ph: Aram Bedrossian
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Vignettes #53
My late pal Martin was a very shy and closed person, but a good friend ever since our school days. We were a larger group of friends we shared interests in, cinema, music and many other things. In 1979 the movie Caligula had its theatrical release in Germany. It was already notorious for having amounts of sex and violence in it, so we all were eager to see it, but it had an 18 rating which means you must be of full age to be admitted. Some of us were not 18 yet including Martin, so it was just discussing schemes how we might get a way into the cinema. One evening we were again debating the possibilities, when Martin suddenly commented matter-of-factly: "You're talking about Caligula? Oh, I watched it last week." We were all dumbstruck, since he hadn't mentioned that before and we were also wondering how he got himself into the cinema. "Well," we wanted to know, "did it have as much sex and violence everybody was talking about?" "I guess so" he replied. "But I'm not really sure." "Why are you not sure, you were there, weren't you?" "Yes, I did see it." He explained. "But I forgot my glasses, so all I saw was moving silhouettes and colors."
I still haven't seen the movie to this day...
Friday, July 15, 2011
William S. Burroughs: My Education. A Book of Dreams
Being conceived is like you are in a car driven by the father...faster, faster, faster..onlythis time it is Mother who was driving when we crashed and in the time it took the hydraulic brakes to take hold, I had written out two hundred images...poetic images yet. But I know it was only two pages and that is the way people talk here. they exaggerate by a hundred, like putting bigger numbers on the money.
Then I'm in a room with Ian who looks all pink and red...a beautiful terra-cotta color...and these phantoms keep coming in, look like people but are just as fraudulent and if you shove them they disappear.
Quite a number of them came.
New Stuff: Made Out of Babies
Although I'm not much into metal, I do admire Julie Christmas and this band is highly original.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
New Stuff: Samuel Beckett
I'm currently reading Samuel Beckett and intend to go through his complete works as published in the Grove Centenary Editions. (I already have Vol.2 and currently reading Malone Dies).
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
From my vaults: Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson
Bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rnstjerne_Bj%C3%B8rnson
First Lines: Johann Gottlieb Fichte - Outlines of the Doctrine of Knowledge
THE Doctrine of Knowledge, apart from all special and definite knowing, proceeds immediately upon Knowledge itself, in the essential unity in which it recognises Knowledge as existing; and it raises this question in the first place - How this Knowledge can come into being, and what it is in its inward and essential Nature?
Dante's Peak (1997)
A vulcanologist arrives at a countryside named Dante's Peak after a long dormant volcano, which has recently been named the second most desirable place to live in America, and discovers that Dante's Peak, may wake up at any moment.
The main attraction is merely the spectacular eruption of the volcano.
New Stuff: Bob Dylan
I'm continuously buying Bob Dylan's complete works (one a month) and suddenly noticed that this album was amiss.
Stargate (1994)
An interstellar teleportation device, found in Egypt, leads to a planet with humans resembling ancient Egyptians who worship the god Ra.
Basically a B-picture sci-fi romp, made with some expertise, however.
New Stuff: Albert Ayler
This classic Albert Ayler album was among the top 10 of The Wire's list 100 greatest jazz albums of all time, but was missing in my library.
Pride and Glory (2008)
The investigation of the murder of 4 policeman leads into a deep family drama.
Ambitious cop drama in Sidney Lumet territory that loses a lot of its credibility during its suspenseful climax.
