Shefali Thakkur (Amrita Puri) who comes from the back and beyond and begins to idolise Aisha. She is Aisha's project of the month, and Aisha's word is law for her. Then there are some other men who prance around , moving the plot but not this blog post. Matters not, because there is not much originality in the script, save for Ira Dubey who I did not find in the book. So obviously, a good original script is not what stuck with me, and neither is the movie a good adaptation, a good movie but not a good adaptation. It's almost a scene to scene copy, so anyone who has read the book or seen Clueless will know without a doubt what is to come.

But Aisha scores in almost every other dimension. The OST is a hit, though the choreography is a miss. I dare you to survive, gal mithi mithi bol, without bursting into peals of hysterical laughter. Good, fun song though. The dialogues are very much in line with the whole chick flick, uber elite Delhi, witty, sarcastic, humorous theme.

The character sketches, the director draws are definitely a big strength for the movie! Aisha, as in Emma, is a constant surprise. You love her, dislike her, admire her, and wish to reprimand her. But she does not leave you feeling sour, Cause she's what we all are. Human and very real. But one question, you cannot help asking is that, wy isn't se interested in boys herself? The sketching of all the characters, has been done brilliantly down to the last minute detail. You feel like, you know them. You can relate with them, you want to chill with them! Arjun, like his inspiration, Mr Knightley is a very sorted, very fearless person, but I found this inspiration of Knightley to be more realistic. You can see his reasons for criticizing Aisha, He is hard on her, but but it upsets him that both of them are upset with each other. But in the book, sometimes I found Mr Knightley doing exactly with Emma, what she did with Harriett. Just the style was different.

The clothes and accessories, oh please don't get me started!! Love, love, love. Maybe lust too.

What with my new love for all things yellow (excluding nail paint, that will never happen) I adored the strapless dress. And it did wonders for Sonam. She is anyway a very classy, stylish person to begin with, so she had just the right attitude and panache needed. Also loved the white and red hearts dress, with the heart shaped cut at the back! Moschino, I would think. The makeup, not on the face, actual tangible bottles, looked delicious. I need to devour L'Oreal soon.

A word for Ira Dubey, though I am not fond of such over the top dressing usually, she did wonders for the pieces! I absolutely loved her!

And now for the cast, Sonam for once satisfied me! She did a good job, we always knew she looked good, now we know that she can act! Abhay Deol, needless to say was fabulous. I cannot imagine another Arjun, but then I am a devoted fan. Oh, you can tell?Also, the chemistry between Abhay and Sonam was amazing! Being the eternal ( you might prefer the word hopeless) romantic that I am, I hope these too get together in real life!

But Amrita Puri, was the one who exceeded all expectations and stole the show! She was fabulous, very natural effortless acting. Very graceful. And I found her to be quite pretty too!

So all in all, I came out satisfied wanting too see more of the debutant director, Rajshree Ojha's work. Good times, so, good movie.

Oh, and I loved the last scene!

All things Valentino

Rosso Valentino. How can such bright, fiery red be made up yellow? Surprising, this.
My preference bends towards the fuchsia's. I have a thing for satin, and satin in stilettos just notches up the sexy quotient.

The pink clutch, very sophisticated and elegant. No?

Love the dresses, not so much the model.

Angela Lindvall, supermodel. I think she is one of the rare supermodels, I find pretty.Very defined features. I like sharp, stand alone features, which would look good in any face, any shape. She possesses that. And, especially her cheekbones! Love them. She, along with a windblown lavender, make an immensely pretty picture.

Along with Isabella Orsini. I love these two shades of blue, midnight and royal, right? And their expressions. Give so much away, yet so little.

Well it could be Angela, or this could be the magic of Peter Lindbergh

I love how he has broken the monotony of black and white, by black and white itself. I saw some of his other work at his website, and it surely calls for a post of its own!

Love, love, love the red dress! Whatever their red is made up, nobody makes red like Valentino. Or shall I say, made. Quite depressing. Why did they have to omit out the rosso to revamp the brand.

As a fanatic for the brand and Valentino Garavani, I am sure I'll love the movie. The movie apparently captures the madness of the fashion world, the designer's iconic wit, humor and relationship with business partner and life long companion, Giamatti. (Who, according to a tabloid, is truly the yin to his yang)

Valentino : The Last Emperor. Flanked by gorgeous models, sporting, not surprisingly the iconic Valentino red.

The 2010 adverts.I like black and white fashion photography, but somehow I prefer the previous Valentino, colourful vibrant advertisements.

Not a scarf person, but this one is exceptionally pretty. And the shades are nice,too.

One day, I shall do I/O for this haute couture brand. No harm in dreaming a little dream!

Some of this. Some of that.

I hate growing up.
I hate what the world does to me.
I hate how they take away the magic
of small things that mean so much to me.
In one word.One thought.
I hate the cynic I'm becoming.
I hate how this is the only way I'd survive.
I hate being the practical prissy life needs me to be and
I learn to be so easily.
I hate how they throttle my fables
and daydreams
and I know they're wrong.
Call me an ignorant fool.
Atleast I've tasted bliss in my head.
Felt pure joy and pain and hurt.
In those moments I've truly lived.
Free fall.
You'd never know.
You wear your masks and thinking caps all the time.
You live your half hearted lives and rejoice.
Kudos.
You'll never know what it's like.
The hurt too,is bliss itself.
And I'd do it again.
Get hurt all over again.
To feel one high.
To live one half of my fairy tale.
To play the princess again , even if it's only in my mind.
One moment.
Bring it on then.
Give me your best shot.

But amongst all the rant, I LOVE this :



Marc Jacobs. I absolutely love his stuff. He manages to give his creations a look of both elegance and funkiness. Rare talent. Another brand I love would be Valentino.
Though I must confess, more than a little bit only for the name. Doesnt it have a wonderful ring to it?