2016-07-30

GENIUS

Literally <Genius> is a bromance and a stirring drama about the complex friendship and transformative professional relation between the world-renowned book editor Max Perkins (Colin Firth) who discovered F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law). Finding fame and critical success at a young age, Wolfe is a blazing talent with a larger-than-life personality to match. Perkins is one of the most respected and well-known literary editors of all time, Wolfe and Perkins develop a tender, complex friendship. Transformative and irrepressible, this friendship will change the lives of these brilliant, but very different men forever.


Set in the 1930s Manhattan, the film transformed from black and white to sepia tones. The two men formed a bond that ran deep, collaborating on the first two of Wolfe’s four novels, “Look Homeward, Angel” and “Of Time and the River”. Their professional relationship lasted for less than a decade, but its impact would resound on both men’s lives until their deaths. Against Perkins’ protestations, Wolfe dedicated “Of Time and the River” to his editor.


One of the scenes that showed Perkins was exacting editorial brilliance while his daughter remarks on his manuscript when he was editing one of Wolfe’s difficult to edit novel “That’s a very long paragraph” and Perkins replied “It started four pages ago”. Beyond Wolfe’s genius that the message was brought to the audiences that fact that he was hard to rein in. Director by British theatre director Michael Grandage for his first feature film, a movie about book editing may not sound promising on the excitement scale and <Genuis> seeks to honor worthy subjects. The film filled with literary heavyweights but is light on insight yet never gets close enough to the titular quality to make watching worth the effort as it is not as smart and slick as it should be. Genius can’t live up to its title but just a little more than a lovely bore.


Review: 2/5
Opens Citywide: 4th Aug 2016


2016-07-29

fango ESSENZIALI ENERGIZE Face & Body Mud Mask

Created by the pioneer of the first ever face and body mask, Borghese is excited to introduce fango ESSENZIALI, a NEW mud mask line that incorporates powerful ingredients with advanced formulations. Delivering a revitalizing surge of skin awakening ingredients, the ENERGIZE mud mask transforms skin from dull and rough to luminous and glowing in as little as five minutes. Use alone or in tandem with other fango ESSENZIALI masks for a multi mask treatment that enhances benefits and results. 5 Minutes to WOW! The instant the mask is applied, relaxation meets the delivery of enhanced skin care benefits, bearing WOW! results for the skin, senses and the mind. fango ESSENZIALI produces a curated assortment of prestige skincare treatments rooted in 30-year history of mask authority. Products blend authentic Italian ingredients, nourishing minerals, and natural botanicals with advanced science to improve the look, feel, and function of the skin – delivering WOW! results to the skin, senses and the body in as little as five minutes.

SAINT LAURENT CABAS YSL

 Designed in 2012 and then revisited in 2015, the Cabas YSL is the House’s most iconic cabas-style bag featuring the famous Monogram. In 2015, the “Downtown Cabas YSL” version was created: the classic Saint Laurent Cabas but with added volume, making it even better suited to the demands of daily life. The shape and functionality that make it one of the fashion house’s classic pieces remain unchanged, but its sides open out for even more space and an “undone” Saint Laurent look. 


The original version remains a classic of the fashion house, and this season it is once again available in several versions and in the Saint Laurent colour ranges. The suppleness and excellent quality of the leathers needed to produce this bag make it the essential cross-body cabas.


Adorned with a YSL logo, fully closable with a metal zip, and with a functional interior, the Cabas YSL comes in two sizes, Small and Baby. The bag’s decorative finishes are available in gold, silver or matte black, depending on the different materials.


Gian Paolo Barbieri For BVLGARI x Amanda Wellsh

Born in Milan in 1938 to a family of textile wholesalers, Gian Paolo Barbieri is one of the most famous fashion photographers. As a child, his first passion was the theatre; he studied acting and staged romantic dramas with a group of friends. He soon also became interested in films and trained as a cinematographer and a costume designer. He was particularly keen on the cinema of the fifties, with stars such as Ava Gardner or Lana Turner, whose beauty is made even more unforgettable thanks to the special lighting which highlighted their unique appeal. During the sixties and the seventies, Bulgari jewels starred in unforgettable photographs, interpreted by exceptional muses such as Benedetta Barzini, Capucine, Isa Stoppi, Mirella Petteni, Astrid, Marisa Berenson, Charlotte Rampling, Ivana Bastianello and many others. For Barbieri, Bulgari jewels, “fistfuls of stars in the eyes”, had to be celebrated by the model in all their strong personality. It was crucial to choose the right person to create the perfect shot which expressed the timeless beauty of the jewels through the beauty of the woman who, by wearing them, gives them life, pulsing with light and colour.


Today the Bulgari creations of the Heritage Collection once again shine before Gian Paolo Barbieri's lens, worn by the Brazilian top model Amanda Wellsh. Her intense gaze is a charismatic counterpoint to the distinctive design of the jewels. In Barbieri's approach, the simplicity of the model's clothes and make-up allow the beauty of Bulgari's Heritage jewels to take centre stage.


All the distinctive elements of the Maison's style and creativity are featured: the snakes of SERPENTI are coiled sensuously around Amanda's neck and arms, the coins of the MONETE collection add contemporary regality, the bold colour combinations with cabochon stones convey a typically Italian joie de vivre, the splendid tremblant brooches and diamond creations illuminate an atmosphere that is nearly dreamlike. The poses, natural and spontaneous, communicate another unique characteristic of Bulgari creations: their wearability. The sublime expression of the taste and personality of a woman, the jewel becomes a second skin, a precious ally in seduction, to captivate with the awareness of her appeal.


2016-07-28

Vivienne Westwood SS2016 Men Collection

 Politicians are Criminals. Say CRIMINALS. Just keep saying it until it becomes automatic. It will build awareness of the DANGER we’re in. These Criminals cause Climate Change. This means mass extinction of the life forms of our planet – including us.


Soon we won’t be able to stop it. It will happen fast. Politics has been hijacked by criminals. Politicians! Let’s call them Criminals.

  
On the campaign we will invite the public to identify who are the real politicians. We will respect them and call them Politicians.The Criminals are playing a game together with the Giant Monopolies and the Central Banks. We are the pawns. They refer to us as “the Herd”. We are disposable. They are anti-people and pro-profit.


They are above the law. They change the rules whenever they want. In recent years our Human Rights have been disappearing fast. The mainstream media help them to fool us, e.g. they accept Austerity and pretend it is a way of saving money – so people think yes, they’re saving money, balancing the books. But Austerity is just a way to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich.

  
The Criminals are now so proud of their criminal status that they show us their hand. I never thought they could be so sure of winning; but now their interest is so completely merged with the Monopolies and Banks. The Bank is set up to win.


 If you don’t know already, please take time to inform yourself on the Internet of the criminal maneuvering regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). This would give the Giant Monopolies the right to wreck the planet. None of us would be able to stand in their way. Our freedom would be gone.



Roulette Wheel: the croupier is the Joker who represents the mainstream media. What is he offering us? We have no choice according to the Game that is being played; between the Criminals, the Giants and the Bankers there is no choice, they are the same people.


Checker Board/Destroy: empty except for the Faceless Evil – the Central Banks. If the Game continues to transfer money from the poor to the rich the only thing left will be the Faceless Evil. There will be no market left to exploit. Fight to Win! To find out how the central banks run the financial system and rule the world go to www.climaterevolution.co.uk



Dom Pérignon In High Definition

 The experience of the Dom Pérignon Second Plénitude unfolds in a high-definition universe, both intense and penetrating. Dom Pérignon’s energy signifies an art de vivre oriented towards the future, an intense personal freedom and luxury. Unrestricted, the experience is timeless, focusing on the essentials of the wine, and the essentials of Dom Pérignon, suggesting a territory of curved steel, modern and lively. This facet of the brand underscores the avant-gardism of Dom Pérignon. 16 years ago, the wine was created to one day project the future of the Second Plénitude, a differentiation with its share of surprises. Today Dom Pérignon in Second Plénitude uniquely sets the tempo, the pace of time. To take part in the experience is to exalt the ideas of the time - those that push concepts to the maximum in all their dimensions. Purified and drastic, the exploration of Dom Pérignon through the Plénitudes lives in the luxury of discretion, the absolute mantra of desirability.


The First Plénitude is revealed after at least seven years of maturation on the lees, depending on the vintage. The wine then embodies the perfect balance of Dom Pérignon, its greatest promise. This is Dom Pérignon Vintage, the Plénitude of harmony. The Second Plénitude asserts itself after a minimum of 12 years of maturation on the lees. In this window of expression, the wine is majestic in its Dom Pérignon intensity. Here it expresses its scope, its expansion. This is Dom Pérignon P2, the Plénitude of energy. The Third Plénitude then comes after a minimum of 20 years of maturation on the lees. The wine now fully embodies another dimension where its essence enters the unknown. This is the Plénitude of complexity. After three metamorphoses, Dom Pérignon’s uniqueness is almost completely revealed and accomplished. Such a process can exist nowhere else. This is Dom Pérignon’s own creation, the “Power of Creation”.


During each of the wine’s Plénitudes, with an enlightened sense of drama, certain Dom Pérignon traits are distinguished without ever denying the others. Thus the way in which the wine reveals itself is different each time, yet so close. This process is the expression of a true vision of wine and veritable work of its architecture. The Chef de Cave is the master.


The First Plénitude (in 2005) of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1998 was a model of balance. After a moment of weightlessness, the palate was awakened by a youthful energy. In its Second Plénitude, invigorated by the additional years in the cellars, sixteen years of elaboration in total, Dom Pérignon P2-1998 brazenly transcends the potential of the vintage. The opposing and complementary elements of the assemblage resound for an increasingly sharp intensity. The aromatic persistence progresses like a wave that stimulates the penetrating nature of the wine. The energy reaches its climax. Exalted in this Second Plénitude, the dark, mineral, iodine, spiced singularity of Dom Pérignon vibrates higher and clearer than ever. Here the dynamic of the transformation is palpable, given that one day it will project us even further.


Another sunny vintage, or the diversity of fully ripe harvests of 2006 vintage, Dom Pérignon has dared to create no less than its fifth successive vintage champagne. The climate has continued to warm gradually since the 1990s. To date, the benefits for Champagne are unanimously recognized: in addition to more regular yields, we have also seen an improvement in ripeness and vineyard conditions. Of this unprecedented series of five vintage champagnes, four were harvested at a stage of intense ripeness. Such frequency has not been reported in more than three hundred years of champagne harvests. Yet to characterise full ripeness is complex. It embodies as many expressions all strongly affirmed as there are vintage champagnes.


Dom Pérignon Vintage 2006
The weather in 2006 was mixed, but warm and dry overall. While July was scorching hot, August was unusually cool and wet. The almost summery weather in September made the vintage possible by drying out the few patches of botrytis and maturing the grapes far more than usual. The harvest began on September 11 and lasted nearly four weeks.

Nose
The immediate impression is of the mildness of the pure, airy, bright bouquet. A floral, fruity pastel tone then unfolds and quickly darkens into candied fruit, ripe hay and toasted notes, along with hints of licorice.

Palate
“The wine’s opulence contained and succulent, round at heart reveals itself in the mouth.” The envelope slides and stretches, and the wine becomes more complex and edgy, silkier than it is creamy. “The whole eventually melts into an exquisite bitterness tinged with the briny taste of the sea.”

GUCCI SS2016 Men Détournement Collection


Détournement
“Détournement is the opposite of quotation” (G. Debord). It’s a kind of game that puts decontextualized fragments back into circulation - objects found by chance and torn away from their history, pre-existing entities that lose their original meaning. It is an act of taking and transposing, destroying and creating anew. It is a positioning in which negation and prelude coexist.


In this sense, détournement can be understood as an aesthetic practice that reconvenes dispersed fragments within a whole new meaning. Through a playful ability to intercept what exists and to reassemble it in an unprecedented frame of reference, each fragment acquires a vital new impulse.


 The result is a symphony of retrieved evidence where ancient meanings and emerging qualities cohabit - an eclectic polyphony in which living signs and worlds acquire new meanings and values.


The Men’s SS2016 Collection moves precisely in this direction. Each ensemble is constructed through combinations and juxtapositions of memories projected against a new poetic horizon. Poetic in its germination of entirely fresh meanings. Shapes, embellishments, details and techniques come together in a novel pattern, giving rise to shifts in perception.


From this point of view, the recovery of fragments from an “elsewhere” in space and time is not their return in identical form; it’s not a re-proposition of the past as an inert fact. Rather, it’s the renewal of possibility for what was. It’s the reinvention of stored-up occasions.


Memory is in fact a powerful instrument, capable of restoring to the past its sense of possibility (G. Agamben) and a new raison d’être. Within this frame, the playful practice of situational détournement yields a displacement of the gaze. Through the re-appropriation of discursive and decontextualized fragments, it establishes a new language, a new idea of beauty. But the compositional principle that substantiates it is not only aesthetic.


Détournement is also, and above all, a political device. Its strength lies in the possibility of transgressing what already exists and offering glimpses of new possibilities of freedom and emancipation.


It is a path that, in finding “the right sense of anachrony” (J. Derrida), is capable of establishing a new connection between the store of remembrances and that of dreams - and of reassociating, in new forms, the reservoirs of memory with the glimmers of imagination that urge us into the future.