Saturday, December 13, 2008

Quicksand (2003)



The workaholic head of the compliance section of a New York bank flies to Monaco to investigate unusual deposits from an offshore bank and meets a down-on-his-luck international film star who has become embroiled in criminal activities.

To be honest, don't let the credentials fool you: directed by John MacKenzie and starring Michael Keaton and Michael Caine this is nevertheless just an average (and very predictable) late night thriller.

Natalia Vodianova

Species (1995)







A group of four specialists are given the task of tracking down Sil. "She" is part human, part alien, beautiful, strong, very dangerous and desperate to mate with a human.

I'd suggest to avoid this one unless you're desperate and have nothing better to do...

Maria Full of Grace (2004)





In a small village in Colombia, the pregnant seventeen years old Maria (Catalina Sandino Moreno) supports her family with her salary working in a floriculture. She is fired and with a total lack of perspective of finding a new job, she decides to accept the offer to work as a drug mule, flying to USA with sixty-two pellets of cocaine in her stomach. Once in New York, things do not happen as planned.

If you haven't seen it yet: I can recommend this movie! Don't let the synopsis scare you away, the movie is much less harrowing than the average CSI episode. Moreover, it is made with a simple realism, and in the end it is the story of a woman's emancipation.

Bettie Page in memoriam








Kate Moss irrégulière

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Jonathan Lethem: The Fortress of Solitude



Dylan Ebdus is a white kid on a black-and-brown street. As he struggles through public school in 1970s Brooklyn, he is "yoked"--put in a headlock--and frisked for change on a daily basis. Testing into a good Manhattan school, he steps into a long-lasting role: vulnerable among street kids, he's street-smart compared to his new, privileged pals, and loathes himself as a poseur with both crowds. When he finds a ring that grants the power of flight, he's afraid to use it, but his black friend, Mingus, is not. They try their hand at crime fighting, but like many teenage endeavors, the project fizzles out. Lethem is a tremendous writer, and in the first half he uses magnificent language to capture the complexity of a child's worldview. When he jump-cuts to Dylan's adulthood, however, his switch to a more conventional narrative style is disappointing. The story regains momentum when Dylan rediscovers the ring and a new power it offers, then returns to his old street and ponders a sacrifice: whether to give the ring to the boy who yoked him the most. Lethem explores many avenues: the origins of gentrification, the development of soul music, the genealogy of graffiti, the seeds of the crack epidemic. The different concepts converge in the closing pages, but this often-excellent novel labors under the weight of its ambition. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

There are certain authors I enjoy reading and try to read every book they have published, Jonathan Lethem is one of them. In this case I must agree that while I enjoyed the book very much, the author did have a few ambitions too many.

Lungomare, Cefalù, Sicily



Taken on my visit in May 2008

Regensburg by night



Taken winter 2007/2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

West Side Story (1961)







The song I got stuck in my head today

Kate Bush - Under the Ivy



As an old fan of Kate Bush many of her songs are favourites, and many pop back up in my head from time to time. This song was long time only available as the B-side to the Hounds of Love single.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008