Friday, August 5, 2011
William S. Burroughs: My Education. A Book of Dreams
Out in the street I don't know how to find my way back. I have money for a cab, but I don't see any cabs and wouldn't in any case know where to tell him to go. I am looking for a place to have breakfast. If I could get to some familiar landmark. Is it Paris?...Land of the Dead, probably. Pass a crowded place on several levels like Le Drugstore, and there is a hotel restaurant. I see a small cafe and go in.
Three people behing zinc counter about three feet long and two patrons in tiny booths with coffee. The people behind the counter look dead, a gray-green color, like "The Absinthe Drinkers." There are two men and one woman. I don't know whether to sit down in a booth or get coffee at the counter. There is a stool at the end of the counter. I sit down and the stool is wobbly. I finally try another stool, which also wobbles, and the people behind the counter start laughing, and I walk out.
I see a man in a gray suit waiting by an orange sign I figure I must be a treetcar stop but I didn't know how to ask him for directions, not beingsure of where I want to go. There is a hotel and another stop I need to make. Then I meet Brion Gysin and he says there is a hall in the vicinity where Allen and Huncke will read or have read. Then he leads the way down a long street...faster and faster. I see a clock: 6:10. We are moving always faster...now a blur of red painting, red faces from Renoir, red scarves, red geraniums...faster and faster...a blur of red...
New Stuff: Andreas Ammer & FM Einheit
Andras Ammer is a well known author of radio plays, and this is his collaboration with FM Einheit (and other artists) interpreting Dante's Inferno for the radio.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
First Lines: John Milton - Paradise Lost
(illustration by Gustave Doré)
Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of EDEN, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of OREB, or of SINAI, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
Rose out of CHAOS: Or if SION Hill
Delight thee more, and SILOA'S Brook that flow'd
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' AONIAN Mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
The Movies I Watched in July
Blue Tornado (1991) 3
Dante's Peak (1997) 6
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) 6
Extreme Prejudice (1987) 4
Hard Rain (1998) 5
I Will Fight No More Forever (1975) (TV) 7
Minority Report (2002) 6
Pride and Glory (2008) 6
Raging Bull (1980) 10
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) 8
Spanglish (2004) 5
Stargate (1994) 6
Streets of Fire (1984) 8
Sublime (2007) (V) 6
Tenderness (2009) 6
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) 6
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978) 6
Dante's Peak (1997) 6
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) 6
Extreme Prejudice (1987) 4
Hard Rain (1998) 5
I Will Fight No More Forever (1975) (TV) 7
Minority Report (2002) 6
Pride and Glory (2008) 6
Raging Bull (1980) 10
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) 8
Spanglish (2004) 5
Stargate (1994) 6
Streets of Fire (1984) 8
Sublime (2007) (V) 6
Tenderness (2009) 6
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) 6
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978) 6
New Stuff: Dante Alighieri
And I got an English edition as well, an Italian edition is on its way to me. I intend to translate the whole work (from the Italian original) and post the results on my blog.
Photographer: Gilles Berquet
Find more at:
http://web.mac.com/gilles.berquet/gilles_berquet/GILLES_BERQUET_OFFICIAL_SITE.html
Monday, August 1, 2011
First Lines Euripides - Medea
Ah! Would to Heaven the good ship Argo ne’er had sped its course to the Colchian land through the misty blue Symplegades, nor ever in the glens of Pelion the pine been felled to furnish with oars the chieftain’s hands, who went to fetch the golden fleece for Pelias; for then would my own mistress Medea never have sailed to the turrets of Iolcos, her soul with love for Jason smitten, nor would she have beguiled the daughters of Pelias to slay their father and come to live here in the land of Corinth with her husband and children, where her exile found favour with the citizens to whose land she had come, and in all things of her own accord was she at one with Jason, the greatest safeguard this when wife and husband do agree; but now their love is all turned to hate, and tenderest ties are weak.
Tenderness (2009)
A juvenile murderer is released from jail having served his sentence, but a hard-bitten detective is sure that he is a potential serial killer who will commit further crimes.
Strives for atmosphere and depth, but the unanswered questions appear to be nothing more than plot holes.
Extreme Prejudice (1987)
A Texas Ranger and a ruthless narcotics kingpin - they were childhood friends, now they are adversaries.
Despite the talent involved this is a messy and unconvincing present-day thriller which aims for a Western feel.
Streets of Fire (1984)
A mercenary goes after his ex-girlfriend, a singer who has been kidnapped by a gang.
Deliberately campy, perfectly stylized B-movie romp that sets a 50s environment into a dystopian near future.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
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