The Lily Theatre

The Lily Theatre is a loosely based on the childhood of the author Lulu Wang.

Lian is growing up in Mao's China where bourgeois attitudes will not will not be tolerated. Lian is the child of intellectual parents, who, because of their counter-revolutionary ways, get sent to prison camps. Lian is struck with vitiligo and goes to live with her mother in one of these camps, where she is taught by China's leading scholars. Once freed she is reunited with her best friend Kim, but the strict caste system makes their friendship wrong and unacceptable in the eyes of the outsiders.

The book is a clear and stark look at the uprising of communist China. Its informative, educational, and engrossing. You really feel for Lian at times, she seems so wise even though she is a young teenager. Her views on the cultural revolution are logical but she repeatedly gets punished for expressing them. Makes you feel thankful to live in a free country like Britain.

American Psycho

American Psycho centres on a man named Patrick Bateman. He is a successful wealthy businessman with the expensive suits, the perfect body, and the cleanest apartment. He looks perfect. Except he has one small flaw. He is a psychopath by night. He lures his victims to his house and then brutally murders them, with an axe, a chainsaw, a nail gun, whatever he can get his hands on.

We get a feeling from the start that he isn't completely sane, his OCD is a big giveaway. quite ironic how everything has to be in its place no matter what, yet at night he obliterates it all in a second. Like a big release.

The business card seems to symbolise wealth and power, and it stirs the craziness in Bateman, encouraging him to murder the men whose cards are better than his.

As the film goes on, the more insane Bateman becomes, until he completely cracks and goes on a mass murder rampage, ending in a frantic call to his lawyer in which he says he doesn't think he can get away with it anymore. It ends with Bateman having a conversation with his lawyer over the message he left him. His lawyer doesn't believe him, mistaking Bateman for another client of his, and calling Bateman a coward. The ending is quite ambiguous, did he kill all those people or was it all his imagination?

I thought it was a good film, Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman was brilliant, he was arrogant, greedy and completely psychotic all in one go. Bale is notorious for his method acting and as his character is well built he visited the gym everyday to bulk up, which is clearly apparent in the film.

I noticed before he was going to do something brutal, Bateman would always make a speech about music. Phil Collins and Genesis, Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis and the News. It builds up the tension, till it explodes with lots of blood and guts, which happens a lot. The camera never lets you look directly at the murdering or even the mutilated body after, just a pool of bloody or a part of the body that hasn't been hacked at. Your imagination does the rest for you.

Parc Guell

Another one of Gaudi’s creations, Parc Guell was originally meant to be a residential area but only two houses were built and no one wanted to buy them. Luckily for us it was transformed into beautiful gardens open to the public. The whole park oozes Gaudi, from the colourful mosaics to the smooth curves of the architecture. It is on the side of a very large hill so there are lots of steps and hills to walk up, which adds to its beauty, and has amazing views of Barcelona.

Below is the sea serpent bench. It is covered in mosaic and its very long. The bench is situated on the main terrace and is great for taking photos from.

La Sagrada Familia

Barcelona is full of amazing architecture, mostly thanks to the late great Antoni Gaudi. His work can be found throughout the city, and are instantly recognisable. What he and Barcelona are most famous for though, is the Sagrada Familia, a church that began construction on 19 March 1882, and is still unfinished today. The church was one of Gaudi’s last buildings before he died.

The building is huge, and there has been so much effort and detail gone into the workmanship that there is no wonder it hasn’t been completed yet. There are a total of 18 towers, 2 connected by a bridge and very steep spiral staircases! There are three facades, the Nativity facade, Passion facade, and the Glory facade which is still incomplete. Each one has its own style, the Nativity facade is extremely detailed, depicting the birth of Jesus. This was the first facade to be built whilst Gaudi was alive. The Passion facade is on the opposite side to the Nativity facade, and is dedicated to the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Glory facade faces the south-east and is the main facade.

The interior is just as awe-inspiring and impressive as the exterior. There are huge columns that appear to grow into the ceiling. Gaudi wanted the columns to look like trees, and that exactly what they made me think of when I first saw them. The stain glass windows look modern and fit right in with the architecture.

The building is already a landmark for Barcelona, even Spain, and it is yet to be completed. After seeing this and some of his other work when I was in Barcelona, he became one of my favourite architects. Pictures don’t do it justice, and I highly recommend visiting Barcelona just to see his architecture!

Dubai - Excessive and Fabulous!

My dad lives in Dubai, so I am lucky enough to go and have a free place to stay! It is one of a kind, everything is extravagant, and shiny and brand new.

Some of you may know about the Burj Dubai, a skyscraper under construction at the moment. It is in fact the tallest building in the world, rising high into the sky at a colossal 818m. I had the pleasure of seeing it last year and it towers above the other "tiny" skyscrapers. I took the very top picture on my phone which is why its not the best quality, but you can tell from the skyscrapers in the foreground the sheer scale of it. The picture above is a recent image, as you can tell its almost finished.
When it is complete, the Burj will be a residential building, with luxury apartments and brilliant views. The building is part of a huge project to create downtown Burj Dubai, complete with shopping mall, more residential buildings, and the Armani hotel. Excessive really can't describe this project!

Another landmark Dubai is known for is the Burj Al Arab. This is a luxury hotel designed to look like a sail on the sea. Its contemporary, and beautiful in its own way. The fact that it is on its own little island in the sea makes it even more striking.

Other interesting projects under construction and completed are the Palm (two of them), and the World. All these islands have limited access. The World requires a boat to get to each island. I read that there are financial worries over it due to the recession, and clients have been backing out, so work on the World has ground to a halt.

Dubai is a land of excess and money. I once read someone call it the Vegas of the Middle East, and I agree! There isn't anywhere else like it (except for perhaps Vegas), and I find it amazing how fast they put up buildings, expecially compared to the UK when it takes a year here to do up a normal sized house!

The Paper Crane

Everyone knows origami originated in Japan, but many don't know how the paper crane became a symbol for world peace.

It began with Sadako Sasaki. During WW2, when she was only two years old, an atomic bomb was dropped on her home town of Hiroshima. She survived but a decade on she was diagnosed with leukemia. This is when she started to fold paper cranes. She hoped to fold 1000 and be granted one wish, according to a Japanese legend. Her wish was to live, but when she realised she was going to die, she wanted to wish for world peace and an end to suffering. Her story is famous and has been made into books and films, even mentioned in music. It is said Sadako made 644 before she died. Her friends made the rest and had them buried with her.

A memorial of Sadako holding a golden crane was built in Hiroshima Peace Memorial from funds her school friends collected.

Migration part 01 by Hellovon

Von is a London based artist and illustrator. His work is unique in style, very recognisable. He uses watercolours and pencil to create flowing imagery, its almost as if you can see his work moving and rippling on the page. They look extremely technical and well thought out yet beautiful.

Above is a video of one of his projects, Migration part 01. He drew these abstract birds on watercolour and blew them up to bilboard size. He made for London and another for New York.

To see more of his work visit:

http://www.hellovon.com/#home_showcase

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hellovon/sets/72157612605070944/

Stop AIDS campaign - too far?

I stumbled on some (TV?!) adverts whilst surfing the internet. NSFW!


http://caviar.wiredrive.com/l/p/?presentation=7889b52a911c9572b6673fc96abbd6e4


They are shocking, completely x-rated, and possibly even too much? I just don't think you have to go that far. In the world today we seem to like being shocked, its become part of our culture.

Although I don't find this offensive, I just see it as unnecessary. There are plenty of other ways to grab the viewers attention without the shock factor. I remember reading somewhere about how shocking advertisements didn't have much of an effect on the viewer. But saying that, an advert like that is memorable.


The company that made these for the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health created a previous Stop AIDS poster campaign last year, which takes a more light-hearted approach.

Zevs

I was just doing a bit of research for dissertation when I came across an artist called Zevs. I've never heard of him (he is anonymous like Banksy, but french) but his work is pretty interesting and his website is clever! He used google as the layout, I wonder if he had to pay them to use it.

http://www.gzzglz.com/

Zevs is known for "liquidating logos", e.g. below.

He also cut out a model from a big Lavazza billboard in Berlin, and wrote above it "visual kidnapping - pay now!" His own work coined the term "visual kidnapping"- when someone steals an image from a poster.

Inglourious Basterds

I went to the cinema at the weekend to see Inglourious Basterds. It was a typical Tarantino film, full of violence, good music, and a mix of genres.

The story centres on the Inglourious Basterds, a group of Jews from different countries, joining forces to teach the Nazi's a lesson. The group is led by St. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt).

It begins in the French countryside. Col. Hans Landa, the Jew Hunter, has come to visit the house of a dairy farmer and his daughters to question him on the whereabouts of a missing Jewish dairy farming family. Hans eventually finds them and has them murdered, but one, Shosanna Dreyfus, escapes. We come back to her a few years on, and she is living under the name Emmanuelle Mimieux. She owns a cinema, La Gamaar. Whilst working one day, a German soldier, Frederick Zoller, approaches, clearly attracted to this french girl. He reveals he is a war hero and his actions are to be celebrated in the war movie Stolz der Nation (Nations Pride). Shosanna being a secret Jew is sickened by ths fact and tells Zoller she has no interest in him, but he persists. One thing leads to another and she is suddenly holding a huge premier for the film at her cinema, and the highest leaders, Hitler, Goebbels, Bormann and Goring will be attending. Shosanna realises this is a great opportunity, and starts plotting the murder of the Nazi's.
Meanwhile, the Basterds are causing mayhem, scalping Nazi's and making themselves known. The British find out about the film premiere and join forces with the Basterds to blow up the cinema, with the help of an insider, the glamourous actress Bridget von Hammersmark. The first meeting with von Hammersmark leads to chaos and she leaves with an injured leg. The rest aren't so lucky.
The night of the film premiere arrives and both plots to kill the Nazi's are in place, but Col. Hans Landa catches on the the Basterds plans and tries to deal with them in his own way. I don't want to reveal the ending but it is definitely one not to be missed.

The acting in my opinion was superb, the best being Colonel Hans Landa, played by Christoph Waltz. He was charming, yet creepy and incredibly terrifying. He could change the atmosphere at the click of his fingers. Aldo Raine was another stand out character, he kept the mood light hearted when they were ripping the scalps off Nazi's, and his Italian accent was by far the best I've ever heard.
I read it received mixed reviews. The Guardian gave it a 1/5.

"It is achtung-achtung-ach-mein-Gott atrocious. It isn't funny; it isn't exciting; it isn't a realistic war movie, yet neither is it an entertaining genre spoof or a clever counterfactual wartime yarn. It isn't emotionally involving or deliciously ironic or a brilliant tissue of trash-pop references. Nothing like that."

On the otherhand The Independent gave it a 4/5. I think it isn't meant to be your run of the mill war movie, its not meant to be realistic, its a Tarantino film, and as we all know he has his own style of film making. The storyline bears no resemblance to what happened in real life, and if it did, I definitely didn't pay attention in my history lessons at school!
I thought it was interesting how the film was split up into chapters. I also liked how most of the film was either in French or German, which I didn't expect, but it made the film seem more genuine. Tarantino's use of German and French actors was definitely a wise choice. The idea of Americans playing those roles is just wrong!
Overall I liked it, it was entertaining, funny, sad, disgusting, and it pretty much kept my attention throughout. There were some long talking parts, but these all usually led up to something big and explosive. Another recommended film!

Javier Mariscal

I went to the Design Museum in London the other day, and there was an exhibition on Javier Mariscal. Admittedly I had never heard of him before but I loved his work! Its so vibrant and happy and it makes me smile!


Mariscal is Spanish and moved to Barcelona in the 70s. He first started work as an underground comic artist. A lot of his work, even the 3D work has a very comic-esque vibe to it. He has mostly taught himself and is a jack of all trades. He's designed furniture, jewellery, bars, hotels, clothes, textiles, ceramics, and has even ventured into performance and film-making.

(Above) This is the room in which you enter the exhibition, called the shower tunnel, and these drawings are hanging from the ceiling. The room is black and quite dark so you don't get the full effect from this picture. On the other side of the paper were drawings of cartoon characters, alphabets, and more.

These are some little Trompe l'Oeil pieces he made which were clever. The background is a film with the heads of two cartoon characters chatting away.

Mariscal also made 3D pieces. Above is a moped made of corrugated cardboard stuck together. Below is a little stucture of a living room and his animations playing on the telly.

No matter what he works with, he manages to make everything in his own unique style, its easily recognisable and very wacky.

If you aren't familiar with this work, you may recognise his branding for Barcelona, and in particular his typographic work, below.

Woody Allen

During the past couple of weeks I've managed to watch 2 Woody Allen films, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Match Point, which was on BBC1 the other day.

If you don't want to read about any spoilers dont read the blue paragraphs!


Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a story about 2 women, Vicky and Cristina, who travel to Barcelona for the summer. Cristina is an adventurous free spirit with no certain direction in her life, whereas Vicky is more cautious, studying Catalan Identity, and engaged to Doug.
During an outing they meet Juan Antonio. He invites them to spend the weekend with him. They accept and travel to the town of Oviedo. Whilst there, Cristina and Juan get cosy but she falls ill and has to spend the weekend in bed. This leaves Juan entertaining Vicky, who after a night of wining and dining, end it together in bed. Vicky never tells Cristina, and leaves them to meet with Doug and plan a Spanish wedding.
Cristina and Juan eventually move in together, and all is fine until one day Juan receives a call about temperamental ex wife, Maria Elena, who just tried to kill herself. Maria moves in and the three of them eventually form a polygamous relationship. Vicky is secretly jealous of their unconventional love and realises she still has feelings for Juan. The three are happy until Cristina becomes unsettled and decides to move away. Both are upset and once Cristina is gone, they split up too.
Vicky decides to have lunch at Juan's house where she falls for him when suddenly Maria Elena charges in with a gun and accidentally shoots Vicky in the hand. Vicky understandably gets angry and leaves.
Once Cristina comes back, Vicky confesses all to her and they get back to the lives they had before Barcelona.


What I found a bit strange straight away was the narrator. It sounded a lot like an audiobook which I eventually got used to. It was an interesting story and I thought Penelope Cruz as Maria Elena was excellent. I don't think I've seen a Woody Allen film before and this is what I thought his films would be like, a bit quirky and unconventional. Overall I would recommend it.

Match Point was completely different. The story centres on Chris Wilson, an ex-pro tennis player who falls for the mysterious Nola who just so happens to be his friends, Tom, fiancee. Funnily enough Chris gets engaged to Toms sister Chloe, but has a moment with Nola during a family weekend away. Chris wants things to go further but Nola refuses. Chris and Nola eventually get married. Meanwhile Tom and Nola split up. Chris has the urge to find Nola and one day bumps into her in the Tate Modern. They begin a passionate affair, but things get complicated and Chris has to choose between Chloe and her family fortune, and the struggling actress Nola.

After seeing Vicky Cristina Barcelona, I found this film was a lot more serious, gritty, and in my opinion not quite as good but it was still watchable. It didn't have the quirks of VCB although it did make me want to see what happened next.

As I have only seen two Woody Allen films to my knowledge, I can only compare these, so I don't know whether he has a certain style like a lot of directors, or if he tends to mix it up a bit. I also noticed Scarlett Johansson was in both films, and I read she was in another one too. I wonder if she was/is Woody Allen's muse?