Flashback Friday: The Outsiders

I remember the exact moment my girlish hormones went from "I'm too shy to say I'm crushing on this guy, because I'm still not sure what this is all about" to "Hello cutest guy on the planet! Please become my boyfriend!!!!!!" (had to add all those explanation points, because pre-teen girls say everything excitedly). That moment was 1983 when the movie The Outsiders (based upon the novel by S.E. Hinton) came sauntering into my life. Literally that movie was a living, breathing, Teen Beat magazine, but it had a certain grown-up feel to it because Francis Ford Coppola directed it and there was no cheezy '80s music montage moment (which BTW there is nothing wrong with those '80s music montage moments - The Karate Kid wouldn't be what it is without them).  

Check out this cast:  Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise. All of them in their youthful beauty back then. My particular crushes were on C. Thomas Howell (Ponyboy Curtis) and Rob Lowe (Sodapop Curtis). And when I say "crushes," I mean like your typical over-obsessive teen crushes: plastering my bedroom walls with their posters, buying every possible Teen Beat, Bop, etal magazines, watching subsequent movies made by them...the list goes on and on.  And to be honest, even though my teen crush on C. Thomas has faded, I still find Rob Lowe (who is almost 50 years old) smoking hot. Need proof:

But I digress. The movie does not feel dated either (maybe because the movie was set in the 1960s, but filmed in the 1980s and therefore is hard to pinpoint the look of this movie) and it's score was done by The Godfather's Carmine Coppola and Stevie Wonder did the title track "Stay Gold" (inspired by Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay"). There is too much cool attached to this film. Those that were disappointed the original film did not include additional scenes based upon the book, Coppola did release his "director's cut" with 22 additional minutes in 2005. 

Want tidbits?

• This was Rob Lowe's first major film role.  He was 17 years old
• The majority of the main cast were under 20 years old, except Patrick Swayze who was in his 30s and Ralph Macchio who was in his 40s (I kid! He was 20, but looked the youngest)
• Director/writer (and Francis Ford Coppola's daughter) Sofia Coppola had a cameo as the girl who kept pestering Matt Dillon for a dime
• The author of The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton, had a cameo as a nurse in one of the hospital scenes
• For those who probably have GIFS or Tumblrs of Tom Cruise running in his movies, he does have a very brief running scene before they fight the Socs in the big rumble scene (also Cruise has the least amount of screen time than the other main cast members)
• Blooper fans? When Matt Dillon (Dally) falls off the chair in the drive-in theatre it was really an accident, but they kept the scene in the movie
• Blush moments for a pre-teen girl: (1) Rob Lowe (Sodapop) coming out of the shower; and (2) Matt Dillon (Dally) in his tightie whities

Yeah, I still love The Outsiders. *Sigh*

What a cubicle dweller dreams of...celebrity style

I find Chelsea Handler not very funny (sorry Handler fans), but the gal has an beautiful office space. Which makes me think that in real life she isn't as abrasive or crude, but a sweet, girly girl like the rest of us.  

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Her office is super feminine. All those pops of pinks and magenta. The desk facing the lounge area is perfect if I wanted to do work and entertain at the same time or when I just want to kick back and read some design books.  

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How about that awesome wall art by Kyle Bunting. It is made entirely of hide. It is definitely appreciated from afar as well as up close. The brass Arteriors lamp is of the moment and fits in perfectly with the decor. 

Check out the rest of her space over here. Girlfriend even has a vanity mirror desk and a floor to ceiling marble bathroom.

Art is everywhere

Graphic designer Eiko Ojala created this vertical landscape illustration. It looks like cut paper, but it isn't.  Eiko draws everything digitally by hand to make it look like cut paper. He does not use any 3D software. His illustrations are amazing. Check out the details.

Go visit this talented illustrator's website and see the rest of his work.

Happy Paddy's Day

I do not believe there is any Irish blood in my vast filipino background, but that didn't stop me from celebrating St. Patrick's Day growing up. I remember as a kid I was so afraid of not wearing green because that would usually result in me getting a swift and painful pinch from my siblings. 

In celebration of St. Paddy's Day, this blog post is done DesignStylePop! style:

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Design. San Diego's Emerald Plaza Building, located in downtown San Diego, is probably the most visible sight when you fly into San Diego at night. It's the fifth tallest building in San Diego clocking in at 450 feet. It's architectural style is post-modern. It is quite literally our own Emerald City.

Style. I've always admired Monique Lhuillier's fashion. The fact that she is also part-Filipino doesn't hurt, but at the same time she has a wonderful sense of what looks good on a woman by highlighting and enhancing our femininity by her common use of lace and flowing chiffon. Her Fall 2013 collection I'm completing loving, there is such an opulence to it. She even uses Pantone's color of the year (Emerald) to good effect. 

Pop. Kermit the Frog is my favorite muppet. His Rainbow Connection performance sitting by the lily pond strumming on his banjo was as touching as they come. Kermit was always a little too unsure of himself- reminds me of myself. So it was nice to see this inspirational billboard on the freeway from the Foundation for a Better Life. Even a frog like Kermit should feel confident and proud and show to everyone that it is easy "being green."

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!

TGIF

Okay, it's Friday, I'm happy that the weekend is almost here and I found the gosh damn cutest gif of a baby duck running towards a camera.  So random, but makes me as happy as a clam in high water.  Enjoy!

I Kill Plants

True story - when I was in college, my sister gave me her cactus plant to take care of. I thought this shouldn't be too hard - Desert plants do not need much water right? They reside in dry and hot climates!...Wrong!

You know when you watch those nature documentaries and they show time lapse footage of a plant slowly dying, well this cactus did not slowly wilt away, it quite literally fell over right in front of me! It was hollow and dead inside and it looked kind of like this:

A pretty dead-on characterization of that cactus (well, minus the x's for eyes and the downward smile). Needless to say, no one ever gives me plants to take care of anymore. I am also lucky that my husband has a green thumb and actually enjoys taking care of our plants (he also cooks and therefore I am the luckiest woman on the planet). 

What's a girl to do when I love looking at plants but have such a 'black' thumb? Well, you go fake.

These adorable paper plants and succulents (including a paper pot) are obviously fake, but they are so whimsical, quirky and colorful that I wouldn't mind having them sit on my window sill as decoration. No watering necessary - bonus!

The Flirty Guide has a brilliant DIY tutorial on creating these pretty little origami cherry blossoms on real branches. No potential of wilting petals. Brilliant.

Of course, as with life, there is always hope. I haven't given up on having real plants and discovered the trick to keeping plants alive...it's called water stupid.

I'm Nesting

(photo by Fanghong)

I have a couple of Matryoshka dolls or more commonly known as Russian nesting dolls. The whole idea of opening up something and finding something even smaller in it was always interesting to me. The typical Matryoshka dolls had the outside figure as a Russian peasant woman, which when opened repeatedly eventually revealed a baby inside. 

Lately, it's the more modern renderings of Nesting dolls that have got me thinking of buying outside the typical Matryoshka versions. They are all clever and some have a sense of humor about them. 

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