Eugenio Recuenco & Lotte Reiniger

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While revisiting fairy tale images from my old journal, I also came across these after the Alice In Wonderland series two posts ago. They're by Eugenio Recuenco, one of my favourite photographers who has done a fair amount of stunning, cinematographic editorials for Vogue, Vanity Fair and Madame Figaro, amongst others.

{Click on images for larger versions.}

Little Red Riding Hood

Beauty And The Beast

Snow White

The Princess And The Pea

Puss In Boots

The Pied Piper

Cinderella

Sleeping Beauty


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Recently, I also discovered Lotte Reiniger, a German silhouette animator I heard of in Cinema class at university, but never got around to checking out.

Inspired by shadow puppetry, all her animations are done using little more than black paper and backlighting. What's fascinating is how delicately articulated her animated characters are, and how nimbly they move. Some were constructed out of 25 to 50 separate pieces of paper held together by fine lead wire to facilitate more complex movements on camera. To add depth and dimension to the scenery, she also employed various shades of tissue paper and glass panes.

Lotte often likened filmmaking to ballet. "Film is movement. It’s the combination of curves and diagonals that gives ballet and animation their sweet tenderness and their striking directness."


Here are some of her short films from the 1950s.


Hansel and Gretel (1955)





Cinderella (1954)





The Little Chimney Sweep (1954)





The Three Wishes (1955)





Jack and the Beanstalk (1955)





The Art of Lotte Reiniger (Part 1)
This is a documentary about Lotte Reiniger and her animations.
Unfortunately, I can't find Part 2 on Youtube.
In this doco, you can see the amazing lightning precision of her hand
as she cuts her animated figures out of black paper.





"I believe in the truth of fairy tales more than
I believe in the truth in the newspaper."
- Lotte Reiniger

Fictional Bands

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Yesterday, I got caught up in a conversational about fictitious bands and musicians in films and television shows. Here are some of the ones I love:


"Sugar High" by Renee Zellweger & Coyote Shivers
from Empire Records
This is probably my favourite character Renee Zellweger has played. Apparently, the Chicago producers chose her for Roxie Hart after seeing this performance.





"Uh-Huh" by Munchausen By Proxy
from Yes Man
Munchausen By Proxy was the fictional band formed by Zooey Deschanel and Von Iva for this film. Their lyrics kill me every time.





"Sweet Ballad" by Munchausen By Proxy
from Yes Man
More golden lyrics.





"Tumbling Down" by Jonathan Rhys Meyers
from Velvet Goldmine





"Baby's On Fire" by Jonathan Rhys Meyers
from Velvet Goldmine





"Smelly Cat" by Phoebe Buffay
from Friends
I think this was the second song I learned to play on the guitar haha.




The fake music video version of Smelly Cat:





"I Wanna Grow Old With You" by Adam Sandler
from The Wedding Singer





"Scotty Doesn't Know" by Matt Damon
from Euro Trip





"That Thing You Do" by The Wonders
from That Thing You Do
I'm actually rather sick of this song but I remember dancing to it in the 90s along the corridor of my high school and at parties, so it's somewhat nostalgic.





"Play That Funky Music White Boy" by Suburban Funk
from The New Guy
Not sure what it is with Zooey Deschanel and funny fake bands but here she is again, along with DJ Qualls. It's obviously not an original song, but ah well.





"Three Small Words" by Josie And The Pussycats
from Josie And The Pussycats
The movie was so incredibly bad and campy that it was actually good. Good in the godawful way.





"Pretend To Be Nice" by Josie And The Pussycats
from Josie And The Pussycats





Couldn't find the videos for 'Spin Around' and 'You Don't See Me', alas. But the fake boyband, Du Jour, also from the movie, is comedic gold. Seth Green and Breckin Meyer have always reminded me of each other for some reason, so I was amused to see them both in it.






"Sugar Sugar" by The Archies
from The Archie Show



I'd have included Spinal Tap but they became 'a real band' after film and performed shows, so I don't think they really count.

Revenge Of The Nerds

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Bryony and I had a merry time behaving like nerds.




The new Spock and Chris Pine as Captain Kirk were fantastic. Am not really a Trekkie but I think this was the best Star Trek film I've seen yet. Admittedly, the only other one I can actually remember is the one with the creepy perfect borg beings, though I've been dragged to a number of others in the past... ones that clearly weren't too memorable.






SAURON




Yep, I was so excited to see this till every single person I know informed me what a disaster this movie was. I grew up idolising Optimus Prime and trying to turn my Transformers action figures into vehicles, but I think I'll wait for the DVD release and rent it.




Not a fan of doomsday movies or this franchise. Sam Worthington was excellent, though. Unsure why Christian Bale turned down the Marcus role to play John Connor. Honestly baffled.






The Yoda ass grab.
This was not... apparent till later.




A friend of mine calls these my 'kitty cat shoes' because, when paired with black tights, they make my legs look like they belong on a black cat with white feet.






Lawrence and I both wore kitty cat outfits to dinner. By accident.







































B wearing a Batman shirt to go see Christian Bale in Terminator.

Alice In Wonderland by Annie Leibovitz

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'Alice In Wonderland' by Annie Leibovitz
for Vogue, December 2003.

I posted this once on my old Livejournal but I love to revisit these pictures from time to time. Natalia Vodianova plays Alice here, and wears various interpretations of Alice's iconic blue dress by assorted designers (who also play other characters from the book).

{Click on images for larger versions.}

CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER
Olivier Theyskens playing Lewis Carroll (who had a passion for photography, and in particular, "photographing moody young beauties"). Natalia here is Alice Liddell, whom Alice in Wonderland was named after.
ALICE DRESS: Rochas by Olivier Theyskens

Karl Lagerfeld wears Chrome Hearts necklaces and belt.
ALICE DRESS: Chanel Haute Couture
(Actually, it's not a dress but an embroidered satin jacket with a draped satin skirt.)
"It was a queer-shaped little creature,
and held out its arms and legs in all directions, “just like a starfish.”"

WHO STOLE THE TARTS?
John Galliano as the Queen of Hearts and Alexis Roche as his King.
ALICE DRESS: Dior Haute Couture by John Galliano
QUEEN OF HEARTS: Dior Haute Couture coat
"“My name is Alice, so please Your Majesty,” the young girl said softly.
“ You make me giddy!” screamed the Queen."

DRINK ME

If you look closely, Helmut Lang is in the picture on the wall, watching her.

ALICE DRESS: Helmut Lang's made-to-measure studio
"How was Alice to know the innocent little bottle would make her grow to such a size? As Helmut Lang watched from the wall, she curled her legs up and hoped the designer's organza minidress wouldn't be crushed by her startling height."

ADVICE FROM A CATERPILLAR
Marc Jacobs as the caterpillar.
ALICE DRESS: Marc Jacobs
"Alice found herself engaged in an infuriatingly roundabout conversation with a mushroom-dweller. Where am I? she wondered... and how have I gotten here?"

THE MOCK TURTLE'S STORY
Donatella Versace is the Gryphon while Rupert Everett is the Mock Turtle (both wearing Versace).
ALICE DRESS: Atelier Versace
"“What is his sorrow?” Alice asked the Gryphon.
“Once,” sighed the Mock Turtle, “ I was a real turtle.”"

THE MAD TEA PARTY
Stephen Jones, as the Mad Hatter, wears a custom-made hat of his own design.
Christian Lacroix plays the March Hare.
ALICE DRESS: Christian Lacroix Haute Couture
"“No room!” The March Hare and Mad Hatter shouted. “No room!”
But Alice plunked down, desperate for some biscuits after a long day of living backward."

THE CHESHIRE CAT
Jean Paul Gaultier as the Cheshire Cat.
ALICE DRESS: Gaultier Paris
"“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” Alice asked sweetly of the cat with a grin as devilish as anything she had ever seen.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” replied the Cat."

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
Tom Ford as the White Rabbit (wearing a white suit from his Yves Saint Laurent men's collection).
ALICE DRESS: Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent Gauche
"Faster, faster, faster she fell!"

TWEEDLEDUM & TWEEDLEDEE
Rolf Snoeren and Viktor Horsting are Tweedledum and Tweedledee, wearing matching suits and bow ties that they designed themselves.
ALICE DRESS: Viktor & Rolf
"“If you think we're alive, you ought to speak,” said the one marked DEE. Alice stared as the Tweedle duo spouted nonsensical tongue twisters."

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Nicolas Ghesquière sits on the armchair.
ALICE DRESS: Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière
"Alice perched on the mantel, longing to escape into the shadow world, as her black kitty purred nearby."


Fashion Editor: Grace Coddington
Hair: Julien d'Ys/Island d'Ys
Makeup: Gucci Westman
Set Design: Mary Howard
Prop Fabrication: Jean Hugues de Chatillon.

Quotes: style.com/vogue