Thursday, July 29, 2010

sendings

next week i'll post some incoming highlights; sorry, i keep forgetting to take photos! promise that i'll get an incoming mail post done soon! :]
for now, here are some outgoing highlights:
^ to a new pen pal in taiwan.
^ elephants for miss shona in england.

^postcards for m's brother marco overseas.

^i believe i sent this to shona..? let me know! i've made some similar postcards like this and can't remember whom got what..haha.




^just a couple highlights of the mail i've been sending lady micaela. you can see more here & here if you'd like, :].
^postcard for a pen pal in germany.
^ for the lovely megan in australia. the picture reminded me of all the vintage photographs she sent me, so i turned it into a postcard!
^ a postcard made from an image that reminded me of lovely bianca and a marilyn monroe envelope, again, it reminded me of her, :P.
^ to miss marianne in texas.

^ reply for jennie in san fran.


^ an envelope that was hard to part with! batgirl, sent off to lady cari.
wishing you lots of postal love,
- L
PS: this little blog is getting pretty darn close to 100 followers and i'm planning a giveaway to say thank you. you guys are awesome and i'm so thankful for each and every one of you. 100 is nothing compared to some of you guys, but it's really astounding for me and i just want to let you know i'm grateful. LOVELOVELOVE.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

weekend movie


every weekend, be it friday, saturday or sunday, i'm going to start posting and talking about a favorite film and why i love it or how it stands out amongst the rest.

this weekend: 'The Village'

written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan


because of the plot twists and surprise ending, i won't talk too much of the whole story, but here's a good excerpt from wikipedia -

'The date is 1897. As the story progresses, it is revealed the villagers live in fear of nameless creatures in the woods that surround the village. They have built a barrier and watch towers that are constantly manned to keep watch for "Those We Don't Speak Of". It is explained that the villagers have a long-standing truce with the monsters; the villagers do not go into their woods, and the creatures do not enter their village.

Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) asks the village elders for permission to pass through the woods to get medical supplies from "the towns." The villagers describe the towns as "wicked places where wicked people live." The Elders seem to keep dark secrets of their own in the form of black boxes, the contents of which they keep hidden from their own offspring.'


that's all i feel obliged to tell you without ruining it! it's such a wonderful and simple film..yet strangely complicated. personally, i loved it after my first viewing, but for some it takes a few different sit-throughs to like it.

the ending is disarming, somewhat shocking and beautiful. that's all i'll say.


bryce dallas howard became one of my utmost favorite actresses after seeing this movie and she does an amazing job as ivy walker; who eventually becomes the heroin of the story. the character, ivy, is blind and howard doesn't overplay that handicap the way other people might (or have in the past). the way she speaks the dialogue and her subtle gestures are perfection, i could never imagine anyone else playing the role.


roger deakins, the DP (or cinematographer) did a brilliant job; it's not only one of my favorite films, but one of the most visually stunning and heartbreaking i've ever watched. he did a wonderful job capturing the time period and the costumes created for it. and the different camera angles or rather how the camera would just stay in one spot for a scene, never really wavering is so perfect..goodness, i love it.

and, of course, there is the AMAZING m. night shyamalan. truly, i was a skeptic of him and his films for a good time because i HATE really scary films; but while they are frightening and make your heart jump up and down, it's not the entire point of the movie. what it's there for it to trick your mind in different directions as to what you SHOULD think and figuring out what's to come next. it's just...amazing. shyamalan writes these incredible stories and turns them into stunning, mind-bending films. this film in particular along with just the inspiration that m. night shyamalan's writing is, is what helped me get back into creating the stories i would like to see on film and not just be a screenwriter, but also a director.

what will probably stand out to some of you lady readers, is the love story; between ivy and lucius. one of my favorite quotes from the film comes from the scene on the porch, when they become engaged:
Ivy Walker: When we are married, will you dance with me? I find dancing very agreeable. Why can you not say what is in your head?

Lucius Hunt: Why can you not stop saying what is in yours? Why must you lead, when I want to lead? If I want to dance I will ask you to dance. If I want to speak I will open my mouth and speak. Everyone is forever plaguing me to speak further. Why? What good is it to tell you you are in my every thought from the time I wake? What good can come from my saying that I sometimes cannot think clearly or do my work properly? What gain can rise of my telling you the only time I feel fear as others do is when I think of you in harm? That is why I am on this porch, Ivy Walker. I fear for your safety before all others. And yes, I will dance with you on our wedding night.

it's such a beautiful and thought-provoking film, i hope that you'll give it a good watch sometime. definitely in my top 5 recommendations and i hope it will be in yours as well someday.
- L

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

who's generation?








who are the people who know you best?

who are those whom you feel closest to?

who do you feel most yourself around?

these people we surround ourselves with and can be most natural and comfortable around, who are they and where did the relationship form from?

and what's the age difference?

while i adore letter writing and every little piece of love and joy it brings into my life, literally every day; the internet and modern forms of communication also allow my soul to connect and find brilliant people whom i would most likely, probably never meet if it wasn't for things like: TWITTER, facebook, BLOGGING, email, texting, skype, and yes, even good ol' myspace.

example number one - two weeks ago i 'met' miss paige baker; through of all things twitter, facebook and blogging. yes, all three. i added her (on twitter) through the other lauren because i was told she was one of the 'most adorable people she'd ever met', haha. and truly, she is! then came facebook which through i found her wonderful blog. little did i know, she'd been following my blog before we met and had a button of my header on her main page! (i was instantly flattered and thankful and sent her an email telling her so.) insanely wonderful how people enter our lives, no? and the ways they have already been in and around them.

but anyway - last week while skimming my twitter page something caught my eye:

Paige Baker vpbakerDear ms. @fancybiscuit, I'm 16 but don't tell. My youngest friend is 21 and my best friend is 29. I think I was born too late. Why?

i have felt this way, way too many times, my whole life. and since i was sixteen, for the last four years i'd felt this way even stronger. some people say they think they should have been born in a different time or era, but i believe i was born too late. you see, most of my friends/aquaintances are and have been in their twenties, thirties and forties; few my own age or younger.

how does that happen? how do a few of us get into that position of really only relating or finding common ground with those a few or several years older than us?

often i've been told it's because i'm an 'old soul' or that i have more of the same interests as people 5, 10, 15 years older than myself. don't ask me though, i'm unsure myself as to why it is that i get on better with those a deal older than my age but here's some of paige's thoughts on the matter:

"I think I get along better/have more common ground with people 5-15 years older than myself because I've found that we think the same way. For a long time I struggled to find friends because befriending people above my age seemed just nearly out of the question. I remember in grade school having a hard time when everyone else liked the spice girls and I liked bob dylan.

So is not to say it's not a tricky way to maintain friendships. There are definitely thinks that will always be different between ages, for example, one of my best friends has four kids and my best friend is pregnant with her first. I know my way around a nursery and I know how to take care of kids and do often. But the fact remains: I'm not a mom. Until (/if) I am we will never have that commonality and there is some separation there. In the grand scheme of things though--everyone will have differences in friendships; I just have a different set. I am glad to have the friends I have."

i can completely relate on the front of what people listen to. the whole matter that people of my generation tend to lean on the side of hip hop, rap and mainstream pop while i grab inspiration from a number of indie artists and those before my birth year is really odd and interesting to me. why we've put this thought in 'today's generation's' heads that THIS is what they should think and do by those who sing or speak so to them is ridiculous. not saying i prefer innocence over truth and knowledge, but what ever happened to just singing about loving someone and it not be that kind of love? or singing a song about an octopus's garden or peace in the world? peace and love to the (majority of) 12-18 age group is something said on a t-shirt or how you end a conversation, not what it truly means and what the world and individual people need.

lennon and mccartney mend my broken heart when i'm at my loneliest and broken. joan jett, not miley cyrus, taught me that you don't have to be tamed and that women shouldn't stand aside, led to believe it's 'a man's world'. al green will be played at my wedding day because he's one of few that i feel really capture passion. i really, honestly love michael jackson because he was such an unbelievable and amazing artist; i listen to his music when my mind needs to be flooded with memories - not because his work is good to dance to.

like paige said, i'm grateful and glad to have the friends and relationships i do; and always happy when a new brilliant one enters my life unexpectedly, stronger than i thought it would become. it is kind of odd in the fact that some of my closest relationships are with people older and older than myself.

micaela, is only six years older than myself and has become one of the closest friends i've ever had and have currently. i would trust her with anything and she is one of only two people whom i can carry a phone conversation on with beyond twenty minutes. our lives could not be any more different, yet we click and get on extremely well. oh, and we've only known each other for six months. but! more on caela later in the week, because she deserves a post all her own.

carol is a friend i made through a youth group; she was the youth director and is in her early forties. there have been few and far between people to see me when i loose it and carol is one of even fewer to call me on it when i'm wrong. i think when you have a person like that in your life, it's good to keep them constant.

without even noticing it, carol and i have become really good friends and she's the only person i see movies with; subconsciously and because there's never anyone reliable enough to make plans with (locally) and keep me on track of time and when i need to leave my house, haha. (i have a real terrible habit of being late without even knowing so.) the beautiful thing about our relationship is that i tend to never notice the age difference or the fact that carol is only so many years younger than my own parents, never. that is a great thing for me because with quite a few relationships i was constantly reminded of age differences and would over-think way too many things. going both ways, she never treats me as a child or like some friends i used to have who were older would, and therefore thought they were better because of the knowledge and years they had over me. she's a true friend and most likely because of being an 'adult' always calls me back, makes plans, actually cares about me like i do her and i don't ever see our friendship out of my life.

lovelies, i have re-written this piece WAY too many times and could go on further if i needed to, but i feel you get the jist of what i am saying, no? and i want to throw it out there for you to answer some of the hidden questions up there. what ages do your friends vary? are you close in age to your closest ones? what draws you to a person and creates the relationship? this is a subject i'm really interested in (obviously) and value your answers and opnions on not only those questions but any other topics regarding friends, ages and common ground between those your soul grows closest to.

lovelovelove,
- L

Friday, July 16, 2010

my photography [part 2]

hey everyone, over the past few days there's been some family issues going on therefore less time has been spent preparing posts and whatnot. and last night i got locked out of my house - with the water running - for an hour and a half, so that tired me out and i would up falling asleep WHILE writing some letters and watching HIMYM just from all the physical and emotional exhaustion i had; pretty rare for me to fall asleep period, let alone watching a funny show and responding to letters. otherwise, this post would have been up last night. ANYWAY, thank you to micaela, paige, april and diana for helping me out and the prayers last night, thank you, thank you, thank you.


well! i was trying to figure out what i should post about first (what was supposed to be week, but turned into the weekend) and realized it'd been awhile since my fist post about my photography. so i began to make a list of possibilities of what type of photos to post about and finally decided on a project that's close to my heart and have recently gotten back into - the love + 100 strangers photo project. basically the concept - founded by the wonderful lauren - is:

'snapshots of 100 strangers, captioned with their first and middle name, age, and their definition of love. (definition of love being dictionary format, a short story, a phrase, life experience, or whatever defines love best for them.)'

so far i've got around 30 people and i hope to go to miami sometime this month and capture more amazing 'love strangers'. it's so incredibly hard to narrow it down, but here are some of my favorites:

"love is knowing everything about a person. knowing their deepest, darkest secrets and being aware of every flaw but still thinking they're the most wonderful person in the entire world and wanting to be with them anyway. really though, love is much too big to be captured and defined in a few words, but i think that's pretty close."
16/100 Megan Lane
Age: 18
From: Norcross, GA

"love is feeling completely comfortable with someone, being able to share everything and be open. showing them that you care."
8/100 Tierra Alesia
Age: 17
From: Rochester, NY
"love is something you give and get from the heart. some are ones you give yourself to."
21/100 Bradley Nelson
Age:21
From: I live on tour.

"love is a shared frenzy of color, adrenaline, and euphoria."
26/100 Fillippa Johanna
Age: 19
From: Sweden

"love is happy, excited."
24/100 Alissa Patricia
Age: 7
From: Naples, FL
"love is unconditional appreciation and understanding."
29/100 Erick
Age: 24
From: Born in NYC, toughened in Miami.
"love is awesome!"
28/100 Samantha
Age: 24
From: Miami, FL

"love is unconditional devotion, companionship."
17/100 Laura Marie
Age: 20
From: St. Petersburg, FL

"love is loving someone for everything they are, even the 'bad' stuff."
22/100 Laura Kaitlin
Age: 17
From: Fort Lauderdale, FL

"love is...not sure. comfort. acceptance. music and beer are both comforting and accepting of me."
27/100 Benjamin Patrick
Age: 32
From: Boston, MA

"love is teddybears and puppies."
14/100 Lisa S.
Age: 5
From: Tampa, FL

"i think that love has become over-rated in today's society. love is a term used very loosely nowadays and it's almost like it doesn't exist. the unconditional love that God has for us is the only true love i can find lately."
9/100 T.J.
Age: 14
From: Naples, FL

"love is when everybody is happy and you want to be together."
30/100 Arriel LeAnn
Age: 17
From: Missouri

"love is an unconditional feeling for someone that cannot make anything feel more important than that feeling."
7/100 Stephanie Ellen
Age: 17
From: Rochester, NY

"love is caring about someone no matter what they do."
1/100 Jordan Andrew
Age: 19
From: Naples, FL

if you'd like to view more photos you can take a look at -

SO! tell me lovely readers - what is your definition of love? what does love mean or feel like to you? let me know!
- L