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Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), directed by Peter Weir, is an Australian mystery film, set in Victoria at the turn of the century, adapted from the Joan Lindsay novel of the same name. The film opens at Appleyard College, a private girls school and relates the mysterious disappearance of a group of girls on a picnic excursion to a local geological and former Aboriginal settlement, on St. Valentine's Day in 1900. The film explores the subsequent effect this has on the small-knit community.
If you're into the eerie and the mysterious, with the addition of beautiful girls floating about in Edwardian garb, then this might the one for you. Don't be tempted to pass it off at sheer whimsy, Weir has crafted a bewitched piece of cinematic history that will haunt you long after you've watched it. I've had friends comment on how discomforting they found it, and when you hear that pan pipe music, you might agree.
I turned 24 on December 27th. Come January 30th it will be exactly one year since I moved back home. I feel restless, and on my worst days I fear I have no direction. My friend Maeve posted some quotes recently that particularly struck a chord with me, quotes on friendship and solitude.
Edna O'Brien, 1970s
"We all leave one another. We die, we change - it's mostly change - we outgrow our best friends; but even if I do leave you, I will have passed on to you something of myself; you will be a different person because of knowing me; it's inescapable..."
- Edna O'Brien
Jane Morris, 1865, photographed by Robert Parsons, styled by Rossetti
“It’s no good! It’s no good trying to rid your own aloneness. You’ve got to stick to it all your life. Only at times, at times, the gap will be filled in. At times! But you have to wait for the times. Accept your own aloneness and stick to it, all your life. And then accept the times when the gap is filled in, when they come. But they’ve got to come. You can’t force them.”
- D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover
I fill notebooks with words, ideas, I don't know how much they mean. Writing something is often a comfort, sometimes it's necessary, memories slip from my mind like shopping lists. I'm not trying to establish anything here, but to find comfort in the everyday, and to start translating words into action. I comfort myself by assuring myself I still have time, it's filling the time with something, that's the trouble for me. I struggle to live fearlessly and it's time I combatted that.
Regular posting will resume shortly.
This was originally going to be the Monday Muse, so you can see how much I procrastinate! I watched this movie one autumn's day, wrapped up in a duvet. It was one of those evenings when you needed something so over the top, so self aware... that you immediately turned to the 1980s teen movie genre. Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker as a duo? In a film inspired by the Cyndi Lauper song? I needed no more convincing. Hopefully nether will you, dear reader, after casting your eye over these screencaps. My mid-week muse is Helen Hunt's character, but mostly just for her hair wear (if that's a word).
(That's all they really want!)
Globes with antlers? Sure why not.
These were baby dolls seated in what appear to be high heels.
So when I realised I ran out of Helen Hunt screencaps, I decided to tack these two on:
The 80s were a time when men were men, which meant by default it was acceptable to wear crop tops and white tuxes, *especially* when you were about to make a live tv appearance. And yes, that is a tween Shannon Doherty.
The movie features some brilliantly 80s dance sequences, complete with crafty stunt doubles and fade out sequences like the above.
"The film is basically interchangeable with any number of teen-steam/sports intrigue pictures from the era, complete with a hunky rebel (Lee Montgomery), a hip friend (Helen Hunt was hip?), a dorky friend (Jonathan Silverman, his generation's Jason Biggs), a snobby rival (Holly Gagnier), and a can't-stop-the-music aesthetic that feels like having an unfiltered dose of the '80s injected directly into your eyeballs." (Film Freak Central)
Having blogged about Eve Arnold's images of Ireland before, a few months ago I came across these wonderfully poignant images of John and Angelica Huston, taken in the Huston's Galway home, St. Clarens, in 1968.
Loneliness is not necessarily considered a bad thing in Ireland. Every story, every song is nostalgic, even the place itself is soft and wet ... There are signs of the past everywhere, they are part of everyday life.
Without my Irish childhood I would not know the names of the plants and flowers in my mother’s garden, would not know how to ride a horse, walk in the rain, sing plaintive songs about the country I miss and love the most. I would not understand the vagaries and the delights of nature, the clouds racing overhead, the smell of turf and sheep’s wool, the cold, the black bogs, growing up with dogs, The Sisters Of Mercy, fairies, and the best Christmases in the world. The West of Ireland! The Big House, as we called it, was at one end of a fork in the avenue, across a waterfall, surrounded by meadows and a ha-ha, a sort of hidden ditch, which allowed an uncluttered view of grazing horses. It was Georgian, built of limestone, it was a good size, three storied, not huge. - Anjelica speaking of her Irish childhood.
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These images are copyrighted to Eve Arnold's estate/Magnum photos, and be found here.
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Cinema North West’s Adaptation Film Festival takes place on the 19th - 21st October in Dromahair, Co Leitrim. This year's retrospective focuses on John Huston.
The ball finally dropped recently (what an unfortunate phrase, but its 1am as I type and it'll do). I am a shopoholic. Even though I am mostly just spending the loose change I find at the bottom of my bag in a charity shop. I undeniably get a buzz from shopping. I have been making efforts in the past year or so, to curb that spending, to turn high street spending, into sustainable spending (Being more selective, buying vintage or second hand when possible). Even when I don't have the funds necessary to feed my habit, I find myself spending hours on etsy longingly favouriting dresses I will never afford or own.
While I do love the acid prints and colour palette of 1960s and 1970s clothing, the man made materials of some of these dresses isn't as much to my taste. The materials can be itchy, uncomfortable and sometimes don't hang right on my shape. I try and buy natural fabrics as much as possible, but these cost that bit more. When it comes to materials, you do pay for quality.
1920's Antique Vintage Ecru Embroidered French-Lace & Irish-Crochet Dress
Linen and Lace Heart Dress
1970s vintage 100% pure Irish linen knit skirt set
60s vintage Blue Apple and Floral Print Irish Linen Skirt and Blouse Set
mustard saffron yellow high waist shorts made of irish linen
1960s Irish Linen Dress
UK Vogue 1958 Magazine Advertisement
Antique Early 1900's Ulster Spinning Company Irish Linen Thread
What is linen?
Linen is a yarn or fabric made from the cultivated flax plant. Dating back more than 5000 years, it is one of the oldest textile fibres known to man and weaving cloth is man's oldest manufacturing activity. Flax fibre is soft, lustrous and flexible. It is stronger than cotton fibre but less elastic. The best grades are used for linen fabrics such as damasks, lace and sheeting.
Why Irish Linen?
The Irish Linen industry was mostly concentrated in the North of Ireland, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Since about the 1950s to 1960s the flax fibre for Irish Linen yarn has been, almost exclusively, imported from France, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is bought by spinners who produce yarn and this, in turn, is sold to weavers (or knitters) who produce fabric. Irish linen spinning has now virtually ceased, yarns being imported from places such as Eastern Europe and China.
See Irish Linen
