Just a quick cross promotion for this mini vintage event held at Journey East Furniture showroom on 11th and 12th April 2015! I am bringing lots of cool jewellery so vintage lovers in Singapore, do drop by this weekend if you are looking for bargains in a homey relaxing atmosphere! Cash payment only, more info at lemonkitscharms.com
Preparing the jewellery.
Dates:
11th April (Sat): 11.00am - 6.00pm
12th April (Sun): 11.30am - 6.00pm Address:
Journey East Furniture
315 Outram Road #03-02, Tan Boon Liat Building
Singapore 169074
Directions:
-From Outram MRT
Take overhead bridge to opposite Outram MRT at Outram Road entrance, take bus 970 or 75.
Drop two stops at Blk 2B (behind Tan Boon Liat Building)
Cross Zion Road at traffic light and walk around to Outram Road to front entrance.
-From Tiong Bahru MRT
Take bus 5, 16, 33, 163, 195, 851
Drop one stop at Blk 1.
Walk along Tiong Bahru Road, past Zion Road, to Outram Road & turn left to front entrance.
OH MY. What in the world did I just watch?! Loved it by the way! This retro Japanese movie called 'Hausu' or 'House' from 1977, I thought it was bad and brilliant at the same time. Anyhow, a few days back my boyfriend shared some screenshots of an old Japanese horror movie he had watched on Hulu Plus, and figured it was to my taste: old-school music, bluescreen surreal stuff, like a retro horror manga... kitsch!
I asked, "Oh like the Umezu Kazuo Hyouryu Kyoushitsu漂流教室 (Floating Classroom) horror stuff where heads and eyeballs fly all around and kids eating one another?"
"Yeah something like that."
"Ok cool."
Hahaha.... totally Japanese old-school wierdness, I'm in. I'd like to do this style if I ever produced e a horror movie lol.
The story: Oshare (or Gorgeous in the English subs, though I think 'oshare' means fashionable) has a new stepmother named Ryoko, and not happy about it. Missing her dead mother, she writes a letter to her maternal aunt who lives in an isolated house and asks to visit for the summer vacation. Her aunt agrees. Gorgeous invites 6 other school friends to join her. The house ends up eating them in various gruesome but psychedelic ways.
First off, this movie is one strange specimen: mostly nonsense but I have watched other Japanese horror rubbish and Hausu is not that incomprehensible and pretty straightforward. The house and aunt is right off the bat 'not right'. It doesn't take itself too seriously and doesn't treat its audience as idiots. I like how the wierd narrative doesn't bother explaining itself. The names are easy to remember, entirely cheesy and caricature-ish but a good fit to the tune of the movie imo. I doubt girls with such clashing personalities will ever hang out in real life lol.
Looks like director Obayashi Nobuhiko decided to utilise whatever creative concepts came to his mind. The more experimental, the better! They almost remind me of student work. Great for people with short attention spans lol. I like the low-school (lowbrow & old-school!) effects. He worked as a tv commercial director so that was evident in his style perhaps?
The movie is graphic intensive: pop and psychedelia, manga style
illustrations, superimposition, the best parts are the visually strange ways of getting killed... script says you turn into a watermelon and get ate! How about getting swallowed by (of all things) a PIANO! Yup you should have ran when your fingers got chewed off by the keyboard! It must have been fun conceptualising it onto film, I can't imagine what was going on in their minds, or what they have been taking lol.
None of the scenes were especially gory because they were animated and resembled drawings. I found the overlay and blue paint chroma technique interesting, and cared more about the graphics than the plot itself. They also have a movie-within-a-movie scene, and even some shoujo elements! However if you mind nudity, please take note.
Hausu is one of those genre types that you either love or hate, and I can understand if anyone has some disdain for this film. Ok my review is biased because I like pop oddities... and kitties!
I enjoyed the visually-pleasing atmosphere, and the cast was eyecandy. The performances by the girls, however, were poor. They were amateurs (the actresses act as if they were in a commercial) so it was forgiveable; it did made the show comedic despite the gore. Maybe it wasn't supposed to be this cheesy but a serious look at household appliances finding ways to eat girls.
According to Wiki, Toho greenlighted the script because they were tired of making losses on comprehensible films, so they allowed this to happen by giving the youth demographic a shot at a plot that didn't make sense. The plan worked because despite bad reviews from critics back in the day, the film was successful amongst youths and has somewhat grown into a cult status because of its originality and uninhibited creativity. Understandably no one wanted to direct the film so Obayashi did it himself when Toho allowed him to do it 2 years after approving the script. His daughter came up with the story.
Spoilers alert:
About my favourite girl, that would obviously be Kung Fu. No, not because of her itsy bitsy shorts and damn fine face, but because her personality was appealing and better developed than the other girls who were more like giggly stick-in-the-muds. She was the only one who fought back. Also, cute riffs when she comes on! She also had more common sense - even more than that Prof girl. Best of all was her superhuman abilities - being decapitated by the lamp and torso-less, her legs had become a separate entity and fly a death kick to the villain. Too bad the legs couldn't win the cabinet lol.... just incredibly bizarre imagery.
As for memorable scenes, I give kudos to the piano eating Melody up, it seemed more detailed than the other girls' death scenes, with a bit more visual effects and props. They used many cuts (both film scenes and her method of death) but she didn't actually die like a normal person would. Her head still reacts even when her body was clearly in pieces just like Mac & Kung Fu. Her acting was terrible though.
An afterthought about the ending to Fantasy.... I am left
with question marks??? Maybe she fantasized she was Sleeping Beauty but
her knight in shining armour turned into a pile of bananas
(or squashed by them) so she died by sleeping forever and got ate. A hypothesis.
Also Prof who got killed in the cat's blood... well I think maybe it's
acidic (chemistry), that was why she was nude... her clothes melted away,
then she corroded away too because it looks like it. Yup.
If you find the screenshots interesting and you're keen for visual surrealism, old-school effects and don't want to use your brain too much, I recommend checking this little horror movie out!
Halloween is up next so this is a good time to post my Queen Mary photos from 2010! I was too lazy to post it then and only had it on Facebook albums. Better late than never.
The RMS Queen Mary is permanently docked at Long Beach California and reputed to be one of the most haunted ships around.
The ship's maiden voyage started in 1936 as an express transatlantic
passenger liner between Southampton and New York. She was converted into
a troopship in WWII and became known as the 'Grey Ghost' for her speed
and new camouflage colour. In 1942, she collided with her escort ship
HMS Curacoa, killing 239 British soldiers. The ship was ordered
fullsteam ahead nonetheless and to abandon survivors, many of whom were killed when the giant propellers cut through them. This is one
of the reasons why people believed the ship is haunted besides the other deaths onboard.
In 1947 she resumed passenger service, and her last cruise was on (get
this) October 31, 1967 (Halloween), arriving on Dec 9, 1967 at Long
Beach where she has been docked ever since.
You can freely walk the top deck and the next few levels like the hotel corridors, restaurants, lounges. The infamous pool area and lower decks are out of bounds unless on a guided tour. Here are rows and rows of carpeted corridor, it is easy to get lost since they look identical. It is very quiet and your ears may hurt from the silence. The hotel rooms are still functioning so you should be quiet anyhow.
We were there for the Coast to Coast AM 'Ghost to Ghost' live radio
talkshow broadcast and for me it was mostly to see a place of interest
in California that wouldn't require me to pay. The others wanted to see
George Noory lol. Guided tours have a fee so we skipped it and decided
to roam as not to make it a wasted trip since there was a small
paranormal convention going on, but it was badly organised and we backed
out very quickly after they wanted to charge us too
much money.
A banquet room. We peeked in, we were curious because it was so dark in there, I had to turn on the flash on the camera.
The bathrooms were nice, just dark and eerily quiet. It had one those annoying eco-lights that would turn off if it determined no noise = no people. We were deep in the ship so that was unsettling.
Deco style bins.
One of the exhibit areas.
Top deck.
One of the views overlooking Long Beach.
Life rafts on the sides.
You know Singaporeans call reversing a car 'Go Stun', actually it came from the phrase 'Go Stern' like the back of the ship.
In case you were wondering, yes we saw George Noory. There was actually a crowd gathering outside the small lobby and you can look through the glass window and watch them chat! And no, we did not see any lady in white!
We took photos of two vintage dolls on the day I was due to leave California, they were purchased from a thrift store. Who knows, maybe this is the start of my big eye doll collection! They are currently not for sale. I didn't bring them back with me to Singapore since my luggage was full.
The Made in Korea doll is probably Bradley (or Bradley style). Her right fingers are a little wonky in direction but she is so sweet anyhow. I have a similar doll at home since the 1980s which is fixed on a musical stand, and is also a money bank (no legs). Unfortunately she is in shambles and I will have to clean and repair her.
This beautiful doll is Jennifer from the 1970s. I spotted her (even with my bad eyesight) over at the shelf behind the counter the second I stepped into the store! Yup one of those times.
Unfortunately she has lost her belt. I am itching to make her some mod-style clothes as she has such a pretty smile. And definitely a hairclip... she needs one. Jennifer is from Uneeda and shares the same mold as Takara's Miss Long Hair.
Talking about hair, I did not buy her immediately but went back the next day after thinking long and hard that I really wanted the doll. Reason being, her hair was all tangled up and dusty and I'm picky about dolls with bad hair. Anyhow after getting her, I washed her hair & clothes, and attempted to detangle. I used some windex and rinsed the hair in water. Paper towel dry, then used some detangler (Victoria Secret's one... has a fragrance unfortunately) and a little baking soda to wash off the scent. Then I spent about an hour or two using a toothpick and my fingers to detangle and restyle, all air dried. When we took the photos, it was really windy and her hair got blown out of shape but the result's not too shabby I guess.
Hallo folks it is a nice sunny day today and not hazy from the crazy forest fires in Indonesia, it's been raining for a few days and that has helped settle the dust. Here's a friendly little shout-out to Joanne Loo from DeviantArt & Facebook who commented (on Facebook) that my blog was quiet for some time lol... I thought no one was reading anymore but I'm gladly wrong. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook links are somewhere on my side bar if you'd like to add me.
My sister wanted me to scan some of my dad's old photos so she can compile a memento album of sorts. Today is my dad's birthday and I missed posting this on Father's day. Above is a scan of my favourite photo out of the lot, taken in the mid-1950s in Egypt. I've been intrigued by the mysteries of the pyramids and Sphinx since a wee child! He had nothing to say about that visit only that the camels were uncomfortable to sit on... a typical response from my dad. Egypt was probably not as developed then, so there was nothing to see? He went on a short world tour (France, Germany, Sri Lanka, Egypt) by ship whilst he was still studying in Italy.
Does Paris still look like this?
His music teacher. I don't know his name unfortunately. This will be interesting to investigate.
Bought a few books recently, four are impulse buys from a library book sale (Riverside Library in California, folks) and the other two are for my art book reference collection.
I already have a copy of this but in a different cover! 1977 edition, 'All Things Wise and Wonderful' by James Herriot, I plan to read this on the plane back home. If you like animals, want some funny or heartwarming animal stories, I highly recommend his books. He was a country vet based in Yorkshire during the war period and mid-century, so this is semi autobiographical. This cost me a dime!
I think I read this 'James Herriot's Cat Stories' a long time ago. It's hardcover and 75 cents. The book contains short stories which are excerpts from his other books so it is suitable for younger readers. 1994 edition.
Beautiful cover, though the book is a little bashed up. Love the pink and I love the illustrations by E.H. Shepard. The Wind in the Willows stop-motion animation by Cosgrove Hall back in the 1980s is my favouritest animation ever! 1961 edition. I think I paid a quarter for this.
Don't know how I found this treasure since it was on its side, I only touched it because of the title in YELLOW on the binder lol. And surprise it is a cookbook illustrated by Peter Max (one of my fave artist)! 'Teen Cuisine: A Beginner's Guide to French Cooking' by Abby Gail Kirsch & Sandra Bangilsdorf Klein, 1969 edition. There are some food stains on the pages; and the illustrations are mostly small page decors on a few pages but that's ok. A buck!
Kay Nielsen, edited by David Larkin, 1975 edition. 40 plates of my favourite illustrator who belongs to the Golden Age of Book and Illustration. This compilation I read has a better quality printing than other art books of Kay Nielsen's work, so I bought it on Ebay although it was more expensive. I have known of his work for some time now but only digital images so this was going to be purchased sooner or later.
A page in the book.
The Unknown Paintings of Kay Nielsen, edited by David Larkin, 1977 edition. This art book features 42 of Kay Nielsen's unpublished illustrations for 'One Thousand and One Nights'. I also bought this on Ebay.
A page in the book, he does some very elaborate and beautiful motif designs in the borders for this collection.
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