Cato van Ee

Vignettes #35

When the new smoking regulations were introduced with a strict law for Bavaria banning smoking in pubs, restaurants and basically any enclosed public room besides beer tents (yes, beer tents), my publican of our Monday night round table pub couldn't bear the thought being forced out onto the street from his own premises.

Very early on he found a legal loophole that would allow smoking in his pub: he founded a club. This way he could declare his pub a closed community of club members, which according to the new law allowed smoking. Of course, everybody was happy with this arrangement, but there was some insecurity, since the administration of our town was much more quibbling concerning abiding laws than other Bavarian towns.

One day our publican was sitting at his regular table at the pub conversing with guests (and smoking), when he saw a police car park up in front of the pub. Two policemen walked in, asked for the owner, found out who he was and came over to his table. The publican was immediately alarmed, especially, when one of the policemen asked: "We have heard that you allow smoking in your pub. Is that correct?" The publican admitted it was true and explained why he thought it was allowed. "That's OK", the policemen replied. "We are organizing an evening for the police department, and none of us want to go to a place where we can't smoke. Can we make reservations?"

Paulina Gierasimiuk

ph: Beata Wielgosz

Indeterminacy 60

I enrolled in a class in mushroom identification.
The teacher was a Ph.D. and the editor of a
publication on mycology. One day he picked up a
mushroom, gave a good deal of information about it,
mainly historical, and finally named the plant as
Pluteus cervinus, edible. I was certain that that
plant was not Pluteus cervinus. Due to the
attachment of its gills to the stem, it seemed to
me to be an Entoloma, and therefore possibly
seriously poisonous. I thought: What shall I do?
Point out the teacher’s error? Or, following school
etiquette, saying nothing, let other members of the
class possibly poison themselves? I decided to
speak. I said, “I doubt whether that mushroom is
Pluteus cervinus. I think it’s an Entoloma.” The
teacher said, “Well, we’ll key it out.” This was
done, and it turned out I was right. The plant was
Entoloma grayanum, a poisonous mushroom. The teacher
came over to me and said, “If you know so much about
mushrooms, why do you take this class?” I said, “I
take this class because there’s so much about
mushrooms I don’t know.” Then I said, “By the way,
how is it that you didn’t recognize that plant?” He
said, “Well, I specialize in the jelly fungi; I just
give the fleshy fungi a whirl.”

- John Cage

Caroline Källbäck

ph: Peter Farago

and who's that other girl?

Trip with the Teacher (1975)

A teacher and her class of female students take a class trip to the desert, and when their bus breaks down, they find themselves terrorized by a gang of psycho bikers.

Sleazy exploitation which tells its story quite relentlessly without any redeeming qualities. Zalman King is over-the-top as the maniacal rapist-psycho-biker-killer. Most obviously a flic Tarantino was inspired by.

Natalia Twarowska

The Illusionist (2006)

In turn-of-the-century Vienna, a magician uses his abilities to secure the love of a woman far above his social standing.

Wonderful period set fantasy/mystery/love drama, well done in all departments.

Who's That Girl?

Gomorra (2008)

A fictional adaptation of the book by Roberto Saviano analyzing the everyday effects of organized crime in Naples.

The director manages to tell this multi-layered story with grim realism and an impartial eye, which makes the message so much more effective.