♥ IRIS ♥ profile picture

♥ IRIS ♥

I am here for Friends

About Me

I’m creative, I’m horribly impatient, I'm stubborn. I'm a total romantic and I believe in love. I've got the most amazing man Fact: I met quite a few actors, but I got a chance to speak to my idol, Meryl Streep. Was it good? Amaaayyyzing.
Fact: Huge Madonna fan since I was 11 and will probably be til the day I die.
I like adventure, but I can also be a big whimp. I’m kind. I’m openminded, tolerant and I can handle most situations: I'm easy going and flexible.
I consider myself intelligent... in certain ways. I'm kind of like the person with a large general knowledge, but don't ask me about math or physics.
I go to the National Theatre in London all the time, I love it. Also because I know all the house managers and get a free seat everytime ;)
I'm an English teacher, almost done with my training. Teaching is amazing. I currently work as a remedial teacher, but I was also a PA in London this year, working in theatre. I translate for people and I lately simultaneaously translate / interpret a lot at seminars and things. I'm also an actor. I do classical theatre, contemporary and improv. I've done my first film last February and it'll be broadcasted on either BBC4 or ITV. Busy lassy :)
Unfortunately I smoke and I have been trying to quit for 5 years now. I tend to talk too much too. Some friends call me crazy. I guess that’s because I need to cover up for my lacking sense of humour! I never get jokes and my timing is really bad, but I love comedy acting. Still, some people call me funny or witty. True Contradictions!
I love to dance (modern dance vs jazz currently and a little classical ballet on the side, I used to Tango, but unfortunately my partner and I are too busy), I'm passionate about painting, I make jewellery, decorations, tops, things like that. I love it. Films are a total passion.
... Oh and I have a fantastic, loving, weird, great family (and friends!) all of whom I treasure.
“Look the dilemma in the face and decide what you can live with” / “The engagement in the attempt for excellence is what sustains the most well-lived and satisfying lifes” (thank you Meryl Streep - couldn't be more true.)
"Express yourself, don't repress yourself" (Madonna)
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My Interests



"SHE'S A GIRL OF SO MANY INTERESTS"

(With thanks to Bette Davis' delicious performance of Margo Channing in All About Eve)

Here are some pictures:


I'd like to meet:


That's easy: Honest people with integrity.


Create your own Post-It

Music:


I
music...


Johan Sebastian Bach (doomed to be with me forever)
Antonio Vivaldi (any day)
Joseph Haydn (sometimes)
Ludwig van Beethoven (...)
Franz Schubert (singing)
Leon Boelman (Suite Gothique, my favourite piece for organ ever)
Frederic Chopin (any day, looove playing Chopin on the piano)
Serchei Rachmaninov (heavy and dramatic, nothing better)
Serge Prokofiev (Well what can I say... Romeo where art thou?!)
Maurice Ravel (speechless)
Claude Debussy (reminds me of Camille Claudel)
George Gershwin (jazz versus classical, amazing)
Simeon Ten Holt (Canto Ostinato!!!)
Philip Glass (what can I say..)
Bruce Smeaton (wrote amazing music for Plenty)
Carl Davis (wrote amazing music for The French Lieutenant's Woman)
Graeme Revell (God from Australia)
Hans Zimmer (at times)
Elliot Goldenthal (brilliant)
Carter Burwell (Fargo)
Baz Luhrman (pure delight)
Liesbeth List (Dutch godess)
Edith Piaf (French master of Chanson)
Ramses Shaffy (!) (brilliance)
Jacques Brel (how can you not love him?)
Billie Holiday (queen)
Peggy Lee (that voice!)
Barbra Streisand (if heaven exists, this is what you must be hearing there)
Ella Fitzgerald (that voice!!)
Etta James (great, shouldn't have gone blond though)
Diana Krall (younger generation jazz and blues queen)
Nina Simone (right to the core)
Sarah Vaughn (lovely)
Dinah Washington (same)
Charlie Parker (wow)
Louis Armstrong (respect)
Julie London (Cry me a river... one of the best songs ever)
Jill Scott (mmm)
(early) Count Basie (ragtime!)
MADONNA (the queen of it all)
Cher (So happy I've seen the Farewell Tour 2004, she's amazing!) Rolling Stones (the awesome granddads)
Beatles (important)
Air (etherial)
Kate Bush (aerial)
Alphaville
George Michael (amazing songwriter and singer - especially his jazzier work)
Prince (ever listened to "The Vault"-album?)
Sting (just great)
Nikka Costa (oooh amazing!)
Radiohead (My Iron Lung... wow)
Massive Attack (Future Proof made me cry)
Portishead (wow again)
Eminem (he's just great)
Loads of quite unknown underground rappers.
Snoop Dogg (to dance to)
The Game (some of it)
A tribe called Quest (nice floww)
Genious GZA (Cold World!)
Mary J. Blige (one of the best today)
Alicia Keys (so talented)
Aretha Franklin (my dr feelgood :))
Shirley Cesar (oh I'd almost go to church when I hear her gospel)
Mariah Carey (her older work, great voice)
Red Army Music (hip hop from Jersey, not Russia, lol)
Kelis (her first two albums)
Leila Forouhar (Dota Parande!)
Googoosh (Persian music 4 ever)
Astor Piazzolla (tango king!)
Gotan Project (tango revived!)
Osvaldo Pugliese, and many more classical tango composers! (memories...)
Russian, Hebrew/Jewish/Israeli, Persian, Mexican & Gypsy music (emotion!)
Misia (Fado! Fado! My childhood... the many holidays to Portugal. I Dulce Pontes (same)
Mariza (different)
Amalia Rodrigues (lenda de fado)
Christina Branco (so good)
Chavela Vargas (I feel her singing right in my heart)
Lila Downs (celebracion de vida!)
Lola Flores (gorgeous and what a voice..)
Lhasa de Sela (she does it all)
Die Romantik (these guys will be HUGE one day)
Pink Martini (delight)
Amy Winehouse (cut the the destruction though, amy)
Madeleine Peyroux (niiice)
Hole (a period in my life)
Nirvana (sheer brilliance)
The Doors (we need that)
Melanie Safka (mum's fave and then mine haha)
Deborah Harry and the Jazz Passengers
Blondie (Debbie.. love her)
The Who (love them)
Pink Floyd (darrrk)
William Orbit (master of bubbly bits!)
Mirwais (French delight)
Basement Jaxx (party)
Rank 1 (same)
Chrystal Waters (loved her since I was 6 or so and she's back!)
Fedde le Grand
Bodyrox (those are beats I like!)
Kasabian (new and original)
Ruff driverz (dance dance dance)
Rue Da Silva (same)
Tiesto (home sweet home)
Junior Vasquez (his 90's remixes.. can get over them)
Peter Rouhofer (obscure, love it)
LOTS of deejays, well known or unknown
Furthermore:
club, house, latin jazz, acid jazz, trip-hop, funk, vaudeville/cabaret, klezmer.

And more...

Movies:


I
films...
10s

A Daughter Of The Gods (Herbert Brenon, 1916)
20s
Der Blaue Engel / The Blue Angel (Joseph von Sternberg, 1929)
Also, I'm fascinated with silent Louise Brooks films.
Dietrich’s screentest for Der Blaue Engel
30s
Morocco (Joseph von Sternberg, 1930)
Shanghai Express (Joseph von Sternberg, 1932)
Of Human Bondage (John Cromwell, 1934)
The Garden Of Allah (Richard Boleslawski, 1936)
Mannequin (Frank Borzage, 1937)
Jezebel (William Wyler, 1938)
Destry Rides Again (George Marshall, 1939)
Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage
40s
Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944)
Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtis, 1945)
Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946)
Joan Crawford is Mildred Pierce
50s
All about Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
Don't Bother To Knock (Roy Ward Baker, 1952)
Niagara (Henry Hathaway, 1953)
The Seven Year Itch (Billy Wilder, 1955)
Autumn Leaves (Robert Aldrich, 1956)
Witness For The Prosecution (Billy Wilder, 1957)
Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
Classic Bette.. (All about Eve) “A milkshake?”
60s
Whatever happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1961)
Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf (Mike Nichols, 1966)
The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
Belle De Jour (Luis Burnuel, 1967)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Liz Taylor’s best performance) The play I want to direct again.
70s
Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
Scemer Ur Ett Äktenskapp / Scenes From A Marriage (Ingmar Bergman, 1973)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman, 1975)
Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
Julia (Fred Zinnemann, 1977)
Höstsonaten / Autumn Sonatas (Ingmar Bergman, 1978)
The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978)
Holocaust (Marvin J Chomsky, 1978 TV mini series)
The Seduction Of Joe Tynan (Jerry Schatzberg, 1979)
Uncommon Women And Others (Wendy Wasserstein, 1979 TV)
Kramer Vs. Kramer (Robert Benton, 1979)
Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979)
Holocaust (mini series) a very Haunting scene. You might not want to see this. Meryl Streep and James Woods are brilliant though.
80s
The French Lieutenant’s Woman (Karel Reisz, 1981)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (Bob Rafelson, 1981)
Mommie Dearest (Frank Perry, 1981)
On Golden Pond (Mark Rydell, 1981)
Van De Koele Meren Des Doods / The Quiet Lakes (Dutch film, Nouchka van Brakel, 1982)
Sophie’s Choice (Alan J. Pakula, 1982)
Still Of The Night (Robert Benton, 1982)
Victor/Victoria (Blake Edwards, 1982)
Alice At The Palace (Emile Ardolino, 1982 TV)
Silkwood (Mike Nichols, 1983)
Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1983)
The Hunger (Tony Scott, 1983)
Once Upon A Time In America (Sergio Leone, 1984)
My all-time favourite film is "PLENTY" (Fred Schepisi, 1985), which also is my favourite play ever. (David Hare)
I own all movies my Meryl Streep and I love them
Out Of Africa (Sidney Pollack, 1985)
After Hours (Martin Scorcese, 1985)
Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan Seidelman, 1985)
The Color Purple (Steven Spielberg, 1985)
Heartburn (Mike Nichols, 1986)
Jean de Florette (Claude Berri, 1986)
Manon des sources (Claude Berri, 1986)
Ironweed (Hector Babenco, 1987)
Camille (Bruno Nuytten, 1988)
Le Grand Blue / The Big Blue (Luc Besson, 1988)
A Cry In The Dark (Fred Schepisi, 1988)
The Hunger with the Amazing Catherine Deneuve
Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria singing Le Jazz Hot
90s
Madonna doc: Truth or Dare (Alek Keshishian, 1990)
Henry and June (Philip Kaufmann, 1990)
Mermaids (Richard Benjamin, 1990)
Postcards From The Edge (Mike Nichols, 1990)
A league of their own (Penny Marshall, 1992)
Death Becomes Her (Robert Zemeckis, 1992)
Dangerous Game (Abel Ferrara, 1993)
The House Of The Spirits (Billie August, 1993)
This Boy’s Life (Michael Caton-Jones, 1993)
Prêt a Porter (Robert Altman, 1994)
The Bridges Of Madison County (Clint Eastwood, 1995)
Now and then (Lesli Linka Glatter, 1995)
Les Voleurs (André Techine, 1996)
Evita (Alan Parker, 1996)
Before And After (Barbet Schroeder, 1996)
Fargo (Joel Coen, 1996)
The woman in white (Tim Fywell, 1997 TV)
The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1997)
Eve's Bayou (Kasi Lemmons, 1997)
Dancing At Lughnasa (Pat O’Connor, 1998)
One True Thing (Carl Franklin, 1998)
Hilary and Jackie (Anand Tucker, 1998)
The Parent Trap (Nancy Myers, 1998)
Tea With Mussolini (Franco Zeffirelli, 1999)
Music Of The Heart (Wes Craven, 1999)
Drop Dead Gorgeous (Michael Patrick Jann, 1999)
The talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony Minghella, 1999)
Girl Interrupted (James Mangold, 1999)
Pola X (Leos Carax, 1999)
Aimee and Jaguar (Max Farberbcock, 1999)
Les Voleurs, again.. Deneuve
WATCH this. Madonna is Evita, the best Evita-no discussion.
00s
If These Walls Could Talk 2 (segment “1961” Anderson/Coolidge, 2000)
Dancer In The Dark (Lars von Trier, 2000)
Sous Le Sable (Francois Ozon, 2000)
Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
Trolösa / Faithless (Liv Ullman, 2000)
The virgin suicides (Sofia Coppola, 2000)
IRIS (Richard Eyre, 2001)
The Banger Sisters (Bob Dolman, 2001)
La Pianiste (Michael Haneke, 2001)
Nynke (Frisian film, Paul Verhoeff, 2001)
Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrman, 2001)
The Hours (Stephen Daldry, 2002)
Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002)
Laurel Canyon (Lisa Cholodencko, 2002)
8 Femmes / 8 Women(Francois Ozon, 2002)
Chicago (Rob Marshall, 2002)
Spun (Jonas Ackerlund, 2002)
Frida (Julie Taymor, 2002)
Swimmingpool (Francois Ozon, 2003)
Something's Gotta Give (Nancy Meyers, 2003)
Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003)
Elephant (Gus van Sant, 2003)
Angels In America (Mike Nichols, 2003 TV mini series)
Monster (Patty Jenkins, 2003)
Lost in translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
Thirteen (Catherine Hardwicke, 2003)
Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2003)
Madonna doc: I'm going to tell you a secret (Jonas Ackerlund, 2004)
The Forgotten (Joseph Ruben, 2004)
The Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme, 2004)
Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, 2004)
Closer (Mike Nichols, 2004)
Manderlay (Lars von Trier, 2005)
Vers Le Sud (Laurent Cantet, 2005)
The Devil Wears Prada (David Frankel, 2005)
Birth (Jonathan Glazer, 2005)
Transamerica (Duncan Tucker, 2005)
A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman, 2006)
The Illusionist (Neil Burger, 2006)
Lives of others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
The Last King Of Scotland (Kevin Macdonald, 2007)
Notes On A Scandal (Richard Eyre, 2007)
The Queen (Stephen Frears, 2007)
Georgia Rule (Garry Marschall, 2007)
MANY MORE & many more to watch!!!
The Hours
The undisputed Dame Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal
You can say many things about Lindsay Lohan, but she’s a great actress. Georgia Rule.

Television:


I prefer movies over television.
Ok... here's the line-up: Will and Grace, Little Britain, ANTM, Homes under the hammer (BBC - I might do that once I have money), MTV's stupid programmes like Laguna Beach and Roomraiders, VH1 music specials. And I'm a sucker for emo television. Anything on art or history I will watch. And anything on the FBI/other police forces and crime investigation: I've seriously optioned to enroll in the police academy and become an officer believe it or not!

Books:


I've got TONS of plays still to read. Recently: Just finished Bernhard Shaw's "Saint Joan" after seeing it in the National Theatre (London) twice: went through a total obsession with the play.
My all-time favourite novel is IRIS MURDOCH'S "THE SEA, THE SEA".
These favourites are in random order:
"The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
"In the beginning" by Chaim Potok
"The Go-between" by L.P. Hartley
"The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
"Brideshead Revisited" by Evelyn Waugh
"The Complete Works" by William Shakespeare
"My sister Frida" by Barbara Mujica
"Mrs Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf
"Orlando" by Virginia Woolf
"Sophie's Choice" by William Styron
"Memoirs of a geisha" by Arthur Golden
"Dietrich, my mother" by Maria Riva
"Ich bin gotseidank Berlinerin" by Marlene Dietrich (the contrasts between this book and the book her daughter wrote are astonishing.)
"Piaf" by Simone Bertraut
"Lady sings the blues" by Billie Holiday
"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë
"Lady Chatterley's Lover" by DH Lawrence
"Atonement" by Ian McEwan
"Oranges are not the only fruit" by Jeanette Winterson
"Ulysses" by James Joyce
"If not now, when?" by Primo Levi
"The French Lieutenant's Woman" by James Fowles
"Fried green tomatoes at the Whistle Stop cafe" by Fannie Flagg
"A passage to India" by E.M. Forster
ALL books by Isabel Allende, a delicious writer, never disappoints me :)
I have so many more favourites... and so much more to read! I have a pretty large English literature collection at home consisting of more than 220 great novels, due to my late grandfather's collection of which I recently got a part.
I also have and read many books about art.

Heroes:


MY MOTHER.

Other heroes: my late grandfather (mother's side of the family), my grandfather whom I haven't known, my highschool history teacher...

Some of my friends and students are heroes. Love them.

My Blog

Ideally Id be a wild child.

Maybe that's why I like girls like Lindsay Lohan and Peaches Geldof. They're just no shit cool. It's weird. It's like I've skipped something when I was a teenager. I never was very rebellious and I re...
Posted by ♥ IRIS ♥ on Sat, 27 Oct 2007 03:14:00 PST

short story by me.

This story is quite true. Lost in wander By Iris Wester   "He ill, you need to take him to hospital, he very ill boy." This is what a swartish Tunisian doctor said about my little brother wh...
Posted by ♥ IRIS ♥ on Sun, 17 Dec 2006 01:15:00 PST

HIV/AIDS

AIDS is no longer "the four letter word", like cancer is no longer "that illness". I'm happy about that.Yet there's a lot to be done still. So many people are still unaware of the dangers of unsafe se...
Posted by ♥ IRIS ♥ on Sun, 03 Dec 2006 09:46:00 PST

script

WHY WOULD ONE WANT TO LIVE IN HOLLYWOOD?!   Because everything is pretty!   But why?   Because.   Why?!   Everything is..   Pretty?   Yeah!   NO!   What? &...
Posted by ♥ IRIS ♥ on Fri, 02 Dec 2005 12:08:00 PST

Meeting Meryl Streep

Written on May 17, 2005 Theater of the New Ear, London May 13 &and meeting Meryl A strange meeting or happening& Anything. I had one of the most exiting nights of my entire life, May 13, 2005. Okay& l...
Posted by ♥ IRIS ♥ on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

Yesterday

A concentration of the darkest resentment, A cemetery with no names, stones or flowers, A mark of cluttered deliverance. Agony eyes, gloomy faces from all places; Brought together, shipped b...
Posted by ♥ IRIS ♥ on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST