CANNES Part 1: the Dresses

CANNES has just announced its big winners, so it's about time for a round-up of my own festival favorites, which I decided to break into two simple categories: the DRESSES and the MOVIES. The Movies part is to follow soon since I need some extra time for research, so I will start with the dresses. Also I didn't feel like criticizing much, so I listed only my favorite ones here, so feel free to assume that the rest I either hated or remained completely indifferent about.

I believe the star of Woody Allen's latest - "Midnight in Paris" - was the main attraction on the red carpet this time around. Although this praise may have a little something to do with recently seeing "Morning Glory" which revealed to me that RACHEL MCADAMS can do much better than cliche-packed films like "The Notebook." But, back to her dresses. This little number here is clearly risqué and in part resembles a curtain, yet I think she pulls it off.

This, on the contrary, is very classy and demure - very fitting for photo-call.

I think it's not so much the dress, but the overall look of MIA WASIKOWSKA that prompted me to give her my vote. I'm just too used to seeing her as an awkward mousy teenager, usually in pale dresses that don't compliment her at all, so that this remotely classic Hollywood look immediately caught my eye.

Another Cannes surprise for me here. I'm generally not a fan of KIRSTEN DUNST's personal style, but this totally captured me. It's clearly all about color here, since there is nothing too special about the dress itself. Note, dear fashionistas, a great color-blocking tip!

Say what you will about SARAH JESSICA PARKER, but I think she made a very smart choice with this dress. It's so boho chic - with the accent on chic - and so different from monochrome gowns most of her fellow actresses packed for Cannes.

I must confess I never saw JESSICA CHASTAIN in action (in movies or on TV) but "The Tree of Life" just got Palme D'Or, so I guess she's kind of important. And the dress is a good choice - elegant, a tad vintage and the color is perfect for redheads like herself.

I guess ANGELINA JOLIE would look a bit boring next to an all-white Brad in the previous photo, so I'm happy to catch her on her own. Angie here spots a simple yet winning look: feminine, airy and forever gorgeous.

ZOE SALDANA's number is obviously the wildest one on this list. I'm still fighting associations with a cheap plastic bag in the skirt part of the dress, yet I give her extra points for the dare. Plus it sits perfect on her and, against all odds, doesn't distort her figure.

And the last but not least is UMA THURMAN. She does indeed look quite a bit like a Bride (no pun intended) - especially from the back, but the front cutout magically turns the dress into an evening gown.

"True Blood" returns for season 4 in June

It's less than a month till "TRUE BLOOD" premiers its fourth season - on June 26 to be precise. Surely, all of its fans should be excited, and I kinda am too, though previous season seriously cooled off my sentiments about the show.

Not sure what happened there, the writers were taking to much drugs (read: drinking vampire blood) or what, but the storyline was a total disaster. Rather than having one central plot and a couple supporting ones like in 2 previous seasons, the show completely lost its footing, moving in a dozen different directions at a time, so much that it was almost impossible to keep up with the events. It pretty much turned into a slasher where someone gets brutally murdered or drenched in blood every 5 minutes - TRUE BLOOD indeed. I remember an episode where Bill first almost killed Sookie, than saved her, than they said goodbye forever and then they finished it off by having crazy monkey sex right at the murder scene. By the end of the season one just couldn't help feeling sick of Sookie and Bill, who suddenly lost all of his masculine romantic hero appeal - and considering those 2 are the central characters, it can't be a good sign... The season finale also left innumerable loose ends, so "Previously on True Blood" is a must-see before getting down to watching SEASON 4.

Of course I'm not giving up on "True Blood" just yet - I still hope it has something to surprise me with. After all, I started watching it not because I'm a crazy vampire fan (No "Twillight" for me!), but because of its "Sex, Drugs & Rock'n'roll" attitude and killer opening credits combined with obvious social satire on racism, segregation, religion fanatics and the like. But the latter was almost completely absent from third season, so, please, please, "True Blood," get better!

P.S.: I couldn't help feeling nostalgic about how it all began, so to give you a little feel...

Carrie Bradshaw vs. Reality

I just got tipped off (by the heartIFB on Twitter in fact!) about a great column by a fellow blogger TheFremeny titled "Carrie Bradshaw Math." Truth is, even though I never bothered to actually "do the math" (for one thing I'm not a fan of math), I have been long bothered by the same question TheFremeny asks in her post: "How the hell could Carrie ever sustain her luxurious lifestyle by writing one single newspaper column a week?" Indeed there are plenty of moments in the show that are seriously far-fetched (to say the least), but OK, it's a movie - it's supposed to get kinda fairtalish from time to time. Yet, the gap between Carrie's lifestyle, her source of income and reality is far too BIG to ignore.

All three Carrie's girlfriends have presumably highly paid jobs - Miranda is a lawyer, Samantha does PR and later owns a PR company, and Charlotte is an art-dealer who later marries rich, then remarries to a successful lawyer - with a Park Avenue apartment as dowry from previous marriage. Carrie, on the other hand, only writes a newspaper article a week, apparently has no other incomes, yet she rents a very nice apartment in a very nice area, has a wardrobe full of top designer labels and of course a mountain of Manolos and other pricy shoes.

Now, unlike TheFremeny, I don't live in New York and can't knowingly speak of prices for everything or the paychecks of freelance columnists. But we live in the age of information so I can have some rough idea, plus I have personally known New Yorkers, among them journalists, who honestly said it's hard to sustain yourself on a journalist's salary even working full-time - you may want an extra job!

And here we have a lady who cannot realistically make more than a few thousand bucks a month, yet, she, almost like a biblical character, is able to stretch this modest amount 50-times its original size to cover all her luxurious needs from rent to shopping to dinners at top-notch restaurants and outings at best night clubs. Yes, allusions to Carrie being a shopoholic and the money problems she faces because of it are made a few times in the show, most memorably in the episode where she's being forced out of her apartment unless she buys it. But in the end she still has it easy - borrows money from friends and starts freelancing for Vogue - case closed. And of course the unexpected book deal followed soon after, clearly solving all of Carrie's cash problems for good.

I wonder how many independent women actually living and working in New York raised their eyebrows at the way Carrie hops though life without a care in the world (unless freshly heartbroken by Mr. Big), while most of them have to work hard dusk till dawn to even afford a small fraction of her lifestyle. I mean, would it have killed the show creators to give Carrie a full-time job as a fashion writer, editor, stylist etc. - who also writes her own column, or a writer who has already published a successful book? After all, if you make a character who is supposed to be an epitome of a successful single woman - aren't you supposed to make her seem a little more real?

It's funny how "Sex And the City" works so well as a show about relationships and free-spirited independent women - so much that it can even serve as therapy in time of personal life dramas - yet it so miserably fails when it comes to the more practical side of life, such as the skills of survival in New York or any other big city where life is expensive, competition is huge, and you have to do your best and work your hardest to even get a decent job with a decent salary. In that respect, compared to "SATC," "Devil Wears Prada" is a self-help book.

House M.D.'s musical turn

HOUSE M.D. used to be my favorite show. But by season 6 it has gotten so self-repetitive, sentimental and almost predictable, that I continued watching only as a habit and because Hugh Laurie's doc is such a pleasure to observe. Yet, episode 15, "Bombshells," of season 7 has just proved that the show still has ways to surprise me, even if does so by dipping into alternative genres such as sitcom, action, zombie horror and musical. This video is Lisa Cuddy's final dream sequence.

"Mad Men" returning for 2 more seasons

Great news for all MAD MEN fans out there - including myself! Mad Men executive producer Matt Weiner has finally struck a deal with AMC and production company Lionsgate to renew the show for seasons 5 and 6, and, possibly, 7. Weiner also pointed out that seventh season (if it is to happen) would also be the end of Mad Men - as that's "how long the story is." The only sad part is that we have 17 months to wait for next season, which won't be airing until MARCH 2012. In the meantime I leave you with some cool poster and magazine art for the fabulous and admittedly most stylish show on TV today...