Closing The Door on The Red and Purple Room

This is officially the last post that will appear on the The Red and Purple Room as my room has become less red and purple, my interests have expanded and I want to follow a new direction in the blogging universe. However, this signifies a new beginning and I will now be discussing and showcasing everything from acting, fashion, photography, writing and music through my new persona, The Cherry Orchard Girl, at thecherryorchardgirl.blogspot.com

This means no hand-me-down ideas, but originality and inspiration!

I hope to see you all there!

Life in a Day

If You're Going to Try

“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery–isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.”




– Charles Bukowski

Wandering

Alessandra Ferri and Sting - Enchanting Short

Look at this amazing short film starring principal ballet dancer Alessandra Ferri alongside Sting, who plays Bach's 'Prelude' from 'Cello Suite nr.1 in G major' on acoustic guitar. Set in an abandoned city building, complete with water damage and dark, misty atmosphere, this film is something different and plainly beautiful.

BHLDN - Wedding Magic

This amazing online and in store (USA) shop has the most exquisite, unique and ethereal dresses, jewellery, shoes, décor and accessories you can possibly find.

If you are getting married, this is the place to go for everything from that perfect wedding gown to your "2nd dress" to bridesmaids' dresses (these are just as lovely) and wedding décor.

With designer like Anna Sui, Fleur Wood, Azaara, Catherine Deane and many more, you are guaranteed to find something purely spectacular.

Discover everything they have to offer and order from BHLDN

Burnished Organza Gown $1400



Ethereal Monarch Gown $3200



Floral Artwork Dress $1800

Tiered Tulip Gown $2400

Fondant Tea Dress $600

Greenbow Lace Gown $600



Ribboned Silk Gown $1600



There is So Much About my Fate...

"There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I’m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts."

Elizabeth Gilbert

Musical Magic: Adele - Someone Like You

This sent shivers through my whole body, I hope it brings a smile or mends a broken heart...

The Red Shoes

"People often ask me: 'how do you define the ballet?' and I tell them that for me, it is a religion and like all obedient religious zealots, I am prepared to die for my art!"

Secret Cinema presents...

HANNA

HANNA is the name you see spelled out in big white letters across a red background a few minutes into the film and again at the end. “Hanna” Heller (Saiorse Ronan) is seventeen years old and lives a secluded life in the forest with her rogue secret agent father, Erik Heller (Eric Bana). However, this girl is much more than your average 17 year old – she hunts, shoots, knows combat skills, knows the world off by heart even though she’s never left the forest and speaks enough languages to be able to communicate with just about anyone.)


Her father trained her to be an assassin and one day, when she decides she is “ready”, she flips the switch on a transmitter to inform Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett), a corrupt CIA agent, of her location. Erik leaves the home while Hanna stays behind to be captured and taken to a CIA safe house in Morocco. Her goal there is to kill Wiegler, but kills Wiegler’s body double instead.

Hanna escapes the compound to meet up with her father in Germany and on the way, finds out many truths about her own life: who murdered her mother, why she is who she is and about her father’s betrayal. She is hunted by Wiegler, the CIA and a heartless mercenary, Isaacs (Tom Hollander). After encountering modern technology for the first time and stowing away in a British family’s van, she ultimately reaches Berlin and this is where the final showdown takes place between Erik, Isaacs and Wiegler, as well as between Hanna and Wiegler.

This film is without a doubt one of those original and enthralling films that no one knows about, but everyone should see. It is an action-adventure with a sci-fi twist and a dramatic blow. The performances from Saiorse Ronan, Cate Blanchett and Tom Hollander are brilliant and you honestly walk out of the cinema wanting to “take down the bad guys.”

I Feel Like Doing this Today...

...and I LOVE this dress!

No doubt exists that all women are crazy;

it's only a question of degree.

- W. C. Fields

and we're proud of it!

Do Three Things Today

Do something creative – even if it does mean making hand prints!

Leave the gym behind and dance or run through the woods!

Set outrageous goals for yourself and then celebrate when you achieve them!

Source: persimmonimages.com



French Friday

I have no idea where I got this picture, but I needed to share it because it is too lovely not to.

So if it's yours, thank you and feel free to let me know!

Then listen to and read the English translation of the mellow, yet playful L'amoureuse by Carla Bruni to start your weekend! The music video is unbelievably cute...

Happy Friday!

Carla Bruni "L'amoureuse" by naiverecords

L'Amoureuse

Carla Bruni

It seems someone conveid hope

Streets are gardens, I dance on the sidewalks

It seems my arms became wings

That in every moment that flies I can touch the sky

That in every moment that goes by I can eat the sky

The bell towers are tilted, the trees are in a nonsense

They collapse under the flowers on the most red of autumn

Snow doesn't melt anymore, rain is slowly singing

And even streetlights have an impatient sight

And even stones want to look important

Because I'm the lover, Yes I'm the lover

And I hold in my hands the only of all things

I'm the lover, I'm your lover

And I sing for you the only of all things

That needs to be here, that needs to be here

Time stopped, hours are changing

The minutes are freezing and the boredom makes wreck

Everything seems unknown, everything crunches under the teeth

And the noise of sorrow slowly goes away

And the noise of the past is just silent now

Oh, the walls change their stones

The sky changes his clouds

The life changes manners and dance mirages

It was seen was I told that destiny showed up

He looked like nothing, seemed to take everything

He got your look, your manner of speak

Because I'm the lover, Yes I'm the lover

And I hold in my hands the only of all things

I'm the lover, I'm your lover

And I sing for you the only of all things

That needs to be here, that needs to be here



The Fringe Effect

I have cut a fringe numerous times in my life and love the effect, but I always end up growing it out three months later. I guess it's just one of those things some people are meant to have and others not.

I wish I could wear it as stylishly as these ladies, though:

Source: Pandora

Penelope Cruz Mango Advert

Weird Occurrences and the End of the World

Last night I was merrily driving home from dance class when I saw an entire street lose power like they usually only do in disaster movies. First the traffic lights started flashing red, then the street lights closed their eyes one by one, a power box at the far end of the darkened street sent electricity flying through the air and then, finally, the traffic lights dimmed – like a flat line after a long surgery.

“This is quite strange,” I thought, feeling that I had just stumbled into a zombie apocalypse. I was expecting to see some flesh eating creature jump out from behind a building any time! Then the lights came back on and I drove further.

At 3am this morning, I was woken by the sound of thunder and rain outside my window. How is it that the biggest storm of the year comes to Johannesburg at the start of winter? I shrugged it off and fell asleep again, only to wake up with a dark grey “Independence Day” cloud hanging over my house at 6am. Trees were bent over in the wind like gymnasts at the Olympics and my nine year old brother was sitting at the window, his jaw on the floor. When I asked him what was wrong, he uttered a frightened: “I think it really is the end.”

Routinely, I turned the radio on and thought some music would wake me up, but I was greeted with the words: “a truck is stuck on Empire road and apparently, it’s on fire!”

I was definitely awake now. Two different thoughts crossed my mind in less than two seconds, of which the first was totally blank. My second thought? To draw inspiration from the 2012 movie, pack the essentials (including my gob smacked brother at the window) and run. Then it hit me: where to? I can’t fly to China, I don’t have a handy pilot on hand and I don’t think the Drakensberg mountain Range of Kwazulu-Natal is going to be very friendly this time of year. So I decided to get dressed, have breakfast and… go to work, school then ballet.

If the world does end today, I hope you have lived the way you wanted to and go out with a bang! I believe, however, you’ll be sitting in front of the television tonight, hot chocolate in hand and the world still at your feet (intact, that is.)

33 Ways to Stay Creative

Monday Inspiration

Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas.

~Paula Poundstone



Le Acteur Americaine, Bradley Cooper, Parle Francais!

Especially for a girl like me, trying to learn the most beautiful language in the world (French, if you didn't guess) in a country where no one speaks it, this video of Bradley Cooper doing an interview in fluent French on TF1 is truly inspiring.

He was lucky enough to be able to go to Provence to learn, which I dream of doing someday!

Language forces us to perceive the world as man presents it to us.

~Julia Penelope

A Dance for One

The very definition of beautiful is what this film is. A dancer alone in a smoky, early morning studio with warm sunshine flowing through the fairy tale windows. As she strokes her silky pointe shoes, she is clearly reminded of all the magic her dancing has brought into her life, how it has given her a purpose. As she stretches at the barre, a routine she will never forget and never give up, you see her stunning black lace shorts and later, applying stage make-up, she dons a cream lace dress: the perfect symbol of femininity. It ends with her dancing alone in a cloudy room, her image duplicating itself like a ballet dancer has to rehearse over and over to reach the proverbial "perfection".

This film shows off the new collection by Nic Briand and Susien Chong, the team behind Australian label Lover. In a collaboration with Australian Ballet's Amber Scott (she choreographed the dance herself to best present the clothing), they created a film to encompass what the collection means and what its inspirations were.

Enjoy!


A Dance For One. from LOVER® on Vimeo.

Musical Magic: Mumford&Sons

I discovered that this band even exists a few days ago and I honestly love every song they have ever sung. Their influences include some of my other favourites: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, as well as Kings of Leon and I just find their music to be such a breath of fresh air and sincerely beautiful. They write inspiring songs whisch one can identify with... Here is the music video of Winter Winds, but do yourself a favour, check out their website and listen to their other songs (especially Awake my Soul, After the Storm and Little Lion Man).

The band consists of Marcus Mumford (vocals, guitar, drums, mandolin), Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboards, accordion, drums), "Country" Winston Marshall (vocals, banjo, dobro), and Ted Dwane (vocals, string bass, drums, guitar). The band formed in October 2007, rising out of what some in the media labelled the "West London folk scene."



The Harry Potter Generation

I was eleven when the first one came out and every subsequent year, there has been another one: another Harry Potter film to accompany my journey to adulthood. I believe this makes me a part of the Harry Potter Generation, so with the last film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, being released on the 15th of July, it is bound to get sentimental at some point and it starts with this, a video "summary" of all the films...

Enjoy!



Hilarious Noel Fielding

To me, this guy was and still is "Richmond", the interesting goth who listens to "Cradle of Filth" and points in random directions while delivering Shakespeare-like monologues about his musings in the brilliant British sitcom, The IT Crowd. He's a comedian too and here he does the weirdest, yet strangely apt impression of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights (weird just by itself). His name? Noel Fielding! I hope this makes your day...

Watch the original first if you want to get an idea of his inspiration...

And here is the crazy Noel Fieding!

Happy Friday!!!

"Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless."

~Bill Watterson

Autumn

Even though Summer has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere and I envy those who live there, over here it's the end of Autumn and I feel cold to my bones. However, it's not the end of a new script I wrote, titled "Autumn" about a girl, a guy, a saddened father, a burnt-down, charcoal barn and a beautiful greenhouse on a farm. You'll find out more about the story in due course, but here are some inspirations I drew from to write the script. I hope you agree that they are beauty itself!

To Autumn

by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.



Two lines from Keats's original manuscript.


Paolo Nutini - Autumn



You Are Beautiful

Pirates, Pirates and more Pirates

The fourth instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides definitely lives up to the Pirates legacy. One would think that with a different director and some cast changes it would loose its touch, but Rob Marshall stayed away form making a "Pirates: the Musical" and stayed true to the well-timed comedy and overall chaos of the other films.

The story deals with different groups of pirates and officers searching for the legendary "fountain of youth". The Spanish fleet do not even bother to take out pirates on their quest for the fountain; Barbossa (the incredible Geoffrey Rush) has worked (or bribed) his way up in the English ranks to take control of a ship and some willing King's men to find it; a new addition in the form of the tyrannic Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and his "Sparrow-corrupted" daughter, Angelica (Penelope Cruz) are using brute force and zombies to get to the goal and Jack Sparrow (you know who), as always, messes up the day to ultimately save it with his wits, skills and extensive common knowledge on everything "pirate." With two chalices and a beautiful, but very dangerous mermaid, they all set out to find the fountain for different reason: ranging from eternal life and revenge to the destruction of a misinterpreted belief system. Many interesting characters make their first appearances and comedy is more prominent than ever!

What I missed was the spectacular Gore Verbinski effects (Marshall was a bit more subtle, but still very effective) and the two crazy pirates with hilarious views on life and a rolling eye (Ragetti played by Mackenzie Crook and Pintel played by Lee Arenberg).

Jack Sparrow: Have you been there?
Captain Teague: Does this face look like it's been to the fountain of youth?
Jack Sparrow: Depends on the light.



Blackbeard: Bring the mermaid!
Philip: You're killing her.
Blackbeard: I'm a bad man. 

Barbossa: You can sleep when you're dead!


Jack Sparrow: [Standing on a cliff edge]

You know that feeling you get when you're standing in a high place... sudden urge to jump?... I don't have it.

Angelica: That's hardly appropriate for the first mate.
Jack Sparrow: Was I the first?

Where I Want to be Today: a Ballet Studio

I've been working from 6am to 10pm on a film shoot every day for the last two weeks and have been missing my ballet classes. I wouldn't exhange the film industry for anything, but I need and crave my ballet. It's the only thing that can truly relax me and it's soemthing I can just get lost in and enjoy. It's beautiful, it's fun and, most importanlty, it's challenging and pushes me to my limits. I'm also going to the Romeo & Juliet ballet at the end of the month and cannot wait!

“Ballet is the one form of theater

where nobody speaks a foolish word all evening

nobody on the stage at least.”

- Edwin Denby



Once Upon a Time in a Little Fantasy Shop

Once upon a time, there was a tall, bright-eyed man who owned a tiny, yet filled to the brim shop in a magical place called "the Firs" in Rosebank. His little shop was not a shop you would find just anywhere and it did not contain objects and pieces that could be seen wherever you went.

When you stood outside the door, you looked into a dark space that did not scare you, but intrigued you. There was a wire doll that welcomed you at the door wearing a white lace creation that made her look like a creature from a different world. The rows of fabric pulled you in, because you wanted to know more, you wanted to explore this treasure chest.

"Down the rabbit hole," is what crossed your mind as you tried to place where exactly you were, because here you were surrounded by full flowing dresses, jackets made out of zippers, a long, black coat with Victorian detail and a crisp white shirt you could immerse yourself in.

Luckily this little shop with the bright-eyed genius of a designer is a reality and is there for you to get lost in. The website (http://www.cliverundle.com/) explains the master of South African fashion’s designs incredibly well: “A Clive Rundle garment is not only an ultimate statement of taste and style, but also an intensely sensuous experience. You are stroked and kissed with exotic fabrics and garments of extraordinary beauty. The Clive Rundle woman is modern, chic, elegant confident and comfortable in her second skin. Her beauty is not only skin deep.”

Once upon a time in a little fantasy shop there was you. You falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, into the fairy tale that is Clive Rundle fashion, but know you knew you would find something enchanting.

Adventure or Nothing

Happy Weekend!

To one who has been long in city pent,
'Tis very sweet to look into the fair
And open face of heaven, - to breathe a prayer
Full in the smile of the blue firmament.
~John Keats, Sonnet XIV

Happy Weekend!

Remember to Breathe...

To Touch, to Move, To Inspire

"To touch, to move, to inspire. This is the true gift of dance."

-Aubrey Lynch

A Classic Film you can’t Miss: La Vita é Bella

Do you remember the 1998 Oscar ceremony where a charismatic Italian man jumped over chairs and sprinted to the stage when Sophia Loren announced the winner of the Best Foreign Language film award? That man was director, writer and actor, Roberto Benigni and that film was La Vita é Bella or “Life is Beautiful”.

I saw this incredible film for the first time in the 9^th grade when we were studying it for English. I appreciated it then, but when I watched it just a few weeks ago, I realized just how magical this film treasure truly is.

To sum it up, it is about love and the extreme actions people will take to protect the ones they love. Guido (Roberto Benigni) is an Italian bookkeeper and later waiter in 1940’s Italy. With to his witty nature and humorous luck, he courts Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), an Italian schoolteacher from an affluent family. They marry and have a son, Giosué (Giorgio Cantarini), who steals the hearts of audiences with his “Buongiorno Principessa!” cry when he sees his mother after hiding in a closet.

However, both Guido and Giosué are Jewish and when German forces occupy Italy, they are sent to a concentration camp and Dora joins them by pretending to be Jewish. In the camp, Guido makes up an elaborate story and convinces Giosué that everything is a competition and he will win a tank if he completes all the games successfully. This includes hiding from German officers and playing hide-and-seek with German children. The first person to reach 1000 points wins the game. Guido also finds intelligent ways to communicate to Dora that they aren’t in danger.

When the war draws to its end, the camp is in chaos and Guido has to make one last sacrifice to ensure both Giosué and Dora’s safety.

It’s a romantic comedy, a war-drama and so much more, but the overall film? Pure magic!

Beautiful Autumn Street

Photograph: Danielle Retief

Where I Want to be Today: A Field of Sunflowers

It freezing in Johannesburg, so I want to be somewhere sunny, warm and happy, like a field of sunflowers:

"Bring me then the plant that points to those bright Lucidites swirling up from the earth, And life itslef exhaling that central breath! Bring me the sunflower crazed with the love of light!"

- Anonymous

Musical Magic: Find Love by NLX

I heard this song on the Brothers and Sisters episode Righteous Kiss the other night and fell in love with it. Ironically, it is called Find Love and is performed by spectacular band, NLX. It is from their album, Bitch Get Fit.

The song is just purely inspirational and I especially adore the piano sequences (it reminds of of the type of melodies I like to compose.)

Enjoy!

A Poem on the Underground

The last train is nearly due,
The underground is closing soon,
And in the dark deserted station,
Restless in anticipation,
A man waits in the shadows.

His restless eyes leap and scratch,
At all that they can touch or catch,
And hidden deep within his pocket,
Safe within it's silent socket,
He holds a colored crayon.

Now from the tunnel's stony womb,
The carriage rides to meet the groom,
And opens wide and welcome doors,
But he hesitates, then withdraws
Deeper in the shadows.

And the train is gone suddenly
On wheels clicking silently
Like a gently tapping litany,
And he holds his crayon rosary
Tighter in his hand.
 

Now from his pocket quick he flashes,
The crayon on the wall he slashes,
Deep upon the advertising,
A single worded poem comprised
Of four letters.

And his heart is laughing, screaming, pounding
The poem across the tracks rebounding
Shadowed by the exit light
His legs take their ascending flight
To seek the breast of darkness and be suckled by the night.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel

Enjoy your Easter!

Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;
Death is strong, but Life is stronger;
Stronger than the dark, the light;
Stronger than the wrong, the right...~Phillips Brooks, "An Easter Carol"