These past couple of months I’ve been in retreat again, while working toward another deadline for the production of the book – this basically means no weekends or nights out but lots of wonderful “nights in”.  So, it’s now become part of the routine that every few days or so french boy finds us a french movie to watch at home.  Since I know lots of you like the same things as me, I thought you’d appreciate knowing my 3 favourites from the collection thus far. They really are ‘sweet treasures’, in every way.  And I won’t tell you what they are about because I didn’t know until I watched them  – instead, just an image from each film. That, plus while writing this post I asked french boy to email me the french names of the movies, and with that he included his very brief description of each in English to jog my memory – they made me laugh, so I’ve included them here for you too. Enjoy…

sweet treasure #7:

Les enfants du marais. (the swamp story)

sweet treasure #8:

Les choristes (the choir story)

sweet treasure #9:

Une hirondelle a fait le printemps (the girl from Paris gone farmer)

xx

PS Michel Serrault & Gérard Jugnot have since become two of my favourite french actors.

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Every now and then I stumble upon something magical that makes my heart soar – high up in the sky, diving and weaving through the clouds. This morning I came across the work of the stories from the ground shadow puppetry, and I am enraptured, take a look…

Here is a behind the scenes documentary of how they made the film. I love that they show how they made Lior’s character – from bits of cardboard, steel wool for his hair, tape, and bicycle spokes…

Incredibly inspiring, non? It got me thinking about this upcoming holiday season (and yes, I will be posting my holiday gift guide and decorating ideas first thing on monday so be ready) As a kid, one of my all-time favourite things about Christmas day was our ‘performance’  – my cousin Simone and I would spend months in advance planning our Christmas day show. It included piano solos and duets, lip syncing stage shows, spectacular freak shows (which usually involved my brother and Simone’s brother, trying to do some circus act to shock our audience – being our grandparents and parents – but instead would have them laughing uncontrollably ), and detailed choreographed dances by Simone and I, to such songs as “locomotive” by Kylie Minogue. Simone and I would turn the living room into a lively theater, ushering our audience into their designated seats and handing out hand drawn programs.   They were fun fun times.

What does this have to do with the above wonders? Well, I’m thinking, for the children (and the children at heart, that being us) how wonderful it would be to create a puppet show for your family day this year! You can use things from around the house – like steel wool for hair, and cardboard, and old bicycle spokes – to make a wonderful puppet show. To get that lovely paper drop-look the stories from the ground have used, what about baking paper? I have a baking paper that I buy from my organic/fair trade supermarket and because it’s made from recycled paper,  it has that lovely tea-dyed look to it, it would be perfect. Your children could choose one of their favourite songs to be the musical backdrop. What do you think? I think it would be a living-room-box-office hit!

xx

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…so romantic. and no, I still have not seen the movie. I promise I will. For now, there are hours of procrastination to be found on the production site of bright star, right here. x

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Have you heard of an australian band called middle east? i had not, until this morning when I read on one of my friend’s facebook status that this very talented band from townsville in queensland, have made their song blood available for free download through itunes. The song is featured in the teaser of a new film which had its world premiere recently at tribeca called accidents happen. It’s directed by andrew lancaster and stars geena davis.

The song is gorgeous, to say the very least. I’ve been listening to it over and over again today, and I highly recommend you download it right now as tomorrow (june 16) is the last day you can get it for free!

Click here to listen to the song on middle east’s my space site, then go straight to your itunes account to download it.

And a very big congratulations to andrew for his first feature – the cinematography looks stunning, geena is awesome, and I can’t wait to see this film!

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One of the coolest things I have discovered that I simply must share with you, is a rather special something I found on Australian Edge. This special something is called InFrame TV which is a video channel for the arts, design & culture lovers of the world (yay that’s us!!). It is a documentary based vodcast produced in Melbourne, Australia that profiles “original and arresting Australian and international talent working in arts, design and culture.” The InFrame aim is to provide unprecedented access to the thoughts, insights, and inspirations of people who create.

In their current line up of artists you will find Shaun Tan – the multi-award winning artist and author who has created such books as The Red Tree and Tales from Outer Suburbia; Patrick Blanc – French botanist and inventor of le mur vegetal (vegetal wall/vertical garden); and the very intriguing Julia Deville – jeweler and taxidermist. The videos are beautifully put together – excellent footage, excellent editing – simply put they are perfect productions of some of our favourite designers and artists.

To give you a little sample of their vodcast collection I’ve picked out one about vintage collector Lyn Gardner – most lovers of vintage homewares will already know Lyn as an iconic collector of all things pretty. I met Lyn years (and years!) ago when i had just opened my store in Sydney. My partner and I flew down to Melbourne for a weekend for inspiration (yes, it’s very very common to find inspiration at every corner in Melbourne ) and we came across Lyn in her gorgeous little store then called Empire 111 in Albert Park. Being such an open and chatty gal, the 3 of us chatted for quite a while, she was full of advice and guidance, and I remember walking out of her tiny, chock-a-block filled boutique, with arms full of goodies and a mind full of ideas and inspiration…

10 years later she has created quite a name for herself and her gorgeous sense of style flourishes. This InFrame TV vodcast is a fabulous introduction to Lyn for those who don’t already know of her, and for those who do, it’s a great look into her life and how she finds the things she does.

So now is the time to make yourself a cup of tea. With thanks to InFrame TV, please enjoy the following 4 minutes of inspiration…

Click here for more InFrame TV.

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…this is one for my DVD library for sure. Nyla found it and wrote about it here. Thank you Nyla, you always find the most inspiring treats.

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But unable to secure finance for post production, the project stalled a little while ago until a generous donor unexpectedly came to the rescue. As Lara says, “It’s a perfect example of what can be achieved when people who really believe in something come together”. Please give a large round of applause for Lara as I introduce you to her film “Tibet’s Cry for Freedom”, with this exclusive trailer, narrated by actress Kerri Armstrong…


Find more videos like this on Candle4Tibet


Congratulations Lara, this looks to be a fantastic production, I can’t wait to see it! For more information, please visit Lara’s site here.

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I was a pubescent 14 year old living in a foreign land when this show premiered on my only english-speaking tv channel, the fabulous BBC (nicknamed my ‘sanity savior’). It can be said that after the first episode I was hooked. It encompassed all my passions of life back then – fashion, fabrics, sewing, art, paris, travel, love, boutiques… and all set in my favourite era of the 1920′s, London. This show set the groundwork for much of my inspiration as the essence of it has stayed with me all these years. To my absolute delight, the BBC recently released the entire series on DVD and when my mother read this news she was quick to get hold of it for me, knowing how much this series meant to me some 15 years ago. So what on earth am I talking about you ask?

Why, I speak of the House of Eliott of course!

The House of Eliott is based on the journey of two sisters, Bea and Evie, who embark on opening their very own fashion house amongst the haute couture of London and Paris boutiques, starring the brilliant actress Stella Gonet (as Bea) as well as Louise Lombard (recognise her in CSI?). This classic drama series takes you through all of the ups and downs of running such a boutique, including the scandals that befall them from jealous competitors, and the opportunities that come from the most humble of gestures. All this while giving a fantastic rendition of the political turmoil of England at that time, and post-war life.

These stills give you a very minimal peak at what this series has to offer visually – the sets, props, fashion and style is to-die-for, and for those of you Paris lovers, the series takes you there a number of times, with a complete look at Paris 1920′s fashion. What astounded me the most when I watched the series this many years on, was the resemblance of events within my own life. I remembered exactly how I was feeling when I watched the show at 14 years old, the sketches I started making from being inspired by Evie’s sketches, my imagination was really on an indescribable high. Now, at 30, thinking back to my 14 year old self, little I knew back then that I would have opened my own store only 7 years later and go through all the ups and downs expressed in the House Of Eliott. I was amazed to realise how times haven’t changed for small business, how the struggles are the same, and how all over the world, time after time there are still those people who try to sabotage you, bring you down, make yourself doubt your work and abilities. And then there are those people who stick by you, believe in you and support you through thick and thin. Watching the House of Eliott again brought tears to my eyes regularly and sparked that 14 year old imagination in me again. I won’t be running out and opening another store, but I certainly will not give up on my vision.

Enhance the Everyday review for House of Eliott: 5 outta 5.
I implore you to get hold of this complete series (there are 3 in total, click here for all 3), you will really love it. You will find the first series a little slow but it is essential to understand the whole story and you will not regret it. I just finished watching the whole series at Christmas and I am keen to start it again in a couple of months, I miss it already. Enjoy.

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This is one very inspirational gallery – I have never experienced anything like it. The curators Michael Desmond and Gillian Raymond give a perfect introduction to the work, describing it as a virtual exhibition without being physically present in a gallery.

My friend Michi always sends me inspirational emails, with links to things I would never ever have known about. She also has a thing for weird medical facts and images and unfortunately sometimes she sends me horrific stories that make me cringe. She now knows I cannot handle it and so kindly filters out the weird and wacky medical finds and leaves me with the pretty, arty and super cool stuff. She loves going to art galleries and is always asking me along when I’m in town. Since I am not in town, she sent this art gallery to me. What a doll! And I am now sharing it with you.

The exhibition has been open since October and will run until December 2008. Check it out now.

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