Saturday, March 29, 2014
New Stuff: Brigitte Fontaine
I admit till recently I didn't know about this artist, but hearing the title song I was instantly fascinated. And the album is accompanied by the Art Ensemble of Chicago!
New Stuff: Joel-Peter Witkin
I already have several of his large volumes, but it is also good to have this short overview.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
A New York City doctor, who is married to an art curator, pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him.
Although quite closely adapted from the novel, Stanley Kubrick's meticulously crafted movie is more an interpretation thereof, a somnambulant study of sexual relations, fascinating, but a tad too long.
Halliwell**: "An atmospheric account of sexual jealousy, temptation and fidelity, meticulously made and with an oddly dreamlike quality about it; but, while being faithful to its slim source, it is also overlong and much too portentous."
Maltin***: "Provocative film takes place in a distinctive Kubrick environment - contained, almost claustrophobic at times. Overlong, and flawed, but still compelling, with two megawatt star performances. Nudity is plentiful, but the European version...is even more graphic and runs 158m."
Friday, March 28, 2014
First Lines: Joanna Scott - The Manikin
The winter of 1846, when half of everything alive succumbed to the cold, has been stored for over eighty years in the mysterious mind common to the species, and though the owl didn't experience that winter, she remembers it - the poisonous smell of the air, the frost that pinned feathers to skin, the famine.
Vignettes #63
Last night I dreamt I had managed to purchase tickets for one of the Kate Bush concerts in September, I got the ones at the lowest price of £49. Standing in a long queue for quite a while I asked one of the security guards behind the gate what I can expect for my tickets. "Oh," he replied. "That's up in the dilapidated top floor. It's every man for himself up there. You can read a book or do some knitting, but you won't be seeing the concert."
New Stuff: Banks
Banks has not yet released a full-length album yet, but this EP is quite promising.
New Stuff: Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
Needless to say I'd need to have at least one book with this classic photopgrapher's work.
La vérité (1961)
A young woman is on trial for murder, and the counsels duel relentlessly, elaborating explanations for why the pretty, idle and fickle girl killed the talented and ambitious conductor freshly graduated from the conservatory.
Ambitious study about truth is well executed, but appears dated, and Brigitte Bardot's character is simply quite annoying.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
.jpg)
First Lines: Steven Millhauser - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
There once lived a man named Martin Dressler, a shopkeeper's son, who rose from modest beginnings to a height of dreamlike good fortune.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Vignettes #62
(art: Antonio de Pereda)
Recently I had such a wonderful that I decided to write it down as soon as I wake up. But in the morning I had forgotten everything but my resolution. The next night I had the same or a very similar dream. At least I recognized it as a recurrence. And again the next day I had forgotten it. I can only remember that I had a wonderful dream
New Stuff: Lydia Davis
Lydia Davis is a great master of very short literature and one of my alltime favourite authors.
.jpg)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
