Madonna, is that you?

About Alejandro, Lady Gaga's latest video: do you see a lot of the 90's Madonna or is it just me?

To name some references: 

- Madonna's Like a Virgin bed performance on her Blonde Ambition Tour 

- Like a Prayer's religious outfit

- Vogue choreography (4:22)

- S&M look

- La Isla Bonita for the Spanish accent

- At the beginning it looks a bit like the Frozen videoclip

- And Gaga herself resembles so much of Madonna sometimes! Check time 5:20

I hope these obvious references are an homage to Madonna and not just plain imitation...

Haute Couture + Kandinsky in Den Haag (2)

I promised to write more about the Gemeentemuseum in Den Haag and to post some pictures, so here I am.

So the museum has 3 floors: 

The basement had an exhibition called "Wonder Kamers", which means "Rooms of Wonders". There are several rooms and closed doors between them, and before opening the door you can only see the colour of the room on the other side - not its content. So you'll be surprised each time you go from one room to the other, not knowing whats awaiting you. It's a very cool exhibition, everything really interactive and experimental and covers all the themes showing on the other floors of the museum (fashion, design, art, music, etc). As the rooms were really dark I wasn't able to take pictures - because using flash was not permitted. It is a trendy and young environment, worth one visit if you like this kind of things. You'll find more information (with pictures) here. 

On the ground floor I found some interesting things:

Georges Vantongerloo: a Belgian Painter / Esculptor / Designer / Architect / Theorist that makes such simple yet perfect things. His history is fascinating and his work reflects that. I had never heard of him before seeing this exhibition, but then I started to look for more information and found out he was really relevant though art historists say he didn't get all the attention he deserved for his work. 

Besides Vantongerloo, there are others artists that work with colours and geometric shapes on the ground floor. Really interesting.

I happened to find an exhibition about Tupperware as well, which I loved! Totally related to what I'm  professionally interested in. It was about how Tupperware emerged, the context by then, the appeal fof this product to the 40's/50's/60's housewives, how they were sold and advertised, etc, etc. There was even a 50's kitchen there to give the idea of how things really worked for women at that time.

First floor - this is the must-see floor, in my opinion:

Kandinsky and Der Blaue Reiter: this exhibition is sooo beautiful! So colourful, full of life... from the time Kandinsky and other great artists formed a group (Der Blaue Reiter) to start doing something different with their painting. Their purpose was opposing to what was being done by others and start painting from sensations and feelings, and not from reality. Just BEAUTIFUL. Pictures here:

And last, the Voici Paris! exhibition, showing the history of haute couture and its role through the decades, starting in the mid-1860's. Their collection include great creations from all major Maisons (Dior, Givenchy, Chanel,...) and a great sample of the couture work that's being done here in The Netherlands. This exhibition is mesmerizing, you can spend one whole day just there, admiring all those amazing gowns - some of them having an average of 800 hours of handcraftmanship on. It's pure art.

Here are some pictures, not of my favourite gowns though. I had to choose the clearer ones, because most of the pictures are just too bad, as the place was too dark - shame.

Armani Privé

Dior by John Galliano

Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld

And voilà! Today I was reading the Couture Suplement of the Italian Vogue (March edition) and found an article about this exhibition! So I guess it's really unmissable :)

Haute Couture + Kandinsky in Den Haag (1)

Today I was trully amazed by Den Haag Gemeentemuseum. I went there with the only purpose of seeing the temporary Haute Couture exposition (until 6 June 2010) and I ended up spending the whole afternoon (and by that I really mean the WHOLE afternoon, as I arrived there at 12:30 and left when the museum was closing). When I have the time to do it properly (this weekend), I will write more about it and post some of the pictures I took - and yes, it was permitted, so I wasn't doing anything wrong as long as I kept my flash off.

The highlights were the Haute Couture and the Kandinsky expos, both temporary, but the permanent collection is mesmerizing as well - at least for those who are not big fans of classic art, as this museum is  clearly modern-biased. Still I would say no one should miss these temp expos, so it would be best to go there before May 24 - when Kandinsky's expo goes off. 

Here's the Gemeentemuseum website, but I tell you, it doesn't do justice to the museum. Really.

Ok, so this weekend I'll write more about it. Time to go to bed now :)

Gastronomie Parisienne

The best thing about Paris is how everything is amazingly integrated with the most classic style and how the most traditional places are still in the youth's agenda. I'm not the most classic person as I'm more inspired by new and trendy things, but classic always has its great value, and that's what Paris is all about. Talking about that, these were the most memorable experiences I had in Paris this weekend regarding gastronomy and its esthétique. Both classic, traditional, though not old. There are fantastic places anyone who goes to Paris should visit, regardless of their age.

Le Procope:

The first café in Paris, which welcomed habitués like Voltaire, Robespierre and other French intellectual characters and is amazingly in continuous operation since it opened in 1686. Le Procope was refurbished in 1988 in eighteenth-century style, receiving red walls, crystal chandeliers, oval portraits of famous people that have been patrons, and a tinkly piano. It's all decorated with ancient books that you can take and read as well. Fascinating.

The menu has a full set of typical French Culinaire. It was the first time I had the guts to try Oysters (when I was a child I believed one could drop dead while eating Oysters) and Escargot (that I used to find repelling). Surprisingly, I didn't drop dead eating Oysters and the Escargot was definitely not disgusting. 

Here are some pictures of the whole experience:

Ladurée:

They claim to be the maison who invented the double-decker macaron, by joining two macaron shells and giving them a creamy filling. The place is amazing, a classic tea room, very classy  decorated in pale tones. It looks like a doll house, you won't believe the tables they set. Everything was absolutely delicious, but when you get there how things taste is actually the least important thing. It's visual food by all means - wherever you look, you want to take things home.

As it was Easter holiday, the place was crowded and I couldn't take pictures inside, but I took some of the table I was at. Luckily there was a small Ladurée Boutique in my boarding wing at Charles de Gaulle Airport, so I was able to take a lot of pictures and buy a gift for myself - a tea called Marie Antoinette, that came in the most beautiful pale pink cilindric carton packaging. I love tea, but what I really wanted was to take home a piece of Ladurée. And when I finish the tea, of course I will keep the box - I wouldn't dare throwing it away.

Off with their heads! - Alice in Wonderland

I know it's a little late to write about Alice in Wonderland, but the movie still isn't showing in Brazil - where most os my readers live - so it's not THAT late. To those who haven't watched it yet, I promise no spoilers :)

I had huge expectations on this film and it was totally disappointing for me. I don't want to dissuade anyone from watching it, au contraire! I think everybody should have their own opinion. But if my advice is worth something, I would tell you to lower your expectations and you'll have higher chances of leaving the movies feeling fulfilled. 

So here are my ups and the downs on Tim Burton's Alice:

THUMBS UP:

- All the aesthetics and effects are amazing, specially in 3D - Tim Burton is all about it, so I'm glad he didn't disappoint in that. I read some reviews saying the 3D was awful but I really don't know what they were talking about as I haven't found a single flaw.

- The costumes by Academy Award winner Colleen Atwood are great, specially in the Kingdom of Hearts. There's one specific dress that I loved which resembled a lot of Alexander McQueen's creations. I didn't find a real image of it, but here's the sketch by Atwood:

- The makeups are stunning as well, in all characters. 

- The soundtrack is SO Tim Burton, I loved it! Specially when Alice falls in the hole.

- Helena Bonham Carter. She is the best, always. 

THUMBS DOWN:

- I found the plot awful. Lot's of things happen but they don't go deep in any of them; Ii's a flat movie.

- All the marketing around it make our expectations higher and higher and the movie doesn't give all the emotion it promises. That's the worst thing that can happen in cinema, in my opinion. The word of mouth is what makes a movie and if people watch it with their expectations too high and it's not that great the reviews tend to be terrible. 

- The characters don't have soul, they lack in depth being totally superfluous to the story. At the end, I didn't care care what happened to any of them, and that's a serious problem. I think it's crucial to sympathize with at least one character to find a film interesting.

- Talking about characters, all the marketing was based on the Mad Hatter (see picture below) so I expected him to be crucial in the story and Johnny Depp to be perfect in that role. None of these happened.

- It ends with a song by Avril Lavigne. Period.

- There are some embarassing scenes. But I won't say more because I promised no spoilers.

- Mia Wasikowska makes a boring Alice lacking a big dose of emotion.

- Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. She looks amazing, but the character is just nothing.

So many films to write about!

I have also watched the following movies this month and I intend to write about them anytime soon:

Alice in Wonderland (disappointing)

Invictus (inspiring)

Wolfman (terrible)

The Lovely Bones (weird)

Some nice movies

These are the movies I saw the past month and enjoyed at least a bit (no spoilers, I swear!):

Nine - Pretty good singing and dancing, and I loved the main character, a fun, charming, crazy artist with no inspiration (Daniel Day-Lewis as Guido Contini). But it's a musical and you have to be into it to enjoy it. From the director of Chicago, it shares some similarities with the former film, like the sexy acts, the celebs (all beautiful high scale actresses) and the role music and dance plays in the story. Good, but not great. Surprisingly, Fergie's performance was the best one in my opinion among a great female cast: including Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Penélope Cruz, Judy Dench and even Sofia Loren.

The Last Station - A film about Leo Tolstoy's last years and his marital struggle caused by conflictive points of view - while the writer works in the Tolstoyan Movement and thinkis about the Russian people, his wife, Sofya Andreevna, feels he is not keeping in mind that he also has a family to look after. I thought this would be an historic film showing a lot of the Russian context by that time, but it isn't. It's actually a really interesting film, but more about love than anything else. Instead of being a portrait of Russia in the early 1900s and Tolstoy's role in it, it's really a film about relationships that shows Tolstoy not as a leader, but as a husband. and a human being. It's beautiful, and Sofya Andreevna's character is so strong it's impossible not being sympathetic with her. And it's played by Helen Mirren, always perfect.

Avatar - Not a big fan of sci-fi, but I thought this was a nice one. Nice, but not spectacular as so many people are saying. I enjoyed all the aesthetics, specially the colours, and it tells a beautiful, utopic story - basically Americans satirizing themselves as a nation and playing a mea-culpa on other land's merciless exploitation. You can clearly distinguish Democrats from Republicans on that film as the characters are really ludicrous. It is very predictable in my opinion, but I really wasn't expecting to be surprised.

The Secret In Their Eyes

This Argentinian film originally called "El Secreto de Sus Ojos" just got the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and it's easily the best film I've seen latey. It's real food-for-thought: a very well-written plot involving crime, investigation, justice, politics, psychology, obsession, and of course, love and passion. The characters are really complex and count with great actors such as Ricardo Darin, who wows everytime. It's definitely a must-see.

I found this trailer with unnofficial English subtitles (yet perfectly understandable) on YouTube:

Unlimited cinema, yayyy!

Nice thing that's been going on lately: I'm completely up-to-date on all the movies showing on the cinema, since I have an unlimited access card - yessss, best thing ever! So lately I've been going to the cinema at least 3 times a week, and I'm just loving it. So chances are I start writing A LOT about movies!

These are some brief comments on some of the films I've watched lately:

Valentine's Day - Really AWFUL. Not even the great casting could save such a bad, predictable and meaningless plot. Unless you are a female looking for visual delight - then maybe it could work for you, as you'll have almost two hours of Patrick Dempsey (McDreamy), Eric Dane (McSteamy), Taylor Lautner (cute werewolf from New Moon - Twilight saga), Ashton Kutcher (needless to say anything), Bradley Cooper, Jamie Foxx... but that's it. 

Up in the air - I would highly recommend this one. George Clooney is amazing playing the main role as a fun, unnatached character which has the most interesting actions and reactions I've seen lately. It is a very good plot, a complex movie with lots of content, though it's not heavy to watch. It's actually really fun and entertaining but can be really insightful at the same time, making you feel lots of things, even melancolly. It looks like a romantic comedy if you watch the trailer, but it's not. The only thing I really hated was the HUGE amount of merchandising, as they spend a lot of time showing American Airline's and Hilton's logos. That's a bit annoying, but that's it, that's the only downer.

The Drums - Amsterdam

So last Friday (February 26th) I went to The Drums concert here in Amsterdam.

The Drums are a new band from Brooklin NY and this is their first Europe Tour. By the way, they had all  their concerts sold out, which is pretty amazing for a band which has been playing for only one year.

List of concerts from their MySpace

This Amsterdam concert was at Bitterzoet, which is a rather small place, but really perfect if you  enjoy being close to the band and paying attention to each detail - as I do. 

I had read a couple of articles about them and I was already familiarized with their songs, which is always a good thing when you go to a concert. It's like going to a museum - you enjoy it a lot more if you know at least a little bit about the artist and its work. I always try to do my homework prior to going to a concert: researching on songs, previous bands, musical influences and origins, so that I can understand a little bit more about their music, their motto and their style.

I wonder: why the hell are these pale skin nerdy-style boys from NY singing about sufing? I just couldn't figure it out.

"We only write about two feelings: one is the first day of summer when you and all of your friends are standing on the edge of a cliff watching the sun set and being overcome with all of your hopes and dreams at once. The other is when you're walking alone in the rain and realize you will be alone forever." - The Drums

Here's the videoclip for Let's Go Surfing:

Here's their Let's Go Surfin' performance at Bitterzoet:

The Smiths and Joy Division are some of their influences and you can really tell. But Jonathan Pierce's vocals actually reminded me a lot of Robert Smith's, from The Cure! Which is a big compliment, of course.

This one below was their best performance of the night - the song was Best Friend. After this, I started thinking that this band has actually two frontmen. I just couldn't take my eyes off the tambourine guy - and not just me, as you can see on this video:

Their line-up was pretty obvious, as they have only one album - which also means this is a short show, lasting around 40 minutes only.

These were the songs they played, in this order:

_________________

Tears

Beste Friend (the one with the guy going crazy on the tambourine)

Submarine

Stupid

Book of Stories

Make You Mine

Skip In Town

Jerk

Moon

Surfing

Saddest Summer

__________________

At the end of the concert I caught their line-up paper from the stage and got a little upset, because apparently they were supposed to play two more songs, one of them my favourite (Down By the Water). Everybody thought they would come back for those after the "we want more" cheering, but they just didn't. Shame on them!

Anyway, it was a great show. This is a band worth keeping track of, so here's their MySpace page, and here's their official webpage.

Enjoy :)