2011 Palm Springs Gala

Girl, go on and get your coffee. We've got ripping to do.

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Cover Girl: Amy Adams for Marie Claire

Getting her Gucci on.

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Vanity Fair Oscar Party

Because we just can't say goodbye to Hollywood's biggest night.

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T Lo Saw Julie & Julia

And we have opinions, of course!

Let's get this out of the way first: it was the most enjoyable two hours we've spent inside a theater in quite some time. Is it great film making? Well, no. We're talking about Nora Ephron here and she has never made the kind of films that impress us (or that we're even likely to see). But since we have a fondness for Julia Child that stretches back decades and a fondness for Meryl Streep that stretches back almost as far, that we would see this film and love it was a no-brainer. Meryl NAILS Julia (which sounds a little dirty). It's not just the voice and the strange accent; she gets the body movements and even the breathing down. It's really eerie. She doesn't truly resemble Julia Child physically - even in a frumpy wig and dowdy clothes, she's far more attractive than Julia ever was - but she embodies her so totally that you forget any differences. It's such a cliche that it's almost not worth saying, but Meryl Streep really is an incredible actress and we're in agreement with most of the critics when we say she's the main reason to see the film. Not just because she's Meryl Streep. but because she's Meryl Streep playing Julia Child, a charming and charismatic woman who led a fascinating life and did amazing things with it.

There's something that a lot of the critics are saying upon which we are decidedly NOT in agreement, however. It seems almost every review of the movie concludes that it would have been a better movie without the "Julie" part of the story. We can understand why they would say that. After all, as we said, Meryl Streep + Julia Child makes for a very entertaining and engrossing story. But we walked out of that theater speechless for a few moments and when we finally regained our ability to speak we both said the same thing: that was us up there on the screen. No, really. Tom made the point that out of everyone in that crowded theater, the two of us were having a totally unique reaction to the Julie portions of the story.

Here's the back story in case you didn't know. In late 2002, Julie Powell decided to escape the drudgery of her professional life as a cubicle dweller and start a blog, The Julie/Julia Project, the hook of which was that she would cook all 524 recipes found in Julia Child's magnum opus, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The blog was witty and funny, biting and acerbic, and above everything else (and somewhat ironic considering its subject matter) it was raw. Julie Powell was in many ways the quintessential blogger: she had some writing talent but her real talent was in her ability to convey her voice accurately and with gusto. After reading only a couple entries you felt you knew her well.

We discovered her blog some time around 2004, after she had concluded her insane project, and we read the entire thing from beginning to end in only a couple days. We were enthralled and we're not embarrassed to admit that she was one of our biggest influences. In short, she made us want to blog.

The blog led to a book, which led to this movie, which led to the inevitable jealous backlash against Julie from bloggers and foodies alike. It's become quite the thing to point out her flaws, both personal and professional, but we're having none of it. The fact remains that she had a brilliant idea for a blog and she did the hard work to see the thing through and it's not really for us to say whether she "deserves" a book deal or a movie out of it.

But kittens, sitting in that theater and watching the story of Julie and her husband play out was easily one of the eeriest things we've ever experienced in a theater. Here was a couple (a redhead and a brunette, even!) having the kinds of discussions and arguments and triumphs that not only have we had in our lives, but ONLY we have had (or at least, it felt that way at the time). We know no one who experienced the kinds of things that happen when you start a blog and find, to your complete amazement, that people - LOTS of people - are reading it. The first comment from a reader, the arguments about how it's eating up all your time and money, the discussion of whether to include a PayPal button, the first call from a reporter, from an editor, from a literary agent, the puzzled queries from friends and family members who don't understand why you're doing this strange thing -- all of that happened to us and all of that was played out onscreen in front of us as if it had been ripped out of our heads (and inexplicably turned heterosexual).

Here's something we've never admitted before: like Julie Powell, we started this blog because we were in the midst of Hard Times and Dark Days and it was a way to keep that at bay and just do something for the sheer enjoyment of it and because, contrary to our expectations, people actually came to read us. The movie doesn't go far enough to point this out, but when you have a blog that suddenly becomes "talked about," and when you feel like you're drowning out in the real world, that blog becomes your lifeline and the people who read and support you become, in many ways, more important to you than even your friends and family. Because those wonderful strangers are demonstrating something that even your closest compatriots sometimes fail to: they believe in you.

It's a small thing and one that can easily be overstated and over-dramatized, but it's still a unique and powerful experience - especially because its one solely of your own creation. There's no publication or editor or marketing department. It's just you, and your thoughts, and (hopefully) your talent, putting it out there in the ether to the faceless strangers who have, to your eternal gratitude, decided that you have something to say worth listening to.

So we can understand why so many critics found the Julie portions less than interesting. It's because there really are only a handful of people (relatively speaking) out there who understand what it's like to start a blog and see that blog become something much bigger than they ever expected. We walked into that theater eager to see Meryl Streep become Julia Child before our very eyes - and we got that - but we never expected to see the very first film about blogging. And we certainly never expected to see so many aspects of our own lives play out onscreen right in front of us.

So, go. See it. You'll learn more about who Julia Child was than you probably ever knew. But you'll also inadvertently learn more about T Lo than you probably ever wanted to know.


[Photos: julieandjulia.com]


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In or Out: Amy Adams

Amy Adams attends the "Julie & Julia" premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City in Carolina Herrera.

We can't wait to see this movie!

Carolina Herrera Resort 2010 Collection
Model: Taylor Kraemer

Admittedly, the neckline on this one is kind of strange and unflattering, but it doesn't take away from the overall effect of the dress. Amy Adams is one of the few actresses in her age group who can really bring it, old school glamour-style (Anne Hathaway's another one). As distracting as that bib is, she still looks fantastic. Love it when an actress wears a print on the red carpet. The gold clutch seems like a strange choice for that dress, but again, we can't nitpick too much because when you take in the whole look from head to toe, it's impossible (for us, anyway) to say anything but... "IN."



[Photos: Getty Images/WireImage]


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In or Out: Amy Adams

Amy Adams attends the premiere of "Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian" at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Roland Mouret Fall 2009 Collection
Model: Hanna Rundlof

There are a lot of things to love about Amy Adams. One of them is that she has so far resisted the urge to purge diet herself down to an 00. She was never what we would call "curvy," but she's always had a healthy-looking figure. Having said that, either she's put on a couple of pounds or this dress is really unflattering to her. We tend to think it's the latter, because those side shots reveal she's as thin as she ever was but from the front, she looks thick-waisted. In addition, it's just kind of a bleh dress. We usually love Roland Mouret but this one isn't doing it for us. She's a beautiful girl with a great figure and lovely coloring but the dress isn't doing much for either. On top of that (geez, we are being REALLY negative here), we don't love the hair or the makeup.

Take a step back and of course, she's a beautiful girl looking better than most of us ever look leaving the house, but when you get in there and really look at the details, it's just not working. Not for us, anyway. OUT.


[Photos: Getty Images/WireImage/Style.com]


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Amy Adams in W Magazine

The It Girl of the moment, Amy Adams, is featured on the cover and accompanying editorial of W Magazine.

"In a place where, she says, "we were defined by the clothes we bought at the mall," her family didn’t have much money for sprees at the Limited. "If I didn’t get things on clearance, I wasn’t getting them," she says. "I would make fake Guess jeans by buying a cheaper brand with a triangle label and then cutting it off so you could still see the triangle outline. It’s so sad that I did that! But I really wanted to be one of those girls."

Marc Jacobs Spring 2009 Collection
Model: Anastasija Kondratjeva

We're in disagreement on this one. Lorenzo thinks she looks great but Tom thinks she's playing against type and not doing such a great job of it. We're in agreement that it's a fine idea to make her up in an image that you wouldn't expect for her; it's just that one of us thinks she succeeded and the other one doesn't. Tom thinks that, for the cover shot, they should have interpreted the clothes a little better, rather than simply take the entire look directly from the runway and put it on her back. Lorenzo, in a fit of gay prissiness, hates the dark nail polish on her.

Michael Kors Spring 2009 Collection
Model: Coco Rocha

Topshop’s black and white cotton jacket, Michael Kors’s black and white cotton and silk dress

Marc Jacobs’s yellow cotton voile top, Levi’s Capital E blue cotton and elastane jeans

It's the whole retro/heavy eyeliner/bad girl thing that grates for Tom. It just doesn't feel like her and she doesn't look particularly comfortable selling it. Granted, she's done a lot of the expected Good Girl imagery up to this point and we both agree that something new was needed. We're just not in agreement as to whether this was the way to go.

What say you, ladies?


Photographed by Craig McDean
Styled by Alex White

[Photos: Craig McDean/wmagazine.com/style.com]

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