You know what's back? Camouflage. I don't know how and I don't when that occurred, but it's cool again. In my opinion, I never thought it to be cool at any point in time ...until I saw it done well. And obviously, only the Italians can do it well. It's Men Fashion Week in Milan and the Italian gentlemen are roaming the streets of Milan and Florence in camouflage pattern clothes. I guess it's a taste of the Army without actually enlisting.
Maybe I should find myself a pair of camouflage shorts too...
I've been hearing stories friends here and there about backpacking in Europe or Asia and here I am not doing any of that. The furthest I've been was Punta Cana and then again I dont consider it as 'travelling'. So I've taken matters into my own hands because if it is not going to happen now, it will eventually never happen.
I'm planning seriously on saving a lot of money from now till next summer 2011 for a backpacking trip to Europe. I want to do France (Paris, Nice and Cannes), Italy (Rome, Florence, Milan and Pompei), Greece (Athens), and Spain (Barcelona, Madrid) and maybe London if time and money permits me. It's very ambitious and I don't know how fruitful this plan will ever become because it will take a lot of sacrifice on my part in order to save enough money. But I want to end my undergrad with a bang and experience something I always desire before entering the workforce and become 'responsible'. Also, I can't possibly study European art and talk about it if I never see it in person, what's the point otherwise?
Of course, I wouldn't want to do it by myself, just because I'm still a bit insecure and paranoid but mostly, it would cut my(our) costs down a little bit. If I can't find a friend that share this same interest as me, I would post an ad on craigslist or something looking for a travelling buddy. Creepy, maybe; but I'm open-minded enough that I don't think it will bother me too much or at all. I'm sure not all Craigslisters are crazy.
This never-ending longing for the ultimate Europe trip needs to end. In the event that this does not happen, I will probably cry for an undetermined period of time.
I know, why be backward when you can be progressive? I don't hate the future nor do I dislike the present either. I think the new decade is and will look good, but sometimes I'm feel so nostalgic about a time that I've never lived. The 60s fascinate me (the 50s also), and the preppy style of this era really is at its best. I think this style can never be outdated. Above the knees shorts (though not shorts shorts) and loafers (sans socks!) should be a uniform. Oxford shirts, varsity cotton sweatshirt, flannel plaid suit jackets, yellow rain coats; wow, I'm speechless. I often neglect how American style truly represent an iconography of fashion. It's casual, it's laidback, yet it has flare and refiness. Although I can only speak about it from a perspective of 2010 person who sees the 60s as exactly this. I may be biased and miseducated about that era, but I rather have that set of mind and not doubt my own ideals than be exposed to whatever is called "the truth", I don't know, you tell me.
Regardless, awsome pictures of Ivy League college students photographed by Japanese style photographer Hayashida from all over the Northeastern area of the U.S.A. in the 1960s. I know, Ivy League is overrated in 2010, but still I want in. I still want to enter the gates of overpriced, unfair and biased private higher education institutions to indulge myself in pretentious learnings of the Liberal Arts and Humanities for no ultimate purpose, but to be a connoisseur of whatever connoisseurship I may acquire. But I digress, I need one of those yellow rain coats, stats.
One would think Lady GaGa can't outdo herself, one is gravely mistaken. GaGa has done it again, albeit with the help of Beyonce. I can't say Beyonce's association with Lady GaGa on this track and video provides any substantiality to the whole thing, but I don't mind it.
Where to begin in describing my utter fascination of GaGa, especially after watching this non-sense video? I'm obssessed, that's a given.
I'm totally for anything that doesn't make any sense, but that provides stunning visuals by doing so. Telephone isn't as epic as Bad Romance, but is visually on par with the latter. For the non-Lady GaGa-fans who don't get it, simply are just not trained in undeerstanding visual art. Not that I am either, but I have always appreciated visual creativity in any kind of media form, so I enjoy it greatly.
I'm not saying this is art, but it is as close as anything any mainstream pop artist (excluding Bjork) can make that has any kind of art integrity to it.
On a side note, I absolutely have no problem with the blantant use of product placement in the video. And by blatant use of product placement, I mean you can literally tell who sponsored the production of the video and how much they gave with the amount of time they appear on screen. For some people, they find product placement to diminish the viewing of a video or film, but for me, to see 2 seconds of a real existing brand name on screen doesn't affect me whatsoever and why should it? If anything, I find a film/video to be more credible if the characters in it actually use things that exist in real life. Sure it doesn't add anything or progress any plotlines but it's not the end of the world. It's part of the game that is business.
Anyways, I'm gonna go back and watch this video for the 35th time today.
It still amazes me everytime how I'm able to go through 3h30 of the Academy Awards. I could care less for 95% of the awards handed out andthe show never gets any more entertaining. But somehow, I sit through these painfully long hours (including painfully boring commercials) just to see whether my predictions were right. Sure, I could just wait and see the results on the news, but I wan't to experience it on hands and say 'aha!' much sooner than when it goes online/news. And this year, I was mostly right (unfortunately).
Overall, all the winners were deserving except for one. I know, I've already rant about my disdain against a certain actress in a certain tacky movie, but I need to restate it because I feel too strongly about it. Sandra Bullock does not deserve her oscar. Period. That's it. That's that. The other four nominees were terribly robbed from Sandra because they all had such better performances than Sandra Bullock's sad attempt at a southern accent. What Sandra did was doable by any other actress of her caliber or less. It wasn't sensational and it wasn't outstanding on any account. The movie wasn't bad. She wasn't bad, I give her that. But is she Oscar-worthy? Absolutely not. It looked like a Lifetime TV movie that airs during off-season, and she was merely doing what an actress should be doing on a normal basis, give a decent performance. Not because she made a relatively big jump from romantic comedies to a "drama" that she should be awarded for her so-called "leap in acting". I thought the Oscar awards creative actors that give an outstanding once-in-a-lifetime (the exception being Meryl Streep) performance? I guess being America's Sweetheart is enough of a criteria to frivolously hand out a prestigious (I need to find a new word for that now...) award, especially the top female acting award. Did Meryl Streep earned her 16th nomination? Yes. Did Gabourey Sibide earned her first Oscar nomination for her heartbreaking performance? Yes. Did Carey Mulligan earned her nomination for portraying a confused and naive teenager? Yes. Did Helen Mirren give yet another amazing performance? Indeed. They should all win. Sandra Bullock? Totally out of place. It's such a contrast from last year where The Academy got it so right with Kate Winslet in The Reader, and this year they were all smoking something good or something totally wrong. I feel like I'm a loner on this one, cause everyone else seems to love Sandra Bullock. I have nothing against her, and I like her and her comedies, but that doesn't warrant me to accept her undeserving win. It's blasphemy, I tell you.
On the other hand, The Hurt Locker won Best Picture as I predicted, and Christopher Waltz and Mo'Nique won respectively for Best Supporting Actor and Actress. All of that made so much more sense. And Sandra Bullock? ugh, don't get me started again...
P.S. Yes, I'm that immature that I needed to "X" Sandra's glorious moment (and spray paint her Oscar).
P.S. It's too bad fries or poutine at New York Fries cost me almost $15, since I have to buy a movie ticket to actually get the fries. Oh well, they're so tasty, I can't complain.
P.S.S. I love this ad. I didn't know vodka was made from potatoes. Maybe that's why I like it so much?
