cherner side chair (1958)

if i could spare the dough, i would have gotten one of these reissued norman cherner side chairs already. i love the organic shape and curves plus the use of the walnut colored plywood. just sitting in it must take you back to 1958… the heyday of mid-century modern design. the model with the arm rest is cool too. anyways, i’m just going to let the following images doing the talking for me.

denzel

been meaning to catch denzel’s new movie ‘deja vu’ in the theater, but it looks like i am going to see it on dvd instead. anyways, i noticed an alarming parallel in denzel’s current acting style and his gut—both are really large! so, curious to see how denzel’s acting and his gut turn out in his new movie. i mean as denzel’s gut has gotten larger in each successive film, the more over the top his acting has gotten, especially after he won the supporting oscar for ‘training day.’ i was really into denzel when he did ‘mo’ better blues’ and ‘mississippi masala’ and ‘crimson tide’ and ‘devil in a blue dress.’ all of those performances had his easy going charm. plus he has the coolest gait while walking around in a wife beater tee. (who would not want to have denzel’s stride?) but a little after that denzel stopped working out and his gut started to bulge (i first noticed it on ‘virtuosity’ that he started getting lazy and wore a loose dark sweater to hide his gut). and it seemed like he always had a yelling scene in all his films too just to drive the point home how large he had gotten. hopefully, denzel doesn’t turn into another al pacino, who relies mainly on rage to turn-in a performance. i mean in ‘inside man’ spike lee was a little more subtle (that you almost miss the yelling scene) by having denzel yell at a really thick glass door to clive owen. although you couldn’t hear him yelling, you could see the emotional fury of his over-the-top acting. for ‘inside man,’ it is too bad though that denzel didn’t get nominated for that role because he did a good job compared to some of the best actor nominees selected this week. maybe denzel’s gut undermined his nomination? most of the nominees are pretty skinny dudes except for that other fatty, forrest whitaker. (i guess only one fatty actor can get nominated a year.) denzel has addressed this oversight by not working himself back into shape but casting opposite himself in ‘deja vu’ the very bloated face of val kilmer (get a load of that close-up in the photo below). this totally draws our attention away from denzel’s gut. the proof is in the pudding for denzel as these photos atest.

julia roberts acknowledging that denzel’s oscar win and gut go hand-in-hand.
denzel’s gut stressing out the button on his tuxedo jacket and hogging halle berry’s space that she has to suck it up.
denzel’s new tactic while out in public—wear a really long and loose trench coat, taking no chances for his beer gut to be noticed. instead blame it on a really bad fashion stylist for clothes that don’t fit.
scale reference of denzel in relation to his ‘deja vu’ co-star.
val kilmer looking the largest of the large.
did val kilmer gain weight for his role in ‘deja vu’ to draw attention away from denzel’s gut?
more denzel trench coat subterfuge. “stare at my index finger and not my gut.”

the onitsuka tiger

my fave sneaker at the moment is an off-white asics onitsuka tiger with a cyan stripe. i love the flat sole and the narrow rounded toe. it’s a great sneaker to wear with tappered jeans or slim trousers that break slightly at its hem while it meets the sneaker’s top. also, a great compliment to a dark blazer, which completes the look. i used to disdain retro looking sneakers in the past because they seemed too kitschy, but my opinion of them has changed. anyways, i just fell in love with a modified version of the onitsuka tiger with three velcro straps that comes with an orange stripe:

see here

wkw’s ‘my blueberry nights’

here are some scouting location jpgs with director wong kar-wai, cinematographer darius khondji & editor/production designer william chang from wkw’s new film ‘my blueberry nights’ (his first american location shot feature). hopefully, wim wender’s ‘paris, texas’ and playwright tennessee williams’ literary southern gothic settings have an influence on the look of ‘my blueberry nights’ rather than a wkw american visual compliation of his previous films ‘happy together,’ ‘chungking express’ and ‘fallen angels’ combined. also, from the recent dennis lim n.y. times article (click blog entry title to read write up) and production reports from various media sources, it seems wkw is up to his old method of improvising during shooting. while crime novelist larry block’s script appears only to be a front, so wkw could attain financing but ultimately shoot in his typical manner of discovering the narrative during production. in addition, imdb lists ‘my blueberry nights’ with a june 2007 new york/los angeles release date and will probably screen at this year’s cannes film festival. looking forward to seeing how this one turns out for wkw & cast (norah jones, jude law, natalie portman, rachel weisez and david strathairn) & crew (william chang & darius khondji) and which of these locations jpgs appear in the final cut besides palacinka in nyc. (click individual images to enlarge & see more details.)

special thanks to s


director wong kar-wai at location unknown


cinematographer darius khondji at location unknown


editor/production designer william chang at palacinka in nyc


interior of palacinka










cinematographer darius khondji in ely, nevada



wong kar-wai discovered ely while driving along highway 50, known as “the loneliest road in america”