Sothys in Paris is HAUTE!

My beautiful experience at the prestigious L’Institut Sothys Paris began after a nine hour flight. Upon arrival at 128 Rue Du Faubourg, I noticed a bevy of fashion houses along this exclusive street allowing for some spectacular window shopping. Christian Louboutin, Saint Laurent Paris and Roger Vivier were all giving life to the girls who love shoes!

The name Sothys comes from the Ancient Egyptians, meaning the brightest Star in the sky; she symbolized eternal beauty.” Sothys has three locations, Paris, New York and Tokyo, “Where beauty rituals respect the skin personality.”

As soon as I entered Sothys, I slipped into my spa robe and slippers; and I was escorted to the Espace VIP. It was now time for the Japanese-inspired Hanakasumi body treatment infusing the skin with protectant emollients, while the therapist first massages the body with an exfoliating mix of Cherry blossom rice powder, papaya enzymes and hydroxyl acids. Warm melted Shea butter with aromatic extracts follows a skin cleansing with deeper massage strokes to further usher in a state of bliss. An amazing foot massage with hot towels brings the body into total submission… relaxation had been achieved.

The Sothys experience is exceptional… the treatments are designed to achieve maximum results from the products, per Isabelle Villey, L’Institut’s training director. I am such a fan of their hydrating body mist with Cherry blossom and lotus escape and the Nourishing Body elixir gives maximum hydration. It’s now a Haute Travels bag staple.

Disclaimer:  Photos belong to Marian Anderson, Haute Travels. Permission to use must be requested.

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The week-end blog - Slides and carousels

I finally dragged out my stack of 12 "carousels" or slide holders and am gently saying goodbye. I often wonder how digital photos swept over all of us and I admit, I do like the point 'n shoot versions.  I put my Nikon into storage years ago and know that some day I will have to say goodbye to it as well.

I must have at least a thousand or more slides (those tiny photos with the white holder for those who don't know) and will have to pick and choose amongst those. Not looking forward to it. Memories, you know... 

There is an argument for film, mostly in saving movies for archives. Librarians have long said that video was no good for storage and they are still out on digital. The thing is that digital has not been tested for endurance and we know that film, when properly stored, can last at least 100 years and more. We won't know about digital until it passes the hundred year test and by then film will have survived 200 years.

But I won't be around anyways.

The last days of slides for me were shot on Fuji Velvia stock with an ASA of 50 meaning that you really needed a tripod in order to shoot photos that were brilliantly colorful. Before that I used the classic Kodachrome (Like Paul Simon sings) film which had an ASA of 25 and you couldn't believe how rich the colors were. 

I have slides going back 40 years, that when taken out now, are just as brilliant as the day they were shot. Try that on video. I used it also in my 8mm Bolex camera for movies, and they are just as bright.

Digital cameras now ensure that most people take photos easily but the difference between them and the pros is composition and knowing which lens and filter to use. That won't ever change for pros, even if the cameras now can do the technical work.

But they still can't give you a nicely composed photo, that's where the "pro" comes in.

So say goodbye to the carousels and their little slots where you'd insert slides into and then show them on the wall to your friends and family. I will miss them, along with the hum of a slide projector and the heat that came from the powerful bulb.

Life goes on.      

The Searchers

For those of you who have stuck around since 2009, the beginning, I am grateful. However I know you probably drop by less, who wouldn't after almost four years. Four in August.

And you probably know that my favorite movie of all time is The Searchers. For those who have never seen or it heard of it, it is arguably one of the best films in American film history. I never really knew this when I watched it in my little town in Canada, population 560.

All I knew is that I liked it and that it had layers (alth0ugh I didn't know what "layers" meant at the age of 12). There was just something about that movie that I could not forget. And it wasn't until VHS came out that I saw it again. And again. Sometimes I caught it on TMC halfway through and watched to the end.

And I found out that other people liked it, people like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, who are far more successful than I, but share that movie, we're all around the same age. 

So what is "The Searchers"?   

First of all, it's a western. But not just a western, it is the best ever made.

I know I'm making it almost impossible for alot of you just from my raves. But it is.

The story is this; A soldier from the Civil War returns home in Texas and shortly afterwards his brother and his wife are brutally killed by Comanches, taking two young daughters with them. For the next seven years the soldier and a half-breed attempt to find the girls but not to save them, rather to kill them after they've been handled by Indians. 

Nice plot, huh.

And it's actually true, based on an real life story in the mid 1800's. It became a mythical story for many years and finally a book in the early 1950's. Then it became a movie directed by a winner of 6 Academy Awards for directing. John Ford. Nobody has every beat him at the Oscars.

Ford wasn't a nice guy, in fact he was an alcoholic and very nasty to everyone. But he made great movies.

And he made several changes in the story, with the main one moving from Texas (even though it was supposed to be Texas) too Monument Valley, which if you've never seen it, is one of the most incredible places in this country.

Ford hired legendary John Wayne to play the lead, a sociopathic cowboy whose racism is pretty clear and dry. This was not the usual movie in 1950's America, racism was not talked about. Ford didn't give a damn, he wanted to show a dark side of America and did it well enough to make the best western ever.

But westerns were considered as not as good as the real movies and The Searchers came and went.  But when it began to play on TV and with the attention from the famous directors above, people began to rediscover it. 

There are several books on John Ford but a new book, just released a week or so ago, covers  both the history of the real story as well as the book and finally, the making of the movie. In fact it's playing tonight at a special screening in Santa Monica.

See it on DVD if you can... you might not like it after all I said, but it is worth the time. And you really need to watch it more than once to catch all the nuances and subtleties. 

And tell me what you thought.   

Le Tremoille is a Hidden Gem in Paris

Hotel De La Trèmoille is a 5-Star property hidden in the "Golden Triangle" area of Paris. This iconic hotel since 1883 is close to the Champs-Elysèes and the fashionable Avenue Montaigne. 

Its location is perfect for those who want to be near the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe. It's also for the girl who loves Haute Couture and spends her days making appointments at the fashion houses along Avenue Montaigne.

During my recent stay in Paris, I spent some time at Hotel De La Trèmoille in one of their double superior rooms complete with a tiny dressing room with Molton Brown bath products. The room even came with a heated trouser presser... Très chic! And the hallways are lined with intimate items from the past, like a framed vintage hair brush and jewelry worn by former visitors.

Although, my room was smaller than what I normally prefer, it was generous in service and attention to my needs. The property is lovely with just 93 rooms, it's really one of Paris' best-kept secrets offering location, privacy and exclusivity.

Photo Images: Credit Marian Anderson, Haute Travels

The Week-ender - An index

I'm going to start a week-ender blog, just a short bit of information for the week-end.

I have spent the last week building an index for my screenplay book. It's that catalog of words at the end of a non-fiction book. I've never done one before and since I can't really pay for someone else to do it, I did it myself.

There are apparently some software ways to do this; even MS Word has a selection button where you click on it and it automatically puts a certain word you select, like Screenwriting or Paul Newman or anything that someone might want to find in the index.

But MS Word was a lot more confusing than I thought and my format guy said the best way to do it is manually. It was a good idea because it was easier, at least for me.

What I did is pick a word or phrase, say William Goldman, and then I write it down as Goldman, William 46 (the 46 is the page where Goldman can be found). If he's in another place it would read Goldman, William 46, 120.

If you're wondering how you go about finding another page for William I simply did a search and there it was. Some words like "conflict" was used 20 times, sometimes more than one on a page.

The work is not exciting, it reminded me of working on the line at the Chrysler plant one summer when I was earning money for college.

I also had to separate words; a title would be in bold, like SCREENWRITING. A movie would be in italics like Zero Black Thirty.

I didn't find any books on the subject, in fact I didn't want to. I just grabbed several film books I already had and copied what they do. In fact each book is often different in the way they make their index so I wasn't too worried.

It took me 4 days to do it right. I missed some and misplaced other words and even forgot some of the headings but I think I got it right.

One step closer to publishing, which I hope will be in 2 weeks.

And then I focus on Emperor of Mars once again. After 28 years, it's going to get another shot.

Oh, the shoe? Believe it or not I tossed my shoes off yesterday and went to bed and when I got up they were like this. Just a coincidence, but what are the odds of the shoes being arranged like someone did it on purpose.

Have a good week-end. Regular blog on Monday as always.
  

Screenwriters! China needs you.

Well, in what one could call it "chopstick diplomacy" China is inviting American screenwriters to send their screenplays to China because, after all, who knows movies more than America.

Sure, they weren't the first ones to make movies, but they are the most successful at making movies the world wants to see. I know India makes 5 million movies, or something like that but American movies go to almost every country in the world.

Hell, that's why I'm here. I'm a Canadian who found little opportunity in Canada for what I wanted to write, mainly movies that people see. Canada has two separate movie industries, the English version and the French version.

The English version movies rarely get seen even in Canada. There are the exceptions like David Cronenberg who can still get international releases and maybe that Atom guy who makes movies primarily for a Toronto crowd who believe he has talent. And I have to add my friend Phil Borsos, who made one of the 10 best movies in Canada, The Grey Fox.  

English-Canadian movies suffer the same problem as most of Canada, in that they are somewhere between being American or British. And that's both in movies and TV. 

But French-Canada makes good movies and even great movies. They've even won Academy Awards for their movies. And my take on it is that they have an identity. They know who they are. Sure, they're stubborn as hell, but they make beautiful movies. And of course they rarely get seen in most of Canada as well.

But they get seen in Quebec with it's 9 million or so residents.

Back to China.

The U.S. film industry has been sneaking into China over the past few years to try and get that audience of a billion and a half people. As my friend said about selling shoelaces to Chinese... you would at least be a millionaire.

Naturally some advance troops have already staked out their territory much like sly Americans staked out Viet Nam for business even as the last Americans were helicoptered off the country. 

And China is no slouch either, they bought the enormous AMC Entertainment theater chain. A handful of Hollywood studios are also building movie studies as you read this. 

There have been restrictions on foreign movies for years in China and also more pirating than anywhere else. So if you can't beat 'em, then join 'em. Right.

So dig out your screenplay and send it to the 2013 Beijing International Screenwriting Competition right now.  But don't forget, it's only for Americans.

And short films are included too.

I gotta run now and dig out my 40 spec screenplays...