Nobody else could do it.

Marilyn Munroe. The only person who could make a Mormon-style onesie look sexy.

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Five for Friday no.33

A 'real life' temporary pop up store showcasing the work of QUT Fashion graduates. 

How to tell what a person is like in bed by the books they read.  

Brisbane's Retro Film Society, who host monthly film nights at the Old Museum. Coming up in September; Notorious, a 1946 film starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.

A very pretty vintage shop, run by a Sydney couple through Etsy. 

Puppies being cute.

Movie review: Magic Mike

One of my closest friends is getting married next month. As part of her pre-marriage celebrations it was decided that a collection of females should get together for a film-bonding experience. The film of choice was one wedding-related but we missed

So on the bride-to-be’s suggestion we opted for the next best thing: half-naked men. Yes, last night I went to see Magic Mike. 

Magic Mike is inspired by star Channing Tatum’s previous life as a male stripper. It’s pretty lazy on the notion of plot-line and the drama / conflict feels so token. It’s as if the film makers decided they couldn’t really make a movie that was 1.5 hours of stripping, so they threw in the easiest, most obvious ‘conflict’ they could muster. Conflict enters story, provides ‘drama’, conflict leaves. Subplot: dealt with. 

Really though, this film is about men getting naked and ‘fulfilling the dreams’ of their under-sexed female clientele.  The dance / strip scenes are what makes this movie worth seeing and there are some genuinely spectacular moves on display. Tatum in particular is a true performer who relishes his turns on stage. There is a great scene of Matthew McConaughey instructing the latest recruit on the art of hip-grinding to achieve maximum frenzy in the audience.  

 Oh god, no.

Five for Friday no. 26

Famous shirtless men through the ages. Because Magic Mike is coming out soon. You're welcome.

I love this. The Satorialist for the Edwardian era.

Five Words Tell A Story.

I spotted this quote, it appears on Wood Paneled Shoes and I had to feature it somewhere. 100% accurate.

And because there is a little bit of wedding-fever going around my lady friends at the moment: Vera Wang have opened their first bridal boutique in Australia.

 Photo courtesy of Vogue Australia

A sexy, sequinned and sensual Saturday night.

Saturday night just gone I along with Chuck got dressed up and went along to be tantalised and teased at the Australian Burlesque Festival, on at the Judith Wright Centre for one and one night only.

We got to the theatre shockingly early but it turned out to be a happy accident. People who enjoy burlesque also enjoy getting dressed up, and the patrons flooding into the JWCOCA foyer on Friday were dressed up to the nines. Corsets, Kitten d’Amour, waistcoats, slashes of red lipstick, even one gorgeous women in a long formal gown were part of the pre-show entertainment.

Burlesque is not stripping, per say. Clothes are removed but that’s not really why you go along. Historically, a burlesque show included individual singing, dancing and other acts as well as stripteases but in recent decades the strip has rather hijacked the term so now a burlesque show is striptease, but the classiest form of strip you can imagine. A burlesque act is a real show, with costuming, music, dancing and a story or theme. The women are performers who put time and money into the development of their acts, which they can then tour the world.
 

Lola the Vamp, photo taken from the ABF website.

In direct comparison to strip clubs, burlesque is actually, genuinely sexy. These women are beautiful, graceful, stylishly dressed. There is a naughtiness and seduction in burlesque that has a cross-gender appeal.

I for one found it all tremendously sexy. 

At the Brisbane show of the Australian Burlesque Festival, 15 women put on 16 acts with sequins, tassels, dragons, flamingoes, ballet, tigers and a lot of feathers.
 

Lena Marlene, photo taken from the ABF website.

My runaway favourite was a Loulou D'vil from Finland who was just stunning and moved around the stage with a supreme confidence and grace. She also had one of the more intricate, old-fashioned costumes inspired by 1930's or 50's burlesque dancers with many layers including gloves, gown and corset that had to be removed so the anticipation was drawn out.

Loulou D'vil, photo courtesy of the ABF website. 

Other marvellous acts included Rosy Rabbit, who danced to Teach Me Tiger and had a really clever costume that played a real role in her act. Lila Luxx was one of the few local girls in the line-up an I loved her act because it was a little different. The first to come out in boudoir-style dressing gown and underwear, she had clearly been a ballet dancer, gliding around the stage to Lana Del Ray’s Video Games and making excellent use of a chair prop.

I asked Chuck to come with me because, well, I figured he’d enjoy it. As a heterosexual male there was not a lot to object to about the show. His favourite was a showgirl from New York, Peekaboo Pointe who was the only performer to appear twice. Introduced by the MC as seducing the world one tassel-performance at a time her first performance was magnificent. She came on in a floor length beaded-net gown, paraded around the stage then shimmied the gown off with the most incredible flow of rustle and sparkle before showing off her infamous tassel-skills.

Other magnificent performances came from Anna Fur Laxis (2011 Miss World Exotic 1^st runner up) and her good girl/bad girl act and Lena Marlane as the sexiest Mrs Slocombe you’ve ever seen (“What about my pussy?”) whose act included beautiful aerial silks. 

The final show of the night was a performance by the current reigning Queen of Burlesque, who had just been inducted into the Burlesque Hall of Fame. Imogen Kelly is the first Aussie girl to have won this prestigious title and with the routine she put on was truly spectacular.

Imogen Kelly, reigning Miss World Exotic 2012.

Burlesque is experiencing something of a hey-day at the moment was you can go to classes with groups like the Scoundrelles and Brisbane Burlesque.

There is one proper burlesque club I know about in Brisbane The Velvet Cigar, in Paddington. A place I keep promising I will visit. I think after Saturday night I will have to go and take afew people along to enjoy the show.

Five for Friday no. 23

Life lessons: 20 things I should have known at 20.

A bubble-popping calendar.

Calming Manatee. 

Marilyn Munroe tumblr. You aren't prepared for this much sex appeal. 

Down that Little Lane. A new alternative to Made It and Etsy. So pastel-coloured and heart warming, you should drink tea when you look through the website.

B re-reads Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

OMG, I wish I could have sat down one morning and read this book cover to cover because that is just what I wanted to do! I took to reading it in the morning before going to work and it kept making me late! SO GOOD!

Prisoner of Azkaban was one of my favourite Harry Potter books, along with Half-Blood Prince (which I cannot WAIT to re-read). I’m not sure quite why I loved it above all others for so long. It contains just as much unpleasantness and evil. Ron is a complete prat to Hermione for most of the book. Poor Hermione. Yet somehow then this book feels different from the others. You get a sense of the characters maturing into young adults with all the issues that entails (Cho Chang fore-shadowing).

The story also feels more acceptable. The school year progresses relatively normally. There are lessons and Quidditch, and the students actually have exams. I enjoy the exams scenes. There are no monsters or mysterious cursed objects or overly-grand adventures. Events which characters have been working towards for the duration of the book occur, then the protagonists go back in time to fix them. Simple.

The final revelation scenes and then the do-over is still exciting, but somehow more tension laden because you know it’s all going to go wrong and you want to leap in and interject and stop it all going bad! Hurry up with the explanations! Don’t go out into the moonlight! Keep rats in cages, not pockets! My heart bleeds for Sirius and Harry at the end of it all.

Things I like about Prisoner of Azkaban:

1. That Voldemort doesn’t make an appearance and that Harry doesn’t have to battle him…again.
2. The dementors – which in my head look exactly like the ghost of christmas past from the Muppet’s Christmas Carol – are so vile and such fantastic creations. You can imagine them existing in our every-day world.
3. That we get to see the students sit exams.
4. Lupin!
5. Sirius!

Things I don’t like about Prisoner of Azkaban:

1. Ron being a dick.
2. The idea of carrying around a full-grown wizard for years as a pet. Eurgh.

Also, can I say? Sirius in the book – SO NOT SEXY. Sirius in the movies – hell yeah.

Sex symbol. Siriusly.