Christmas with Ikea



From Livet Hemma - Ikea's blog 'Life at Home'.



Time to bring out all the available chairs, get together and celebrate.

Crikey, it is the first day of December! Yep, it's time to start counting down to Christmas Day and for us in the southern hemisphere, a much sought after Summer break. I got a great message today from the editorial staff at Livet Hemma - they saw my posting about their Ikea blog. They let me know that they have Christmas ideas and inspirations on their blog right now.
I love their images above as it really tells Christmas as it is - having family and friends over, bringing together all the available chairs around a makeshift table, Christmas cards on the wall, lots of food on the table and Christmas baubles hanging above. Thanks Livet Hemma for letting me know about your updates.
Photographs via Livet Hemma.

The Buzz: 30/11/10

RIP Irvin Kershner director of Empire Strikes Back

What is the visible penis line and what does it have to do with the new Spiderman?

Ian McKellen finally confirms he's Gandalf again

Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance, to hit US cinemas

John Pawson : Plain Space - The Book.



Architect John Pawson with the book.




John Pawson : Plain Space by Alison Morris

 In Plain Space, author Alison Morris presents both this recent body of work and earlier projects from the perspective of someone who has had unique access to the work and archives of the office. In thematic essays and narrative project descriptions she examines the firm's working processes, relationship with clients, and approach to design. These insights into how Pawson and his office approach all different kinds of projects, including a cricket pavilion, a ballet stage set, apartment and boat interiors, will be of interest to architects, students, and anyone looking to simplify and beautify their own living space. Filled with exquisite photographs and detailed drawings, Plain Space will be the next must-have book for fans of John Pawson and a perfect introduction to his work for anyone interested in the absolute best of contemporary design.
I have definitely added this book to my wishlist and to my amazon.com bookstore - simply click on my bookstore on the right hand side of my blog and have a closer look.
Photographs via Plain Space.

John Pawson: Plain Space



Baron House, Sweden 2005




Monastery of Our Lady of Novy Dvur, Czech Republic, 2004




Monastery of Our Lady of Novy Dvur, Czech Republic, 2004




Pawson House, London 1994




Private House, Germany 2003




Sackler Crossing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2006




Schrager Penthouse, New York 2009




Tetsuka House, Tokyo 2005

 If you have been reading this blog for a while, you will know that I admire the work of John Pawson. An exhibition of his work is on display at The Design Museum, London called John Pawson: Plain Space. It demonstrates his distinctive minimalist architecture style. Read the Guardian article about the exhibition here.
Photographs via The Guardian.



John Pawson : Plain Space exhibition at The Design Museum, London.




Photographs by Marco Zanta.




Models and visuals.




Larger scale models on display - beautifully made of course.




Model and visual of the Monastry.




A suitably minimal-style exhibition





A film showing the B60 sloop.

  Photographs via Plain Space.

The Buzz: 29/11/10

Leslie Nielsen, legendary actor best know for his performances in spoofs (lets face it he was the king of spoofs!)has died at the grand old age of 84. RIP Leslie, thank you for all the laughs.

Christopher Waltz and R-Patz in costumer for Water for Elephants

The Hobbit in 3D!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

This is a MUST for fans of inception...

Stella McCartney's Garden



Pieces from Stella McCartney's children's wear collection.



I was reading the Sunday Star Times magazine this weekend and came across the design article about Stella McCartney's new children's wear collection. McCartney says that her biggest design influence was her own idyllic childhood - described growing up horse-riding and rolling in haybales. This influence has resulted in creating great looking children's clothes which are also practical. She quotes - "Hopefully I'm not just dressing kids, but creating memories too."
The article mentioned her Worcestershire country house and garden where she, her husband and their children live - trying to replicate the same lifestyle and childhood she had for her children.
I found a great magazine editorial of her stunning garden through Vogue magazine. Read the article and see more photos here.
Photographs via Vogue.


Wisteria in flower on the Georgian Manor.

 


The herringbone patterned brick path.

 


Flo Jo the horse.



The 'Anniversary Garden'.



The 'Engagement Garden'.




Central urn surrounded by gorgeous cottage flowers.



I Like...

I like.. the different designer dining chairs at this table.
This dining area belongs to stylist James Leland Day - located at his Parisian apartment in the 12th arrondissement. Why stress over which designer chairs to get when you can have one of each? This creates more interest in a small space - just as long you keep the palette the same. I also like the bench seat at the wall side of the table with comfy cushions to lean back on. Nice.
To see the rest of this apartment, check out the October 2010 issue of Elle Decoration UK.
Photograph via James Leland Day.

Beeonfilm Events (a little late):

London MCM Expo

It had record numbers this year and it was noticeable, a huge amount of people can hamper the enjoyment of this event. As even with Geeks it would appear manners are a thing of the past! Of course I’m not going to go on some big rant about the event and its key visitors, I need to go on about all things there film related (and TV to some extent). Unfortunately this year it did seem to come up a bit short for feature films, admittedly I had not been to this event for a long time but it does seem to have steered itself more to anime and computer games? I’m not complaining at all mind you; I like anime, I just don’t write about anime and of course Video games. All of the games present were next gen consoles and I don’t get on with them much, mostly because I can’t afford them. However I was overjoyed to see that they had the Wii updated version of Goldeneye (the only game I ever been pretty good at), they had the old school remotes and despite getting my butt kicked thoroughly, I enjoyed it and can’t wait to get my hands on a copy!

Speaking of films Universal had a lovely looking stand that was showing some trailers of their up and coming movies; Firstly the American. George Clooney playing a bit long in the tooth Jason Bourne type character, looks like a very under stated performance from the man best known for his charm but looks great. There’s Despicable Me, Steve Carrell vehicle that preempted Megamind on its release but sadly not its humour it would appear.

Fred Flinston was worried Universal were going to try and release another awful film about his family.

The last one of note had quite a big presence at the Expo, Paul from Brit duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, much loved at this event for obvious reasons but most likely because a lot of people (including me) met the duo at this event when they were plugging Hot Fuzz. They had a video introduction recorded for the day to preview some never before seen footage of Paul. I must admit it does look like it misses Edgar Wright at the helm, then again its Greg Mottola (Superbad) who has a pretty good CV and Simon and Nick wrote it and they have proved themselves as fine comedians. I think this film will be resting solely on the success of its CGI Alien voiced by Seth Rogan, if he don’t work neither will the film.

Like I said though this years was disappointing for me as because of other obligations I missed out on a meeting and round table with Chris Claremont; Legendary comic book writer who penned the Dark Phoenix saga. Not just from a journalist’s point of view but a fan too, but maybe another chance in the future. Of course there was a remote controlled life size R2 D2 which was the nuts and a chance to get your photo with the Delorean which I did not get (and have regretted since).



So that’s it for this year, not much else to report really, maybe I’m out of touch with my Geek Brethren but it’ll take some major event to get me there again!

The Buzz: 28/11/10

Above, cool looking poster for little known film called Apollo 18...

Shane Briant in The Hobbit?

Super, finally gets release date.

Michelle Rodriguez up for Avatar 2!?

The Buzz: 27/11/10

Above, a new international poster for Seth Rogans, Green Hornet.

Michelle Williams is Marilyn

First Image from Breaking Dawn

4D Cinema opens in New Zealand?

Monsters

Not what you’re expecting…

Lover: Taken from IMDB
“Amazing movie. A real adventure film, the way they don't make them anymore. Sometimes it felt like a travel documentary, very real, very exciting and realistic. The actors are very good, better than most high paid stars of today. And the girl are beautiful in a very natural way. She's also a wonderful actress. I'ts important to understand that this isn't your ordinary monster movie. You very seldom see them at all, but you feel their presence. Each step of the way, when we follow the couple on their way back from Mexico to USA, we are with them. We are more like travel companions on a journey than viewers of a movie.The CGI may lack a bit, but that's not important. Considering the extremely low budget, it's just amazing that this movie exist. The production values are still better than with most high profile movies. Do yourself a favor and See this movie for what it is. Go on a journey into a world that is realistic, exciting - and maybe, just maybe, possible.”

I think the most interesting point made in this review is “feel their presence”, I’ll explain down bellow.

Haters: Taken from IMDB
“I went into this movie expecting a cutting edge look at the state of the art MONSTERS! What I got was a docudrama with dark octopus like cgi wannabe monsters a few times with most of the movie consisting of drama and Mexican life footage. The best part of this movie is the trailer. Why do so many directors and producers feel they need to explore the cutting edge of filmmaking when the tried and true methods would be a better experience. I threw my popcorn at the screen a few times. I was bored silly with the drama in a "MONSTER" movie. HA! Monsters! Give me a break! 9/10s of this movie is boring and the few times you get to see the land octopus its dark and you don't get a good view. These monsters are unoriginal - think SHARKTOPUS! At least syfy had a monster in the movie. This is like waiting around for a view and then....what?! Don't pay money to see this stuff. Don't pay money to rent this stuff. Make a statement - we won't pay our money for this crap anymore!”

It’s telling that all of the scathing reviews for this film are complaining that they didn’t get another Cloverfield like Monster mash up. I’ll be the first to admit I thought I’d see something similar. However unlike these people I wasn’t disappointed with this. Also never take any notice when a critic amateur / pro or armchair tells you not to see something go and judge it for yourself, the film industry needs you!

What I thought:
Gareth Edwards came up with the idea for monsters after seeing a group of men struggling to drag a net in from the sea. Imagining a giant monster at the end of it planted a seed, a seed of a movie set after the likes of things like Cloverfield. A world where the monsters are just here, still a threat and ever present but life goes on. That’s what I loved about this movie; it’s not a monster movie not really. It’s about the human drama that follows our lead couple on their journey home.

Of course here is where the haters come in, I don’t blame them; they went in expecting a monster movie full of un-believable special effects and scary moments of mass carnage, I mean the film is called monsters after all. It’s just a shame that this half of an audience divided, didn’t give the film a go as anything else. They failed to see the human drama that surrounded this event, the human loss and the damage and destruction, the humans who live with that fear on a day to day basis and of course at the heart of it a love story.

It’s under played romance to say the least and is helped by the fact that this real life couple were allowed to improvise. Some really funny moments that are lovely to watch and feel natural between the pair, particularly in one scene as the drunken male lead tries to negotiate his way into her room. Both characters have interesting takes on the environment they are forced into, a photographer who questions the morality of the most money making images and fighting against the logic of not telling his son the truth. Then you have a female lead, a pampered daddy’s girl in an engagement she’s not sure she wants. Sure enough these are typical roles and even predictable but un-deniably watchable in this situation.

The Monsters in question are well designed and completely other worldly, when they do appear it’s in dark and hard to see places. You can’t blame the director (who did it all on his laptop) for trying to make the job a little easier for himself and it works in his favour. The scene without the monsters reveal more than enough for you to worry, blood stained boats in the shape of hands, half destroyed buildings here and there and out of this world noises coming from the distance. It all adds up and when they do appear, these images play on your mind and the tension is almost tangible.

Above all else Monsters is a crowning achievement of guerrilla film making, in this sense its not only one of the bravest films you’ll see this year but also one of the most original. Please go and see this and appreciate for what it is.

Up and Coming Movies...

Blitz

In UK Cinemas: Summer 2011

What they say:
A tough cop is dispatched to take down a serial killer who has been targeting police officers.

What i say:
Um not much as there's not much out there about it apart from the trailer which is available on the web. At the risk of losing readers just google it!

Up and Coming Movies...

The Next Three Days

Out in UK Cinemas:

What they say:
Life seems perfect for John Brennan until his wife, Lara, is arrested for a gruesome murder she says she didn't commit. Three years into her sentence, John is struggling to hold his family together, raising their son and teaching at college while he pursues every means available to prove her innocence. With the rejection of their final appeal, Lara becomes suicidal and John decides there is only one possible, bearable solution: to break his wife out of prison. Refusing to be deterred by impossible odds or his own inexperience, John devises an elaborate escape plot and plunges into a dangerous and unfamiliar world, ultimately risking everything for the woman he loves.

What i say:
Well another tense thriller and another grumpy typecast role for Russell Crowe, looks like fairly throw away stuff.

Up and Coming Movies...

HOP

In UK Cinemas 01/04/11

What they say:
Blending state-of-the-art animation with live action, HOP tells the comic tale of Fred (James Marsden), an out-of-work slacker who accidentally injures the Easter Bunny (voiced by Russell Brand) and must take him in as he recovers. As Fred struggles with the world’s worst houseguest, both will learn what it takes to finally grow up.

The film is helmed by Tim Hill, director of the blockbuster ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS and produced by Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment (DESPICABLE ME). At its heart, HOP is a classic buddy movie… it’s just that one of the buddies is a talking rabbit!

What I say:
I wouldnt say anything about this, it has the voice of Russell Brand so it might have a bit of edge but it just looks like Alvin and the Chipmunks?

The Buzz: 26/11/10

I hated buffy and I'm glad joss whedon is unhappy with a reboot, however it is a very well loved series and i sympathise... honestly

The Crow remake?

3D Shark Movie

Dark Horizons visit to the set of Faster, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's return to hard hitting action

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Press Release

“HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 1”

SOARS TO A RECORD-BREAKING OPENING WEEKEND

OF £18.3m AT THE UK BOX OFFICE.

London, Monday 22nd November 2010 – Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” beginning the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series, has made cinema history at the UK box office this weekend, breaking records for the biggest three day opening, the biggest single day, the biggest Friday, the biggest Saturday and the biggest Sunday of all time at UK cinemas.

These phenomenal records were previously held by Quantum of Solace who held the biggest three day opening and the biggest ever Friday with £15,384,217 and £4,957,917 respectively and the fourth in the Harry Potter film series, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire holding the previous records for the biggest single day and the biggest Saturday at UK cinemas with £5,657,391 and the biggest Sunday with £5,254,223.

“The opening of this film has become an extraordinary worldwide event,” said Josh Berger, President and Managing Director of Warner Bros. Entertainment UK. “These remarkable box office numbers are a testament to the talents of the filmmakers, cast and to the vision of J.K. Rowling, the creator of this magical world. We congratulate everyone involved in the film, all of whom share in this success.”

In addition to holding the all-time franchise box office record—with a collective worldwide gross of more than $5.4 billion—all six previous Harry Potter films have the distinction of being among the 20 top-grossing box office hits of all time internationally. The seventh title, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” is a motion picture event in two full-length parts, with Part 2 opening on July 15, 2011.

Heading the cast, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reprise the roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The film’s ensemble cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt, Rhys Ifans, Jason Isaacs, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Toby Jones, David Legeno, Simon McBurney, Helen McCrory, Nick Moran, Peter Mullan, David O’Hara, Clémence Poésy, Natalia Tena, Julie Walters, Mark Williams and Bonnie Wright.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” was directed by David Yates, who also helmed “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” David Heyman, the producer of all of the Harry Potter films, again produced the film, together with David Barron and J.K. Rowling. Steve Kloves adapted the screenplay, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Lionel Wigram is the executive producer, with John Trehy and Tim Lewis serving as co-producers.

Behind the scenes, the creative team was led by director of photography Eduardo Serra, production designer Stuart Craig, editor Mark Day, composer Alexandre Desplat, visual effects supervisor Tim Burke, and costume designer Jany Temime.

Concurrently with its theatrical release, the film is being released in select IMAX® theatres. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” has been digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® through proprietary IMAX DMR® technology.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films Production, a David Yates Film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” being distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Up and coming movies...

Brighton Rock

In Uk Cinemas: 04/02/11

What they say:
Adapted from Graham Greene’s iconic 1939 novel, BRIGHTON ROCK charts the headlong fall of Pinkie, a razor-wielding disadvantaged teenager hell bent on clawing his way up through the ranks of organized crime. At the heart of the story is the anti-hero Pinkie’s relationship with Rose - an apparently innocent young waitress who stumbles on evidence linking Pinkie and his gang to a revenge killing that Pinkie commits. After the murder, Pinkie seduces Rose, first in an effort to find out how much she knows and latterly to ensure she will not talk to the police. A love story between a murderer and a witness; can Pinkie trust Rose or should he kill her before she talks to the police? Can Rose trust Pinkie or is she next in line?

What i say:
Contender for Brit film of the year... i think so!

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