random things i have realised in the last 24hrs

1) Marlene Dietrich is GORGEOUS in her early films that she made with Josef Von Sternberg... i totally see how he manipulates lighting to make her seem so etheral and so beautiful (and thus validating the storylines that she traps men like flies to a bright light). I love her sense of disenchantment with the world... indeed Paramount was lucky to have her as their star because she was a "woman that even women could adore".

for viewing pleasure, watch Morocco (1930) and Shanghai Express (1932) - Anna May Wong is brilliant in this film as well! the story with her is really gritty and that's what makes Shanghai Express (other than the fantastic cinematography!) so brilliant to watch.

2) Silvana Mangano has a such a nice hairstyle in Mambo (1954) and again, maybe it's my mood, but i love her sense of disillusion with the world and empathise with the sadness you hear in her voice and see in her face of her life in Venice. And of course it's great at the end when she returns to join the dance troupe to "forget the past".

oh and when she smiles, is it just me, or do her canines look rather pronounced? i can imagine her auditioning as a female vampire! and it is so distracting everytime i watch her films and she smiles with her teeth! plus her lipstick on her top lip is one continuous curve (not rosebud-like like natural-looking makeup of today). perhaps it was the style in the 1940-50s.

3) it isnt fair that people who are in business class get upgraded to first class! and i havent even flown by business class before! (in case you are wondering, my dad had to fly to London for business purposes and the company booked him on Business Class but they bumped him up to First Class because Business Class was overbooked. i sob.)

4) tom yum soup and a good melodrama film help you forget how urgh you are feeling when you are coming down with the flu (compounded by getting caught in the rain - torrential, i should add).