Girl stuff: My top five right now

Number one: Mumblecore

Now, don't get me wrong I understand that by definition I probably do not fit into this 'group' especially as I am a little 'older' than many of the filmmakers that defined this genre but hey I found it and I love it and I've always wanted to make films. I think I have one in me, maybe that's my next step. Although be warned, 'maybe that's my next step' is a phrase currently free falling from my mouth wherever I am, whomever I'm with!

I currently have a little bit of a girl hero crush on Lena Dunham. I say girl to emphasise that the stuff I am exploring in this post is really all the coulda, woulda, shoulda stuff missing from my youth. I'm pretty sure the moment's passed for all this stuff in my life but I am indulging myself, this is the stuff that is making my heart go skippety, skip skip skip! If I could make Lena Dunham my friend and hang out with her for a few days, with my notebook in hand, I could become the 'woman' version of Lena Dunham. It sounds a bit superhero ish doesn't it? Well, I've been thinking about it a lot!

Number two: Longboarding

It is a time in my life where I realize that it is important to regain my fitness levels. I say regain because when I was at uni some sixteen odd years ago I had to use a bike as a means of transport and I got really fit, I then added some Jane Fonda aerobics and I got abs and great triceps!  Also eight years ago when I conceived my first child I was really fit and I maintained that till he was about two years old. In my mind I had hoped that these periods of fitness were not too far apart for my 'muscle memory' to have expired but alas it was only when I began typing that I realized how long ago these periods of being fit were. Defeated, me? No way. Since discovering this Longboard Girls Crew I have been inspired to get try and get fit again. You can't do cool impromptu youthful stuff when your stomachs get in the way and no my use of plural in 'stomachs' is not an error! My get fit plan has had a little interruption but I'm using some very helpful and effective knee strengthening exercises from my youtube physio and after a few days of rest and gentle strengthening I think I'm ready to do some fat blasting! Once I'm feeling a little fitter and free-er, I'm taking my board on a long ride! This is a metaphor, it's very unlikely I will actually get on a long board! I can't even skate! 

Number three: Drawing 

I came across the work of Illustrator Fiona Biddington and I love it! Not much else to say, it's just my kind of thing. I love her style, her comprehensive body of work, the way she has work divided easily into themes. It is very much how I would like to work, with clarity and self discipline within the the very free framework of a wiggly drawing style.

Number four: Words that conjur a thousand stories

I read an interview with textile designer Isabel Wilson by Nina Schwarz in Freunde von Freunden magazine and her words greatly inspired me! The first question that she is asked by Schwarz is: 'When you were a child, what kind of textures awakened your curiosity to create?' This nostalgic and beautiful and inquisitive question in itself got me excitedly thinking about what my own response would be and Isabel Wilson's response had me yearning  to gather and store, gather and store. Her response to the question is this:

'The need to collect runs in the family for sure. My dad was an inventor and an avid collector of unusual treasures. His office was literally stacked high with slide drawers that he compulsively catalogued all of his many collections. Each drawer had a carefully rendered label that he drew by hand with his Rapidograph pens and inside there could be anything from paper clips, rare gems, humorous newspaper clippings, special tools, even stale gum. Somehow, everything was treated with equal care, which gave value to the more ordinary objects. I loved being sick because that meant I got to spend time with my mom and dad at the office and dig through it all. He had a sign on the door that said, “The creative mind needs stuff,” or something like that…'

My response to hearing Isabel speaking about the objects and people and experiences that inform her creative process reminded me that 'the work' isn't always about the end product. Her words served as a delightful reminder of how important it is to embed enjoyment in the process of 'making'. For the process of making and creating to feel like breathing and part of my day to day, part of my history. I must remember this.

Number five: A hippy at heart

Since discovering the world of blogging I have come across hundreds and hundreds of beautiful blogs. People writing beautiful words, sharing amazing experiences, photographs and art work. There are so many talented people out there that in some ways you become a little blase. Well the other day I came across Anne Parker's blog citycountrycity and the experience was like a hot water bottle, a blanket, a great film, a good book, chocolate and ice cream rolled into one! In fact it was a wet and windy monday morning when I discovered it. I was just back from dropping the kids at school, feeling a little tired and feeling the great overwhelm of a monday morning and as soon as I read the first blog post, I stopped and made myself a hot chocolate and got myself a family favourite square knitted blanket and nestled down for some serious reading! It was this post in particular that blew me away! It reminded me of all the reasons that I got married when I was 20 years old, it reminded me of the simplicity of it all and how much I still really treasure that. I love the look of this special day and maybe in three years time when it's mine and my hubby's 20th wedding anniversary, maybe he'll wear a long beard and I'll wear a pretty dress and flowers in my hair and we'll stand in the outdoors and ask our friends and loved ones to share a mug of wine with us. If we do, it will be bliss.

A film to watch on my birthday

For a few years now, around my birthday I like to take a trip out with the intention of finding a new film to purchase and watch to mark the occasion. This is a tradition that was born pretty much around the same time that I had my first child. A time when I bid my beloved birthday voyage to the cinema farewell and in fact all of my cinema voyages were replaced with long hours of breast feeding and mothering. So, cinema trips of old were replaced by dvd's and boxsets in wild abundance!

This year on my film search I was delighted to very quickly discover the stunning Chico & Rita. I've only watched it once so far and I loved it! Generally when I'm asked if I have a favourite piece or genre of music/fashion time period/country/film etc I am struck dumb and can pull no evidence out of the bag to prove that I even have likes and dislikes nevermind passions. But as I sat watching Chico & Rita I realised I am a hideous romantic about Cuba, in particular 1950's Cuba (in which Chico &Rita is set). I love the dresses from this time, the fresh flowers adorning hair, the old standards sung into chrome microphones, the focused stories of unrequited love sung over and over again irrespective of the economic and political hardships (I only fantasise about Cuba pre-Castro, I don't do after 1959!) and above all, the lovely and varied mocha, choca shades of the cuban people that gives me a dreamy feeling of belonging. Sigh ... Chico & Rita, this birthday's special find.

Mid-August Lunch

I love it when you're browsing in a shop and something catches your eye and straight away you know you've found something really special. That's how I felt when I was looking for some fresh film inspiration the other day and I saw the cover of this dvd and I was sold! I LOVE it even more when you get that special something home and it yields more than your greatest expectations - it's the same with books.

Gianni Di Gregorio kills two birds with one stone, maybe even three birds for me because I love autobiography, food and the elderly and he does a beautiful job of telling an incredible story mixing all three ingredients to make the most superb Mid-August Lunch!

'I love thinking about my childhood because old age offers so little, so you wander back through the years. I love remembering.'

Quote from Gianni Di Gregorio's Mid-August Lunch

I disagree with the character here that 'old age offers so little', infact in saying so she makes me want to give her a big loving squeeze! On the contrary, I have all my life felt so blessed by the life experience of those who have already 'lived' and have so much to share and bestow. People like my Grandma Peppermint as well as strangers that I have sat next to on buses and trains and older men and women that I have met in parks or started chatting to after reaching high shelves for them in supermarkets. The very lovely Jean and her dog Jess, who I became close to after walking past her window daily when I used to take Zach out for a walk when he was really little. Our little greeting ritual began with a wave then developed to a stop outside her flat and eventually to her coming out to give Zach his pocket money, covering both Zach and I in her sweet kisses and comforting scottish lilt!

Mid-August Lunch is a film about matriarchy, about mothers and sons and about an only child. It examines our disregard for the elderly, how they are so often viewed as burdensome. I guess if you don't particularly like the elderly then this is NOT a film for you. I sometimes forget that not everyone is a fan of the elderly, something that I often discuss with my good friend Roxy. She works with the elderly and she is a person who effortlessly values and champions this group, I love hearing her talk passionately about their status and role in our society. (I'm sorry Rox that I can't remember the 'right on' term for the elderly, I suspect that I subconsciously refuse to retain it!) I once even suggested that in her spare time she could write a blog about the elderly, remember Rox?! Perhaps this was going a little too far but one of the key things that we talk about is the fact that it's not cool to like old people. Am I wrong?

Culturally, the UK does not have the best reputation for its care of aging loved one's in the same way that other countries have it much more culturally embedded. A country like Italy (the country in which Mid-August Lunch is set) has traditionally taken care of its elderly (ie adult parents and adult children commonly co-existing under the same premises) however globally there are real concerns about 'what to do with them' particularly in the context of a busy culture which finds people juggling work and childcare and there being very unclear and undefined roles for this line of duty. I worry about what will become of all of these amazing and sure ... sometimes repetitive individuals. My sisters have often joked that our mother will end up with me as she grows elderly and to be honest I have always built that into my subconscious when I have loosely thought about the future, doesn't everyone?