re-fashioning rafael

rafael nadal at qatar exxonmobil open, doha. photo by julian finney/getty. via atptennis.com

my favorite tennis player has a new look. sleeves! i predict that once my friends (especially pia) catch wind of this (which, unless i decide to hang this photo in my cubicle, will be a long time, since not too many of them are keeping tabs on what goes on in doha, or at the australian open or anywhere, until roland garros so...if rafa keeps the sleeves through the french open) i will be asked by my friends for my opinion, and i will answer: i like them! maybe not the actual shirt, but the idea of a new look.

and he will likely keep it, as it is part of the effort to re-fashion his image and his game to be more like federer's: to elevate his stature, broaden his appeal, and ensure his longevity in the game.

do sleeves make the man? he already struck me as someone mature for his age--he's got the energy and enthusiasm of a kid, but he's seemed also respectful, level-headed and unspoiled (oh yes, and he's very good). and if folks choose to read into his lack of sleeves, then they'll probably read into these new ones. maybe they will be less distracted by what he wears, and just focus on what he does, and how well he already carries himself?

but probably the more meaningful change that fans can look forward to is the one they are attempting on court: re-tooling his forehand...ending points more quickly...making his game easier on himself.

if you're interested in full-color details, here's the link to the time mag article (though, i disagree with the whole "subversive instinct" characterization, as if it's subversive to simply be yourself? play the game the way you want? it's still worth reading.)

that article also links to a nice little gallery of "alternative" photos from wimbledon, including these two:

photo of nadal by glyn kirk, afp/getty via time.com

photo of rafael nadal's shoe...by ryan pierse, getty images via time.com

the year in sports photos

photo of kim sookyung by bill frakes/si

photo of japanese synchronized swimmer, by lorenvu/dppi-sipa/icon smi

i'm finally catching up with some of my reading material from late last year. i don't tire of "best of" or "favorites" lists -- especially from people i'm a little in love with and whose opinions i trust. i look forward to scanning the "year in review" issues of my favorite magazines (and try to note things i've missed!). one that i take special interest in is sports illustrated's "year in photos" issue.

it arrived a few weeks ago. and while i loved the tips and insight from the photographers, i thought that, overall, the issue was pretty disappointing. how was there not a single tennis photo? no nadal? fed? and gymnastics--no nastia? how could it be?

i tossed it into my unwieldy "to be recycled" pile.

but i picked it up again today, reminding myself that these guys know their stuff, believing that i had to be missing something. and i looked at it a few more times, and finally read the editor's letter.

i agree with terry mcdonnell: "there is nothing in sports journalism more powerful than a single image, the shot that defines the moment with detail, clarity, and nuance." i get all dreamy about the idea, and think, oh, i could look at photos for hours...but pausing to consider that si photographers shoot tens of thousands of pictures a week, and that photo editors review those and close to 100,000 pictures (a week) from outside sources, it's pretty damn humbling (though there are still a few i'd swap out).

here are links to si's "best of" galleries. there are actually many more great pictures online than were included in the (single-advertiser sponsored!) magazine.

maybe when you're flipping through, you'll consider what the editors look for when putting this collection together (which is what i should have done from the outset): "for pictures to be effective they have to be affective. they have to invoke a reaction--make you laugh, make you cry, make you cringe, make you linger just a little bit longer to absorb all they have to offer. if it's truly a special picture, it will grab your heart."

best shots of the year (from outside sources, getty, ap, etc)

si's greatest shots of 2008

and...tips from si photographers

perfect from now on

"perfect from now on," two color silkscreen, two poster set, by jason munn.

i was sitting in my parent's den last night, long after they had turned in, with my feet up and the football game on, decompressing after a week and a half of holiday festivities. i was missing our whole crazy extended family and dreading the upcoming work-week, but i also knew that tearing myself away from the trough (everyone "almost doesn't fit the pants," as my favorite tennis player would say), getting a bit more shuteye, and settling back into a routine, would be a fine thing. and as the night's solitude gave me a little surge of energy, i began to consider my new year's resolutions.

i'd actually been a bit distressed earlier in the week after realizing that not only had i failed to achieve some of my 2008 resolutions, i couldn't even remember all of them. oof. i told myself it wasn't such a big deal. i'd simply carry a couple of them over. but still, i felt a little bad about it.

tonight i was poking around on the internet and i found my way to jason munn's spare and beautiful work, and the poster he designed for built to spill. the title seems to capture the spirit of resolutions: to be, if not perfect from now on, then, at least, better.

in any case, my 2009 list: be on time (2008 remnant), read the paper before work (!), read the books already on my shelf (2008), practice the piano...

link to jason munn's design studio, the small stakes, here.

and a nice little q & a here.

winter a-go-go

i've got the day off today! woo hoo!

whenever i have a day off, pretty much the first thing i'll do is flick on the tv and see what's on tap on TCM. if i'm lucky, it's film noir day or myrna loy's birthday or they will program an entire day of melodramas from the 40s and 50s.

today, my little feet hit the cold floor at right around the usual time (8:30) and i tip-toed over to the tube, hit # 82 on the remote, and saw that "winter a-go-go" was on.

crap.

i'd never heard of it.

the tv guide said something about 1965, richard benedict, and kids at a ski lodge.

clearly it's b-movie day.

drat.

i just wasn't in the mood!

not 3 seconds later, they're heavy into a dance number, a dude and a bunch gals in very tight, very colorful pants, sweeping, dusting, shimmying and shaking their pretty asses around this "ski lodge." (they were the cleaning crew.) go-go dancing with brooms and dust rags! so silly. and so MY LIFE.

(put some music on, and i am a dancing fool. true story. and consequently, it takes me twice as long to get anything done--cook, clean, get dressed for work, wrap christmas presents, paint my apartment. i just can't help it.)

anyway, the next few minutes of the film were fairly awful, so off went the tv and my own dance party started up.

and it's gonna go on all day, while i bake a bermudian rum cake, and some other sweet treats for tomorrow's new year's party. we'll see how long the neighbors can put up with prince.

a note or two about the film:

tag line: "ski buffs and ski babes on the go-go in the snow-snow." wow.

it features beverly adams, who made uncredited appearances in a couple of elvis movies (roustabout and girl happy -- a fave! shelley fabares, so cute), and married vidal sasson...she's BEVERLY SASSOON!!!( "ooh la la sassoon!")

the film also starred william wellman, jr., who seems to have built a fairly successful tv career, and whose dad directed carole lombard in "nothing sacred," her only color film appearance...

street chic and hollywood glam

photo via the sartorialist, may 2007.

"on the street.....pixie, sodermalm stockholm."

posted may 11 at 8:00 am.

when i'm too too distracted or brain-numbed to read (or write), i troll design blogs and fashion sites for inspiration--not so much for fashion inspiration (while i do love looking at how the gals on street chic and the sartorialist combine colors, choose accessories, layer upon layer, that kind of unstudied chic or high style is not something i am apt [read: able] to mimic) but for pure, romantic, creative jolts.

the actual photos are glorious for light and color. i love that some are charmingly posed, others discreetly snapped...

it's lovely escapism.

i can imagine the kiss of an autumn breeze in paris...

the sartorialist via style.com september 30, 2008

or happily growing old in milan...

via the sartorialist, style.com, september 25, 2008.

i can witness "a moment"...

via the sartorialist at style.com, september 27, 2008.

i look at the backgrounds, the locations, and am reminded of my trip to france earlier this year and some of the things i loved: luxurious afternoons and evenings in outdoor cafes... blue-grey sky enriched by triumphant afternoon sun...mopeds and cool architecture... trees...windy strolls about the eiffel tower...crepes...

and sometimes from these blogs, i can uncover something new.

last week, i noticed the teaser for a post called "depression era beauties" that featured a famous george hurrell glamour shot of of jean harlow, and when i clicked through the accompanying slideshow, i fell in love with these photos of my favorite actresses:

myrna loy

carole lombard

i looked at the credits to note the names of the photographers, and found that more than a few were from the collection of john kobal. and i wondered, who is he?

it turns out he was a writer, film historian and the premier collector of hollywood film photography. if you read the bio on his foundation's website, you'll see he's basically a film superfan, who smartly amassed movie memorabilia, surely believing that others would share his obsession, and their preservation would be of eventual value to film historians and photographers.

there is a "made in hollywood" exhibition, featuring 90 vintage prints by some of the most important film photographers from the 1930s-60s that will open in may 2009, at the knoxville museum of art in knoxville, TN.

for a bit more context, check out this la times piece, first published in august 2008, when the exhibit opened in santa barbara.

exhibition "travel details" here.

and for a peek at photos from the accompanying book, "the glamour of the gods," visit newsweek's gallery.

i saw "the big picture"...

on boston.com, and i was so riveted by these photos of our president-elect, i burned my dinner.

it was hard to pick a favorite, so i chose two...

i love yellow. ("yellow is the color of sunshine. it's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.")

taken during a campaign event at colorado state university, october 26, 2008 in fort collins, colorado.

photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

and i think this is just a fantastic moment...

taken at ebenezer baptist church, after the announcement that obama would be the next president of the united states.

(ap photo/pouya dianat, atlanta journal & constitution)

RMS, R.I.P.

on monday, the department that i have been proud to work for and with for the last 21 months, was dissolved as part of a company-wide cutback. extraordinary people have lost their jobs.

i will miss laughing and lunching and brainstorming and bitching and whining and woohooing...

and the shouting and the stress and the silliness...

and participating in, and bearing witness to, all manner of hilariously inappropriate behavior.

as you can see from the video, which features several of our team members, we had a hell of a lot of fun.

i am lucky to have had them in my every day life.

and now, my heart hurts.

"paradiso" found!

i decided to be a sommelier for halloween (i went home, changed into a fresh white shirt, and opened a bottle of spicy mallorcan red...)

and then i parked myself on the couch to watch cinema paradiso.

friends of mine have raved about the film for years--that i'd love it, that it would be one of my favorite movies of all time. i think it's part of the reason i passed on seeing it until now. all that buildup--could the film live up to it?

and then there's the crying. everyone cried, but my sister is my barometer (i cry watching little house on the prairie; she rarely tears up), and not only is cinema paradiso one of her favorite movies, she bawled. i was sure to be a wreck. and i just haven't been in the mood for that.

well...i DID love it! and i held up throughout (a few tears here and there), but with the final scene came the flood. jacques perrin watching that kissing montage--how he shifts in his seat... his hands..and his eyes, rimmed with tears that you can see a-glimmer in the dark--with that sweet, haunting morricone soundtrack soaring ...it might be one of my all-time favorite film scenes.

here it is (starting at 4:51):



you tube video via foreign classics

************

i spent most of this morning thinking about the movie and wanting perspective from past reviews. I pulled two favorite books off my shelf (pauline kael's "for keeps," and anthony lane's "nobody's perfect) and was surprised and sorry that neither volume featured a review of the film.

so i googled. vincent canby pretty well hated it back in 1990 (nytimes subscribers can login to read it). (i wonder if his opinion changed at all after that?) but also on the times site was a brief clyde haberman piece about writer/director giuseppe tornatore. it's a nice little primer about the sicilian native and the early history of the film (written before the oscar win). the bits about the italian film industry are dated, but it still makes me wonder what movie-going has been like in sicily in recent years?

*****

i loved the dozens of film clips within cinema paradiso, but this one left the deepest, happiest impression:




youtube video courtesy of jack11anbar

that is silvana mangano lip synching to flo sandon's rendition of "el negro zumbon" for the film "anna", but the moves are all hers. i love.

and, as if i needed another reason to love her, i found out that mangano's performance in the "earthy" drama riso amaro inspired one of the most hilarious i love lucy episodes (lucy prepares for an audition to star in the "earthy" italian film " bitter grapes" by spending the day crushing grapes).

here is lucy in the wine vat:



youtube video via krunk4theking

i am officially obsessed.

a final bit of trivia: silvana mangano also happens to be the grandmother of food network's toothy, yet comely giada de laurentiis.

music to get laid (off) to

it's been a tough year for our department (as it has been most everyone, everywhere), and we've been worrying and whispering about potential layoffs for months. i've been alternately losing sleep and humming "que sera, sera," thinking about possible next steps, but really always hoping--most earnestly--that i wouldn't need to take them.

for the first time last week, the rumors became disturbingly focused: cuts would come within the week.

sigh...

waiting for the other shoe to drop/the sky to fall/insert any "disaster" cliche here is no fun.

how to cope? i've been running (speedwork and hillwork to ensure just enough tiredness for a good night's sleep) and crying every chance i get. ok, not really crying. (not yet anyway.)

everyone has a song (or six or twenty-six) that provide mind-easing, soul-soothing comfort, for whatever ails them, yes?

or am i merely insane?

well, i've been listening to "crying"--track 2 on tv on the radio's "dear science" album--obsessively, morning to night.

i am digging the whole album, but "crying" is THE ONE, hooked me from the first funky cymbal shimmer. i was in car last weekend with my mom, driving to trader joe's, and i popped it into the cd player for a first listen. poor mom was mid-sentence (something about butternut squash soup?) when i interrupted her--"ooh, i like this, let's hear it again...ooh, ok! i love it! one more time! again!!"

i can't get enough of the funked out bass line, the falsetto and the horns (there's something sort of "fine young cannibals" about it. and prince, of course). it's groovy and hot and yearning. and it's actually sort of apropos (hold your breath through late breaking disasters...got you cryyyyying, cryyying, oh whyyyyin', oh my my my).

it's irresistible. i HAVE to dance and feel good when i hear it.

i think it just might be enough to keep me from crying in the coming days.

(but i welcome more music therapy suggestions...)

(youtube video, courtesy of naughtysauce)

claxography

natalie wood in nyc, photographed by william claxton, in 1961.

william claxton, whose stills of the west coast jazz scene in the 1950s are some of the most intimate and acclaimed, and whose portraits of chet baker chronicled and hastened the musician's ascent to stardom, died today at the age of 80.


i'm familiar with some of claxton's work (any half-decent poster or postcard shop in the city offers this image for sale in one form or another; who hasn't seen this one of sinatra? and this shot was known to me long before chet baker was) but i knew little about the man himself, or the breadth of his career.

and so today, i did some reading...

i learned from the nytimes' obit that he first became known for photographing his subjects, like sonny rollins, in "unorthodox" outdoor settings.

the la times' more anecdotal tribute (a too-amazing-to-imagine encounter with charlie parker) will pique the interest of fledgling photographers and jazz aficionados, and includes claxton's musings on the similarities between jazz and photography ("They're alike in their improvisation and their spontaneousness. They happen at the same moment that you're hearing something and you're seeing something, and you record it and it's frozen forever").

i was most surprised to find out that he was the art director at motor trend magazine for more than a decade. but after reading of his passion for sports cars, race cars, and motorcycles, which he shared with another of his oft-photographed subjects, steve mcqueen, it made perfect sense.

part of claxton's talent--and some might call this an art--was his ability to engender the trust of his subjects, by getting to know them, and letting them know him. and he promised not to portray them in a negative way. he was, in his own words, "dedicated to beauty" and he knew how to find it in his subjects.

these days, when photos can be and are so readily manipulated, and we, as a culture, delight in catching celebrities (and non-celebrities!) at their most compromised (and i can't say i'm immune to this phenomenon myself), and intimacy is often mistaken for being merely exposed, claxton's work takes on even more significance. his commitment to the expression of beauty, real intimacy, and honesty through photography is something that, hopefully, never gets lost.

for more on william claxton's fascinating life and work, and to hear "claxton on claxton," visit his site.