International Women's Day Ilse Bing, Salut De Schiaparelli, 1934. "Here’s to strong women: may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them". My cynicism has the better of me today. I was that 'strong' woman who celebrated women on panels, got to applaud their achievements in a room mostly filled with women and raised a glass to future endeavours, always and every time. In fact, I may have been on a panel once or twice myself, talking about films or art, and how great my achievements had taken me. If a man could do it and I could too, how impressive that had seemed. Surely deserving of a stage and mic. I have chosen Ilse Bing's, Salut De Schiaparelli's image from 1934. Bing photographed this image in 1934, on the edge of a Europe sliding toward violence and authoritarianism. It was created for a perfume advertisement, but, when I look at it, I can't help but see something else. This woman appears dead, lilies, strewn across her, perhaps ...
RENTAL FAMILY "Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family." - Anthony Brandt . My days became one jumbled hour after hour where time disappeared into another year, until here we are, the 1st of January 2026. Nothing much stirred me to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, until this evening after watching RENTAL FAMILY, starring Brendan Fraser. Phillip Vanderploeg is a struggling actor who is selected to fill in for families as an individual with significance to the family member in need. He is a writer, dad, mourner, not so much as a true story but reminiscent of Japanese companies serving the community by providing professional actors at events like funerals or weddings. Thereby formulating a whole new meaning to the responsibilities of a plus one. At its core, the film celebrates the connection of the human spirit; the inherent social need that humans have to socialising, being together, in all asp...