LAST DAY OF MAGIC

My favorite song from "Midnight Boom".

LV x CDG

??????

COMING IN SEPTEMBER APPARENTLY??

CASTING ON A GORGEOUS DAY

Wow. It is so easy to fall in love with Portland all over again on days like this. It is breathtakingly gorgeous outside. The lush greenery around the city and outside my house is almost blinding in its magnificence.

I just got done with day 1 of 2 for auditions for my new film... I feel pretty good, I saw some people that could potentially bring really interesting things to the table. We'll see how tomorrow goes, but I'm pretty relieved this first day saw great results.

Thanks to Cameron for this little promo image:

JULIE & ETHAN REUNITED

Not as Jesse and Celine, but never the less...



Julie Delpy's new film. Appears to be quite the departure from "2 Days In Paris"!

INTERIORS

Holy shit. I just watched Woody Allen's "Interiors" for the first time...

All I can say is what a knock out.

By far my favorite Woody Allen film I've seen so far, and curiously enough it is his biggest departure from his trademark style. That's not to say I don't enjoy his comedies, but this film affected me more of a real way.

Perhaps one of the most interesting qualities of the film to me is its identity as an overt homage to Ingmar Bergman, channelling both his visual and verbal styles so well you almost forget it is an American film you are watching. From composition to color palette and characters, you immediately recognize that it is more than influence, but a full on tribute of sorts.

"Interiors" is slow and meditative, devoid of a soundtrack, and full of brilliant emotional performances without any over the top manipulative bullshit. It is moody, depressing even, and I could not take my eyes off the screen.

If you've been a fool like I have, and haven't seen this masterpiece yet, do so.

* Funny side note: I recently made a short titled "Every Day Every Night" in which someone walks into the ocean... way before I saw this... I thought I was being original lol.

PHILLIP LIM L.A.

It was only a matter of time before designer Phillip Lim set up shop in his native Los Angeles...

The new 3.1 Phillip Lim boutique is his second in the United States, and third in the world. Like his clothes, the 5,000 square foot space appears to be clean and modern, making a drastic transformation from it's original life as an auto shop.

The winding halls and tucked away back rooms remind me a little bit of Comme Des Garcon...

Check out this interview Lim did with Refinery29:

When did you start planning the Los Angeles outpost?
"Los Angeles was [part of the plan] from the beginning. As far as a physical search, we started to poke around last August, thinking it would be a good exercise in looking at options for when we were ready in the future. And as with everything we've done, it just happened. We stumbled upon our present location and had to just dive right in heart first!"

Why Los Angeles? And specifically, why West Hollywood?
"It's where I hail from! I had to represent the West Coast! To me L.A. is like the new frontier—a sorta gold rush if you will. And the mixture of locals and the newly transplanted are creating this interesting future for the city. The decision to be on Robertson was really determined by the particular space that we fell in love with…it was calling to us."

All three of your boutiques are very unique in terms of design and layout. What were you envisioning for this space?
"A place where imagination, traditions, and boundaries are pushed forward. It's a space where we always say 'totally maybe.'"

Why are all your stores so aesthetically different? Does the geography influence you?
"The ideas of each store are about the context—the locale. Each experience is so completely different from the next. The culture in Tokyo is nothing like L.A., the desires, habits of people, etc. In NYC, there are four seasons, whereas in L.A. it's always beautiful. In the end, it's impossible and artificial to control and dictate. Instead, I like the idea of letting go and learning from all these different experiences."

What details of the store are you most pleased with?
"That's difficult, like having to choose your favorite child. However, if pushed to choose, it would be the use of acoustic foam pyramids that line the interior walls—the texture and balance between hard and soft is genius!"

I'm sure you'll have no shortage of guests at the opening, but who do you really hope makes an appearance?
"At this moment, it's not about wishing. It's about celebrating the present. So, everyone who is coming, they are the ones I wish for! And, if I may take a moment to say thank you…'thank you!'"

Angelenos make sure to stop by at

3.1 Phillip Lim
631 North Robertson Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA

THINGS I HATE #1

When people do other things while watching a movie.

Do you only touch a sculpture and say that you've experienced art? No.... you need to see it. So listening to a movie is not watching it.

This is the grand problem with home video... in a theatre you're forced to keep your eyes on the screen and pay full attention.

Turn off your goddamn computer, get off your cell phone, stop talking and watch.

CHINESE = BLACK?

So... if I lived in South Africa... I would now be a black man lol.

A high court in South Africa ruled on Wednesday that Chinese-South Africans will be reclassified as “black,” a term that includes black Africans, Indians and others who were subject to discrimination under apartheid. As a result of this ruling, ethnically Chinese citizens will be able to benefit from government affirmative action policies aimed at undoing the effects of apartheid.

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/06/19/in-south-africa-chinese-is-the-new-black/?mod=yhoofront

BBP INTERVIEW

I forgot to post this ages ago... but back in like January or something, I helped shoot this interview with the guys behind BBP - a Bronx based Japanese street wear label, for Karmaloop TV. Check it out.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1287040724/bctid1452188365

THE BAND'S VISIT

Do yourselves a favor and go see this film.

NEW SIGUR ROS

Check out the gorgeous new Sigur Ros video, "Gobbledigook" - shot by the legendary Chris Doyle, directed by Arni and Kinski, and inspired by the work of photographer Ryan McGinley...

I've heard great reviews of the new album, so I'm looking forward to checking it out.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5lgsu_sigur-ros-gobbledigook_music

SLEEPY HEAD

Cameron, Bon and I cruising...

THE GO-GETTER

Really quickly, tonight me and Edlen went to the Living Room Theatre here in Portland for the first time, which is basically a movie theatre/bar that serves you food while you watch your movie. They show all independent films, and I had been meaning to go check it out ever since it opened but just never did.

Anyways, we went to see The Go-Getter, which I had not even heard of until a couple days ago when I passed by the theatre and read the synopsis posted on the bulletin outside.

The plot goes like... A teenager named Mercer steals a car in order to travel the Western United States and at the same time, deal with personal, emotional problems. While driving, he makes contact with the girl who owns the car. They bond over the phone, never quite meeting but talking many times while he travels.

It stars Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker) and two of my favorite young American actresses, Jena Malone and Zooey Deschanel.

I ended up really, really enjoying this film. It takes a potentially predictable story and does something really fresh and fun with it. It's got some really great fantasy sequences that I was not expecting, like the cowboy dream on the beach and the French film dance in the parking lot.

It's actually a really funny film too, in a way that American films just aren't these days. It's not Judd Apatow Seth Rogan humor. For being such a funny film it has great heart in it as well, but never feels sentimental or wears its emotion on the outside.

Also worth mentioning is that the fantastic soundtrack was done entirely by M. Ward (who also cameos), which in itself is like a character in the film. It is on the set of The Go-Getter that Zooey and M. Ward met, and would go on to form the music duo She & Him, whose album I've been listening to all year.

Anyway, go see it if you get the chance, its just a really sweet and smart picture, and it was partially shot in Oregon!

EVERYONE

A short by my buddy Real...

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=5802664

Awesome.

STUDYING THE ORDINARY

"Because we're used to making films and observing films with a sort of shorthand. You see the car going down the road. Okay, got it. Then it's the next shot. Usually what happens then is people start talking about something that will relate to the story instead of something random and more lifelike, like dental work. We learn in English class not to have it be about dental work. But maybe watching the car going down the road is important. To really watch it - as if you were in the car."

- Gus Van Sant

MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY

I'm really not sure why, but I've put off writing a blog about this film for almost 6 months now. Maybe because I was hoping to actually write a full post after having seen it, rather than just a post about how much I want to see it lol.

But since it is still currently making the rounds at festivals, and no news about a release has been confirmed yet, I don't think I can hold off from writing about it any longer.

I'll firstly just make it clear, this film is and has been my most anticipated film all year...



MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY is a bittersweet paean to San Francisco and its indie scene. It is also a vivid semi-love story and a contemplation of race and gentrification in the city, offering a self-contained rebuttal to claims that precious, naturalistic dramas about the existential dilemmas of hipster singles are exclusively a white man’s game.

The movie opens on the morning after what must have been a wild party. Two people are quietly slipping out into the early-morning air -- two people who just had a one-night stand together. At breakfast, they realize they don't even know one another's names. He introduces himself as Micah (Wyatt Cenac), she reluctantly tells him her name is Angela (Tracey Heggins). She doesn't want to tell him much else, and practically runs away as she leaves their shared taxi. But she's left her wallet behind, and Micah discovers her name is really Joanne. He tracks her down, not only to return her wallet but to see and talk to her again, in hopes that she'll be more receptive.

From here, we follow Micah and Joanne as they explore the city in fairly ordinary ways, while at the same time suspense lingers about their relationship. However, the characters' interaction is complicated by racial and political elements.

Medicine For Melancholy premiered at South By Southwest 2008 among many other festivals, and has recieved rave reviews from Premiere, Filmmaker Magazine, SF Weekly, IndieWIRE.

I can't even begin to tell you how how excited I am for this film. The story is ideal. The concept refreshing. The photography gorgeous. This is a view of young African Americans completely unlike the portrayals we are used to seeing in films today, but ever so truthful and exciting.


Trailer


Interview with Barry Jenkins'

TAKE OUT

Holy shit.

I need to see this...

Take Out is a day-in-the-life of Ming Ding (Charles Jang), an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York City. Ming is behind with payments on his huge debt to the smugglers who brought him to the United States. The collectors have given him until the end of the day to deliver the money that is due. After borrowing most of the money from friends and relatives, Ming realizes that the remainder must come from the day's delivery tips. In order to do so, he must make more than double his average daily income.

In a social-realist style, the camera follows Ming on his deliveries throughout the upper Manhattan neighborhood where social and economic extremes exist side by side. Intercutting between Ming's deliveries and the daily routine of the restaurant, Take Out presents a harshly real look at the daily lives of illegal Chinese immigrants in New York City.

Shot for $3000 dollars at a real take out restaurant in NYC during business hours, and employing an ensemble of both professional and non-professional actors, Take Out appears to have all of the key ingredients that make a film an absolute must see for me, both behind the scenes and content-wise. A perfect example of the kind of film I drop everything to go see.

Take Out has been praised by The New York Times, Variety, Village Voice, Time Out New York and Film Threat. And has of course toured the festival circuit - including Slamdance, the San Franciscio & New York Asian American film fests, winning the Grand Jury prize at the Nashville film fest and picking up a nomination for Best Picture at the Hawaii International fest.

Take Out is currently only screening in NYC at Quad Cinemas, so for all my friends back there, please make sure you go out and support this film. Until it sees a wider release, if it sees a wider release, I guess I'll just have to sit and wait...

OBAMA'S VICTORY

Although I have not been blogging much about politics lately, many of you know that I have been following Barack Obama as an individual of interest long before he began his run for the White House. In high school I read his first book and consequently began learning more about him and what he was doing as a Senator.

My faith in the American political system is still little to none, and I still don't believe that any politician can make the serious changes that this country needs. However, I believe that we the people would be foolish to dismiss an opportunity to potentially make changes from the inside as we hopefully progress toward eventually reevaluating the entire system. Barack Obama has spoken to us in a way that for many of us, is different from what we're used to hearing. Rather than tell the country what he would do as president, he has focused on what WE could do together, with his assistance as the president.

I don't agree with everything he has done and said, and I'm frustrated by the blindness of those who regard him as some kind of grand savior. And I'm still skeptical. But there clearly has never been another political leader in my time that has affected me the way Obama has.

The "change" that he has spoken of has at this point become such a loosely used word that everyone is throwing around. But now with the enormous (and historic) victory as the Democratic nominee, I hope there is a real chance for changes to be made.

"If we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth."

GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM

So last week Cam, Matt, Bon and myself went on a little road trip out to Camp Caldera and Bend, Oregon just to hang out, get some fresh air and shoot the scenery. While we were out there I grabbed Matt and Bon and the three of us just went and started shooting a completely improvised short. No sound equipment, so please excuse for the atrocious sound. We were only there for a couple hours, but here's what came of it!


GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM
By Matt Jay, Matt Edlen & Bon Nguyen

R.I.P YSL

Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent, who reworked the rules of fashion by putting women into elegant pantsuits that came to define how modern women dressed, died Sunday evening, a longtime friend and associate said. He was 71. Pierre Berge said Saint Laurent died at his Paris home following a long illness.

A towering figure of 20th century fashion, Saint Laurent was widely considered the last of a generation that included Christian Dior and Coco Chanel and made Paris the fashion capital of the world, with the Rive Gauche, or Left Bank, as its elegant headquarters.

In the fast-changing world of haute couture, Saint Laurent was hailed as the most influential and enduring designer of his time. From the first YSL tuxedo and his trim pantsuits to see-through blouses, safari jackets and glamorous gowns, Saint Laurent created instant classics that remain stylish decades later.

When the designer announced his retirement in 2002 at age 65 and the closure of the Paris-based haute couture house he had founded 40 years earlier, it was mourned in the fashion world as the end of an era.

Saint Laurent was born August 1st 1936, in Oran, Algeria, where his father worked as a shipping executive. He first emerged as a promising designer at the age of 17, winning first prize in a contest sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat for a cocktail dress design.

A year later in 1954, he enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale school of haute couture, but student life lasted only three months. He was introduced to Christian Dior, then regarded as the greatest creator of his day, and Dior was so impressed with Saint Laurent's talent that he hired him on the spot.

When Dior died suddenly in 1957, Saint Laurent was named head of the House of Dior at the age of 21. The next year, his first solo collection for Dior — the "trapeze" line — launched Saint Laurent's stardom. The trapeze dress — with its narrow shoulders and wide, swinging skirt — was a hit, and a breath of fresh air after years of constructed clothing, tight waists and girdles.

In 1960, Saint Laurent was drafted into military service — an experience that shattered the delicate designer, who by the end of the year was given a medical discharge for nervous depression.

Bouts of depression marked his career. Pierre Berge, the designer's longtime business partner and former romantic partner, was quoted as saying that Saint Laurent was born with a nervous breakdown.

Saint Laurent returned to the spotlight in 1962, opening his own haute couture fashion house with Berge. The pair later started a chain of Rive Gauche ready-to-wear boutiques.

Life Magazine hailed his first line under his own label as "the best collection of suits since Chanel."

Berge has said that Saint Laurent's gift to fashion was that he empowered women after Chanel had freed them.

Forty years of fashion were paraded in a 300-piece retrospective that blurred the boundaries of time, mixing his creations of yesterday and today in one stunning tribute to the endurance of Saint Laurent's style. He also designed costumes for theater and film.

There was the simple navy blue pea coat over white pants, which the designer first showed in 1962 when he opened his couture house and kept as one of his hallmarks.

His "smoking," or tuxedo jacket, of 1966 remade the tux as a high fashion statement for both sexes. It remained the designer's trademark item and was updated yearly until he retired.

Also from the 60s came Beatnik chic — a black leather jacket and knit turtleneck with high boots — and sleek pantsuits that underlined Saint Laurent's statement on equality of the sexes. He showed that women could wear "men's clothes," which when tailored to the female form became an emblem of elegant femininity.

"More than any other designer since Chanel, YSL represented Paris as the style leader," The Independent of London wrote in an editorial after Saint Laurent's retirement. "By putting a woman in a man's tuxedo, he changed fashion forever, in a style that never dated."

In his own words, Saint Laurent said he felt "fashion was not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves."

Some of his revolutionary style was met with resistance. There are famous stories of women wearing Saint Laurent pantsuits who were turned away from hotels and restaurants in London and New York.

Saint Laurent's rising star was eternalized in 1983, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted a show to his work, the first ever to a living designer.

Subsequent shows at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and in Beijing made him a French national treasure, and he was awarded the Legion d'Honneur in 1985.

When he bowed out of fashion in 2002, Saint Laurent spoke of his battles with depression, drugs and loneliness, though he gave no indication that those problems were directly tied to his decision to stop working.

"I've known fear and terrible solitude," he said. "Tranquilizers and drugs, those phony friends. The prison of depression and hospitals. I've emerged from all this, dazzled but sober."