Monday, July 30, 2012

Hi All
I went to the Ed Sheeran concert last night, he played in Auckland New Zealand. I've been to a couple of concerts and festivals, and his concert last night was by far the best concert I have been to. He played all acoustically; just him on stage with his guitar and loop. He was super funny, and inclusive of the crowd, and sported (appreciatively) an All Blacks T-Shirt claiming he "felt like Jona Lomu's son" :)
Cheecck out below my 2 favorite performances


Monday, July 23, 2012

I'm back!!

Hi Everybody, sorry I havent been posting in ages. I've just started another year at Media Design School in New Zealand, so i'm going to try post more often about movie reviews and perhaps little projects I do for school each week. Thanks for all the views:D xx jessica renee

To start us off, this is a character I designed for a self made concept of an alien protagonist in an animation. His name is Mr Obsidian:)
Au revoir

Sunday, October 23, 2011

L'amant français


France. The romantic. The trend setting. The People. The Food.

The unbelievable city of Paris was our first stop, getting a first hand taste of the famed gypsies i'd heard countless stories about.
 If any of you have seen the movie 'Taken', where the young girls get approached by a smoking hot Parisian male who offers to share his taxi. That Happened To Us! Of coarse we prommptly did the "no speak French, no speak French" and briskly rolled ourselves away from that situation :) If you've ever had the pleasure of taking a train to Paris Gare Du Nord, you'll know that it doesnt give you the best impression of Paris. However, what was to come was exactly what I wished for...




One highlight from Paris was seeing Queen Latifah strolling down the luxury shopping street, with who I assume was her assistant. What I noticed first is that she waddles, and it wasnt until she walked past did we realize that it was indeed THE Queen Latifah! crazy.

After Paris we headed down to Chateau Chambord, with its amazing spiral staircases.



And then the festive Carcossonne, where just right across the road was a music festival featuring big artist like Moby, Jack Johnson, Vanilla Ice. Ha..did you get my joke!? :) hilarious.





Upward and onward. Definitely one my favorite places of my trip was Nice. Beautiful beaches. Beautiful food and flower markets. Rich, glamorous people with rich, exuberant cars. Nice/Monte Carlo is definitely a place I would recommend for anyone travelling down to the south. First night saw us seeing the beautiful glowing statues, and street performers., and row of restaurants, with such good selection it was hard to pick just one.


Day 2 saw us walking about to the lookout, which overlooked Nice and the beautiful harbor of Monaco. I can honestly say in all my travels I have never seen such a beautiful sight as all the super yachts parked in a open harbour on a clear blue sea. Magical! The afternoon offered a great chance to taste French fine dining, on a travelers budget of coarse :) However, the real luxery was spending the night in the Monte Carlo Casino. Pathetically though, I spent only 1 chip, worth the same amount my lunch cost:) However, being able to be surrounded by Ferrari's and Bugatti's and Maserati's was an unforgettable experience; something little ol' New Zealand doesn't usually offer up:)






Overall, France was unforgettable, and these photos are just a handful of the hundreds I managed to squeeze on my memory card. Next up, the smallest country in the world Andorra, and then the magnificent Barcelona

Au Revoir!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Travel Bug..the beginning

Post the February 22nd Christchurch earthquake , and the many thousand that followed, I thought to myself "why stay here in the land of the shaky when I could travel a continent that supposedly is immune to huge earthquakes?".
So..
Off to Europe I went:)

3 weeks in England - including vintage Burberry shopping, Harry Potter red carpets, and University scoping.


While I definitely recommend searching through the roof-high-vintage-clothing-shops in Portobello market for great bargains on the luxury brands, nothing quite beats spending one night and two days camping on a Freedom Fatboy Ten Camping Chair, wrapped up in a 9pounds and 99 cent sleeping bag from Primark, topped off with a 5pound see-through poncho to protect us from the torrential that decided to grace us with its presence in the middle of the English summer. The reason? being less that a meter away from nearly all the Harry Potter stars at the World Premier World carpet. Best. Two. Days. Ever!

Next...Nice, via Paris, Bordeaux, Carcassonne, and the BEAUtiful Barcelona...

p.s. email if you want more close up pictures of the stars. My favorites were definitely Rupert Grint, and Matthew Lewis :D

Friday, March 25, 2011

Similarities: Twilight vs Red Riding Hood

 1. They’re both directed by Catherine Hardwicke. 

2. Werewolf as the bad guy, who later steals your heart.


3. Lines like “One bite… and you’ll be like me.” "Are you scared?". If you see twilight, its hard to not notice the deja vu feeling in the script. Interestingly, two different people wrote the screenplay. So why the striking similarities?
4. Identical dads. Obviously. They're both played by actor Billy Burke. 

5. Gloomy, woodsy town. Twilight is set in the rainy Washington State of Forks. RRH is set in the woods, where we presume is in the middle of a wolf populated area. 



6. Brooding, Sexy boys. Shiloh Fernandez and Max Irons vs Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. Add on that in both cases, the boy that gives her up because he loves her so much, are English in real life (Rob, and Max). Add in also that Shiloh was in the running for the role of Edward Cullen but obviously lost to Rob P.



7. Love triangle. Valerie’s heart is torn between loyal Henry and dangerous Peter both of whom are prone to making woozy declarations of their love. 
8. Cloak chic. 

9. The danger-stud behind the innocent damsel shot.

10. Soundtrack. Both movies are scored with pulsing, hurts-so-good emo music. Brian Rietzell wrote the score for Red Riding hood, whereas Carter Burwell scored Twilight :)

I am by no means a hater on either of these movies, especially NOT a hater of the leading men in each film:) but I thought it fun to compile a list, as you usually don't get the sense when your watching a newly released film that you've seen it before.
Have I missed any you picked up?

Au Revoir 

Monday, March 21, 2011

An Insiders Guide to Careers in Fashion

 the Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider's Guise to Careers in Fashion is my latest investment. There comes a time in ones life when you think to yourself "what do I want to be. Like actually, what could I see myself doing for the rest of life", and for me its been photography or fashion editorial/journalism for the last couple of years. Not just a phase, as my mother would say. 
The following is from the book, a quote from famed fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier, who has worked for Vogue and Vanity Fair, Diana Princess of Wales to Britney Spears, and on campaigns for Dior, Chanel, L'Oreal, and Louis Vuitton.

"Take Pictures all the time.
Dont worry if you take a bad photograph; 
you learn more by taking a bad picture than a good one.
If you don't like it,
study it and figure out why you don't like it.
You'll learn from your mistake"



I plan to use that advice Mr Demarchelier on my upcoming trip to Europe :)
Au Revoir

Friday, March 18, 2011

Adventures in Queenstown

To escape the rockin & rollin of Christchurch, my lovely friend Sighle and I road-tripped it down to Queenstown. Six hours of driving, and an entire playlist of childhood hit music later..we finally arrived to The Adventure Capital of the World...


For every activity seen in this video I have included links for them at the end, just in case you were travelling to Queenstown and wanted an adrenalin rush:)
Au Revoir