First love—passionate love—is the ultimate feeling, if there is one. Blue Is The Warmest Color is a story about the intense and life-defining experience of a first love. It’s a beautiful, highly sensual film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. In 2013, it won the Palme d’or at Cannes.
Continue reading ➞ Blue Is The Warmest Color (La Vie d’Adèle – Chapitres 1 et 2)
After suffering through months of hype, last weekend, I finally saw 12 Years a Slave, the newest film by British director Steve McQueen. It tells the true story of Solomon Northup, a New York musician who was kidnapped and sold as a slave in 1841. Adapted from Northup’s 1853 memoir of the same name, the movie chronicles in detail the horrors Mr. Northup had to endure during his 12 years as a slave in the Deep South.
Continue reading ➞ 12 Years a Slave: Feel The Weight Of History On Your Soul
It took 20 years, but I finally got to see Pearl Jam in concert for the first time last week. The experience was so beautiful and powerful that it has stayed with me for many days. It also made me realize one thing: even though I love many, many things, and I enjoy and love many types of music, I remain a rocker at heart.
The call of the sea. It promises solitude, adventure and a profound connection with nature both at its most beautiful and peaceful and at its most awesome and terrifying. All Is Lost, a new film by J. C. Chandor, fulfills all these promises while offering a compelling commentary on the indifference of nature and of humans.
A few weeks ago, I went to my local library. I had to return a book, my third in a row from Rachel DeWoskin. I had tried unsuccessfully to renew it for a second time, but to my horror, somebody had dared to put a hold on it!
“Can you fall in love with a writer at first read?” I asked myself when reading the first few lines of Big Girl Small by Rachel DeWoskin. I am usually wary of things that are too easy to like, of too good first impressions, but the beginning of this book is so strange and engaging that after two paragraphs, I was already telling myself, “Um, I think I’m going to like this book very much.”
If you are a music fan living in the Pacific Northwest, chances are you have seen a show at the Gorge Amphitheatre. And if you are lucky enough to have experienced a show at the Gorge, you know the trip there is absolutely worth it. Indeed, this venue is such a special and beautiful place that people travel hundreds of miles just to go see shows there. The Gorge has also become a sort of gathering place for Dave Matthews Band fans for their annual Labour Day weekend shows, and the Sasquatch Festival is held every Memorial Day weekend.
Continue reading ➞ Phillip Phillips & John Mayer at The Gorge: A Match Made in Concert Heaven
Bill Cunningham New York is a small documentary, its subject deceptively small as well. Mr. Cunningham is a fashion photographer in New York. At the time the documentary was made he was 81 years old. For over three decades, he has biked around the city, photographing fashion and street life. He has two columns in the New York Times, one about street fashion and the other about social life in New York.
Continue reading ➞ Bill Cunningham New York: “He Who Seeks Beauty, Will Find It”
I love my local library. A few weeks ago I went there to return a big pile of DVDs and children’s books. As I was leaving, I noticed these large, brown bags lined on the main counter. They looked like big, wonderful presents waiting to be picked. They all looked the same, except for a sticker on the top with the description of what may be inside: Novels, Non-Fiction, Gardening, Cooking & Crafts, Science Fiction. It’s Grab & Go!, titles picked by the library staff and put together in mystery bags for lazy readers like me. What a wonderful idea! And I’m their perfect audience: I’ve been relying in the last several months on the library recommendations, the new arrivals section and the odd recommendation by a friend or family member. I just don’t have much time to read anything at all, and that includes book releases and reviews.
Continue reading ➞ Grab & Go! If everything was as easy as this…
I am a Harry Potter fan. At the insistence of my mom, who was aware of the books very early on, I started to read the series and soon became a fan as did almost everybody else. It was great to dive into Harry Potter‘s world and to engage in the cultural conversation with my mom, my sisters and, seemingly, the rest of the world.
The Things We Love 