Chantal Akerman By Micheline Pelletier, 1979

you ever hear a new song and immediately go “oooh the fake scenarios in my head are gonna love this”

Kim Novak during the filming of ‘Vertigo’ (1958).

Once - Once is Plenty

Saw this last weekend, and I had pretty high expectations for it, based on the word of mouth and reviews that I’d seen. I think it is a welcome relief in the heat of summer from the usual hollywood crap to see a small, cinema verite bittersweet romance make it to the multiplexes, which could account for its popularity with the starved moviegoing public. I was a bit underwhelmed. The music was ok, the male lead “guy” (Glen Hansard) who I had seen before as the guitar player in “the Commitments” was great, his singing was impassioned, his awkward mooning over the girl was believable, and his quiet relationship with his vacuum cleaner repairman father was cute. The “girl” on the other hand, I just didn’t see what he saw in her, her vocals and piano playing were a bit dull and wooden, her personality wasn’t really fleshed out very much - perhaps it was enough for her to just “like his music” (where did the money come from to rent to recording studio? I’m a bit unclear on that?). As for the film overall, a bit heavy on the MTV sequences (but probably more enjoyable to watch than more painfully awkward conversations). The ‘Dublin Street Musician’ culture that we got a glimpse of in the beginning was kind of quirky and interesting, and on the plus side, the movie really knew how not to overstay its welcome, clocking in under 90 minutes (ending just about at the point where I was checking my wife’s luminous watch to see how much more of the movie we had coming).

In retrospect I may have been overly harsh with this one, for personal reasons - was just not in the mood for a movie about a male/female songster collaboration.

3.5 stars out of 5

Released 2007, First Viewing July 2007

reminder: romanticizing your mental illness doesn’t make it any less of an illness. there’s nothing cute about suffering. there’s nothing cute about rotting. there’s nothing cute about starving yourself. there’s nothing cute about self destruction. there’s nothing cute about self isolation. it’s not cute. it’s not pretty. it’s not your “girl interrupted” fantasy. voicing your own mental health struggles is a lot different from some of the encouragement and endorsement that i see here on tumblr. i say this as someone who struggles with depression, anxiety, and a former eating disorder. we should be uplifting each other, not promoting serious psychological disorders that have the means to cause serious harm. there’s toxicity in this community, which i want no part of, and it needs to be addressed.

- signed a psychology undergrad

I think there's a real tragedy in the way straight men don't see themselves the same way that people who are attracted to men see them. If you ask a straight man to describe what an attractive man looks like, there's very little variety - the masculine male ideal is tall, broad-shouldered, square-jawed with a cleft chin and built of sculpted muscle. The stereotypical image of an Alpha Male, someone whom he could respect, and envy.

And sure, there are plenty of women, gay men and people of all sorts who are attracted to to this specific type, even exclusively attracted to it, there is so much more variety in this, both in the tastes and their subjects.

The stereotype of "hot wife, ugly husband"-couples was drawn from the observations of straight men, from their own perspective. Women going after men that men find unattractive makes no sense to them, and they figure that women are willing to overlook being ugly if a man's funny, smart or rich enough. If a woman insists that she's attracted to a specific man who isn't attractive by their standards, they'll assume that she's lying.

The tragic part is when a man who believes himself to be ugly grows bitter over this, developing a foul personality which people do find repulsive, and then uses their repeated experiences of being romantically rejected as proof that they're physically unattractive, insisting that surely women would overlook his heinousness if only he was tall and muscular enough, and had the right bone structure. The self-feeding vicious cycle of being a bitter incel is born.

The thing about "ugly men with a good personality can still be attractive" is that they're usually not even ugly. Some people do genuinely find fat and hairy men, thin and delicate men, short men and feminine men attractive. There's as much variety as in cheese, you can't compare aura to brie. And just like in cheese, as long as you're not toxic, somebody's into that. You just need to find the right wine to compliment it.

@tennisinc: “We renewed our vows on Saturday. 10 years felt like 10 minutes.”

went for a walk and this is where my phone died and i had to walk 40 minutes back home without being able to take pictures

It was a lonely and cloudy day, the most common weather in Santiago, This phot was taken in Providencia, near Costanera Center.

god i love bjork so much

Björk Album Art: 1993 - 2015.

Happy Transgender Day of Visibility! I hope every trans person has a great day, and I hope today can be a day of being proud, loud, and visible! I want every trans kid to know that there are trans people out here living amazing, happy, fulfilling lives - and that future is waiting for you too!

(Here are some of my trans pride bird designs from my (way too crowded - sorry!) Redbubble store)