“I have never drawn, even as a child, either puppets or silhouettes but rather facades of houses and gates. One of my favourite games consisted of organising towns. Ignorant in architecture, I constructed buildings and streets crammed with little figures. I invented stories

… Read full post »

Having found my love for writing by the age of seven, I have since gone through many stages of the craft throughout my life. Fads, if you will.

In elementary school, it was dad-illustrated, self-typed (couldn’t draw, but could type up a 10-page document at the age of… Read full post »

 

In the “boyhood” chapter of the film, Jack (the main character) as a child is running around with other neighborhood boys, causing a ruckus, encapsulating the very meaning of “boys will be boys.”

They fling rocks into the windows of (probably) abandoned houses.… Read full post »

I took a class called “New German Cinema” at the end of my freshman year of college. It was designated as a “seminar” credit, and I enrolled because I knew I was interested in becoming a film major at that point. I think I saw the words “cinema”… Read full post »

 As a fan of Lars von Trier, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and pretty much any "wedding movie" with a dark premise (don't ask), I'm excited about this. Salon writer Drew Grant already referred to it as "Rachel Getting Married meets Donnie Darko," which seems fair, at least from this trailer.

Ei… Read full post »

"I think that I used to love Hollywood movies. I remember great phases and moments. But, unfortunately, now is not the moment."

Sofia Coppola "canned champagne." Yes, it really is the best thing in a can. Go buy it at your nearest alcoholic beverages depot now. It's a tiny pink can filled with bubbly sparkling wine and even has a tiny pink straw attached, picnic-ready. So obviously, I drank… Read full post »

"The trap has nylon nets called ‘heads.’ Two side heads to let the lobster crawl in. And inside, what’s called a bedroom head holds the bait, and keeps him from escaping. You know the old saying: ‘Two’s company, three’s a crowd?’ Well, it’s l

… Read full post »

I wanted so badly to be annoyed by Paper Heart (2009) and, in particular, Charlyne Yi. But instead, I found myself smiling throughout pretty much the whole damn thing. Though Yi is definitely an acquired taste, an odd bird, etc., etc., her charm and/… Read full post »

"He says something. She doesn't mind, she answers. They have no memories, no plans. Time builds itself painlessly around them. As landmarks, they have the very taste of this moment they live, and scribbling on the walls."

I rewatched one of my… Read full post »

Originally written for and posted on RootSpeak, November 11, 2010.

A friend recommended In Treatment to me about a year ago and so I started watching season one. I became addicted to the show pretty quickly, gobbling it up in large amounts at… Read full post »

Dear feminists: Can we please stop arguing how sexist The Social Network is? Signed, a fellow feminist.

I hadn't even seen the movie yet when I came across an article on Jezebel's homepage, entitled: "The Social Network, Where Women Never Have Ideas." Sounded pretty/… Read full post »

I'm sure this has been widely seen by now, but I can't get over it. She is nine years old and doing it better than most adult pop stars. "Whip My Hair" Willow Smith (daughter of Will, of course) is one solid music video. There's been some… Read full post »

 

Note to the reader: This post contains spoilers, but not much more than what is revealed in the film's trailer.

I apologize. It's too easy to make a crack about whether or not a film adaptation of a novel about clones is a "good enough clone"… Read full post »

If you hadn't heard of the noisy but catchy lo-fi band Sleigh Bells before, you probably have now between the MTV coverage and the ever-dreaded indie-rock-band-goes-to-car-ads Honda commercial. I'm not sure why, but this is almost exactly how I imagined the music video to be for… Read full post »

Darren Aronofsky's anticipated Black Swan has already screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. So far, the reviews seem relatively divided (as could be expected), while some critics seem almost in awe of the disturbing film - one that the director ha… Read full post »

Originally published in Brittany Julious' "Antic" literary magazine -

There’s a lot of talk about hipsters these days. Well, there are stages of the talk about hipsters.

First, there’s the recognition of something being too out of your reach, too involved in some other kind of pop cultu… Read full post »

I went to Lollapalooza this past weekend (thanks to my boyfriend taking me), and I had a semi-spiritual reaction to seeing Arcade Fire live. They closed the festival Sunday night (well, with Soundgarden across the park, but really - who goes to see Soundgarden in 2010?), and… Read full post »

Why can't I write? Or do anything creative or productive, for that matter?

When I was unemployed for too many months after college graduation, I thought I felt useless because I didn't have a job. Now I have a full-time job that I enjoy, and I still feel useless… Read full post »

Originally posted on June 24, 2010, this version includes two important updates. 

For some reason, memoirs have steadily become my favorite literary genre as I grow older. It's also the genre I gravitate towards when I write. Creative nonfiction is something I relish in - being… Read full post »

For some reason, memoirs have steadily become my favorite literary genre as I grow older. It's also the genre I gravitate towards when I write. Creative nonfiction is something I relish in - being able to understand someone else's experience, whether there be complete differences or scary similaritie… Read full post »