unhealthy relationship music vids

anyone else notice the similarities between these two music videos?

the one that got away

we found love

of course katy perry's is cuter, and rihanna's is grittier. but still. you see it right?

i prefer the katy perry. johnny cash ref? diego luna? sold.

rihanna's is unsettling. (yeah, i mean the ass tat that says, "mine." is unsettling.)

lady jane

oh heyyy 1986.

i just spent the last half of my night watching the historical biopic lady jane. trevor nunn (a theatrical director with little film credit besides this) interprets the true historical account of lady jane grey, queen of england for nine days sometime in the 1500s, as a love story. but a tragic one--as in england, in the 1500s, political intrigue often leads to beheadings, and so it does here. but in this case it apparently also leads to cary elwes (as her husband, guilford) making faces like this:

hotttt.

most of the 2 hours and 20 minutes of lady jane are helena bonham carter (who stars as jane) lookin' like an awkward bird. at this stage in her career, she hasn't fully grown into her acting skills or her face. sometimes she's just a pair of eyebrows. but in this role, i think it works. the character [jane, that is] is an awkward, bookish, sheltered young girl who finds herself both married and in line for the throne of england in a very short amount of time.

for me, the best part was the first half, which i found to be cinematographically brilliant. the movie opens with an extended winter hunting scene that is achingly beautiful, reminiscent of the bayeux tapestry or breugel's hunters in the snow. it sets the perfect tone for the rest of the film.

somewhere in the middle there is a time that captures the spirit of the best part of jane and guilford's fictionalized life: the time when they were together, and in love, and alone. in one scene, jane wears a nightgown and man's boots in the dining room, where the lovers pass up their obligations and smash glass goblets for wishes. it's beautifully executed; the young actors somehow portray both the intensity and the silliness of their situation.

however, some parts seemed awkward or stilted, particularly the dialogue thorughout. but, like helena bonham carter's early acting skills, it worked. a sexually tense scene finds helena bonham carter explaining protestantism to cary elwes while he stares unabashedly at her breasts. but when they kissed i still found it sweet and true.

after they inevitably fell in love, my interest in the plot lagged and mingled with the usual sense of dread that comes with watching a movie based on irreversible historical fact. it was still, surprisingly, interesting, though, shifting the focus towards the short, idyllic reign of jane and guilford. they run about the palace giggling, they give the royal wardrobe to the poor, and they re-issue the shilling with its former worth in silver. they live out the political ideals they once smashed goblets for. it's revolutionary, a little, like secretly they were sort of hippies long before their time.

in they end they, of course, die, as we all knew going in they would. and the question i ask myself everytime i watch a movie like this is answered by a line uttered by jane, "well still." so the lovers die and the throne is taken by bloody mary, who will undo what good has been done, but jane and guilford were together and they changed things and they smashed goblets and ran around a palace and made promises and loved. well still.

3.5/5 stars. it's worth the experience. and if you aren't convinced to watch it now, consider this:

cary elwes is unapologetically adorable. also it's on netflix instant play.

the happiest halloween

i know, i know.

we said we'd post exciting october things but here it is, the last day of october, and we've barely posted all month. SOOOORRRY.

also happy halloween!!

i was considering making a halloweenier post, but lately i've been listening to this song on repeat, and it's hardly halloweeny. it's more like...Stuff You Listen To When You're In Love.

maybe you're in love with a person or a dog or maybe the world or yourself or a book or a movie. but me, i'm in love with the world today, and that makes me that annoying, giddy girl that walks around singing to herself and eating chocolate cake. but i love it! (duh. i love everything.)

no more sulking about in my cut-off wedding dress quoting the virgin suicides! only yellow dresses and candy corn and dancing around and tasty coffee all day looong!

here's some happy things [that i will try desperately to relate to halloween]:

movies:
-penelope
a fairy tale--that's halloweeny right?--about a girl born with a pig face. (not to be confused with this girl with a pig face.) christina ricci, james mcavoy, really cute clothes, magical sets, and some reese witherspoon-ing. (something about reese witherspoon makes me love everything! she's so happy and blonde and wholesome or something.) one of the final scenes is even at a halloween party!!

-she's the man
the poster movie of my generation? don't tell me you don't love this movie. amanda bynes, channing lots-of-abs-or-something, that really funny guy who plays the principal, and the plot of twelfth night! this was the first movie i was allowed to watch in a theater with no chaperones, and for me it will always be full of decent jokes that i will never not laugh over. plus, shakespeare is all about crossdressing. you know what else is all about crossdressing? HALLOWEEN. bam.

(a quick list of my fave nineties/00s teen flicks: she's the man, 10 things i hate about you, john tucker must die, easy a)

coffees:
-quick, capitalize on starbucks' pumpkin spice latte opportunities! you've got nine hours[ish] till the pumpkiniest holiday ends. also, sometimes on halloween they give out free cookies and stuff. run, run and give the corporate machine your cash!

tv:
-what's creepier than the trope's fave tv show TWIN PEAKS? (answer: nothing. nothing is creepier.) halloween it up and laugh with dale cooper and the gang. just try not to, in your lovey state, focus too much on the whole dead people/double lives aspect. (extra points to anyone in a twin peaks costume. double triple extra points to anyone dressed as audrey horne because i love her.)

books:

-today is not a day for books! i can't sit down and focus. today is a day for archie comics! read about the trials of archie, betty, and veronica. dress up as jughead. laugh with moose and reggie or one of the other characters whose names escape me because it's been ten years (a lie: it's been like two) since i've read an archie comic.

-or read the article in usa today about THE HAPPIEST WOMAN IN AMERICA! (it's me!) (no it's not!) (but i feel that way!) (the point is the happy!)

so go, tropers, and curl up with a slice of fallin' in love pie (waitress reference, anyone?) or do as i do and dance around the room to "stars" on repeat then hide in the closet and wait for your roommate to come home.

OCTOBER!