''Let them eat cake''

Let's get it over with: Sofia Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette' is a lousy film.
The film is about the life of one of France's most famous queens Marie Antoinette (born in Austria), the wife of King Louis XVI. He was the last king of France, his reign stopped because of the French Revolution in 1789. Marie Antoinette spent her life in Versailles. All she did was spending money, partying, eating cake and macaroons and wearing gorgeous clothes. The life was very boring, and that's exactly what you can say about the movie as well.

Kirsten Dunst performs very weak, especially in a crying scene. It's not clear if she's crying or laughing, so you can tell how bad it is ;) The lack of profundity bothers me most. In the beginning of the movie, when Marie Antoinette obviously has a hard time adjusting herself to France and the luxurious life, she seems very cool. But later on, she adores her life and she only wants more and more luxury. Logical of course, I mean, why wouldn't she? But when someone tells her that the French population has less and less to eat, she answers ''let them eat cake''. Quite superficial, isn't it? She also had a hard time getting pregnant of her husband because her husband didn't want to sleep with her.

Besides, what I was looking forward to most, the ending of the movie where (as we all know) Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI would go to the guillotine, wasn't even there. The movie stopped when things were finally getting excited. Probably the style of Sofia Coppola, but I missed the crux of the matter.

Thank god, the style of the movie is brilliant. As well as Marie Antoinette's Swedish lover: Count Von Fersen. He wasn't so bad, he wasn't so bad at all.

Talking about the style in the movie, everything is so beautiful. The outfits Kirsten Dunst wears, the food, the palace in Versailles, the house Louis XVI builds for her (The Petit Trianton). And the only thing I really like about this biotopic of Marie Antoinette is the fact that it's controversial: in stead of old music like Bach or Mozart, she listened to 'The Cure' (an 80's rock band). Totally impossible of course, but I find it awesome.

Congratulations to my daddy!

My dad, my aunt and my grandfather (isn't his hair extremely cool) drinking beer (right?) at one of their holidays.

My grandfather, aunt and dad on holiday (probably in Germany, the native country of my grandfather).

And again my grandfather, aunt and dad.

The amount of beer they drunk ;)

My dad playing chess.

My aunt on the left, my grandmother on the right and some other woman in the middle. This picture really gives me the sixties feeling.

I loooove this picture, it looks very nonchalant but still, my dadlooks in the camera. And my grandfather tries to ;)

Their fabulous car.

My grandparents.

My aunt and my grandmother, looking as if they just walked out of the Grease set.

Freja Beha Erichsen for Vogue Japan

StyleToday

Streetstyle @ Lowlands 2011

http://www.styletoday.nl/fashion/streetstyle/17851/streetstyle-lowlands-2011-deel-2

Some Like it Hot

It was the first time I saw Marilyn Monroe in a film, Billy Wilder's 'Some Like it Hot' it was. I always saw Miss Monroe as a gigantic super star, and of course she is, she comes off very approachable, almost childish, like she's a little girl that needs a lot of confirmation. But it'll probably the part she played in the humorous'Some Like it Hot'.

This comedy is about two men (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) who live in Chicago (it's the end of the twenties) and they earn their money by making music. The only problem is: there's only demand for women in big bands. When Joe and Jerry are suddenly part of a murder crime (they're witnesses), they have to run and hide. So they dress like two women, named Josephine (Joe) and Daphne (Jerry), and give themselves up for a ladies orchestra. They get in and after a long journey to Florida, they almost feel comfortable being a lady. They meet Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe) in the train, who plays the ukelele and sings. Sugar is sick of men and drinks a lot.

Daphne gets a lot of attention from the miljonairs in the public at their performances, especially Osgood Fielding III. At the same time, Josephine tries to seduce Sugar by disguising as a man again, as a very rich man indeed. Sugar falls for him immediately, especially for his power and money, though she doesn't realises that herself.

Of course, Joe & Jerry get into a lot of trouble because the criminals who were looking for them all along, find out they're in Florida and dresses like women. This leads to a hilarious chase scene.

The story is brilliant and the way Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon act as two ladies (you can see they're men obviously) is just splendid. Marilyn Monroe is adorable as Sugar Kane and for me, this has set the tone for watching more old classics. Not only Audrey Hepburn, but also Marilyn Monroe. And who knows, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.

Where the Indian Things Are

La Isla Bonita

Brazil | Sophie Vlaming by Jean-François Campos for Flair March 2011

LOWLANDS PART IV: Sunday

And then the last day arrived. A few bands we definitely wanted to see left, but nothing really interesting. And so we decided to have a look here and there and see if there were any other surprises.

We started with 'Erland and the Carnival', a British folk rock band, who were good but not that amazing. And so we went on to Frank Turner, a folk/punk singer-songwriter. He was definitely talented. We heard a few songs but decided he sounded a bit too much like Racoon, so we left again.


It was really hot this day, our tent felt like a sauna (though it was still freezing at night, pretty annoying) and everyone at Lowlands looked sweaty and filthy.

One of the best performances we saw this day, was 'The Roots'. I already knew the hiphop band. They gave us a jamming session filled with excellent guitar playing, a lot of rap and a gigantic saxophone (or some other horn-like instrument). The show was awesome. After this show we were exhausted. I don't know if it was the weather, or the fact that we had walked all days and didn't have a lot of sleep but we were listless.



So we bought an Australian meat pie (it's delicious, tastes like a sausage-roll but better) and a special coffee with liqueur, cream and cookies. Once our stomaches were filled, we felt the energy bombing through our veins so we went to Lykke Li.

Lykke Li is a Swedish singer and I find her really cool. She dresses like a goth, long black clothes. And her voice was brilliant as well. The entire show was quite dark but I found it very magical.


The last show we saw was 'The Offspring', an American punk rock band, which you can compare to Green Day. It was one of the headliners of the festival, yet I had never heard of them. Maybe a bit before my time or just not really my music, I don't know.

After the live perfomances were over, Avalon and I decided to go to the movies. We saw 'The Monk', a French thriller with Vincent Kassel (who you may know from 'Black Swan', he played Natalie Portman's ballet teacher). It was about christianity around 1500. The film started very strong and dark but the end was a bit disappointing. The atmosphere in the movie was really cold. Not only because it was a gothic story, but also because I get the shivers from the strictness of the church and the idea that Satan exists.

Anyway, after the movie we saw that the festival site was already being cleaned so we went back to our tent.

Lowlands 2011 was over, and it was a brilliant weekend. Sometimes we had to improvise a bit because camping wasn't made for me and because the music program wasn't what we hoped for when we bought our tickets but I really enjoyed it.


Lowlands, I love you and I hope to see you next year.

LOWLANDS PART III: Saturday

Second day at Lowlands, still the same atmosphere (or even better) and we are in for more bands and inspiration.


But, first things first, we decided to go crazy at the statues of Ben & Jerry, so that the B&J crew could take some pictures of us. What do you think? ;)


This day we saw 'Young the Giant', an indierockband which was insignificant. They had the same sound as at least hundred other indierockbands. So Avalon and I went to 'Will & the People'.








On our way to this band, we were approached by a girl with a huge Canon, who asked if she could take a picture of us. We were very surprised, so after what felt like five minutes we stumbled: 'Uh yes.. sure'. It was for 'streetstyle' at the site StijlTV or Styletoday (I didn't understood it very well) so we were quite contented.

On top of that, we also got a lot of discount on the fruit salads (we paid 2,50 for two salads in stead of 12,50 for two salads) because two of our friends worked at the stand of LaPlace. Awesome, right?

'Will and the People' was definitely the best performance we saw at Lowlands. Three young British guys, the lead singer was really charismatic. The way he laughed, the way he sang, the way he entertained the audience. Their music was a mix of pop and rock with a lot of reggae influences. They sounded like a British white guy variant of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Especially when they sang 'Lion in the Morning Sun'.




Talking about Bob Marley, his son Stephen Marley was the next performance we saw. A chubby rasta guy gave us reggae like we all know it. Relaxing, and entertaining. The audience especially loved his dad's classic 'Everything is gonna be alright'.

In between Will and the People and Stephen Marley we also saw Mayer Hawthorne & the County, a soul band from the USA. It was funky music and we loved it. The band was totally black besides Mayer Hawthorne himself, a white guy. Might sound unimportant, but it was an exceptional sight. Refreshing.


On to the next great artist: Selah Sue. It was the third time I would be seeing her and I was really looking forward to it. I can dream all her songs, and her live performances always turn out to be superb. This was no exception. The only downside was that she did the exact same repertoire again: the same order of songs, the same cover (Lauryn Hill's 'Lost ones') and the same outfit. But she still managed to rock the stage.