Seijun Suzuki made over forty films in ten years; all cheapie B movies for the Nikkatsu Company, but he didn't let the low-brow circumstances cramp his visionary style and during his tenure he created Tokyo Drifter, a colorful, trippy yakuza action film. To be honest, there's not much to it as far as plot and script, it's convoluted in too many ways to count — characters show up without introductions and there are even two characters with the same name (our hero, Tetsu, and Viper Tetsu, who's out to kill Tetsu).

Even once the plot becomes clear, it hardly matters. The film would have been forgotten in no time if it weren't for its eye popping visuals. The story, though, just so you know, concerns the aforementioned Tetsu and his father figure boss trying to go straight after a life of major crime. Unfortunately a rival gang lead by perpetually sun-glassed Otsuka is inexplicably hell bent on dragging them out of retirement by obtaining the deed to their building through a duplicitous cash payment to their lender. Otsuka's gang is headquartered in a club called (wait for it)… Manhole Music Tea Room (amazing!) where the back office includes a conveniently located trap pitfall and kooky kids go wild on the dance floor.

Each scene is incredibly unforgettable, like a woman in tweed dying in front of stylized red light, a burning black car with fins, an injured hit man walking through the snow in a pale blue suit… Not to mention an epic fist fighting brawl in an old West themed saloon with more “thwak” sounds than an entire episode of the Batman TV show, and then there's the final shoot out in an all white abstract set that includes a piano used as a weapon.

This over-the-top dedication to style eventually got Suzuki black-listed from the movie industry. The Nikkatsu Company wanted him to play it straight but instead they got increasingly more outlandish and far out stuff. Just goes to show that 'the Man' has been afraid of 'The New' since forever, even in the seemingly innovative atmosphere of mid-60s Japan.

There's tons of good fashion to be seen including great bulky herringbone and slick, confidently non-black suits for men, and wild updos, great necklines, and a perfect floral and plaid combo that I've become obsessed with but is only on screen for a few seconds. The music is also fantastic. I loved the theme song, which is fortunate for me because it's repeated throughout many, many times in renditions vocal, instrumental, cabaret, and whistled.

There's just one fault I can find with the Obama inauguration – lord knows all the bloggers (even my favorites) are really bearing teeth. From Refinery29: “The First Lady's big brocade suit in chartreuse was, well, we hate to be the ones to say it, a bit much, especially when you add in the collar bling.” And from NyMag's live feed: “Oh, Aretha. What are you wearing on your head? Is that a Liberty Bow?” But my criticism is not sartorial. I adore Michelle, particularly in sunshiny yellow, and I certainly don't want to bad mouth Aretha and her booming big bow (why bother messing with the woman at all? She rules no matter what).

No, my only qualm is that the Obama team failed to take advantage of the classic Pointer Sisters ditty 'Yes We Can Can' during the campaign, and it turns out I'm not the only one who spotted this missed opportunity. This article appeared in the Las Vegas Sun on December 27th ”We tried our damnedest, too,” says Anita Pointer. “We tried to contact his office and see if we could perform it for him. We really would love to be at that inaugural ball singing ?es We Can Can,' but we never could get any response from anyone.”

It's really too bad that her request fell on deaf ears — but don't let that stop you from jiggling around and feeling all hopeful by dancing in a new era in the privacy of your own home. I've always adored these ladies and this uplifting hit is one of their greatest.

“And try to find a piece of land without stepping on one another
And do respect the women of the world – remember you all have mothers
We got to make this land a better land than the world in which we live”

So even though David Wain's new movie The Ten is a bit of a disappointment, and I've heard from people who've met him that in person he's rather douchey (going to great lengths to defend his decision to tag British building with the provocative phrase 'AZ IZ); oiled up, tanned, mostached and long haired, his turn as Jesus Christ had me thinking all sorts of south of the border thoughts – if you know what I mean.

And while you may be able to fault him for sweating in this on trend and unlikable hat, he also co-wrote the pretty funny Tropic Thunder and was rad in Mulholland Drive.

While recently going through my old Italian Vogues, I found a great photo retrospective about life time model and elegant beauty, Benedetta Barzini. Frustrated at not being able to read the accompanying article, I decided to find out what I cold about this sharp featured woman and found that she's the kind of strong willed individual that blows the stereotype of a ditsy, shallow supermodel out of the water.

You might most recognize her today as one of the few models working with deep, well earned wrinkles but her career began back in the sixties. When starting out, after being discovered by the indomitable Diana Vreeland, she was once told (as she recalls in this 1977 People interview):

“Look—come to the parties, be nice to everyone, marry a rich American and you can stay in the U.S. That's the way it works.”

Instead, she fell in with Warhol and had a highly publicized love affair with Gerard Malanga and she skipped out on her skyrocketing modeling career to act in Italy to became a feminist communist. This is probably why she is not a household name as she seemed destined to become and can be found no where near America's Next Top Model's judging table.

She can be found, however in the archives of the Sartorialist, making commenter's wish for the genetics to look this good at her age.

My office is so nice they set up a projection of the inauguration but streaming problems intervened and we all ran downstairs to that Mexican restaurant with the big, bedazzled and lit up sombrero. So his speech was peppered with commentary like “you have to choose three kindsa tacos with that”.

Some are calling the speech itself downer, but I found it profoundly hopeful in it's pragmatism and strength. It's as if even the most cynical among us can believe that he is really, really going to do something, not just win hearts and votes anymore.

Michelle of course looked great, wearing smart and happy brocade by independent designer Isabel Toledo and Sasha and Malia have to be the cutest girls ever. I also went crazy for Aretha and her big, bold bow.

It was a proud moment in our history to say the least and on our wave of collective happiness, these bright, smiley Obama cookies were waiting for us to chow down on in celebration. Beyond the giddiness these evoke, they also happen to taste yummy, light and flaky. These are available through January at Eleni's. The McCain ones are not.

Stephen Sprouse is omnipresent lately and Deitch Projects is the epicentre of his re-emergence on the fashion scene with their bright installation devoted to his dynamic, energetic and all too brief career. Bolstered by videos of runway footage and the Sprouse scene from Slaves of New York, the large main room holds many of his most famous designs.

I personally can vividly remember his bright green graffiti print from 1988 and it was fun to see it in person. My sister and I admired it in the pages of Vogue when we were little and I remember his stuff always stood out against other more serious and less fun (in my 10 year old eyes) designers like Armani.

Downstairs a dark room features his bold sketches under black light and upstairs more videos play from his often raucous shows. I found the huge wall of personal Polaroids the most fascinating. Not only is it neat to see candid shots of his famous friends like Debbie Harry just hanging out, but it makes the whole art movement he was a part of seem more real and identifiable. In snapshots, they all looked no different from my friends and I, having fun and creating things.

While his clothes are time capsules of a very specific new york moment, his partnership with Target and Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton brought the fashion bad boy – who bridged uptown fashion with downtown crazy – into the modern limelight. Sadly, he succumbed to complications of lung cancer soon after the Vuitton revival and Soho lost one of it's creators.

Now with a fancy coffee table book and Marc Jacobs releasing his We Love Sprouse homage, he's back again, and probably just in time. With the economy getting everyone down, we all could use a bit more neon distraction.

Also, I was solely excited because the Joker face host of Fashion Television was there to shoot a piece. No one else knew who she was though…

While the Anasazis actually lived no where near the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, the real deal was brought down, brick by brick and faithfully reconstructed as a tourist site in my home town. I hadn't been since I was a kid, so on a recent trip home my family and I took advantage of the insane 55 degree weather and crawled through tiny abodes, sat on wooden ladders, and my dad even got inside the traditional oven.

It really is quite beautiful and unlike the Cave of the Winds up the road (which I'll tell you about next week), there is no guide required – you can stroll around on your own time. There is also a gigantic multi tiered gift shop sprinkled with rattle snake taxidermy where we got a shot glass with a bear inside it and a nice little museum with dioramas and lovely painted pots.

While it's clearly a paler cousin to the massive dwellings at Mesa Verde, it's a fun old timey tourist destination and you can eat some great Mexican grub and margaritas after wards at the brightly and sometimes erotically decorated Amanda Fonda restaurant in town.

On lazy days we will just burn through crap on that roku: five minutes each of Domino, Dragon Wars: D Wars, Rhinestone (Stallone and Dolly together at last in a movie based on a song) and The Brothers Solomon which is all one could bare to sit through. When we put on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, I expected about the same level of horridness, but instead found myself pleasantly entertained.

It's not quite as good as The V miniseries, partially because there is no asshole on the edge performance by Marc Singer – though Gil Gerard- who plays Buck does possess a more subtle Texas style swagger, but it has a similar vibe and it's a vibe I like.

I'd always heard the name Buck Rogers as a cultural reference, most often when Daffy Duck would spoof the original 1928 sci fi character by Philip Francis Nowlan who appeared in comic books, radio plays and two television shows until this 1979 series. Somehow I managed to never see any of these incarnations until now.

As with any decades old science fiction you have to give way to and enjoy some cheesy aspects. This is a very interesting view of the far future, that mostly looks like bits and pieces of other sci fi movies which is not surprising since the show was green lit to capitalized on the success of Star Wars and lots of the props were actually hand me downs from Battlestar Galactica.

So there's lots of LED lights, shiny tight costumes, and a healthy handful of late era disco – never have I seen such a dazzling array of costume store looking mustaches on a cast of extras in my life.

The sultry bad girl Queen Ardala is a Playboy.. or no make that Hustle type vixen (though as far as I know, actress Pamela Hensley never modeled for either) with a few mind blowing outfits with fringe and horns. The good girl love interest is played by the bright eyed Erin Gray, already with that sitcom mom look that she later perfected on Silver Spoons.

The real star though, is the tiny tin pageboy robot named Twiki, who carries the virtuous HAL like device “Doctor Theopolis” on his tummy but breaks out a few odd one liners in his own robotic Yosemite Sam voice like: “whatta body!” in between his beedeebeedeebeedee chatter.

What I watched was the two hour pilot, which actually played in theaters before the series began and it and the entire series is available on netflix instantly.

I loves me my beets and tarragon, and this Steak with Root Vegetables recipe is chock full of them, as well as carrots, parsnips, and the intriguing Fresh Direct offering of a black radish.

I bought a hand julienne peeler for this because you have to cut your veggies small so they cook fast and doing by hand is no joke.