Playtime Will End in 15 Minutes
Say it’s 1937. We’ve just finished our required reading. There are games we play, colors we dream, whimsies of affectation we indulge in come springtime, when youth and freedom feel most tender and easily torn under this Stalin sky. Blowing loose powder, fingering cream, swirling pencils, dropping juicy lacquers, we conform to strict order and number count, and there are square blocks that must be fulfilled in very precise sequences, because these are the laws of the regime. These are the laws of hopscotch. Here in Russia, we call it “classrooms.”
Orange: 1. Cream Blusher in Rude by Illamasqua available at Sephora. 2. Nana Lipgloss in Wonder by NARS. 3. Pure Eye Pigment in 4 by Make Up For Ever. 4....
Californian Mainstay Revels in the Duplicity of Evolving Narrative Forms
California’s eternal-summer utopianism, despite being regularly lead off-course by its dysfunctional, innovative, and—like many of artist William Leavitt’s interpretations—glamorously habitual social tendencies, is alive and well. An example: Mr. Leavitt—whose four-decade long CV includes playwriting, photography, set building, painting, installation, and drawing—shares on his first retrospective at MOCA from its stylish courtyard this gorgeous Friday afternoon; softly stirring 72 degree air, cloudless skies, the sun romantically dancing across a bronzed memorial bench, a sweet hum amongst the exhibition preview’s patrons, and the grating thump...
The First Time Director Revels in the Ambiguity of Deceit
“Next time i get asked that question, that’s what i’m going to say—my film is from the female perspective, because I wrote it, so it’s my perspective, and I’m female!” Writer-director Massy Tadjedin’s directorial debut, Last Night, will be released in May after screening at the Tribeca Film Festival and she is just getting used to the sort of interview questions asked of women in the industry. When a suitable answer to the inevitable query is suggested, she’s pleased with its simplicity, its potential to change the direction of the conversation.
Tadjedin has made a movie about relationships but appears allergic to the usual...
Summer leisure in Eastern Europe can be tricky. there’s the extended winter, the distance from the ocean, and the general surfeit of grim Eastern Bloc moodiness, the gray. But the late 1960s provided Kiev with something of an answer: the construction of Gidropark, a recreational complex just five metro stops away from downtown. Situated on an island in the middle of Ukraine’s piece of the Dnieper River, the park is thick with forest and averages just below 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer months. It’s not a typical island paradise, but if the clouds free up some sky and even a hint of sunlight sneaks through, throngs of Ukrainians flock to the park and its yellow beaches to demonstrate youthful vigor, wisdom of years, and to simply get weird....
Every year, sad, not to be confused with serial asian dater, but rather, Seasonal Affective Disorder, affects around 15 million people across the country, making it one of the most rampant psychiatric disorders in America. Various forms of “light therapy” have been developed over time to treat patients of SAD. We don’t need that shit. We live in Los Angeles. We could quote the actual days of sunlight per year, but really, the weather is always fantastic and has imbued the atmosphere and its inhabitants with a singular, free-spirited humor, sexuality, and the social responsibility to “be chill.” In celebration of the crafts of this state and the unique California renegade spirit, we recommend a few items from local...
Speaking with the three close friends that comprise the Santa Monica-based Riviera Club, one doesn’t really feel like they’re dialing in the heavy topic of “Fashion.” Business lingo may be thrown around, but somehow, that oftentimes-severe, ego-driven weight of “Fashion” and “The Craft” are absent and, instead, chuckles abound. However, Joe Sadler, Greg Ullery, and Derek Buse shan’t be mistaken for ne’er-do-well jokesters. Just this past month, they were nominated for the prestigious CFDA/GQ New Menswear Designer of the Year award along with such talents as Michael Bastian, Patrik Ervell, Alexander Wang, Kirk Miller, and Rick Klotz of Warriors of Radness, and you can find their wares at iconic boutiques...
Talking About Talking About Talking with New Feature Director of Submarine
What has ironically come to mar the coming-of-age/twee films of the last decade—their intended innocence unsheathed—is the cloying pomposity that engines their marketing: the self-smitten declarations of their creators [e.g. the unconvincing, inflated Juno and its annoying “visionary”]. It’s a January afternoon and actor/writer/director Richard Ayoade’s snow boots crunch over the freshly-lain snow of a Park City hillside, high above the valley nest of that very hype machine all a-wrap in its celebratory indie fest. Said fest is currently digesting Ayoade’s writer/directorial debut feature (he’s directed television and music videos for years),...
