Scarlett Johansson at The Oscars 2011

Scarlett Johansson turned up at the Oscars Red Carpet last night to present an award for best sound alongside Matthew McConnaughey, dressed in a purple Dolce & Gabbana lace dress with an open back. Smiling beside her agent who accompanied her to the awards (I KNOW RIGHT, WHY!!) you could almost forget that she split from hubby Ryan Reynolds just a few months ago. Though, nothing says "I'm moving on" better than looking stunning and better than Sandra Bullock, whom Reynolds was allegedly romantically linked to after the split. 

Check out more pics of Scareltt at the Oscars below:

The Oscars 2011 Red Carpet

A host of stars turned up to the Academy Awards last night, with red being the predominant colour worn by stars Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Lawrence and others.

Heavily pregnant Natalie Portman wore a fluid purple Rodarte gown which suited her body shape perfectly, and she won an Oscar for best actress in Black Swan. Wearing a similar shade of purple was Scarlett Johansson in a Dolce & Gabbana lace gown, presenting an award despite her father being ill in hospital!

Best dressed will again have to go to Mila Kunis, Portman's co-star in Black Swan, arriving in a lavender Elie Saab gown- THIS GIRL is working it this awards season- she looked stunning at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards too.

Winners at the Oscars include The King's Speech (Best director, male lead Colin Firth, best picture, original screenplay), The Social Network (Adapted Screen play, editing, original score), Toy Story 3 and Inception (Best Cinematography, Sound editing, Mixing, special effects).

Cute Animals: Baby Goats

The last cute animals blog of the month and I bring you cute baby goats! I didn't think I'd find so many cute pictures very easily but it turns out there were loads... I like the pics where they are cute and fluffy and they have these cute little horns sticking out!! Did anyone get to feed them milk at farms? Not sure if they do this anymore but I'd love to!

Which cute animal this month was your favourite? Leave a comment and let me know! Next month I promise you some exotic new animals :D

Check out the rest of the cute pics below:

Mask Series by John Stezaker

I went to see John Stezaker's exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery on Friday and here's my post on it! Stezaker is a British artist who primarily works in collage, using photographs and film stills to create new compositions. My favourite series is "Mask" as I find the work quite surreal and humourous, but extremely impressed by the attention to detail of facial shapes and features that he displays. 

With the new image on top, you can almost piece together a fictitious face for these people, obviously influenced by the nature of the image, but it is persuasive and changes perceptions. 

Check out some of my favourites below:

Portraits by Luke Rudolf

 

British artist Luke Rudolf creates these very stylised portraits using acrylic and oil on canvas. I like the haunting mood that the pieces evoke despite the colourful and exciting shapes that creates this. There is great attention to the forms that are produced, resembling facial features such as eyes and mouths using the expressive brush strokes. 

There is also an element of fracture and euphoria which I like and all these elements will definitely inspire my next art project.

Check out some of my favourites below:

Swarm by Tessa Farmer

 

The most impressive thing I saw at the Saatchi Gallery in London today was the installation by Tessa Farmer called Swarm. She creates extremely dynamic miniatures of characters she calls "fairies" that resemble skeletal alien forms, and her work showcases their predatorial invasion on insects, birds and mammals (her work was previous shown at the Natural History Museum).

I love the fact that the scale of things make this installation like a unique fantasy world where insects are preyed on and it is just fascinating staring at this animated set up. There is just so much going on, you can spend a long time admiring the detail and letting your imagination run wild, can conjure up stories and narratives of what is going on. 

Check out some of of the fantastic close ups below:

March of the Penguins DVD Film Review

I was interested in seeing this when I first heard about it and knew it was a documentary so didn't think it was really worth seeing at the cinema, so when the chance came, I watched the DVD instead and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

~~~THOUGHTS ON PLOT~~~

"This is a story about love" starts the documentary about the emperor penguins' treacherous journey to breed. Set in Antarctica where the penguins live, adults make an annual journey to the South Pole where they all gather to mate, producing one young a year. This documentary follows one cycle of breeding and rituals, revealing the beauty, danger and emotional stress that these animals can go through, in doing so, creating a roller coaster of emotion for us, as viewers.

America's Next Top Model Cycle 16 Episode 1 Recap

AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL IS BACK!! Cycle 16 sees 14 more girls try to win the competition to be the next top model. Like cycle 15, the winner will receive a spread in Vogue Italia and "Beauty in Vogue" along with a $100,000 modelling contract... so what's the twist in cycle 16?

Firstly, for casting, Tyra decides to let the 14 girls she's chosen THINK they've been eliminated to "toughen them up". Gathering them in a small room with their luggage, Tyra says "goodbye" before revealing the top model house behind a backdrop! Girls go into hysteria and pretty much all of them break down :P I thought they'd drag this out a bit more but... they probably only did this to cut down the audition episode.

Realising there are two beds short (only twelve) the girls freak out that there will be a double elimination. Tyra mail sends them to their first challenge/runway show/photoshoot where they meet Erin Wasson and will be wearing some of her jewellery. They will do a backstage photoshoot before going on the runway... with a twist- walking on a [12 inch wide?] plank on water inside a plastic bubble (like a zorb)!!

Molly and Britanni did a good job as they walked quite quickly and it was more of a fluid walk whilst the other girls took their time and was very clumsy... I guess that is why only two girls fell (Ondrei and Dominique), splashing and flailing about in the water was hilarious! All the girls got a piece of Erin Wasson jewellery so it wasn't really a challenge though Britanni would've won.

At panel, the girls' backstage photoshoot was discussed... The overall shoot wasn't at all inspiring and I don't think this episode on the whole really allowed the girls to show their true potential as the runway was rather fictitious and the shoot far too candid. 

Anyway, I liked Alexandria, Jaclyn, Molly's photos, the others weren't doing enough to love or hate- they were just THERE so many were just "pretty girl" photos but not really expressing anything... For some images, I did like Russel Jame's artistic direction and creativity, but the judges didn't seem to get it...

So... first girl called is... 

Paper Cloudscapes by Mia Pearlman

 

Mia Pearlman is an artist who is inspired by Cloudscapes, creating wonderful paper installations that resemble clouds and tornados. She has also completed a series of drawings, sketches and glasswork relating to this area. 

These pieces are extremely dynamic and use the space well, especially when they spread from corners, or have an epicentre by a window/source of light... 

Her work instantly reminds me of a recent artist I found called Vanessa Alarie, working in a similar way with paper, but creating slightly different, more organic installations.

Check out her work below:

Cute Animals: Baby Chicks

 

Guessed this month's theme yet? :W Anyway, this week I bring you small fluffy -as my friend calls them- farm critters AKA baby chicks. As much as I like the common yellow variety, the grey ones or the yellow ones with grey stripes/markings are SOO much cuter! 

With chicks though, they are literally soo fluffy and round and small you could fit it into your hand- Aww... I've never done that! D: Anyone know any farms I can get a chick from? But though when they're big (chickens) they're gross, so I can only borrow one.

Check out the rest of the cute pics and run to your nearest farm before the chicks run out!

 

Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)

 

Due to recent eruptions from the Sun causing disruptions to Earth's magnetic field/currents etc, the appearance of the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) was reported to possibly be visible in the UK and strengthened the regular display that appears in the North.

Since I couldn't see it for myself (BOO) I thought I'd look up some images as they are a truly stunning sight and whilst I don't understand all the science behind this, I can appreciate how spectacular it would be to watch. Maybe next time...

Check out a selection of my favourite images of the Northern Lights below:

Britney Spears Hold It Against Me Music Video

Britney Spears' latest music video for lead single 'Hold It Against Me' for upcoming album 'Femme Fatale' has been released. 

In the video, Britney is seen to arrive by some meteoric event as if returning from Mars from her 'Oops I did it again' video location. A swarm of naked male dancers flaunt around her as they start to put on clothes and as Britney sprays her fragrance, Radiance whilst wearing branded make up. Other products in the video include dating website Plenty of fish and a heavily advertised SONY which crops up almost every ten seconds or so.

There are some beautiful artistic elements that can be found in the video such as the microphones which frame her face and from a sneak preview trailer of Britney punching someone in the face causing them to fall with legs flailing. This turned out to be a Britney duo and in essence, the video is about Britney fighting (?) herself or combatting her image. The TV screens surrounding Britney which show her music videos from the past are hugely iconic and also reflect this idea. 

127 Hours Film Review

Based on a true story of climber Aron Ralston who's hand got trapped by a rock in 2003, 127 Hours is directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and stars James Franco (Spiderman series). It has received critical acclaim and since its release, has been nominated for six Academy Awards, eight BAFTAS and three Golden Globes. The sheer strength of this movie encouraged me to see this.

~~~THOUGHTS ON PLOT~~~

Aron Ralston (James Franco) has a fun filled weekend planned- climbing in the canyons of Utah. But all the fun he's going to have (some crazy mountain biking and swimming with two pretty girls) ends within twenty minutes, when a rock falls and traps his hand against the canyon wall.

The remainder hour and a bit represents the 127 hours (5 days+) in which his hand is stuck- his thought process, mentality and values all flood into his mind as he struggles to free his hand, his eager strive for survival bringing him to extreme lengths to obtain freedom.

Dry Your Tears by Lucas Simões

Another project by Lucas Simões sees the haunting treatment of photographic portraits by presumably burning through the eyes. Whilst the images themselves aren't of a particularly disturbing nature, the destruction of them using such a brutal media and to create such sensitive forms results in something quite grotesque but enchanting.

A person's eyes reveal a lot about their feelings and emotions, and carving them out with fire, only to leave a hole there almost takes away the person's identity, their soul. We wouldn't be able to tell who these people are, void of emotion but the emotion given to them through theirs that really cannot be "dried".

Check out the rest of the images below:

Unportrait by Lucas Simões

Whilst I am not at all interested in portraiture as a direction for my art exam project, I loved this series of reliefs by Lucas Simões, created by cutting through layers of photographs and images. This in essence is like the "peeling" back of a personality, each layer revealing something new about the person.

The shapes also add to this; the more unorganised the shape of the cut, the more "hidden" the identity- it requires more time to figure out what it represents, whilst the colour aids in locking away these layers by causing further abstraction.

Whilst I [probably] won't be looking at portraiture, the ideas found here will be most useful to developing my idea... 

Check out the rest of the images below:

Nicole Fox Misc Photos (Feb 2011)

Nicole Fox, winner of ANTM Cycle 13, can be seen in more misc photos. I'm not too fond of the whole car setup but the closeup shots of her are absolutely stunning; she looks like Blake Lively in those, which is funny as I thought she looked like Blake Lively during the cycle, especially when she donned a blonde wig for that horse shoot.

Either way, I'm extremely happy for her (she was my cycle favourite) as she continues to rise in the modelling world. Check out the rest of the shots below:

Avril Lavigne at the Brit Awards 2011

Avril Lavigne attended the Brit Awards tonight and presented fellow Canadian Justin Beiber with the Breakthrough International Artist award alongside Will Young. It was a shame Avril didn't get to perform her debut single "What The Hell", as it would've been amazing promo for her new album and she would've rocked it. Lavigne wore a black sparkly vintage Julien MacDonald dress.

After a recent trip to Japan and Paris, Lavigne is in London to promote her new album, Goodbye Lullaby, with interviews at BBC (Live Lounge?) and ITV, as well as hosting a preview party tomorrow- which I am ultra jealous I cannot attend so didn't bother entering the competition to win tickets :( BOO

Her new album comes out 7th March here in the UK, which is just 20 days away! Check out more pics below:

Heather Kuzmich by Petra Ford

 

Some shots of Heather Kuzmich has surfaced on Chicago Photographer Petra Ford's official website. She is seen having lots of fun with two other models but still selling the clothes. Some small thumbnails of other shots can be found on Ford's blog.

One of ANTM's favourite contestants, I'm very excited for her as she has continually been photographed and she even modelled Alexander McQueen! She can go so far!

Check out the rest of the images below:

Cute Animals: Baby Piglets

Baby piglets are probably one of the animals that are only cute when they're young. I don't think anyone thinks a grown fat pig is cute? I could be wrong... so this blog post is dedicated to the super cute young of these lazy things.

Made popular by the film classic "Babe", piglets are extremely dynamic and curious (it seems). One of my favourite pictures is the one where they are painting :3 Do you think they are cute?

Check out the rest of the images below: