Louise Hay is a true spiritual guru. Throughout her journey she has touched the lives of millions, including us here at STUK. Even in her eighth decade, Louise is full of so much life it literally radiates through the screen and makes us feel her positive energy. In her full length film, “You Can Heal Your Life: The Movie,” Louise illustrates the lessons conveyed in her like titled book. She talks to us about our power; the power of our thoughts and the effects of our resulting frequency. Using affirmations and positive self-talk, we are able to “heal,” our lives, bringing joy to ourselves and others. Louise encourages us to believe in the goodness of life and through her film she shows us a new way to love it all. Get INto this movie and take a lesson in life we’re sure you’ll refer to again and again! Xo.
Until we watched the 1957 film – Funny Face on Netflix instant queue we had NO IDEA that Audrey Hepburn absolutely SLAYED on the dance floor. The film is AMAZING. It is about a beautiful and intelligent girl with a “funny face”. It’s about defying societal norms of perfect looking models that lack intellect and instead embracing the pure beauty that IS female intellect. Audrey Hepburn stays true to her role as a stunning fashion icon in this film and took our breaths away with each phenomenal outfit. Get ready to FALL in LOVE with this film.
Funny Face is on Netflix instant queue NOW! Enjoy. XO.
“The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she knows.” ― Audrey Hepburn
We are oh so STUK on our art clients. We try to update you all on what is happening with them pretty frequently! Most recently our art clients producer/director, Jason Madison and Actress/Signer Natalya Oliver collabed to create this dope TI$A commercial. We LOVE it and are so proud of them both! They are individually ever evolving and continuously hustling to make the world a little brighter through their art. Check out this dope video directed by Jason Madison! You can view more of his work on his YouTube Channel here! Xo.
Pina is a breathtaking indie film, documentary, and performance piece that captures the life, legacy and dance company of Pina. Pina Bausch was a German performer of modern dance, choreographer, dance teacher and ballet director. She had a huge influence in the art form we now know as modern dance. Dancers who worked with Pina say that she was a combination of fragility and strength. She was capable of endlessly listening and watching – and overcoming all of her limits. She developed deep relationships with her dancers. She was a beautiful visionary who could peer into the souls of her dancers and extract their true power and essence. Pina wanted all her dancers to feel their emotions through dance. Pina taught her dancers to take a stand for everything they do – every gesture, every step, every move. She taught her dancers to own and take control of their emotions through dance. Pina wanted them to realize that – your fragility is also your strength. She told them, “when confused, dance for love”. Pina really wanted her dancers to dig deep. One dancer in her company said, “when I frist began dancing for Pina I was lost, until I realized I had to pull myself up by my own hair.” Pina wanted her dancers to enter a kind of spiritual journey and figure themselves out, to ultimately become more powerful dancers.
Pina danced for love, pain, sorrow, and loneliness. She was all about overcoming the elements to acquire more strength. Many of her choreographed dance pieces included natural elements – dirt, sand, water, stone, soil. She choreographed pieces so that her dancers would have to go over or through these natural obstacles. Pina was a true and gifted visionary. She changed so many lives – the lives of her dancers and her audience. Her deeply conscious dance philosophy had a bold impact on the dance community and world as a whole.
Pina is currently on Netflix instant queue! Check it out and enjoy!
“I imagine Pina like a house with a huge attic full of treasures” – Dancer on Pina Bausch
If you follow the blog regularly, then you already know we are STUK on indie films. Trishna (released in 2011) is a rare gem. While carving a beautiful landscape of India, director Micheal Winterbottom paints a fairytale love story turned tragedy by way of secrets and silence. Our heroine, Trishna, played by Frieda Pinto, goes to work for hotel chain heir, Jay Singh, who is played by the amazingly hot Riz Ahmed. The two fall in love, pulling the audience in with stellar performances that leave us in love as well. Although Trishna has a new job, new friends, new hobbies and a love interest, she cannot escape the traditional standards she has become accustomed to in her home life that is more than a days journey away. Trishna’s family values have ingrained submission and compliance into her behavior regarding even her most basic instincts from sex to shelter. She takes every setback in stride, embodying what seems to be resilient grace. It’s not until she falls victim to her own virtues that we realize how enslavedTrishna has become in her silence. In the final 20 minutes of this heart breaking film, we see exactly what it means to be pushed to the breaking point. Still we can’t help but wonder how much of reaching the breaking point depends on our own defenses. Is there more dexterity in letting life have its way with us, or in claiming our power? Trishna shows us in a home- hitting way, how our claim to power is in fact our claim to life itself. We are so excited Trishna landed on Netflix instant queue this month! Make sure you catch it! We give it 5 stars!
like crazy
I thought I understood it
That I could grasp it
But I didn’t
Not really
I knew the smudgeness of it
The pink-slippered-all-containered-semi-precious eagerness of it
I didn’t realize it would sometimes be more than whole
The wholeness was a rather luxurious idea
Because its the halves that have you in half
Didn’t know
Don’t know about the in between bits
The gore-y bits of you
And gore-y bits of me
Women constitute more than half of the population. In 2008, 60% of voters were women. It is estimated that 10 million more women than men will vote in this election. Despite this, women make up only 16% of Congress. Women earn only 70 cents to each dollar men make. Women of color and undocumented women make less than white citizens. Mitt Romney and the Republican Party are determined to overturn Roe V. Wade. Romney has not supported equal pay for women (The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act). Romney has vowed to defund Planned Parenthood. Romney has vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Romney doesn’t want health care to cover birth control. Romney says same sex marriage should be banned with a Constitutional Amendment.
I have a huge addiction to all films, but above all – indie films. I love how they stretch outside the box of Hollywood norms. Most recently I Netflixed the film HappyThankYouMorePlease. It was a film that captured young people on the cusp of truly “growing up”, tiring of their reflexive cynicism, each in their own ways struggling to connect and define what it means to love and be loved and then applying the principle of gratitude to the lives they all lead. It made my ponder life in the best ways possible. I recommend it to anyone whose in to fun life contemplating indies! Enjoy! Xo.
Cab driver: “Bliss. Bliss is your birthright. You have great potential in this lifetime. The key to your life is gratitude. You do not give enough thanks.”
Woman: “Well, how do I do that?”
Cab driver: “Simple. Say thank you.
Woman: “Well… when?”
Cab driver: “All the time! Right now. After you say thank you you should say more please, because with gratitude the universe is eternally abundant. ”
As we hope you all are aware, here at STUK DESIGNS we are all about creative women supporting creative women! It’s all about spreading the love and building a community through our ART. With that said, we are supporting the film project of one of our stunning Renaissance Women Natalya Oliver! She is the epitome of a Renaissance Woman. Natalya acts, produces, sings, dances, writes… and we’re seriously beginning to think there’s nothing she can’t accomplish!
Please please please support her in raising money for her first short film project! It will feature music by Project Primal, our clients, and her musical project!Let’s support one another and reach for the stars together! The sky’s the limit!
WHY SHOULD YOU DONATE TO THIS FILM?
By donating to this film, you will not only be supporting an original piece of art, but you will also be supporting many starving artists! As producer and creator of the film, Natalya promises that this short will have a color-blind and mulit-gendered cast. As a working artist it is very hard to come by such open sets and Natalya is very aware of the lack of roles there are for women and people of color in this buisness. Though no ones ethnicity is mentioned in the short, Natalya knows very well that this country is a melting pot and she will do her social role to replicate that!
Natalya Oliver, is one of our stunning STUK renaissance women. She recently wrapped an amazing music video for her single Send Her Away. Natalya designed an oh-so-summery, vintage trailer trash themed, music video set. The set tied in vibrant bright colors, bold patterns, a blue inflatable pool, plastic pink flamingos, and a blow up alligator. It was pretty much the cutest trailer trash set ever. The video was reminiscent of Beyonce’s We like to party video feat. J. Cole, but it was truly a creation of ALL Natalya’s own. She created a sylish world where women rule and there is no shortage of self expression. Natalya wrote an amazing treatment for the video which captured the beauty of what happens when women decide to pull together instead of tearing each other apart. The video begins with one guy- a ladies man, who has a bunch of girlfriends. At first the girls all struggle for his attention at this colorful summer day fest, but more girls keep coming, so in the end they just decide to ban together, give the guy the boot, and party on their own! Natalya concluded her treatment “All the women celebrate. It’s awesome. Dancing boobs. Women unite. Mario is out.” I was so honored to be a part of this fun project created by Natalya and Jessie Shapiro, the masterminds behind a new music collaboration called project primal. You can check out more of their amazing songs here. Be on the lookout for the official Send Her Away music video dropping this week! – Click thumbnail images to enlarge –
