Tray tray cool et tray tray chic

OK, so I had a little break, had a little think, had a little confidence boost from a friend and am resurrecting Amateur Eye with the proviso that I don't feel compelled to post gratuitously every other day!

So... a couple of weeks ago I made a trip to IKEA for... I forget exactly: I'm determined to undertake a massive framing/reframing project at home so I was looking round the framing department when I spotted these absochuffing fabulous postcards:

Kort postcards, designed by Maria Dahlgren

These are rocking my designer-wannabe world at the moment. I had to make a return visit yesterday (yes, to IKEA... I have a Problem!) to pick them up, to ensure I had them. Am planning to frame Stockholm and Göteborg as two cities I've visited.

And then! And then! By some freakish coindicence today I was Googling "apple mugs" to track down some foxy little graphic mugs I spotted in Stylist magazine months ago... and ended up on the Hus & Hem store site where, lo and behold, all I could see were Maria Dahlgren prints on trays and tea towels, like this:

London tray designed by Maria Dahlgren from here

I think I'm in love.

(Lyrics cribbed lovingly from: Tres Tres Chic | Mocean Worker)

**UNDER CONSTRUCTION**

Top 10 Tuesday #6!

Me (during the ad break in Glee): So... what should I do as my next Top 10 Tuesday?
Friend Caro: Adverts! Top 10 adverts!

Top 10... Adverts

I actually avoid adverts whenever possible so... I don't have many favourites! Most of these are from the dim and distant past; adverts I didn't hide behind the sofa to avoid!

In no strict order!


10. Ohhh-ohhhh, Vitalite | Vitalite

 9. Lionel Richie | Walkers Crisps (I was looking for the ad, in Swedish, with Ulrika Jonsson but alas. This is still pretty good though!)

8. Creature Comforts

7. Fruit and Nut Case | Cadbury's Fruit & Nut

6. Total Eclipse! | Jaffa Cakes

5. Yeah! Yeah! | Phones 4 U

4. Wyclef Jean, I'm Arrestin' You... | Virgin Mobile

3. Secret Lemonade Drinker | R Whites Lemonade

2. Mr Soft | Soft Mints

1. If You Like a Lot of Chocolate... | Club Biscuits (The Wizard of Oz)

[Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by any of these companies! I just like the adverts. 'K? :)]

Friday Photo Day #5

...And now for something slightly different...

I'm having trouble streamlining this blog. It lacks cohesion at the moment and I think it lacks any sort of conviction or 'voice'. I called it Amateur Eye, after all, so I'm never going to impart any words of any great, profound artistic understanding but still... I sort of want to scrap the whole thing and start again.

But... until that day when my much-needed cohesion is found: today's focus (notice how I blithely use the word 'focus' having just ascertained that this blog lacks any?) is... this film: High Art (director and writer: Lisa Cholodenko, 1998)

It's not a photo... per se. But it's filmed in such a way that so many of its frames could be a photograph taken by, say, Nan Goldin (whose life and work has influenced the film). (Cinematographer is Tami Reiker.)

The leads are mesmerising: Radha Mitchell as the wide-eyed but ultimately ambitious editor Syd, the fabulous Ally Sheedy as Lucy, a formerly celebrated photographer now struggling to find her own focus (waaait, I see a theme here) and Patricia Clarkson as her lover Greta, a once-great German film actress, with some of the best, most barbed lines in the film: "I'm Greta. I live for Lucy. ... I mean, I live here. With Lucy." ... "You know, Fassbinder always told me, the ugliest quality in a woman... is vanity."

 

Also worthy of an honorable mention: Syd's "boss", Harry (played by David Thornton). Vile, misogynistic, self-serving... ugh. Ultimately brilliant. The scene where he bluffs his way through a meeting with photographic ingenue Dieter Schult (Rudolf Martin -- Buffy's Dracula!), is contradicted by his glacial colleague Dominique and goes on to belittle Syd... just perfect. Art-world-power politics.

But I digress.

The soundtrack is also astounding -- written by Shudder to Think; it's trippy, sultry and transcendent. A perfect fit.

Thanks Day Thursday # 5

From A Year of Thanks

#005

Top 10 Tuesday #5!

Yes, I know, it's Wednesday. Tuesday disappeared into the ether with the same rapidity as two bowls of Ben&Jerry's Phish Food disappeared down my gullet. But here is this week's...

Top 10 Places I'd like to visit

10. Dublin, Ireland -- for the craic

9. Barcelona, Spain -- for the architecture

8. Chicago, USA -- for the film connections

7. San Francisco -- for a second time -- because it's fabulous

6. Giza, Egypt... -- for the pyramids and the camels

5. Sweden -- again -- because it's incredible

4. Hope Cove, Devon -- for writerly inspiration

3. Tokyo, Japan -- for the bright lights and quirk

2. Paris, France -- for the heck of it/photographic opportunities

1. New York, USA -- for the shopping experience

 

All piccies are from Microsoft except no. 4. I took that one. :)