!.CANNES"%

For the first time in weeks I'm actually done with my assignment for school and it's not even past midnight! Bravo! :P Now I can have a early beauty sleep, I could use one ;)

The Cannes film festival is still going on strong, it ends on Sunday with the closing ceremony, but there's already been some good word of mouth surrounding several films and acting performances. For instance, Naomi Watts is said to give her finest performance to date in Doug Liman's Fair Game which also stars Sean Penn. Then there is Javier Bardem in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful (no typo) a film that has received mixed responses, but everyone seems to agree Bardem's performance is terrific. Then there's Blue Valentine by Derek Cianfrance starring Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling (Oooooh how I love Dead Man's Bones!). Both actors have received great praise succeeding in creating an authentic on-screen couple for which you really come to care for. One film that has a good chance of actually walking away with the highest honour, that being the Palme D'Or, is Mike Leigh's Another Year. However, the best films so far have been said to be those not in the English language. Let's see what happens, I'll keep my eyes and ears open...

I LOVE The Drums



I LOVE Robyn as well ;)

Robyn 'Dancing On My Own' (Official Video) from Robyn on Vimeo.

*%PALME D'OR FOR MICHAEL HANEKE:{

She has dared to do it, this year's Palme D'Or has gone to Michael Haneke's Das weiße Band (The White Ribbon). President of the jury and lead actress in Haneke's 2001 La Pianiste for which she herself won at Cannes for Best Actress, Isabelle Huppert and the other members of the jury have chosen Haneke's latest film as the winner of the Palme. I don't think many people expected it as they didn't think Huppert would give it to Haneke as it could have been a too obvious choice and lead to suspicion of whether or not the film really deserved it or that she has awarded Haneke as a friendly gesture. It's Haneke's first Palme after being already nominated for the prize four times! So... Huppert president of the jury, Haneke wins, coincidence or not? Of course Huppert hasn't been the only jury member and I trust her for choosing a worthy winner, so for now I just go with it and will be naive enough to believe that this is a deserved win, after I've seen the film I will decide if it truly has been worth of winning the Palme or not. But I love Haneke, so congrats!! :)

Best Actress - Charlotte Gainsbourg for Lars Von Trier's Antichrist
Best Actor - Christopher Waltz for Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds
Grand Prix - Jacques Audiard for Un Prophète
Best Director - Brillante Mendoza for Kinatay
Best Screenplay - Lou Ye for Spring Fever
Prix Du Jury - Split between Fish Tank and Thirst

Alain Resnais received a special prize for his entire oeuvre.

|>I WANT TO SEE BRIGHT STAR}+

I'm getting really excited for this film, totally unexpected. It's just because it is said to be very good and features two young actors who are apparently giving great performances which always adds to this fantasy of mine of maybe one day being able to do all of that myself. Anyway, on one of our TV channels here they bring some news from Cannes every evening, so that's where I saw footage from this one scene. I made a screen capture. Just look at it. It's perfect. Just Abbie Cornish occupying the complete right part of the frame, the way she sits, our position looking up at her, almost spying, the flowers in the front, nearly blocking our sight, the blurriness of the edges of the image while Cornish is still partly in focus, the sound of the flowers getting crushed as she lets herself fall over, Ben Whishaw's voice speaking to her. It makes us feel even more close, as if we're about to intrude her if we don't act cautiosly. It makes for such a gentle, peaceful moment. I have the feeling the film is filled with shots like these. Little dialogue or sound, just the image taking center stage. Just us observing the characters. I want to see it badly!


The scene continues with Cornish looking up...


... while eventually letting herself fall over into the flowers. When I'll see this scene on the big screen I think I'll cry.

$#CHAIRLIFT AT 22.30_{

Every now and then you have one of those days you really don't know what to do. For me today is such a day. After waving goodbye to my parents at the airport and my brother drove me home I had no idea what to do. And the thing is, in a couple of minutes I will go to Paradiso to see Chairlift perform, they should still have some tickets left. But that performance starts at 22.30. So when you're at home around 12 or perhaps I was home even earlier you still have like another 10 hours before that gig starts. I thought about going to a movie before, but I haven't been able to find one which I want to see and which hasn't like less than one hour between the film and the concert. And I just don't feel like having to wait too long today. Sometimes it's nice to have a walk around town and I could do that for hours. But I have a feeling if that happened today I would have ended up buying something. Like on Tuesday I didn't mean to buy anything, but because it still took a while before I went to see Coraline, I thought let's go to the HEMA, there might be something I could use. So I ended up buying something I actually did need, but it wasn't really necessary to buy. I can walk for hours as well without being interested in buying stuff, but I'm not sure I would have managed today. :) Plus, today I'm not able to travel for free, can't use my public transport card because it's Hemelvaartsdag (Ascension Day is the correct translation I think) so I didn't want to have to go to Amsterdam during the afternoon and then come back home and then buy another train ticket to go to Paradiso tonight. Of course I could have spent all day in Amsterdam but I guess I didn't feel like it. So instead I read a bit, I slept a bit, and I spent much more time at the supermarket downstairs than I intended to due to the place being completely crowded as if it was a Sunday so I had to wait in line much longer than usual. It's probably the only store around here that is open today which is why it was so crowded. People have a day off and because all of the other shops are closed the one that's open, even if it's just a supermarket, suddenly becomes the number one place to go to. Haven't felt very creative today, or maybe I did feel creative, but I just can't focus on writing something right now or making some drawings. Although I did buy a white board some days ago, finally, so I can make some new stop-motion 'films'. And this morning I took some pictures, not many. I plan on taking some tonight when walking to the train station after seeing Chairlift perform. This time I'll make sure my camera will be in focus :)
For now enjoy some of the works of Mr. Slimane just to pass the day, some old some new + some pictures I took today and last night and other random stuff. And apparently the new Ken Loach film is said to be very good and might end up winning the Palme D'Or, while reviews for Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds seem to be either very positive or very negative.

By Mr. Slimane:










Nick Cave's son Jethro, cool name:



That kid next to Mr. Van Sant should be me!!!! Unfair.



Remember kids, smoking IS cool. Doesn't mean you should start smoking, but if you do start smoking I think you're cool ;) Or, actually, let me rephrase that, I think it's cool when you're able to do it in a cool way, like this girl below (Anna Selezneva is her name). 'Cause I've seen many people smoke who don't seem to be able to smoke in a cool way. And if you can't smoke in a cool way it's no use to smoke.



Plus, some of you might know them, but I can imagine a lot of you don't: Lara Stone and Ymre Stiekema. 'Cause if you thought Doutzen Kroes is still the only big Dutch female model out there, you're very wrong. Lara's only part Dutch though, her father's British, but she was born here.
No reason to post this other than that I just felt like it and the girls are both very pretty ;)

Lara:




Ymre:




Here some pictures taken by Luke Smalley who passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday:









Some of the pictures I took this morning. Nothing groundbreaking :)












Pictures I took last night operating as both model and photographer which isn't easy. When you do both you realize how much models do add to an image. They really don't just stand and look pretty. I'm mostly interested in taking the pictures, but as I don't have anyone to model for me I'm forced to do the stuff myself. So... anyone who's willing to volunteer as a model, I promise I'll be kind!! I'd like a girl with long hair.
Also, someone get me a real professional studio please with a solid backdrop, one that doesn't have wrinkles in it ;) and professional lighting and stuff!!!! Poor me...
These pictures are safe for work, right??
















I have to say I really like my profile:



Struggling to get out of a shirt:




So now I spent almost one hour being busy with setting up this post. Time well spent. :D
Tomorrow I got a wedding to attend...