No more 'Got Milk?'

 No more 'Got Milk?' as a slogan for the Milk Processor Education Program. After 20 years with the iconic slogan, its switching to 'Milk Life' instead and it leaves us with a series of iconic shoots of celebrities with the milk mustache ever since 1993. And its more a part of the 90s-00s culture than a publicity campaign, these ads were huge back then and some of them are really great.

So i'm posting some of my faves, including random celebs like Marilyn Manson, Isabella Rossellini, the Backstreet Boys and even Lauren Bacall and Batman, so check them out after the cut, these are not in a very good quality but that was all i could find. Check out the complete collection of ads at the sources:

20 years of 'Reality Bites'

It's been 20 years since generational movie 'Reality Bites' was released, since grunge music was playing on MTV and the Generation X label was everywhere. It was such a good time to be a teenager, i wouldn't change it for the world. And this movie really defined a generation.

It might come to a surprise to many, but Ben Stiller directed this fucking masterpiece that doesn't get old with time and that still makes sense to those figuring out what to do with their lives once they have finished college. And isn't it that what still happens today anyway? It really shows that having a college degree was no assurance for anything, this was a movie about being lost, having no direction and having your dreams crushed down, all that in your mid-20s. So much of that called mid-life crisis, this is probably the age and time where the most important decisions are being, or not being made. The struggle of becoming an individual, independent self, to suck it to the world and becoming an adult, because growing up is a hard thing to do. And the movie really captured that (This has to be one of Lena Dunham's favourite films). Still, many of those, including myself, who related to the movie back then are still feeling the same thing now so it never goes out of date. Plus it had an A+ cast with Winona Ryder in, possibly, her best role in her career, as well as Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn, with director Ben Stiller himself, an amazing soundtrack and everything was on point.

It's been a while since i last watched it and while the news of a possible revival of 'Reality Bites' as a NBC show doesn't sound so good, i'm adding some of my fave stills and scenes, as well as some of the songs that remind me to this movie every time i listen to them, so check them out after the cut:

Behind-the-scenes of the last days of 'Twin Peaks'.

Even to this day, i still believe that 'Twin Peaks' is the best show ever. Sure it had a decay in quality on its second season but no other tv show impacted the way it did on television and as a cultural phenomenon. Everyone got hooked on the "Who killed Laura Palmer" mystery and everyone got fascinated by it. It was a new thing on television, a new way to do a tv series that influenced other tv shows that came afterwards (the most clear example that i can recall is 'The X Files').

As the show was cancelled and the in-house photographer had quit, Richard Beymer (who was no other than Bejamin Thorne), took a series of photos during the last days of filming and the pics are quite extraordinary. It captured the whole mood of those last  scenes in the Black Lodge and allows to take a look behind the scenes of the ending of one of the most epics tv shows to date. Recently there were some rumours of David Lynch filming some new footage of 'Twin Peaks' which led people to think about a possible third season in the making, but it was only some promo footage for the upcoming Blu-ray coming out, as 25 years have passed since the show first aired.

Anyway, enjoy the darkness of these last photos and if you are a David Lynch fanatic, be sure not to miss Daughter of the SoHo Riots amazing two posts about his career, it's really a treat for any Lynch movie lover. Many more bts photos at the source:

 

'Flowers in the Attic' (2014).

I've always wondered why someone didn't remake 'Flowers in the Attic' properly, the 80s movie version felt so outdated and it left out some of the biggest twists from the popular novel. But this new tv version... well, let's say it could have been a lot better.

I was excited about the cast, Ellen Burstyn is a magnificent actress whose performance in 'Requiem for a Dream' remains one of my favourites, but here she wasn't on point. The grandmother is supposed to be really mean and evil in the book but in this adaptation she was kinda soft in comparison. Which was a huge let down because Burstyn could have done so much better (not that it was her fault but the direction they gave her). Heather Graham was simply ok and Kiernan Shipka more of the same, no stellar performances here. It felt like if everything was low budget, no extra efforts were being made and it felt all so cheap.

(Spoilers)
As for the plot, yes, they included the incest between brother and sister but they romanticised it way too much. The first time they had a sexual encounter it was rape, Chris forced his sister and she eventually let him do what he had to do, but didn't agree to that. I'm guessing that was way too much for the network to show, but if you're going to adapt something twisted like this novel, do it right. Another key element was the reveal of the doughnuts towards the end. Halfway through the book you know that the grandmother is powdering them each day with what it seems sugar but it's really arsenic, and more importantly, later it's their mother doing that as well, so revealing that at the end, without the anticipation of knowing that the kids are eating them and getting sick day by day, was also a mistake in the adaptation.

Other important things were left out as well, and it makes me wonder if the news of adapting the sequel 'Petals in the Wind' is a good idea but i have to admit i will watch it no matter what. That second book was flawless as well, and while it's less twisted, maybe this time they will do it right. Still, one can dream of a 'Flowers in the Attic' movie version directed by Sofia Coppola (as the book is one of her favourites) which would include everything but oh well, we'll always have the novel to re-read and still get twisted by all the darkness it contains.

sources: tilty

'The Carrie Diaries' second season (or show) finale.

One has to watch 'The Carrie Diaries' without thinking too much about 'Sex and the City' or Sarah Jessica Parker, that's the only way to enjoy it. Because, let's be honest, this supposed "prequel" is far from the flawlessly that was the original show. That was a given, i mean, it was really hard to attempt to achieve that. It doesn't have the same humour, there's barely any talk about sex – or if there is, it's not discussed in depth or there's no funny element about it– and all the drama is really naive, really highschool material, when given their age and time, it could have been way better. And the fashion, it doesn't even look like the 80s, for God's sake.

Still, the show and its connection to the Carrie Bradshaw of SATC it's gonna start now, if there's a third season, which i doubt. At first i was excited about seeing a young Carrie, having her first time, her first Cosmopolitan, buying her first pair of Manolos (that hasn't happened yet), but if anything, that's gonna happen in the next season, because that would be Carrie living in the city and finally cutting family ties (let's hope). Because, i don't recall Mrs. Bradshaw talking about her sister on the show but once, and that's it. Also, it would mean (i'm guessing) the introduction of several characters like Stanford or even Miranda and Charlotte, which i would love to see (even though the Samantha portrayed wasn't really my cup of tea, she was too trashy and i still think that AnnaLynne McCord would have played a much better Samantha Jones). And we would see a grown up Carrie, not in highschool anymore and becoming self-absorbed like she is, which started to happen in the final episodes of the second season.

So time will say for this show, i haven't read the books but i hope what comes is more promising that this past two seasons, or at least, more oriented to the first show because that's what we're all expecting without having too many expectations about it.

sources: haleiu-b

Behold our next Supreme - American Horror Story Coven finale

(Spoilers ahead, witches)

There was much anticipation coming with the third season of 'American Horror Story Coven', with such a marvellous female cast, Jessica Lange, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, Taissa Farmiga, Gabourey Sidibe, Frances Conroy, Jamie Brewer and Emma Roberts, and for me, it didn't disappoint.

Sure it wasn't as creepy and scary as the previous two seasons, even though it had a nice start with some morbid scenes like the gang raping scene, the incestuous relationship between Kyle and his mother, Delphine's crimes, Spalding's doll fetish or Queenie's semi-zoophilic sexual encounter, but this season has mostly been enjoyable in a hilarious way, like a super guilty pleasure. Everything has been more absurd, more over the edge, and maybe people didn't like it as much because they expected something else. Personally, i've really loved it, sure it could have been better with such a good story and  an excellent ensemble, but i've enjoyed everything as i didn't take it too seriously, as i think it was intended.

The finale was good, i didn't expect Cordelia to be the Supreme and it made sense that Fiona hated her daughter all these years because of that, and that final scene between the two of them was really memorable. Sure, this show follows some similar patterns, like Jessica Lange's character dying of cancer in the previous season as well, Misty ended up turning into ashes just like sister Mary Eunice in Asylum, or Cordelia pulling a Lana Banana by giving a TV interview revealing all in both seasons. In all three seasons, the show has started really good, it got interesting until it became a complete mess that ended up with some loose ends. But i was happy with the ending and really loved this season. So i'm posting some of my very fave moments from the show after the cut, sure there are many and i'm missing some, but one has to admit that Emma Roberts was nearly the best thing of this season because let's be honest, the Zoe-Kyle thing was simply boring, and Gabourey Sidibe was also really good, so enjoy the witch bitches and wear something black (NSFW):

Also, how flawless was this wink at 'The Wizard of Oz's scene of the witch is dead?

Elie Saab Spring/Summer 2014 Couture

I've never been really enthusiastic with Elie Saab, it makes beautiful designs but sometimes they look more like bridal gowns than anything, but this collection, shown at Paris last week, it's a dream.

Nearly all the collection is flawless (i'm not too fond of some lavender dresses here but mostly because i hate the colour) but the rest are simply perfection and i bet some of these will be worn by actresses during this award season. My faves? the mesmerizing dress i posed above, the second dress shown below, the complete set of gowns in yellow, and the last red dress i posted after the cut, but everything looks so beautiful and dreamy that i had to post the whole collection. Take a look at the beauty after the cut.

'Her' (2013)

I had really high expectations with Spike Jonze's latest movie 'Her', a modern love story between Joaquin Phoenix and his operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, and it didn't fucking disappoint.

The movie is set on a futuristic time where everyone is connected but still pretty much disconnected from one another, you see Phoenix's character Theodore completely alone, going to work and back home with nearly no human interaction at all, only bumping into his neighbour and friend Amy (Amy Adams) occasionally on the elevator. And it is a sad story, only when he purchases his operating system Samantha, it's when we see him communicating with someone, smiling, enjoying life. This is a story of a lonely person, someone who has previously find comfort in being alone, who wants to feel something but is pretty much numb ever since his separation from his wife. He'd rather stay still and frozen all emotion than to move along and grant her the divorce. It's a story of someone who wants to be loved and share his life with another person and eventually, he finds that with Samantha. And even though the idea of someone falling in love with his operating system sounds unreal, the tenderness of Joaquin Phoenix's face and the emotion and passion behind the voice of Scarlett Johansson as Samantha really makes it. You just love to see how he opens to her, how he discovers the world to her and the excitement that that brings to both of them. And you, as a viewer, invest your heart on them.
(Spoilers)
Somehow, you know in advance that the movie is going to break your heart, for me, that scene of the IOS failing and Theodore being unable to contact Samantha, rushing to his apartment, leaving all behind, running desperate with the idea of not hearing from her again, of her disappearing as a system error, was never-wracking, truly heartbreaking.  I didn't understand though, when all operating systems leave. It was a beautiful ending with some really touching words from Samantha, how he discovered what was love to her and all her kind words to him, but still, a little confusing and all of a sudden. I guess the idea was that the more they interacted with other people, the more they grew as entities, the more they became an independent whole. Still, the epic final scene with Theodore and Amy on the rooftop is something quite precious.

I really loved this movie, it left me quite devastated after watching it, i didn't cry, but i was really touched about the idea of us in the present time, communicating with everyone and being in contact with anyone but still being all by ourselves in front of a computer. So many feelings but such a beautiful love story.

Below you can listen to the super sweet and cute version that Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix do of Karen O's 'The Moon Song'. Everything about this movie is simply gorgeous.

sources: impaawards & youtube

San Sebastián/Bilbao

Last November i travelled to the Basque country, i've never been so up north in the country and i was really looking out for it because it's a totally different landscape.

The weather was rainy  all the time and it was really cold but that made the whole trip more beautiful in a shade of grey and i took some really pretty photos that i'm posting after the cut. I've visited both Bilbao and San Sebastián, and while they are really different – Bilbao is more industrial while San Sebastián is a more elegant city, i loved them both: Bilbao for the pretty downtown and the statuesque Guggenheim Museum (i've always wanted to witness with my eyes such an epic form of art), and San Sebastián has the mesmerizing Playa de la concha and Chillida's installation of El peine del viento that creates a really astonishing view. Enjoy the beauty after the cut:

'La Vie d'Adele' - I Follow Rivers

 

The more i remember 'La Vie d'Adele', the more i like it. It's a movie with so many special things, full of so many small details that make great moments in life, like this scene i'm posting below.

It's when Adele returns home after having had sex for the first time with Emma, the first time ever with a girl, and the first time she has really felt it. And she's happy. She's glowing. She gets home and they are throwing a surprise party for her 18 birthday with her family and her closest friends. Those who stood by her despite the lesbian rumours in her highschool. And they start dancing to Lykke Li's remixed song 'I Follow Rivers' without a care in the world, because now Adele has everything. She's not missing anything in her life anymore and feels complete. And that scene, that moment is bliss. This is happiness:

sources: clarabows & youtube