✪ ✪ ✪ CHECK THIS OUT! ✪ ✪ ✪

My friends and I took some initiative and started a a website for Sarah Lawrence students' voices. Check it out whether you go there or not! (I'm the editor of the Create section, teehee)

CLICK HERE

✰ OSCAR TAUGHT ME ✰

So the Academy Awards are tonight and I'm excited. Not necessarily because I'm worried whether my favorites will win (like The Fighter, above) but just the novelty of it. All of the most amazing people on the planet in the room at the same time, looking fabulous, making jokes, jabbing each other with little phrases like "AYYY Nat! Isn't it my lil' black swan ovah heah?" or "Yo Chris! You gain summah that weight back? You're not a crack addict anymore, are yah?"

Okay, so maybe it's all in my head. But I like to imagine. In what other universe would Robert DeNiro be sitting next to Johnny Depp whose sitting next to Diane Keaton. Or should I say: Young Don Corleone sitting next to Edward Scissorhands sitting next to Annie Hall.

The funny thing is, as much as I follow the Oscars religiously, and have made countless teary-eyed acceptance speeches in my shower, I don't take much stock in them.

A) It's a selected jury. Yes, the Academy includes some of the industry's greats, but it also includes some of the industry's most conservative members. When it's all said and done, it's a selected opinion.

B) More importantly, the root of competitive art seems too fickle. Yes, I would say Amadeus is better than The Room, but I have a problem comparing a whole slew of well-produced, fabulous movies. I loved The King's Speech, The Social Network, and The Fighter. Do I have to pick a favorite?

But the truth is, no matter the flawed reasoning, the Academy Awards retains its charm. This year will be the first year that I'm not home for the Oscars. I'm going into New York City to watch it with my friends, which will be a new experience. Maybe other opinions will shed a new light on mine. Maybe the Oscars is just a conversation-starter. And an excuse for people to get gussied up. And sometimes, that's all we really need.

❘ ❙ ❚ BEACH HOUSE ❚ ❙ ❘

Last night my friends and I sprinted from our respective classes (gender roles in the literature of Zora Neale Hurston and the nature of the ideal in Pushkin anyone?) and caught the 5:50 train into the city.

Our destination: Webster Hall to see Beach House

I'm just going to attach some of my favorite images, but I'll just say: I LOVED it. I listened to Teen Dream, their latest album, a lot over winter break, so I was singing along to a lot of the songs. They were just so on top of it and consistently great and the set design was hypnotic. So genius. And I totally loved their enthusiasm. Please go see them if you get a chance!

(All photos taken with the Helga Viking lens on the Hipstamatic)

ESELSEEPUNK

Well! I went to my first punk show at SLC! So now I feel like less of a total poser what with my blog title and all (don't worry guys, I don't consider myself a punk I'm definitely a hipster if anything)

Possibly broken foot = I have been deflowered. I (naively) did not understand the nature of the punk mosh pit. I didn't expect to see one in the tiny space that is the SLC Blue Room, where we hold most of our shows, but alas, the first badass chord was strum and people started lashing out, throwing each other to the floor, all kinds a wack shit.

But it was weirdly kind of awesome...

▲ JE SUIS UNE ANIMATRICE ▲

The summer before my junior year of high school I spent two weeks in my room with only a lightboard, some pens and pencils, and paper for company. It was bliss. The end result was this:


Note: The music track should be "Sweet and Lowdown" by George Gershwin

It all started with Disney films. Back in the good old days, Jasmine's hair and Ariel's doe eyes enchanted me to no end. Simba watching his father, Mufasa, being stampeded still makes me cry. Then came Miyazaki and his film, which stand among my favorite pieces of artwork of all time, Spirited Away.

I have always loved to draw. The summer that I made The Green Bow, I took a two-day long tutorial class on the fundamentals of animation at a local community college. Tools in hand, I was on my way. I made the film, submitted it to the local Sidewalk Film Festival, and won the student film competition.


Just go out and do it

BROTHERS FROM OTHER MOTHERS

"I want to be forgotten
And I don't wanna be reminded
You said, 'Please don't make this harder'
No, I won't yet..."

All it took was the first few lines of "Whatever Happened?" and it was love at first listen.

The Strokes. They are so important to me. They made me realize that I can be cool within myself, that I can be a self-approved island of greatness. No need for external validation. They are home. I feel like I know them, like I've known them all of my life. For some people it's a certain author, or painter, or actor whose effect can't be quantified. For me, it's them.

You need me to prove it? When I first fell in love with them (which happened to be about a week after they played a small show in my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, which will NEVER happen again) it was just after First Impressions came out and there were rumors that they were breaking up. I actually emailed their manager at the time to verify that this wasn't true, and I got a PERSONALLY WRITTEN email back from him saying that the guys would be working on solo projects, but no break-up was forseen.

Years later and it's true! The stars have aligned and they have a new album coming out and I live in their hometown: New York.

Here's them these days:

Sad news: I can't see them at Bonnaroo

Fabulous news: I am getting tickets to see them at Madison Square Garden the day before my birthday

The dream.
is coming
true

DRACULA ON CAMPUS! ☚ ☚ ☚

FRANK LANGELLA AND DAVID EDELSTEIN AT SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE

I feel so lucky to have seen such a hero of American drama in person at my school. Being interviewed by the renowned film critic and NPR personality, David Edelstein.

The evening started with a screening of Langella's latest starring role in a film called Starting Out in the Evening, a really beautiful and interesting film. I recommend it! Langella's great sense of humor  was immediately apparent when, commenting on a small part of the film where the audience glimpses his private parts, he opened with, "Thank you all for coming out in this weather to see my penis!"

Langella's graceful comedic flare continued throughout the night (he and Edelstein had a 'mock' flirtation on stage), but he also came across as a man who has really thought about life in all of its intricacies. His wisdom was helpful to everyone, and he exuded modesty as well as honor. What an amazing man!

Nina and I had a great time :D