Pretty Dapper: March 2011

Fire & Ice

In celebration of my recent purchase of Revlon's Fire & Ice: the red lip of the ages.

Gee whiz-- I just wrote a lengthy escapade about my most recent endeavor, and blogger erased it! That's the way of life, I suppose, and since you don't know the difference, I'll rinse and repeat: I have been doing something, actually something, for the past week and a half. It's felt like a much lengthier span of time and effort, but I think that signifies the amount of sleep I have been getting because of it (not much). I have been working on the first feature film of my friend, writer/director Matthew Mishory. It is called Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean, and it has been stunning so far. Below is the teaser trailer for the film:

I am not legally allowed to say much about it on here, but it is horrendously exciting (not something I say lightly considering the majority of independent features out there). I have been all over the place (literally) for days. I am co-script supervisor, a part-time production assistant, and acted in a scene involving a pool, vintage swimwear, and a pair of Portuguese twins. Below are a few shots snapped by friend of the production, Clifton Snider:

On set in Joshua Tree. Edward Jimenez the make-up master, myself, and amigos.

James Dean, a.k.a. James Preston.

Rafael Morais, Ian Patrick Anderson, et moi.

Would Be Effective If I Had Money

So I realized there was a commerical that summed up what I wanted from that last post. And, of all things, it's a Cadillac ad. It kills me every time it comes on. The music is by the Black Keys, which only makes it worse (or that much better?). It is currently my favorite commercial... my two other favorite commercials are also posted below, because for some reason I've been feeling the need to share them recently.

Might I add that they have been working? I've been dying for a room at the Cosmopolitan, a Cadillac, and a six pack of Stella for weeks. I can only afford one of these. You guess which one.

This next one is kind of weird, but that is one of the things I like about it so much.

While I am at it, this is my favorite print ad. Guess why.

Au revoir.

The Coming Season

These are some of the things I've found inspiring lately-- the vibes I aspire (entirely in my head, I'm sure) to aspire to as Spring marches right along. Very late sixties/early seventies Laurel Canyon/NorCal/London/Riviera with plenty of rock and roll (Stones, Pallenberg, Alison Mosshart) and rock glam (Kate Moss, Emmanuelle Alt) and a country twist (Westerns! Plaid! Bears! motorcycles!).

Bring me my black cut-offs, strappy sandals, messy hair, Navajo prints, leather jackets, the Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel, Zeppelin, Stones, Dead Weather, Joni Mitchell, Delta Blues, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Searchers, Midnight Cowboy, Godard's Le Mepris... this could get boring. Look at the pictures, you get the idea.

At The Crossroads

This, friends, is what I've been listening to lately. I've loved delta blues for a while now, but I didn't step up to the plate and do much about it until the other day when I shuffled into local music store Warbler under the self-imposed condition that I "would not buy a thing. I am just going to peruse."

So I walked out with the complete recordings of Robert Johnson, which sadly is not a huge amount of music, but it was a long time ago and proportionately he has been one of the most influential musicians in history. His fans include Keith Richards, Jack White, and probably every good blues or rock guitarist since the 1930's. His mysterious and early death only makes him that much more fascinating-- if this is what you can do when you sell your soul to the devil, I want to know where the nearest soul resale boutique is. Mr. Johnson, for one, can't tell me.

Just a Koople

My love affair with French boutique clothiers and purveyors of darkly modern rock style The Kooples continues. They keep updating their blog, and I keep updating reasons I love them. The video below being a case in point of why their marketing kills me. Of course, I have yet to purchase anything from the store, but I count the days until I earn enough to properly say, "Bonjour" to The Kooples.

Check them out here.

Springing Spring and Tasty Wine

Shhhh. Do you hear that? Birds chirping, breezes lightly breezing, flowers waking up and raising their little fuschia heads to the sky. OK, so I don't think that last one makes any sound audible without specialized equipment, but you get the idea. Spring is springing. Personally, I am not ready to let go of winter quite yet because, honestly, I haven't had enough of it yet. But I never get enough drizzle and cold, so what can I do? Embrace spring, that's what. Sure, I will probably see my fair share of snow and nasty before it's really here, but it's March so I can get away with shorts and sandals without feeling like I am jumping the gun. Granted, in Santa Barbara, the days where shorts and sandals are out of place on any given year can be counted on one hand. I ramble.

The view from our car's spot at the hotel-- j'adore Cambria, tan plus.

The weekend before last I went wine tasting, and oh what wine was tasted. My parents and best friend attended a weekend of Central Coast indulgence. There was impeccable sea food, cookies, seaside cottage rooms with fireplaces, more wines than I could count, and... snow! Yes, friends, it snowed in the mountains just above the lovely hamlets of Cambria and Cayucos-- real frenzied wild white wicked snow. It was fantastic. Especially as the rest of the day up to that point had been pure blue-skied divinity. It was the sort of weekend that validates beyond a doubt my disproportionately great love of California. I do not know if happy cows come from California, but if they cannot be happy here, well, honestly, they cannot be happy anywhere.