10enbaums

Yesterday I decided to watch The Royal Tenenbaums which I've heard great things about yet never really gotten the chance to see for myself. I was pleased because it turned out to be one of those movies where the characters are basically the story. 

It's a black comedy movie about a man named Royal Tenenbaum (I can't believe someone would actually name their child Royal, but anyways) and his family. He has three kids, 2 boys and 1 adopted girl : Chas, Margot, and Richie. They were all child prodigies in each of their fields with the guidance of their mother, Etheline Tenenbaum, who's relationship with Royal had always been long over but never officially severed. The connection with his children weren't better either, except with Richie. The storyline picks up when all the kids are grown-up and pretty much just broken shadows of their former genius selves.

Besides all the quirky detailing and Alec Baldwin as the voice narrator, another good thing about this movie is the soundtrack. Its been re-released a few times but here's the original track listing :

"111 Archer Avenue" by Mark Mothersbaugh "These Days" by Nico "String Quartet in F major (Second Movement)" by Maurice Ravel, played by the Ysaÿe Quartet "Lindbergh Palace Hotel Suite" by Mark Mothersbaugh "Wigwam" by Bob Dylan "Look At That Old Grizzly Bear" by Mark Mothersbaugh "Lullaby" by Emitt Rhodes "Mothersbaugh's Canon" by Mark Mothersbaugh "Police & Thieves" by The Clash "Scrapping and Yelling" by Mark Mothersbaugh "Judy Is Punk" by The Ramones "Pagoda's Theme" by Mark Mothersbaugh "Needle In The Hay" by Elliott Smith "Fly" by Nick Drake "I Always Wanted To Be A Tenenbaum" by Mark Mothersbaugh "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi Trio "Stephanie Says" by The Velvet Underground "Rachel Evans Tenenbaum (1965-2000)" by Mark Mothersbaugh "Sparkplug Minuet" by Mark Mothersbaugh "The Fairest Of The Seasons" by Nico

Sooo good.

Also, the cast is one of the best in movies to date. I was worried but also excited during the opening credits of the movie because I realized this movie was basically full of awesome people, which generally translates into a bad time. But this is definitely one of the rare exceptions to that rule.

My favorite character - I'm sure like many other people who've enjoyed this movie - is Margot Tenenbaum. I can't say I've watched all of Gwyneth Paltrow's works but I have a feeling this will always be one of her best performances ever.

Things to know about

• Adopted at age 2 and her father never failed to mention this when he introduced her
• A playwright genius, winning a $50k Braverman grant in the 9th grade
• Solemnly expresses her feelings through her face, or any other physical means
• Trademark style -- bob haircut, red hair pin, fur (hopefully faux) mantel, and striped polo dresses
• Managed to start a smoking habit since age 12 without any of her family members knowing it
• Seems to enjoy traveling to far places and courting with strange men (and women?)
• Married twice; first to a Jamaican artist and then to a respected writer/neurologist

FILM FUN FACT \\ the brand of cigs Margot smoked in the movie is only sold in Ireland and discontinued in the 1970s. Wes Anderson (director) explained that this was both because of the 70s theme of the movie and also to make Margot's smoking habit just a little bit stranger.

Cigarettes all the way from Ireland? Sounds very Margot.

Besides Gwyneth's act, Ben Stiller's also very different in this role from his usual slapstick in-your-face comedies. I think about 90% of the time in this movie he's angsty, caused by the death of his wife and daddy issues stemming from childhood.

All the characters were strange and surreal but terribly relatable and likable at the same time. The only normal characters were probably Henry Sherman, the family accountant who falls in love with Etheline, and his son who's enrolled in the military. Even Luke Wilson's seemingly okay character Richie goes dark side when he attempts to suicide on the basis of love for his adopted sister, Margot. By the way, Luke's face here is A+ so if there are any Luke Wilson or Wilson Brothers fans watching this movie they will be greeted with gracious scenes of him with his pretty face full frontal without hobo hairs. It was amusing, though, to see Luke and Owen play bestfriends when in real life they're actually brothers.

Unlike other quirk movies, this one actually has a kind of happy ending, which is nice for a change. We're actually told what happens to them. No mysterious hanging plot left to the imagination of the audience regarding the fate of the characters, which always annoys me in movies. I don't want to guess what happens next in their lives, I want to KNOW. Does that make sense? I feel like sometimes these kind of movies don't know how to end their own abstract flow and so the movie ends 'hanging', usually with some closing dialogue that doesn't have anything to do with the movie but actually it does and the characters fade out on screen into black. 

I don't recommend watching this movie if you're the sort that goes for the no fuss, no muss type of movies, the mainstream clear-plotted ones with some morale message to convey. But if you're into the more strangely enjoyable weird indie kind of movies, like myself, then this should be at the top of your list.

MARIE THE BUNNY

To mention Gloria Steinem's name is to mention one of the most influential female figures in the world. A journalist and activist, she is probably best known for her role as a well-known feminist since the early '70s. She's founded and co-founded many influential social organizations, including the Women's Action Alliance, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and the Women's Media Center, and also co-founded the feminist-themed magazine - the first of it's kind - Ms. magazine. The magazine's first issue was sold out in 8 days!

But she was also a Playboy Bunny.

In 1963, Steinem took on a reporting assignment for an article for Huntington Hartford's Show magazine. The reporting task was no easy one, as she would be going undercover as a Playboy Bunny in the newly opened New York Playboy Club. The objective of the assignment was to dive directly into the world of a Bunny, without restriction, and see what it truly was like to be one.

Was there really a decent job as a Playboy Bunny? Were the girls really making top dollar and living glamorous lives, as the job advertisements of Playboy had promised?

This was daunting for a few reasons, one of the more obvious ones was the fear of being outed as an undercover journalist, reminded there were others before her who had tried but were exposed before they could learn anything of news value about the Bunnies and the Club.

Bunny pic of Steinem as 'Marie' from one
of the promotional shoots she did
for the Club during her investigation

But being the clever woman that she was, Steinem was successful enough in her disguise that she managed to stay a Bunny for about a month without ever getting caught. Steinem's report article was released to the public sometime after her brief bunny stint. The article is quiet lengthy but very well-written, especially being in the format of a journal Steinem kept of her days during the job, including every single detail she experienced and witnessed. From the "Bunny School" all the girls had to attend to learn everything about being a Bunny, to the mandatory bra-stuffing and long serving-hours they endured in heels, making it a very enjoyable and interesting read. It also includes a post-script, listing the after-effects the article had after going public.

After reading her actual report, I can assume the Playboy Bunnies then had more of a dignity in their image and the job description was less physical than it probably is now (one source I read discussing Steinem's experience called the Bunnies 'basically waitresses with tight clothes on'). But what remains the same is surely the treatment and attitude the Bunnies receive from 'clients', which, by Steinem's account, was rarely of any respect at all. If the men back then were already as ill-behaved, I can't imagine what kind of behavior the girls must endure in this time of era. 

Regardless of the occupation and what it stands for, Steinem reminds readers that these girls are more than just pretty things trying to make quick cash off their physic. "All women are bunnies" she notes, reminding us that these women are the same like any other women in other working fields. However you may look at their job, these were real women with real problems, trying to make a decent living in a poorly conditioned environment for the workers. This was a group of real women who supported each other in those unfortunate situations.

New York magazine did an issue a few months ago as a tribute of sorts, featuring Steinem's story and accomplishments for women in journalism. 

NY magz Oct '11 issue

Checkout the amazing online feature here !

The VHS Era

During a time where mix tapes ruled, floppy disks were file savers, and the internet was still a mystery, personal collection of films were gathered on VHS format. You know, on actual tape. 

When all this was happening I was still a little tyke so naturally I had a pretty decent collection of cartoon videos. I still keep that collection.

My little collection is basically two groups : 1) the feature film videos, containing lots of Disney movie classics like Snow White, Cinderella, The Lion King, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, and many others. I also have non-Disney movies, like The Pebble and the Penguin, Balto, The Swan Princess, Casper, and one of my all time favorites..

Thumbelina!

while group 2) is all the cartoon shows, in which I was very much interested in the Winnie the Pooh series, Disney Cartoon Classics, Disney SING-ALONG-SONGS (damn you, Disney), The Tiny Toons, and a bunch more, but my definite loves were my Alvin and the Chipmunks videos.

I loved Alvin and his bros so much I kind of went through a phase during my childhood where I'd dress up as Alvin. I even have the print to prove it! I'd put on a rediculously oversized t-shirt and wear a crooked baseball cap on my head. No need for pants because they don't wear pants, do they? That's kind of concerning now that I think of it. Anyway, my favorite Chipmunks video was "Love Potion #9" which is basically a compilation of funny romantic love-themed ATC episodes. But all of their videos are fabulous, really.

Not all of my videos are from famous cartoon series' and there's this one video that I really, really loved to watch back then. I've watched it countless times and always get a satisfying kick out of it. I don't think this cartoon was even fairly popular but it's about a group of outer-space creatures that live on this pretty little planet. The characters are all based off the zodiac signs and they have all these adventures together. It may sound like the randomest thing - and it might as well be - but it's so cute. I LOVE IT.

The gang's called "Star Street". or was that where they lived? i forgot lol 

Not sure why the video's titled "The Happy Birthday Movie", although there is one episode in the video where someone has a birthday. I might need to do some internet research on this group of freaks because they're my favorites.

And since I was a very bright, creative, little girl, of course I was also a fan of the most well-known Dinosaur in the world...

When the Barney I knew was purple and did not wear any suits or seduce women

I watched Barney ALL THE TIME whenever it was on. If I wasn't going to be home when the show was on it would be recorded on tape. Yes, remember back when VCRs had that time record function and you could leave your blank tape in and it would automatically record your show on the time you set? That was so futuristic.

Also found this gem when I was rummaging through my collection :

That's right. SIX HOURS OF UNINTERRUPTED CARTOON BLISS. I can't believe my parents bought this for me. Maybe they just wanted to keep me distracted whenever I wouldn't sit still and bug them. But honestly, six hours? I remember I still used to watch this when I was older and didn't have anything better to do. I'd stay in my room all day and junk out on food. So fun.

The bad thing about having this awesome collection is that I can't really watch any of these anymore because I moved overseas and I don't have the proper pluggage to make the old VCR work (we brought that VCR with us!) like when I first moved here. I'm too lazy to go buy the thing and hook it up too. I was planning on moving all of my videos onto DVD format so I could enjoy them like a proper modern technology-era citizen, but my God the expense. 

Luckily, there's YouTube and people forever posting up old classic videos. There's also "that other option" to watching these videos but I'm impatient like that so I opted for YouTube instead. A couple of nights ago I stayed up  and watched Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Thumbelina. It was so great. It's funny though how you notice things that you didn't notice back when you watched the stuff when you were little. I realized things, like how pretty Snow's evil Queen step-mother really is and she shouldn't be threatened by Snow's beauty, or how the friendly swallow in Thumbelina seems gay. Maybe I'll do a watch-post on some of these oldies and share my thoughts online. 

I'm pretty sure this collection of mine was an early indication of my movie madness to come.

x Natasha

Everybody Loves Tina

Tina Fey.... how do I even begin to explain Tina Fey?

Tina Fey is flawless. I hear her sense of humor is insured for $10,000. She does car commercials.... on Saturday Night Live. Her favorite movie is Starsky and Hutch. One time she met Oprah Winfrey on a plane, and she told her she was beautiful and intelligent. One time she punched me in the f-

Wait, does all that sound familiar? If you're a young female who loves watching chick flicks while your hand is in a bag of Doritos or breaking off bits of a choco bar, odds are it does. One of the most memorable quotes from the cult classic Mean Girls. And if it wasn't for Tina Fey that movie would have not even existed.

Although she started her comedy act joining the comedy troupe The Second City based in Chicago, she made her mark on the public after signing on to Saturday Night Live (SNL) as a writer and then gradually moved up to head writer and performer on the show. I think she once said in an interview that when she first came in to SNL she was the only female writer there. And unless you've been living under a ton of bricks in the middle of the dessert I'm sure you know of her widely-loved parody character of Republican rep, Sarah Palin. 

Besides having a highly successful job on one of the funniest shows on TV to date, she also is responsible for bringing us the adaptation of the screenplay to the book "Queen Bees and Wannabees" by Rosalind Wiseman, which is none other than the female cult favorite Mean Girls. If Tina Fey didn't exist we would have never been able to use all those memorable lines from the film in our everyday lives.... and that would just not be acceptable. Her other movie credits include Baby Mama (with the magnificent Amy Poehler!), the Invention of Lying, and Date Night.

Sketch show, movies... what else? I know.... TV series! She still managed to squeeze a credit to her name for the hit tv show 30 Rock. No, she's not only the writer, again she stars in it as well. Her ability to do work behind and in-front of the camera in numerous projects is incredibly versatile, to say the least. She also has a ton of awards to show for all her work on all these shows. But what about socially-related titles given by the mass media? She has those too of course, such as the Associated Press' AP Entertainer of the Year as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in '08, appeared in Forbes Celebrity 100 list as one of the most powerful celebrities 3 years in a row, even got on the infamous People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. 

Have I not yet managed to sway you into love and praise for this woman? Taste the rainbow yourself :

Tina & David

Also, I need her new book. I laughed like a mental person by myself in the bookstore when I read the back cover testimonials, 

I can't even imagine how amazing the inside will be like.

Starting to believe this woman is an alien from the future who's been sent here to show us what it is to be perfection? I've kind of known that for a while.

x Natasha

What do you want to be when you grow up?

"I told them I wanted to be a cake... and so I did!"

Pic Cred

As children, we've probably heard this question many times. Maybe from a little old lady standing in line at the cashier behind our Mother to pay for biscuits and milk, or maybe from the scary doctor who turned out to be a really nice guy who gave us candy for being so brave. 

When I was a wee little kid, I had such high expectations for myself. I thought it would be cool to be a female scientist. I wanted to play with the stars and be an astronaut. At one point I even believed it was possible for me to be royalty ("I wanna be a princess!"). Such high expectations for such a little person.

But none of it came with pressure or doubt. There was not a single day where I thought to myself that I could not do these amazing things I had planned. If other people could do it - and were doing it - of course I could do it too!

Yet somehow along the way I lost that fierceness, most likely along with my innocence. I could go on and try to blame the world for this. I could blame it for being so ripe with the reality that I was familiar with but had not gotten acquainted to yet when I was still enjoying my Dr. Seuss books. But I can't, because that's just how the way things go. The older I get the more aspects of life tell me that I have responsibilities to tend to. The more we grow up, the more we understand things about the world that we didn't understand or care about when we were young. Nobody told us that horses are expensive and cowboy get-ups look rediculous after we've said we want to be a cowboy and spend life lassoing bad guys up. None of that biting reality sensibility. The biggest crisis of our days was probably our easy-bake oven not working right, and as far as we were concerned our magic princess wand could work.

What I've learned after reaching my 20s is that I'm more than 15 years older but I have become less confident in my future than when I was 5 years old. Just because you've done your time with school doesn't make you the master of life and the beholder of its secrets. Just because you're dealing with things like money and jobs doesn't make you the zen master of stability and independence. Quite the contrary, if I had to I'd label the 20s as "The Lost Days". Yeah, that label was inspired from the Emily Strange books but that doesn't make it any less true.

I've been on this earth for 22 years now and I still have so many questions about the world. Forget the world, let's talk about my life! What do I want to do? What should I do? What do I plan on doing? Unfortunately, these questions haunt me on a daily basis like a cake haunts fat people on diet. That little question has evolved some ("What do you want to be now that you're done with college?") and the people who ask the question have changed (no more friendly old ladies up for a chitchat because I'm a cutie pie - they've been replaced with concerned parents and not-quite-as-but-still-as concerned relatives), and most importantly, the answer has also changed its tune : 

"I really don't know yet. But I'm figuring it out."

And I also learned that's okay.

x Natasha