Wordless Wednesday ~ November 20, 2013

My take on Julie & Julia

Yesterday I went to the movies. Think that's not a big deal? It isn't, really, except it was the first time I'd stepped foot inside a movie theater in about 5 or 6 years. I have been watching all my movies on DVD and totally ignoring the fact that theaters existed. Until now. I was supposed to meet a friend, but she never showed up. I have to thank her, though, because without her prompting I probably would not have gone, even though I had heard from several people that Julie & Julia is a fun, uplifing movie, and I was keen to see it.



What no one had mentioned was that it was shot at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens. I used to live near there in Sunnyside, Queens, so a lot of the New York images were so familiar to me. They brought me back to that time when I lived in New York. And that was fun for me.

But what I also enjoyed were the shots of Paris (I've never been, but that city resonants with me), the interior shots (I would just die to have an apartment like the one Julia Child and her husband had in Paris), and the vintage clothes. I used to wear lots of vintage clothing when I was in my 20s, and I even sold it for awhile, and so I was tickled to see all the period fashions in the flashbacks to Julia's life. But what I thought was quite clever was the way they had the modern-day Julie wear vintage pieces. And her pins! In just about every scene, she was wearing some sort of funky little pin. Whoever styled the clothing for this movie really did a good job of creating a personal style for Julie. I'd love to know how she dresses in real life! But even if this was simply the work of one designer's imagination, I got a big kick out of it and thought it really worked for the character.

Of course, no discussion of Julie & Julia would be complete without a mention of blogging. You probably know already that Julie was a blogger. I won't tell her story here -- you need to go out and see it on the big screen -- but it does bring home the point that blogging can lead to big things, in the same way it led to big things for Petite Anglaise. We think we're just chatting to ourselves -- but who knows! Maybe one day the world will be reading our words.

For a peek at the movie, and a link to various cooking blogs, check out the movie's website.



[Note about photos used here: Before today, I had never used any photos but ones I had taken myself. However, on the movie's website they included photos that could be downloaded as wallpaper, so I decided it is probably OK for me to use those photos to talk about (promote) the movie.]

Photo pairs: the experiment continues

(Please click on photos for a bigger view.)
I asked my good friend Silke at Metamorphosis to help me with this posting. I was inspired by Neville at Sainte Verde Digest to try pairing photos -- one of Silke's with one of mine. (Hers are on the left, and mine are on the right.) Pairing photos is harder than it looks! Neville makes it look so easy. He has an amazing eye. I don't know that I have his talent for design, but I had a ball doing this. In fact, it is kind of addictive, so you will probably be seeing lots more photo pairs.

New York: an experiment with photos

I'm doing an experiment here... I'm playing around with pairing up photos after being inspired by Neville at Saint Verde Digest. He has such an amazing eye! I can tell already that I've been too literal, pairing a book about NYC with a photo of Manhattan, but that's OK. I learn by doing! I am going to go ahead and publish this post. Expect to see more of this sort of thing in future. (And hopefully, I'll be able to figure out how to get rid of the big space above the photos.)

New York: The Wonder City, 1939	Empire State Building, 2007

For those who are wondering, the booklet above was published by Interborough News Co. for The Merchants' Association of New York. There is a great letter on the inside front cover. Here is an excerpt:

"We like visitors because the presence here of people from other places helps bring about a better mutual understanding. New York is essentially a friendly, home-loving City. Our deep aspirations are your aspirations -- for peace, opportunity and good will."

I can't remember if I picked up this booklet at the 26th St. flea market when I lived in NY, or if it was given to me by my dad (antique dealer extraordinaire). In any case, I really like it and currently have it displayed on a side table in my living room.

Little inspirations

No words this time -- just some photos meant to inspire. Post a comment & let me know what you think!