Kamis, 31 Desember 2009

In With the New, Out with the Old...


Day 79

Happy New Year's Eve!! For tonight, my nails required sparkle, and champagne, and that's what they got!! ;-P



I used OPI Dazzled by Gold for the Champagne, China Glaze Liquid Leather as a base for the other nails, China Glaze White on White for the white on the champagne glass, and Zoya Luna for the silver sparkle. Everything was topped off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat. :)

I hope that everyone has a very Happy and VERY safe New Year's Eve!! Remember your designated driver!

Edited to add:

Here is a pic of me enjoying a 'champagne' toast ;) Don't mind the hair- this was at the end of the night after walking across downtown in the snow!! lol



Video essays from Mediascape and a New Year's resolution from FSFF


Harry (Billy Crystal) chases down Sally (Meg Ryan) on New Year's Eve in When Harry Met Sally (Rob Reiner, 1989)

It's New Year's Eve and Film Studies For Free has a prescriptive 'prediction' to make: that, in academic cinema and media studies, 2010 ought to be the year (and the subsequent 'teens' ought to be the decade...) of the video essay...

It will certainly be the year of the video essay here at FSFF. All deities, pagan spirits, and serendipitous or voluntaristic self-happenings willing, the BIG New Year's resolution at this here verbose blog is to research the video essay's potential for film studies through repeated practice, setting FSFF's neophyte, scholarly, AV efforts alongside its regular links-lists to mind-bogglingly fabulous, or just solid and fruitful, freely-accessible film and media studies resources.

For some time now, FSFF has been gathering inspiration and ideas from a wide variety of sources as to what truly scholarly video essays about films and film studies might look and sound like. You can visit some of its previous mutterings about these topics here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. So, it was delighted to hear, via Janet Bergstrom, that some of the latest (and best) explorations in this format have been published by UCLA's online and Open Access cinema and media studies journal Mediascape.

Below are the links to, and titles and abstracts of, this wonderful work in the latest Mediascape issue.

Following a trend begun in Mediascape’s Spring 2008 issue, we are once again showcasing a selection of visual essays. As Eric Faden observed in “A Manifesto for Critical Media,” while media continues to move forward, we as scholars need to follow suit and embrace the new technologies available to us for our scholarship. This means expanding the traditional tools utilized by media scholars such as primary archival research, textual analysis, literature review, the written word and the occasional still image, by using moving images to engage and critique themselves, to illustrate theory, or to reveal the labor of their own construction.

The following visual essays were created by Cinema and Media Studies students at UCLA under the guidance of Professor Janet Bergstrom, and are marked by a unique, creative approach to a variety of topics such as the filmic style and influence of HBO programming; an inter-twined production history and auteur study of Orson Welles and his film F for Fake; an industrial-genre analysis of the Wii and its style of play; and, in the wake of Barack Obama’s election to President, a look at representations of African-American presidents in film and television.

These projects exemplify how the traditional scholarly mode of the presentation and investigation of a thesis through the introduction and analysis of various kinds of evidence that is central to the format of a conventional written essay, is not only retained but enhanced by the transformation to a moving, visual text. Here, voiceover embodies the author’s voice, and when laid over a clip of film, television, or other media, enables a more compelling and precise analysis to leap from the page to the screen.

White House, Black President' by Clifford Hilo, Maya Montañez Smukler, Julia Wright
Only in the most contemporary moment has the notion of a black president been a historical reality, and yet this imagined figure has been represented in film as far back as 1933's Rufus Jones for President played by a seven-year old Sammy Davis, Jr. to Terry Crews' hypermuscular President Comacho in 2006's Idiocracy. “White House, Black President” studies the imagination of black presidency and its politics of representability in three areas. In an act of retroactive reclamation, Clifford Hilo's "Barack Obama and the Politics of Joy" searches for the apropos filmic metaphor for President Barack Obama and finds it in representations of Abraham Lincoln. In dialog with Adilifu Nama's Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction, Julia Wright's "Black to the Future" explores the intersection between blackness and science fiction films since the 1990s, asserting that the presence of black presidents in such a genre provides a meditation on blackness, masculinity, and social progress in America. Maya Smukler's "White House Humor" examines the use of political satire by black comics such as Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Chris Rock, in which humor arises from the incongruencies between race, power, and American history--for these comics, it is precisely the improbability of such a representation that, until recently, that has supplied the notion of a black presidency with such satirical valence.

'Layers of Paradox in F for Fake' by Benjamin Sampson
This visual essay explores how Orson Welles uses the text of F for Fake to comment on his long and troubled career in filmmaking. On the surface, F for Fakeseems to be a case study in charlatans, detailing the exploits of art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving, who himself was also a famous book forger. In the broader view, however, Welles’ uses the film to express his personal views concerning two subjects that had hounded his profession life: the ambiguity of authorship and the negative effects of commerce on the art world. Through patterns of film construction, visual motifs, and allusions to previous works, Welles consistently foregrounds the themes of authorship and the art market and their relationship to his own past. He also expresses several views concerning success in the art world, drawing connections from the characters on screen to his own career. In the end, however, many of Welles’ opinions in F for Fake contradict themselves. His logic creates several circular paradoxes, which mirrors the playful, circular nature of the film itself.

'HBO’s Cinematized Television' by Erin Hill and Brian Hu
Picking up where John Caldwell left off in his discussion of post-network permutations of style and narrative in 1995's Televisuality, Erin Hill and Brian Hu discuss HBO's forging of a unique brand of quality through its original series beginning in the 90's. HBO not only increasingly chose for its original programs the filmic look first pioneered by network shows like Miami Vice and Hill Street Blues, but, through strategies such as widescreen formatting, the production of prestige properties, and the appropriation of authors and genres strongly associated with film, the cable network also aimed increasingly at obtaining for its programming the high culture status that had previously been reserved for only the greatest and most critically acclaimed works of cinematic art. The channel's success in thus defining itself as something above and beyond television (not TV but HBO), in turn, had an effect on network and basic cable narrative and aesthetics from which it had attempted to distinguish itself, causing the cinematic envelope to be pushed further and in more ways than ever before through attempts at "Quality" (a.k.a. film-like) programming.

'Towards a New Genre of Video Game Play' by Drew Morton , David O’Grady and Jennifer Porst
In, "Towards a New Genre of Video Game Play," Jennifer Porst, David O’Grady, and Drew Morton explore the body at play in relationship to new interfaces of video game consoles that offer digital agency beyond the click or the thumb and the experiences they offer—what the authors dub as “gestural play”—from industrial, theoretical, and generic perspectives. In the essay's first section, Porst analyzes the recent home video game console war to explicate the success of the Nintendo Wii and its different positioning in the marketplace from the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3. In part two, O'Grady provides a phenomenological examination of the Wiimote interface in a case study of Wii Tennis, arguing that gestural play enriches the dialectic between body and screen. Finally, Morton concludes with a generic and historical analysis of video game interfaces that suggests the use of the body in digital play has at last become more than a passing fad; gestural play is becoming as a new genre of video gaming and a productive mode of video game analysis.

Rabu, 30 Desember 2009

Mmmm, Fruity!


Day 78

Hi everyone!! Only one more day left of the decade!!! OMG, time flies. Today's nails were a request/suggestion from quite a few people, and they were also on my original list, so here they are!! FRUITYYYYY!!!



I used

Thumb: Watermelon

Kleancolor Barbie Pink as a base, with China Glaze White on White
and OPI Green-wich Village sponged on the tips, and China Glaze Liquid Leather used for the seeds.

Index: Lemon

Not-named yellow jelly from a set given to me by my friend Jodi as a base, with Zoya Pippa for the rind and lines, as well as China Glaze White on White for the pith and lines.

Middle: Lime

Zoya Bekka as a base, with China Glaze White on White for the pith and lines, and OPI Green-wich Village for the peel and lines.

Ring: Strawberry

China Glaze Salsa as a base, with Zoya Pippa mixed with Zoya Ginger for the seeds, and Migi Nail Art Pens for the green.

Pinky: Orange

Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in 06 Sun Kissed as a base, with China Glaze White on White for the pith and lines, and Pumped Up Pumpkin from the ULTA Exclusive OPI Glow Get a Treat Halloween mini set for the skin and lines.

2 coats of Seche Vite top coat to top everything off, and away I go. :)

Getting any resolutions ready?

Selasa, 29 Desember 2009

WHAM!! KA-BAM!!


Day 77

KABLAM! Back to pop art! :-P ZOP! POW! BAM!



I used China Glaze White on White as a base, with Ultra Pro in Blue Blaze for the blue, Zoya Pippa for the yellow, China Glaze Salsa for the red, and China Glaze Liquid Leather for the black. Topped it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

BTW- Check out www.kissonline.com, my KISS nails are on their FRONT PAGE!!! WOO!!!

Senin, 28 Desember 2009

Get Footloose and Fun-kay....


Day 76

Hey everyone!!! How is your Monday going?! Lots of you had to go back to work today, and I really feel for you... but I'm on VACATION!!!! lol Ok, so I'm on vaca in Michigan, does that REALLY count? Anyway, I present to you today's nails... I bough Funky Limelight a while ago, and really wanted to use it, soooo....I did.



I used Essie Funky Limelight as a base, with Essie Foot Loose applied with Konad Plate m69. Topped it all off with Seche Vite top coat. :)

BTW, the pic doesn't even begin to show how bright Funky Limelight is, its rather blinding. :-P

Minggu, 27 Desember 2009

Magical Footloose Attraction


Day 75

Hey all, sorry this post is so late tonight, 10:38 PM EST!!! I just got to my sister's after traveling BACK across the state to spend the remainder of my vacation here in freezing cold Grand Rapids, MI. WOOOOO!! Today's nails were spur of the moment, and I JUST bought this polish at Meijer (a midwest chain supermarket/superstore), and for a $2.99 polish, I have to say, its gorgeous. Fully opaque in 2 coats, but I did 3 for extra sparkle. (as if it needs any extra!! lol)



and a blurred one so you can see the sparkliness better, but the picture doesn't come NEAR capturing its glory. :-P



I used Massini Magic Attraction as a base, with Essie Foot Loose applied with Konad Plate m69, and then flower/swirl pattern was hand painted with China Glaze Liquid Leather. Topped off with Seche Vite top coat.

This one is sure going to be a bugger to get off, darn glitter. :-P

Sabtu, 26 Desember 2009

Mad as a Hatter


Day 74

Hey all!! I hope that everyone's Christmas went beautifully, that everyone got to spend time with their families, and that everyone's travels found them safely at their destinations this year!! I must admit, I'm rather elated to be able to not do Christmas themed nails today, is that bad?! :-P Sorry if it is, but yeah, I was running out of ideas!! Today's nails make me think of The Mad Hatter for some reason, I think its the acid green base that does it... but not entirely sure. Sorry again for the poor cleanup- still no good remover here at the parents' house.



I used Barielle Polished Princess as a base, with China Glaze L8R G8R applied with Konad Plate m65. For the tips, I used Essie Foot Loose for freehand painted tips. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Anyone get any good after Christmas deals today??

Jumat, 25 Desember 2009

Dasher and Dance, Donner and Blitzen...


Day 73

Hey everyone!! I hope that everyone is having the most amazing Christmas to date! Mine started off with a 4-hour (should've been 3) white-knuckled drive across snow and ice covered Michigan fueled only by Dr. Pepper and a gas station hot dog. :-P But, i made it here, safe and sound, and it has been nice to spend time with my family this Christmas- I've even posted a picture of my 'niece' wearing her special Christmas elf hat to be festive for the holidays...



Today's nails are dedicated to the man that hit over 800 houses per second, and consumed over 800,000 calories last night from cookies...and let's not forget his trusty reindeer and faithful navigator with the illuminated nose....I really apologize for it's sloppiness and lack of cleaning up, the nail polish remover I have here at my parents' house is horrible, and I can't get the polish out of my nail art brushes. ARGH!! I'm going to try to get something better tomorrow. Anyway, to the nails...




I used three different colors randomly on all the nails except my right thumb. I used Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme, OPI You Don't Know Jacques, and OPI Ginger Bells. For the eyes I used China Glaze White on White, and China Glaze Liquid Leather. For their noses (except Rudolph's) I used Zoya Angelina, and mixed with China Glaze White on White for the highlight. For Rudolph's nose, I used China Glaze Salsa. For the black on each nail to make the shape of the reindeers' heads, I used China Glaze Liquid Leather. A mix of two not-named jelly polishes in sheer red and sheer yellow (a VERY cute gift from my friend Jodi) was used for Santa's face, China Glaze Salsa for his hat and mouth, China Glaze White on White for the beard, eyes, and hat brim, and Ultra Pro in Blue Blaze for the eyes. For the reindeers' antlers, I mixed China Glaze White on White with Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme. Topped everything off with Seche Vite top coat.

And lastly, here is the last of Christmas... a cake I decorated Wednesday night! :-P



Kamis, 24 Desember 2009

Twas the Day Before Christmas...


Day 72

...and all the through the house.... I did the Christmas poem on my nails!



I used



Right Thumb: Twas the Night Before Xmas...

OPI Russian Navy Suede as a base, with China Glaze White on White for the moon.

Right Index:...and all through the house

OPI Russian Navy Suede as a base, with OPI Ginger Bells, China Glaze White on White, and China Glaze Liquid Leather for the house.

Right Middle: Not a Creature was stirring, not even a mouse! (unfortunately you cant see the mouse well in the photos! :( just his pink nose!

Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme as a base, with China Glaze Liquid Leather for the floor and lines, OPI You Don't Know Jacques Matte for the mouse, and a mix of China Glaze White on White and China Glaze Salsa for his nose. :)

Right Ring: WHICH IS ACCIDENTALLY upside down!!! The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

China Glaze Liquid Leather as base, with OPI Ginger Bells for the brick fireplace, Zoya Pippa, Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in 06 Sun Kissed, and China Glaze Salsa for the fire, China Glaze Salsa for the stocking with China Glaze Emerald Sparkle border, and China Glaze White on White for the mortar on the bricks.

Right Pinky: The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

OPI Russian Navy Suede as a base, with China Glaze White on White for the Zs.



Left Pinky: While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads. And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

Barielle Grape Escape as base with both OPI Parlez Vous OPI? and China Glaze White on White applied with a sponge to make it look sugary. lol

Left Ring: When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

OPI Russian Navy Suede as a base, with OPI You Don't Know Jacques Matte for the window panes, China Glaze White on White for the snow, and OPI Ginger Bells for the walls.

Left Middle: The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

OPI Russian Navy Suede as a base, with China Glaze Salsa, BB Couture Poison Ivy and OPI Dazzled by Hold for the sleigh, and China Glaze White on White for the snow.

Left index: With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

China Glaze Salsa as a base, China Glaze White on White for the fur, China Glaze Liquid Leather for the belt, Zoya Pippa with OPI Dazzled By Gold over it for the belt buckle.

Left Thumb: But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

China Glaze Ruby Pumps as a base, with China Glaze White on White for the writing.

Everything was topped off with two coats of Seche Vite top coat

One more dayyyyyy!!! Merry Christmas!!

Season's greetings and happy holiday wishes from Film Studies For Free




No Man's Land (Scotland, 2004) directed by Clara Glynn, score by Sally Beamish, cinematography by Mike Eley, edited by (an old Glasgow friend) Colin Monie, and featuring Julie Austin, Liam Brennan, Louise Ludgate, and Euan Mackay as Rory.

Thank you for visiting Film Studies For Free. See you in the New Year with lots more links lists and video essays, too...

Rabu, 23 Desember 2009

Past Seven Levels of the Candy Cane Forest....


Day 71

...and through the sea of swirly, twirly gumdrops... :-P Today's nails are from the snowy North Pole!!



I used Milani Fairy Tale as a base(which I can't find a link to buy, because it was LE for Halloween- I have one backup if anyone wants to buy it, lmk, $4.50 +shipping - which is what I paid), with OPI Alpine Snow Matte and Zoya Trixie sponged on the tips, and used to paint the snowflakes. :) For the North Pole sign, I used a mix of Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme, China Glaze White on White and Orange 2 from Urban Outfitters. For the post I used OPI Alpine Snow Matte, and China Glaze Ruby Pumps, which I also used for the holly berries, along with BB Couture Poison Ivy for the leaves.

Only 2 more days!! SQUEEE!!! (so much to do!!)

Selasa, 22 Desember 2009

He Sees You When You're Sleeping...


Day 70

You'd better watch out! You better not cry! You Better not pout, I'm tellin' you why... SKULLY CLAUS IS COMINGGGG TO TOWN!



I used OPI for Sephora What's a Tire Jack? Matte as a base (I love this stuff, and its SO easy to clean up cuticles, unlike a lot of other dark mattes), OPI Alpine Snow Matte for the skull applied with Konad Plate m28. For the red stripes on the crossbones, I used China Glaze Salsa and for the hat I used one layer of China Glaze Salsa, and one layer of China Glaze Ruby Pumps, with China Glaze Emerald Sparkle for the sprig of holly, and OPI Alpine Snow Matte for the ball and brim. :) I love matte polishes, I'm sure Ill wear them long after they've gone out of style. (cause that's how I roll :-P)

3 more days until Christmas, kiddies!!

Oyez! Oyez! Screening the Past (Issue 26) Out Now

Image from The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005), the subject of Robert Sinnerbrink's great article in the latest issue of Screening the Past

Donning its fetching town-crier e-garb, Film Studies For Free shouts out "Hear ye, hear ye: new Screening the Past, people! Lots of links to great stuff below." The issue features wondrous items by old and valued friends of FSFF (Adrian Martin and Frances Guerin, in particular) as well as by up and coming Film Studies greats (Robert Sinnerbrink, among others).

Issue 26: Special Issue: Early Europe 

Guest Editor: Louise D’Arcens

Louise D’Arcens: Screening Early Europe: Premodern Projections.
Adrian Martin: The Long Path Back: Medievalism and Film.
Stephanie Trigg: Transparent Walls: Stained Glass and Cinematic Medievalism.
Anke Bernau: Suspended Animation: Myth, Memory and History in Beowulf.
Sylvia Kershaw and Laurie Ormond: “We are the Monsters Now”: The Genre Medievalism of Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf.
Robert Sinnerbrink: From Mythic History to Cinematic Poetry: Terrence Malick’s The New World Viewed.
Helen Dell: Music for Myth and Fantasy in Two Arthurian Films.
Narelle Campbell: Medieval Reimaginings: Female Knights in Children’s Television.
Louise D’Arcens: Iraq, the Prequel(s): Historicising Military Occupation and Withdrawal in Kingdom of Heaven and 300.
Christina Loong: Reel Medici Mobsters? The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance Reassessed.
Laura Ginters: “A Continuous Return”: Tristan and Isolde, Wagner, Hollywood and Bill Viola.
Appendix: Raúl Ruiz: Three Thrusts at Excalibur.
Contributors. 

First Release
Adrian Danks, Fishing from the Same Stream: The New Iranian Cinema, Close-Up and the “Film-on-film” Genre.
Peter Limbrick, Playing Empire: Settler Masculinities, Adventure, and Merian C. Cooper’s The Four Feathers (US 1929).
Lesley Speed, Strike Me Lucky: Social Difference and Consumer Culture in Roy Rene’s Only Film.

Australian Film Culture

Ina Bertrand, Some Early History of the Australian Film Institute: A Memoir of the 1970s.
Deane Williams, ‘The Circulation of Ideas’: An Interview with Tom O’Regan.
Deane Williams, Shifts and Interventions: Cultural Materialism and Australian Film History.

Reviews

Ina Bertrand reviews Raymond Longford’s The Sentimental Bloke: The Restored Version, Madman/NFSA/ATOM, 2009.
Ina Bertrand reviews Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley (ed.), Hollywood in the Neighbourhood: Historical Case Studies of Local Moviegoing.
Nathalie Brillon reviews Jane Mills, Loving and Hating Hollywood: Reframing Global and Local Cinemas.
Adam Broinowski reviews Sabine Nessel, Winfried Pauleit, Christine Rüffert (eds), Wort und Fleisch: Kino zwischen Text und Körper.
Rachael Cameron reviews André Gaudreault, From Plato to Lumière: Narration and Monstration in Literature and Cinema.
Ryan Cook reviews Matthew H. Bernstein, Screening a Lynching: The Leo Frank Case on Film and Television.
Maura Edmond reviews Jacob Smith, Vocal Tracks: Performance and Sound Media.
Victor Fan reviews Pak Tong Cheuk, Hong Kong New Wave Cinema (1978-2000).
Mike Fleming reviews The Encyclopedia of British Film (Third Edition).
Freda Freiberg reviews Alexander Jacoby, A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day, and Aaron Gerow, A Page of Madness: Cinema and Modernity in 1920s Japan.
Gin Chee Tong reviews Brooke Erin Duffy and Joseph Turow (eds), Key Readings in Media Today: Mass Communication in Contexts.
Frances Guerin reviews Kristen Whissel, Picturing American Modernity: Traffic, Technology, and the Silent Cinema.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas reviews Barry Curtis, Dark Places: The Haunted House in Film.
Roger Hillman reviews Mark Betz, Beyond the Subtitle: Remapping European Art Cinema.
Jan-Christopher Horak reviews Rob King, The Fun Factory: The Keystone Film Company and the Emergence of Mass Culture.
Irene Javors reviews Joe McElhaney, Albert Maysles.
D.B. Jones reviews Philip Gillett, Movie Greats: A Critical Study of Classic Cinema.
Harry Kirchner reviews Steven Maras, Screenwriting: History, Theory and Practice.
Roger Macy reviews Bert Cardullo, Out of Asia: The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Abbas Kiraostami, and Zhang Yimou; Essays and Interviews.
Harriet Margolis reviews Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Turkish Cinema: Identity, Distance and Belonging.
Harriet Margolis reviews Deb Verhoeven, Jane Campion.
Craig Martin reviews Tony Shaw, Hollywood’s Cold War.
Josh Nelson reviews Roger Ebert, Scorsese by Ebert.
Violeta Politoff reviews Joanna Page, Crisis and Capitalism in Contemporary Argentine Cinema.
Thomas Redwood reviews Michel Ciment, Film World: Interviews with Cinema’s Leading Directors.
Christopher Rowe reviews Jane Stadler with Kelly McWilliam, Screen Media: Analysing Film and Television.
Kirsten Stevens reviews Dina Iordanova with Ragan Rhyne (eds), Film Festival Yearbook 1: The Festival Circuit.
Jay Daniel Thompson reviews Amit Sarwal and Reema Sarwal (eds), Creative Nation: Australian Cinema and Cultural Studies Reader.
Mike Walsh reviews Michael Ingham, Johnnie To Kei-fung’s PTU.
Mike Walsh reviews Joe McElhaney (ed.), Vincente Minnelli: The Art of Entertainment.
Mike Walsh reviews Catherine Russell, The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity.
Tony Williams reviews Stella Hockenhull, Neo-Romantic Landscapes: An Aesthetic Approach to the Films of Powell and Pressburger.
Janice Yu reviews Jane Blocker, Seeing Witness: Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony.

Senin, 21 Desember 2009

Cold as Ice


Day 69

You're as cold as ice, You're willing to sacrifice our love, You never take advice, Someday you'll pay the price....

Nothin' like a little Foreigner to jump-start your day, right? :-P Icicle nails today!! :) As you can see by the creases in a few nails, Seche Vite top coat has completely spoiled me.



and at an angle to see the sparkles...



I used OPI Ink Suede as a base, with China Glaze White on White for the icicles, and mixed with China Glaze For Audrey for the shading of the icicles. To top off the icicles, I used Pure Ice Oh, Baby!, a great (and CHEAP!) color from WalMart, of all places. I frankened a polish with a cheapie black polish and the result was one beautiful black w/ teal sparkled baby. I highly recommend it. It's an iridescent blue clear polish with iridescent glitters. :-P Love it. :)

Minggu, 20 Desember 2009

Deck the Halls!


Day 68

Fa-la-la-la-la la-la-la-laaaaa!

Today's nails are holly leaves & berries, very sparkly ones. :-P



I used Zoya Trixie as a base, with China Glaze Emerald Sparkle for the leaves and China Glaze Ruby Pumps for the berries.

4 more days until Christmas, folks!! Get wrapping!! :-P

Sabtu, 19 Desember 2009

Nothing Like the Griswold's


Day 67

Hey all!! Christmas is creeping up on us quick!!I have SO much to do, but can't seem to get anything done, argh!! Today's nails are the only form of Christmas lights I'll be decorating with this year! :-P



I used OPI Dazzled By Gold as a base, with Zoya Trixie applied on the tip half of the nail with a sponge. I used BB Couture Poison Ivy for the wires, China Glaze Salsa for the thumb's light, Ultra Pro in Blue Blaze for the index finger light, Zoya Pippa for the middle finger light, Barielle Grape Escape for the ring finger light, and Zoya Paz for the pinky finger light. For the highlight on each bulb, I used China Glaze White on White mixed with the color of the bulb. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Crossing the Wild River: R.I.P. Robin Wood (1931-2009)

Last updated on June 4, 2010
'If I were asked to choose a film that would justify the existence of Hollywood, I think it would be Rio Bravo.' Robin Wood
Film Studies For Free briefly emerges from an enforced absence due to illness (back properly soon, it hopes), to mark the sad passing, on December 18, of Robin Wood, one of the true giants of the difficult endeavour of film criticism and also of the discipline of film studies.

FSFF's own special-favourite Wood works are the talk on 'Responsibilities of a Gay Film Critic', his books on Hitchcock (especially the Vertigo chapter), the book he co-authored with Michael Walker on Claude Chabrol's films, his incredibly enlightening study of Hawk's Rio Bravo and the other BFI book on The Wings of a Dove. Each of these was paradigm-shifting in their own ways, as was much of Wood's other writing on cinema.

As online tributes to this major film writer appear in the next days they will be added to the list of online and freely accessible works by or about Wood given below.

May this hugely prolific, influential, and talented writer, film-thinker, and teacher rest in peace.

Posthumous online tributes to Robin Wood:

Online works by or about Robin Wood:






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