Beautiful Women are Invisible.

I finished watching Elegy today via Netflix Watch Instantly.  It is an interesting film, and while I didn't love it, I do recommend it.  It stars Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, Dennis Hopper, Debbie Harry, Patricia Clarkson, and Peter Sarsgaard.

1920s Fashion

Stills from the BBC series, The House of Eliott

I mentioned in a prior post that I've really enjoyed watching the BBC series, The House of Eliott, on Netflix. It is set in the 1920s, and is about two sisters, Evangeline and Beatrice Eliott, who start a fashion house in London. The series ran from 1991-1993 and is a real treat to watch.

One of my favorite things about the show is the fashion it features. The two sisters are a stylish pair, and that's not even mentioning the styles that they create as fashion designers. I love the drop waist dresses, strings of pearls, cloche hats, and dangling earrings.

I've started collecting jewelry and other clothing items that I think look 1920s. Marcasite is a popular mineral used in the production of vintage looking pieces. It is actually a form of Pyrite, or Fool's Gold, and was popular during the Victorian period, but regaining popularity again in the 1920s. They also wore a fair amount of pearls, and the earrings dangled a bit. This fit in perfectly with the bobbed hair styles of the day, and the snug-fitting cloche hats.

My collection of 1920s style earrings and watch

A picture of me sporting a recent purchase-- a red headband that I think resembles a cloche hat.

Coming Home Again

I happen to be a big fan of movies. My taste tends to run towards older films which means I watch a ton of classic Hollywood movies from the thirties, forties, and fifties and then dip into older foreign films on occasion. My Netflix "three" (the three videos I have on loan) at the moment are 1964's Becket starring Peter O'Toole as the ill-fated Archbishop of Canterbury, the French film, Elena and Her Men, starring the lovely Ingrid Bergman, and the Marilyn Monroe film, Don't Bother to Knock.

It's hard to say what makes me like a movie, however, I do find that I am drawn to movies which portray what I think to be an immortal truth. I think movies often tell a myth or a story, and every once in a while they align with the Universal Truth and something in our soul resonates.


Tonight, alongside my parents, I watched Blood Diamond. I've seen this film probably four or five times, and while I'm aware it has its (many) flaws, there's also something in it to which I am drawn. Having read a wonderful book (which I highly recommend) called The Heartless Stone about the creation of the diamond as a luxury good, as well at the cost to humanity of this simple gemstone, I find that I am sympathetic to those who would rather do without. The movie also takes up issues such as child soldiers, and apathy in general.

The part of the film that makes my heart sing, though, is where the African father is finally reunited with his precious son. He has spent the entire film trying to track down his son, and when he finds him, he finds a child who has been brainwashed as a soldier and who turns his gun upon his own father. In that moment of panic, the father slowly tells his son who he is, "You are a good boy... you love soccer..." etc. And, then, at the pivotal moment, he says,

"I am your father who loves you. Now you will come home with me and be my son again."

It is that line that just blows me away. In it, I hear a thousand fathers, and one Father saying to their sons (and daughters), "It does not matter what you have done. Come home to Me." It's a beautiful sentiment and a call I pray we heed.