The Standard

Happy Monday, readers! If you are staying at one of our hotels, here’s our weekly roundup of cool things we recommend in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles…

NEW YORK:

(The Original Kill Bill plays for one week in New York)

For all the film buffs out there, here’s a fashionable reference. Jeanne Moreau plays the vindictive bride who was attacked on her wedding day in this 1968 Truffaut masterpiece. Hitchcock was even quoted saying “I especially liked the scene of Moreau watching the man who had taken poison dying slowly”. Cut to Kill Bill… Quentin Tarantino sampled pieces of this character for Uma Thurman, including the 5 person death checklist.

(Jeanne Moreau makes her “Death Checklist” for revenge)

Here’s the plotline: Pulled back from an out-the-window suicide attempt, Jeanne Moreau (solely black or white-clad, and low-key and business-like throughout) decides it’s time for a trip, then proceeds to track down five total strangers — ex-playboy/ groom-to-be Claude Rich, lonely Michel Bouquet, boorish budding politician Michel Lonsdale, admittedly skirt-chasing artist Charles Denner, and hot car entrepreneur Daniel Boulanger — using her hands; poisoned wine; a knife — no, not the knife; a gun — no, not the gun; then the knife. Jeanne Moreau plays the enigmatic femme fatale in five different styles.

Sure, Tarantino borrowed lots from this, but then again, Truffaut borrowed lots from Hitchcock — right down to the source material (a novel by Rear Window author Cornell Woolrich) and Herrmann score. The film has a short run in New York starting this Friday, November 4th through Thursday, November 10th for one week only. Showtimes: 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00, and tickets are available online here., or ask your concierge at The Standard New York to hook it up. Watch the trailer here.

MIAMI:

Calling all insomniacs. This Saturday, November 5th from 6pm – 6am, Sleepless Night will take over the streets of Miami with a plethora of over 150 cultural arts events and more than 80 venues citywide. Internationally appealing singers, dancers and performance artists perform alongside such award-winning local favorites as the Florida Grand Opera, the Miami City Ballet and the Miami Symphony Orchestra.

This year’s schedule includes Sarruga, a Barcelona-based street theater group that will provide huge dancing fish puppets; Brazil’s Livio Tragtenberg, who will present “The Cabinet of Dr. Strange,” a “composer” in the form of an extinct animal; “The Carpetbag Brigade,” a group from San Francisco that utilizes acrobatic stilts, physical theater, modern dance and circus arts; and “Project Bandaloop,” an aerial dance troupe, which has performed on the cliffs of Yosemite National Park, and will perform its new work “Bound (less),” using the city’s new Frank Gehry-designed New World Center. Click here to see Sleepless Night full schedule of events.

Sleepless Night, a citywide celebration of art, music and dance, traditionally runs from sundown to dawn on the night of the autumnal time change (thus foregoing the extra hour of sleep for fun). The idea began in Paris in 1984 – with Nuit Blanche, or White Night – and has since spread to 11 other major international cities, including Rome, Madrid and Montreal.

Best of all, the cultural performances are free. Museums waive their admission fees. Luxury bus coaches transport people from place to place, with onboard entertainment and films shown on the vehicles as well. Those who stay up all night are invited to enjoy breakfast on the beach as the sun comes up. Sooooo Miami!

The Standard, Miami, will have a Sleepless Night extravaganza with Live Chalk Art by Marcello Ibanez, Astrology with Lori Bell, Acro Yoga and Budokon Demos, Tarot Card Readings with Sara Evans and Moonlight Yoga with Tara Stiles from 9:00 to 10:00 pm. See full schedule and RSVP here.

LOS ANGELES:

(LACMA’s California Design, 1930–1965: “Living in a Modern Way”)

One of our favorite curators of art, the LACMA Museum, has a powerful show entitled California Design, 1930–1965: “Living in a Modern Way”. This exhibition is the first major study of California midcentury modern design. With more than 300 objects—furniture, ceramics, metalwork, fashion and textiles, and industrial and graphic design—the exhibition examines the state’s role in shaping the material culture of the entire country. Organized into four thematic areas, the exhibition aims to elucidate the 1951 quote from émigré Greta Magnusson Grossman that is incorporated into the exhibition’s title: California design “is not a superimposed style, but an answer to present conditions… It has developed out of our own preferences for living in a modern way.”

Below is a taste test of the artistry. Deborah Sussman, whose work is included in the exhibition, talks about her early history with Charles and Ray Eames and her long career as an influential designer.

The show is currently being housed in the Resnick Pavilion and began early October but runs through to June 3, 2012. For more information, ask the front desk at The Standard Hollywood or The Standard Downtown LA, or read more online at LACMA.org/CaliforniaDesign