Fashiontribes Life & Style

Blog, blog, blog...

It seems like everyone and his mother has their own blog.  Much more than just an online diary, blog topics cover everything from politics and social issues to discussions about film and TV.  Here at FashionTribes we not only discuss fashion, but movies, makeup and music as well as an assortment of other interesting topics.  But we're not the only kids on the block, so I thought it might be fun to share a handful of my favorite blogs and bloggers with you:

1.  Things I've Bought that I Love - You know her as Kelly Kapoor on The Office, but Mindy Kaling is not only a comic actress and TV writer/producer, she's an avid shopper as well.  She and her friends blog about their coolest purchases at http://mindyephron.blogspot.com/

2.  Celebritology - There are gossip blogs galore, but few do it with as much class and panache as Liz Kelly of The Washington Post.  Whether it's dissecting the latest episode of Lost, weighing in on Britney's most recent shenanigans or compiling a new Friday list, this is definitely a site to bookmark if you love gossip but wouldn't be caught dead buying a tabloid!  http://blog.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/  For more "insider" Hollywood gossip, The Defamer is like the online version of Entourage.

3.  As a writer, I tend to gravitate towards writer's blogs.  A few of my faves are Ken Levine's   who dishes on American Idol as well as recounting his days writing Cheers, M.A.S.H. and Frasier,  The Artful Writer, which focuses on the craft and business of writing and is hosted by Craig Mazin (Scary Movie 3 and 4) and Ted Elliot (Pirate of the Caribbean, Shrek) and Bill Martell's Sex in a Submarine which gives priceless insight into the life of a working screenwriter.

   
4.  Last but not least is fashionista and trendsetter Stevie Wilson's L.A. Story blog.   Focusing on Southern California as a lifestyle and state of mind rather than a destination, Stevie blogs about fashion, music, skincare, shopping, spas--you name it!  If it's new and hip and to die for--she already knows about it and has blogged about it--trust me!  Check it out at http://www.la-story.com/

Stella Louise

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New on DVD--"Miss Potter" available June 19th!!!

"Miss Potter" the story of Beatrix Potter, beloved author of children's books such as "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," is dramatized in this sweet, gentle film directed by Chris Noonan ("Babe") and starring Renee Zellweger (in the title role), Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson.  Part historical depiction of the manners and mores of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, part love story and part artist's journey, this movie is the anti-thesis of the usual Hollywood offering.  To be certain, the starched collars and stiff upper lips of the early 1900s will seem unbelievably chaste to most viewers, but fans of Merchant/Ivory or Jane Austen will appreciate the sweet romance.

Zellweger puts on her best British accent again as the slightly eccentric spinster who falls in love with her publisher played by McGregor with earnest appeal.  The costumes and sets are flawless and the rural English countryside is breathtaking.

Potter was the J. K. Rowling of her day--wildly popular among children of all ages and earning buckets of money from her stories.  Her tender tales of rabbits and ducks and reflect her passionate interest at an early age for all creatures.  Her detailed illustrations are captured and even come to life in the film--illuminating her imagination and how involved she was in her creations.  In addition to her artistic endeavors, Potter was an avid nature conservationist.  Upon her death she willed 4,000 acres of land to the National Trust

The movie captures pieces of her childhood inspirations and the process of bringing her creature characters to life.   But more importantly, it chronicles the life of an artist who was able to go well beyond the constraints of her gender remain true to her heart and to live an independent life. In her time, this was an accomplishment more fantastic than anything experienced by Peter Rabbit!

Stella Louise

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A Pirate's Life for Me! Fashiontribes Life & Style finds third time is still a charm At World's End.

The third installment of the popular series based on the Disney theme park ride, At World's End ties up all the loose end left by Dead Man's Chest but leaves the door open just a crack for a potential fourth flick.  Will there be further adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow?  Johnny Depp has said he's willing to play the role indefinitely and box office returns--while not record-breaking as its predecessor--are strong.  Most movies don't make in their entire run what Pirates III has managed to rack up in its first weekend.

The "finale" is darker, deeper and more complex than the first two films.  Hidden agendas, secret alliances and shifting allegiances all weave together to form an intriguing tale.  Will Jack Sparrow be rescued from Davy Jone's locker?  Well, that's not in doubt since Depp features prominently in the marketing and trailers.  Will Elizabeth and Will finally be united?  Again, another no brainer.  But while some of the outcomes are a foregone conclusion, the zig-zaggy plot takes us on quite a ride nonetheless.

All the favorite are back--Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightley), Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgard)--as well as Norrington, Beckett, Gibbs, Ragetti and Pintel, Cotton and his parrot, the wenches and that cheeky monkey.  In addition a number of new characters are introduced notably Chow Yun-Fat as the pirate Sao Feng and a cameo by Keith Richards as Jack's Dad. 

All in all the movie would have benefited by some judicious editing--at a whopping 168 minutes it becomes more of a test of endurance than a thrill ride.  Also some of the fight scenes are shot and edited in such a way that it's confusing to follow.  At times the spectacle becomes an overwhelming sensory overload.  But in the end, it's still a must-see.  The plot is complicated but interesting, the dialogue sharp and witty, the acting top-notch, the special effects are stunning and the action sequences enthralling. 

Kudos to Oscar-nominated writers (Shrek) Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio for the intricate and intriguing plot and plumbing the psychological depths of their characters.  I've had the most enjoyable opportunity to meet Ted and Terry and I have to say that it would be difficult to find two nicer people in Hollywood.  In addition to writing kick-ass scripts for blockbuster movies, they both devote a lot of time to mentoring aspiring screenwriters.  Between their Wordplay website and the Artful Writer (Ted's web venture with writer Craig Mazin), they have selflessly shared their knowledge and experience.

If I had to grade the Pirates movies, it would be B plus for Curse of the Black Pearl, A minus for Dead Man's Chest and a solid B for At World's End. Whether At World's End is truly "the end" of the Pirates saga remains to be seen, but as it stands it's a worthy addition to the Pirate "canon."

Stella Louise

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Provoked--coming to theaters May 11th. A FashionTribes Lifestylist movie review!

Provoked is the story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia who, after suffering 10 years of spousal abuse and degradation, is sentenced to life in prison after she sets her husband on fire while he slept. Set in London in 1989, the story has similarities to the famous Farrah Fawcett TV movie, The Burning Bed. While the story is not cinematically groundbreaking, the actual case helped redefine the legal term of “provocation” in the United Kingdom in cases of wife battering.

Under English criminal law, a person who intentionally kills as a result of “provocation,” will be convicted of manslaughter and not murder. The law's interpretation of what constitutes provocation, however, was very narrow, requiring a "sudden and temporary loss of self-control.” If there is a time delay between the provocation and the victim's response—as in Ahluwalia’s case where there was a two-hour delay from the most recent incident of abuse until her reaction--the law will tend to deny the defense to the woman who has been provoked.

Kiranjit Ahluwalia was eventually released from prison after the charge was changed from murder to manslaughter and she was credited with the three plus years she had already served. The film deals not just with the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband or the efforts of the Southhall Black Sisters to obtain justice for her, but the transformation she experienced in Mullwood Hall Prison where ironically she is freed from being trapped in a cycle of silent victim hood to growing strong and giving voice to her story.

Provoked is also somewhat groundbreaking in its release in India—a country currently in an uproar over a public kiss planted on Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty by actor Richard Gere. The film was originally given an A-rating (Adults only, or the equivalent of an R-rating in India) by the censors. The director decided to cut out the "four letter word" and the film was then given a U/A rating, equivalent to a PG-13. Ahluwalia traveled to back to her native India to promote the film’s release. She hopes the film will raise more awareness about the issue of abuse of women and said in an interview,

“The government should do something about this; they should educate women so that they don't suffer all this. Thousands of women suffer every year because of dowry, which is wrong. We are in the 21st century and if our women are suffering so much then this is very wrong.”

The movie, scheduled to be released on May 11^th in New York and Los Angeles and limited national release on May 18th, stars the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai as Kirinjit and Lost hottie Naveen Andrews as her abusive husband Deepak. Strong supporting performances by the wonderful Miranda Richardson (The Crying Game) as Kirin’s cellmate Ronnie--also incarcerated for the murder of an abusive husband, Rebecca Pidgeon (The Unit) as the barrister who provide Kirin’s initial defense and a masterful Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter) who plays the Lord Edward Foster who pleads the case for Kirin’s appeal add to the film’s appeal.

Provoked was adapted from Ahluwalia’s autobiography “Circle of Light” by Carl Austin and Rahila Gupta and directed by Jag Mundhra. Unfortunately, while the story is not new and acts of abuse are far too prevalent all over the planet, Provoked ultimately is an uplifting saga with a strong message. As the character of Kirinjit Ahluwalia says in the movie following her release from prison,

“It is our responsibility as mothers to raise our sons to treat women with love and respect not violence and anger. Only then will the suffering end.”

Stella Louise

 

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PS Arts Charity and LA Antiques Show Hang Out at the Barker Hanger for Charity! Fashiontribes Life & Style Blog

PS ARTS CHARITY and The L.A. Antiques Show at the
Barker Hanger opened this evening with a terrific
pre-party preview for the next 4 days of the show.
Dealers from all over the world showed their fabulous
wares, and some stunning estate jewlery to a packed
crowd, which included Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Steven Weber and wife modeling some of the jewelry,Debbie Mazure (wearing a red turban) and (the
model/actress on Las Vegas--- Molly Sims? Terrific
cocktails and passed food kept a very young and
beautiful crowd lively and happy, which led to a very
spirited silent auction, all to benefit the PS Arts
charity.  Runs through Sunday, GO! It's an event NOT to be missed!

Taking place at Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Air Center, show hours are from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm on Thursday, 4/26, Friday, 4/27 and Saturday, 4/28. Show hours on Sunday, 11/29 at 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. Ticket prices will be $15 for daily admittance, which includes the show catalog.The Antique Dealers Association of California, founded in 1924, is a group of knowledgeable dealers pledged to integrity and fair dealing in the buying and selling of antiques. Members are experts in their individual fields with inventories ranging from 17th century baroque to Americana, from 18th century ceramics to fine rugs and textiles, from fine art to Asian antiquities to 20th century photography and design.

P.S. ARTS mission is to restore arts education programs to public elementary and middle schools in disadvantaged areas, predominantly serving children who live at or below the federal poverty level. This non-profit organization accomplishes this by providing comprehensive, sequential and grade-level appropriate programs in dance, music, theater and visual arts to every child at its 24 partner schools throughout the year from September to June. Since it’s founding by Paul Cummins in 1991 at Crossroads School, P.S. ARTS has positively impacted the lives of tens of thousands of children. Currently, the organization serves 14,000 Pre-K-8 grade students throughout Los Angeles County and California’s Central Valley. P.S. ARTS strives to raise more money to provide even more children with its critical educational tools.

Karina Mediate

FashionTribes Lifestylist parties it up with the Tribeca Film Festival!

In NYC?  Need an idea for something fun to do?  Get on over to the Tribeca Film Festival!

If you're a New Yorker--or in town visiting--you may want to check out the Tribeca Film Festival.  Starting now through May 6th, the the Tribeca Film Festival features over 200 films selected from over 5,400 entries!  But the festival is much more than just movies--with the TribecaESPN Sports Saturday, Tribeca Family Festival, presented by American Express, the Tribeca Talks panel series, music events, special presentations for working and aspiring filmmaker--there's something for everyone!

Just some of the offerings on tap at this year's event:

TRIBECA FOR FREE 

http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tribeca-for-free.html

You don't need a ticket to everything! Not only do we show movies, we’re also committed to giving back to the community that hosts us every year by offering these free events (Spider-Man 3 Premieres, Tribeca Drive-In, Film Technology Workshops, and many more!) 

FAMILY FEST

http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tff-familyfest.html

Round up the kids and join Tribeca for international family films and neighborhood events including kid-friendly programming and Family Festival   Street Fair with family-oriented activities!   

STUDENT DISCOUNTS:

http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tff-students.html

Another great reason to be in a student! Tribeca is offering half price student tickets that are now available for all Regular, Matinee, and Family Screenings (Valid Student ID required).

For more info and ticket sales, check out Tribeca Film Festival website and if you go and you see Robert DeNiro, tell him Stella says "Hi!"

Stella Louise


 

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New on DVD--martial arts flick "The Challenge"

When I was approached to review this DVD, I thought "Why not?  I loved Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero--even enjoyed Fearless and Kung Fu Shuffle.  I'm up for watching a kickass karate-chopping judo flip fest."  I should have said I'm up for a GOOD kickass karate-chopping judo flip fest, but ah details, details...

Anyway, The Challenge is a German martial arts flick (aka Kampfansage - Der Letzte Schuler) starring--well, a bunch of people you've probably never heard of since they're all German.  It is set in Berlin in the year 2045 after natural disasters and economic collapse have destroyed civilization.  Vicious warlords rule the planet--without guns.  There are no guns in 2045--a fact announced in the opening voiceover.  Why you ask?  Because everything is about hand-to-hand combat in 2045 and if people had guns, then they'd just pull an Indiana Jones and shoot their opponent as he was crouching in his martial arts attack stance--and what fun would that be?

Actually there is ONE gun which is deployed by Kleo, evil nymphomaniac sister of warlord Bosco (I'm guessing that means something TOTALLY different in German because being named after a chocolate syrup isn't a fearsome thing here in the USA), to assassinate the martial arts master who killed their father as well as his last student (hence the subtitle Der Letzte Schuler).  The incestuous duo (that's right--incest, nymphomania, assassinations, torture--these are REAL bad guys!) steal the martial arts bible from the master and head back to their castle to build their ultimate and unstoppable army. Unfortunately for them, Jonas the student recovers from his wound and sets off to recover the book and put an end to their evil empire.  Along the way he teams up with siblings Vincent and Marie (hereafter known as the NON-incestuous duo) and builds a little army of his own.

I watched this with the English dubbing mostly because I didn't want to use my brainpower reading subtitles.  No doubt something is lost in the translation--although I doubt the dialogue was Oscar-worthy in any language--and the voices of the English speaking actors don't quite mesh with the characters on screen, thus heightening the cheese factor.  So you have a Swiss cheese plot (because it's full of holes--get it?!!!), clunky dialogue, wooden acting--what do you expect for a movie made for about $400,000?  That's less than half of Steven Seagal's paycheck--and unlike Seagal and his paycheck, this movie isn't a bloated mess.  It's a mess, but not a bloated one.  If you're a diehard martial arts fan, you do get plenty of that.  The plot is mainly filler to set up the fight scenes with kickass choreography culminating with a rooftop battle between good (Jonas) and evil (Bosco). 

If you loved the grace and poetry of Crouching Tiger or Hero, this isn't the movie for you.  But if you can sit through a Bruce Lee chopsocky marathon and be hungry for more an hour later, then it might be worth it to add The Challenge to your Netflix list.

Stella Louise

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Want to Give MOM the Gift of Her Dreams? Enter To Win A Trip for Mom & Daughter/Son to the Big APPLE for the DREAMGIRLS DREAM BIG GIVEAWAY!!! Fashontribes LIFESTYLIST DREAMGIRLS Dream Big Blog!

In  honor of Mother's Day and in conjunction with the release of Dreamgirls on DVD, Glam.com  would LOVE to send one LUCKY reader  and their mom to New York City for a day packed with pampering and fun.

What the winner gets:

* A trip for him/her and his/her mom to New York City (Airfare for 2)
* at the luxurious Dream Hotel ( 1 room/1 night)
  * Makeovers for him/her and his/her mom (2)
  *Tickets to a Broadway show (2)

  * Dream Big gift bag
  * Dreamgirls 2-disc DVD
  * Dreamgirls 2-disc Soundtrack
   * Exclusive Dreamgirls Playbill
   *  Dreamgirls Coffee Table book

When?
This  promotion is in progress NOW  and will run until May 31st.

For more  information AND TO ENTER THIS CONTEST, you can go to www.glam.com/dreamgirls

Start DREAMING Chiquitas and ENTER this contest! It never hurts to dream and this is a BIG dream, so dream BIG!

Calling All Musicians!!! FashionTribes Lifestylist MUSIC Alert...

Would you like your music in a movie?!!!

Geffen Records is calling all musicians for the chance for their music to be placed in the upcoming live-action comedy adventure of Bratz: The Movie which will be hitting theatres nationwide on August 10th through Lions Gate Films. The soundtrack will be available through Geffen Records on July 31st.

Musical submissions will be reviewed by top A&R executives at Geffen Records from now until the deadline of May 15th.  If you've always wanted to get your music in front of a major record label, this is your opportunity and a chance to be discovered!

Here’s how it works: 

Musicians can go to the following website www.bratzsoundtrack.com and enter their contact information, including their URL, where the A&R department from Geffen Records will review the music. If the music is accepted, a representative from Geffen Records will contact the artist and award them placement into the film and or soundtrack, where their music will be placed along the music of artists signed to Interscope, Geffen and A&M.

Rules and regulations apply. Please go to www.bratzsoundtrack.com for complete information.  Good Luck!

Stella Louise

 

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Go GREEN--FashionTribes Lifestylist takes a look at the Sundance Channel's series promoting environmental awareness. Fashiontribes Lifestylist GREEN blog!

Newsflash--earth tones are in this spring!  And why shouldn't they be?  With April 22nd designated as "Earth Day" this year, the Sundance Channel shows off its sense of style with an ongoing series highlighting environmental issues titled "The Green."  Debuting Tuesday, April 17th at 9 pm, The Green will feature a variety of environmental subject matter every week through July.

Some of the episodes will feature celebrity "ecoists" (not to be confused with "egoists") such as Tim Robbins, Daryl Hannah, Josh Lucas, Amber Valletta, Laura Dern, Gabrielle Reece, Woody Harrelson and Ted Danson sharing ideas, information and enthusiasm for their cause of choice. 

For more information on the programming and episodes, check out The Green and tune into the Sundance Channel!


Stella Louise

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