Marrakech fits, 2023.

Continuing with my holiday outfit retrospectives, here are all the outfits I wore for a holiday to Marrakech in February 2023!

Dressing for Morocco posed a unique sartorial challenge; I usually lean into playful, shorter silhouettes on holiday, but local custom calls for a more conservative approach. I had to get creative to ensure my personality still shone through while staying stylishly covered up.

Day 1

Oscar predictions, 2021

Due to work and exams, I've not seen as many of the 2021 in contention films as I'd like to (this has pretty much been the party line since I started my job in 2018, aha). But I have been keeping my eye on the bloggers and prognosticators, seeing who won the pre-cursors, as well as watching the BAFTAs.

Thus, I feel well-equipped to at least make a valiant stab at who I think will win! 

Best picture: Nomadland 

Best director: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland 

Chloé Zhao and Nomadland have taken the top two prizes at almost every precursor award, so I think these two wins are currently locked. 

Book review: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES (Suzanne Collins)

Set 64 years before The Hunger Games, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is Suzanne Collins' prequel to her dystopian YA trilogy, a book series whose film adaptations launched the Hollywood career of that awful over-actor and recipient of the most undeserved Oscar win ever, Jennifer Lawrence.

For that reason, then, you'd think that I would dislike The Hunger Games books. But I actually really enjoyed them (I even enjoyed some facets of the films). The world-building exhibited in the books was extremely inventive, and, whilst it may have been a tad derivative of Battle Royale and various Roman and Greek myths, I maintain that most good art contains inflections of other artists that preceded it.

Central to the books was the first-person narrative of Katniss Everdeen, the tribute from District 12. Throughout the trilogy she displayed courage, resilience and resourcefulness beyond her 16 years, and her actions were underscored with familial loyalty to her more fragile younger sister, Prim. Collins shrewdly avoided painting her heroine as a Mary Sue, however, as Katniss was also stubborn, unforgiving, whiny and often downright unlikeable.

You love to sea it

As I discussed in April, working from home, and the various video-conferences I partake in on a daily basis has made me more conscious of the film posters I had on the wall facing the camera. I had bought a Parasite film poster from Geeky Illustrator to join the Shawshank Redemption one I already had.

The Shawshank Redemption poster was on the wall opposite the Parasite one, and I realised it made sense to put the two side by side, seeing as they were from the same artist. And then in late May, I purchased a Finding Nemo poster to flank the Parasite poster on the other side (from another artist).

What I now have is a very colourful display of three films to face my Webcam for when I'm in a meeting, that perfectly represents three facets of my love of cinema: Disney, foreign film and character-driven dramas!

Guarding them all is my boy Gary Cahill, because, obvs.

Product review: two Japanese snack boxes

One of the things that a lot of people have struggled with during enforced lockdown was that, without social events to attend in the evenings or at weekends, it was difficult to pass the time without something to look forward to.

I completely sympathise with this, and as an act of self-care, during the quarantine period, I have been ordering myself little treats on the internet every few days. It doesn’t quite substitute the endorphin rush of hanging out with friends in a packed, boozy bar, but I find that if you have mail deliveries to look forward to, it helps delineate the days, and prevent them from blurring into one.

If you have the means to do so, I recommend you do the same!

Two things I ordered near the beginning of the lockdown were two Japanese snack boxes. Below are my brief thoughts on them:

52 Japanese Candy and Snack Okashi Set (£20)

Second-guessing which films got the BBFC the most complaints in 2019

This blog is rated 15 for strong sex references and descriptions of violence.

After years of releasing their annual reports every July, 2018's BBFC annual report was instead released in late May. As I really love testing my BBFC senses on a yearly basis, to see how good I am at reading the general public's perception of what BBFC ratings for films ought to be, I thought I'd guess which films got them the most complaints in 2019!

Note, when I refer to a '2019 release', this actually means any film that came out in cinemas in the UK in 2019. So The Favourite, although a 2018 film by American release dates (and eligible for the 2019 Oscars and BAFTAs for that precise reason), didn't hit UK cinemas until January 2019, and is thus a 'UK 2019 release'. 

My guesses:

01. Joker

An opportune shift

In this working from home period during lockdown, I have to have video-conferences on an almost daily basis. This made me realise that the poster set-up that I'd had on the wall facing my work WebCam was suboptimal:

I absolutely adore the Nick Wilde plushie in the photo though, and wouldn't trade him for the world.

I liked Wonder Woman a lot, it was my tenth favourite film of 2017 (at the time of writing), and It probably makes my top 20 of 2017. But for a film to be rewarded a special spot on my wall, it has to be a bit more special than top 20, top 10 of the year! (It was awarded a place more due to the fact that it was based on a  Stephen King novel, which my favourite film also happens to be. More on that later).

In addition to being films which weren't the best representation of Emma's cinephile tastes, they were also too small to be spotted from the Webcam. So ideally, I'd want one film poster rather than two, large enough that its title could be recognised instantly.

Thus, I turned to my current obsession, and a film I seem determined to own all the merch for, Parasite:

This amazing artwork was done by The Geeky Illustrator. I had already bought a The Shawshank Redemption poster from him and was not disappointed, so I went back for more with this gorgeous Parasite poster. It complements the lime green of my wall so well (not to mention Nick Wilde's shirt), and the use of the son's tent for the second 'A' is just inspired!

So, going forwards, I can now have Webex calls with more confidence. Thank you, The Geeky Illustrator!

Restaurant review: KIMCHEE (Holborn)

I was so delighted that Parasite rightly won Best Film and Director at the Oscars this year (as you can probably tell by me proudly wearing their merch!), that I had an informal victory lap in its honour. This involved having several drinks celebrating its win, but the most specific bit of celebrating I did was dining at a Korean restaurant, Kimchee.

Sadly, Kimchee did not serve the ram-don that was made so iconic by the thrilling scene in the movie, but it did serve bimbimbap, kimchee, pajeon, and various other staples of Korean dining, so I was excited to visit it, hoping that it would join On the Bab, BimBimBap and Gogi Korean Bar and Grill in the pantheon of fabulous Korean restaurants I’ve visited in London.

But this wasn’t to be. The food at Kimchee was awfully overpriced for what it was:

Those portions of kimchi are tiny, yet it cost £5!

OOTD: Repping my favourite and least favourite films of 2019

In this aesthetic, I'm pairing a Parasite T-shirt (my favourite film of 2019 and one of my favourite movies of all time; I was so buzzing to be proved wrong, and see it win Best Film and Best Director at the Oscars over CoD: WW1!) with a floral headband a la Florence Pugh in Midsommar. I despised Midsommar - it was all kinds of toxic indulgent garbage, but I will concede that floral garlands are a very pretty look.

T-shirt: RedBubble (bought online)

Floral headband: Accessorize

Earcuff: Etsy (bought online)

The result is a casual yet girly and very cine-literate outfit! Of course, a flower headband is only a miniature version of the full-on garland that Dani wore in Midsommar. But I did recently find a larger garland that was truer to the look:

Excuse my gross make-up-less face there. My face without make-up deserves a 15 rating.

It might be harder to square wearing this to work on Dressdown Fridays, though!

10 Most Attractive Women in a 2019 Film

Hey readers, hope you're all well and not going stir-crazy due to the lockdown!

I've decided to make lemonade out of lemons, and use this mandated stay-at-home period to spend more time blogging, something which I have done embarrassingly little of in 2020.

Thus, what better way to get back into it than by compiling one of this blog's yearly staples: most attractive women in a 20XX film?

Here is 2018's list, and as has become my habit, I will record next to each lady whether she was present in the previous year's list, or if she is a recent obsession!

10. Lili Reinhart, Hustlers (new entrant)

2020 Oscar Predictions

As I've been banging on for weeks on this blog, Parasite should win. But the Oscars are very rarely about "deserve". When Moonlight rightly triumphed over Blah Blah Bland  three years ago, that was such a surprise, because it's unusual for the Oscars to actually reward the best film of the year!

Going by that train of thought, I don't expect the Academy to pleasantly surprise me tonight, and thus, they'll give the big two awards to the cut-rate Dunkirk, instead of the genuine originality and acuity of Parasite.

Best Picture - 1917
Best Director - Sam Mendes, 1917
Best Actor - Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Best Actress - Renee Zellweger, Judy
Best Supporting Actor - Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best Supporting Actress - Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Best Adapted Screenplay - Jojo Rabbit
Best Original Screenplay - Parasite

Even though I pessimistically predicted Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood to triumph in this category at the BAFTAs last Sunday, I screamed with delight when I was proved wrong, and Flo Pugh announced Parasite as the winner!

Not just because Parasite is the infinitely superior written film, but because it meant the momentum was with Parasite to go on and win Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars. And thus, I am predicting it to rightfully be crowned here tonight!

Academy, don't let me down and give it to OUATIH! Quentin Tarantino does not deserve a third Oscar! He barely deserves one.

Best Animated Feature - Klaus
Best Animated Short - Hair Love
Best Documentary Feature - American Factory
Best Documentary Short - Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)
Best International Film - Parasite
Best Live Action Short - Nefta Football Club
Best Cinematography - 1917
Best Costume Design - Little Women
Best Film Editing - Parasite

The bookies have the same odds for Parasite to take Editing as they do Ford vs Ferrari, and most Oscar-prognosticators are split evenly for who they're predicting for this category. Parasite has fewer cuts, 960 compared to the average in a film of 1,250, and Ford vs Ferrari's car-racing scenes were certainly cut with flair.

The Academy have historically rewarded the editing for frenetic films that rely on more editing (e.g. Whiplash, Mad Max: Fury Road and last year's egregious win for Bohemian Rhapsody), which would favour Ford vs Ferrari.

But I am stubbornly predicting hopefully here, almost in the hope of willing a win for Parasite. Much of the enjoyment of Parasite came from the economy of  each scene; there wasn't a superfluous shot in the film. Every shot served a purpose, even if you didn't realise its purpose until later. The editing in Parasite may be less flashy than in Ford vs Ferrari, but it aids the story (and Bong's vision) perfectly. So I hope the Academy repay my faith and reward the editor here.

It would send a great message that the Academy reward crafts on the quality of them, rather than the quantity.

Best Makeup and Hair Styling - Bombshell
Best Production Design - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Parasite deserves to win in this category (it deserves to win all six of its categories!), but sadly, I think the Academy will go for the more in-your-face sets of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. La La Land won this category three years ago, and the art decor in this film was reminiscent of LLL.

But in terms of astute use of the production design to assist telling your story, Parasite deserves this, hands down.

Best Visual Effects - 1917
Best Original Score - Joker
Best Original Song - "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again," Rocketman
Best Sound Mixing - 1917
Best Sound Editing - 1917

So sadly, I'm predicting six awards for Call of Duty: WW1. I want Parasite to win all six awards it's nominated for, and to make myself feel better about the fact that it's probably not happening, I partook in some emotional hedging in the form of a monetary bet:

If 1917 is going to steal Parasite's awards, I may as well make £7.38 out of it! (I haven't gambled for nearly four years, and I lost £10 that time. I would gladly take the money hit this year, if it meant Bong's masterpiece was justly rewarded!)

BAFTA predictions, 2020.

My predictions last year were decent, especially in how I anticipated that we'd give Best Film to Roma, a move that was not mirrored by the Academy Awards, who went for Green Book.

Thus, as is a tradition on my blog, I'd try my hand at predicting tonight's British Academy Film Awards! Remember, the below is who I think will win, which very rarely overlaps with who I think actually should win.

Best Film: 1917

Sadly, I think this uninspired Dunkirk rip-off will triumph, even though it's not a patch on Dunkirk, and feels like watching someone play a computer game for 2 hours. I see BAFTA falling for the 'made to look like it was filmed in one shot' gimmick, and even more sadly, the Oscars to do the same next week.

Golden Globe 2020 Predictions

I've been sadly rather neglectful of my blog of late (I'm been extremely busy at work!), but one thing I  will always find time for, no matter what, is movie awards prognostication. The Golden Globes take place tomorrow evening, and I absolutely love blindly guessing!

Last year, the Golden Globes had a surprising amount of clout, as their rewarding Glen Close best actress (and not Lady Gaga as I'd predicted), meant the Best Actress Oscar was between Close and Olivia Colman. Furthermore, they gave Best Film, Musical or Comedy to Green Book, which went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture. This meant that, in the landscape of 2019's Best Picture, the Golden Globes fared better than the BAFTAs as an Academy Award weathervane.

So without further ado, Emma's guesses!

Best Film, Drama: The Irishman