Manolo’s Shoe Blog

Manolo says, many of the Manolo’s internet friends have been saying to the Manolo, “Manolo, you are the man of great taste, culture, and wit, please to recommend for us the suitable gifts for the holiday season.”

And so the Manolo has heard the cries and will now give you his five favorite DVDs for gift giving purposes.

The Funniest Television Show Ever

Finding the Flight of the Conchords is like finding the perfect little absurdist world, where everything, every detail, every musical note, every facial expression is not only hilarious, but hilariously true. You know that this is how the world is for some peoples, principally, naive Kiwi sort-of-hipsters trying to make the go of it in New York. Yes, the interactions between the characters is funny, but it is the dead-perfect song parodies that make this something you will watch repeatedly.

The Best Movie of 2007

Ratatouille is not merely wonderfully funny, it also has profound things to say about art, artists, and critics, but does so lightly, in the best way possible. The writing is perfect, the comic timing is deft, and the animation amuses. The Manolo cannot recommend this movie highly enough.

The Most Uncompromisingly Funny Television Show Ever

Undoubtedly, Absolutely Fabulous is the most uncomfortably, hilariously funny television show ever made about the topics of aging, boozing, unpleasant sex, bad plastic surgery, and the uncompromising demands of fashion. Also, undoubtedly, this series could not be made today, as the neopuritan impulses of the new millennium have decreed that such things are no longer supposed to be funny. But they are. Get it before it is outlawed.

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Manolo says, it is Tuesday, time to see what the Manolo is…

Reading…

Watching…

Listening to…

The Manolo must admit that he came away from the American Gangster movie dissatisfied and more the little disappointed.

The first and most prominent problem is that not for the single instant did the Manolo buy that Russell Crowe (of whom the Manolo is the giant, huge fan) was the tough Jewish street cop from New Jersey. Firstly, his accent was terrible, nearly as bad as the “southern” accents of Nicole Kidman and Jude Law in Cold Mountain. And secondly he just did not look right, or act right, in the part. In short, he was miscast.

The second problem is that much of the middle part of the movie is boring. It drags as we endure both the tedious Russell Crowe, family-courtroom-drama sub-plot, and yet one more small scene of Denzel Washington acting resolutely criminal and earnest at the same time. Boring!

For the Manolo, the only time the movie really comes alive is when Josh Brolin appears as the corruptest of corrupt cops. He crackles with sparkling menace and is the only unpredictable thing in this terribly predictable movie.

Yes, there were good things, such as the sets and the costumes and the music and some of the secondary characters, but otherwise, this is not the movie you will long remember, which is odd, as the source material, the article “The Return of Superfly, in the New York Magazine, is wonderfully memorable.

Manolo says, the Good Glinda, blogger extraordinaire at the Teeny Manolo has posted her list of the Top Twenty Movies for the Kids. Many of these are choices with which the Manolo cannot disagree (The Iron Giant, in particular, is the brilliant and touching piece of film making).

However, the Manolo believe that this list is too slanted to the films of the past 30 years. What of the Old Yeller (the Manolo’s eyes well up at the very mention of this movie), or the National Velvet, with young Elizabeth Taylor, or the other great children’s classics of the 1940s and 1950s?

You must go now and contribute your voice to this important discussion.

Manolo says, what bothers the Manolo here is not that Carrie Bradshaw is the older bride, but that this gown emphasizes how Sarah Jessica Parker has exercised herself into the haggard state. She appears desiccated, as if all of the life and youth have been wrung out of her.

The result is pathetic and faintly tragic.

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Manolo says, this little video, from one of the Manolo’s Hollywood friends, made the Manolo laugh out loud.

Manolo says, Little Edie meets Madonna!

Thanks to the Gala, who is fast becoming one of the Manolo’s favorite bloggers.

Manolo says, for your Friday viewing pleasure, here are some of the shoes worn in 1963 by the Elizabeth Taylor when she was the Cleopatra.

Would these not be perfect for your summer boating excursions with your very own stentorian Tony the Roman?

Manolo says, what gives the Manolo the goosebumps?

This…

Especially the last two minutes.

Manolo says, here is the marvelous New York Daily News article on the maestro di tutti maestri, the inimitable Manolo Blahnik.

So when Sofia Coppola needed a designer to re-create the period’s decadent shoes that were handed to the spoiled queen (Kirsten Dunst) on a posh pillow, she called on Blahnik.

Her film, “Marie Antoinette,” opening Oct. 20, is partly based on an Antonia Fraser biography of the queen that takes a particularly sympathetic tack, much like Manolo’s, on the subject.

Movie buff Blahnik started his homework by studying original 18th-century shoes in Paris. The Victoria and Albert museum in London gave him footwear that belonged to the French queen. “So I did some kind of a cross between academic and a little bit of fantasy,” he says.

But then, his shoes - especially the film’s, a collection of candy-colored heels embellished with ribbon and buttons and beads - are a fantasy.

“Indeed, that is the only thing I want to offer to people,” he says. “Of course, I’m like everybody else; I have to do black and brown shoes and a little bit of Mary Janes and satin, but my nature is kind of theatrical, simple and dramatic.”

Yet again, the Maestro proves why he is worthy of our adoration.