Edge atlantic film festival

Lucky I am, I spent yesterday afternoon doing of my favorites activities : watching movies ! It was the second edition of the Edge Atlantic Film Festival, a 4-day event taking place in NYC for the first time (last year was in Paris). They screen  professional and non-professional (aka film student) movies. During three hours, I watched four shorts films from Tisch School of the Arts and four from La Fémis, the most prestigious film school in France.  
Being thrown in less that 40 minutes each time in a director's world 8 times back to back  is a pretty interesting experience. After the (long but rich)screening, there was an intimate Q & A with the students. Jay Anania,the professor at Tisch, was next to me and listening to the students and their professor, I felt I was 25 again!
My favorite US short was "Little horses" by Levi Abrino : a bittersweet comedy about a divorced small town postal worker who tires to win his family back by getting a blind and deaf pony for his son's birthday. 
My favorite French was "Coucou les nuages" by Vincent Cardona, a 38 minute film about the last days of Hans Muller, the first amateur astonaut in the history. Vincent plays the main character and I was mesmerized by the female lead, Mathilde Bisson.

Sandy Hook + The fat Radish = a perfect sunday !

My girlfriend E was going on Sunday to the beach at Sandy Hook, New Jersey and I decided to go with her. Boarding the ferry @ 10:30 @ 35th street and the East River, I was behind a super cute couple and Victoria Secret's model Alessandra Ambrosio and her family. Wow cool New Yorkers go to New Jersey, I told myself. 
E boarded the ferry @ Pier 11, we sat down on the upper deck of the ferry and I couldn't resist taking the picture of guy from the cute couple pretending I was taking a photo of the Verrazano bridge (on the ferry back he took he tee-shirt off to offer it to his girlfriend..). Once we got to Sandy Hook, we walked to the sea and lost track of cute couple, the top model and others cool New Yorkers : it was Tony Soprano and his family at the beach !! A tattoed older woman in a one piece couldn't let go of her cigarette (it's legal in NJ to smoke on the beach not in NY state), she was talking like a truck driver with the thick accent of Carmella Soprano, to  her slim daughter in a matching colored bikini. I must say, it was packed but the sand was white, the sea fresh and pretty clean and the fact that you are swimiming and at the horizon you see the Manhattan skyline is pretty awesome !
We made plans with E to have dinner @ The Fat radish, I keep hearing from this place and thought a sunday night early dinner there  would be really nice and it was ! The place is very simple with white-washed brick walls, dimmed lighting and delicious food : I had a artic char ceviche with avocado and a light tomato sauce followed by a grilled stripped bass with glazed turning and a side a brocoli rabe with chilies. B tried an amazing cocktail with vodka, grapefruit juice and chilies, so spicy !
The Fat Radish : 17 Orchard street near Canal street. 
Tel : 212-300-4053

cute guy from cute couple

Pierre Hardy @972

Yesterday, I hosted with my friend Timothée Verrecchia my second Breakfast @972, a serie at the cultural services of the French Embassy. Located at their beautiful mansion at 972 5th Avenue and 79th street, our guest was the amazing fashion designer Pierre Hardy. Preparing for the discussion, I learned that Pierre Hardy has a very unusual background, he is probably the only person in the fashion world with the most diplomas in his pocket ! He started dancing and drawing, his 2 passions, at age 13 (mom was a dance teacher), graduated from the prestigious school Normale Supérieure with a Fine Arts degree, has been teaching since 1995 in an Art school in Paris. 
He has been designing the shoe collection for Hermès since 1990, launched his namesake brand in 1999 and in 2001 started his collaboration with Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga as well as being the creative director of Hermès Fine Jewellery.
He is modest, funny and happy ! 
I'm a newly converted hardy girl now !

Monday night in harlem !

I was invited by friends to attend the Apollo theather Hall of fame induction of Stevie Wonder. Several artists paid tribute to "little Stevie" (who performed at the Apollo at age 13!)and he treated us with some great songs. The Apollo was packed of people and enthusiasm. The comedian Sinbad was the MC. It was a really great moment ! 
After that, we decided to try "Red Rooster", I had read great reviews about that restaurant and we were not disappointed ! The place is beautiful with a very cool bar area where we had a delicious dinner. Here are some of the dishes prepared by renowed chef Marc Samuelsson (who used to be at the 3 starred Aquavit) :
cold spinach and crab soup in coconut milk, crab cakes with avocado and spicy mayo, Mac and greens, lobster and watercress salad with asian pears and a pistacchio vinaigrette... we were too full to try the desserts but I am definitely going back to this amazing Harlem treasure !
Red Rooster is at 310 Lenox Avenue & 126th street, phone : 212-792-9001. www.redroosterharlem.com.

Submarine

I love English movies, I've had crushes for almost every single british actor for the past 20 years : Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jeremy Northam, Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Clive Owen.
On sunday afternoon, after a fun party the night before, I went to see "Submarine", it's about the tribulations of a young teenage boy who falls in love for the first time while his parents are going through a crisis. The actors are great, unkown except for the fabulous Sally Hawkins (who won a Golden globes in 2008 for "Happy-go-lucky". It's good but I didn't liked it as much as I liked  "Beginners", I'm ready for seconds !

Missed connections

 At the Krug/Gazette dinner on Wednesday (entry # june 9th), I sat opposite  the super friendly Mickey Sumner (actress-daughter of Sting)who talked about her first movie shot in Brooklyn + Manhattan, it's called "Missed connections", it's a romantic comedy whose title is based on the Craig's list page and I've been a little obssessed with it since... People post their search for someone they've seen and liked and would love to meet again ! Some of the posts are really witty. You just have to google Missed connections and it will take you there. 

The BLK DNM gazette launch party

Last night was the opening of the BLK DNM store (237 Lafayette street and Spring street) and the launch of their gazette edited by fashion stylist Aleksandra Woroniecka.Amongst the collaborators for the first issue, there is  Wes Anderson, Waris Ahluwalia, Peter Lindbergh, Christophe Rihet and Eve Therond. There are beautiful pictures in this oversized gazette that you can find in the store !
You can check the  line by Swedish fashion designer Johan Lindeberg @ www.blkdnm.com.  
The after-dinner party was a Krug dinner @ Indochine, I've always loved that restaurant since I moved here in 1997. It doesn't change, food is always delicious and the decor magical.
A Sam Shepard with a missing tooth (not so sexy) and a bit haggard showed up by mistake so we took him in and he seemed very happy to be with us !

The shut-up banana

Late last night, I was at friend's house talking and drinking champagne on their terrace when something fell  from the sky a feet from me.. Startled, I approached the unidentified object and realised it was a banana ! Wrapped in a piece of paper held by a rubber band, I bent over to pick it up and it said : SHUT UP ! Everyone one cracked up and yelled at the angry neighbor ! 
Only in New York !

Beginners

I couldn't wait any longer ! I went to the first showing of Beginners, 10:40am right after spinning. The theater was half-packed, rare for a matinee. I saw the trailer a couple of weeks ago and I knew right away that I would love the movie and I did. I fell in love again with Ewan Mc Gregor, he's cute, low-key, with a  nice-but-not-too-strong scottish accent and he wears stripped sweaters, my favorites. He's the main character, he falls in love with Anna, a french actress played by Melanie Laurent, three months after his father died. There are many flashbacks, funny moments with his eccentric mom, tenderness with his father towards the end of his life. It's simple and right and ROMANTIC and I miss that in the movies !

Bakeries in the city

I've been off sugar since I've done the Clean Program but I have children and I like to find new places ! 
So this week, I discovered two bakeries : one uptown, one downtown.
Two Little Red Hens is an american bakery located @ 1652 2nd avenue between 86th & 85th street, it's tiny, cosy with a couple of tables. They have great cheesecakes and cupcakes and a nice range of custom-made cakes.
Millefeuille, just opened and had a nice review in th NY times yesterday, is @ 552 Laguardia Place between Bleeker and West 3rd street. The French pastry chef used to work with the famous Pierre Hermé so I bought some macarons and a brownie with a praline filling that looked really dangerous. Their croissants and pains au chocolat looked really good too. The place is simple, the kitchen is open so you can practice your French with the chef if you want !

My 5 Rhythms dance experience

Last night with C, we had a very special and unique experience called The 5 rhythms.It involves dancing but it's not really a dance class and I'm still figuring out the best way to describe it! This movement was invented by Gabrielle Roth in California in the 60's and basically you experience, in 2 hours, dancing following 5 musical rhythms : flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical and stillness.
At first, you wonder what the hell you are doing in this dance studio, in the west village and surrounded by a weird mix of people, mostly hippies,a Joe Pesci-look-a-like with a wig was wandering, a couple of shirtless ederly man, some hot guys in long skirts and many  attractive youg women. When it begun, people were just walking around, some were streching on the floor and I tried not to burst into laughter as I was observing and trying to throw myself into it ! Then the rhythm accelerated and people started  dancing so did I. At some point, it's techno music, you could be in a rave party but with no alcohol, no drugs (even in some of the "dancers" appeared to be under the influence)and I decided just to let go. You don't care about the others, you just go with your body and dance with people when they come to you. Everybody is happy, smiling, some are loud,others grunt, some weep, a girl took off her skirt and was in her stripped panties with a bandana around her neck !
The teacher, Jonathan Horan, is well trained as he's the son of Gabrielle Roth. He doesn't do and say much, sometimes he mingles with the dancers (we were about a 100)and guides you in your experience. 




www.gabrielleroth.com
$20/ class.

Carey Mulligan is...

...one of the most talented actresses of her generation. 
She was unforgettable in "An education" but also in "Never let me go"and "Pride and prejudice". I saw her on stage last week in "Through a glass darkly" at the Atlantic theater company adapted from Ingmar Bergman's movie and she is phenomenal. You just can't take your eyes out of her. 
The play is dramatic, depressive as you can expect from a Bergman adaptation, but the set is beautiful in its simplicity and well Carey carries the whole play on her frail shoulders as a young married woman just out from a psychiatric hospital on vacation with her husband, her brother and her brother :  she returns to it after a very dark and disturbing scene...
I can't wait to see her next year in "The Great Gatsby" opposite Leonardo Di Caprio and directed by the brilliant Baz Luhrmann.