Review of La Vie en Rose

This afternoon I went to see La Vie en Rose with my (ex)step dad and his fiance. I wasn't to psyched about it, though it seemed like it could be interesting. La Vie en Rose is the story of the French singer, Edith Piaf. This film bored me to tears (didn't help that the chairs made my back hurt either!). I was unable to muster any (good) feelings for Piaf in this film. She seemed selfish, mean, petty, and OMG so terribly awkward that I was uncomfortable watching. Having never observed the actual Edith Piaf, I cannot be sure of if she was actually like this in real life, but in the film she was constantly in terrible posture, walked very clumsily, held her mouth in a repulsive way and generally... well was so completely without grace that I was pretty annoyed at watching her. The actress was not really unattractive, but the posture, the mannerisms! Ick. I've known a lot of awkward people, but all of them have at least moments of grace and movements that are not awkward... not this portrayal :) I could have gotten past this horror, likely, if she had gained my sympathy in any way... the fact is, though, that the only time I had sympathy for her was in the parts that showed her childhood... and apparently she was not ungraceful as a child in this film (strange how one would grow into that...).

So yeah, I'm going on and on about this lack of grace etc... probably seems a shallow evaluation, but I also tried pretty hard to sympathize with her. Piaf was a great singer who survived great tragedies and died young (47, I think). But while I felt sorry for her childhood (and it was rough) I just couldn't bring myself to excuse her growing into (if this portrayal was accurate) such an inconsiderate and selfish bitch as an adult. A lot of people have terrible childhoods and grow up to be very nice. Also, it seemed like she and all of the people around her justified her meanness by her being such a great Artiste... and I also find this to be no justification. I'm and "artiste" as well, and I happened to have a crappy childhood, but it gives me no right to make other people unhappy (and also gave her none).

So in all I can say I did not like the story of the film. The music was good, but I really left not wanting to hear her voice... I don't know if they were trying to vilify this woman, but I can say she is definitely an "Artiste" I'm glad to not have known or supported in any way (if this film was accurate). And I would not recommend this film to my friends because it was just too slow, too long and way too uncomfortable to watch.

The Homework I do for Work

It just occurred to me that never, not in a million years, would I have imagined that I would be doing the sort of professional research I find myself doing for my photography. I'm thinking about branching out into more pin-up and possibly artistic nudes and so I've spend maybe 20 hours in the past week surfing nude and pin up sites on the web :)

Life is strange huh?

BTW: My research used to consist of buying and studying fashion mags every month, perusing agency portfolio pages, and reading nice literature. Thankfully, I can still return to these efforts once and a while :)

and if you're interested in some of the more interesting sites I've stumbled across in my current research, check out my latest posting in another of my blogs... Nude and pinup reveiw

On Mediocrity

"The average person thinks he isn’t."
- Father Larry Lorenzoni

Today I was thinking about mediocrity... well I was inspired to consider mediocrity by a very strange site I ran across while researching pin-up art (warning this is explicit stuff) the site is called Midbrow art.

Anyway, I was looking at this photographer's work and thinking... you know, there might be some sort of interesting premise here, but it's really not done very well. I felt that the images were really washed out and not very appealing.

Then I was thinking about how, having named his site midbrow art, the artist may have actually been aiming for mediocrity.

The thing is, for me, that mediocrity is one of the things I fear most. I would be happy to be loved or hated; I would hate to be uninspiring. And maybe, in his way, this photographer did inspire me... He did get me wondering how I would have done it better :) but I would not be happy being that kind of inspiration either. I've always wanted to do the best in whatever I undertook. I know I probably can't be "the best" fashion photographer or writer... there's not really one best person. I want to be among the best though, if I'm going to do it at all :)

So I've never claimed to be without vanity ;)

One of my worst memories of any class I've ever taken was in a photography class. It was photo 2, and I didn't much like the teacher (he was one of those guys who gave As only to tall skinny girls), and furthermore found his work boring (though I never told him that). In photo 1, my teacher loved my work. She told me I was one of the best natural photographers she'd ever seen, and really encouraged me. So I was kinda unprepared to encounter a teacher who really disliked my style. He was a very technically oriented photographer (which I am not) and we simply did not appreciate each others' work. Well, one day, in the darkroom, he was looking at my work and told me "I don't know why you're so excited about doing this photography, you're a mediocre photographer at best."

I'd never cried in a class, and I did not cry in front of him, but I left the room and cried. If he would have said I was a terrible photographer I would have been ok (I think), if he said he hated my work it would have been ok... but mediocre? to me that is the worst possible insult he could have given me.

Well, I am going to have to accept that there are going to be people who feel that I am a mediocre photographer/writer/artist. That's just the way it goes. Hopefully they won't tell me that to my face, and if they do... hopefully I won't cry about it :)