Danny Nguyen Couture Fall/Winter 2011

A couple of weekends ago, I had the pleasure of attending Danny Nguyen's Fall/Winter 2011 show. Danny is an up-and-coming designer based in Houston with a flair for grandeur mixed in with with a bit of scandalously clad designs. I've known Danny since high school (he hasn't changed one bit) and it's been amazing to watch his growth from his early days in dressmaking to his gorgeously ornate designs now. Below are a few of my favorite picks from his F/W 2011 collection. Congrats on a fabulous show and thanks for the awesome front row & center seats!

Congrats again to Danny for the fabulous show. The theme of this collection was The Caribbean, albeit not the sunny paradise one may think of. Instead, it focuses more on the destructive nature of the dark seas, and pulls from the darker elements.


Keeping in theme, the host of the show was none other than Captain Jack Sparrow.


The designer himself, Danny Nguyen.



Post-show dinner at Philippe in Houston.


Beef tartare with quail egg yolk, capers, onions; some sort of fish and mashed potato thing (the menu changed and I have no idea what it was called, ha - but this was by far my favorite dish of the night); my darling clementine: roasted duck magret, crispy duck confit ravioli, carrot flan, asparagus, clementine-Cognac sauce; burgundy beef cheeks, pearl onion, bacon + mushrooms with macaroni + cheese.


H&M dress; Christian Louboutin shoes

Black & Gold

Forever 21 tank; Zara skirt; H&M flats 

An old outfit post. Expect lots of updates soon. I am completely backlogged with content. Regularity really doesn't seem to be my thing.

Lazy Sunday Brunch at Perla's

Sundays are bittersweet. It's still the weekend, but it's the last few hours of it and inevitably Monday will roll around where we all must return to work or school. The one part I do look forward to most on Sundays is brunch. Waffles? French toast? Eggs Benedict? Omlettes? YES, PLEASE. I've always heard great things about Perla's brunch and took the chance to find out. We ordered the lobster roll, which almost made me shed a tear at how delicious it was. We also got the brioche french toast, which comes topped with a scoop of coconut sorbet and toasted coconut. It. Was. Delicious.

As if I didn't already stuff myself silly, we were right next to a crepe truck (which was also next to an animal adoption truck) and I would not be me if I said no to crepes. So I got the mango and sticky rice crepe from Crepes Mille. It was only okay. Not as good as the real thing at Thai restaurants, namely because it lacked the signature coconut milk (I seem to be on a coconut kick). And speaking of coconut, I have recently discovered the most delicious coconut cream pie in Austin and possibly the planet--AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE PIE! You can find it at Woodland on South Congress in Austin. It's terribly good. So terribly good that no matter how full I am from dinner, I can't say no. Please don't cheat yourself out on life by missing this slice of heaven. You must get it. Must.

Tekken Blood Vengeance - Review

Um... it's a little embarrassing to admit, but I really enjoyed this movie. A lot. More than a lot. I walked in with zero expectations. I walked out of the theater giggling because I liked it so much. And I'm not even sure why.

Yesterday I attended the Tekken Blood Vengeance 3D one night movie premiere. I've been a fan of the franchise for over ten years now, so when I heard about the movie, I knew I had to see it.  Two-thirds through the movie, I needed to pee - really bad. But I held it in because I was so entranced. Yes, I was that into it. So for 30 minutes I practiced clutching my uh, bladder muscles, as I glared on in pure fangirl joy.

Video game movies and others in that genre usually spell bad terrible. I tend to walk away feeling like it wasted my time (I'm looking at you Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: The Pyramid of Light, which had zero relevance to anything). Admittedly, Tekken Blood Vengeance had its plot holes as well (Shin Kamiya was rather useless, other than as eye candy) and the 3D felt unnecessary. What I did appreciate about Tekken Blood Vengeance was that it helped flush out some of the characters in ways that the game could not, and I couldn't help but smile every time I recognized a fighting stance or move. Sigh. I know, this is probably one of the most ridiculous confessions I have ever made.

Anyways, I thought I'd write a review to justify my pure adoration for this movie amongst all the negative reviews its gotten. Three paragraphs later and I still don't have a solid reason. A number of hardcore fans of Tekken have voiced their dissatisfaction with the movie, namely because of its shortage of fighting scenes and a lack of full character coverage and for being non-canon. If you haven't seen it and you can't decide if you should...

How to know if you should watch Tekken Blood Vengeance:

1) You are a fan of Tekken. Obviously.
2) You are not a hardcore fan of Tekken.
3) You have no expectations for this movie. It appears the consensus is that if you walk in with high expectations, you will likely find yourself disappointed.
4) You like eye candy. CG'd eye candy. There are multiple shower scenes. Seriously.



At the end of the day, I love this movie for what it is: a 90 minute visual hailstorm of one of my favorite video games of all time. It was funny, beautifully created and it thrilled my inner child like no other to watch something I've loved so long on the big screen for—well, 90 minutes straight.