OH! the places she'll go!

David LaChapelle

2010-02-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

“My pictures are about getting as far away from reality as possible. Dreams should be part of our everyday life." - David LaChapelle

Ranked among the top ten most important people in photography, David LaChapelle is changing not only the way we observe our world, but also the way we dream.

His images show up everywhere from magazine to c.d. covers. He’s even directed his own movie, Rize, along with many other music video compilations for artist such as Moby, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Elton John; just to name a few. He has also published four books: LaChapelle Land, Hotel LaChapelle, Artist and Prostitutes, and Heaven to Hell; all containing eye-catching and wicked (in a good way) portraits.

He first became obsessed with photography at the age of six when he took his first portrait, his mother in her bikini sipping a martini on their family vacation in Puerto Rico. From then on he has never put down his camera. Andy Warhol, working for Interview magazine, offered him his first job as a profession photographer.

Along with celebrating the artificial and making it beautiful, he’s known for evolving photography into an idiosyncratic and personal combination of reportage and surrealism. He accomplishes all of this with the help of a groundbreaking vision and computer manipulation.

Creating images that are cultural cues, David LaChapelle has forever changed the ever-changing face of photography and has opened a door to a new form of art: surreal realism.

--brittany por vida

xoxo.

2009-09-16T11:18:00.001-07:00

What's left of 2009 and all of 2010: the year I actually do shit with my life.

BOY INTERRUPTED

2009-08-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

So since being stuck in the dreadful desert at my parent's house this summer, I've taken full advantage of the HBO channel that I, for some reason, happen to have access to on the television in my parents guest room (a.k.a. my old room!).
HBO has this really awesome/amazing/wonderful documentary lineup every Monday night. Now, I've always been a fan of HBO documentaries, but these last few that I've seen have totally blown my mind away, in a totally mind-blowing-positive-kinda-way.

Filmmakers Dana and Hart Perry made this heartbreaking and brave documentary about their oldest son, Evan, who committed suicide at the age of 15. To have to go through something like that as a parent, and then to beautifully document it to show their son's story, must have been the hardest thing to do, I'd imagine.
This film opens your eyes up to show you that no matter who you are, what kind of life you have, and what age you might be, depression is an illness that can affect everyone.

I would love to go into detail about this film and tell you all about Evan's life, the awesome cinematography, and the chilling interviews... but I'd much rather you see the movie for yourself.

And after all, this is just my opinion.

Inside the Actors Studio: Judd Apatow

2009-07-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

So, tonight was another awesome episode of Bravo's "Inside the Actors Studio". The guest this time was Judd Apatow (writer, director, comedian, all around funny-guy).
It seems as though every time i catch an episode of this show, regardless of who the guest is, I always become a million more times inspired and motivated to pursue a career as a filmmaker.
Well after seeing the show a million times, and of course being the huge nerd that i am, i've often fantasized about what it would be like if i could ever make it on the show. I managed to track down those ten wonderful questions that Mr. Lipton never fails to ask his guest.

So here they are, answered by yours truly...

1. What is your favorite word?
Fuck. (it's a verb, noun, adjective, and an exclamation!)

2. What is your least favorite word?
Booger.... for now it's my least favourite word.

3. What turns you on?
Good, old fashion flirting.

4. What turns you off?
rude people.

5. What sound do you love?
The silence you hear right as your about to fall into a really deep, good sleep.

6. What sound do you hate?
Car horns. SOOOO FUCKING ANNOYING!

7. What is your favorite curse word?
Fuck.

8. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
I would love to be an undercover agent for the DEA. Yeah!

9. What profession would you not like to do?
Plumber.

10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
Welcome Brittany! I've forgiven you for (ALL) your sins. Enjoy!

a little re-cap of my trip that should have been done a month ago...

2009-05-06T02:15:00.000-07:00

i (somewhat) made little journal entries while i was in london and paris from april 2nd till the 11th...

London 4/02/2009

"on the connection to Paddington train.

don't know where i'm going.

my debit card doesn't work here. i only have the $120 that Grace gave me to buy Lucky Strikes.

i've got five more days here till Paris.

lets see what happens..."

(almost three hours later)

"i'm sitting in a park across from London Victoria Station.

it's sunny and cool outside.

my ATM card is now working."

Luton Airport 4/07/2009 - waiting for my plane to Paris

"FUCK. where has the time gone?!?!?!???"

Paris 4/11/2009 - "sleeping" in the airport - 12:45am

"i cannot really re-cap my trip to London and Paris, i'd be writing for days if i did that.

but, what i can say is that traveling is one of the most eye-opening things you can ever do. and traveling alone, well that... is probably one of the most life changing things you can do that will grant you self-awareness, happiness, and loneliness... all at the same time.

but you know, we all need a bit of that at some point in our lives, right?

it's what'll keep you sane..."

so, that concludes my trip... with just some small details in the middle.

brittany por vida
xoxo.

2009-04-01T02:35:00.000-07:00

when faced with the many options most young adults face, usually i don't make a decision.

but this time, i choose to go...

< two days.

2009-03-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

in less than 48 hours i will heading off to the airport.

LONDON, brace yourself: Brittany murphy is coming!

and Paris, you better watch out too...

2008-11-26T01:04:00.000-08:00

i really want to see the world.
and this country.
NYC, Chicago, Detroit, Portland, Seattle, New Orleans....

all of it.
i want to see it all.

feelings of an exposé.

2008-08-09T15:47:00.001-07:00

admittedly in the middle of a non-typical quarter-mid life crossroad. regardless, i cling to this flawless 80's bon mot:

life moves pretty fast. if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

hands.

2008-06-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

i've decided that hands are my new favourite body part.

2008-04-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

montreal was wonderful.

canada was great.

i'm waaay behind, so this is all i'm writing.

just know: i had an amazing trip.

canada ya tell it's cold here??

2008-04-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

okay, so it's re-cap time! (again)

after having dinner with everyone on sunday, les, jac and i headed back to ottawa monday morning-ish.

by then the weather had warmed up a bit.

we stopped at Minami's house and had a late lunch/early dinner with her... which was so yummy! we stayed at her place for a good four hours or so and just chatted. it was really nice to get to see her.

tuesday, i got to sleep in. and boy did i sleep in! jacqueline had to go to work early, and uncle les dropped her off. after i finally woke at around noon, i had breakfast.

uncle les and i got ready, and headed to the museum of nature.

i'm so used to going to museums that are filled with just art, so it was a good change to see other things. it was a very interesting museum. more than half of the place was blocked off because of some re-construction going on. it won't be totally finished for another two years.

later in the evening the three of us went over to andre and janet's house and had dinner. which, like most of the meals i've had here, was also very delicious.

we hung out with them for a few hours, and watch american idol. it was nice to get to see the two of them, as well as dustin (andre's son) and his girlfriend.

wednesday i managed to get up a little bit earlier than the day before.

uncle les and i went out for a late breakfast at the Byward Market in downtown ottawa, then we headed to the national gallery. that is probably my new favourite museum! it's huge! and there are a ton of things to see! i really liked the contemperary gallery as well as the canadian gallery.

after that les and i walked around the Byward Market a bit more and stopped into a little boulangiere/pattiserie and picked up some desserts.

then we headed home.

jacqueline was pretty exhausted from work, so we stayed in that night.

after dinner, we went up to the 22nd floor and met some neighbors; barbara and john who are artist. john is a painter and he has some really amazing paintings. barbara does this really cool graphic art stuff. what she does... well it will take me forever to explain, so just trust me when i say it's really cool stuff.

after meeting with them, we went back to floor 20 and had our dessert and watched some HOCKEY!

now this brings us to today!

today i we all got up, and had breakfast together.

after i got dressed and jac and i headed up to john and barbara's place, with my arms filled with my clothes. barb ended up doing one of her really cool art things with me. i won't have the final piece till about may or so, but i will post some pictures of it.

after that les dropped jacqueline and i off at a spa where we both got massages and a few other things done.

it was so nice! i've never been to a spa before. it was very relaxing.

after that les picked us up and we went to a restaurant to meet up with andre and janet to have dinner.

jac's best friend also stopped in too. i forgot what her name is, but she was SUPER nice and really fun to talk to.

after dinner we al said our goodbyes. andre and janet ended up giving me this old 3-D camera from the 80s. they've never used it and figured i would get more use from it than they would. it super cool! i've never seen anything like it before and cannot wait to use it!

when i publish my first photography book i'm gonna have to thank them! ;)

on the way home jac and les stopped by the crossing points of "Brittany Dr." and "Kristin Way". i had to take a picture! (my sister-in-law's name is kristin).

after we got home i knocked out for about thirty-minutes. then got up and took a shower.

we were all able to talk to dean on Skype, although we weren't able to see him because his camera wasn't working.

then we ended up chatting with pauline, angie, and dean all at once on skype, too. it was a very funny and entertaining conversation we had!

then we all got to packing for montreal (we are leaving tomorrow morning).

i'm not finished yet... and i doubt i will be able to finish! my suitcase is pretty much full and i still have a ton of things to pack!

oh well, ya win some, ya lose some! ;)

well the pictures at the top are just a few from the past few days.

enjoy!

love,

brittany

xoxo.

more pictures that didn't fit in my last post.

2008-04-06T21:49:00.001-07:00

2008-04-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

AHHHHHHHHH!

okay,so i tried updating this last night, but i got too frustrated because whenever i uploaded photos it always put them in the wrong order.

since i'm so behind i'm just going to give you an overview:

okay, so i after about FOURTEEN HOURS of traveling i FINALLY(!!!!) made it to Montreal, and was welcomed by a little snow storm!!! i was so excited when the captain of the plane announced that it was snowing, and everyone just let out a sigh of disbeliefe. hahahahahaha!

i meet up with my aunt and uncle (jacqueline and leslie). once we leave the airport we are on our way to "Sucrerie de la Montagne". the sugar shack! that's where this AMAZING maple syrup is made. and by AMAZING i mean it's probably the best sugar that has ever touched my lips!

so i got to have some syrup on a stick with ice. and we pretty much got a private tour of the room where the whole syrup process takes place. the guy who showed us around only spoke french, so uncle les and jackie had to translate for me. (i guess next time i'm around that area i should bursh-up on my french!).

after that we walked around a bit and then went to check out the cabin we were staying in for the night. it was awesome! it was this really cool log cabin. right before we went in though, we ran into this other french man working there. his names was Eve, although he spells it a different way. not gonna lie, he was kinda creepy. he had a short conversation with my aunt and uncle, then went right up to my face and said something to me in french. i just kinda looked at my aunt and shrugged. he then told me that he thinks i have beautiful eyes. later les and jackie and i joked about him being my new french boyfriend.

after getting all settled in to the cabin, we went to the dining room to have dinner at the restaurant. the meal was.... beyond me! i'm a vegetarian, so i couldn't eat much. but what i did have was very tasty! there was meat pie, sausage, bacon... all meat, you know? so i just had pea soup, potatoes, egg souffle and beans... then later for dessert we had pancakes and sugar pie. i've never had so much sugar in one meal!!!

after dinner we went back to the cabin, and i pretty much went straight to bed. i was so tired!

the next day we all awoke to the snow on the trees outside falling. it was a bright and sunny day. we packed up the car, and went to the general store. outside of the store we ran into the guy who started the whole "Sucrerie de la Montagne", and his son. i got to get my picture taken with them. they were very nice. there was actually a photographer taken pictures of them for the new york times. the article should be our sometime in january or february of 2009.

after that we went and had a little ride on the horse carrige and then i got my picture taken with my french bf. then it was off to brockville to visit with pauline and louis. on the way we stopped at this really cute little dinner and had a bite to eat.

when we arrived in brockville, and after taking a look around les and jacie's boat and boat club, i was greeted with a sign hung on louis and pauline's front porch... and later i would find it hanging througout the rest of the house!

we had dinner there, and then jackie, pauline and i went for a nice walk around downtown brockville.

the next day we got up early so i could go with jackie and les to look at a house they are interested in buying. it was a really comfy and cute place.

we then went back to pauline and louis' house to pick them up and drive to Kingston. when we got to kingston we met up with bill and sharon (i think that's what her name is). they are a very very nice couple who are long time friends with everyone. dean and angie later met up with us at bill and sharon's house. after mingling for a bit, and trying some compartes chocolate, of course(!), we went and had dinner all together. i had a really good time with everyone.

then it was time for everyone to leave so we said our goodbyes and drove back to brockville, which is where the story ends for tonight!

okay so here's a few pictures from the last three days.

enjoy!!!

brittany

xoxo.

2008-04-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

so i'm leaving for canada tonight. that's what my room/bed looked like before i got everything in my suitcase.

after about an hour of fighting with my suitecase, i finally got (almost) everything in and this is what my room looks like now:

what can i say? i guess i clean up well!

alrighty.

approx. four hours and 50 mins till i'm off like a dirty shirt!

my next post i will probably be in montreal evolving into an ice cube!

toodles!

brittany por vida

xoxo.

numero uno.

2008-03-19T00:35:00.000-07:00

so, this is it... my OFFICIAL travel blog!
oooh-awwwwww!
seems as though everyone has one of these nowadays, so i figured i might as well jump on the band wagon.
i will soon be filling this baby up with stories and photographs from all my travels (around the city, state, country, world) and adventures.
it will ultimately just be filled with a bunch of mumble-jumble that will, hopefully, be as entertaining as any nineteen-year-old can be on the internet.
anyways, i hope all of you, whoever you may be, will enjoy tagging along with me on all the excitement i will experience in the near future!... now add this website to yr favourites!

here's to good times, and an even greater blog.

peace,

brittany por vida (por vida= for life)
xoxo.