Gooseberry Lay

I know everyone's still going crazy over revived 50s and 60s kitsch a la Mad Men, but allow me to direct your attention to another couple of decades that were just as exciting: the 20s and 30s. This time period has fascinated me since high school, and I love sharing it with people.

We've been consciously or unconsciously thinking about them for the past three years (we are in the worst financial crisis since the actual Great Depression, as if you forgot), but other facets of life in the days of flappers, jazz and social perversion are subtly making themselves aware too. For instance, the new HBO original series Boardwalk Empire.

Not only do gangsters never go out of style - just how many people are influenced by Scarface? - but the idea of speakeasies and leading double lives fascinates just about everyone. On the outside you may be a stand-up member of society, a real square, but who knows what you might do after you've tipped a few! The whole idea of going to underground clubs and participating in the counterculture, whether by drinking, dancing or listening to the jive, is still around. Have you been to a secret show lately? For that matter, everyone should learn how to do the Charleston and the Lindy Hop. Not only is it handy to know how to dance, these are the original American dances.

Being fashion conscious, there are definitely styles from the 20s and 30s that I emulate, and I'm not alone. Drop-waist dresses with shorter skirts, cloche hats, pixie cuts and smoky eyes are all still immensely popular, if updated. Why not try a finger wave next time you have a free day to play with your hair? Here are some more shots from Boardwalk Empire to give you some fashion inspiration:

I originally saw these photos on the Classic Bride blog, original post here.

1920s by fishfromheaven featuring a crystal handbag

If you're into webcomics, there's a fabulous one called Lackadaisy set in the 20s that chronicles the adventures of a bunch of people associated with an ailing speakeasy in St. Louis. I'll warn you, the characters are all anthropomorphic cats, but if you can get past that, the art, story and writing are really fabulous.

To finish up, here's an adorable song from one of my favorite bands, the Ditty Bops. This has the cute Charleston/Balboa rhythm and cheek factor of the era, from a modern band.

Keep on truckin' (a cool Charleston move you should look up),

K

Long Or Short, It Don't Matter

The internet has been abuzz the past few months about Willow Smith's single "Whip My Hair", and now there is finally a video. Not really necessary, because we all loved the song already. Her fearless attitude and measured vocal style are enough to admire, on top of her eyebrow-raising fashion sense. This video showcases it all.

I (among everyone else who talks about this video) love her honest swagger and integrity. She doesn't have to inject sex appeal into her performance to get attention. We can all appreciate the song's infectious beat and uplifting lyrics as if it were a peer singing, not some celebrity's child. It's so accessible, even I can relate! I hope she keeps writing, and we hear more songs like this very soon.

Robots Rock

Sometimes things don't go out of style. They may change a little to reflect the times, but they never lose their essential integrity. Sometimes they seem antiquated, but they still manage to keep up. For me, it's Daft Punk.

These guys never seem to age in a way that isn't graceful. They have their personalities (the creative disguises they use in public) and the instruments they use (drum machines and synths), and they know how to use both to delight their audience. At first listen their songs may sound repetitive, as does most electronic music outside the Top 40 pop genre, but the way they mix different melodies together really is inspired.

Personally, I can't stand still when I listen to this. It's like the banging synths and the pulsing beats are living inside my body, pounding my bones, dancing in my nerves. The music transcends its form and becomes a pure feeling, and evolves into an expression.

Imagine

I sat down today and decided I was going to watch a movie that has alternated between piquing my curiosity with its beauty and disgusting me with its title and concept. That's right: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

I'm sure the story changed a bit after Heath Ledger died, because the plot of the movie is absolutely absurd and full of holes. For anyone who doesn't know, the movie concerns itself with one Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), an immortal man who keeps the universe spinning by telling stories, and his daughter Valentina (played strikingly by supermodel Lily Cole) who wants to leave her father's ramshackle sideshow operation for a domestic life out of Martha Stewart Living. Parnassus just wants to protect his little girl, most notably from the devil (Tom Waits), to whom she was promised before her birth. Faustian adventures abound for these two, and for most of the movie a possibly-shady-possibly-valiant Heath Ledger/Johnny Depp/Jude Law/Colin Farrell swaggers around the real and imaginary worlds, either messing things up or working miracles.

The imaginary world really carries this movie. The real world is, well, real: it's full of drunken jerks and crooked politicians and greedy socialites. Surrounded by all that, the double-decker sideshow theatre looks like a Baroque painting of a Greek myth. That's a comfort in itself, but once you go into your imaginary world, things just keep getting better. They were all designed to resemble famous paintings, but all eventually grow rampant in their own creative directions (gondolas, Willy Wonka candy-scapes, celestial lily pads and lotus blossoms, pop-up forests, designer shoes and Fabergé eggs, deserts, ladders to clouds, you name it). It's divine just relaxing and enjoying these dream worlds while they last.

Unfortunately, like every other dream, you have to wake up and try to make sense of the plot of this movie. If you want a great movie about imaginary worlds and their real-life consequences, watch The Fall (then buy it on Blu-Ray, because you will want to watch it again).

Reveling in the sumptuous beauty,

K