Mary and Max

Mary Daisy Dinkle is eight years old and lives together with her alcoholic parents and her pet rooster in the suburbs of Melbourne. One day she decides to write to an American to find out where babies come from over there (in Australia they are found at the bottom of beer glasses), and she picks out a name from a phonebook: Max Jerry Horovitz. Max is forty-four years old, severely over-weight and diagnosed with Asberger’s Syndrome. A twenty years-long  friendship is about to begin.

Mary and Max (2009) is an animated film written and directed by Adam Eliot, and with the voices of Toni Colette (Mary) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Max). The colors are mainly grayscale and sepia with a few splashes of bright red, matching the mood of the story. The film is sweet, funny, sad, heartbreaking and absolutely wonderful. I really, really recommend it to everyone! Note: this is not a film for children, even if it is animated.  

If you’re watching one film to night, I suggest it be Mary and Max.

Love, Elin

Vili Flik Design

Dress: Read! by Hanna Marie Volle

 

Vili Flik Design

Skirt: imp design by Elin Fjøsne

 

Edgar Allan Poe

It’s Thursday and time for another Hottie – and a historical one at that: Edgar Allan Poe, author extraordinaire and saviour of my childhood and teens.

Poe was born in Boston in 1809 and sadly only lived until 1849 (his death being variously attributed to alcohol, drugs, rabies (!), tuberculosis and suicide, among others). In those few years, however, he managed to produce quite a body of work, including an astonishing number of poems, critical essays and short stories. In fact, he was one of the originators of the short story as we know it today, and he is also credited with the invention of detective fiction. Among his best known works are short stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839), “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843), “The Masque of the Red Death” (1842) and “The Pit and the Pendulum” (1842), as well as poems “Annabel Lee” (1849), “Lenore” (1843) and, of course, “The Raven” (1845). (Side note: the wonderfully creepy Vincent Price starred in film adaptations of many of these. Worth checking out!)

Poe married his 13 year old cousin, Virginia Clemm, in 1835, when he himself was 26. Times sure were different back then…

Virginia Clemm

His writing mainly revolves around “mystery and the macabre”, and his Gothic tales usually deal with death, loss and possible insanity. In “The Philosophy of Composition” (1846), he also wrote that “When it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical subject in the world” – an interesting sentiment to say the least. Despite his somewhat romantic notions of necrophilia he qualifies as a Vili Flik Hottie on the strength of his brilliant and creepy stories and his beautiful poetry. He’s one of those authors you fall in love with at a young age (about the age of his bride I would say, so perhaps their marriage wasn’t that creepy…) and who then stays with you for the rest of your life.

I will leave you with my favourite poem of his (or anyone’s) from when I was around 14, This should give you come idea of why this man is still a hero to all the Goths (yes, I kinda was one back then…) and Emos (luckily, this term had not yet been invented during that phase of my life!) out there:

 

Alone

From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw — I could not bring
My passions from a common spring —
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow — I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone —
And all I lov’d — I lov’d alone —
Then — in my childhood — in the dawn
Of a most stormy life — was drawn
From ev’ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still —
From the torrent, or the fountain —
From the red cliff of the mountain —
From the sun that ’round me roll’d
In its autumn tint of gold —
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass’d me flying by —
From the thunder, and the storm —
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view —

Love, Mari

Swimwear

Yes, we have finally reached March, the first official month of spring, and what better way to celebrate than to start planning this year’s beach outfits?

Now, as you may have noticed, we here at Vili Flik tend to prefer the aesthetics of the good old days. Things seemed to have a bit more class and elegance back then, while still being sexy/glamorous/alluring or however you wish to be perceived. This is true also for swimwear, which is the topic of today’s vintage.

Way back when, or at least up until the mid-1600s people usually swam in the nude, then they realized how indecent this was and opted for the complete opposite: full body coverage.

As time went by, the garments shrunk and became more figure-hugging, (something that opened up for glamour-photography. Isn’t it lovely how everything is connected?) and resulted in the itsy bitsy teeny weenie bikinis we see by the poolside today. By the way, did you know that the bikini is named after Bikini Atoll, a site for several nuclear weapon tests, because of their alleged explosive effect on the viewer?

I give you: Miss Atomic Bomb, 1957

But enough talk! Let’s look at the goodies:

The number one accessory to the swimsuit is of course the swim cap. Here are some classics:

Looking forward to summer? Well, then let me draw your attention to the walk of shame that is men’s swimwear:

If this didn’t make you long for summer, I don’t know what will.

Love, Elin

Anna Sui

Anna Sui (1964) is an American designer, known for scrumptous, vivid and colorful clothes. No wonder we love her!

Seriously, if you do not already know and love Anna Sui, this post will make you a believer! And that’s not due to my awesome blogging skills, oh no, it’s due to the meretricious and fun and fabulous look that Anna Sui gives the world.

A phrase Anna Sui taught me: Genius Files. The Genius Files are the files Anna Sui made from early childhood, cutting out awesome photos from fashion magazines, and gluing them into books. She still uses the Genius Files for inspiration. So all that cutting and gluing stuff you did in kindergarden may actually serve to give you a glorificius career.

Anna Sui’s career began with her sitting at home in her apartment, designing and making clothes, which she eventually sold to Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. In 1991 she presented her first runway show to raging success, and since then? Well, since then it’s all been fantastically fantastic.

Colorful and fun and glorious everyday clothing. What’s not to like?

Love? Love.

Love, Hanna

Ahoy, matey!

For years they’ve roamed the seven seas bringing terror into the hearts of honest sailors. I speak of course of the infamous pirate. Ever since the ship was invented, pirates have attacked and pillaged, raped and murdered on any ship they’ve come across.

A famous historical pirate is Captain Blackbeard, real name Edward Teach (ca. 1680-1718), who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies during the early 18th century. A shrewd and calculating leader, Teach used his fearsome image instead of force to elicit the response he desired from those he robbed. Contrary to the modern-day image of the traditional tyrannical pirate, he commanded his vessels with the permission of their crews, and there are no known accounts of his ever having harmed or murdered those he held captive. He was romanticised after his death, and became the inspiration for a number of pirate-themed works of fiction across a range of genres.

There were a few cases of women becoming pirates as well. One such woman was Anne Bonny (1702-1782), who operated in the Caribbean Sea. Due to her parents’ complicated marriages, Anne, an illegitimate child, was raised as a boy. When she was discovered to actually be a girl, her parents came clean with their affair and was shunned by the community. The result was a move to America. Here Anne grew up to marry a small-time pirate by the name of James Bonny. Through him she met John “Calico Jack” Rackham, captain of the pirate sloop Revenge, and she became his mistress. Thus she was set for a life of piracy. Escaping her husband, she and Rackham gathered a crew (including another female pirate, Mary Read) and lived the pirate-life until overtaken by one of the King’s ships and brought in chains to Jamaica. Here they were sentenced to death by hanging, but Anne “pleaded her belly” and was given a temporary stay of execution. There are no certain sources stating what happened since, but the most likely alternative seems to be that her father managed to secure her release and that she returned to America.

There are of course pirates today as well, but they’re more of the poverty-stricken, machine gun-sporting, no-nonsense types who do not have any regard for the romanticized image we strive to uphold in the Western part of the world.

To be a pirate (the cool type) you need a proper pirates outfit:

Notice especially the boots, the jacket and the hat.

And of course you will be needing a fancy flag. Here are some suggestions:

Pirates have always been an inspiration for stories, and perhaps the most (in)famous fictional pirates are Captain Hook from J. M. Barrie’s play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up.

And Long John Silver from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island.

But to us here at Vili Flik there can really only be one pirate: Captain Jack Sparrow, the greatest dandy to ever rum the seven seas (see what I did there?)

If you like the idea of being a pirate then you should know that the international Talk Like A Pirate-day is on September 19^th every year. Go shiver their timbers!

Love, Elin

ROOM

Today I’m five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I’m changed to five, abracadabra. Before that I was three, the two, then one, then zero. “Was I minus numbers?”

“Hmm?” Ma does a big stretch.

“Up in Heaven. Was I minus one, minus two, minus three – ?”

“Nah, the numbers didn’t start until you zoomed down.”

“Through Skylight. You were all sad till I happened in your tummy.”

“You said it.” Ma leans out of Bed to switch on Lamp, he makes everything light up whoosh. […] I look down at Rug with her red and brown and black all zigging around each other. There’s the stain I spilled by mistake getting born. “You cutted the cord and I was free,” I tell Ma. “Then I turned into a boy.”

“Actually, you were a boy already.” She gets out of Bed and goes to Thermostat to hot the air.

I don’t think he came last night after nine, the air’s always different if he came. I don’t ask because she doesn’t like saying about him.

Jack is five years old and lives in Room with his Ma. Jack has never been outside Room and believes that it is the entire world. He knows that his friends in TV are not really real, not in the same way as him and Ma. At night, after Jack has gone to sleep in Wardrobe, Old Nick comes and sleeps in Bed with Ma, but he always leaves before morning. This is how it is and has always been.

But now there has been a change. Old Nick has lost his job and Ma knows that they need to escape before he loses his house. She concocts a desperate plan, and suddenly Jack is forced to face the fact that there is a world outside of Room, and that he has to enter it alone in order to save himself and his mother.

ROOM (2010) is a wonderful novel by the Irish writer Emma Donoghue. It’s portrayal of Jack and Ma’s life in captivity, and how they try to keep a sense of normality, is very interesting and touching. The psychological problems the two main characters face also seem very realistic. The novel has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for best Canadian novel. It has also been a finalist for International Author of the Year (Galaxy National Book Awards) and the Governor General’s Award.

I really recommend that you pick up a copy of ROOM. It is sweet, disturbing, heartbreaking and funny, absolutely a novel worthy of being read.

Love, Elin.

Umberto D.

I’ve recently been made aware of the wonderful Italian director Vittorio De Sica (1901-74) and I am currently in the process of watching as many of his films as I can get my hands on.

The Man himself

I started out with Ladri di Biciclette (1948), which I truly enjoyed and recommend to everyone, but De Sica had me spellbound with the brilliant and moving Umberto D (1952).

The story revolves around elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari (wonderfully portrayed by Carlo Battisti) a poor, lonely man who rents a room from a less than charming landlady. His friends consist mainly of servant girl Maria and his dog, Flike. His financial situation is difficult and he is too proud to beg and unable to get a loan from former colleagues. After a stay in the hospital, he comes home to find his beloved dog gone and his room occupied. He goes on a search for Flike while simultaniously trying to figure out his options in life.

The film is beautifully shot and brilliantly directed and acted. The story and characters are very moving: I dare anyone not to fall in love with Umberto and Flike. I strongly recommend this film – although do not expect a light-hearted comedy! This film will toy with your emotions in an unignorable way. Still, it is worth it. As are the rest of De Sica’s films, at least the ones I’ve seen so far. Hope you enjoy it, even if it’s quite different from what we normally recommend to you. Just trust me on this.

Love, Mari

Audrey Hepburn

I believe in manicures, I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles. – Audrey Hepburn wisdom –

I was shocked and appalled the other day to realize that we have yet to have Audrey Hepburn as our Hottie here at Vili Flik. True, we have professed her greatness several times in other posts, but now she deserves her very own Hottie post.

Audrey Hepburn (1929-93) was a Belgian born actress, dancer and model. Her breakthrough came in 1953 in the fantastic movie Roman Holiday, for which she got an Academy Award, and she also starred in Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Funny Face and My Fair Lady.

She was insanely beautiful and a great dresser. in 1961 she was included on The International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame, where you can also find people like Coco Chanel, Carolina Herrera, Evangeline Blahnik, Bianca Jagger, Nicole Kidman, Estee Lauder and the list goes on and on. Someday we all want to be there as well.

Fun fact: The Audrey, being awesomely awesome, was actually not perfect. She couldn’t sing. So, except for a very few places in My Fair Lady, she is not the one who’s singing.

And ah, the wonderful polka dotty dress from Sabrina

From the 1950s and till her death she worked for UNICEF, and spent a lot of her time in the most disadvantaged parts of Africa, Asia and South America. Oh yeah, she was great.

Pink, short and extremely simple wedding dress – and she pulls it off!

The Audrey in plaid

When starring in Sabrina, Audrey met Hubert de Givenchy for the first time, and later on she was often his muse. Muse for Givenchy. That’s nice.

Quite fabulous, isn’t she?

Love, Hanna